Losing My 42.2 Virginity in Hamilton

Losing My 42.2 Virginity in Hamilton

I wasn’t sure if I would do yet another review on a race especially when my wife is already writing one for Hamilton but I figured we might have different views as the Road2Hope Marathon was the race that was going to take away my 42.2 km virginity. After writing this I realized and looking back, I realize I might have got a bit carried away in the details.  Instead of slashing this report up I figured I owed it to my first to keep the details in.  Instead I will doing something backwards and start with a summary so you can just read it if you want.

SUMMARY:

• Poor Race Expo
• A couple of Hotel’s close by if you want to stay over (less stress full)
• Lots of food choices close by to these hotels
• Well organized event
• Fast Race
• Great out and back so can see all runners
• Nice long downhill section (good for recovery or for some to catch up time)
• Bad ending with having multiple turns.
• Question the distance or spacing of the markers
• Not many pictures along the course
• Medal was the same for the 1/2 and full finishers which was a disappointment
• Will be back next year for sure!

THE DETAILS:

I thought I was pretty calm but working up to this race I kept hearing “Aaron is pretty nervous”. The common question that gets asked is “what is your goal time?”. Get use to being asked this and make sure you have a good answer.  This is where I would get myself in trouble. Looking back I should have just set a goal and gone for it. I partially set a goal, but ended up having many. My response would get refined as I went along. It first started as “anything under 3:30 and I will be happy”. This was true, but not the entire truth.  My 3:30 answer didn’t go over well from my fellow runners. “You are faster than that, you can do better”.  My problem was I hadn’t done a marathon so really had no clue on what I could or could not do. I knew I could run 1/2 marathon races in under 1:30, but doubling that distance left a big question mark. 

I started training at the Ajax Running Free back in June with the initial thoughts of doing Scotia.  As the training went on I changed my mind when I heard so many doing the Road2Hope Marathon.  Looking back I wouldn’t have started training so soon as I ended up getting injured by having IT band, Piriformis, and Gluteus Maximus issues (not to mention a hernia I ran with all summer and the race).

The Road2Hope Marathon is known to be a fast race.  The race organizers highly publicize the fact that they have the most people at any marathon qualify for Boston at their race.  This was another key factor for me doing Road2Hope instead of another marathon.  I wanted my first marathon to be special.  I wanted to run it fast and to be able to say I qualified for Boston my first time out.  Eventually I would admit to this as people asked, but for some reason still wasn’t sure that I could actually meet my goals.  I ended up training with other runners who were aiming for a 3:10.  I figured this gave me a 5 minute cushion as I really needed a 3:15 to BQ.

To help take some of the nerves out of the equation, my wife and I decided to book a Hotel in Hamilton.  The price was reasonable and we were able to get a late checkout at 3 pm which meant we could run the race, take our time getting back to the room, and have a shower.  We took the 407 ETR to Hamilton as we learned from past experience that taking other routes from Ajax were a risk.  We left Saturday afternoon and got to the race expo with a couple hours to spare.  It took no time to go through the race expo and I must admit it was a disappointment.  You went into one tent to find your name and number.  This was easy enough as everything was well labelled and in alphabetical order.  Once you had your number, you went to the appropriate table and picked up your kit.  After picking up your kit in which you got a bag with a few brochures and that is about it, you could go to the expo tent.  The expo tent only had a few vendors and there wasn’t much to purchase.  The race organizers had the shirts from your race kit at the back of the tent which from a vendor point of view, at least forced you to walk through everything.  I was able to get my size, but I heard of some other people later not having the same luck.  I guess the lesson learned is to show up early if you want to get your size.  I filled out on the registration what size of shirt I needed, but they didn’t seem to check.  After a quick look around my wife and I went and checked into the Hotel.  The nice thing about the location of the race pickup and hotel is that there were many options to choose from for dinner.  Some people went out for fancy dinners but my wife and I didn’t want to risk waiting a long time to get our food.  Instead, we went the safe route which ended up being Eastsides.  I had a nice pasta dinner (even though I likely should have carbo loaded earlier).  After dinner we went back to the hotel.  I proceeded to get everything laid out for the next day.  I am not a morning person so didn’t want to rush.  The rooms had a fridge and microwave so we also picked up some supplies for after the race to leave in the room.  What I really liked about the night before Road2Hope was that we had the time change which gave an extra hour of sleep. I went to bed much earlier than normal and surprising enough, I actually got a good night sleep.  Even the party people outside our room between 2 and 3 am didn’t seem to bother me that much as I was able to go right back to sleep.

