Pretty nice day, got my raceday routine down by now, there we are in Paris Ontario. Lots of manics everywhere you look, but you can never get us all in one place before the race for a picture. Line up with Dave as usual, theres Robbie, must be Runningman with him, there Devalera, hi Ed fizz.
Hit my Garmin button at the horn, and we're off. Or are we? 8 seconds in, I get tripped from behind,sprawled out cursing flat on the ground. Thats a first. A guy about 18 apologizes as he zooms by," sorry, its just so packed". My last race in Detroit, 8500 in the full and half go off together no problem, but I go down in Paris, 235 runners. I yell at Dave to take him out with an elbow, but he just hands the kid a wad of $20s and chuckles.
So I am okay, just scraped knee and hands, but my heartbeat is racing, just what you don't want at the start of a race. I catch up to Dave and he says "what happened back there?" Hope he got his money's worth.
Dave and I run together for about 3.5 K, a little quick but I feel good. We cab see Devalera 50 feet ahead. Eventually Dave passes us both. Some rolling hills, but after 5 K our average pace is 4:44. Right on track. Turning north the wind shows up, then gets worse when we turn east around 7 K. From 7 to 14 K its a straight rolling stretch, and the wind just beat me down. I had to push it to do 5:05s, could see the PB slipping away. It was an effort just to do that. Some days I hit my stride around 7-8 K when it starts to seem easy. Today I felt it, and looked down, 9.7 K. Must have been some long-distance fan mojo! Shortly thereafter there was another hill, and more wind, and... Ken (Tortoise) was out taking pics and cheering here as elsewhere. At 14 there is a 1 k out and back section, saw Dave and DV. Dave said something that indicated that he was ripe to be picked off, guess he was feeling it too. As I finished that section I saw James (Baldguy), that meant he was on track for a great time! Turning southwest, it got a lot easier and my pace picked up. 4:53, 4:43, 4:52, 4:46. I knew the PB was gone, but I knew i had a chance to stay within my time zone of 1:41-1:43. Gets hilly near the end though. Saw Kiza around 19, that did cheer me up. Hills weren't that bad, because I knew the end was near. Across a field and around the track to the finish. Saw DV one last time, as he finished I was hitting the track. Final time, 1:42:48. Its all over now, Baby Blue.
Not a PB, less than a minute off my Detroit time. Of the 5 halfs that I raced (excepting 3 trail races and the double race weekend), my times were all within a 90 second span. 1:41:50 to 1:43:19. Flat or hilly, sick or well, windy or calm. So today's time was about average. And considering the course and wind, just as proud an effort.
Thanks to everyody there today, don't make me name you all! It was great sharing in the day as a fan when so many got new PBs, that's amazing!! I was already writing my report on the course, that it just wasn't a PB day, so many proved me wrong.
SusanD sent custom medals for us Fall Tourists, what a great thing! It really is the medal I am most proud of of any I have ever got. What a great idea, and a wonderful and thoughtful gesture. Thank you. Finally an extra special thanks to my number one speedy marathoner fan!
Here's a few pics:
My poor knee:
The end, and we're all still smilin!!
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