Can't believe how long it's taken me to get to writing this! Too many other distractions.

Short version: chip time was 3:40:15.7 and since a Boston qualifying time is 4:00, well, the math is pretty straightforward!!! Just as sweet, 9/179 in my category, 138/1145 for all women. I don't want to brag, but quite frankly it all blows me away.

Long version: as always, preparing for the actual race started a couple of days before. That meant no fried foods, no fish or seafood, eating lightly in general, lots of water... We had a company lunch at work on Friday, with Chinese food ordered in, and I would have loved to have a spring roll and maybe even a few deep fried prawns. But resisted and stuck to noodles and rice. Kept up a similar pattern on Saturday, including the now-mandatory-for-out-of-town-races dinner at Quizno's. Hey, it worked for Around the Bay and Kingston ;) With the race starting at 7:00, I pretty much stopped eating by around 5:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Sunday morning we got up at 4:30 and I had my standard pre-race breakfast of Vector energy bar, little bit of caffeine, and hot water. We were on our way just after 6:00, and at that point the temperature was around 11 C, with showers predicted starting about 11:00, and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon. So the starting conditions were practically perfect - overcast, comfortable temp, low humidity, very little wind. I elected to run in just a T-shirt, figuring that my jacket would be too warm (although it was nice to have it while waiting at the start line) and that if it rained it would probably be close to the end and I could tough it out (this is the girl who never runs in the rain, but on race day, you do what you have to do, right?).

At the start line, I unexpectedly ran into Jeff, the guy from the RR forum who we met in Kingston. It was really nice to have someone to talk to and share some good wishes with during those last few minutes. Of course DH was there to send me off with a hug and a kiss and lots of good wishes :)

The race start was very smooth - crossed the line in a little over a minute - and the field spread out quickly. At that point my nerves had pretty much disappeared because we were actually moving and now it was a matter of getting through the next 42.2 km and several hours. Not that I was completely relaxed and treating this like an LSD or anything, but my body was falling into that familiar rhythm.

My planned race strategy was to run the first few km at my "normal" race pace - about 5:00/km - and then slow down a little, get closer to a 3:45 finishing time pace. I had a 3:45 pace band, not planning to follow it exactly, but to use as a quick guide as to whether I was over/under at any given point. I had heard more than one warning about the failure of simple math skills as the km rolled by and the body and mind were both getting fatigued. Well, that plan went by the wayside. I was wearing my running watch, so could easily track my pace at each km, and decided to just run "comfortably". Which meant: run about 5:00/km as long as it felt good and then slow down to 5:15 or 5:30/km. In other words, don't laze along but don't push too hard, either - try to enjoy the run and bank some minutes in case things started to go wrong towards the end.

Having said all of that, my race experience breaks down into four distinct segments:

1) Start line to Gatineau/Hull and back
This section was about 10 km to the point where it climbed Sussex and headed out to Rockcliffe, and it was a good way to begin. From the start line, the course followed a very gentle incline up to the Parliament Buildings before heading gently downhill and then crossing a bridge into Hull. Once in Hull, there were a few hills, but nothing major. I think the biggest was the climb onto the bridge that goes back to Ottawa. Starting off, I did feel a little boxed in during the first km, but by the 2 km mark that was no longer an issue. It was a great first 10 km - running at my favorite time of day, in perfect conditions, feeling good, very conscious of the fact that this was my first marathon and that I wanted it to enjoy it as much as possible. But at the same time remaining aware that there were a lot of km to go and that anything could happen.

The view of Ottawa in the early morning light as we crossed the bridge was lovely, and then DH was there on Sussex to cheer me on, which was really nice! He actually almost didn't see me - was looking into the distance behind me - but I called his name and we connected. No time for a picture, though :( At the 10 km point I was at 49:16, by my watch, and feeling great.

2) Rockcliffe
This was another really good section. The route continued up Sussex, again a bit of a climb but not terrible, and then turned left to do a loop through Rockcliffe until about the 21.5 km point. I had decided to carry water rather than relying on the water stations and that was a really good decision, because then I could have small amounts at shorter intervals, which is much better for my sensitive stomach/GI tract. Can't remember when I first started taking in water - it was somewhere in Hull - but at about 12 km I took a proper break to have some more, and to have a gel. Didn't feel like I needed it, but of course that's part of the idea. The gel went down great, which was a bit of a relief.

