Race Report: Fredericton Marathon 2013

I wore my SF t-shirt for good luck!

I'm late writing this report because it's taken me a few days to process what happened last weekend. The short version is that I planned to run a full marathon but only managed to complete a half. Plans changed because my knee locked up at around 19k and I knew it was going to be a long, slow second half (if I managed to finish at all) and I didn't see the point of hurting myself in order to run another slow marathon. I also wanted to be able to run Cabot Trail Relay next weekend. The last time my knee locked up like that (when I ran Johnny Miles in 2011), I hobbled for a long while afterward and found running hills particularly challenging.

I can't put my finger on the precise cause of my meltdown last Sunday. I know I went out too quickly and had trouble settling into my goal pace of 6:15/km and I was still a bit congested from the flu I contracted 10 days before the race. In addition, I didn't have an ideal taper. We were in the midst of kitchen reno insanity, work was hectic, and I booked more social commitments than I should have. By the time Husband and I drove to Fredericton Saturday morning, we were both more than usually frazzled. Looking at this pic from before the race, I can see how tired I was.

On the upside, we stayed at the delightful Parkside B&B, had a great pre-race supper at the Snooty Fox Pub, and visited with friends Saturday evening. On Sunday, the weather was perfect for running (misty and 14 degrees C), the course was beautiful and I felt strong and optimistic as the race started. 

Grinning because I made it to the start line

In fact, I felt strong and optimistic until about the 19km mark when, for no apparent reason, my knee began locking up and got quite painful. I stopped several times to stretch it out but it quickly became clear that I was in serious trouble. I completed kilometres 20 and 21 agonizing about what to do and stopped just before the finish line to speak with an official about my predicament. He reassured me I could switch to the half in the circumstances so, with a heavy heart, I veered left to the finishers' chute instead of right to start the second lap, picked up a finisher's medal, spoke with the time-keepers so they could make the necessary adjustments and limped back to the car with Husband. Not the ending I hoped for but the right thing to do in the circumstances. 

It's annoying that I look less tired in the after picture

Needless to say, I was quite disappointed. After months of training, failing to run a sub-4:30 marathon was a huge letdown. Of course, given how sick I'd been the weekend before, it wasn't a complete surprise but I couldn't help hoping I was strong enough to pull it off - even without 100% lung capacity.

The big challenge now is to figure out how to squeeze in another marathon this year. I hadn't planned to run a fall marathon since I hope to tackle Cape to Cabot in October and would prefer to run shorter "long runs" in August. However, last weekend changed all that. I'm now considering a few options. I've never run the Valley Harvest Marathon, for example - a relatively small race where I might finally be able to run a sub-4:30. The trouble is it's only a week before C2C, which isn't ideal. Another option is Maritime Race Weekend in mid- September, which would be much better timing (six weeks before C2C).

Of course, the alternative would be to accept that I blew my shot at a marathon this year and forget about trying again. Yeah, right. Like that's going to happen. We all know I'm too stubborn to give up that easily. 

Speaking of stubborn, this week on a whim I signed up for the Bluenose 5k. It's the only distance I haven't run at Bluenose and it's the event's 10th anniversary so I wanted to join in the celebration. Plus there's a very cool 10th anniversary finisher's jacket for sale. (Yup. It's all about the swag.) And maybe all the hills and speed training I did while marathon training will pay off and I'll run a 5k PB. (Unlikely given that the course includes a climb up and over Citadel Hill but a girl can dream, can't she?)  In any case, once I've finished the race, I'll head to Point Pleasant Park to take up my post as a course marshal for the half and full marathons where I'm especially looking forward to cheering for my good friend Janet and my boss, both of whom are tackling the half. The forecast looks good so it should be a great day!

Thanks to everyone who offered words of encouragement and support before, during and after my marathon attempt last weekend.  Hopefully, the next one will go better.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Running lessons: Making lemonade out of lemons

Less than a week until race day and I feel miserable - not the usual "I'm in tapering hell" miserable, but the "coughing, hacking, I can barely breathe" miserable.  No, that's an exaggeration.  That's how I felt yesterday. Today, after a decent night's sleep, I finally feel I've turned the corner and will eventually recover from the flu that laid me low for most of the past week. It's a weird one too. It started with a slight tickle in my chest that turned to three days of coughing and chest congestion before moving into my nose and ears. Yuck.

Anyway, as I sat in a chair on the front porch yesterday, reading and wheezing, I told myself it was a good time to try turning lemons into lemonade - to remind myself that at least my legs would be fresh come race day. I have to admit I still toyed with the idea of going for a short run to see if I could clear the gunk from my lungs but a quick on-line search convinced me it wasn't a good idea. And news this morning that two young people collapsed (and one of them died) at the Toronto Scotiabank Marathon yesterday was a sobering reminder that it would have been foolhardy to run when my lungs and heart were already working overtime to clear this nasty bug.

It was hard not to run this past weekend. Spring has finally sprung and buds and blossoms are bursting everywhere you look. I made it off the porch yesterday just long enough to grab a few photos of the massive forsythia in front of our house. In the greyness of a Nova Scotia spring, forsythia bring a welcome splash of colour - which likely explains why they're so ubiquitous in this part of the world.

The only other outing I had this weekend was on my motorcycle. We stayed in the city Friday night because I felt too miserable to travel and Husband wanted to get some work done on the kitchen renovation Saturday morning. Around noon, it was so warm and lovely, I couldn't resist firing up my motorbike (I still need to pick a name for her) to go for a first short spin of the season.  My destination was Eastern Passage, a small community at the mouth of Halifax Harbour, where I stopped for a minute to grab a photo.

That's Devil's Island in the far distance. I've never visited it but, even from so far away, you can tell it's a fascinating place. Apparently, there were still people living there as recently as 2000 - a couple of Norwegian artists who hurriedly left under mysterious circumstances. I bet there's a story there.

In summary, it wasn't great week of running, but at least I'm on the mend and my legs will be fresh when I start the marathon on Sunday. And it was pleasant spending the past few days being gentle with myself, reading, taking pictures, exchanging messages with friends, and following updates from fellow runners tackling their first races of the season.  (On that note, hats off to the Blonde who successfully completed her first 50k trail race on Saturday! Way to go, girl!!) Fingers crossed that I feel well enough to go for an easy test run around the lake tomorrow night after work.

For the running geeks in the crowd, here are the stats for last week:

Total distance: 13k
Total # runs: 2
Longest run: 8k
Tempo run: 1 x 8k

P.S. The other fun thing I did last week was take my 12 year old niece to see "Legally Blonde" at Neptune Theatre. It was a terrific production and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been humming tunes from the show ever since but this one in particular stuck in my head. Hilarious! Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday