BIB #: 2155
TIME: 1:54:23.2
CHIP: 1:52:26.4
PACE: 5:20
CATEGORY: M40-44
CAT. PLACE: 114/203
GENDER PLACE: 672/1315
OVERALL PLACE: 946/2836
Easy Like Sunday Morning
Having packed my bag of "dry" clothes the night before, laid out my running clothes, and checked the weather forecast I woke up with an easy feeling of preparedness for this race. I had been running a 20ish km every weekend for the past six weekends leading up to the race. I had determined that this was going to be a training run, and that I would push hard enough to feel "finished" at the end. I slept until 7:00am; a miracle in my books, this is a 2hr sleep longer than I ususally get. Lots of time for a breakfast of raisin bran, walnuts, apricots, blackberries and blueberries; which I ate while watching the weather network. (The weather network draws me in...I can't seem to bring myself to change the channel once it is on; why you ask? I think I am expecting great things to happen before my eyes, nothing does but I sure watch with great expectation) As my Jeep was in the shop, we were down to one vehicle for the two of us; Sandy had to work, so after we were all breakfasted and showered we headed out the door, stopped at Starbucks for an Americano, dropped Sandy at work, and headed down the highway to the secret meeting place.
Google Estimated Time vs. Real Time
So I planned on being a little early; I mapped out the drive the night before on Google Maps which indicated that the driving time of the trip would be 1hr so we left at 7:30am...Stopping for coffee and dropping Sandy off, getting on the highway then realizing Sandy had left her coffee, I went back and dropped off her coffee got back on the highway and made it by 8:30. Note to self: Google is Conservative. Nevertheless I was early, had time to get inside, find a washroom, utilize it to the best of my ability, and get outside. Once I got out the door Nicole was there beeping her horn and waved me over. We sat in the vinegar-mobile chatted and waited for the rest of the crew to show. Patty let us into her place of work for a last non-port-a-potty break and off we went to the starting line.
Like Sands Through The Hourglass
We jogged down to the starting area and discussed our goals. I seemed to be the only one without one. Sam had indicated that she wanted to try to PB with a 1:52 and Nicole said she was going to start with the 1:55 pacer and see how it went. I decided to use the same philosophy and lined up behind the 1:55 pacer with them.We had a pre-race photo and dispersed. Emma, her brother, and her friend (who is bad with names? I am bad with names...I sometimes call my kids the wrong names...sheesh) went other places and Patty was pacing the 2:15's (which she did perfectly might I add) so off they went. I was perusing the crowd when I saw Al, the general manager of the company I work for (I knew he was running but thought he'd be running with the faster crowd) we chatted for a bit about work (what is wrong with us I was thinking) and suddenly the crowd was moving the horn had sounded: we were off. I felt like a grain of sand through an hour glass, by the time I crossed the starting line Sam and Nicole were about 200m in front of me, or at least the pacer was. I had lost Al, Nicole and Sam...sheesh!
Out and Back #1
'scuse me, pardon me, oh sorry, oops sorry; I must've heard those words a dozen times as we all tried to find our places in the pack, we Canucks are pretty polite runners! Just past the turn around I had made it up to the pacer, I saw Nicole had stuck herself to him like glue...I didn't see Sam though. I tried to get Nicole's attention but was unsuccessful and ventured on ahead. At about 5k I ran into Al again we had a brief talk about the weather and ran silently together until Brant St. Lap times: 5:37, 5:15, 5:26, 5:29, 5:16.
A Bit of Freedom
Passing Brant Street the crowd was less crowded (LOL). I started picking people off, blue gloves guy, red hat guy, orange shoes girl, ponytail girl...hey wait that's Sam! I caught up to her and asked how she was doing, she was trying to stay on pace for her goal and appeared to need some companionship; I did too; We ran together and talked about the run down houses for sale on the route (LOL), and the ever present banana that was looming in her stomach. It was great to have a familiar friendly face to share the time with. Before long we hit the water station at 10k. Lap times: 5:07, 5:12, 5:18, 5:23, 5:18 (eload lemon gel...not too shabby)
A Second Look at the Leaders
After gelling we picked up the pace again. The two leaders were running side by side, both looking very relaxed; some of the followers looked the same, others looked like crap; Mental note: I may look like that on May 5th, not as fast for certain, but looks...very close. We spent some time looking for Richard and Peter but didn't see them, we reached the turn around and headed back. We looked for our friends once again, we saw the 1:55 pacer, but no Nicole?! I told Sam that I saw Nicole glued to the pacer when I had passed around 5k. Sam said "I bet she' right behind us, she's going to pick us off" After a short while we saw Patty who screamed something about hurry up something something something ... we spent time deciphering the message, Sam cracked the code, and we passed the subject of the message. We passed a priest handing out oranges, Sam had approached hoping it was communion, the body of Christ sounded very appealing and would help the current cause I am sure :) being oranges and bananas we both opted out. we approached the next (frozen) water station, gelled and moved on. Lap times: 5:45, 5:16, 5:18, 5:18, 5:19 (gel)
A Familiar Face
At this point I knew I had been running for over 15km; my legs and hips were telling me they were tired, my head was telling me to stop. I said to Sam "There's only 5k left, it's a walk in the park!" just then I saw a lone man cheering on the runners waving gloved hands in the air; It was J. Pierre! I hi-fived him as we went by, I had renewed energy and the negativity in my head had passed. 16km sign, 17km sign Not long after a streak of white flew by screaming "c'mon you guys I can't slow down, I've been chasing you since 16km" it was Nicole! Sam was right...she had been not far behind us the whole time. Sam said to me "c'mon Phil we can't let her beat us!" and she took off like a rocket! I saw her pass Nicole and keep going! I tried to keep up, but couldn't find the gas, my fingers were tingling; I checked my heart rate 173! I slowed up a bit until the tingling subsided. I laughed when I saw Nicole smack the 20k sign as she passed LOL...Lap times: 5:17, 5:16, 5:13, 5:07, 5:14
The Mantra
I lost sight of Nicole and Sam as they turned the corner up Brant. I was still passing people, one girl in particular was repeating a mantra "just keep running, just keep running" I praised her with a "way to go!" as I passed and turned up Brant towards the finish. I saw the clock click past 1:54 and looked at my Garmin, knew that Sam and Nicole had both achieved PB's I closed my eyes, thanked God for the ability to run and crossed the finish line.
Post Race
I ran into Nicole, Sam and Peter right away. Peter had a PB on the day as well! We met in the pub for chili, beer and conversation, and headed back to the car. I near froze LOL! We made it back said our goodbyes, I went and changed into dry clothes and went home! A great day with great friends!
See you at the next race: ATB here we come!
