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Friday July 30 2010

This is one of my favourite songs and I just stumbled upon the video, which I don't believe I ever saw before. Really good stuff. I love the bass line, I love that Johnny Mar and Kirsty MacColl both guest on it and I love the World Beat influence to this song, and the whole album, a classic [ Naked ]

  

The first weekend of 2010 at the cottage is behind us. It was a great weekend with very favorable weather. Definitely better than last year's nasty summer weather from start to finish.

It was relaxing in a sense. Mentally it was but I did manage to fit in a 10k run on Thursday, a 6k run with Cam plus 5 more of hill repeats. A 24km bike ride around the lake followed by a 5.5k easy run and a long run of 25km also around the lake which is one of my favourite runs especially when the weather is nice. It was hot but bearable, especially as we started out at 7am. Anita got in 19km as per her schedule. We drove around the lake the night before and dropped off Gatorade at various spots which made it a lot nicer to run without running out of fluids.

The 4 days flew by and the traffic on the ride home was a bit of a bummer. But I can't wait to get back. These cottage weekends are the source some of my greatest memories.

My Blackberry was the source of the following photographs. Thankfully it takes decent photos as it seems to be the only camera we ever have on hand. Click the photos to view larger images.

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It seems like I have taken this photo several times. Well I have, but each time I make a stop at this point on the run around the lake, I feel compelled to capture the moment. It is just that nice of a view! This is a good spot to rest if you want to and there are porta potties if need be although the woods work just fine.

This is another shot from the same spot, 10km into the run at a picnic area overlooking the lake. In this shot, I'm sort of looking back to where I started. It seems further that it is but the starting point 10km earlier is at about the top middle of the horizon. I didn't take any more photos on the run this time. I did a couple of years ago . View that slide show here

This is a shot later that day, from our beach. The sun had set and left a peaceful blue shadow across the lake. I have taken photos from this spot many times and the colours and lighting always seem to come out different.I could sit in this chair on the beach for hours soaking up the breeze. Margaritas make sitting here even better!

Saturday we golfed. It was hot and humid and my first round of the year. It took me two shots plus 4 putts to make a 6 on the opening par 3 hole. Yuck. Pars on the final 2 holes helped me break 100. 98 at one time would have really upset me but this time, it's not bad considering the frequency I have played the last few years. Like marathons, golf is tough for me but as I finish a round, I start looking forward my next one!

It is always nice to spend some time with my brother and nephew. Andy loves and hates golf too. He looks quite upset when he's out there. But he too keeps going back for more. I beat him again. Of course I beat my dad but he may tell the story different. My nephew kicked all our butts.

We had a campfire Saturday night and watched the fireworks across the lake at the town dock. The small town spent $10,000 on these. Impressive. Almost as good as Ashbridges Bay's really.

We found an abandoned baby bird (two actually). My sister in law nursed them over the weekend. She has them at home now and plans to feed them 'til they fly. The kids got a kick out of this. I wonder if they will make it back home in the city. I guess I'll report back about that.

These fries were good. My dad insisted on buying them for us on our way back from my tool shopping spree. I broke down and as usual regretted it. They were tasty though. Mom made french fries for dinner too. My parents are overweight, because they don't think these things make you unhealthy. By the way, they give the fries to you half full so you can put condiments on, then you hand them back and they top them up. Kind of cool.

Next time we make it up to north country., there will be a no fries rule in effect. I say that now...

Time: 5:17:45 ( PB for this race - 4:39:30 )

Weather: 22c at start, 30c at highest. no rain, light breeze.

Course: Mostly bike trail, some road, some grass, some touristy cobblestone paths by Niagara Falls

Never again. I can't imagine running that long again.. certainly not until I can solve some nausea issues. The heat was tough. Not ungodly, but tough enough as everyone who has done this race before seemed to be well behind their usual time. Duff, myself and a few other people we know were about 40-45 minutes slower than last year.

First of all, I shamefully admit to getting to the start late, despite staying in the hotel across the road from the start line! Yes, I thought I had more time to spare. I was getting my chip when the gun went off. I could have used another washroom trip too. Anita was more upset than I was though. It was after all, chip time. I ran fast to catch up with everyone. I caught Duff and Frank and ran with them for a bit and then pushed ahead, with thoughts of beating mother nature and last year`s time of 4:39. Oops.