At that point I was still cruising at about 5:00/km, and part of me was worried that it was too fast. The other part was reminding me not to stress too much about what was to come, to relax and run easy in the moment, etc. The neverending internal dialogue... Anyway, the Rockcliffe section was very nice - flat, pretty, and a nice cool temp with all the trees. By my watch, I hit the 21.1 mark at about 1:43:5 - much faster than I intended, but still feeling quite good. DH was there to cheer me on up Sussex again (this time he spotted me and got a picture, albeit from a distance) and that was another boost!

On the final climb up Sussex I took another water and gel break just shy of the 22 km point, pretty much on schedule. This was one of the places where I had to remind myself to take my own advice - if you need a water/gel break, just as easy to take it on an uphill as on a flat stretch or a downhill! Still feeling good after the gel although by then was also a little tired, knew I had been running solidly for almost two hours.

3) Colonel By to the 32 km point
Starting down Colonel By - great stretch, lots of spectators cheering for us - I decided that a quick porta potty stop was in order, as much as I hated to have to interrupt the race that way. My bladder wasn't exploding, but it was causing enough discomfort that I was hesitating to drink, and from Around the Bay I knew that not enough water/carbs = not enough energy. So I ducked in very quickly somewhere before the 23 km point, probably losing less than a minute in total. And I had the time - at 24 km, my watch was saying a total time elapsed of just over two hours.

This was where it really started to hit home that I was definitely on track to a sub-4:00 finish, and quite possibly a sub-3:45. And there were butterflies in my stomach doing flip flops. At the same time, my brain was computing that there were still 18 km to go, and that nothing could be taken for granted, that there was still a lot of running to do. But I was definitely feeling as though the marathon was going well, and that I could finish.

The first rain started at about the 25 or 26 km point, which produced an instant feeling of dismay. However, it wasn't bad, and let up after a short time, so I was hopeful that it would hold off until the end. Aside from the rain, that was a nice section - mostly a gradual downhill and beside the canal. Most of the time there was a lot of space around me, but still enough people to feel the energy of the race. At some point there was a sign with a saying by Lance Armstrong - "Pain is temporary, quitting is forever" that stuck in my mind and became important later.

My pace up to around the 28 km mark was still averaging about 5:00/km - slowed up a bit here and there to adjust my water belt and have a drink, but nothing major. At one point I dropped the package of tissues that was tucked into my belt, and didn't notice for a few steps. Felt bad, because I hated to litter, and also hated to be without a reserve supply for my eternally stuffy nose, but no way it made sense to go back and pick them up...

Around the 28 km point, my glutes were really starting to tighten up. It wasn't really painful, but it was uncomfortable. And surprising. It wasn't something I experienced on my long runs or in other races. Maybe it was the long gradual downhill? Whatever - no choice but to deal with it, so I decided to slow down a bit.

When I crossed the 30 km timing belt at about 2:31 (by my watch), my left side was starting to recover but my right leg was starting to have some real problems. By the 32 km point, it was very tight and extremely painful from my hip to my knee.

4) 32 km to finish line
Okay - throughout training, one truism was never too far away: "anything can happen on race day". And here was something happening that I had never experienced and never would have predicted... I was sort of prepared for tight calves, sore quads, maybe some noise from the old injury in my left hip - all things that had happened on training runs - but not for this huge pain on the right side. Several days later, I'm a little bit at a loss trying to describe it. It was somewhat centered on my hip, but beyond that I couldn't possibly say which individual muscles were hurting because it seemed that they were all hurting. Not "normal" stiff, or "normal" sore - more like everything had seized up and set itself on fire. Okay, maybe the "on fire" part is a little bit of an exaggeration, but only a little bit. It really, really hurt.

At this point I was glad to have Mr. Armstrong's quote in my head, because things were getting pretty miserable. It was now starting to rain in earnest, somewhere around that point was a bit of a hill, and although my energy was still pretty good, I was fighting this sudden and unexpected pain. And also realising that I had no experience at running with or through pain. Overall fatigue, yes. "Dead" legs, that too. Sore muscles, BTDT. But acute pain? Never. The only thing I can compare it to is the day that my left hip just went on me - one minute I was running and within a few steps it felt like the joint was going to crumble and I could barely walk. Recovered enough to hobble back to the gym, but never considered trying to run any further. This time, because there did seem to be some pain radiating out from the right hip, part of me was afraid that it was all happening again. However, unlike before, I could keep moving and didn't feel like something was breaking. But neither was it functioning all that well...!

