My Running Journey: Amherst Valentine Run; or, the Intersection of Stupidity and Bravery

What life decisions led me to this moment? I am clearly not impressed with myself.

Tanya is smiling in the picture.

I can't understand why.

Just last week, I was thinking that my long runs should start getting into the half-marathon range.
I had in mind, a nice, cozy 21.1 km run - supporting local youth charities along the way. It will be a nice day with slightly sore legs at the end.

The weather report on Monday was "feels like -10°C with the wind chill", so I signed up - thinking I would be running with the normal Saturday long-runners around my pace zone.

We often complain about the weather networks being way off with their forecast, but they were way, way off this time. Throughout the week, it just got progressively colder and colder. On Tuesday -16°C ... to -23°C ... and finally when I checked on Friday afternoon, it seemed to settle on a ridiculous -30°C

Let's be clear, -30°C is "I'm OK watching Netflix and skipping groceries for a nicer day", kind of weather.

On Wednesday prior to the race date, Tanya Hoeg messages me out of the blue, asking if we should run the half marathon together - I don't really know her or her pace zones, we met a week ago at the end of her long run. Apparently only 7 people signed up to the half marathon. It could be a long day running alone, so I tell her about my pace situation and we agree to run together, and 2 hour time goal seemed reasonable.

By Friday, I'm telling myself that with the added layers, the cold (making it difficult to breathe) - I'd be lucky with a 2h 05m time.

Race Day, literally all of the mishaps

On race morning, I hit the snooze button a few times and am running later than I wanted - skip breakfast and head to the school where the Start/Finish line is located. As I'm walking in (already frozen) there's a booth with gummies/sour gummies - ask them if I can take some to "fuel up for the race".

All fueled up! 😏

Meet up with Tanya, Kent Beattie (who signed up last minute, KNOWING IT WOULD BE -30°C) I'm feeling extremely stupid for going along with this idea. But I told Tanya I would run, and if she wasn't quitting, I wasn't either!

We are all lined up for the start, waiting for the air horn to go off, the woman in charge of the air horn presses it a few times - nothing happens. She tries again - still no noise (too cold maybe?).

"Go, just go."

And we're off!

Some people take off like a bat out of hell (David Enman, Kip Jackson, Victoria, Tanya)
After 500 meters, she's already 20 meters ahead of me, and I'm going at a 5:15min/km pace trying to keep up.

Was she punking me?

She was not.

She looks back, probably remembered that she was supposed to run with a slowpoke, and slows down for me - we run the rest of the race pretty much within 20 meters of each other.

Within the first few kilometers, maybe 10 minutes into the race, my glasses fog up - and then frost. I can't see out of them at all, which is why if you look at any picture of me during the race, I don't have my sunglasses on properly.

One of the volunteers commented on my #TeamAwesome #RunOttawa2020 shirt!

We're making very good time, of all the 10 km and 21.1 km runners who started together, only a dozen are ahead of us. At one point we see Kip Jackson (eventual 10 km winner) come blazing back, with Enman about 300 meters back;

I yell: "He's right where you want him!" Attempting to provide false confidence.

Knowing full well there's no chance of catching Kip Jackson, he has ALL of the KOMs in Sackville.

During this whole race, Tanya and I are chatting. I'm trying to distract myself from the fact that I've been red-lining since the 4th kilometer.

She's seriously awesome;
- Making sure I have carbs
- Asking if I need hydration at the water stations
- Asking if we need to slow down when my breathing increases (after the hill)
- Pushing me at the downhill "let's try to make up some time"

At one point, she offers me a GU - I have my own.

Gives me a pack of gummies (frozen of course) - I put one down the hatch, and nearly choke on it a few times, it's rock solid... is it supposed to be like a jolly rancher? (it was not)

Meanwhile, some ice starts forming on my eyelashes and moustache - and the buff covering my chin is frozen solid.
I could see just fine, but Tanya thought I was not able to see from my eyes (I guess I looked like a snowman).

This race makes us do two "laps" for most of the course, so we cross many of the sections 4 times (2x out, 2x back) - there is one section where a fire truck was parked.

He would honk his loud ass horn.
Every. Damn. Time.

I wasn't bothered by it too much, but Tanya screamed expletives 4 times during the whole race, at the exact same spot.
I was slightly annoyed, but I was more amused by Tanya's reaction than anything.

So we're on the way to lap #2, Ken and Alan are driving around the course taking pictures and giving high fives. We get by Victor Wright (course volunteer), and I ask him if he intends on running 50 km today? (He didn't say yes or no, but I'm assuming it was a no)

By this time, all of the volunteers at the water stations have left full cups of gatorade and water on the tables for the 5 or 6 runners (idiots) to pick up.

(!) Side note/ It was around this time that we crossed the two last place half-marathoners, one dropped out after ~13km, and the other one started late \Side note (!)

Tanya is running ahead of me for a lot of this, and I'm lagging behind and really feeling it - I check my watch 6:05min/km the last split (yikes).

I take my one and only GU of the race, grab a cup of water (actually ice) and keep going.

At the furthest point, the last turnaround - I look at my watch for a time-check. We are at approximately 5km left, with just around 1h30m gone - is a sub-2h actually possible?

The GU finally kicks in, and I start feeling my feet under me again - I start thinking it's realistic to run a 6:00min/km pace for the next 5 km.

We go down the Industrial Park road, downhill on Tupper, and back uphill.

(!) Side note/ whoever designed this course is an ass, there was no need to make half-marathoners do the hilly section of Tupper Bloulevard up and down 4 times. \Side note (!)

Back to the race, so for the last 4 water stations, with no volunteers, we needed to stay at the water table, wait until we downed/crunched the ice, threw away the cups into the trash bin and continue.
This process, especially the stop/start aspect to it took away some precious time away from us.

At the last water station, Tanya is taking her last cup of water while I continue jogging at a slower pace.

I check my watch for a time-check, and we need to pick up the pace for our final mile if we want to go sub-two. I am about 10 meters in front of Tanya, half screaming, half encouraging because I know we can make sub 2h, but we really need a sprint-finish. I'm holding off a bit, because I want her to catch up to me before we make our final push.

By the time we actually started sprinting, I think it was probably a bit too late to make up the lost time.

Final time for me was 2:00:36, and Tanya's was 2:00:41

I'm VERY happy with this time, we meet up with Kent (winner of the half marathon)

This was a tough event mentally and physically. I could not have dreamed of achieving close to 2h00m at the race start. Tanya is a big part of that. She pushed me, made sure I relaxed, and made sure I had the required carbs and hydration for my race to go well.

Huge thank you goes to her.