The first 20k was awesome. I felt great, well trained and had to force myself to slow down as I hit sub 5:15 per km. I really felt like the heat was not an issue and I took my salt pills, water, some gels and assumed I would feel this good the whole way. Up the big hill and to the hydro tower and I realized I hadn`t stopped to walk yet, other than a brief stop at the eater station to refill my bottles. This was 20k and we were heading into the tourist area, it is funny to watch everyone look at us like were nuts...we are...and it was funny trying to navigate through the 50+ Amish people, dressed like it was minus 5 degrees and they were all dressed in blue, head to toe. Weird. I moved on and was glad to be halfway, The mist at the falls was lovely. I saw the fairy lady Frank spoke of. She said she's training for a 100 miler and was just taking it easy. Nice lady, nice.

I got to the halfway point, in 2:20 which was 5 minutes slower than last year. I was still feeling fine at this point but it seemed as soon as I changed directions I was going downhill. I took my shirt off and planned to pawn off my belt  as soon as I saw someone to take it.  Nir did, I saw him at 30k. When I saw Nir, I didn't even want anything. I couldn't stomach any more water, Gatorade or anything food like. All I wanted at the aid stations was gingerale. I felt so nauseous by 35k that I considered bailing. I haven't bailed yet and I didn't want this to be the first. I decided to run - walk the remaining 15k.

At the 38km mark, Julie, Cam and Anita were waiting. It was the bottom of the long 1km downhill where even gravity couldn't pull me faster than 6:00/km pace without my upper stomach feeling like it would burst. They had everything there, oranges, bananas, bars, water, pretzels but I still wanted nothing. I had been suppressing the rising liquids from my unwilling stomach and was constantly reminded what it was like to be hung over. I wanted to stay and hang with the gang but I needed to press on. I accepted the challenge to run in this state and knew I was only suffering from nausea and not dehydration. I felt the need to pee and was still sweating, both which are good signs.

My legs kept feeling great and they were asking me to run harder. I did the entire race with no pain, no sore feet, no tired legs, that part was lovely. But the nausea just wouldn't lift. Ginger ale with stolen ice at each water stopped made me feel good for a minute but that was it. I just focused on moving forward, long since abandoning any time goals.

Anita and Cam biked ahead and waited for me every few kms. The water they had was good for dousing my hat. I tried to keep drinking a little just to be safe. Every step at this point was tough, but inside was loving the challenge - hating the nausea but masochistically enjoying beating it and plowing through.

3km to go, it was like a dream, I knew Anita and Cam would be at 1k which gave me something to look forward to. I pretty much ran the final 3k as the excitement of finishing pulled me through. the last km was filled with the satisfaction of finishing and looking forward to a beer, a shower and a nap...an no more nausea!

Finally, the last 100m, on grass and the finish line in site. People were cheering and I heard none of it. One lady told me to smile....huh? Cam caught me and ran with me, so nice and I crossed the line. 5:17:46...38 minutes slower than last year but feeling just as satisfied with the result.

I headed straight for a picnic table and buried my head in my hands. I couldn't take deep breaths without coughing and the nausea was taking it's time in dying off. Anita finally got me to get up and walk around. I grabbed a beer (hey, they're free!) and downed half giving the rest to Nir. I laid down on the grass and started to feel better. I got up, grabbed another beer and a slice of pizza and boom, I felt right again. So nice...when is the next race? Hahahaha.

Nir, Julie, Anita, Cam and myself went back to the Pillar and Post for a nice swim and shower and lunch as we were allowed to hang out all day as we stayed there the night before. Worth the extra cash spent on hotel. thanks to Anita for letting me nap on the drive home!

Next time it`s hot, I will forgo all time goals and try to enjoy the run. I think I am eating too much the night before and morning of the race...too close to race time perhaps. More experimenting will tell. If I never see another gel again it will be too soon.

Thanks so much to my wonderful Anita and Cam, Julie and of course Nir, for putting in 50k on his bike! Great support guys!

I know this race report might not get anyone excited to run 50k, but hopefully it will inspire you to push yourself to some new limits. It always feels great when the agony is a distant memory and the good parts remain etched in your mind. :)

I may have said never again but...

