Well …. I did it!
After months of training, after enduring the cold and bitter wind, after the many early mornings looking out at the blowing snow …. I ran the Ottawa Marathon in a time of 4hrs 51mins.
Prior to the marathon I spent two weeks in Florida where I only ran three times. My first run was not very good with a fair amount of leg pain. But after some rest, the next two runs were much better. The heat was lovely!
When we returned from Floirda, I had one day to gather my things … then I was off to Ottawa. I flew up with Alice and Irene which was nice as we talked about our experience over the winter and how now we would finally get to run the marathon. On Saturday a few of us did the 3km Friendship run which was nice to do and good to get the legs limbered up. On Sunday, it was the big event. We all met and decided to start together, knowing full well we would not finish together. Craig and I stayed together for the first 26kms and then he pulled ahead and I just motored along. At about the 34km marker I came across Alice (who had planned for a 4hr finish) who did not look so well. I could tell by looking at her, she was not ok. It turned out that she has almost fainted and the medics were not going to let her finish. So I told her I would run with her and we could finish together. It took a while but eventually she looked more herself and she was talking more. As we neared the finish line I said “Ok Alice, start smiling – they are taking our picture, strong finish!” I looked past the line and there was Craig and Barb waiting for us … nice to see someone you know there. I was very tired but not broken. I finished standing straight, smiling and helping a friend. Truth be told, helping her took my mind off my legs so she also helped me!
There are things I would do differently, start slower – not carry so much – have a place to put my sunglasses – but I am so glad that I did it … now, how can I get into New York this November?
