Race Report for Around the Bay 30k

Abstract (for trevor): 1:49:05, 14th place. One of the best races of my life.


The weather network had promised me a sunny day on Sunday. For at least a week the forecast had been for partly cloudy skies with a high of near 11 degrees. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Instead, we were treated to 5-6 degree weather with a thick blanket of cloud obscuring all but the grayest of light. It wasn't pretty, but for running it was ideal.

The finishing chute was relatively empty, save for Per and I. When I first saw the clock it said 1:48:55. I had not looked at my cumulative time once, relying only on my kilometer splits for feedback. We pushed toward the line, a huge smile starting to emerge as I realized that I had just run a time I previously thought was out of my league. My gold goal. My secret hope. I only learned Per's name after exchanging an exultant hug. You see, we were the last. I had just finished running with him for one hour, forty-nine minutes, and five seconds, the whole time unaware of his name. He is from Montreal. We had both come to Hamilton to share in something that turned out to be pretty special for each of us.

The last two kilometers were the hardest. I know that this is often the case, but there was one more guy to catch. And it wasn't that I was physically exhausted, because while fatigued, I still felt good; it was the mental aspect of pushing just that seven minutes more that was hard. The hills were done and it was all about holding pace now. I was falling off the pace a little, so Per took a pull. We pulled up beside the "guy" in front of us, only to see that this "guy" was more like a boy - he was in the 15-19 age group and had run alone for pretty much the whole race - a gutsy effort to be sure. We passed him, offered words of encouragement, and pushed toward the Copps Coliseum.

The downhill leading into "Heartbreak Hill" had a midget with one leg playing "We Will Rock You" by Queen. I had gapped Per a little on the downhill, not with any intention of leaving him but as a result of me just running downhill a little faster. I looked over to the midget and called out "This is where it gets fun!" 26 km down, one hill left. This is about the only place I remember from my Around the Bay initiation 11 years ago, when I ran 2:36. And the lone memory lingering in my mind is of me swearing at someone encouraging me to move from a slow walk into a more running like gait. I hated that person. But this day I smiled knowing that I still had energy left and that the miles of hills I had run since this time last year would serve me well. I crossed the wooden bridge, noticing my footfalls were a little heavy, and turned left up "Heartbreak Hill". It was a steady climb, but nothing worse than what we have in Victoria. I kept form and cadence in the forefront of my mind and smoothly ascended. I smiled, knowing from my splits that I was going to have a decent time. Per caught me on the hill and as we crested, I urged him to get his cadence going again - we had time to make up. It was about 400m later that I saw Gord Pauls, owner of Hamilton's Runners' Den. It was he, among others, but he most vehemently, that told me I was to go for 1:49. I scoffed at this idea only four days early over Hot Chocolate (Second Cup's Vanilla Bean Hot Chocolate - my new favourite). While I had no idea of my position, he did, and cheered me madly at that point. Mike's earlier blog about laying it out there came to mind, as did other's belief in my running fitness. I began to believe as well.

The halfway point found four of us running together. We had just watched a relay runner run past us - with only 15k to run, he was shortly out of sight. We had once again reeled in the Asics guy. He had been going well, but Per and I had been steady. I wondered if he would come back again, but it was Per's push that brought him back. Mat Reid, Per, and I had only earlier quickly discussed the idea of picking up the pace. I was concerned that this was a bit early to push. Mat said as much (“We are on 1:50 pace”), but I think that Per had other thoughts in mind. With Asics guy back in the fold, the pace picked up over the next couple of kilometers and, as Mat fell of the pace, I was faced with a decision – do I push and possibly blow up, or settle in and stay with Mat, a guy who I know from results and reputation is a good runner. Was he making the smarter choice? Staying in control now to run harder later? I decided to stick in with Per and Asics, staying in their draft, a place I had found quite comfortable up until then. I checked my heart rate as we put some distance between and noticed that it was still around 168, not much different from the 165 I had seen for the previous 18km. “When does this race get hilly?”
What? Had Asics really just asked about the hills? I assured him that they were coming, and a kilometer later, with the first one under us, Per and I left him behind.

