...Go!

This post continues my earlier post regarding the Ottawa Marathon.

When the airhorn sounded I walked slowly towards the start line with my group. When I hit the line, My chip time starts (The chip attached to my foot will time my actual completion time), and the race is truly begun. There's no trace of pain in my right leg, where I'd been dealing with a calf strain right up to the day before.

The run starts along Wellington St., and we run past the Parliament buildings, and towards the bridge that will take us into Hull. I recall that I ran this exact same route 4 months ago when I was in Ottawa at a conference. Right now, the weather is cool and I am pacing with Anna, on of my fellow clinic runners who has done a few marathons already. It's a comfortable pace, and I don't feel winded maintaining it.

We pass the first water/gatorade station at the Museum of civilization, and I grab for some Gatorade. I want to start hydrating early! Anna keeps going, and I lose ground on her, stopping to down a cup or two of electrolytes. I catch up a few seconds later, but I realize this is an effort I don't want to have to keep making.

Past the museum, We round the corner and head back over the Alexandria bridge towards Ottawa. We turn onto Sussex and start heading East towards the neighbourhood of Rockliffe, where Rideau Hall and 24 Sussex are located. I am pacing with Anna and still feeling fairly strong. We make a few weird zigzag turns in Rockcliffe, and we hit the 6km mark, passing another water/gatorade station. Again, I lose ground on Anna, and this time I decide it is not worth trying to make it up. I will continue my even pace. I am checking my Garmin watch, my pace is good, I'm feeling fine, everything's ok.

Somewhere in all these turns in Rockcliffe, I pass the infamous turnoff that many of today's frontrunners miss, landing them back on the course prematurely. The resulting accidental shortcut and lost 400M will prevent these top racers from having ratified times. It is a black eye for the marathon. I am absolutely aware of none of this.

In my solitude, I decide it's time to kick in the music. I have been running with my MP3 player off and I switch it on. "Born Slippy", by Underworld blasts me off. It's a great techno track that provides the end title theme for TRAINSPOTTING, one of my favorite films of the '90s. It starts me off nicely. I hit the 10km mark in Rockcliffe after 56 minutes. Excellent. I still feel great. I have my first gel, about an hour and 5 minutes in. I am on pace and feeling great as the run twists and turns its way back towards downtown Ottawa. At 14 km, I hit what I consider to be a milestone, 1/3 of the way through. So far it has been relatively easy. But now the sun is starting to strengthen and I begin to feel the same efforts yielding less return. Just before the bridge back to Hull, I am caught up to by my fellow running room runners. I chat with them briefly, but am not willing to push their pace. Sam, Maureen, Lorne and Stephen pass me by. I continue at my pace, and cross back into Hull. The crossover back to downtown Ottawa is through the Scott Paper factory. We run back through it to the other side. It is here that the full force of the Sun becomes apparent and the 4:00 pace bunny that I have been desperate to outpace, comes into the picture (She is way too perky, I think to myself). I run up into the city through the arches opposite the supreme court,and run down Albert St., towards the halfway mark. Some kid hands me a gel pack, I thank him and toss it in my pouch for later. I hit the halfway mark at approx. 2:02. I have now officially abandoned the idea of a 4 hour marathon, as I know I won't be able to increase my pace in the second half. I also remember the brutal, unshaded, second half of the course from when I ran it last year as part of the half marathon.

Still...Halfway there!

I start heading south on Colonel By Drive. Every Water station is a relief. Up until now, I have been doing 10 minute runs with 1 minute intervals. My legs start to feel like rubber, and I realize that I will not be able to hold out for 10 minutes at a time, as my legs are cramping up. I realize that to fix this for future marathons, I need to build up my Core strength, which will insulate my leg muscles from shock. At some point I reach into my pouch for a gel pack, only to realize that the pack that kid handed me earlier was opened for my convenience! My entire pouch is filled with sticky, tropical fruit flavored gel! I hit the 30k mark on the turn up Hog's back road. I think I'm now at 3:15, with 12 km left to complete. I will finish, but it's a tough haul. I am getting muscle spasms every minute or two, each one feeling like a threat to shut down my legs completely. But on the plus side, I am rational, coherent, and still possessed of my wits. I am not dehydrating, not by a long shot. I find myself running with some guy who looks like he goes to the gym 7 days a week. He and I chat as we pace together. Both of us are having difficulty, and I pop some advil to tough it out (I might as well suck on a placebo). We round the curve towards the bridge that will take us across the canal to the last 8km stretch. There's a lot of looping, and I see dreadlocks in the distance, which I recognize as Lorne. He's having a tough time too, by the looks of it. I eventually make it to the bridge over the canal, a tough uphill. I have decided to walk it, which sucks, because "All these things I have Done" By The Killers is playing on my MP3 player, and I want to be going hard for this song, but I know I can't. I reach the turn for Prince of Wales drive, and I see the med station. There's a runner, lying on a towel, twitching! This is a frightening prospect, one that reminds me of my collapse from last year. This guy has clearly dehydrated. I still feel mentally alert and I keep running. I think there's a cop talking to me, but he's taling to the woman behind me. I strike up a conversation with the woman, who has run some 10 marathons. We make a deal to start running in 2 minutes, but I am unable to get my pace going. I pick it back up now, as I am being passed by the 4:30 pace bunny. Somewhere after the arboretum, I catch up to Lorne, who is pretty much walking. We agree to run together for a bit, but he is cramped too severely, while I still have a bit of race left in me. I start to pace, and I eventually catch the woman I was running with earlier. We learn each others' names (Hers is Janet). Eventually, I kick up my pace and start pushing, at the last kilometer, the crowds are cheering us on (Of course now we're being passed by the best of the half marathon, which started at 10am). At the 750m line I start to push myself, no more walking, as my leg spasms start to die off a little (Although they still buckle me violently). People are cheering me on, my MP3 is playing "Music for a Found Harmonium" by Penguin Cafe Orchestra from the film IT'S ALL GONE PETE TONG, and I hear John Stanton calling my name just before I cross the finish line. I cross about a half second shy of 4:40. I am in pain, but I am overjoyed. I have accomplished something I have wanted to do my whole life. Three weeks later, I have some minor ankle pain. When it's healed I will be back to running, and sometime in the next year I plan to do another marathon, this time improving my time, hopefully by at least a half hour. I have a lot of technical learning to assimilate, and a lot of weight to lose, but I will achieve my goal!