And so I did keep moving, but not as fast as before and not as fast as I would have liked. The km between 32 and 33 km took 6:41, since I was walking for part of it, having some more water, digging out a few sport beans to make sure the energy stores stayed high... My not-always-steady guts were rebelling at the thought of a third gel, so I was glad to have brought the beans along. I was hoping an extended walk break would help relieve what was happening, and to a certain extent it did. But not very much.

So from that point until the finish, I was doing a run-walk mixture - running until I couldn't take the pain, then switching to a walk while trying to stretch and massage my leg, then running again... It was not much fun, to say the least. Especially with the rain! At no point, though, did I seriously consider actually quitting - would have walked all the way to the finish line if that's what it took.

Thanks to my watch, I was able to look back and calculate that km's 34 - 39 averaged about 5:30/km - longest was 5:48 and shortest was 5:00. At the time, it felt much slower, but that's not surprising, given that almost every step hurt. Despite my attempts to walk and massage things out, there was no indication that running was going to get any easier. Things got a little more complicated around the 36 km point when the half marathon runners merged with the marathon runners - slow as I was, I was still trying to dodge around people who were part of this sudden influx. Then dropping back for another walk break.

I don't remember the exact point at which it was clear that, even if I walked the remaining distance, I would finish at 4:00 or under. I do remember getting to the 39 km point, with my time at around 3:20, and being tempted to do just that. It wouldn't have been a great way to get a BQ, but it would be a BQ. But of course I wanted to run and have a relatively strong finish. Not to mention, get to the end so that I could let my poor leg have a rest...!

The last few km's are a bit of a blur. The half and full merging had its good and bad points. More runners equals more energy and increased the "I can do it" feeling. The bad point was feeling stuck in a crowd. Anyway, my last three km times probably tell the story best: 7:08, 6:00, 6:54. Yes, I was hurting and slow!!! But somehow managed to pick it up between the 750 m and 500 m markers to finish running pretty strongly. At the 500 m marker I recall thinking, "That's only four times around the indoor track - and since when can't you do a lousy four times around the indoor track?!?", talking myself into keeping the legs going. If there is a finish line picture, it probably shows me looking more dazed than happy. But inside there was a sudden welling of happiness, but also complete, overwhelming disbelief at the realisation that I'd really completed a marathon AND within a Boston qualifying time!

Unfortunately, although I was very impressed and pleased with the way the race was organized, the actual finish was awful. Because of the merging of the marathoners and the half marathoners, just past the finish line everyone was jammed together. I was able to walk a very short distance and get a silver cape (much appreciated!), but then after that people were barely moving. Just too many people for the space and the number of volunteers. The chutes were jammed, and then once we were out of the chutes, with the next area being through the recovery zone and out to the meeting areas, the crowd literally wasn't moving. When moving, we were taking baby steps. It took over 15 minutes to get to where DH and I had arranged to meet, most of that time spent standing still. Of course, one of the worst things you can do after a long race is to stand still - although the pain in my right leg was easing up because I'd stopped trying to run on it, I could feel the rest of my muscles stiffening. And despite the silver cape, my temperature was dropping and I was starting to get quite cold.

So in some ways it felt pretty anti-climatic - normally you would have a chance to walk around, stretch your legs, get used to the idea that the running was over, start to process how it went, etc. Instead, my entire focus was on getting out of the crowd and staying warm. Although I had originally planned to get my medal engraved - and especially wanted to do so since it was a BQ time - there was no way I was willing to hang around and battle the crowds and even try. With the rain and feeling so cold, especially, it just wasn't worth it. There are people right here in Toronto who will do the engraving for a minimal sum :)

DH and I did meet up, and made our way back to the car and then to the Ottawa Y for a nice, hot, take-the-post-race-chill-off shower. After which we met up with some relatives, one of whom had done the 10 K the night before, and some others who had done the Family 2 K that morning. Beer, food, company - it's all good.

Of course I have spent much time processing what went right and what went wrong. Except for the right leg, which I don't think could have been predicted, I think it mostly went right. Enough water, enough energy, no hitting the Wall. It wouldn't have been realistic to maintain a 5:00/km pace for the whole thing, but my difficulty near the end was mostly due to the leg, not to being too tired. My guess is that I would otherwise have done the last 10 km at a pace somewhere between 5:15 and 5:30/km, maybe 6:00/km at the very end, based on how everything else felt. But who knows? Maybe having to walk gave me energy that I otherwise wouldn't have had, and maybe without those forced breaks the Wall would have been real.

So now what?

