This year I have been a part of the Around The Bay Buzz Crew, a group
of participants whose task was to promote the event on social media and
encourage everyone to participate and generate “buzz” around this race, which
started in 1894 which makes it the oldest road race in North America.
I logged most of my training runs and tried to promote as
often as possible as this is an event I look forward to every year – I have run
it 6 of the last 8 years and it has become a staple event to help in the spring
marathon training program.
The weather this year was inconsistent between freezing cold
days, rain and then warm spells it became difficult to figure out what to wear
and I decided today to run in shorts, a long sleeve t and then my running shell
jacket to keep off the potential rain.
As it turns out, the rain held off and it was windy but I never really
felt underdressed.
I was so excited to get the run underway, and settled into
Corral C with a plan to finish somewhere between 2:45-2:50 if possible, but was
always looking at this as a training run for the Ottawa Marathon more than
trying to hit a PB (2:49) for the race.
Once underway, things felt good as we headed through
downtown and towards the harbour, and even once we hit the overpasses things
were good as we hit the 10k mark and headed along the lake. I was keeping pace
with the 2:45 bunny and eased into a comfortable pace coming up to the halfway
mark and then it all went wrong in a hurry.
I don’t even know exactly when but somewhere after crossing
the rail bridge I started to feel pain in my right knee and by 17k I had to
stop and reassess the situation. After waiting a few minutes and realizing that
I would try to carry on, I headed into Burlington knowing that this was not
going to end well, and decided that I would slow down and switch to more of a
shuffle run style to minimize the stress on the knee and grit it out to the 20k
relay transfer location where I pulled out and headed to the shuttle busses for
a ride back to the start.
I was very disappointed that I could not carry on, but I did
not want to risk major injury by pushing harder than I needed, and feel that
pulling out was the best decision. My goal is to complete the Ottawa Marathon
in May and to run the 5 Peaks trail series so saving myself for the rest of the
“season” was a no-brainer.
I will find time this spring to finish the last 10k on my
own but unfortunately won’t be able to high five the Grim Reaper, a local fixture
of the race who taunts runners in the home stretch, after climbing the hill at
26k and passing by the Hamilton Cemetery at 28k, with the downtown finish in
sight.
For anyone looking for a challenge, this race has it, from
the early spring unpredictable weather, the unique distance, and the rolling
hills this race will test your physical and mental limits, and will likely
become a favourite. There are races for kids, a 5k, and 3 versions of the 30k
(full 30k, 2x15k relay, or 3x10k relay) so there are options for everyone.
Check out their website www.bayrace.com for
more information.
