Ran the 2013 Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon with Jes this past weekend ... the goal was to bring us home to a sub-4 hour marathon attempt, but we came, so, oh-so-close with a 4:00:44 chiptime for Jes and a 4:01:00 chiptime for me, about 50m back or so ...
We had planned and strategized our race plan over the last 6 months or so ... lots of tempo / m-p efforts on Tempo Tuesday's and respect the long runs, and used the training schedule as a guideline .... For me, it was to rebuild my running / marathon base, after a setback exactly a year ago, when both my arches collapsed (tendons, ligaments, etc.) to a point where I could barely walk without pain, let even run ... and, did not know if I would ever run again, let alone a marathon, a year later ...
Leading up to the race week(end) the training was there, I had comfortably, almost pain-free, increased my volume and intensity over the months, but was still not sure if and how the feet would hold up to 42.2K, let alone at a tempo/moderate effort ... and, indicated to Jes that I will run / pace with her as long as I can possible can, until I reach a point in the race where I would not be able to, otherwise, I would stick with her ...
On race day we met up at the Start area, along with Lisa and chatted a bit, before hitting the musical port-a-potties
The race started on schedule, and we were off ... by the first 1K marker, we were already about 120m off with the road marker and our garmins
... mentioned this to Jes and she replied that it happened last year, and the course self-resolved itself by the 36-37K mark or so ... Anyways, I may have mentally lost it a bit after that, though, the sub-sequent 1K markers appeared to be bang on ... We were holding anyhere from 5:30 to 5:40 mpk for the first 10K or so, and crossed the 10K marker at just under 57minutes or so ... At about the 11-12K or so, I had to take a port-a-potty break, and left Jes with the 4 hour pace bunny, until I caught up with her … As it turned out, it took me longer than I had hoped, as I had to wait for the previous person to leave … And, by the time that I started again, Jes was about 200m or so ahead of me, or so I thought, as I was able to spot the 4 hour bunny w/ballons … Took me about a half km to catch the bunny, then realized that she was not there … a bit of me thought that I may have passed me, but when I noticed that he had fallen to about 6:00 mpk, I realized that Jes may have passed him and continued moving forward … About another 300m or so, I finally caught up to her at about the 13-14K mark or so … and, soon after, we would pass the start/finish line
…Things were pretty uneventful, though, as we started down Centennial Pkwy, it was a slight downhill feeling to it, for a few km's and by the time we hit the Red Hill Valley Parkway, I had to make another pitstop
at the waterstation, just before the downhill started …Again, took a bit longer than I had hoped, as I had to wait again … When I started running again, I could see Jes about 300-400m ahead of me, and looking quite comfortably and as much as I wanted to chase her down, I did not want to risk blowing up and just held on to a nice and steady effort, without crushing the quads and legs, as I may have done in my previous Hamilton races … In the end, I think that it was a good idea, as it allowed both of us to run down the hill at our own comfort levels …. I never did catch her ….Once we exited the Pkwy and onto the Trails, I was within 10m from her, but continued to stay back … and, eventually, she took a walk break to allow me to catch up to her, and I assume that was a strategic decision on her part …
We continued running together and by the time we hit the 30-31K mark or so, we were finally back on the road again, I believe it was the Van Wagners Beach Road (you know, the road leading up to the bridge in ATB ?? 
) ... I noticed that Jes was starting to hurt a bit, perhaps it was what she said to me, "I'm hurting … " but, she was still moving and we were still holding pace … We hit the 32K mark in 2:58:xx and this was where I said to her that, as long as we can maintain a sub-6 minute pace for the final 10K, we should be good ….At the 35K mark, just as we were turning off the road and, into the waterfront path, we took a strategic walk break, popped some tylenol … in hindsight, perhaps, we took a wee bit too long of a walk break, but I think it was worth it, as the legs (at least mine) were starting to cramp up a tab … Anyhoo, we were off again and able to main a 5:40-5:45mpk, though starting to drift into the 5:50-:6:00mpk for a tad …. I took another strategic walk break at the 40K mark, and left Jes to go on her own, as I felt that I would not be able to hold a sub 5:30-5:40 pace over the final 2K or so … took a short 10-15 second walk break and was left in her dust, as she was about 40-50m ahead of me… Once I started running again, I was able to maintain about a 5:45mpk pace, but she was running a bit faster, and I just could not to risk pushing it so far from the finish line, again, as my first marathon in 18 months, I had a bit of uncertainty to even making it at this point … Anyways, as we were under the 500m mark to go, I kept checking my garmin and looking at Jes, then noticed that she still had about another 200m to go on the road, as the course ran about 42.4k on the garmin …
… I could see her push on the home stretch and pretty well collapsed in the arms of her DH, Joe, while I came through behind her a few seconds after …. My time was 4:01:00, while Jes finished in 4:00:44 … another 5+ minute PB for her and a 13m course PB from 2012 ….I the end, I gave it my best effort to bring her home under 4 hours, but missed it by that much … Though, considering where I was "at" a year ago, I am still quite happy with how I ran this race …
Eta: Not sure if I mentioned this to Jes or not, but there were several occasions on the course, about the 10K mark or so and, around the 17-18K mark when I started to feel a bit of rusty legs, but actually running down the Pkwy helped to loosen things up … And, for me, in my previous 2 experiences in the Hamilton Marathon, I was holding strong until the final 10-12K along the Beach Road and Waterfront path, where I did more walking than running … and, this year, I was able to run though it and was a mission to maintain pace/effort, as long as I could ...