I look around. There are still 6 people running in this group. 10k down. The clock on course read 36:33. That is a bit quick, but I felt good. I had lost sight of the group that was in front of us. The wind coming off the water was chilly. I no longer felt my fingers. (Usually that is no too much of an issue – I mean, how much do you use your fingers in a 30k race? But the inability to control fine motor movements would prove to make removing the gel from inside my glove at 21k a difficult task. However, ingenious use of teeth and visual reference for my fingers allowed me to get at least half of that gel out before dropping it at the feet of a kind water station volunteer.) We splayed out like a flock of Canadian Geese flying south, each of trying to gain any energy we could from a draft position. I still felt good and was surprised at the ease with which the kilometers were moving under my feet.

The first kilometer felt easy. I wanted to go out easy. It was actually my goal. Jasper and I had discussed going out around 4:00/km for the first couple of kilometers before bringing down the pace. I had readjusted that time to about 3:50/km so that I would have a shot at 1:50. So it was with surprise that I saw 3:33 after the first kilometer. Too say I was worried would be accurate. I wasn’t freaking out, but I was a little concerned that I would pay for this later. I switched my watch from cumulative time to lap splits, so that the only time I saw was the kilometer splits. I knew I was to be running 3:42/km, so I definitely was aware that 10 seconds too fast could have some bad consequences I was sitting in a group of about 8-10 people. There were some guys that looked like they were used to being here and there were some guys who looked like they were, uh, not used to being here. We ticked off 3:36, 3:39, 3:40 for the few kilometers, all of which I felt like I was holding back. This was disconcerting because I didn’t want to let go of this group, but I wasn’t prepared to be running this fast this early.

Lining up on the start line, I longed for the familiar faces of Victoria. I know I can always count on Bob Reid, or Rob Reid, or Sylvan Smith at the start, allowing me to sneak in near the front. This time though, with no one I knew there, I had to use all my cunning to get to the front. I snuck through gates and around the timing mats, lining up behind the Kenyans and other elites – those with low bib numbers. I had done a 12-minute light warm up prior to searching for a bathroom, eventually found one in McDonald’s. The warm up was a little abbreviated, but the plan was to use the first few kilometers for warm-up. The count down occurred, the horn went, and I settled into what I thought was a comfortable pace, unaware of what was about to occur.

THANKS!

Thanks to those who have been posting and sending congrats. I have a longer race report that I will post tonight. I am pretty pleased, and needless to say, shocked, but I will take it.

Gutbuster and a 30k

I just ate my traditional pre-race meal - a red curry from My Thai.

"But you're in Hamilton!"

I KNOW! But there is a My Thai Restaurant here, and while not quite the same quality at My Thai Cafe on Cook St in Victoria, it is still good.

The run today, later this evening thus avoiding the nasty cold rain earlier in the day, felt good. I am glad to be racing tomorrow, but I already find my mind fast forwarding to the training needed for Iceland.

At package pick-up I saw Gord Pauls of Runners' Den, the running store I used to work at here in Hamilton. He and his wife, the incomparable Esther Pauls, own the store and so it was with a big smile I saw them at the Race Expo at Copps Coliseum this afternoon.

I also went looking at past results, and in the process found that this year there are live results. In fact, you can check results at 10k, 15k, 20k and, of course, the finish. The race starts at 9:30am EST, which means 6:30am PST, or 10:30am East Coast time. Follow the link and enter my name, or bib number 909, if you want to see how things are going.

http://www.sportstats.ca/follow-a-runner-live.php?lang=eng

I am hoping to go 1:51, although some have encouraged me to go for 1:49 (that equates to a 3:42/km or 3:40/km, respectively). Some pretty challenging times, but I will see how things are going and make a call on the course.

