The mrs and I got the best part of the day for our race today. It was cool, but nice, and sunny, until after we finished. Full marathoners would have had to suffer a bit towards the end...sorry tuf_aint_enough How did we finish? Great, we both beat our best previous half-marathon times. Anita unfortunately had hamstring issues and had to hold back from her goal of 2:00:00 but still ran 2:14 and beat her previous time by 38 seconds. I felt great and thoroughly enjoyed every step, finishing in 1 hour 38 minutes, 4 minutes better than last Fall's HM PR. All in all, it was a good day considering we did 33 & 37 KM runs last weekend. I would love to train specifically for a half marathon again, instead of always running them in the final weeks of marathon training. We treated this race like a dress rehearsal for Ottawa. We got up at 4:45, ate what we will eat for the marathon as a true test. We dozed for a bit, then got up, got dressed and got out in plenty of time for there to be no rushing around. We picked up my friend James who was running the full marathon and got to the star will almost an hour to kill in the morning chill. Way better than the stresses of being late. We got separated from James during porto potty & warm ups. We did find an old local Running Room friend, Mike, which was nice as we weren't sure if he was over his injuries and running again. He is, and did a PB of 1:43, 7 minutes better than before! I was on the lookout for a couple of friends from around here, Dave (tuf_aint_enough) and Jason (jasonR), but it got pretty crowded there and we had no luck. We also ran into Ann and Diana, 2 other local Running Room regulars. They were so excited. Nice to see Anita started near the 2hr pace bunny and I moved up with the 1:30-1:45 corral. I stuck to my game plan and ran three, 5 minute KMs before kicking into steady 4:30 - 4:40's. It paid off and felt comfortable the whole way alongthis gorgeous downhill course. I achieved my goal of sub 1:40 but narrowly missed my secret goal of 1:37:48...A couple of people out there know why that was a stretch target After I finished, I got a decent place to watch Anita come in, then the weather turned cold so we didn't hang around for the marathoners to finish. Too bad, I would have like to, but we were freezing. Post race food was the standard, bagels, fruit, crackers, and it was good, and it was nice of Powerbar to hand out full size Recovery Shakes! yum. The finish area along the waterfront is a great spot...when it's warm, even better. I may consider running this 'net downhill' full marathon next year as a Boston Qualifier...if I don't do it this October in Toronto. We'll see. MTA: Motionbased Garmin upload - some of my best pacing yet, and another negative split Now, 2 weeks to rest and taper for the Ottawa Marathon. Should be...um...fun. OK -> Dave and Jason, how about your reports?

Good job. Sounds like everyone had fun. PR's are a plus.

Again, awesome work fellas. Here's my report: Throughout the race it was between 10-14C. Started out calm (Wind E 6 km/h), but by the end, the wind was blowing from the E 35km/h with gusts up to 48 km/h. Did I mention that the race finishes heading east for say, oh, the last 10k - along the lake? Completely exposed. Woke up and it just felt like a good day to run. Got up, ate, got dressed with plenty of time. Sat on the couch watching Treehouse with my daughter while she enjoyed a bottle. Got to my appointed meeting spot about 10 min early. Shot the shit, hit the porty potties and otherwise got situated. Lined up somewhere between the 3:40 and 3:50 groups. As it would turn out, this would be just right. I'll start by saying the on course support at this race is first rate. Piles of aid stations. The volunteers were wonderful. Thank you. Traffic control was top shelf. The first several kms went well and were uneventful. Was careful to keep within myself having learned a good lesson last fall in Columbus. This is a good course and a good part of the front half is gradually downhill. Bumped into a fellow from my running club right before the split. Exchanged pleasantries and went our separate ways. Around 16k I made a quick pitstop but lost no real time. Rolled through half feeling good. In fact, I made it to around 32k thinking that 3:40, or certainly 3:45 was on the table. Around 34k I felt the first twinge in my hamstring. Immediately, I slowed. I put back the last of 4 GUs at about 3:15. Things didn't improve. I walked a good deal from 37k on. That was tough. The cramping got quite bad. I felt the time slipping away. Painful as it was, I kept walking. Faster and faster until I broke into a light jog. Then a run. Then, the cramps came back. And, so it went to the end. My thanks to the friendly Australian fellow that put his arm around me and said: Come on mate, you can do this! And if you don't, I'll put my boot in your arse! Ha. Just what I needed. Cramps be damned, and on we go. The finish is great as you basically do a big loop around an inlet at the marina. You can see the finish and hear the crowd. It was here that I saw my wife, daughter and few dear, dear friends. That meant everything. It was enough of a lift to give me a burst to the end. Finishing time 3:49:58.9 - doesn't get much closer than 3:50 which was my most realistic goal going in to this one (my second marathon). A very good race indeed. Hours later, I am quite pleased. Also, I know I have it in me to go faster. And, go faster I will - damn it.

Congratulations to you both. Way to keep the wave of great race results going! 2008 has been a good year to RA.

Nice work, guys! Sounds like a pretty great race, overall.

Sounds like the wind was a real drag (literally), but nice job by all in pushing through. Congrats!