Sunday 12 May 2013

Mississauga Marathon 2013


BIB #: 582
TIME: 4:11:58.8
CHIP: 4:10:14.0
PACE: 5:56
CATEGORY: M40-44
CAT. PLACE: 113/164
GENDER PLACE: 303/485
OVERALL PLACE: 457/850
8km SPLIT: 00:43:55
21.1km SPLIT: 01:57:22
25km SPLIT: 02:19:57

History
Sometime late in 2012 I decided that I was going to run my first marathon...I mean how hard could it be? I heard all the stories from others about "the wall" and how "it near killed me" and "it's the hardest thing you'll ever do in your life". To some those statements may have been a deterrent but to me it was a challenge; besides I looked at all of my Dailymile friends that had done one or more than one or many! People just like me who work during the day and do family things on a daily basis were running them; why not me? After discussing my plan with my long time friend Jamie MacRury we decided to both sign up for the full in Mississauga and train together. This would be the one year anniversary of last years Mississauga half; the first half marathon I had ever run. 
Happy faces at the finish of my first ever half
(Left to right - Liam, Graham, me, Mike)


Training
I needed a plan that would help me to still have a family life and be able to still have a good race and be fully capable of finishing. Knowing that I would need to train harder than I had ever trained before I sought the advice of others and was inundated with several suggestions that were very helpful; I opted to go with an 18 week plan loosely based on a schedule which I customized through Run For Life; it included two weekday runs: (1) speed interval run (which I chose to turn into a hill training run), one tempo run, and a weekend LSD. If there is any suggestion that I can make about marathon training it would be to find someone, or a group of people to train with. Jamie and I ran all but two of the weekend  LSD's together. The three that I ran alone were The Chilly Half (which I consider to have run with Sam J.), my first 24k, and my second 30k. Jamie and I ran in rain, snow, sleet, sub-zero temps, we ran on icy sidewalks, and through extremely windy days. We were a team; I can't thank him enough. 
Jamie on the road behind UTM; it was -24'C if you look closely
you can see deer in the woods and the frost on his eyelashes
Many people asked me what my goal for this race was; my reply was always "to finish on my own two feet, and around a 6min/km pace". It was a goal for a distance I had never done before, I knew it was doable. 


Race Day
With a week of watching what I had eaten to be sure that I had jammed enough nutrition into my body and enough carbohydrates to sink a ship for the two days before the race I was ready to go. My alarm went off at 5:45am, the routine began, cereal, water, shower, dressed, last minute bathroom break, facebook post or two, grab my prepacked bag and out the door. I had made plans to meet up with Jamie and then meet the Dailymilers at the Running Room just north of the starting corral. I got out the door late, got down there late; I got to the parking lot and met Jamie, then realized I had forgotten my water bottle, and my Garmin! I had a small panic, and verbally kicked myself while Jamie got himself ready. I was going to have to run by feel and stop at the water stations regularly; the pocket watch training would come in handy. We scurried to the baggage drop, then Jamie had to line up for the port-a-potty. I held his stuff, took a quick look around to see if I could recognise anyone, no luck, then went into line up with him. By the time we exited the port-a-potty zone the announcer was calling us to the corral. I missed the DM meetup boo :(


The OK corral
We made our way into the corral and stood for O' Canada and pushed as far as we could to where we had wanted to be in the corral. I was looking for Sam J. and Patty S. as we had planned on running the whole race together because we all wanted to run the same pace. I figured they would be lined up with the 4:15 pace bunny, that guy was a good distance in front of me...we pushed through the crowd. We happened upon a couple of familiar faces Alan, Sarah, and Brian, we hugged, shook hands and wished each other well. I wasn't getting close to the 4:15 pacer, and Jamie wasn't getting to the 3:45 pacer; we were starting here. There was the usual cattle herding routine while the crowds emptied into the street past the starting gate and off I went.


The first few km's
I really like the start of this race. Once you pass the starting gate it's wide open, there is lots of room to move. I spotted the 4:15 bunny and followed him from a distance. I happened upon Alan again who was in a zone; we spoke a few words and he was off. I concentrated on the pacer and scanned the crowd for my running partners who were out of site. I continued to pass people and lost sight of the 4:15 pacer, may I had passed him? I think I was in a zone, I was concentrating on my mantra for the day "run economical, take it easy" before I knew it I was turning down Mississauga road. I had missed the first two water stations, I would make sure I missed no more.


UTM
I was having a great run, everything felt great. I was breathing smoothly, my head was clear, my legs felt fluid. I took advantage of the downhill into UTM so I could slow it down coming out and up the hill to the 8km split timer. I passed a number of people and had thoughts that I may be going a bit too fast, coming up the hill I passed the timer 43:55 (calculating in my head: minus about a minute 42:55...eff I'm running too fast!) I was feeling good, but really didn't want to push, Afterall I was headed into unknown territory.


To Indian Line
Out of the U of T grounds I made a conscious effort to slow down, I gelled and walked through the next water station: a routine that would become routine for the rest of the race; well the walking to drink part anyway. I locked onto a girl with green socks (who turned out to be Emma I. but I didn't realize it was her until after the race when I saw her outfit in the meetup photo LOL) and followed her to the Indian line cutoff. I approached the full/half split and remembered this spot from last year. A rush of memories went through my head one of which was Mike, who paced my half last year, said to me "aren't you glad you're not going that way?" and at the time I sure was...this time I was glad to be turning. As I passed the inflatable gate I was truly on my own...there was runners about 100m ahead of me, and runners 100m behind me. I passed a police officer at the first intersection and asked her if there were many in front of me, she replied "not too many". we both laughed any I carried on.


