Montreal Half-Marathon - April 13, 2003

Beautiful day for a long run today on Ile-Ste-Helene. Not too hot, nor too cold, average about 2-3C, slight wind sometimes (annoyingly so ... reminiscent of Niagara Marathon), lack of slight wind sometimes (annoyingly so ... boy, when that sun beats down!!) Glad I was able to take off my jacket sleeves! Never knew I was so flexible!!

Word to the wise ... do not go swing dancing for 3 1/2 hours , then go to bed at 4:00am thinking you might feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7:30am, then think you might have some sort of glycogen reserve in your legs past 7km. Aargh!! For those who know me well, I guess this would not be so out of the ordinary ... I did eat a big bowl of cereal though when I got home last night!! Thank you Marcy and Robin for trying to carbo load me yesterday. Made for great swing dancing!

Anyway ... the course was nice, though it went by too quickly (as I tried to focus on finding any energy reserve in my body at all!), except for around the rowing basin which was LONG AND BORING. Nice touch being able to see the finish line so clearly though, as it gave some respite to having to run the last bit along this basin into the headwind.

So now, another leg of my short and intense period of marathon training is over. Yes, another long run down ... Three more to go until Ottawa. Half-marathons are still difficult, especially with a lack of proper training ... but one major difference between them and the fulls is the cursing. I still exclaim and doubt and question during a half, but it's over before I know it! I never quite had time to mumble expletives before I shouted "Whooee!!"

Thanks to my virtual running mates, Kara and Christelle for your wonderful support. Thanks, and a HUGE CONGRATS to my kick-boxing training partner Veronica, who ran her first race ever! Thanks to Dirk for fertilizing these horrible seeds of marathon addiction in my head, and for teaching me so much about training. Thanks to Robin and Marcy for taking care of me yesterday, and helping me to relax and get into the necessary head space. And thanks to all my friends for encouraging me and understanding why I do this (or at least feigning to ...)

Gun time: 2:03:07.3
Chip time: 2:02:37.2
Pace: 5:51 min/km

Overall: 594/735
Gender: 154/219
Category (W 35-39): 28/37

0 - 10k split: 58:00
10k - 21.1k split: 1:05:08

So that's it ... Didn't push the pace, 'cause I got bigger and better things coming up - marathon #6 .... Onto the next medal!!