CHILLY HALF MARATHON |
| Katie (26 weeks pregnant), and I (22 weeks pregnant) with our race jackets on. Thank goodness we went up a size! |
Race: Chilly Half Marathon
Other Races: Frosty 5k
Website: www.chillyhalfmarathon.ca
Where: Burlington
When: Sunday, March 3, 2013
Cost: Half Marathon Run/Walk Until Nov 1st was $75, Until Jan 1st was $80 and Until Feb 25th $90 The 5K Run: Until Nov 1st $40, Until Jan 1st was $45 and until Feb 25th was $50
Start Time: 10:05 am
Max Run Time: 3hrs15mins
Aid Stations: 6 Aid Stations with both water and eload. Gels at 3rd and 5th aid stations.
Swag: Cowbells for Half Marathoners, Technical Running Jackets by Levelwear to the first 4000 participants, and race flyers.
Post Food: Water, bananas, granola bars, and the best of all was the Chili Party and Carlsberg beer (I didn't have any obviously)
My Time: 1:53:21.3
Cat Place: 46/175
Gender Place: 304/1519
Winning Women's Time: Lucy Njeri 1:20:13.1 (chip)
Winning Mens Time: Lionel Sanders 1:07:56.5 (chip)
Garmin Details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/286575365
Pre Race:
I signed up as soon as I could for this race! I did so knowing that it would be around half way through my pregnancy and a great motivation to stay in shape through it all. My friend Katie (pictured above) and I had the intention that we would both do this race for fun and we trained together with the Running Room.
I started tapering the week and half prior to the race because I knew if I tapered too early my body would be changing and I might not be used to the weight of that change. Typically I would taper a few weeks out. Another reason I didn't was because I wasn't aiming for a set time. My goal was to finish while making sure I felt fine during the race. This meant that I went into the race knowing that if my body tells me I need to stop or walk, that it's okay!
I stayed at Katie's home the night before because my hubby had to coach soccer the next day in Kingston and we share a vehicle. Thank-you Katie for having both myself and my dog Kaiser stay over.
Above is my race gear layed out! I actually swapped my half zip blue rulu top you see above for a thinner more breathable long sleeve swiftly because I thought I might overheat. The jacket I wore wasn't my typical race jacket. It has a hood and is one I'd wear more so for training on easy days. Because my body changed the week before the run I had to change my wardrobe to something with a bit more room. My typical bundle up jacket had me too bundled for my liking.
Race Play by Play:
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| Katie and I by the start line, rearing to go! |
The gun was off and so were we. Although my main goal was just to finish I planned to stay under a 9min/mile.
I for whatever reason didn't realize we were headed west first to a turn-a-round point before going east along 'Lakeshore Road'. What was great about this surprise was I got to see all the top runners go by and have that extra inspiration to keep moving. In the moment though I thought they were the 5k racers going by and not the top of the pack of the halfers. I kept looking for my friend Nate who was doing the 5k so I could cheer him on and I couldn't find him. I didn't find out till after that they started much earlier and went east and not west to start.
Once I was headed East I came right into the downtown area of Burlington and that's where most of the cheer stations were. The best one by far being lululemon athletica. They had great music that pumped me right up. The course was very flat and my body was feeling great. I only had water at every other station that came up. The sun was peaking in and out which made it so beautiful when it was shinning. My pace was looking good and was around 8min40sec or quicker so I decided to just stay around that because I was feeling good.
My core temperature did rise around the 6mile point (10k) so I took off my gloves and ran while holding them. There was beautiful homes all along the race route. A little while before the turn-a-round point I again got to see all the top runners and this time I knew it was the halfers. I had my eyes glued looking for our triathlon ambassador, Sean Bechtel. For those that don't know, I work for lululemon athletica and we have ambassadors that represent our culture/store etc that we support and he is one of them. He decided to do this race pretty last minute and of course still ran it very strong, in 1:17:01.7 placing him 18th overall, and 5/81 in his category. CONGRATS SEAN! What was super cool when I saw him and cheered was that those running alongside me organically started talking about Sean and how inspiring he is. Yes, this is all while running ha!
Right before the turn-a-round point I could feel baby girl moving...This was new to me, and she typically had never moved while I was in motion before. It was about time I took my gel so I proceeded to do so. After taking my gel she was quiet the rest of the way, apparently she was hungrier than I was!
With a quarter of the race left I started feeling my knee joints get sore. I used to have trouble with my knees a few years ago before I went to minimalist shoes but I haven't had any issues since. The only time they flare up is after doing a full marathon. It was my right knee more so that was pretty sore and I knew right away it was due to the weight I was carrying and the fact that I tapered. Meaning I hadn't done the half distance in several weeks. I stayed aware of my knee but focused on my form and knew I didn't have much longer to go.
At the last water station I grabbed water from one of the volunteers and as I ran along and tried to drink it, I realized there was no water in the cup. Sad day...I had to turn-a-round and go back to grab a cup off the table myself because the same volunteer had done it again. Never seen or had this happen before and I hope moving forward I never come across this again. There's always a first time for everything!
I wrapped up the race by passing the lululemon cheer station again and then I strided out to the end. So happy to have accomplished this with baby Souter! We even got 2 medals :) She's already a runner!
