Left the house at 5 AM to make the trek to Hamilton for the Road2Hope Marathon. Last night, I did a quick mapquest search on directions - I should have printed it since I only wrote down to get off at exit 89, to the Red Hill Valley Parkway. I ended up past Hamilton in Ancaster! Then did a detour, exited on King Street, asked at a couple of Petro Canada gas stations and arrived at Confederation Park with minutes to go. Found a parking spot, picked up bib and tech shirt - lady was rude as she told me to take the red tech shirt - only large left - and to get on the bus. Was thrilled (relieved) I made it on the bus to make it to the start line at Arcelor Mittal Dofasco Park (in Stoney Creek). When leaving the school bus, learned the race was delayed by 10 minutes as the police were not all ready - great news!
Wore a base layer spandex as well as the Toronto Waterfront Marathon tech shirt from last year. Wore my Toronto Marathon pants. Took along my toque but left it in the car! That's what happens when rushed :-| Temperature was 2C to 4C and cloudy.
The first 5 K had 4 (?) rolling hills (!). Never fun as I did not hill train. Being on the edge of the escarpment, superb view of the city looking down. It took 16 K to reach the Red Hill Valley Parkway and the view was rural. It took about 8 K before I got in the groove of running as I opted to run fast at the beginning. Enjoyed the downhill decline of the parkway from 16 K to 22 K but the legs got tired as there were turns. 26 K to 30 K were, although slightly downward was tough since the wind blowing at us. I was confused when I saw the 33 K sign - I did not realize once we reached 32 K, we had to make a loop and repeat the route of 26 K to 30 K. The great news was there was no wind heading south (30 K to 32 K; 35 K to the finish line) - this allowed me to run "strong". There was a time mat at the 30K/34K to ensure we passed it twice (for the loop).
Took 5 gels (3 of my own and 2 from the course). A bit confusing whether volunteers were giving e-Load or water as they were in the same cup and often had to ask.
There was a lady who was taken by the paramedics to the hospital - never a good sight.
Not sure why I did not receive an e-mail outlining the race weekend - I even checked my spam.
The race was well organized - would do it again. In fact, this is the 2nd time I've done the marathon. In its first year, it was downhill on the Red Valley Parkway and then uphill - fortunately this has been changed. I remember walking the marathon - it was called the Flying Squirrel Road2Hope Marathon.
Finish = #963 out of 1082
Gun Time = 4:45:52
Chip Time = 4:45:25
Age = 124 out of 134
Gender = 621 out of 674
Pace = 6:47
Was able to exchange my red large tech shirt for a green medium shirt :-)
The spinning medal features the race logo.
And Bud enjoying my accomplishment. My accommplishment is also his accomplishment.
Marathon #14 is complete! Nothing compared to the runner who finished marathon #500 today - incredible. For the upcoming spring marathon, need to train with some speed during the weekday. I like 4 marathons and 1 ultra 50 K in a year...
YTD 1328.2 K
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