With an early 1.5 hour start for the walkers and slow runners (who need more than 5 hours to complete the race), we were off! After the first kilometre, my Garmin read 0.8 K, which makes me wonder if we took the correct route. I forgot to bring a map of the course (left it in the trunk of the car) but knew that the course would be mainly along the Lincoln Alexander Parkway and the new Red Hill Valley Parkway -- which I believe has yet to open. I wore my Mississauga marathon tech shirt as well as my Running Room jacket. Boy was it windy and cold! Walking in the direction of the wind didn't help. At each of the fluid stations, a high school was represented with their own cheering crowd -- some had mascots. Each high school was very enthusiastic. For the first time, Gatorade was not served. Instead, something called "elo" (sp?) was provided. I mistakingly took it at the 2nd fluid station and it's the same colour as water, just much sweeter. I had to throw it out since I didn't want it interferring with my race plan of water for the first 8-10K.
The route along the Lincoln Alexander Parkway was flat and uneventful. Once the marathon racers, who started at 9:00 am caught up, that was more interesting as there were many more people on the route. When I got to the Red Hill Valley Parkway, that's when the half marathon racers merged and it was much busier. There was plenty of room for the walkers and runners to share the route. I remembered to take tangents when the route was curved to avoid walking extra distance. For the first half of the race, my Garmin continued to be 0.2K less than the actual distance.
The route along the Red Hill Valley Parkway was challenging since it has 2K of upward incline (4% grade according to the web site) -- and that happened near the end of the route (!). It was downhill when we merged onto the Red Hill Valley. No wonder I was running out of steam! The good news is I enjoyed the scenery and the fall colours -- much nicer than the Lincoln Alexander Parkway. I enjoyed seeing the racers on the other side going in opposite direction (that happened also on the Lincoln).
After exiting the Red Hill Valley Parkway, it was a bit downhill to the finish line. I finished the race with a gun time off 6:16:19 and a chip time of 6:16:18. Surprisingly, this was better than my chip time of 6:18:01.9 in my first marathon (in Mississauga). Today, I was not seeking a personal best (got that at the Toronto Scotiabank Waterfront marathon) and just wanted to finish upright with a smile. I finished upright and sometimes I wonder if I could really smile -- it was tough! Glad it's over :-)
Post food was in a bag and consisted of a banana; an apple; gum; and a granola bar. There was also chips pop and juice and I checked the % fat on the chips and opted for the baked cheetos. The finisher's medal looks super nice (I've attached a photo below) and it was great to also get a space blanket.
The shuttle bus took us back to the parking lot at Limeridge Mall. All-in-all, a great experience. Everything was nicely organized. The volunteers were plentiful and helpful. A lot of thought and organization went into this race. It's not an easy race with the 4% grade incline for 2K near the end. I do hope that word of mouth will spread that this is a race worth considering. And I paid only $60 back in the spring -- a bargin which included a free water belt for signing up early.