The next morning many of us met at the park at a pre-determined determined location.  Having a hotel room so close meant a quick 5 minute car ride to the park.  It was very cold out so many people we dressing in layers.  I had what I was going to race in and an extra long sleeve shirt for the bus ride there not to mention a few garbage bags just incase.  Next time I think I might just arrange to meet people in a corner of the gym as waiting outside was cold.  You really didn’t have to dress in layers as you could have just got on the heated buses and went to the heated gym.  After meeting up with most of our group, we headed to Saltfleet School which took about 10 minutes by bus.  The last bus left at 7:30 but our group wasn’t going to take any chances.  Once at the school we headed towards the gym only to have to squish our way past the washroom lineups.  The women’s washroom always have long lineups, but this time the men did as well (although not as bad).  A hint for people is that on the other side of the school, there wasn’t even a lineup.  There were also many porta potties outside which didn’t have long lineups until close to race time.  In the gym I met another group of people.  This is where I found my two training partners.  We had agreed to run together at a 4:30 pace until the 30K mark.  At that point we would go our separate ways if we felt so inclined.  The other two I was running with had already qualified for Boston and had multiple marathon races under their belt.  They were my security blanket and did a great job.  While waiting for the race to start our group joked around and took many pictures.  It was a very relaxing experience.  There was a bag check for those who brought bags which was also well organized.

Just prior to the start our group went outside and found the various pace bunnies related to our individual goal times.  I couldn’t find a 3:10 pace bunny so just stuck with my two personal pace bunnies I trained with.  It was too cold and crowded outside to get a good warmup run in.  As it turned out, as soon as the race started, the three of us were forced into a warmup.  We were doing in the 5’s for a lot of the first km but still managed a 4:37 first km pace by weaving in and out of people.  This was slower than I was hoping for but knew I was in good hands and would make it up.  Before I knew it we found our grove and seemed to pull off many 4:20 to 4:25 kilometer paces.  This was my first race (other than quick 10k races) where I decided not to take any liquid with me and relied on the water stations.  In past 1/2 marathon races I have done, any time I used the water stations I would spill it all over myself or end up with the liquid up my nose.  To my surprise I did quite well.  The cups didn’t seem to be filled too high and those that were I actually was smart enough to pour some up then pinch.  The water stations were nicely spaced.  As the race progressed I learned to look for the bunch of people at the side so I could take a gel earlier and not have to try to squeeze one in while holding e-load.