Well, my legs are pretty much back to normal by now, but there is still some pain and/or awareness in my hips. Both the old site in my left hip (which didn't start until well after the race itself) and some in my right. Not excruciating, not debilitating, but not normal. I have an ART session scheduled for Monday night and will assess things after that. My biggest fear, as always, is a stress fracture. No reason to believe that's the case - lots of people experience lots of pain during long races and don't have stress fractures - but it would be stupid to ignore the possibility. I had already planned on taking two weeks off, and maybe that will stretch into as much as a month. In mid-June I'll be out West for a week, and it's often not convenient to run out there, so rather than run for the one week in between break and travel, maybe I'll just not run at all. That still leaves three months to train for the September 30 marathon.

Assuming no serious injuries or lack of training, it will be really interesting to see what a second marathon is like. No doubt I'll be nervous and full of anxiety before, but the distance is no longer an unknown quantity. The ability to drink and gel over that distance is something I've now done. Presumably if something starts to feel tight and/or painful, by then I'll have learned some techniques to deal with that.

One thing I would like is to do at least one LSD that's longer than 32 km. It doesn't have to be much longer, but with the way my mind works, I'd like to know that I'd done more of the distance and done it pain-free. Well, relatively pain-free - can't imagine doing a long distance at any pace and not having some stiffness and fatigue! It would be a real mental boost while out on the course.

Then after September, of course, comes Boston in April 2008...as unreal as that seems...

Getting late and this is very long already, so enough for now.

Last pre-marathon run today - 7 km first thing in the morning. There was a smog alert today and it did get up into the mid-20's, but while I was out the temperature was no more than about 12 C, the air felt fresh, and it was a really nice run. Nothing hard - no hills, no pushing for speed, just running. Towards the very end I felt some strange twinges in my right knee - almost a pain, but pretty subtle. Don't know what that's about, but I'm attributing it to taper madness. Saw my running buddy at the gym and he just nodded wisely before saying, "It will be gone by Sunday".

Sunday - the big day - the day I'm going to run 42.2 km. I hope. With water and carb breaks there will be at least some walking, but ideally the rest of the time it will be at least a slow jog. There are a few hills along the route - apparently the worst are around the 28 and 30 km mark, but I'm trying very hard not to be intimidated in advance. There's nothing to say that those water and carb breaks can't be taken on a hill if said hill really feels like too much.

My race strategy? Run like hell until I can't do any more and limp across the finish line ;) Seriously, I'd like to start with a pace somewhere around 5 min/km, get a little time "in the bank" so to speak, and then slow it down. I've got a pace band for a 3:45 finish because I'd rather aim for less than 4:00 - that way if I need to take a bathroom break, or just get really tired and need to walk a bit or something, maybe I could do all that and still finish in 4:00:59. Because no kidding myself here - this is my first marathon, it's going to be a learning experience, it could turn out any number of ways - but I'd love, love, love to do that Boston Qualifying Time.

It's so close and in many ways I'm so anxious and nervous. And at the same time trying to be calm. Lots of visualizing going on, of myself just running comfortably and easily and not stressing about the time. Lots of mental reminders that I've done the training, haven't missed a long run since I decided to do this race. Lots of reminders that I've been running for a long time and should trust my body to be able to do this. Etc, etc, etc.

Just four more sleeps and it's done and on to the next one. Deep down, pushing through the nerves and anxiety is this "let's just go DO it!" feeling. Hope it's there and working on Sunday!

Gorgeous day here in Toronto - sunny, not too warm, just a little breezy. Today's training schedule called for 5 km, but it ended up being closer to 7 km. I ran from home and really wanted to do a major hill, but it was almost 3 km just to get to the top. So I ran until I hit 6 km and then did a combo walk/slow jog for the rest. It almost seems silly to be so careful about 1 km but I'm in the midst of taper madness and superstition!

The other reason for wanting to do the big hill was to get a fix on the distance using the Garmin. Mapmyrun.com measures it at almost exactly 1 km, but any time I have timed my down-and-up I've been surprised at how long a time it was recording and how slow it therefore meant I was going. According to the Garmin the distance is 1.27 km and that explains much.

Last week's running was pretty good. 11 km on Tuesday on the indoor track in 53 minutes. I had originally mapped out a nice outdoor run but we woke up to thunderstorms and showers, so I did an intense flat and comfortable run instead. Thursday's run was outside, about 10 km in about 49 minutes. I was tired and felt like it was work but was pleased with the final result. Even though it was annoying to hit so many red lights and reminded me why sometimes a track run is better.

