This was my first race of the 2013 after missing (DNS) Winterman Half Marathon and then not even signing up for the St. Patrick's 5km race in March.
Despite my setback this year with "walking pneumonia" I felt that I was back, close to my best and told myself "no excuses" going into this race. I find it is easy for a runner (or anyone else faced with a task) to try and protect themselves from failure by having a bunch of ready-made excuses at hand and then when the going gets tough to not try as hard as they can. There is nothing wrong with trying hard and coming up short. What I hate is to not even try and then fail. At the end of the day it is only yourself you are trying to convince, no-one else really minds what your PB is or how you ran, only you, and it feels horrible to try and make excuses to yourself as to why you didn't dig in and gut it out when things didn't fall your way. I know this as I let myself down in this manner in the ORW Half Marathon a few years back and vowed never to do that again.
I got up on Sunday morning to snow, gently falling and a rather chilly 2°C, "no excuses" I told myself with a smile, and finished off my breakfast and pre-race coffee.
I opted for shorts and a singlet on top of a long sleeved shirt, thin gloves and a cap. I knew I'd be chilly at the start but once I got going would warm up nicely.
My plan was to set a personal best in this race and keep the Minto PB streak going. I figured that if I ran an average of 4:50/km or thereabouts I would PB the race and I would also get a good look at my level of endurance at this stage in my training for the Ottawa Race Weekend Marathon in May.
I seeded myself 5 rows back and got off to a decent start, maybe a little fast but I knew I'd settle down into a rhythm soon so I didn't reel myself in too much, just focused on avoiding the puddles that the falling snow had made. The first 3 or 4 kilometers clicked by and I had the feeling that the wind might not be too bad today. The Rideau Canal can be pretty windy so I was expecting it.
One of the reasons why I PB this race is probably due to the Running Mania water/cheering station at Dow's Lake. This race is an out-and-back-and-out-and-back so you get a double dose of friendly faces, kind words, and encouragement. This year was no exception with a bumper crop of "maniacs" manning the station and I got a good boost from them as I ran by and headed for the 5km turnaround.
Splits for 1st 5km
1 - 4:38
2 - 4:46
3 - 4:50
4 - 4:54
5 - 4:41
Total - 23:49
After turning around I quickly found out why the wind didn't seem to be a factor, it was mostly behind me on the way down the Canal. However, it wasn't gusty or really strong so I quickly put it out of my mind. This is where experience comes in handy, having run this course before I knew that the 6th kilometer (and 16th) is the toughest of the race, the road has an uphill stretch and splits in two with high banks on one side and the canal on the other. This creates a bit of a wind tunnel. I knew not to get down on myself as I felt my pace fall off and vowed to make sure and pick it back up after I got past this tricky section. The rest of this section of the race that takes you to the 10.05km turnaround was pretty uneventful. I was mindful of my pace as it was dropping off a little and was leapfrogging with the same 4 or 5 runners not knowing which of them were running the half marathon and which where running the 10km (and speeding up for their finish).
Splits for 2nd 5km
6 - 4:58
7 - 4:56
8 - 4:58
9 - 4:53
10 - 5:01
Total - 24:47 (10km split - 48:36)
I knew at the turnaround that I'd have to pick it up a bit and was in danger of getting lulled into the pace of the other runners around me so I passed a couple of runners and focused on the road ahead. My feet were pretty wet now, but I felt fine and kept pushing knowing that I was going to give it my all on the way back up the Canal after the final turnaround. Soon enough I was approaching the maniac water station and Marg told me that I was "looking strong". That helped as now it would be easier to tell myself to pick it up than if I looked like a dead man walking.
Splits for 3rd 5km
11 - 4:53
12 - 4:58
13 - 4:56
14 - 5:01
15 - 4:55
Total - 24:43 (15km split - 1:13:15)
On the way back past the maniacs I told Mike "IT'S GO TIME", he nodded, he knew what I meant, but hearing myself say it helped convince me to up my effort level and go for the personal best. After a quick calculation I knew that if I kept it under 5:00 for the next 5kms I would have a new personal best, so I just kept pushing and started to pass some of the other runners who were tiring a bit.
My plan was to push even harder when I got to the final water station with 1.5kms to go and sprint as soon as I could see the finish line (about 200meters from the finish).
As it was, two runners flew past me with about 2km to go so I just focused on them and tried to up my pace to chase them down. I didn't catch them, but I caught and passed some other runners and then as soon as I saw the line I gunned it as hard as I could. Luckily there are no race photos for this year's event as I probably have broken a few lenses as I put everything I had into those last 200 meters. I could see that the clock was on 1:43:00, I knew at this stage I would set a new personal best, I just needed to shave off as many seconds as I could.
Splits for last 6.1km
16 - 5:04
17 - 4:56
18 - 4:59
19 - 5:02
20 - 4:56
21 - 4:42
21.1 - 0:42 (garmin measured 180 meters - 3:52/km)
Total - 1:43:41
In the end it was another personal best at the Minto Run for Reach, beating time from last year by 17 seconds. Very pleased with how I tackled the race and the end result. I think I definitely have enough to go sub 1:40 in the future and the mental toughness I showed will definitely help with that goal.