Congrats to all my Club Mud crew on what looks like a great race today at Royal Roads. I have never run this event, but from all accounts it is one of the nastier Gutbusters around. You guys have done me proud!

The morning before the morning before

Today was back down to near zero, although it felt fine. The HR dropped along with the temperature and the run felt "better". Another smooth 35 minutes with some pick ups to get the legs turning over.

As you saw in the last post, Iceland is a go. I have a ticket leaving Toronto to London and one from London to Reykjavik. I am excited and still a little dumbfounded that I have actually followed through on it - not that I often bail on ideas (I did live in Colombia for a year and I did compete in the ENDURrun last year), but it is still an odd sensation that I am going to go to a place I have wanted to go for years, and race an event that just two years ago I would have considered crazy. Check that, I still consider it crazy, but I ma actually going to go.

Duration - 35:06
AHR - 150

Iceland...here I come....

Hello Bradley Thomas Cunningham,

Thank you for registering for Ultra Marathon (Laugavegur) - 55 km (with bus trip).

The shirt size you choose was Medium Male.
Your participant number is: 29

Race material and T-shirt
Information about delivery of race material are available on www.marathon.is on the information page for each event:

Glitnir Reykjavik Marathon (http://www.marathon.is/pages/english4/glitnirreykjavikmarathon/)
Laugavegur - Ultra Marathon (http://www.marathon.is/pages/english4/laugavegurultramarathon/)
Midnight Run (http://www.marathon.is/pages/english4/midnightrun/)

Welcome again to www.marathon.is

Good wishes!
Reykjavík Marathon
Engjavegur 6, Laugardal,
104 Reykjavik,
Iceland.
E-mail: marathon@marathon.is

Morning Run

Maybe it was because it was first thing in the morning, or because I just fell out the door without eating anything before hand, or that it was a balmy 11 degrees after being -5 all day yesterday, but the run this morning felt, well, crappy. Heart Rate was higher than usual and legs felt heavy, but the gait felt smooth. I know that some people feel that if they are a little off, or a tinge of sickness, they race better - I am hoping this is the case.

If you are in Victoria, you should really check out the Marathoning Forum tonight at Frontrunners at 7:00pm, brought to you by the boys at Three Roads to London. It will be interesting, insightful, and filled with humour. Bring a $2 donation for Shoes for Youth and enjoy the night.

Duration - 39:52
AHR - 153

I may or may not be on TV tonight

If you haven't watched The Hour, you really should. It is a good source of information and entertainment. The host, George Strombopolous is a former DJ, VJ, and host of the failed American Idol rip-off The One. However, he is a really cool guy with a unique take on information in an industry so concerned with telling us what to believe.

Sonja and I were able to sit in on a taping of The Hour today. If you are in Toronto and have an afternoon free, I would highly recommend emailing for the free tickets. It was an interesting perspective to see a show taped, but it was even more interesting to hear him answer questions from the audience in between commercial breaks and before the show began. What you see is what you get.

No run today, but much walking around Toronto. Bought a rhyming dictionary for the benefit of the emerging poets in my class. And another short story book so they don't have to suffer old, tired short stories.

Tomorrow will be a morning run. I promise.

I was inspired by Mike's blog today. I haven't read it in awhile, so catching up on his race last weekend was a good thinking point leading into my race this weekend. It is not the outcome that determines if our running is meaningful - no, the act of running is in itself meaningful. The result of a single race does not validate the many hours of training that preceded it. The hours themselves validate the attempt. The understanding occurs during the attempt. The learning occurs after.

I have been wondering about my approach to the race - questioning myself in the same manner as Mike did prior to his race. In speaking to people (who, incidentally, are not racing, but have run it before), they have suggested that I look to run faster than I was planning.

from Mike's blog...
“If you could do anything & be guaranteed not to fail, what would it be?"

An interesting question, indeed. There are more hours to come, so what would I try today?