Click pictures to view larger...

The weekend wasn't really about racing. It was about fun, and sharing some laughs with our friends in the running community. We rented a cool ranch house in Quebec, about 30 minutes drive from downtown Ottawa. Like last year, we had the luxury of cooking our own meals and saving a bundle on food and booze costs. Like last year, we spent a lot of time in the car. It is worth it though.

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This year we ended up with 15 people staying together which is the best part of renting houses / cottages / chalets etc.

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Saturday AM was spent in Ottawa mostly. First we had the Running Room friendship run where we donned our Bunny Attire and met up with some of the people we would be pacing the next day. After the 3k run, a few of us were interviewed by the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. Here is what we had to say....

- Article Link -

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Saturday afternoon evening is when the 5 and 10 km races took place. At 5pm, Cameron and I took on the 5k, in 27 degree heat, and a crazy crowded course with 8,800 people! The route is pretty nice, going along the canal on one side and back down the canal finish, same as what the marathon does. Unfortunately though, we are in plain sunlight the whole way through. We'd love to get a nice cool cloudy day for this next year!

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After having to shuffle the first 50 metres of this race, then dash around the walkers and plodders, which is fine, just please, please please, not at the front of a 8800 person race, Cam managed to run 21:34, just 4 seconds shy of his personal best which considering the conditions was awesome result. This got him 4/124 in the boys - 9-10 category. He's 10 again next year and hoped to return for the number one spot again. I lagged behind him a bit with a 22:45 to save some energy for the next day's marathon.

 

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At 6:30, the 10k race set off and Anita toed the line again for the first time since the Beaches Spring Sprint. Still fighting nagging injuries and perpetual soreness from her Personal Trainer (no, not me) she ran a comfy 1:06 and finished all smiles once again. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction and we will see her on the starting line of the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon.

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Saturday night was spent relaxing and we took it easy as the morning wake up call was for 4:30 am! Our pal Duff, not feeling well, passed the 4:15 bunny torch over to friends Ron and Anne who teamed up to carry out the task. Rob did this, on hardly any training, running only 10k in the last month after foot surgery. This was also after a little...er, a lot too much to drink Friday night....Rob surely wins the HTFU award for this year!

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Oh ya, The race report? I was the 4hr bunny and got the job done. 3:59:38. Of all my pace bunny efforts, this was my furthest time from the exact pace time but I couldn't help it, I had Boston Qualifiers running in with  and I wanted to keep up with them as they sprinted ahead.he, 22 seconds is not too bad.The race itself was fun. I always enjoy being the pace bunny. With it being the 3rd marathon in 15 days, I was a bit tired which made the 4hr pace a challenge but very gratifying all the same and I had my largest group yet. Several finished a few seconds ahead of me, several a few seconds behind, and  a bunch more just off the 4hr pace but happy to have gotten personal best times. I really enjoyed this race, the new route and the post race meet-up in the park and the local pub. It's hard not to want to do this race again next year which is why we are doing the Canadian Looney Challenge. What's this? Stay tuned, but it does involve running multiple races next year with the gold medal and highest points going to those that run the 5k, 10k and marathon. You in?

Sunday night topped off the weekend with a fantastic BBQ and several glasses of wine, or beer. We also celebrated our 18th anniversary and it was lovely to spend it with good friends ... and many many laughs, echoing well into the night....long after I went to bed. What troopers.

We capped the weekend off with a breakfast just as good, minus the spirits and said goodbye to the ranch, it's private lake, 2 dogs, 6 horses, cat and lush, pollen dusted surroundings and wished we could stay another day.

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Well, we'll see you next year. I wonder if the dogs which were not to be seen Monday morning, ever returned? Bob, where are they?

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Well, that title is a mouthful. The race itself ... a handful. Especially the week after a hard effort marathon. I ran this with Nir who himself ran the Mississauga half marathon, is the 3:50 bunny for next week's Ottawa marathon and somehow let me talk him into running this marathon with me, which I am very glad he did as it would have been tougher and lonelier without him there!

The race was actually very well run and the volunteers, water stations, course marshals and all were fabulous. it is a good thing there were a lot of volunteers as it made up for the very small amount of spectators and crowd support.

