The Chilly Half Marathon

As the date of my first full marathon draws near, I continue on with my training plan.  This includes getting in one more half-marathon race to break up the winter training blahs. I find throwing in an actual race during the training phase for an even bigger event helps to keep the working intensity up, especially when the long runs seem to get a little long, chilly and dreary.  The race I picked to do as my tune up was the Chilly half-marathon in Burlington. The race started at city hall in downtown Burlington, then loops around Lakeshore Rd first going SW towards the Skyway Bridge, and heading back NE to Burloak Dr before looping back to city hall at Brant St for a total distance of 21.1km.

The weather was quite nice for early March - clear, cool and crisp, just a couple degrees below zero to start, but with a fresh cold wind off the lake to remind you it was still winter.  As I placed myself in the starting chute, just in front of the 1:45 pace bunny, I cued up my playlist for the race.  The last few weeks I’d been running to Metallica, and still felt pumped up by their driving undercurrent of hard rhythmic metal.  I planned to start the run to Ride the Lightening, and finish to Master of Puppets. Cue ‘Fight Fire with Fire’, two minutes before the starting horn. A few pumps of the legs and measured breathes later, and me and almost three thousand other runners were off.   

I was determined to break the 1h:45m time on this run, as my last two half-marathons I finished in 1:45:40 and 1:45:19.  I made sure to start in front of the 1:45 pace bunny and vowed to not let him pass me at all costs. Between that and keeping my eyes on my Garmin running watch I’d do all that I could to keep my pace just slightly faster than 5:00 min/km, I knew I could do it. 

At the 5km mark I had a wonderful boost of moral support. My Burlington based cheer squad was waiting for me with the best motivational homemade posters “Run like a Cheetah” and “Run Kelly Run”. It was the first time anyone had ever made posters just for me.  It really does make a tired runner feel good.  Thanks girls!

I felt I ran the first 12km really strong, but I started to feel the fatigue just after the 13km mark. Fighting the fatigue with a couple gatorade pit stops and drawing on the mental grit I had developed during a long winter of running outdoors, I pushed all thoughts of fatigue and doubt to the back of my mind and kept pushing on at my determined race pace.  The 1:45 pace bunny hadn’t passed me yet and I wasn’t about to let him.  As I reached the final turn around point at Burloak Dr. I estimated I was probably 500m ahead of him. I had to maintain this lead in order to meet my goal.  

With just a few km left to go I dug in deep and hard, planning to give it all I had, finishing the race strong, even if the tank would be completely empty.  At about the 18km mark I found I was having a hard time reading the road signs, as the cold air and exhaustive effort began to blur my vision. I just had to hold on for the last 3km.  And hold on I did. With Metallica’s ‘Orion’ urging me on, I finished the last km with a split time of 4:46, and with great relief the time on my Garmin read 1:42:44 as I crossed the finish line.  I finally broke that 1:45 time barrier that’s been haunting me all last year. Finishing strong with a new personal best!  

Here are my official half marathon race stats: 

Age division: 15/155 = 9.7%

Gender division: 112/1157 = 9.7%

That's the top ten percentile for both my age and gender divisions! 

Official time - 1:42:44 

Average Pace - 4:52 min/km

Overall it was a terrific race for me, and a much needed confidence booster going into the final stretch of my training for my first full marathon on May 1.  Now its off to get some post-race Chili!