26.2 (Ottawa Marathon Race Report)

I did it! I finished my first marathon today! I woke up at 4:30, had some leftover pasta for breakfast and we were ready to go by 5:30. I'm staying with Chris' aunt and uncle, who live in Ottawa, and they were kind enough to drive me to the race site so I wouldn't have to worry about parking or getting lost. I was extremely appreciative because downtown Ottawa can be a bit overwhelming if you don't know where you're going, especially with all the street closures.

I arrived at the race site just before 6:00 so I had about an hour to kill before the race start. I was wearing a tank top and shorts and I found it a bit chilly at that time of the morning, but thankfully there was a building nearby where we could wait. At around 6:30, I called my grandmother because I was getting a little freaked out (and she's the only one I know who's guaranteed to be up at that time).

Around 6:45, I made my way to the purple corral (4:30-5:00 finishers) and shortly thereafter, they sang the national anthem. The wheelchair marathon started at 6:55 and then all of a sudden we were off. It only took about 3 minutes or so for me to cross the start line, despite how far back I was. Within the first couple minutes, I had to stop and readjust my hydration belt. Despite my best efforts to get it right before the start, it kept flopping around too much. The adjustment mechanism is not very good and as a result, I'm not a fan of this new 4-bottle belt (also, the bottles sometimes fly out - happened 4 times during the race). I think I lost about a minute here.

My goal pace for the race was 11:00/mile and I managed to hit that for the first 18 miles or so. At mile 5, I went through a water station and did something kinda stupid. In addition to the Gatorade I took, I grabbed a cup of water to dump down my shirt. However, I forgot that I was wearing my iPod and I killed it! At that point I was thinking that it was going a long race without music...

Thankfully, there were about a dozen or so bands spread out over the course, including one drum corps that was awesome. There were also lots of spectators in the first half as well as some amusing signs. For example, there was a little kid dancing on a corner while singing over and over again, "I like to move it, move it." Shortly thereafter, I had to make a pit stop at around mile 9 because my stomach was cramping up to the point where I was doubled-over in pain. Even though I lost just under 2 minutes there, it was definitely worth it.

After a few miles without music, I was getting pretty fed up with the whole thing; the race just seemed like such a chore. But then genius struck! I was carrying my iPhone with me (so Chris could track me from home) and what does my iPhone have lots of? Music!! So I unplugged the headphones from my dead iPod and plugged them into the phone. Brilliant! I had music again! That gave me a good mental boost and my pace picked back up a bit.

After that, there's not too much to report. The miles chugged by and I was slowly getting more and more tired. The temperature was also heating up so it made it more challenging to keep pace. Once I hit 20 miles, I seemed to lose a lot of steam. Most of my miles were still 11:XX but at the higher end. Unfortunately, this was beginning to jeopardize my hope of finishing under 5:00:00.

The last few miles were pretty awesome because of all the spectators that had gathered in the downtown. Despite the fact that everything hurt, I wasn't going to give up when the end was so close. One particular song came on that gave me a little extra boost, Colonel Hathi's March (the elephant march from Disney's The Jungle Book). I have no clue why but it seemed to do the trick, so I listened to it 3 times before moving on.

I finally made it to the home stretch and Chris' aunt and uncle were waiting near the finish line to cheer me on. Normally, I sprint the last 100m or so to the finish line but not today. My final time: 4:59:14. I just barely squeaked in under 5:00:00 and I'm so glad I did. (I'd have been really annoyed if my time had been something like 5:00:16.) Here's the link to my Garmin data. (It doesn't match my chip time because I forgot to turn off the auto-pause feature and the timer stopped when I stopped to adjust my belt at the beginning.)

And here's me post-race with my medal:

So will I do it again? If you asked me today, I'd probably say no. But I've been told that the pain fades, much like a woman forgets how painful childbirth was. We'll how things go in the next couple months but I'm not ruling it out entirely.

Week wrap-up

Another week is in the books and honestly, I wish it had been a little less stressful (more on that later - running/biking stuff first).

Wednesday night was an event that my bike club organizes annually - Le Tour du Silence. It's held on the same day across North America to honour cyclists that have been injured/killed on the roads. I biked to the event start (about 10km from home) before the start of the ride to help with registration, etc. When I left the house, it was 25*C/77*F so I wore shorts, a short-sleeved jersey and I brought arm-warmers, just in case. Within 10 minutes of arriving at the start, the temperature dropped 10-15 degrees and it started to rain a bit. Then it started to rain a little harder. And a little harder....until finally we were in a total downpour. With the rain, wind and cooler temperatures, I was freezing. At one point, I decided I had to bail because I was miserable and I didn't want to risk getting sick before my marathon. Since Chris was at football practice and biking home was not really an option, I ended up calling a friend to come rescue me. Thank you again, M! (As it turned out, they decided to cancel the ride so I don't feel so bad for bailing.)