The route was interesting to say the least. Definitely more tiring than your average route as there were about 60 turns. There were well over fifty 90-degree turns, several sweeping curved turns plus 6 of the dreaded u-turns where we'd hear the marshals call out 'around the last pylon boys' ...



Some of the course was really cool and different form most marathons. There were trails that led from one rural side street to another, tree lined roads, waterfront paths, boardwalk, grass for a few hundred metres, wooden foot bridge, metal foot bridge over marshes but unfortunately there was also the 26-32km portion of mostly desolate commercial / industrial which wasn't so bad if not for all of the turning around pylons!

It was overcast for the first half of the race which of course kept me from putting on the necessary amount of sunscreen! And I wore a singlet to boot so the sunny 2nd half, well, 18k onwards actually, got me pretty good and now I have a neat temporary tattoo of a singlet on my upper body.

Water stations were every 3km and well manned with water and e-load drinks as well as e-load gels at 26km and 32 km. I staggered home with Nir urging me on to 'get it over with' but I was really tired and the heat got to me, and for the 2nd week in a row I was quite nauseous. Up until 40k I felt great, but had really tired legs. for the final 2k it was fatigue everywhere and I was reminded of how much I dislike running long distances in hot weather. The last 90 degree turn was at 39k and then back up a hill where I was running so slow that I walked to pick up the pace! I usually enjoy the final 2k even when that tired as I get excited to see the finish but this time with no spectators and the sun beating down and vomit barely staying down and wondering if I am going to feel this crap next week, well let's just say it was not my favourite final 2k! That said, within a few minutes I was my old self again and I actually felt pretty good on Monday. Much better than last week and today, I definitely notice better recovery from a the 3:56 time vs the previous week's 3:35 so I am not fearing Ottawa's 4:00 pace bunny task.

The finish area was a bit cramped despite the fact there was a huge field right next to it and we had to walk across the field and road to get to the post race food, which was well worth the walk as they served us turkey subs, chips, cookies, apples, bananas and ICE CREAM. Best post race food ever!

It was a small town race with a great small town feel. Definitely a mental struggle in parts and a very challenging route but also very satisfying to complete and despite the fact it was my slowest ever non-pace-bunny race, I feel good about it under the circumstances. I am getting older, I am going to have to learn to deal with the fact there may not be a 3 at the beginning of my multiple-week-marathon results much longer!

Thanks for joining me Nir. I owe you. That's 2 marathons in a row that you helped me finish! Can you come back and get me next week after you complete your 3:50 task? Thanks in advance!

~Dave

It's hard to come up with a definite feeling for this race. On one hand, I should be really happy that I finished. Ok, I mean really happy that I finished in a decent time (3:35:58) and that the huge decrease in mileage didn't make it as tough it could have.

Now 'tough' is the wrong statement as well. It was tough. It was slower than I hoped, but not surprisingly. In fact, if we bring up the expression "Positive Thinking" then I would say I was positive. Deep down inside I was positive I did not have the fitness level for a 3:20 Boston Qualifying time. But I remained hopeful, and especially hopeful that I could tough it out and pull it off. But let's face it,  reduced training, lingering injuries a mere 2 sessions of speed work won;t get you that time. Unless you are like in the 20-25 age group category. I am not.

The week leading up to the race went well, some good taper runs, good sleeps and not too much stress. I look back and realize I could have eaten better. I felt great on race morning and the first half of the race went well. I felt good but got to halfway 3 minutes slower than last year. That was where I realized I was not going to run my goal of 3:20 but I din;t stop trying there. I was on pace for another 10k after that, but it was getting darker and darker in my mind by the step. I wish I had of paced better but I wanted to try for the prize and knew I was in for a painful finish. People around me will know this as I exclaimed all week that this one was gonna hurt.

So my negative outlook on this race is really only aimed at the last 10k. This is where the well know Wall was in effect. I knew I'd hit it and that there was no mental toughness that could overcome this.I accepted this pretty quickly and eased up, to avoid being nauseous. For the first time ever racing, I threw up. At 32k, I consumed a gel, downed it with some water, and 10 seconds later, I was fortunate enough to have a garbage can to lean over and let it go. Not too nasty, just Double Espresso flavoured water. I walked a bit and got my pace back up to test the waters and as soon as I got going I'd feel nauseous so I kept it easy the rest of the way.

