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I wake up, I'm tired but not unlike usual at 5am. My race gear is prepped and laid out, my stomach is yelling at me with excitement. I'm unsure, it's not great to be unsure, but it's not horrible either. It's a ? I love race morning, not unlike this morning, everything is so routine and so particular, one tiny mistake and it can cause your race to explode and you'll have trained 16 weeks and run 42km for nothing! The adrenaline is pumping, I'm quite nervous this morning, for marathon 8, it's a feeling I haven't had in a while, like I'm about to run my first race. When you run your first race, it's usually unplanned madness, but the excitement is awesome. You just never know how the run is going to pan out. This is where my head space was at. Slight anxiety, asthma thoughts, and 5 weeks to train and recover had me pretty silent, lets say lost in thoughts right up to the start line.
We arrived at 6:30am, after a bathroom break, and warm up, I made it to the start with 2 minutes to spare. Watch "check",tunes "check", lets rock and roll! The gun goes off, I'm feeling pretty good right from the start, I'm relaxed and am quite close to the front at this point, I could catch the leader if I sprinted right now...uhhhh..actually...nope they're gone.. I check my watch "woh" I'm hitting a 4:15 pace, I wanted to stay on 4:20/km, but I feel pretty good at this pace. Huh... Maybe I'll roll with this for a little while to bank some time for the inevitable hills and pain coming later in the race. Chances are if I keep the pace up just a bit right now, I know I'll slow near the end, but it'll be okay.Carry on my wayward.
I'm at about 10k, I feel my left lung, just having a bit of trouble keeping up, I start thinking wearily of the worst possibilities. You just never know when you could lose a race from under you. Sure, right now is golden,but in an instant everything can change, and your mental strength is left carrying your entire weight the rest if the race-the worst kind of fun.
After about 5k later:15k in my lungs start to give me a break, I've kept up the 4:15-4:17 pace at this point, I'm losing it a bit on some hills, but I'm starting to form a new game plan in my head. I like this kind of racing, it's the kind that pays you a little more than you thought you were getting. I'm popping a gel every 30minutes and an e-tab every 30, I don't enjoy them but it only takes 5 minutes for me to notice the positive benefits from both, as my body continues to maintain strength coming up on 20km's. 20k is a place I know I can really start to believe that I can keep this race as a BQ. Funny, I wasn't sold on the idea just a few kilometers back.
There's a group just ahead of me near the war museum, they seem to be shooting for a 3 hour marathon, just judging by the size of it (about 10 people) and the energy they come back with after a hill. I catch up to them on my the last bridge before the War museum. They're moving, but about my pace, I stay with them for a few kilometers and decide to move on, 4 of them stick with me until we get back from Quebec onto Sussex.
We're nearing the 25km mark, I start picturing the rest of the course in my head, and visualizing running it, this is a definite advantage. I've left 3 of the 4 racers I was with behind, the one has actually gone ahead about 750m. I've decided to try and catch up with him. By 32 km I start to close in, I've remained consistent with 4:15-4:17pace. I thought I'd lose it in Quebec, as we confronted a long sloping hill, I thought I'd shut down, but a gel saved me and really kept me in. It seemed it was almost over, but now at 32km, I've only begun to get stronger.
We arrive back on Sussex, I'm feeling the effects at this point, I'm ready for the big crowd that's bound to be off Wellington, as I crest the Sussex bridge and arrive back close to the Canadian Mint, I find a massive cheer section that fills me with energy for the next few kilometres, along with my next target.
As my unrelenting WALL arrives,a debilitating feeling, the feeling of needing to stop, of needing anything but running, it's mostly mental. I need new focus, there it is a tall dude in a blue and white shirt, he's been infront of me for a while, I almost passed him a few kilometers ago, but he's gotten stronger and is a head 500 metres. I focus on a yellow shirt beside him as we pass the mark for 40km.
I feel like the pain of Boston was much worse than my current state, and reminded me where I didn't want to be mentally. I decided not to go there this time, not to let go of everything, not today. I stayed locked like a radar on this yellow shirt, quickly checking my pace. I've started to fall off a bit, and I'm really struggling to hold, but as I pass the yellow shirt, I see the light. I'm crossing pretoria bridge with less than 2km's and refocus on the blue and white shirt who has continued a strong pace. It's so great right now, to know it's almost over, I'm passing some people without noticing them because of that friggin blue and white shirt. I pass 750m, then 650m then 500meters...wait what? This guy I've just passed refuses to be passed and starts a sprint, I refuse, and grit my teeth in a sprint, the crowd goes wild, and we're both giving it every last bit to cross that line first. He's got me the last 100 meters and then I push once more and beat him across the line by a second! What a great feeling, what a great finish, I'm woozy...I might pass.... "wheelchair!"
After I get out of the first aid tent, the medics see that it was just the last effort that had me struggling, all is good, another proud race, another PB, and another BQ. So close to a sub 3!! I didn't catch the blue and white shirt, but it's all good! Right there is the huge difference between a great race, and a crap race.
Enjoy the outdoors,
D
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