My Boston Monday, April 21st, 2014

It's  not often you get to see a city rise to the occasion in the wake of a tragedy like Boston has this past year. Today's marathon was a grande conclusion to this chapter in the cities history. I'm so grateful and humbled to have been part of Boston 2014. I shivered multiple times as the crowd cheered continuously from Hopkington to Boston. The people of Boston were #strong and proud, and showed the world the passion they have for their city. 

My run went well. Coming to Boston for the third time, I felt comfortable in aiming for a 2:55. I settled into a nice pace to begin and honed into the atmosphere. The sun was shining and the runners were focused. It was tough to navigate through the many racers ahead of me. That's the disadvantage of a big race like Boston. It's very hard to get ahead for the first 10km.

 Thick crowd of runners, people peeing on the side of the course fr the first 5K, water stations on both sides of the roads, amazing fans, the smell of beer.

This is Boston...

I hit 20KM, feeling confident. This is where my decision making went to crap. I decided I'd bump up my pacing to 3:45/km, and that ended quickly. By 25KM I was hurtin and fell back on the pace. The fight begins...

Hard part about a marathon is that at some point you're going to hurt, mentally and physically. When that is, is up

to you. It's "the fight" or the "holding on" portion of a marathon. At 25KM I started my fight and by 35KM I was toast. My calf was giving out and my mental attitude was done.

Good attitude: "feeling great. I may be able to do better than I thought. I can hold on. Maybe I can catch that person"

Bad attitude:"I just want this to be over. I don't care about pace or time. I just want it to end."

After the fun of Wellesly College girls (screaming, funny signs) the cheering of Boston College and too many amazing crowds to mention. The Citgo sign appeared and the last few tough KMS came to an end.

Tough race, but very glad to come in under 3:00 with 2:53. I would do things differently next time, and there's still a lot of room for improvement. But I'm really so grateful to be part of today.

Best signs:

"Free beer, and cigarettes"

"Help me get to 100 kisses-tally chart"

"Slap this sign for power"

"Hurry up, the Kenyans are drinking your beer"

Maybe they weren't the best, but they were the only ones I can remember!

Here's to you and the city of Boston! #Boston Strong

D

Around The Bay 2014

It's been a longtime since I've blogged....

With the cold of winter, it's been a lot of behind the scenes running and not as much racing. It's been the nitty gritty part of training that no one wants to hear about. Comprised of cold days, 10 pounds of gear and general bitterness for the environment around me. Now that it's nearly over, we're back into race season and the fun begins. 

I signed up for Around the Bay with a few reasons in mind: I have family near Hamilton, and after arriving back to Ottawa from China a day before ATB 2013, I bombed the race and it was time for some "race revenge". 1:59:59 was the goal. It was that time or less so I could take home that gold medal. With that, I'll give you the run down of the 120th Anniversary of the oldest race in North America. 

 Why I Enjoy This Race ►►►►

Challenging rolling hills  I had to really fight to hold onto my pace and maintain the time goal, as the hills slowed down my pace considerably. 
 
Great Competition  As the oldest race in North America, there was a lot of tough competition which makes this race very enticing, you get pushed to bring out your best. (About 6500 participants)
 
Great Boston Prep Course  I'll be heading to Boston in a few short weeks. This was a nice test to see where my fitness was at after a long winter of training. 

Stadium Finish  It's so awesome to finish in a stadium, it makes for such an adventurous end to a long 30KM journey. The stadium is full of cheering fans, what more could you ask for?

Medal Incentives  Aim for a time and get the medal to match it.

Medal	Men	Women
Gold	Under 2 hrs	Under 2:15
Silver	2 hrs to 2:15	2:15 to 2:30
Bronze	over 2:15	over 2:30

ATB things to think about  ►►►►

Bring a GPS   If you're not a resident of GTA, or Hamilton/Burlington, it can be a tough place to navigate and the highways are whacky. I recommend saving yourself the stress of guessing.

Factory Central  Only downfall to this years' course that I don't remember of last year, was that they take you through the factory portion of town. I assume because it was easy for road closures, but it was gross air quality all the same. 

Dress Properly This race is one of the trickiest races I've had to dress for. Much of the time it feels cold in the morning, and the bay brings in cold air on the course. I would under dress rather than overdress though. That was the biggest complaint I heard on race day. "Frig, I wore way too much gear" 

Race Pick Up/Day Parking I hate paying for parking in a place that's obviously charging because of an event where they can take advantage of people. Last year I paid a ton for parking, and lined up a long time waiting to pay. This year I parked 1KM down the road off of Pearl St. and saved money & stress. When the race ended I cheered on finishing participants on the way to the car, and was close enough to the hwy to easily get away from the road closures. 

I've left this blog more as a review than a race report. Partly because my race went really well. I don't have too many criticisms to talk about. I went in to the run thinking I would be a bit slower based on winter training, and I was happy to see my legs came through. I had a bit of trouble running against the wind, and cramped up a bit at times, but I was able to work on breathing quite a bit and come through it which was a major positive. I love that no matter how fast you are, there's always room for improvement.

I really enjoyed this run. Here's my Rating:
  
Course ★★★★ 4/5  Fun and Challenging. From rolling hills to wind chills, you have to earn this one.

City  ★★★ 3/5 As an Outsider, I don't find it overly attractive. But it's close to Toronto & Niagara which is a +.

Expo  ★★★★ 4/5   In a stadium, lots of washrooms, easy to navigate and lots of places to sit down and hangout. It's also the start of the race so you know where to go in the morning and can scout the area.

Gear ★★★★★ 5/5 Some of the best SWAG in the game. Around the Bay usually has great shirts with your race kit, made by New Balance. They're one race that hasn't cheaped out on poorly designed shirts.

 Overall ★★★★ 4/5 Love the gear, love the incentive to medal, and the challenging course. A race that you want to return to, always deserves a 4.

Here's to you and enjoying those challenges!

Gold Medal

D