Yesterday I ran the half distance at the Mississauga Marathon and it was definitely a love-hate experience. I think I summed it up best on Twitter when I wrote “Good news: I survived. Bad news: I survived.”
It started when I woke up just before 5AM after a night that consisted of two hours of sleep in total. As I ate my usual bagel and a banana with peanut butter I was not a happy camper. I drove my mom and I to Mississauga and right away I was impressed. As I pulled up near the start line they had so many volunteers directing traffic and it made finding parking extremely easy.
Despite being tired I managed a personal best but it was definitely not the goal I had before my night of sleeplessness. Here’s a breakdown of how my race went:
7:30AM: Lined up near a 2:10 pace bunny. Definitely a reach but I wanted to see if I could handle handle it .
Kilometer 1: I could not handle the pace so I dropped back to what felt comfortable for me.
Kilometer 2-7: Feeling pretty strong despite the lack of sleep.
Kilometer 8: Felt weirdly tired and had to stop for a quick walking break. Was not expecting to slow down here.
Kilometer 9: Feeling strong again.
Kilometer 10: Defeated by a winding hill and pushed very slowly up it.
Kilometer 11-12: Started feeling extremely nauseous and thought I would have to pull over to throw up. I think I was dehydrated because I stopped an an aid station and mixed some water and Gatorade and felt much better.
Kilometer 13-17: Felt great. This is a section where I usually start coming down and struggling but I felt relaxed and centered here.
Kilometer 18: As I hit this marker I was on track to hit my original goal, even with the lack of sleep, but as I tried to keep the pace I had going I really started to struggle.
Kilometer 19-20: My pace had slowed but I kept pushing through knowing that I was almost finished.
Kilometer 20.5: The tiniest little bug flew into my throat and I started coughing and gagging. Really? I’m so close to the finish.
Kilometer 21/Finish: Done. A 2 minute and 57 second PR. A little disappointing but in spite of my lack of sleep I wasn't too upset.
Two other notes about the race:
- an uncontrollable thing, but the weather was absolutely amazing. It got a little hot near the end of the race but I definitely did not near to layer up.
- the race kits and the finish line items were awesome. They had tons of sponsors and I got things like a carton of chocolate milk and a whole box of cereal
Overall I loved this race. I definitely want to run this one again.
Side note: Mac and cheese will forever by my favourite post-race meal.
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