If you are following along with my race reports you will know that this is race #3 of 2012 and my race #2 at Around the Bay didn’t go as planned. Well chalk up another crash and burn for me with 10K to go.
My goal for this half was a sub 1:35 and I thought it was very attainable given my 1:35:05 at the Chilly Half earlier in the year. My training has been a little lacking of late and I really pushed hard in my week leading up to the half to make up for some other lacking weeks. No taper for this guy. I didn’t say I was very smart.. lol
I had a shake out run two days prior to the race and noticed my legs were very sore so I did some heavy massaging the last two days leading up to the half. I think this really beat up my legs as they felt very tired and heavy on race day.
Now onto the race itself. I started off at what I thought was a comfortable pace watching the KM’s go by at a 4:24 Pace, until I got to that hill at 10K. I usually like hills but for some reason my legs were screaming and my breathing got very heavy on this hill. I don’t think I ever fully recovered. I was able to hold a 4:24-4:26 pace for the next few KMs but I was done at KM 13. Nowhere near the finish and out of gas again, my legs were done and I had to walk for a bit. This seems to be a recurring theme for me lately.
I was passed again by all the people I passed over the last 10KMs and walk/ran in for a 1:40:59 chip time. Another disappointing run in the books, but hey I still got a medal and finish line photo. Lol
As for the event. This would be my 3rd Mississauga Marathon event and this year by far had the most crowd support (Maybe because it was such a beautiful day). It is still not as much as the Scotia but has improved greatly over the years. Special thanks to all of the drummers playing, people who set up stereo systems or the mini Wellesley college girls heading onto the waterfront trail. The race itself is a net downhill, only has two real noticeable climbs (1 coming out of Erindale Campus (6Kish) and the other at 10K). It is a fast half marathon and I usually don’t notice the hills as much as I did today. You can see the finish area and hear the cheers with about 1-2K’s remaining. This is nice as it really motivates you, but also bad because it feels like you are approaching the finish line for ever. I really like this event for some reason and don’t let the canons at the start line scare you. I swear my HR peeks every time they blast in my ear and surprise me.
Thanks for reading and thanks to Jodi and Norm of Running free Orangeville for coming out and supporting the crew.