I met Nir at 38k and he was kind enough to run back in with me. This made the fatigue / nausea levels bearable and I kind of enjoyed the final few rough miles. Finishing this one felt great although for a good hour afterward, the queasiness lingered. It just felt nice to lay on the lawn, warm sun shining and managing to eat some grapes and a beer. It was awesome to spend the time with all of our running community and I was so happy to see so many good results, particularly Sari's personal best in the marathon and Julie's smashing PB. Well done ladies.

The topper though was having Cam and Anita waiting there at the finish line to catch me.Thanks guys!

marathon #16 is in the books and many things were learned and confirmed. I have 2 more this spring. Whitby, Ottawa Niagara on the Lake Ultra (50k) The head down and train hard for Goodlife Marathon and another attempt at a BQ. I am hopeful and ready to put the effort and be disciplined enough to reach the goal again. And I will enjoy it, don't you worry!

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OK, so, we're 2 sleeps away from Whitby, and a fun run is the plan. I do not feel I have recovered enough to go at it very hard at all. Thankfully Nir has joined in with me and we can have some fun with it.Oh, and i will be tweeting as iRunNation from the start finish, and sure, a few tweets along the way. Watch their page to track our progress.

Yes I said trilogy again. This time around it does not seem like the Trilogy of Terror like 2008....or even the Quad Factor of 2009

 

I am looking forward to the next month or so. There are several races I enjoy immensely this time of year, finishing off with the Niagara on the Lake 50K Ultra Marathon.

 

This week's Mississauga will be the toughest of the 3. A Boston Qualifying attempt of 3:20:59 or better will take all I have got. It is actually a good thing I was guest speaker at the Rosedale Running room tonight. The topic was Race Prep and it got me to dig up my racde prep notes and tweak them. This caused me to really look at them andf remind me of several items I tend to forget. View that article here

 

Next up is Whitby International North Marathon. I definitely want to run the inaugral event and insert number 2 into my already planned Mississauga / Ottawa. This will be the easiest of the 3 as I will run it with no time goal...other than keeping my sub 4 hour streak alive at 17/17. Ottawa may be tough. I am the 4 hour pace bunny but it will be the 3rd in 3 weeks and I am running the 5k with Cameron the eve before. At sub 21:00 this will be a fairly tough task butr I am up for the challenge. I better be, as the pace bunny devotees will be counting on me. And Ottawa has proven to be a tough event.

 

Last is the 50k Ultra, but I will have 3 weeks after Ottawa to get ready/ One week of easy running. One week of back to back long runs and a one week taper. Goal for that race is to beat last year's 4 hours 39 minutes.

 

Then, Summer to get ready for Scotia (another BQ attempt if....well...) plus Goodlife Marathon, prince Edward county, Niagara Falls and Hamilton Marathons for my new task - the "Cinqo de Maro" - 5 marathons over a 5 week and 1 day period. (6 weekends)

 

Now, need to get to sleep...rest is needed for Mississauga!

Boston Marathon 2010 - first of hopefully many trips to Boston for me.

Here's how it played out...

Friday

We drove there after work hoping to make good time and get there around 1am. Between Toronto and Hamilton we hit tons of traffic, lot's of stress and had to cut the drive at midnight a few hours away to shack up. Good call.

Saturday

Got to Boston, checked in and hit the Race Expo (Amazing!) and met for lunch with an old friend who moved to Boston, and some of our group of Boston Qualifiers and spouses. Oh,m yes, of course I bought this years celebration jacket and a few other things. For dinner we went to the north end with 12 of our group of 16. Nice restaurant, great food, good vibe.

Sunday

We were up early for the 5k race. Anita, Cam and Sarah plus a few friends and spouses of our group ran as well.

Sarah, 16yr, finished 3rd with a 19:44 in the 15-19 age group, 18th woman overall. Cam, 9yr, ran 21:39 and finished 12th in the 10-14 age group. Very cool. Very proud.

Anita limped through with a nagging hip injury and simply took it all in. She is a trooper!

After the 5k we went to the 'All Canadian Brunch' put on by MyNextRace.com and was sponsored by Porter and Tim Hortons. That was pretty cool. Another trip to the expo...yes, this was necessary.