My favourite part of the race (besides crossing the finish line) was the out and back area.  It was great to be able to see our “group A” from the Ajax running free that was going for between 2:50 and 3 hours.  I enjoyed being able to high five them and give as well as receive encouragement even if it was only a brief few seconds.  It was also nice being part of our “group B” and seeing all of your friends that were behind you.  It gave you an idea of how they were doing.  We continued pushing along and hit the 1/2 way marker at 1:33 and knew we were doing well.  I was impressed as it was only 4 minutes or so off my 1/2 marathon times.  I thought to myself “can I keep this up”.  I still had another 1/2 marathon left and my legs feel far from race start fresh.  Everyone warned me prior to the race that “the race doesn’t begin until after 30k”.  Knowing that I had done 38k in training and still had the downhill to enjoy I wasn’t worried.  For some reason running at a 4:30 pace seemed much easier than training runs at between a 5 and 5:15 pace.  It was likely because of the taper, and adrenaline from running in a race that made it seem that way.  Another enjoyable part for most was the long downhill section.  This is the area of the course that I heard the most about prior to the race.  I decided to take the recommendation of many faster runners by using the downhill as a recovery and just maintain a 4:30 pace without really breaking.  It was funny as this was some of the slowest kilometers I ran during the race.  I was getting passed fairly frequently and even one of my other friends that I thought was further behind, caught up.  He and I stayed about 6 to 10 feet behind my built in pace bunnies.  I told him “watch…as soon as we hit the flats, we will be off”.  Sure enough, the downhill stopped and we were back off to a 4:20 ish pace.  Before long we had caught many of those who had passed on the downhill and unexpectedly we dropped my other friend who caught up on the downhill.  As we would pass every other km marker I would do the math and call off how much time we had in the bank according to the elapsed time and the 3:10 paceband I had.  At the 30k mark everything still seemed fine.  One of my pace bunnies started to speed ahead which was what I expected, but the other stayed back and actually seemed to slow.  Before we hit the 32k marker it was apparent that a foot injury my training partner received weeks prior to the race had finally caught up to him.  I told him I would stay with him but he quickly told me to keep going and run the race I had trained for.  At this point I was concerned that there was still over 10k to go and my injuries could flair up at anytime as well.  I decided not to focus on what could happen, but rather what was happening.  I had over 3 minutes in the bank and was feeling good.  I figured all I had to do was maintain a 4:30 pace for the next 10K and I would have my time no problem.  Our tempo runs were typically longer than this distance and much faster than a 4:30 pace (although we hadn’t started with a 32k warmup prior to the tempo runs).  So here I was, all alone with nobody to rely on but myself.  Up ahead I noticed a female that passed me on the downhill.  I figured her goal must be close to mine and she seemed to be running at a similar pace as I had seen her many times during the race.  I decided that even though I was a fair ways behind her, to just make sure the distance didn’t increase.  It actually worked very well for me.  I ended up catching her at the 40k mark at which point she was “dying”.  I tried to motivate her as best I could and run in with her.  She said if she kept the pace up that we were doing she would puke.  I said “no problem…puke if you have to, but we are not slowing down or giving up this close to the end”.  It seemed to work as even though our pace had slowed slightly, we still carried on close to the 4:30 pace.  For me, 40-41K was the hardest and it showed on my Garmin with my slowest average of 4:38 for the km.  I picked it up again and pushed onwards.  The last stretch wasn’t much of a stretch.  You could see the finish line above a hill but had to run what seemed forever before making a right onto a gravel path, then another right, follow by another right before finally taking a left and heading the last few hundred meters towards the finish line.  In past 1/2 marathons I always had the energy to sprint and finish strong but at this point my legs were done.  All I was thinking was “left, right, left, right…keep moving”.  Before I knew it I had crossed the line and finished under my 3:10 goal.  I had qualified for Boston on my first marathon and beat many of the more experience runners I had run with in the past.  It was a pretty cool feeling.  It seemed to lose some of the excitement as many of the other people that I had always had to cheer me on weren’t around.  I guess that is the problem when you decide to run a race with many of the people you normally run with as we all had different goals.  Lucky for me I saw a few of the “group A” people that had mentored me so it felt good to receive their genuine congratulations.  Once I stopped I wanted to figure out what my time was.  Somehow my Garmin and my race results didn’t match up.  I know this can happen but was surprised as even doing the elapsed time compared to the km markers as I was going along seemed to be off.  In the end I did a 3:09:13, but I can only figure that the markers were consistent, but off for most of the race then corrected near the end as there was no way that I lost three minutes in the last few km when my Garmin still had me at a decent pace.  This seemed to be what other runners found at all.  In the end, I didn’t really care.  It was time for a quick change  into some warmer clothes, grab some food, and back to watch other fiends finish.  From up on the hill I mentioned previously, you were able to see people run by which worked out great to cheer them on and know when to expect them to finish.  The only person I missed crossing the line that I really wanted to see was the most important person in my life, my wife.  I felt horrible when I heard her call my name from behind a group of people who had already finished.  It turns out that she had the best race of hear life and qualified for Boston as well.  I was so proud.  Nothing like being able to say you and your wife qualified for Boston at the same race.  Next year I am going to remember to bring a battery for our camera so I can capture more pictures.  It seems somewhat anti climatic with a lack of pictures.  If there was a professional photographer, I didn’t see them on the course or at the finish line, but according to the horrible picture crossing the line, there must have been someone taking pictures.  A recommendation for the race coordinators would be to get more pictures of people on the course and finish line.  If it is such a fast race and so many people qualify for Boston, you would think people would want some sort of photo for memory.  The race medals were also somewhat of a disappointment.  Nothing like the GoodLife marathon that seemed huge like an Olympic medal.  People who finished the 1/2 marathon and full got the same medal.  Oh well, at least I have my memories.  They say you always remember your first and I am sure I will! 

Having only completed my first marathon, I am hardly an expert.  What I can offer is advice to those who might be doing their first marathon in the future.  If you have done shorter distances such as a 1/2 marathon, use webpages that are available to predict what you should be capable of during a full marathon.  I recommend to get a training program for that predicted time and stick to it.  If it seems to easy, than modify, but don’t over train.  Doing more isn’t always better and don’t start too early.  I think I peaked prior to this race, and I often pushed to hard which likely is why I got injured.  Get some longer runs in.  Try to run as long as you hope to do the marathon in to get your legs use to it.  My lungs and heart where fine, but the last couple km were the hardest. I found the fact I ran for 3 hours and 15 minutes multiple times before helped at least mentally if not anything else.  Some people may disagree with this advise.  The fact is that everyone has their own opinion.  You know your body best, and listen to it.  The most important thing I can say is enjoy the experience!  Not many people can say they have completed a marathon!