Then on the weekend DH and I were in Ottawa for a wedding, and on Saturday morning we went to the downtown YMCA and used it as a base to run along the canal. It's really a nice place to run and I did a fast/race pace 16.2 km in 78 minutes. Okay - that's not really "race pace" for a marathon. But the schedule called for a reasonably intense run.

Saturday morning I also finally tested a gel and it was nowhere near as bad as I expected. Didn't make me gag on its way down, didn't cause stomach cramps, probably provided an energy boost. I took it at about the 8 km mark, along with some water, and finished the run without any GI issues. So I am going to carry a few gels for the marathon and consume at least two, maybe three. Still working out my final plan, which of course is subject to change on that day depending on how it's actually all unfolding.

The weather forecast keeps changing - the latest is a low of 10 C, high of 24 C, with 40% chance of scattered showers. Hmmm...could be worse but that's still pretty warm. At this point my plan is to wear shorts for sure, but don't know whether I'll end up in long sleeves or short ones. Long sleeves would be preferable, because then I'd have a place to stash Kleenex for my ever stuffed up and dripping nose. And I could wear my lucky Jogger Barbie shirt. But if it's going to be really hot, being trapped in long sleeves will be no fun at all.

I have decided to carry water with me instead of relying on aid stations, and on the weekend bought a single bottle belt. My fuel belt, which holds two bottles, works well but I don't really like wearing it. This belt has to sit higher, as I found out when testing it today on my 5 km run, but doesn't seem too bad. The bottle is easier to get at and it's easier to slide the belt around to get in the pocket. I'll wear it again on Wednesday's 7 km run, just to make sure, but for now it's part of my plan. Why not rely on aid stations, like I have on every other run? Because of the whole need to balance water and carbs, which I am still learning. There was a point on my Saturday run where I felt a little tired, legs were a starting to feel a bit heavy, and I thought: do what you'd do on a real run. Slow down a bit, have a bit of water, and then concentrate on form. And it worked. So I want to have that option - not be out there in the last 10 km feeling awful, with at least 2 km to go before the next water station. Maybe I don't need to carry water, but it will make me feel more secure, going in, that I at least have what I need available, when I need it. This is, after all, my Learning to Marathon marathon ;)

Still can't quite believe I'm going to cover that distance. Barring a major injury or some other unforeseen circumstance, I am strong enough to do 42.2 km. The big questions are whether I finish it running or walking, and whether I can do it under 4.0 hours. Less than a week until I find out. In the meantime, I'm trying for lots of rest, lots of water, and lots of calm.

Two weeks from today and the Ottawa Marathon will be over. Good or bad. In fact, by this point it will be hours over, the post-race food and beer long since consumed, the post-race stiffness still present, and the post-race mood...? At this point, who can say?

Today's run, as per the training schedule, was 19 km. The longest run until the marathon itself. According to my calculations and mapmyrun.com, I ran closer to 22 km. Not a big deal and I'm not complaining - at this point, it's okay to be a little over and I'd rather do that than a little under. It was a pretty good run - the weather was sunny, around 11 C, a little windy but not too much so. Three hills, including one long winding one (but they all had an accompanying and very nice downhill). Unfortunately, I didn't go as slow as I should have - this is always and ever a problem - and that highlights my need to use a pace bunny, a pace band, a running partner, something to keep me from burning it all up too fast on race day. It's going to be hard enough to finish at a slower than usual pace, but just about impossible at my ATB or half marathon pace.

Total mid-week mileage is only supposed to be 13 miles, over three days. Since I can't run three days (next week's runs are planned for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) I think I'll bump up both Tuesday and Thursday to be about 6.5 miles. That's about 10.5 km and shouldn't be a problem. It would be good to get the total distance in.

Then about 13 km on the weekend, and two short runs on Monday and Wednesday, and that's it. Gulp. I have an ART appointment scheduled for Wednesday night, a final tune-up before the race, so unless at some point in the next two weeks I get injured, physically it's just a matter of whether I've trained enough and have the endurance.

Do I? Some days I think so, others I'm not so sure. Friday's run was not the greatest - I did just under 8.5 km at a decent pace, but felt kind of bloated and crampy and not at my best. The idea of doing five times that distance was laughable. But then other days I've had good runs - last weekend I did 32 km - and I figure with proper pacing and sufficient water and carbs, it's going to be okay. It's an intimidating distance, there is (at least in my mind) this "marathon mystique", and so I'm both nervous and excited.

