June 21, 2015
Time: 4:20:57:55
Overall Place 309/653
The Manitoba Marathon was the 5th race on the schedule and marks one year till I end the journey of running 20 marathons, only fifteen to go. I was looking forward to running this marathon for a long time. Yes I know, I say that I look forward to running every marathon, but this one is special. It is my home marathon and I have Heidi and all three daughters waiting for me at the finish line. There won’t be a lot of finishes where I have someone waiting for me, so to have the family there is special, and it’s Father’s day. I learned when I began running that “Running is Fun”. It was very apparent this year with two of my daughters dressing the part. What a great way to enjoy a run and have fun in costume.
It had been four weeks since the Ottawa Marathon, my last
race, so I was feeling pretty good. The
three weeks following Ottawa I introduced cycling to my training, so I did a
combination of running and cycling. The
cycling gives a good cardio and strength workout with very little impact thus
saving the body from all that pounding.
Those three weeks I also worked on my speed a little more because I
wanted to run the Manitoba at just a little faster pace. The week before the marathon I had a little
bit of trouble, but nothing too serious.
The last week is always a taper week where we do very little running and
just rest the body before the race, so that was good.
We began the race weekend the same way we do every
year. Running Room on Pembina Hwy hosts
a Friendship Run with John Stanton the founder of the Running Room. It also
includes a picture with John. John gives
his pre-race talk which is great for the first timers, but I love listening to
the same stories. This time he even
added a few new ones I hadn’t heard before.
This is followed by a short 3K run just to loosen up the muscles a
little followed by some refreshments.
While we were having our refreshments our three daughters arrived. Stephanie had just picked Wendy up from the
airport and they also brought along Jennifer.
After a bit of visiting we headed over to the U of M where the race kit
pick was held. This is also where the
start and finish are.
The Manitoba Marathon start is at 7:00 in the morning so I
get up at 4:00 to get in all of my pre-race preparations. Eating, stretching, getting on all the
clothing, and putting on the bib are all part of the routine. Two of our girls were saying with us and they
love Manitoba because they can sleep in till 5:00. When we are on the road they don’t like being
in the same room as me because they just don’t like getting up as early as I
do. With the Manitoba Marathon you have
to get to the race site early to take a shuttle to the start line. We arrived at the shuttle area and got on our
bus and away we went. This year they had
a new start area which was nice, but what I really liked is that they had
separate porto-potties just for the marathoners. A nice short lineup and business is taken
care of.
The horn went off and away we went. This year I decided to run with the 4:15 pace
bunny which was a little faster then I normally run the marathons. What is a pace bunny you ask? A pace bunny is usually an experienced runner
who has the task of setting a pace required to finish a race at in certain
time. A 4:15 pace bunny would set a consistent
pace for the runners to follow to get themselves to the finish at about the
4:14:45 mark, so just before the 4:15.
Usually there are number of different pace bunnies in the race for
different time goals. Someone might pick
a pace bunny if they were trying to qualify for Boston. The bunnies are also a great source of
encouragement getting the most out of runners to help them reach a time
goal. Our 4:15 pace bunny also did 10
and 1’s which means we ran for ten minutes and then walk for one minute. Anyway, I really enjoy pace bunnies and they
can be a real source of fun. Thank you
Oliver.
The full marathoners run alongside the half marathoners for the first six miles until the split at which time we part ways. This is always enjoyable because there are a lot of runners on the road which creates a lot of excitement. After the split we head towards the shadier part of the course down Harrow and eventually hit Wellington Crescent at mile 9. It was during this stretch that I had the thrill of my life. I got to hold the 4:15 marker that the pace bunnies carry. Yes, I’ve always wanted to do this and I finally fulfilled a lifelong running dream. Mile 9 and 10 are along Wellington Crescent which is one of the nicer stretches of the race with big old mansions lining the road. I felt good during this part of the race but always felt that the pace was a little faster than I wanted to go. The temperature was beginning to climb a little and it was a little humid out. I knew that it was critical to drink, so every fluid station I would take in at least two cups of either water or Gatorade. Keeping hydrated is one of the most important things you can do on a warm race, and I paid attention to this very carefully. I knew that the combination of the pace and the heat would eventually take its toll. It was just a matter of when.
