Victoria, October 2008

Sunday, October 12, 2008
Royal Victoria Marathon
My 42.195 km

Prologue – My Dad and I are just outside of the Wax Museum with five minutes to go before the start of the 8 km road race. I'll be on the start line of the marathon in about an hour but am here to watch for my Mum in the 8k. (She would go on to finish 6th in her age group and was very pleased with herself.) We never did see Mum start the race but Simon Whitfield showed up and had no one to look after his daughter while he raced the 8 km. Turns out he was looking for a teammate who was supposed to be there to do some daycare. Dad offered to watch Pippa for the race or until Simon's teammate showed up. So Simon hopped the barrier to start the race (finished 3rd overall), Dad got to look after Pippa for a few minutes until the teammate did arrive, and I headed off to the start line.

Pro-prologue – I made the decision to train and race in the marathon sometime in August. I had been training with two or three short runs each week and most Sundays I would run a progressively longer long run. By mid-August I figured I was on track and not getting injured and could then complete the race. My longest long run before October 12 was 34 km and I had three over 30 km so I figured that should get me across the line. I wasn't expecting to finish the marathon easily but was confident I could finish strong. A bacterial infection and 10 days on antibiotics in late-September wasn't part of the program but you have to take the good with the bad...

8:30 am – The race started well. My goal pace was 4:30 kilometers and from past races, I know I tend to start fast. So after the first three or so kilometers when I was on track, I felt good. Some of the uphill kilometers were a bit slower but I made up the time on the downhill. At 10 km I was just under 45 minutes. So again, I was on track. I skipped the first water stop but ate one of my power gels and started taking in water soon after the 10 km mark.

9:30 am – Between the 10 and 20 km marks, I slowed down some. I realized I wasn't staying on my 4:30 pace but that didn't matter. I still felt strong and during some stretches would pick up my pace for five to 10 minutes at a time.

10:12 am – I crossed the half-way mark at 1 hour, 42 minutes. Two or three kilometers past half-way, I noticed my first cramp. It hit me in my right thigh and the cramp tried to pull my leg higher up. I forced my foot down and carried on. Every few minutes after that I would get another cramp. I made sure to take in water at every station.

10:30 am – Christine and Emma and my Dad arrived at the finish line. I told them I might be crossing around the 3 hour mark and they didn't want to miss me.

10:45 am – I think it was the 28 km mark where I actually had to stop running and stretch. Cramps in my thighs, calves and knees (knees???) nearly made me collapse. All I could do was shuffle/walk or stretch. After a stretch I could shuffle/walk another few minutes. Many times between 28 and 35 km or so I figured it would be much easier to flag down someone for a ride back to the start line. However, the thought of crossing the finish line (even in a hobbled state) was enough to keep me going.

11:40 am – 3 hours, 10 minutes. This was the cutoff time to qualify for the Boston Marathon for my age group. Before the race I had thought I might finish in 3:10. I was somewhere in Oak Bay when 3:10 came and went.

12:10 pm – Some marathons have “pace bunnies” that runners can run with. The bunnies usually finish within a few minutes of the time marked on their ears. I was just going past Clover Point (still four or five km from the finish) when the four hour pace bunny and his entourage blew past me.

12:30 pm – Four hours into my race and the kilometers were flying by now. I had less than two kilometers to go and could taste the finish line. My goal at that time was to run (and by that I mean shuffle/jog) the final straight stretch along Belleville Street in front of the spectators. Turned out that was a bit too ambitious and I again had to walk one more time. As soon as I could see the finish line, I started jogging again and then saw my Dad and Christine and Emma cheering me on. Emma had made a great sign and I think they were mostly relieved to see me, not knowing where I was for the past 2+ hours.

12:39 pm – I crossed the line in 4:09:21.The race started out great. The weather was great. My preparation, I thought, was good. The infection certainly didn't help and the antibiotics probably were the worst offender. The race itself was the most physically challenging event I've ever done and my body took the better part of a week to recover (one toe nail still doesn't look right). And I'll do it again. Running that marathon and knowing the preparation it takes to get to the start line made it worth the effort. The result could have been much better and that's what I'll work to next time.

Out.