The biggest unknown, as always, is the weather. Last year it was very hot on that day - 18 C at 7:00 a.m., going up to a high of 24 C - and I just dread that. Duh. It's not like you can train for that weather when the temperatures here have been quite nice for the past couple of weeks. Okay - theoretically I could wear tights and two shirts and gloves and train on the indoor track. Or wear all those clothes and train outside. But this isn't the Olympics, there's no need to go overboard. I have made a point of wearing long-sleeved shirts, but switched to shorts when the temperature last week went up to 19 C.

In any event, the marathon starts at 7:00 a.m., so the sun will be fully up but not high in the sky, and that makes a difference. I am used to running early in the morning so my body should like that. Concentrate on the positives...

As well, I have to keep reminding myself that Ottawa is not my "A" race this year. My "A" race is Scotiabank, and that's not until September. Lots of time to work on any issues encountered in Ottawa, and lots of opportunities to train in the summer humidity. Ottawa is a "let's get the experience" marathon. Of course, I would love to finish under 4:00 and I'm going to start with a 3:45 pace. But if I don't finish in that time, I don't. It's not the end of the world. Just finishing is enough of an achievement.

Those are all things that I know intellectually. Emotionally is another story, of course...

Wow - just over two weeks until the marathon in Ottawa. Whenever I stop to think about it, I alternate between this excited, anticipatory, "let's go!" feeling, and this "what if I'm not really ready, and I crash and burn?" dread. IOW, perfectly normal. Or at least that's how it would appear based on what other people have to say about their first marathons.

Three more running sessions since the last time I wrote. Sunday's 32 km LSD was a mix of good and bad. Good in that I got through it. Bad in that there were all kinds of petty irritations: my visor kept slipping around and once blew right off. My fuel belt was bugging me. My bra started chafing about 16 km, despite the Body Glide. My bladder was due to explode at 16 km and I had to take a bathroom break. DH was supposed to meet me at the park, but was over an hour late, and I was worried something had happened to him. Partway through my park laps, there was a police parade and a bunch of people milling around one area, having to be "dodged" on every single lap. I would have gone somewhere else, except then when DH got there he wouldn't know where I was.

However, it was a nice day - sunny but not too hot, breezy but not too windy. I was very tired by the end but not dropping with exhaustion. No cramping from drinking water (probably didn't drink enough, though) or from eating sports beans and caramels. I wish there was time to do another 32 km or more LSD, but not this close to the actual marathon. This weekend calls for only 19 km, and then next weekend only 13 km. And while I may exceed that a bit, I won't deliberately go way over. The guy who wrote the training program has a much better idea about how this all works than I do.

Probably the best part of the LSD was how good I felt, overall. Some generalized stiffness and soreness, for sure. But no localised hip or ITB pain. The ART session that I'd booked in advance for Monday night, figuring I'd need it, probably wasn't necessary. But I didn't have 24 hours to cancel, and it certainly didn't hurt.

This week I did a brisk 8 km or so on Tuesday morning and then about 13 km yesterday morning. My ART provider wanted me to try back to back runs. Hmmm...maybe not quite ready, as my hip was sending out a few warning signals. But it's way better than before. Tomorrow's distance is 7 km - assuming that it's not raining I plan to do the hill run, with an extra repeat of just the hill. That will be a little over 7 km but not enough to matter.

It was very warm yesterday morning - about 19 C at 6:30 a.m. - so for the first time I wore shorts for my morning run. Fortunately it wasn't humid so the temperature wasn't a problem. Of course, who knows what it will be like the day of the marathon. Last year it was about the same temperature at the start, but more humid, and that made it a tough run. People keep talking about "unseasonably" hot so I can only hope...

One of the nicest things about running on Wednesday was that my running buddy came along for about the first 35 minutes. What that meant was a bit slower pace and less structure, the latter being a welcome break. Had I been running by myself, I would have known exactly how many km, or pretty close. But we left the gym without a set route, sort of made it up as we went along, and so I just decided that if I ran a total of about 1:15, then based on that time and the parts of the route whose distance I do know, it would be at least 13 km. Very nice run overall.

Lately I am aware of what I call "mileage tracking fatigue". For years I ran only according to time - periodically counting laps and checking my pace so I had an idea of where I was at, but not following a schedule, not logging it anywhere, and not really caring. Running just to run. But with training for the Waterfront Half last summer, and then for Around the Bay through much of the winter, and now for the marathon, I've paid a lot more attention to distance. Mostly just on the weekends, but with the marathon, on a bunch of weekdays too. And I'm logging it on the RR forum, and checking it off on my printout, and looking ahead at the schedule, and, well, I'm kind of missing my "running just to run". It will return - June is going to be an easy month before I resume training in July - so I'll just keep to the schedule until then.

