What a great day out there on October 11th. The 30th Annual Royal Victoria Marathon was incredible! This was the largest race they had ever held with almost 12,000 participants in various categories. The city was buzzing, to say the least, and the trip was awesome.
Karen and I powered through the race beginning that balmy Sunday morning at 8:30am. We began our day with our usual routine of oatmeal and toast, packed up our gear and headed out to the 8 degree weather to meet everyone else at the start line. We decided to line up near the back of the pack since our official time wouldn't start until our timing chips crossed the starting mat.
It didn't take long to get warm that morning as we headed up our first hill and into the sun. The road became a sea of runners as far as the eye could see in front of and behind us. It was now time to put our training to the test as we settled into our run. My only issue was that I may have over hydrated in the morning, meaning I had to find a port-a-potty soon. The only problem was that the line-ups would slow me down. Other runners were also in the same situation.
At every 3-4km, they had volunteers manning aide stations. They handed out water, gatorade and power gels. With every water station, I weighed the pros and cons about taking another drink. In my mind, I figured I could wait an hour or so before I burst or I could hope that the sensation would simply go away. Little did I know that I would have to wait over 3 hours to relieve myself. In retrospect, I should have just waited the minute or two near the beginning.
Nevertheless, the run felt great. Karen and I managed to keep our pace steady throughout the race. We each experienced some high and low moments as we made our way up and down the rolling landscape. There were times when my legs tightened and I wanted to stop and give them a rest. But our strategy was clear, we had to keep running as long as we could and walk only as we passed the aide stations for a drink and maybe some food. So keep moving we did.
As time passed it was evident that this race would be as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. The spectators, volunteers and supporters were amazing. The energy around us showed us why this is such a popular event to take part in. There were entertainers playing music, dancing, singing; there were people holding up signs of encouragement; and there were people calling out your name "You can do it Dan, you're the man!" How did they know my name? It was printed on my race bib along with my race number. What a nice touch.
As we hit certain distances along the way, I remembered my training runs. This is what it feels like to be at 30km, now just push past 35km and you're home free. At 32km I pushed past Karen. She was at a low point and didn't want to hold me up. So away I went, grinding out the last few kilometers. Up the hills. Down the hills. The course was rarely flat. Every time I got to the top of hill, I breathed a sigh of relief. At 37km I neared the top of one of the last long hills. I was so thankful. This part of the course I was familiar with since we had just run part of it the day before. One of the volunteers called out "Only 5km left Dan. Give me 5 solid kilometres. Promise me." I nodded as I came over the hill, taking nice long strides as I sped down the next 2km. My legs were pretty tight by now so even though going down hill felt much better than up, it hardly felt really good at all.
I was happy to see the water station at the bottom of the hill. I quickly grabbed a cup of gatorade and then a cup of water. No time to doddle, got to keep going. I chucked by cups and started moving my legs. Not even five strides, I heard a familiar voice. I turned quickly and to my surprise and delight, it was Karen. She had pushed through her low point until she regained her rhythm and somehow had managed to catch me. Wow! She's pretty amazing.
With only 3 kilometres left, I felt a renewed sense of determination. Somewhere in the back of my mind was a vision of me breaking up the last 3km running and walking and doing whatever was necessary to get finish it. With Karen by my side, there was no way I would even consider stopping now. As we approached each marker, the energy levels increased. The last few twists and turns of the course burned the legs, but brought us closer and closer to the end. And as we got closer to the finish line, we kept running faster and faster. As the finish line came into sight, we began sprinting. We passed others who were casually jogging their way to the end.
What a finish. And we crossed the line at the exact same time. It was so exciting with music playing and an announcer calling out our names. But I remember it only as a quick blur. Our official time - 4 hrs 23 min and 04 sec. After a few days of rest, I'll be at home, dreaming up the next crazy scheme for us to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment