Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 04:27 PM

Hey everyone,

I ran a new PB this morning! 1:25:29 which is 1min 22sec faster than I ran the
Toronto 1/2 marathon last year. I am happy with that even though I was originally aiming for sub - 1:25. A PB is a PB!!

I knew when I woke up that I was going to run well. I just decided that, today there was no other alternative :-) The glute pain that I had been feeling earlier in the week appeared to have disappeared so it was time to race hard. April and I got to the race site an hour before the start as usual. Unusually, though, we didn't leave enough time to do a warm-up and spent too much time in line to use the washroom, so I hit the start line with no drills or strides under my belt :-( Hopefully that was just going to help me go slow at the beginning and not affect the rest of the race.

There were a number of fast women and some other friends lined up with us so it looked to be a fairly competitive field. I crossed the start line right next to April and we stayed together for the first 3K or so before she started to slowly
pull away. At least I think it was around 3K, it was just past the first water station, I know that. KM markers seemed to be hiding today for some reason...unusual as this race is normally well marked.

Ahh, my sharp eyes managed to find the 5K marker and a quick glance at my watch showed 19:22 which was a tad faster than planned but it felt comfortable so I kept my pace. I could see April just ahead of me and it looked like she was just about to pass a small group of 3 women. I decided that I would try to reel in the three of them too. But first, I needed to pass K.C. another familiar women I often see at races. I've never beaten her in a race but today I breezed by her before 10K. Now I had the other 3 women to try to catch. 10K went by in 39:38 and I was still feeling good. I was gaining ground on the group of 3 but would I be able to pass them? April was looking good ahead of them. Nice that I could still see her ahead of me.

I finally reached the turnaround at the west end of lakeshore blvd and headed for home. Uh oh, a surge has happened in the 3 women I was chasing. I tried to pick it up too. One girl, C.H. dropped off the back of the trio so I set my sights on passing her. Yet another woman I have never beaten in a race. I slowly narrowed the gap and passed her near the top of one of the few minor hills on this course. I almost missed seeing the 15K marker but a glance at my watch showed 1:00:00 so I was slowing ever so slightly yet still on my originally planned pace of 4min kilometers :-)

6.1K to go seemed short in my mind and I tried to push harder. I knew to run a good race today, I had to get out of that "running comfortably" thing that I so often do. Make it hurt a little, I told myself. I managed to pass a couple of men in the last part of the race. But around 17K I started to feel a side stitch. And it just wouldn't go away no matter what I did. So I ran the last 4K or so battling that. I was still going pretty fast but I knew I was occasionally faltering whenever it got too bad. Oh darn, another woman went flying by me at 19K. I tried to ignore the stitch and go after her. Finally hit 20K and saw a Longboat member there who said something about it being close?? Whatever, I did my best to run in the last K fast.

I didn't catch that girl but I did managed a semblance of a finishing sprint as they announced my name at the finish. So a good race for me. I enjoyed the drummers that they had out on the course this year. Each time I heard one, it gave me a little boost. I also appreciated the female cyclist who kept zooming back and forth on the course and telling me as she passed that was I was looking strong and running a great pace. With another few weeks of training to go, I think I will be ready to attempt sub-3 at the Detroit Marathon on October 23.

Final Stats:
1:25:29, 4:04 pace
10 / 2650 women and 6 / 443 in my Age Group
77 / 4741 overall