OK I'm doing this!
Suddenly I got all choked up, lump in my throat, tears in my eyes choked up...only for a second but it was there "I'm really doing this" I thought. I shook that off and caught up to a girl in front of me. I ran beside her for some time I asked her after we passed the 18k water station what our pace was "about 5:31/km" I giggled slowed down a touch and let her continue on ahead of me.


21k already?
Suddenly the 21k mark was there...1:57:22, I didn't even calculate this time I just kept running, trying to feel my way through it. I knew if I kept this pace up I would be sub 4hrs. I giggled to myself again and continued onto the out and back

The out and back
Jamie told me that he saw me at this point and yelled and screamed, waving his arms at me. I claim loss of hearing and being in the zone for missing his efforts :P I was starting to feel achey in the usual places I feel it for long runs: in my hips and my feet. I was on the home stretch, my mind started playing tricks at this point..."you're tired, stop this", "what the hell were you thinking?", "I must be crazy". Then a revelation...my mind went to someone I had met just before I started running, she told me of how she was a runner because she had been in a car accident and had been laid up in traction for a few years. The doctors told her she would not walk again. She had to prove them wrong. I had to prove that my mind was wrong. I could do this. I was at the turn around point of the out and back. Back I went with a new outlook, and so I repeated to myself finish upright and finish happy. I was about 500m past the turn around when I spotted Sam and Patty; all I did was scream "HEY" and waved at them. Sam said "what are you doing?". I was running a race...what did she think? LOL. 


Slow down ya move too fast
I was singing to myself in my head this Simon and Garfunkel classic. I was enjoying myself I passed the 28k mark and turned down Orr Road.."only 14 more to go" I thought..."I'm gonna do this". I got choked again LOL! "WTF is wrong with me?" I thought. Each km that passed I thought to myself "only__km to go". I hit the wall at 32km...physically I smacked it with my hand..."the wall" was not part of my race. Each water station I walked as planned, the walks were getting a little longer at each water station, I was sweating profusely so I was taking in a lot of water and Gatorade. Coming out of Jack Darling Park onto Lakeshore I was awful glad we had done sooo much hill training. I took it slow and steady and got to the top and continued on the route down towards the lake. The breeze was a welcome gift as the sun was hot and I was a sweaty mess. 

Familiar ground
Suddenly it was familiar ground for me, I recognized that I was on the last bit of the route, the familiarity was welcomed by my spirit which was lifted by this new consciousness. After the walking water break at 38k I got a stitch in my side. Many four letter words came out of my mouth as I ran and breathed my way through it. It would be my only hinderance in the race. "For God's sake, I am almost there" I screamed at the sky. Took a really deep breath and hobbled off, there was no f-ing way I was going to let this f-er stop me. I was moving much slower, I knew the end was near "just keep moving forward"
Two thumbs up at the bridge!



The Grande Finale
O bla dee O bla da was being played in the distance, I could hear the announcements at the finish, I was really close. The stitch was almost unbearable. I kept moving....around 40k and there was a marathoner in the woods yelling at us to keep moving...I laughed and got going...500m later the stitch took my breath away I hobbled through, I was run walking and grasping my side when I heard "Phil! What are you doing?!" It was Patty and Sam..."I've got a stitch" I said holding my side and grimacing. Patty said "shut the fuck up and get going!". That, folks, is exactly what I needed.
Sam, Me, and Patty
 I ran through the pain trying to keep up with Sam, Patty was a little behind me but caught up to me at the finish. Clock time: 4:11:58.8. I was done, we were done. We had a sweaty hug and some congratulations. I was really proud of Patty for being able to overcome her previous inability to break 4:15, and Sam for finishing her first marathon. It was great to finish the race together as we had planned :D



Post Race
I went off to the nearest chair I could find, I felt like I was going to throw up; outside the med tent at the finish line I ate my Clif bar. I needed to or I would have puked bial for sure. I got up, got my medal and found Jamie and Dee; or they found me. We made our way to the rec centre, and Dee drove us back to our cars. 



The big question
"would you do it again?" "eff yeah!" What an experience!








5 comments:

Robin said...

Fantastic race report and fantastic first martahon Phil. You did great. It's been fun watching your training and getting to be a part, in a small way, in your first marathon. Well done...you're a marathoner!

Unknown said...

Great race report Phil and congrats on your first marathon! I felt the exact same way last year. Said I'd never run a full. A year later I did it :) WTG!

Philip said...

Thanks Robin and Peter, I enjoyed running this race as much as writitng about it :-) thank you both for being positive influences for me.

macnic said...

Awesome work, Phil! It has been so, so awesome getting to know you better as you trained to reach this awesome goal. Major congrats on doing it, and well done to do so without a watch (I bow down to your mental capacity).

Looking forward to continuing to run together from time to time.

pyrad said...

This is a fantastic report Peter! Congratulations!

And even after all of that, you're up and ready to do it again. That's heart, spirit and mental toughness all the way through!