The full marathoners run alongside the half marathoners for the first six miles until the split at which time we part ways. This is always enjoyable because there are a lot of runners on the road which creates a lot of excitement. After the split we head towards the shadier part of the course down Harrow and eventually hit Wellington Crescent at mile 9. It was during this stretch that I had the thrill of my life. I got to hold the 4:15 marker that the pace bunnies carry. Yes, I’ve always wanted to do this and I finally fulfilled a lifelong running dream. Mile 9 and 10 are along Wellington Crescent which is one of the nicer stretches of the race with big old mansions lining the road. I felt good during this part of the race but always felt that the pace was a little faster than I wanted to go. The temperature was beginning to climb a little and it was a little humid out. I knew that it was critical to drink, so every fluid station I would take in at least two cups of either water or Gatorade. Keeping hydrated is one of the most important things you can do on a warm race, and I paid attention to this very carefully. I knew that the combination of the pace and the heat would eventually take its toll. It was just a matter of when.
By mile 12 we hit the open roads of Portage Avenue and there
was no shade, so if you weren’t sweating by now, you could really feel the
warmth starting to hit. A little further
down Portage Avenue just before we make a right turn we come up to a church
known as Portage Avenue Church. This is significant
to me because my brother used to be the pastor of this church and before the
Sunday morning service he would have as many people come out to cheer on the
runners as possible. This was two years
ago when I ran the Manitoba in 2013. It
was a thrill to see them there and a real highlight of the race. Last year I was looking forward to the same
thing, but in May, my brother passed away and so in June when we ran it was
very emotional coming past the church and he was not there. So as I rounded the corner again this year I
thought about my brother and missed him very much not being there to cheer us
on.
The next five miles were again along some beautiful roads
and under the shade of the big old trees.
From mile 17 to the finish we are pretty much running in the open
sunlight at the warmest part of the day and this is where most of the runners
begin to struggle. I managed to hang on
to the 4:15 pace bunny till about 21.5 miles which is where I dropped off and
started to take just a few more walk breaks.
Did I suffer here? Not
really. However, my legs were tired and
I just needed to walk just a bit more. I
actually enjoyed this part of the course because I found it really challenging
in a good way. I knew that I would
finish, but I just needed to push myself to the finish line. It was also at about this point that I began
to negotiate for rides, but I was unsuccessful.
My oldest daughter Jennifer was alongside me over the last two miles
taking pictures and also riding her bike, but she wouldn’t give me a ride
either.
The marathon finishes in the old U of M stadium so there are
a lot of people to cheer the runners in.
This is one of my favorite finishes that I’ve run and it was thrilling
to see my family in the stands. It makes
it all worthwhile. What I also liked
about this year is that they had the recovery zone for the marathoners in the
center field of the stadium. They had
our bag pickup, food and massage tent a short walk from the finish line. This was a treat. I picked up my stuff and grabbed a couple of
drinks and headed out to see my family.
I can’t eat right after a marathon so I didn’t take any food. After meeting the family we headed off to the
shuttle bus area and took a ride back to our car.
It was a great
experience running this year. I met a
lot of people at the race while I was running and this is one of the things
that I really enjoy about running.
Meeting new people and being encouraged by other people when they could
read what was on my shirt and what I was trying to do. These people can really understand what it
means to run a marathon and can appreciate the goal of running 20 marathons in
15 months in an effort to raise money for such a worthy organization as Siloam
Mission. I must say I was more tired than usual running
this marathon and the recovery might be a little longer. Next race is only three weeks away so I will
be doing just a bit more resting. I
always say, listen to the body.
good job on race #5!
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