Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 01:30 AM

Home-town favourite returns home for the glory of it all...

Hey everyone, here's an overly long race report on my most recent race.

I went home this weekend to run the inaugural Prince Edward County
1/2 marathon held in and around Picton, Ontario. This was going to be the
first time my family has ever seen me run, so it was going to be an extra
special race or so I hoped. Plus it was home course advantage for us. April and
I knew the half-marathon route inside out as it was often the route we
trained on when visiting our parents during holidays.

Race day dawned cool and calm. Perfect race conditions :-) I had my
father drive me out to the start line in the tiny "village" of West Lake
near the Church. We got there really early since there were concerns
about all the roads being blocked off and my father not being able to get back
to predetermined cheering locations.

First time races always end up with some sort of logistical problems and the first one we noticed was that the timing chips hadn't yet arrived and there were too few Port-o-lets. With nothing better to do, we joined the long line and slowly inched our way forwards. Finally after 30min I reached the front of the line and by the time I was finished the chips had arrived - at 9:30a.m. and the race was scheduled to start at 10:00a.m. So I quickly grabbed my chip, then looked for April so we could go warm-up. It felt good to be moving again and I started to warm up again after standing in the
cold for 30min. We jogged up and down West Lake road and tried to keep an eye
out for the first of the marathoners. Our friend Charlie Bedley was one of
the favourites / elites and would probably be right at the front- just behind
the TSN cameras that were taping the marathon event.

Just when we got to the point of doing some strides we passed a guy who told us it was too early to do that, the race start was going to be delayed about 15min. Nothing to
do but some more slow jogging and another pit stop, this time in a corn field-
no waiting in line this time :-)

Soon enough Charlie, a Kenyan and the TSN crew went by, so we knew our
start was going to be soon, so we found a friend from Toronto and did some
more strides. After another delay by way of too much bagpipe playing the RD
finally had us line up to go. The only Kenyan in the 1/2 was being modest and lined up in the 2nd row, but April and I and a couple of others gestured him to the front- he was probably going to win after all.

Finally we were off- after the race director implores us not to drink too much water at the aid stations and leave some for the marathoners - not enough water!! oops. April and I figured there was only one girl who would be competition and we tucked in behind her. The first 1K was into the burgeoning wind and we wanted to draft until we turned for Picton and had the wind behind us. The first couple of K are run along a winding road into Sandbanks Provincial Park. After about one mile we merged with the
marathoners and slowly started to pick them off. April almost immediately wanted to chase the NB girl, but I told to hold off; I knew she would catch her closer to Picton. April and I ran the first 5K or so side by side. It was very picturesque as we ran along the water's edge with the view of the cresent beach in the distance. That is if you actually looked that way - I was too focused on keeping the NB girl ahead in my sights, but I knew that is what you would see if you looked. I used to work at Sandbanks during my
university days.

April and I continued to run close to each other as we headed out the exit of the Park and down the East Lake Rd, which is fairly flat and fairly straight. Not much to do but focus on picking people off. April started to pull ahead of me somewhere on this road but she wasn't too far ahead. 10K passed and I was still running fairly strong - just over 4min pace. But I was starting to feel the effects of running with a cold.

I noticed my voice was going as I called out for either water or gatorade at the very
frequent aid stations. I got a surge of adrenalin though, each time the Dare Van
went by me with some guy yelling out the window about my great running form
and pace :-) Well, the pace was starting to slow as April slowly started to
disappear in the distance. Just when I needed a boost, I heard the sound
of the Texas Longhorn blaring and knew my friend Carol was just ahead :-) I
got a nice little boost as I passed her and her enthusiastic cheering.

Finally I saw the end of the East Lake road ahead and knew that Picton was not that
far away, but I did have one large hill to contend with on the run into town. By now I was starting to really feel a bit more ill, the chills went through me a couple of times which I tried to write off as from a hard race effort :-) There were a number of spectators at the corner so that gave me a little boost as well. At this point I needed all the boosts I could get. There was a long curve to go around before reaching the
dreaded "big hill"near the end. Managed to pass a couple more marathoners, but I
was now getting caught by some fast finishing 1/2 marathoners. They said I looked
good as they passed but I certainly didn't feel like it. The hill turned out not to be such a big deal but as I neared the top, and an Ambulance went screaming past and I thought to myself "the next one out on the course may be for me" I was really starting to feel bad at this point of the race.

Something felt odd with my breathing and in my chest. I guessed that I was just moving into the coughing part of a typical cold and tried not to worry about the odd sensation.
I knew my family was just ahead and tried to focus on looking good as I passed by them. Sure enough, as I started to head down the other side of the hill, I could see the 2 bright neon green signs that my niece and nephew made for me and April. I tried to gesture to them to come out on the course as I passed by but they just stood on the side with my mom, brother and sister-in-law and yelled something. My dad was out there with a camera though; hope that picture turned out. Just after I passed them, the
wheels really started to come off my race.

Now I felt just like quitting- I slowed down majorly- if there is hitting a wall in a 1/2thon then I did it then. I wanted to walk because I felt like I was weaving a bit and still had that odd feeling in my chest but I knew I was so close. Main street was just ahead, and then I was home-free. I continued to struggle on; Main Street never seemed so long. I tried to use the energy of the pockets of people to help me to the finish. There was a nice crowd right at the finish line which spurred me on to a bit faster pace as I crossed the line in 1:29:10.

I got some assistance from a great volunteer and she walked around with me for awhile until I felt recovered and found April. Heard the news about her and Charlie (they both won). Met up with my family in the finish area. They seemed quite excited by the whole event- now they want to come watch me race in the Boston Marathon in the spring. That would be cool. They thought I did great. I know my time wasn't that great but I did come in 3rd female overall, so that is something. Did the usual wander and talked over
results with a few other people I knew.

Unfortunately April and I missed the awards ceremony. We went home to
shower,change and have a nap because we heard an announcement that awards
were at 3pm. Then Carol called us shortly after 2pm to tell us we missed
them. We hightailed it back down to the finish area and the Race Director
was nice enought to announce our results again. We both won the exact
same thing- another smaller medal- differing only in colour and a PEC
marathon fleece vest. Not too bad for a first time race, I guess.
Here's the nitty-gritty details -

Splits: 3:56, 4:03, 3:59, 3:59, 4:02 (20:01 5K)
3:56, 4:01, 4:04, 4:08, 4:08 (40:21 10K)
4:06, 4:12, 4:07, 4:18, 4:26 (1:01:33 15K)
4:19, 4:41 (the hill), 4:20, 4:32, 4:39, 5:03) = 1:29:10 pace: 4:13min/K
3rd/217 females, 11/347overall.

My next race will be the Toronto 1/2 Marathon in 2 weeks. I hope to be
in PB shape then. This cold should be gone by then. After running 2 races with
a cold, I've learned my lesson. Never try to run a big race while ill - it
just doesn't work out well.

Melanie Boultbee
Toronto, ON