We enjoyed a nice dinner in a cool Sth Boston small restaurant (224 Boston Street) at a tiny restaurant near our apartment, just with the fam and our room mate, Duff, my good friend/mentor who made his 3rd trip Boston

Unfortunately I slept like crap. Nervous about missing the alarm combined with loud talkers outside out window, major traffic and footsteps from floor above. I knew it was going to be a tough race.

Monday

Managed to wake up early somehow. Excited! Duff and I got in a mess of traffic and got lost trying to meet our friend Nir to then walk to the buses. So I never did see Nir until after the race. Even though wee weren't going to run together, it would have been nice to hang out beforehand. Nir ran a PB of 3:16 by the way. He proved hard work pays off again. So Duff and I waited forever for the buses, then a long line up for the porta potties but there was much excitement to make the long line ups bearable...nothing but good memories despite the waiting and stressing. The spirit was wicked.

As for the race...

Checkpoints 5k 10k 15k 20k Half 25k 30k 35k 40k 0:24:31 0:48:39 1:12:44 1:37:21 1:42:52 2:02:45 2:29:47 3:00:21 3:30:09 Finish Pace Projected Time Official Time Overall Gender Division 0:08:32   3:43:38 11115 7915 1481

As you can see, well off my best time but not too bad all things considered. I hoped I would be feeling better, in order to be in the 3:25 range and still feeling good enough to enjoy the whole race. I did race my plan which was to test the waters after this year's intermittent training by going out in 1:40 and take it easy in the 2nd half if I felt I was risking a struggle to finish at that pace.

I got to the half in 1:42 thinking if I tried to run a negative split I'd be crawling in based on how I felt. I wanted to enjoy my first trip to Boston so I shut it down and managed to enjoy the entire race, the entire day. From the Athletes Village and the long walk to the start. Feeling 'dead' after the first downhill. (who bonks in the first mile?) All the great spectators and all of the landmarks.

Heartbreak Hill.

We've heard so much about it. It is not a terribly steep hill but it is long and it does hit you just after mile 20. Even though I was going easy at this point, I still found it tough. It follows several other hills and is followed by several more. despite the net downhill course, the rolling hills are tough on the legs....and tiring.

I spent the entire last 5 miles high fiving despite my tired arms from the constant high fives along the way. I often ran way off yo high five people on the outside of the turns that were not getting their chance for high fives. I am nice that way. The constant cheering and exuberance was awesome. Simply awesome. I texted my wife at a porta potty stop at mile 21 to tell her not to worry, and that I was going to cruise in and soak it up.

Wearing a Canada shirt paid off huge, must have received over 300 'Go Canada' and other runners around me were bummed that I was getting cheers and their local university shirts weren't. I still can't believe how great the spectators were. And the race direction...my god the BAA organization is overwhelmingly impressive.

The Citgo sign came into view, I got a bit emotional here, and a bit upset I wasn't able to race harder, but that passed. Because I was running the tangents long and to the outside, I was able to hear my family calling my name. I stopped and snapped a photo of them and gave them all kisses.

Almost done

But not necessarily happy about that. I really didn't want this one to end. After I saw the fam, I had 1 mile to go, it flew by, I ran it pretty slow, second slowest mile of the race, chatted with spectators, asked for some of their beer and was offered one, but I declined.

Right on Hereford, left on Boylston. I ran to the far side and got loud cheers as nobody else was going that far over. It was a fun way to finish. The famous blue and gold finish arch got closer and I worked my way through, crossed the line and threw my arms up in triumph, not because it was a fast time but just because it was the celebration of finishing a big goal. Man was it cool. The post race volunteers were so nice, congratulating and smiling, seeming so happy to be a part of the race themselves. And this is after 11,000 other runners had already finished.

Monday night, we partied back at our apartment, pizza, junk food, beer, laughs, all of the stories. Everyone had a great time at the race and we celebrated a couple of PRs a couple of blow ups and a few ran like me, just enough to finish in a decent time and still enjoy the race. I slept much better Monday night!

Tuesday

We got early to drive Duff to the airport. He is doing 'Boston to Big Sur' next weekend in California. First 400 to sign up for both races gets special shirts, jackets and medals. Sweet, I'd like to do this next year, or some time. It turned out Duff got his flight time wrong and rushed off in a cab, making it there just in time.

