Was it worth it? Hell yeah!

Hooray! It's over. I am so happy to report that I accomplished my goal of completing the Around the Bay 30K race with a chip time better than anticipated: 3:17:38.8. I was hoping to achieve 3:15, but anticipated between 3:15 and 3:30 as my race time.

The day truly started the night before. I went to Barbarian's Steak House at 7:30pm after mapping the course on my GPS during a day trip to Hamilton, and ordered a delicious bottle of French bordeaux, oysters to whet my appetite, followed by an entree of 10 oz filet mignon with lobster (tail and claw), baked potato (with sour cream, bacon, and feta cheese), topped off with blueberry cheesecake, 3 glasses of water (for hydration of course), and a teapot of loose-leaf chamomile tea to end the meal.

I organized my race gear before heading to bed. I didn't get to sleep as early as I wanted, and once in bed, I was too excited to sleep. I am sure I dozed briefly; it was hard to sway my mind to think of anything other than my strategy for tackling the Hamilton course. My goal was to take it slow in the beginning to warm up (after all, it's been a long time since I did any "real" running/training), kick up my speed in the midst of the race, and then drop it down a bit to conquor the rolling hills for the last 10K of the route. I did not want to focus on time at all for this event; I wanted to see if I could endure 30K in a decent time after a hiatus from routine running.

I awoke on the Sunday at 0630, got dressed, and ate my typical pre-race meal of three eggs (two if I'm doing 21K or less), large-flaked oatmeal, and water (sometimes green tea). I was out the door and in Hamilton by 0830. My Garmin was set and ready to go. I ran into several past running partners--how wonderful it is to reunite at a race. The weather never passed 4 degrees Celcius, although a low of 5 and high of 11 was anticipated. The air was thick with fog on the drive in (at least I think it was fog; it is Hamilton after all). I placed myself behind the 3:10 pace bunny, and made certain I never saw the 3:30 pace bunny pass me (a sure signal I was slowing down). As I passed the start line, I went over on my left ankle thanks to a pothole--luckily no injury; however, the first 5km I was plagued with terrible shin splints. Worried that this had the potential to hamper my performance, I stuck to a slow pace (6:15) and tried to avoid the potholes in the road. The first 10K of the route was through a very run down area that made downtown Detroit look like Forest Hill. Just before the 10K marker, as a group of us waited at a rail crossing for the train to pass (just our luck), a stench resembling that from a bathroom at a cheese convention for lactose-intolerants wafted heavily in the air. It was sickening, but was incentive enough to pick up the pace slightly. My shins felt better and I was feeling great at this point, and kept up my pace (5:45-6:00) until 19K. Now it was time to bear down and take those 10K of hills, keeping a slower but steady pace, anticipating the final steep hill around the 24K/25K marker. My IT band was aching a bit and forced me to walk half of one small hill for 2 minutes. By that time, I had recovered enough to keep going. I followed the tradition of high-fiving the midget playing Queen's "We are the Champions" on a huge stereo system around the 24K/25K mark prior to literally talking myself up the final incline, which felt similar to running up a ladder. Once at the top, I patted myself on the back, and ran at a pace I thought was quicker--but was not given my legs of lead--towards the finish line 4K away in Copps Collisium. I felt the urge to throw up for that entire stretch. It subsided somewhat when I was greeted by a tall fellow in the middle of York Blvd dressed as the Grim Reaper. He was standing near the cemetary along the road and asking passing runners if they were "ready to die yet." In my head I yelled, "No" and pushed my way into Copps to the sound of cheers. What a fabulous feeling!!!!

The day ended with a fabulous post-race meal: a large mojito to accompany a savory 10 oz sirloin, mashed garlic/idaho-sweet potato with vegetables, and mango passionfruit creme brule.

Now that I know I can manage a base of 30K, the rest of this year's training will be cake. I already have my schedule set. Mind you, I shuffle like a penguin and I cannot drive my car (it's a stick-shift). Thanks Steve for driving me to and from work today. Everyone's been calling me Happy Feet--mind you my mental spirits are the happiest of all!