Yesterday, I got in a nice 4-mile run in the sun. With my marathon next week, my runs have been so much shorter and the miles have been flying by really fast. It's nice, though, because it leaves me feeling really energized rather than spent.

Today was my last "long" run before the race. It's weird because when I looked at the schedule, I thought, "It's an easy day - only 8 miles." Since when did 8 miles become "only" 8? It was a nice run despite the heat; all my miles were under 11:00. I left from the university where Chris' team was practising, so I was running in unfamiliar territory. At one point, I found myself in a neighbourhood with some new, fancy houses (and some weird ones, too, with really modern architecture). Unfortunately, I forgot to put on some sunscreen so I'm looking a little lobster-like at the moment.

NRR - I spent a lot of this week trying to find out answers to questions I had regarding my military situation and my move to Winnipeg. The biggest questions related to Chris and how he was getting to Winnipeg. I won't bore you with all the details, but at the beginning of the week, I thought things looked pretty good. However, after getting the runaround from one place and having to go talk to someone else, who had to talk to someone else, etc, etc, we finally got some clear answers on Friday. And not good ones either.
The end result is that I'm moving by myself (with no more than 450lbs of stuff) into an apartment in Winnipeg for the duration of my studies; Chris will stay here in the house with our stuff and the dogs until his situation gets sorted out. Worst-case scenario is that we're apart the entire time I'm in Winnipeg (3 years) but there are a couple avenues he can explore to try to get out there a little faster. Trust me when I say I'm glossing over a lot of the details here for the sake of simplicity; apparently our particular situation is one that's rather complex.
While I'm not pleased with the news, I am happy to finally have clear answers. I know that I'll be leaving for a week at the beginning of August to go find a place to live and meet with the liaison officer in Winnipeg. After that, I'll be in St-Jean for 2 weeks for an orientation course; then, it's the move to Winnipeg, just in time for classes.

Now, a question for readers - if you could only take 450lbs (out of a houseful of stuff) to move cross-country into an apartment, what would you take? What would be your biggest priority?
For me, I don't think I'll actually take 450lbs. I have to leave so much here for Chris (ie. kitchen stuff) so I'll probably end up buying a lot when I get there. On my list right now are clothes (especially running stuff), my bike, computer/printer and wool for my knitting/crocheting projects. Maybe a couple books. Any other suggestions??

Sunday run in the heat/Yasso 800s

Sunday

This past weekend was definitely the nicest weather we've had all year. The temperature was actually quite warm, so I took the opportunity to do my long run in the heat of the afternoon. I know it's going to be much hotter in Ottawa in a couple weeks for my marathon and I want to be prepared to run in the heat. 

I dropped my husband off in La Baie for his football game, so I did my run there instead on the base. It was a nice change of scenery with quite a few more hills than I'm used to. Despite that and the heat, every single one of my 12 miles came in under 11:00. Here are a couple pictures from my run:

The view of the fjord, with the tide out.

What's this? Yes folks, it's a pyramid made out of yield signs.

And what is this ridiculous structure called??? (No, this is not a joke.)

At the end of my run, I was pretty hot and sweaty, so I decided to stop at the convenience store and get a popsicle. Best. Idea. Ever. (The cashier may have been a little grossed out by my salt-crusted face, but I didn't really care.)

Tuesday

Tonight I did my last speed workout before my race, 8 Yasso 800s with a goal of 4:45 or better. I didn't have the chance to go to the track in Jonquiere, so I improvised a track out of the long, straight road that runs beside the PMQs. I'm pleased to report that every single one came in under time. Here are my splits:

#1 - 4:41

#2 - 4:33

#3 - 4:25

#4 - 4:31

#5 - 4:08

#6 - 4:21

#7 - 4:05

#8 - 3:56

Not bad, eh?

First bike ride of the season

It's been a while....The week of Conference was a blur. The week after Conference was a blur trying to get caught up on everything I missed while I was gone. I've gotten in a few runs this week (including a speedy one today), but most importantly, today was my first bike ride of 2012. It was a short one with my club, about 24 miles/39km, but it was mostly about getting back in the groove of riding and riding in a group. I was surprised by how challenging it was but I guess I'm just out of bike-riding shape.