Race Report - Marathon #20 - Hamilton Road 2 Hope Marathon

The Hamilton Marathon Road2Hope is marathon #20. As it has only been 2 weeks since running the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, my goal was to finish the race. Recovery from a marathon is 1 day per mile so there should be 26 days between marathons.

Enjoyed an extra hour of sleep with the clock going back 1 hour. Awoke at 4:45 AM, walked and fed Bud and out the door by 5:30 AM. Clear driving directions on the race web site as the key was to exit at #88 for Confederation Park. Confederation Park is the location of the finish line so we had to take a school bus to the start line.

Arrived at the start line at 7:10 AM. Picked up bib and tech shirt. Then got a 1 K slow run to warm up.

The race started promptly at 8 AM. There were a total of 985 full marathoners. The weather was cold - about 3C - and sunny. I wore a tech shirt and shorts. Everyone else was wearing long sleeve tech shirt. Oh boy.

For the first 16 K, the route was rural. Spectacular view from 2 K to 8 K - we had a top view and could see the city below. Some uphill inclines and I walked them as I didn't want to damage the legs. Windy and not fun when the wind was blowing on me.

From 22 K to 27 K, the route was downhill on the Red River Parkway. Even though the route was downhill, this was not easy due to the steep turns. Not exciting scenery but the leaves were still changing colour.

From 27 K to 29 K, the route was on gravel. Good thing it did not rain as the route would have gotten muddy. A steep uphill - again I walked it. Nice view. Ran over a bridge that connected us to the other side of the highway.

The rest of the route was along the waterfront. The time between K markers were longer. I think the Red River Parkway took a toll on my legs. Lots of walk breaks in the final 15 K. Not worried about the finishing time as my goal was to finish the marathon without injury.

Fluid stations were every 3 K. There was water and Honey Maxx. The Honey Maxx did not taste great but at least it was a different colour than water. E-load was not provided this year. Many of the stations were operated by school volunteers. Gels were given at 30 K and I took 2 rasperberry. Delicious gels! Took them at 30 K and 33 K. There was an unopened gel at 36 K so I took it as well :-|

I finished!!!

Chip Time = 5:10:23
Gun Time = 5:11:28
Overall finish = 935 out of 985
Age Category = 98 out of 100
Gender = 579 out of 600
Pace = 7:23

Received a recovery jacket at the finish line!

And the prized finisher's medal:

Post food was great - I ate 5 fresh wheat dinner rolls as well as 2 bowls of hot soup. Yum!

Was stuck in traffic for 45 minutes when I reached the Lakeshore in Toronto (!). This delayed getting home to see Bud. He's one proud dog!

That brings the marathon season to an end :-( Will spend the next 2 months recovering. Not sure if will reach my goal of running 1000 miles in the year. YTD = 1425.7 K.