I've already provided the basic data:
3:56:56 good for a 30 second PB, and a BQ with a 3+ min buffer. That should be pretty solid for 2015
A graceful fall 50 meters from the finish
Now I give, the rest of my story!
I chose Hamilton, because I wanted to try a smaller race with some serious BQ cred! 40% of my age group qualified last year. I liked the odds.
Some have followed my training this cycle. It went really well, and some of the things I did differently really helped I think! More back to back long runs and VERY little speedwork aside from tempo runs.I also paid more attention to recovery. I took this into my half marathon two weeks ago, and came out with a great PB! That gave me a huge confidence boost!
I also tapered far more sharply than in previous cycles. I am now convinced that my biggest problem with Scotia last year is that I was not rested enough.
The rest sort of made me feel a bit sluggish, but the legs were rarin to go!
We arrived at the finish in Hamilton at 6:30, and I quickly said good bye to my sherpa (DH
) and got on the bus to the start. The trip was very well organized, and there were tons of buses on the go.I met up with Jes and Andy in the community center and we hung out until the start. It was super nice to have the company. We were also standing beside the 4hr pace punny, and I thought that would be a good place to start.
I stuck with the pace bunny for the first 3K or so, but decided that I had found my legs and was ready to go. The first half of the race is on really nice country roads along the top of the Niagara Escarpment. I love running on country roads!
. I hit the halfway point at 1:56 A little bit behind my plan, but the nice down hill down Red Valley Rd was coming up. Problem was, the nasty headwind negated the benefit of the downhill. 
Bummer. I also was not as 'downhill' as I imagined it would be! It was far more gradual. At the halfway water stop, I made a huge mistake and took a gel and gulped it down with, what I thought was water - it was Gatorade. Yuck. Fortunately, it didn't come back to haunt me. In fact I got a nice boost!
I was keeping about a 5:30 pace down Red Valley road, and then we tuned into a really nice trail! Cool! 28-32K were on this trail. I hit the 30K point at 2:44. I was beginning to feel this was in the bag. Every K I could keep my pace under 5:40 was a bonus. I was able to do this until 38K. Then I ran into real trouble. I was running, but I had lost all form and felt like I was falling over half the time. This really has never happened to me before! I really struggled until the finish with this, but happy to manage 6m/k for 38 and 39. Then I could barely move, and had to walk some to stop from falling over. I think the last to K were 6:30 or so.
Then at the finish, just after I had crossed the mat where the announcer can identify you - my legs completely buckled! I went for a tumble. A kindly gentleman gave up 45 seconds of his time to help me get up (I was in such a fog I didn't even have the presence of mind to thank him! That makes me feel terrible
). After a few seconds, I was able to jog to the finish, greeted by 3 medics. I told them I was fine. I'm guessing this incident cost me about a minute I have a bruised hand, and scraped wrist, but I'm otherwise fineWhen the announcer saw me get up and finish he said "That's what's it's all about - determination" I can't say I was feeling that way - I was mad, and trying to figure out what I had done wrong! After some thought, I realized that I shouldn't be mad. My body gave out and I found a way, somehow, in the last K to finish. I gave everything, to the last inch. So after some initial embarrassment, I'm trying to make more light of it, and consider it a badge of honour. I can only explain that it happened because I had nothing left in the tank. And I mean NOTHING.
Overall assessment of the race:
LOVE the course - nicest one I've run - I can see why it's a popular BQ course. I was 15/53 in my age group, and there were numerous after me who also qualified. The speedsters show up for this one!
Organization was pretty good! I had no serious issues -except having gatorade in the same cups as water, and the volunteer not mentioning what is in it.
Conditions were clear, but cool and windy - that made for a bit harder work in spots.
Based on recent history, 3 minutes should pretty much be a lock for 2015. The plan is to go, but I'm not sure if I'll even run another marathon before then. This one took a lot out of me. More than any of my previous 7. We'll see how I recover, and how I feel.
I may pace a marathon, but certainly not race one until Boston.
I'm a very happy camper tonight (now that I've had a chance to recover a bit)!
Thanks for listening!
- 
