I went into this race with one goal in mind: execution.
My previous “stand alone” half marathon was the Police Half in April. I had such a hard time completing that race that I was driven to improve. Not necessarily the over all time but how I prepared for the race, carried out the race and recovered from the race.
I had not considered this race until late August when at IMC, Angie asked me what my fall race plan was. She figured I could do the Harvest Half or the Last Chance Half. “It depends” I said, “When is the Last Chance Half?” she replied, “ Mid November” “No can-do” I said, “CFL play-offs, I’ll do the Harvest Half”. I got back from IMC and signed up for a race that conveniently fell on a weekend that I had no other plans. (aka football games!) J
I suddenly found my September/October schedule with a race every two weeks! The Bragg Creek Duathlon, the Harvest Half and mid Oct part of the Ekiden Relay in Banff, nothing like a schedule to keep me honest! Honestly training that is!!
The Harvest Half dawned a perfect day for a race. I ate well the night before and actually went to bed a decent hour, something I tend not to do (yeah yeah I know…). Got 2 of 4 kids up as they were volunteering and off we headed to the deep south of Calgary. In 30 minutes we arrived at the community center, found a good parking spot and headed in to get my race package. No traffic jams at that hour of the day!
Ahhh, the race package, on the Monday of “race week” I thought I would check when the
package pick up is to plan my schedule. To my dismay the package pick-up had been! I had missed the pick-up dates!! I panicked a bit as the site clearly stated “NO PACKAGE PICK UPS ON RACE DAY” (except for out of town participants) I didn’t think that Hawkwood would be considered out of town (all though driving to the race start was further than Cochrane!). I called the Tech Shop and was advised that I would be able to pick up the package at the race and I would be getting an email about the times. Sure enough I did get the email with this statement at the beginning “If you are receiving this email, then you have missed the race package pickup which occurred on Thursday, Sept 23rd and Friday, Sept 24th.
This is our second year for scheduling our race package pick-ups 1 week BEFORE the race. This allows the race committee and volunteers to be more prepared on race day and to offer you a better overall experience. In order to allow for the transition to the early race package pick-ups, we will allow for registrants who missed the package pick-up dates to pick up their race packages on race day for this year only (with the exception of out of town registrants).”
Ok! I didn’t race last year and I will own the fact I forgot! In the line-up (which was very short as a result of the volunteers being so efficient!) lots of us shared stories about not picking up the package. One shared that she was told by the Tech Shop over half had forgotten. Not so sure one-week prior a race is good for package pick-up but perhaps over the course of time it could be!
Anyhow, I’m in good spirits, fuelled and ready to go I had bumped into a couple of TTL people. Wear the jacket and they will come. Tara, Trevor, Ally and I were donned in our colors, such a great feeling for me to be part of this team!
A warm-up, and soon I was on the start line, kissed and hugged the kids and off I went. I did not get what I call my “psychological” pee just before the start (l-o-n-g line-ups) and decided that I could handle that, as I knew there were bathrooms enroute. Never had to stop for that, yeah me!
I had talked to Angie about pacing and I was given my guidelines in 3 - 7km segments, slow, moderate and kick it up. I have an old watch, yes; I wore a watch this time that I decided to time each kilometre, as I could not monitor the splits any other way. This ended up not being a bad way for me to do the race, as I had to keep an eye out for the markers and not run blindly along!
The 1st km was at 6:30, 2nd 6:10 or so, it evened out to be about 6:15/20 per km for the 1st 7. The second set of 7 was very good, I averaged 5:45/55. Got a boost about the 11-12k mark when some friends along the course were cheering runners and were looking for me. I also began to pass people that had passed me in the beginning. I kept Angie’s words in the back of my mind “Resist the temptation to go fast at the start” It paid off when I got to pass people after 10k!
The last 7km.was upon me I was feeling good as I had slowed for the aid stations thus far but not walked. I carried Infinit and water and that proved to be a very good thing as I was able to fuel and hydrate at will. This was an area that I had to improve on and the Infint worked wonderfully. NO GUT ISSUES!J I decided to walk an aid station about the 15km mark as I was getting a wee bit tired.
I continued on and there it was, looming in the distance, “the hill”. I had heard about “the hill” prior the race and at 17km it was a tough one to execute. I have to say I did not do well on the hill and as a result the last 4km were a real challenge. My pacing fell off and I was back to the 6:30 mark, as I had to walk some of the way. That ticked me off and I realized my dream of coming in prior my GWN run time was in jeopardy so I picked up my pace.
I was very glad to come around the corner and see the people cheering the runners along and I used that to bring me across upright and feeling good.
The best part about that finish was knowing who was going to be there. My daughter, Heather, was the one who put the finishers medal around my neck. Proud Mommy moment let me tell you!
She didn’t really like my hug and kiss as I was “all sweaty and stuff’. J My step-son Konrad was also there to give me a hug as well, how cool is that?!
I saw Ally as soon as I finished and thankfully she was able to coach me through my post race hyperventilation. I know I’ve had a good race when I can’t breath for about a minute afterwards. She was very good in keeping my breathing focused and I was soon able to walk AND talk like a human being.
Soon my kids were with me, some post race fuel, and I was feeling brave enough to see my results. Harvest Half 2:08:45 6:07 I PR’d my half-mary time!!
Police Half - 2:24:25 6:51 My GWN run was 2:09:59 6:10
I had mentioned to Angie I would take my bike and spin until the start time. Just might have to try that some time…
When I think of overall execution I am very pleased with how I did. The hill was a challenge but I am still very happy with how I did. I am a runner!
I came home to 18 long stemmed red roses; lunch being made and then watched the Riders win while I enjoyed a cold Corona. I have to say, it is better for me to watch the Riders play in race recovery rather than pre race!
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