Mississauga Half....

In the last two months I have not been able to put in many quality runs and last Sunday's run of 23k was brutal so I had no idea what to expect yesterday. Maryanne and I decided to run together, or at least start off together, and her goal was to break 1:55. It would be a small miracle if I was able to pull this off given my previous training but figured what the heck what do I have to lose but would be secretly happy with a sub 1:57.

Maryanne and I agreed to our 4 minute running/35 second walk breaks for at least the first 2/3 of the race. So off we started.... you can tell Maryanne had some great energy yesterday for she looked like she was weaving ahead effortlessly as I turned my feet even faster to keep up and relished the knowledge that I would be getting frequent walks to slow my heartbeat that was pulsing incredibly fast. I knew that I might be starting out too fast but I thought that maybe the pull of Maryanne's running mojo might pull me along.

I really enjoyed the course, especially since the first 10k was in the shade,as I found it to be a very peaceful route scenery wise. My biggest complaint is that the race did not implement start waves. In fact both the half and the full started at the same time and there really wasn't any order to who was where in the starting corral so for the first 14k, we found ourselves constantly side stepping and weaving between people to get ahead. I know I expended a lot of unnecessary energy doing this but I know that if I didn't, I would not have finished in the time I did. It would definitely be my recommendation for the future to implement start waves like they are doing for many races now a days. I can't remember exactly when I told Maryanne to not worry about me and just do what feels best for her, it might have been at the 16k mark. I tried hard to keep up to her but it was not to be had. With 3k to go I desperately wanted to walk the rest of the way in but I told myself that even if I slow it down I need to keep running, just put one foot in front of the other and I will get there soon. I did end up walking at each marker for about 30-40 seconds and forced myself to start back up each time. At about the 19-20k mark I passed one guy who was wearing flip flops and carrying a bag around his back. When I saw this I remember saying, if he can do it in flip flops I can do this and I can't let a guy in flip flops beat me to the finish. I can honestly say that if the crowd support wasn't there in the last 500 meters I would have walked in but the energy you get from their cheers and support can't help to pull you right up to the finish. In the end I finished in 1:56:42, sub 1:57 yahoo!!!

The post-food race was excellent. You had your standard bananas and bagels but they also had an array of packaged nuts, nut bars and sugary sweet popcorn. Yumm! Maryanne and I took the next hour easy, refuelling and hydrating ourselves for it turned out to be a sunny day before we made our way to the 40/41k marker to cheer on our fellow comrades who were doing the full event, There were over a dozen of our running friends who were running the full and it was such a great experience being able to cheer them on. A couple were successful in qualifying for Boston, many boasted PB's in the end, and/or had amazing runs given the training they were able to put in up to this event. Congrats to everyone who ran, it is an accomplishment in itself regardless of final time!

Juliana