Around the Bay 2011

I ran the Around the Bay 2011 today - a last minute entry grace of my friend David Brooks. He was able to transfer "Holly" of Guelph's registration to me. I ran ATB in 2009, my first time. I was very pleased to run it this year as a spring "warm-up" race for other ones to come.
I've been running fairly well this spring, just not often enough. The weather has been fine, but work seeps into my lunch hour running chance. And often it is just plain more fun to see Jacob's hockey games or picking up the girls from dance. I've got some 2x25 km weekends in over March, which was a bit of a jump from 3 days a week doing 10km.
ATB is a great race. It is well organized and the Copps Coliseum has all the resources for a good sign-in and finishing spot.
In 2009 my friend Scott and I headed to the starting line near the last minute and ended up being in the second row as we jumped the barriers. This year I was following the crowd but was delayed by the very slow line-up first at the washrooms. So following the crowd I was virtually at the back. I think there are over 4,000 runners so it is a very very deep chute. As we filed into the back of the chute the horn went off but we were about 200m back still. It took several minutes to even start moving forwards! Much like Boston and New York almost. I crossed the start line at about 5min and was packed in with many back-of-the-packers. Bless their soles it is great that they are out on such a beautiful for a very substantial 30 km race. I just wish I was a little further ahead.
The weather was beautiful, it likely warmed up a bit from the -13 I woke up to in Guelph, maybe -10. The sky was blue blue, and very little wind. For the first 1 km it was slow going. I knew several of my Guelph running friends were here today, but they'd be much further ahead in the chute. Much of the first kms were spent weaving between runners, and not weaving so much when several are running abreast. Two guys were doing the same and we moved onto the sidewalk. This really made it easier and we found our pace. Around 4 km it was still packed, but the road widened and bit and it got easier. We went through 5km in 23:28 [4:41 km pace]. Eventually we headed towards the industrial area where it widened up and the crowd had spread out fairly well.
Starting at the back of the pack meant that you are still moving through the crowd ahead continuously. The danger of this for me is that i get a little too focused on passing people to get in the clear and not focusing on pace. For 30 km that is important. By 10 km [46:07, now at 4:31 pace] we were going into the wind as we we headed north quite close to the lake. Some where in shorts and even two women tank tops. Burr, but looks good.
I like the stretch that runs west along the lake towards Burlington, not so pretty, and we can't see the lake we are so close to, but reminds me of what must have been a pretty lakeside community that was so pretty in the '50s [i wonder if the steel plants had made it polluted yet then]. This flat stretch is the prelude to the hills that were coming. I went through 15 km in 1:09:06, not so fast compared to my shorter race times for this distance split, but good enough for a 2:18 30km time. This split had me slowing a bit to a 4:35 pace. Maybe I was preparing for the hills to come? Normally it takes me 8-12 km to settle into a pace and I was feeling good here - I knew that I could hold this pace comfortably for another 15 km.
Around 17 km I saw a runner with a video camera and immediately recognized my friend David Brooks. He is totally into running and everything about excites him. Photos and videos of his friends is very cool. He had went out first with another Guelph running friend Geoff Linton doing the first 10 km in 41 min. David then stopped once in a while along the way to watch for other Guelph runners to film them. He and I ran for 2 km or so. He is a very strong and smooth runner he dropped off where we start to head south to do some more video.
At 18 km we start moving towards the toe of the escarpment hills. There were some gentle low rises foreshadowing about 3 or 4 serious hills. This is a very nice residential area and many spectators were cheering on the runners. Nice show locals, even for the biker house with loud rock and a bearded guy with a gut and black t-shirt was getting a kick out of it - great time for a beer on his deck.
I was continuously passing people, I really must have been in the back of the pack! Sure some where slowing, but I wasn't being passed by anyone. The water stations were really good, esp with the volunteers hollered out whether they had water or Gatoraide, otherwise you are left browsing the tables looking where the Gatoraide is. I felt really comfortable still and the weather was great. I was wearing two long sleeve shirts, a short sleeve shirt, and a wind breaker, touque, and tight thin running pants. I was carrying my mitts after the first 10 km. The runners were still quite dense - I always had about 10 within several meters of me, but it was easy to move forward through the crowd.
Then the first hill hits and you grind up to top and then is the 20 km timing mat. I crossed it in 1:31:31. I had been feeling great over the past 5 km and had picked it up to 4:29 pace. Not a blistering one for me, but for an early season run I'll take it. If I kept it up for a marathon distance I'd be done in 3:09 - that would be great!
One of my motivators in a race is chasing the ponytails. Don't read anything weird into this, but the swish-swishing is so obvious and in most races there are not many ponytails if any ahead of me at the finish line, so it pushes me forward as I know I have more work to do before the end of the race. It also breaks the race into small segment goals. The ponytails where becoming rather scarce now so I had moved part way from the back of the pack forwards [but there were many much faster runners then I well ahead of me finishing already!]
The hills became one long slogs up. There are two in particular that are long and somewhat steep. At the top of one it took me 100 m to recuperate and get back on pace, but I pushed through them all. I went through 25 km in 1:54:12, but there were still hills coming, the last one in particular is nasty, but I kept to a 4:32 pace still. Finally the last hill. The road here is nice, passing over a wooden bridge and at the Bay level. Half way up the hill is the only .5 km marker - 26.5. A little motivation I guess. But a shocker too when you realize it is only 3.5 km to the finish. 3.5 is just a weenie run - how hard could that be? Suck it up, crest the hill then burn the last 3 km to the finish.
Even with the nasty hill I did 25-29 km in 4:26 pace, with 1 km to go you can see Copps Coluseum and running only 1 km is easy so I pressed to the finish [and 4 more ponytails]. As soon as you get to Copps you turn a fast corner and fast down ramp into the arena. [take off the sunglasses as it is dark in there!]. And there it is - 25 m to the finish line at centre rink, right under the jumbotron. Last km in 4:17. I crossed the line 2:16:13.7. Felt great, and wondered if one year I'll enter the race in good enough shape for a sub 2:10. But I'll take 2:16 gratefully.
It was a great day for a run, the race was really well organized. At the finish I saw my friend Art climbing out of the stands, I asked him if he had showered already but he smiled and said just changed his shirt. He has been in great running shape for the past year +. He came through in 2:05, a great time with a 4:11 pace.
I was quite keen to know if my family was going to a sugar bush where I was to meet them, so I got my food bag, got my duffle bag from the bag check, and checked my blackberry. No sugar bush so time to head home. I was getting out of my wet shirts with lots of stinging from chaffed nipples. Blood had streaked down my white t-shirt to my waist - I forgot the Bodyglide silly me. Dry shirts on, dry cap, packed my wet clothes and was off to the car and home.
Glad I ran it today. Glad David B was able to transfer a registration to me. Glad it was so beautiful out. Glad this is the start of my running season in ernest.