Heck, I'm just lucky to have done this much running so far and to feel so good (as in: not injured) with so little time to go before the Big Day.

Unfortunately, the same is not true of DH. Although his calf issue seems to have resolved itself, he's having problems with one of his feet. It may just be the shoes, but of course it could also be something more serious. He ran 16 km on Sunday, but has only managed a couple km on his two attempts to run since then. So his plans for Ottawa are very uncertain. Could be the half, could be the 10 km on the Saturday night, could be neither. Stay tuned, film at 11:00...

What a wonderful week for running it has been here in Toronto. I was out on Wednesday and Friday mornings, and both days were sunny but still cool - 7 or 8 C - with little or no wind. It's full daylight by 6:30 a.m. now, and there are all kinds of people out. Those are the kind of days when I am SO glad to be a runner, because I just love the feeling of being out there, getting this exercise, feeling my body burn up the distance, etc. etc. etc.

The scheduled distance for Wednesday was 16 km and I was a little nervous about that, having just run the half on Sunday and still feeling it some in my IT band. Interestingly enough, while I was running things loosened up and I felt great, but later on that whole area felt very tight again. Not sure that I'd call it "pain", but certainly I would call it "marked discomfort". Fortunately, my ART person was able to fit me in (thank you, thank you, thank you) and she got the kinks out in a big way, worked on both the IT band and the hamstring. It was a pretty aggressive treatment and for the first time I actually did have a bit of bruising. It took me by surprise - I kept massaging this one spot and wondering why it still hurt - finally noticed that it was a bruise, not a sore muscle, LOL.

On Thursday I felt much better - still a little stiffness in the surrounding muscles - and then on Friday I had a very nice not-quite-9 km and haven't had any issues since. Good thing, too - tomorrow is the longest training run of the marathon program, 32 km. It's supposed to be an LSD and I'm going to be trying very hard to keep the S in mind. My goal is to run the distance at an overall pace that, when I am finished, leaves me feeling like I could do more. As usual, the eating and drinking will be tough, but I'll just do my best. Start drinking by about 8 km, but hold off eating until 15 km, maybe. There seems to be such an art to determining the right balance between not cramping but getting enough to prevent that "dead legs" feeling.

We spent a big chunk of the afternoon doing gardening and yard work, but nothing too strenuous. DH put some mulch around the hedge and did some tidying up, and I thinned out some perennials and weeded most of the stuff in the back. Got a little less agressive with the thinning out after giving myself a blister and bursting it within a very short time thanks to repeated driving of the trowel handle into my palm. Ouch. So some of those plants are definitely going to come back and I'll deal with them at that time.

Just thinking about our schedule - with other weekend plans and the Ottawa marathon, not sure when the annuals will go in this year. Probably late rather than early. Need to start making some decisions about what goes where. There's a good topic to occupy my brain during tomorrow's LSD!

DH is also doing a long run tomorrow, probably about 16 km. He wants to do the half in Ottawa and he'll need to put in some distance and see if his calf can really handle it. Here's hoping...

Tomorrow is the Vancouver Marathon, something I'd like to do one fine day. We know one guy IRL who's running tomorrow, and there are a few people on the on-line forum as well. The weather isn't looking too bad - 40% POP - but a high of only 16 C which is pretty nice for running, especially when you're starting at 7:30 a.m. It will be interesting to go on-line tomorrow and see how our friend did.

Two days since the half marathon and I finally have a chance to sit down and write about it in detail. Starting with Saturday and Saturday night because it's all one big package.

Saturday was cool and rainy right through the evening. The forecast for Sunday was sunny and 15 C but it was pretty hard to believe as we were shivering on the sidewalk in front of the store where we picked up the race kits. We met up with our Barrie friend there and went for a beer, at least two of us (one of the two being me) swearing that we would skip the run the next day if the weather was still crummy. Would we have? I don't actually know. If it was just showers, I would have worn my jacket and run anyway, most likely.

Anyway, after having such a good Around the Bay at the end of March, I wanted to stick to a very similar routine. That meant no fried foods for the two days before and no fish or seafood, either. Eating lightly on Saturday. And Quizno's for dinner, no later than 6:00 p.m., with DH and I sharing a 9-inch veggie sub and a veggie flatbread. We managed to go to bed fairly early - lights out by about 11:00 - and slept well. In the morning DH had his usual donut and coffee (only one donut because he was only running 5 km) and I had an energy bar, a bit of caffeine, and hot water. The race was at 9:30 a.m. so we got up about 7:00. That way everything has time to digest, we have time to relax, etc.

