In case anyone was wondering (especially after my last post) I did run the marathon as planned on the 28th of May. Did my knee injury affect my time? I wish I could say that it did, but I really don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong, it was by no means 100% but like I said, I can’t blame my time on it.
What’s this about looking for something to blame for my time you ask? Well unfortunately I didn’t make the time I set out for myself when I registered, namely 3:45:00. I also didn’t make my secondary (more realistic) goal of under four hours, but I did come close to that one. My final time (chip time of course) was 4:03:46.1. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed, but considering this was my first marathon, I guess I can live with it. Full results are here.
I think I let Steve down a bit (sorry buddy) – he was quite sure I’d make my first estimate of 3:45:00, considering that was the time he got on his first marathon. I’m sure I could come up with a bunch of excuses (Steve followed an advanced running program for his first marathon whereas I followed a novice one) but lets be honest here…the guy is a machine! He proved it yet again this year by shaving an additional 12 minutes off his time from last year to finish in 3:18:15! Way to go Steve – you’re an inspiration for sure. To read Steve’s story of his race – check here.
I’d also like give a shout out to Dave who also ran the marathon this year. Dave managed to pull off the impressive feat that I failed to do last year. He went from zero to marathon in about 6 months. Excellent work Dave! Oh and by the way – you might as well stop saying that was the first and last marathon you’re ever going to run…I’m going to need a training partner for next year. Dave also has his own personal story of the race here.
Despite what some of the photos may show – I really enjoyed my race experience. I think a few people ran into the same trouble as me, in terms of finishing in their goal time. I remember chatting with a guy during a short walking break with about 4K left to go saying, “wouldn’t it be nice if we could just walk the last 4K”. Then there was the time, just a short time after that when I looked to the cheering people and asked, “Am I winning?”. Hee hee. But what I remember the best is the last 400 metres of the race. I caught sight of Amy and then the rest of the crew (Bonnie, Maya, Jody and of course Steve) cheering from the sidelines. Once I saw Steve – inspiration hit me and I decided it would be a good idea to sprint the rest of the race. I picked up the pace considerably and started passing people left and right. The crowd was going crazy, cheering me on. 200 metres into my final sprint I lost the ability to breath, I just couldn’t inhale. Rather than panic, I took this as a clue that I should slow down a bit which is what I did. However, my little sprint had put me out in the open though, with nobody around me and so just before crossing the finish line, I heard the announcer say, “…and here comes Kevin Haggerty from Ottawa…” which was pretty cool.
Lessons learned: First off – don’t try something new on race day! I already knew that but didn’t follow the rule for some stupid reason. What did I try new on race day? I used salt pills…a lot of salt pills. Four pills of 250 mg each to be specific – spaced out throughout the race of course. While I don’t think it affected me at all during the race; post race (for like 16 hours) was not pleasant! Second lesson was that I really should have brought my iPod along for the race – I think it would have helped, particularily during the last few kms of the race.
Anyways, I can now happily check off “Run a marathon” from my life’s To Do list, but as I alluded to earlier, this wont be my last marathon by any means, at least I hope not.
What’s next for my running events? Looks like a bunch of us are doing a 10K on Canada Day, the HBC Run For Canada to be more specific. Goals for this race? TBD :)
Hey, don’t kid yourself Kev. You didn’t let me down. You did this for you, not for me. I know you wanted to beat my first Marathon time. I wished you the best. But you didn’t let me down. You still RAN 42,200m! That’s the reward. I’m just glad to see you guys doing it. For the record however, I followed the same program you did for my first marathon. Novice. I did Intermediate I for last years race, and this year stepped up to Intermediate II. I may be crazy, but not that crazy to train at the higher levels for a first marathon! Secondly, regarding your idea to bring the iPod next year, you’ll be glad you did. However, you’ll need it at the beginning, not the end. By the end, I’m sick of it, and turn the music off and listen to everyone around me. We’re all suffering, and it’s nice to hear the crowd and the runners after 38+km. Check my finish photos. Headphones are tucked into the race belt. Nothing beats the rush of a cheering crowd!