Ottawa Half Marathon 2009 Race Report

I completed my first half marathon yesterday. In fact, it was my first running event ever. I came in feeling pretty prepared, but not really that excited. I have a small competitive problem with times. For some reason, a 2:00:05 would be completely unacceptable to me, but a 1:59:59 would be just fine. I'm not sure when it started, but it seems to be working for me.

I ended up finishing with a time of 1:58:50, about 6 to 10 minutes faster than I was expecting to finish. I contribute this to my complete abandonment of my game plan, and going out way too fast. This wasn't all bad in the beginning, since I ran a PB in the first 5k and 10k, which I found pretty exciting during the race.

All and all, it was a pretty poor run. I was happy with my time, but I didn't run smart. The training went well, with the exception of a peroneal injury about 4 weeks out, which sidelined me for a few days. I should have had faith in my training and gone with my game plan. I ended up finishing well, but I didn't finish strong, and it could have been a lot worse.

I think it was mostly the atmosphere which caused me to leave my plan at the starting line. I wasn't prepared to be packed in like a sardine, or have to "salmon" past slower runners for the first 40 minutes or so. I hope next time it will be different. I hope I'll be more prepared, and will forget what's going on around me and just run.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still happy with the race, I guess I just like being critical. A lot of good things came out of the race. I found out that I can make it through 21k, which is good to know, now that I'm starting to train for a half ironman. I was able to keep my cadence up, even though I was suffering from heat exhaustion. Despite some pain in my right hip, I think my hip extension was pretty good (i have a tendency to bend at the waist a little).

Some details I remember from the race:

• I was planning on following the 2:00 pace bunny, but started minutes behind the 2:15 pace bunny.
• Took me 7 minutes from the time the gun went off to get to the starting line.
• Started running around 5:00/km, weaving left and right, trying to pass the slower runners to catch up with my pace bunny
• about 2km in, I started to feel that I had worn the wrong socks. Even though I had tested them in longer runs during training, something was up, and I could feel the blisters coming
• spotted my track coach about 3km in, who reminded me about my cadence. I didn't need the reminder (apparently I don't mind counting steps for 2 hours straight) but I appreciated the advice
• I felt really strong. Much better than I was expecting.
• at the 6km water station, I decided to fight the masses and get some water. Until this point I found it bizarre that people would wear fuel belts or carry water when it was available every 3km. The chaos of the water tables, made me thankful that lots of people had brought their own water.
• there were a few hills between 6km and 9km, but they were short, and the rest of the course was pretty much flat.
• spent from about 10km to 12km looking for my wife, who was there to cheer me on. I didn't see her, but she tells me she was there
• By the time I hit 14km, I was feeling a little rough. Blisters were in full force, and my right hip was hurting to the point, where my movement was a little restricted. This is where my performance really started to drop.
• Until this point, I was running between a 5:00/km and 5:30/km pace. The last 7km where between 5:45/km and 6:00/km. I was happy that I didn't fall below 6:00 at all though.
• It was this point where I was starting to get concerned I wasn't going to make it in under 2 hours. My pace was slowing every km or so, and i was really starting to feel the heat.
• With 3km to go, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. I had been running for 1:40, and was starting to get chills. I think I was starting to suffer from heat exhaustion. It also didn't help that I kept passing by people who were running marathon, collapsed on the side of the road, receiving aid. That was starting to look like a pretty good idea.
• The last km was pretty rough. I had slowed to 6:00/km, and was running on empty. I just kept thinking about the finish line, and my celebratory poutine (which I didn't end up getting this year, unfortunately).
• Getting closer to the finish line, I saw my good friends Dave and Natasha cheering me on. It's nice to have supporters.
• I crossed the finish line in 1:58:50, and wobbled to the recovery area.