Last race of the season - Road2Hope marathon and half-marathon in Hamilton

A bit of a delay getting this post in and a bit anti-climactic getting to it a week later.

Not good enough to order but a memory of the finish line.

November 6 marked the end of the fall running season with the Road2Hope marathon and half-marathon in the Hammer. An early wake up (made less painful due to Daylight Savings) and off I was to Hamilton to meet a number of CCRR folks who were running (most of them doing the full) or cheering.

Lack of signage and backlog on the road heading to Confederation Park made for hiccupy logistics but we all got to the start line on time (and if we hadn't, we would likely have been okay as race organizers delayed the start times). Aside from that, the sun from shining, the wind was minimal and the coolness was starting to get less frigid so there was little to complain about.

I was feeling relatively strong so figured that if conditions remained good, that I'd be able to get a PB. It is afterall, a race with a good amount of downhill-ing. I didn't follow a pacer and just found a rhythm and stuck with it for about 10km. A good per km pace that slowed slightly at 13km when the downhill portion stopped and my hip flexors started fatiguing (big goal for 2012, work on this!). I still kept up with the training though and kept pushing through, digging much deeper than I had in a while.

All was good until about 17km, or when we turned around to run by the water. The lake effect wind was coming on head-on. And something about my gels (again) gave me the major pukeys. I walked once or twice more than I would have liked along this stretch, trying not to hurl, and trying to stay focused. The 1:50 pace bunny passed me but I was okay with that. My goal was 1:52:22 or less so as long as I kept up with him, I knew I'd be fine. But I wasn't keeping up with him. And then I lost sight of him.

At around 19.5, I slowed to walk and Mike Lin approached me from behind and said something like "we've got this" or "you can do it" and I looked at him (this is why we have a community folks, the power of it is phenomenal) and found a lot of internal strength and made it happen. I looked at my Garmin and saw where the finish line was and just started going as fast as my body could. While it wasn't enough to give me a Personal Best (1:52:52 - off by 29 seconds~), I chalked it up as a Personal Awesome. My best 1/2 time of the season, more left in me for next time, goal of PB and sub 1:50 in sight.

The cowbells and cheering (and man, were there TONS!) at the end helped me cheer up, as did getting to celebrate so many personal bests, Boston qualifiers and happy finishes for my running friends. I put this season to rest, my first after a two year hiatus, so excited at what increased fitness and 2012 will bring!