There were a few raindrops on the windows at 7:00, and when our friends arrived at our hotel room about 8:30 to drop off their stuff, they said there had a been a bit of rain on the way over. But the forecast was still for sunny weather, and it seemed to turn all of a sudden. We got to the race start shortly after 9:00 and it was sunny and about 10 C.

Prior to the race I met up with a guy from the Running Room forum, which was pretty cool. And a friend who wasn't running came down to see us off. The start line was in a slightly different place this year - up on the street instead of by the water - but still in the same general location. Amazingly enough, maybe because of meeting someone new and the distraction of introducing him, and hugging our other friend, my usual pre-race "I really don't want to do this feeling" never showed up. Nice. And then the bell rang pretty much on time and we were off!

From the beginning, it felt like a better run than the previous two years. In 2005, I started to get stomach cramps around the 3 km mark and had to walk a bit - actually considered a sudden downgrade to the 5 km race. In 2006, I had built back up to the distance while recovering from my hip injury but was kind of tense about doing that long a distance and getting injured again. This year things just felt better.

Which is not to say that they were necessarily easy - the hills are still hills and they are my downfall since I have never done enough hill training. But I was better prepared and plodded up all of them - no walking. In fact, with the exception of a few steps at each water break, I didn't walk any part of this course, also a big improvement from last year when I didn't want to take any chances and just walked the hills as soon as they felt tiring.

Not everything went smoothly, of course. I had heard a tip for drinking water while running - pinch the cup so it's like a spout and less likely to splash when you try and drink it. Okay - tried that at the 5 km water station. Water up my nose, water the wrong way down my throat - choke, cough, gasp - so much for that idea. May as well have walked to begin with...

I also made an effort to drink more - hit almost every water station, even if not for a lot. That wasn't so great - I could feel the water in my stomach, and actually hear it sloshing, and that was very uncomfortable. As a result, km 20 was pretty miserable - spent part of it just forcing myself along in a slow trot. Did manage to recover for a pretty strong finish - the crowds at the end were great. Plus I could see DH and our friends cheering me across and that always means a little extra energy :)

At the same time that it was a good run, it was somewhat tiring, moreso than a 21 km training run. Part of that is probably knowing that it's a race and being hyper-aware of how I'm feeling. Part of that was those wonderful hills. And I think part is also that my body "knew" I was only running a half and didn't bother preparing itself for a longer distance. All of which is to say that I couldn't have done 42.2 km at that speed on Sunday morning. Of course, I'm not planning to do 42.2 km at that speed at the end of May, either.

So, what speed? What was the time?!?!?

Well, there is some confusion over that. Although we were using chips, and they beeped as we crossed the timing mats at the Start line, only the gun times were posted. Fortunately I was wearing my cool new running watch, so I know my time from crossing the mat at the Start to crossing it at the Finish, and was using that as my "official" time. But then I heard today that the actual Start line was further back, and was not the timing mat, but that doesn't really make sense to me, especially since they're claiming the course has been certified. I did send an email tonight asking for clarification and am curious as to what the response will be.

Regardless, the results are: gun time - 1:44, and "watch time" 1:43:12!!! Given that my previous PB on that course was close to 1:48, I am ECSTATIC. Either time was beyond what I expected to do. The other very cool thing is that I finished third in my age category - something that has never happened before and will probably never happen again.

So it was, overall, a really good day. As always, once the run was over and we'd had a chance to shower (although this year they only had to wait for me), we went to a nearby pub for lunch and that beer tasted GOOD. Something quite cool was that my nephew came down to watch me cross the finish line, and came to lunch with all of us. He is such a nice guy and our friends enjoyed meeting him - hope he had a good time as well (seemed to).

Physically, I'm feeling quite good but being cautious. First run will be tomorrow morning. My hip itself is fine but there is some stiffness/discomfort in my IT band, so I'm treating that with ice and heat and will do some massage tonight. This weekend is a long training run - 32 km - the last big run before the taper - and after that I'm going to go for an ART session. I'm always afraid of an injury but am cautiously optimistic that everything is going to be okay for Ottawa.

In other news, DH ran the 5 K in about 26.5 minutes and felt well afterwards, which was/is great. He is planning to do the Half in Ottawa so needs to do some running between now and then. His calf feels okay so far, and he'll be running tomorrow to test it out.

Could write and write and write, but it's time to ice that IT band :)