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| Happy with my silver medal. |
But, this time I have an excuse: another historic race, which claims to be the oldest race on the continent. Hamilton’s “Around the Bay” race is three years older than Boston marathon, and proud of it. Even the shirts we runners got in the race kit has written on the back “Older than Boston”. Someone joked that it’s also colder than Boston.
Well, it was cold for the start of the race, -10 C, but gorgeous sunny day, and we warmed up quickly. The race was nice, the course great, especially first 17 flat kms. Then the hills rolled in, but I’ll get to that in a moment. The beginning was uneventful - I decided to try to run under 2h 15min, because this race has the scaled medal system, unlike the other races - the finishers faster than 2hrs get gold, between 2-2:15 get silver, and the rest get bronze medals. I figured running 30k under 2hrs would be a little too much to ask of my old legs, so I aimed for the silver.
Friends who run the course before warned me about the last 10km of rolling hills, so I decided to run a bit more aggressively at the first two thirds and bank some time in case I choke on the hills. But, when the hills did come, they weren’t as bad as I thought - gentle bumps which I actually enjoyed. There is the one really steep incline on 26th km which made even the strongest runners slow to a crawl, but even that didn’t set me off too much.
It was funny to see quite a few strong runners who passed me earlier, struggle on that climb. I held onto my mantra - “short stride, pump the arms, keep going”, the music in my headphones lifted my spirit and made legs feel lighter. Slowly, I gained and passed the “fast” runners, some of them walking, cramping and suffering on the hill. After a few strides at the top, I caught my breath and sped on to finish strong in 2hr 10min 56sec and got my silverware!
A few details I’ll remember from the race - first the headphones confusion. I love running with my iPhone - its GPS not only tracks my runs, it also gives me audio cues on my current speed. Plus, there’s the always motivating factor of music - the right beat can get me over any hill. When the night before the race in the official race guide I read that headphones were not allowed, I was shocked. I remember reading the race rules on the web site and it didn’t mention anything about headphones ban. I checked the web site again, and right I was - it doesn’t mention headphones. So, I decided to ignore the race’s leaflet and packed my headgear on. No one said a thing, and there were many other runners with headphones.
At the first aid station I grabbed a cup of water, tilted it into my mouth, and - nothing! Strange. I looked at the cup - there was water. I shook it, it sloshed. Then I squeezed it, and the layer of ice on the surface broke, so I could drink. Yes, it was that cold.
The spectators were friendly, supportive, but few in numbers. I can’t blame them, on such a bitingly cold morning, who’d stand outside to clap at the runners? I expected more of a scenic route, but there wasn‘t much to see. Most of it ran through the neighborhoods, with houses on both sides of the road. On some traffic arteries, only a lane was blocked off for the race and we breathed exhaust fumes of the traffic running next to us.
Like in some other big races, the kids were high-fiving us from the side and people were offering their own refreshments - sliced oranges, banana halves, and similar.
Another well known race-attraction was the Grim Reaper standing on top of that steep climb I described earlier. He had Mrs Reaper with him this time, waiting for the runners who didn’t make it to the summit, I suppose. I told them they look too spooky, and they called after me to get closer so they can kiss me. Even though it was all just a joke, I gave my heels some wind and flew into the last 3k stretch home.
The finish of the race was inside the Copps Coliseum arena, which made it fantastic for both, Meg and me. She didn’t need to freeze her behind while waiting until I arrive, and I could enjoy the warm indoors after the race, without worrying about catching cold. It was a beautiful race.
Stats:
Gun time: 2:10:56
Chip time: 2:10:45
Total placement: 238 (of 7000 runners)
Gender placement: 210 male runner
Age group (45-49) placement: 27
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