The Grimsby Half Marathon

Event:       Grimsby Half Marathon

Date:         Sunday February 28, 2010

Website:   http://www.instride.ca/

2010 is the first year I really sought out the Half Marathon distance races of the Greater Toronto Area.  Having been a weaker runner when it came to this particular distance, it took a lot of convincing to go with the half marathon per month challenge that I came up with.  The Grimsby Half is the second of twelve Half’s I’ll be doing this year, and if the other 10 races are as nice and as straight forward as this one was – I’ll be a happy man. 

Grimsby is a small town nestled in between St Catherines and the Hamilton/Stoney Creek area.  Although being a quaint town (population of 65,000ish), it has a heap of character as it’s surrounded by huge bluffs and busy streets.  The Half Marathon is held annually in Grimsby by the Subaru running series and the start/finish line is held just outside the Grimsby Secondary School.  

Check in at this event was a very smooth process (as with most Subaru races), and consisted of a 4 step process.  First you grab your number off of a large sandwich board in the gymnasium of the school, next you check in with the adjoining table to grab your bib.  After picking up your bib you were then greeted by volunteers to pick up your timing chip and then it was off to get your race shirt… all in all, a 3 minute process (if you registered online not on site).  Once registration/check in was over with, I was jogging around to warm up the legs.  Sportstat was also on hand to keep all the timing functions of the race in check and were busy setting up the timing mats and the clocks.  I ran around a strip mall a few times before I made it over to the starting area to do some stretching and wait for the race to begin.  While waiting around I was approached by a few Running Free team members Alan Caballero who was running the 3 kilometer race and Mike Bosch who was running the half marathon with me. 

Once the horn went off to signal the mass start of the Half Marathon, the sun had just started to peak from behind the cloudy skies.  The starting few kilometers of the race took us through some residential communities of Grimsby out onto the main street and down towards the lake.  I felt good through the first stretch but tried not to push it too hard.  I’ve done this in the past and suffered towards the closing kilometers of other races, and it’s hard to recover when you really have nothing left in the tank.  The next 6 or so kilometers took us through several older homes close to the water in Grimsby, followed up by a long stretch down a long road that ran parallel along the QEW into the 10^th kilometer.  Just before I reached this point the leading two people in the race were already on their way back…. good grief.  After a 2 or 3 kilometer loop through some mud, snow and broken asphalt, we ended up making our way back down the course that led us up to this point.  The wind was a little rough in a few sections, but overall it was perfect weather wise for a February race.  Personally, I ended up dressing too warmly with multiple layers on – but I survived.  In and around the 17^th kilometer I started to feel fatigued but had been running fairly well up to this point.  

All in all I had an average result missing my overall goal of 1:45 by just over 5 minutes.  Again, I’m not a great distance runner but I do enjoy the challenge.  This venue was both accommodating, fun and although not really challenging to a stronger runner – the gentle rollers you were faced at times certainly made it taxing if you hadn’t trained over the winter.  

The only complaint I have is no post race meal (that I was able to see anyway).

Next up, one of my most anticipated Half’s:  The Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington.