On September 23rd I
competed in the Ottawa Army Run half marathon. Now you may ask, “what‘s a guy
who avoided serving military service participating in an army run?” Well, not
only is this race arguably the biggest half marathon in Ottawa, but it’s also
in support of those injured at war, so a great cause to run. Additionally, who
wouldn’t be eager to measure themself against the best and fittest of the
Canadian armed forces, well, at least of those able to attend?
In May, I had run a 1:19:35 half on a similar
course around Ottawa and this time around I would have the support of my own
parents visiting from Sweden and Anais’ recently relocated parents cheering me
on towards reaching my goal of breaking 1:19. However, training for the event
hadn’t been ideal with me missing just over a week due to a hamstring injury a
month before the race. Therefore, much of the preparation was crammed into
three weeks, far from ideal, but included a really good 10-mile tempo run a
week before the race, which instilled belief 1:19 would be a possibility, but at
best a toss-up. Of course, I was hoping
that I would have a “break-through” race and be able to race at a faster pace
than ever, but when that has happened in the past there has always been
pointers along the way suggesting its possibility and I hadn’t seen any of
those so.. I felt ok about my chances and knew that on a bad day I would
probably still be able to run around 1:21-22.
Last time around (in the Ottawa
half in May), I had almost missed the start of the race as I was standing in
line for the washroom but there was no chance of that happening this time
around as we were able to change at Anais’ work located a stone-throw from the
start of the race. As I warmed-up outside her office I noticed a huge crowd had
gathered at the starting area so I alerted Anais and company that we better
head over. Good luck kisses exchanged, I ran ahead into an area of chaos where
people were desperately scrambling to get to their allocated starting area
through a single entrance in the fence behind a seating area and no one was
moving. I was way back in the field, disaster! With three minutes to go to the
start I made the decision to turn and run around the thousands of people lined
up and try to enter through the opposite side of the starting area, success!
Almost noone was trying to enter from the other side so I found myself
unbelievably close to the front of the line. And thanks to the nice guy who
pointed out an opening in the fence I didn’t have to jump it either.
Booooooooooom, the cannon goes off and the race is on! Apart from a guy jogging
right in front of me the start went exceptionally well and we entered my
favorite part of the course: after a quick sprint uphill on Elgin we turned
left in front of the parliament with plenty of crowd support and from here down
Wellington to Lebreton it is smooth sailing downhill. The 1st mile
was 5:56 - I was passing others and I felt good. Reaching the barren area of Lebreton
flats, the strength of the wind became unpleasantly apparent and I had to push
to stay on pace. As I didn’t want to use up too much energy early on, I settled
into a decent pace just over goal pace (my goal was 6:02) and I was still catching
runners; one in particular I felt bad for was holding on to his taped up
hamstring... I told myself to be happy I was able to race today and carried on.
The wind was gusting and I found
myself running undesirably slow around 6:10. I was in no-man’s land, a sitting
duck for the enemy the wind to fire at! I needed shelter. There was a group of
runners about 100 meters ahead but catching up would mean a significant effort
I wasn’t willing to make this early on in the race. The 2nd mile was
6:05. Mile 3 was pretty much the same, gusting wind combined with some inclines
made things uncomfortable. Then I spotted the lead group coming back the other
way down the parkway, so I figured the turn-around-point was coming up, and what
a relief it was! The 3rd mile was 6:06, but I had had to push to avoid
falling further behind my target and I was mad now! Right then I was caught up
with for the first time. “Where did he come from”? Probably caught up with the
masses at the start I suppose. Sporting the shirt of a regiment I let him
proceed ahead. Mile 4 was a completely different story with the wind in my
back. There was another incline on the parkway but it was easy to stay on pace;
however, I still felt like I had expanded too much energy to be this early in
the race because of the wind. An amazing amount of runners were heading towards
the turnaround point on the other side of the road, I just couldn’t believe how
many there were, and then I heard one of them cheering me on and I waved back;
it was my Anais. Mile 4 was 5:58, and back
on track!
 |
| Thumbs up if you're tired |
Mile 5 involves turning into
Gatineau and passing the war museum with its tanks and aircraft - were there to
be a surprise obstacle course heading over the bridge into Quebec perhaps? Land
mines? Previously, last year in this race and in the May race, I have always
felt good at this part of the course and so too this time, but then surprisingly
another runner caught up with me! This one looked like a retired Navy seal,
nice! At least he was dressed the part and sporting silver hair. Since he wasn’t
running out of range I was intent on not letting him pull ahead. Reaching
Gatineau there is a hill and we caught several runners here; mile 5 was 5:59. When
we passed a couple of amputees competing in the injured soldier race, we
cheered them on. The navy seal pulled a head, but in the hills of Gatineau I
felt fast and returned the favour. Downhill I was fast, and I pulled ahead, but
there are a few tight corners and mile 6 passed in 6:01. I gathered some
strength for the bridge back into Ottawa, but I was breathing a little too hard
for my liking now. Reaching the bridge, a guy dressed in orange joined us and
there were now three of us. I was pleased the bridge didn’t slow me like it had
in the May half, and as we re-connected with downtown Ottawa the support of the
onlookers gave me goose bumps and helped carry me up the hill leading back into
Ottawa. I didn’t notice at the time, but the first 10k was around 37:30 and
exactly where I wanted to be. I was delighted to spot the all-star support of
the group consisting of my parents and Anais sister and parents by the National
gallery; I waved and smiled. I had told them I would be there at 9:40am and I
was right on! Here, we turned a corner and headed downhill and out of the
downtown core towards Rockliffe park. Mile 7 had passed in 6:00 but I was
starting to feel the hint of a side pinch. “Just bring it to mile 9, then your
almost there”, I thought.
To conserve energy for the miles
ahead, I let my foot off the gas a bit during the 8th mile and allowed the
others pulled a head. By the Rideau falls there was a huge gust of wind, but
because this stretch was mainly downhill it still clock fast at 6:02 with
average pace now at 6:00. The funniest thing occurred here at a water station
when a woman yelled “only half way to go now”…Thanks, but not true! During the next mile I caught a couple of
runners, including the navy seal, but it also covered some smaller hills and my
pace dropped to 6:09. I then spotted the 14 km sign and it was a real sucker
punch: I had done all this hard work up to this point already and there was
still 1/3rd to go!? Being in mile 9 sounded much better than 14 km
out of 21! Here, the seal tried to surge ahead during a downhill stretch, but I
responded once more..”This is it, it’s time to go”! I picked it up a bit to
5:50 pace and pulled a head. I saw some familiar faces and felt strong, “I can
do this”! Then I returned back over the
falls and there was the wind again, and a hill… A water station was coming up,
did I need a drink? Last second I decided to grab one but it was awkward and I
lost my stride and the water tasted like it was from a war zone. Mile 10 was
6:01 and right on target, but I had slowed down the last part of it. I was catching another runner, but as we
closed in on downtown and turned a corner, a gust of wind made him appear to be
moving in slow motion, yet, I wasn’t getting any closer..In fact, the entire part
through downtown seemed uphill and into the wind. Someone yelled “great form,
looking strong”; I thought, “liar”. It
was tough now, I just didn’t seem to be able to go any faster than 6:15. Near the end of mile 11, which passed in
6:14, the parents were there to cheer me on again; however, this time I couldn’t
afford a wave…With their encouragements I tried picking it up once more, but I
was soon back into the 6:15 rut.
 |
| Runner 11935 has a 1:19:35 half marathon PR |
Along the canal, the cheering turned scarcer
and the wind picked up when turning the corner along Colonel By towards
Pretoria bridge. The cheering actually turned pretty loud once more around this
point, that is when the navy seal caught up with me again… I finally reached
the bridge and got out of the wind but there were only negative thoughts now,
such as “Never again a half”… I laugh at it now, but I was in pain and unable
to go any faster. The navy seal had pulled ahead and I knew I had missed my
target of 1:19. I probably could have pushed a bit harder here, but I knew the
seconds of difference wasn’t going to make any meaningful difference. I closed
in on the finish and saw the timer counting up towards 1:20. I sprinted all I
had the last few 100 m and made it just under in 1:19:56 and 20th place. I was greeted by parents after the finish line, me
disappointed but still feeling good.
I really wanted to run sub 1:19,
but sometimes you just can’t will yourself to reaching goals. Then again, I
question how much I really wanted to run faster in the end: I most certainly
could have pushed harder and through the pain the last mile but knowing my goal
(of sub 1:19) was out of reach I saw no point of doing that. Evidence is the
pictures of me near the finish - I look tired, but not dying tired. When you
don’t meet your goal you have to feel disappointed, no matter knowing that
achieving the goal would only have brought you to 17th place rather
than 20th..I lost about 40
seconds over the last 3 miles, a classic half marathon “collapse”. I was only
20 seconds slower than my fastest half, so pretty much the same really, and not
at all entirely sucky. Today, I feel like I made the right decision not to
break myself as training since the race has proceeded exceptionally well, while
after the half in May I needed a break. I suppose not meeting my time spurred
me on to keep training hard, and it’s been going well, so well I signed up to
compete in the Ontario Half Marathon
Masters Championships ! But that story deserves its own post. Thanks again
everyone for supporting me during the army run!
No comments:
Post a Comment