National Capital Race Weekend

Ahhh Monday morning and I can't get out of my chair without much pain and groaning... but the pain - so worth it!!

My official statement to the press is that I no longer hate road running!

I ran the Ottawa Marathon yesterday morning - my second ever marathon - and first one at home. My family was amazing - they all came out to support me - it meant the world to see them cheering along the race course and at the finish line. My mom and step dad stayed up late at night planning their 'race strategy' to zoom around on their bikes and see me go by as many times as they could! They were amazing - and gave me such a boost each time I saw them cheering away!

Dad, Jennifer and Kristina came to the finish - they waited in the pouring rain - and even stuck it out to find me in the crowd after I got through the finisher's corral! The past few years I have raced away from home - so amazing having family cheering me on!

So - the race... I was DREADING the race going into it - the last week my body has been achy, tired, lethargic and I was terrified it was going to fall apart after 10k. I also had a tiny secret - that my longest run of the season was the half marathon that I ran over a month ago. (YES - I know - stupid stupid stupid - as I am sure I am paying for it way more today because if it!)... but such was life...

The weather was marathon perfect - cool and overcast - but still warm enough that I was in shorts and a tank. I swear - I LOVE my sugoi tank tops - I own three of the same one - all different colors and that is all I run/bike in... at least the tan lines will be consistent!

The start was EARLY - 7am - I guess b/c last year's race was so hot... so I was up at a stupid hour trying to eat breakfast and then I headed over to the start for 6:30... nice that the start line was a 10 min walk from my house!

The first 10k of the race were super smooth - I didn't even really think about my pace until the 5k mark when I looked at my watch and realized I was running under 5min km's... which put me on a 3:30 marathon pace - this was insane to me as I was hoping to just scrape under 3:40... if I was lucky... but the pace felt great, so I kept it up...
Sadly my stomach was not loving the marathon - and it seemed like each time I had built about a minute of bonus time - I would dash into a portapotty and lose all my hard earned seconds... then I'd dash out - and hammer for 500m trying to make up some time... then I'd bank a minute - porta potty again... ahhh good times!

There were three big french guys that thought I was insane as I am sure I passed them four times in the last half of the race! grrr... stupid body.

But - regardless of pit stops - I stayed on a wicked pace - at the halfway point I felt pretty good and really didn't think about how much I had left to run... I just took it km by km... I didn't feel like eating and only took in one gel the whole race... as well - probably did not hydrate enough... Have to work on that for IMC.

The last 18k were LONG as a lot of it was on the canal - a route that I know all too well... but the last 10k were the worst. My quads had seized but my time was still good - I think I hit 30k at about 2:30 so I had an hour to run 12k to make 3:30 and tons of time if I wanted to make 3:40... I thought that as long as my legs and stomach held in there - I'd be fine...

My body was amazing - and totally sucked it up... the last 5k hurt so much - but the crowds along the canal were wicked - esp from pretoria on... Peter (my step dad) even ran along the canal path cheering me on for the last few km ... that was amazing... I knew I was going to be SO CLOSE to breaking 3:30 so I was trying to hammer the last 2k... according to the race clock - I was just over 3:30 BUT according to my timing chip and watch - I made it!!! 3:29 and change... (it took me a while to cross the start line after the gun went off).

I was so pumped to finish with such a shockingly amazing time!
After the race - I felt terrible so went home and passed out for a couple of hours... then woke up and played my first touch football game of the season. I joined a co-ed league with a few friends I know. It was so fun to be playing football again - although it was pretty painful runnign patterns last night. I did score a touchdown - which made yesterday even better!!

Today - you will recognize me by my hobble/limp... I am definately feeling the race... other than the quads... I am just really tired, dehydrated, achy and sore... but it is all very worth it!

Boston here I come - BOOYEAH!
ps: I will post pics as soon as I find some online!
pps: Thanks to everyone who was out there cheering us on - nothing is more energizing that amazing cheerleaders!