The drive home was much smoother despite frequent stops to keep the legs moving. We saw Boston shirts and jackets at each stop (we stopped 8 times) and had some good chats at each stop. The running community rocks.

The final word

I did not get Boston out of my system so to speak. It doesn't work that way.It's definitely not a feeling of 'been there done that'. In fact it is more like a drug, you try it, you like it, you want more, you need more. It's a good thing  that this drug won't have too many adverse side effects.

I can't wait to do it all again!

Wow, time flies. It seems like just a year ago (it was) that I was vying for a sub 20 5k. Spring Sprint last year was really the first time I was fir enough to do this, but it was a;so the first of a few 5k races where I either didn't pace well and didn't dig deep enough to get under 20 minutes.

Eventually, I did, in the fall, where I finally ran a smart, tough race. It was a great day for me, and I hope to get there again.

This year, my training-interuptus lead me to believe, or rather, not believe a sub 20 was in the cards. So I played the cards conservatively and went into this race feeling good about my legs again and hoping I hadn't lost too much speed.

I started out conservatively as we headed into the wind and ran a 4:00 even first km, about 10 seconds slower than the race where I ran 19:55. I assumed I was going to start slowing down as this is the fastest I'd run since last fall. No speed like this in training except for maybe a few strides here and there but certainly nothing close for 5 continuous kilometers.

I got to the 3km mark feeling better than usual but slightly behind a 20 minute pace. I was sure I was going to crash any second but I kept feeling good and pushed on. At 4k I was close to 16:00 but not sure exactly, I thought I was too far off but again, felt good and pushed as hard as I could right to the finish.

20:05

So close! I don't know if I could have run the final k faster but I sure think I could have gotten away with running the first few a bit faster. I wasn't upset at all. I was just happy to be able to put in an effort like that with almost no soreness during or after. I felt like a runner again. Especially combined with the previous Around The Bay race.

The Beaches Runners Club's debut as a team.

This highlight of the day was definitely entering the race, along with several other Beaches Runners Club members as a team. We finished 6th of 9 and were proud to get the name out there and be a part of a team. Something you do not get a lot of in this sport. I look forward to many more events where we can do the same. Awesome job to our participants from that race. Duff, Nir, Julie, Graham (an injured Heather cheering from the sidelines), Melanie, Pat and Frank. Thanks for coming out!

I have fallen behind ib blogging, reporting, and well, I will make this report brief, just to keep things moving along.

This race is king!

I mean, rain or shine, everyone always seems to enjoy this one.

I went into the Around the Bay race this year, way under-trained (for my liking) and slightly injured although the day of the race was luckily the first one in a while where I woke up and thought, wow, I could really go for a run today.

We struggled to get to the race on time, as we usually do, but fortunately, parking wasn't such a nightmare (if you're willing to dish out a double sawbuck) and we were ready to go with enough time to get 1km in for warm up, which my legs really needed.

I bumped into RunShorts  fellow Running Coach / RR Clinic instructor / Blogger and we exchanged pleasantries both a little wary of what we were capable of. Time to focus. Congrats to her for a 3rd silver medal, given to women who run sub 2:30.

I ran a fairly conservative first 10k in 47 minutes, and then pushed a bit harder in the 2nd 10k getting there in 1:34. 1:38 and change at the half was satisfying for me after such a dismal winter---spring training. From there on in the hills roll. I kept it just under 5 minute kms and struggled a bit with pain in the left hammie up the hill and pain in the right quad down the hills.

At 27k, in 2:05 and 3k left to go, all of the hills out of sight, I thought I would be able to kick and run close to 4 min/km and get under 2:20 again, but alas I was out of juice, I barely kept in under 5 min/km and finish 2:23:30. All in all not too bad and promising for the upcoming trip to Boston.
I did not wear headphones, as per usual, but I did have a great song going through my mind the whole race. Matt Biaco's Yeh yeh...look it up. Great running tune!

It was a great outing for all of our Beaches Runners and Running Room friends. Loads of PRs and huge smiles. Love that aspect of racing. I doubt we'd be so into it if it weren't for so many friendly faces at these events.

Moving on, more races, Good Friday Road ra ces, and Beaches Spring Spring. Those reports to follow shortly.

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