Ottawa Marathon Report - A family affair! (Read 906 times)

Here it is, my first Full Marathon Report - I never thought I would say that! It was a great weekend all around for us. 4 out of 5 Daddyo family members ran. My littlest (almost 7yr) Cameron did the 2k which was exactly 4 hours after the marathon so I would have had to finish around 3:45 to get to his race in time - unfortunately I missed it! He ran it in 10:20 which put him 26 in the 8 and under age group out of 309. What is also great about this is that my 14 yr old daughter ran the half marathon - then ran the 2k with Cam! The HM started an hour and a half after the marathon so she was able to get to his race in time. So she ran a sub 2hr HM (1:57) and proceeded to run a 10:20 2k right after! She truly rocks! Mrs Daddyo also ran the half and despite her ailing knee which hindered her training she still pulled in at 2:31! I know she will smash that time this fall as her knee is feeling better! She, also, rocks the house! And that leaves me with the Marathon report. I missed my 3:45:00 goal but despite what we all know as hitting the wall, still managed to finish upright and sort of smiling in under 4 hours (3:56:23) As the weather reported, it rained, but not until about half way. The start was great, I walked from the hotel to the race alone as the half marathon started at 8:30 and we started at 7:00. It was a nice warm up walk / light jog and got me there with about 10 minutes to spare. The over 3000 of us took off and headed UPHILL for the first 400 meters! fortunately this was promptly followed by a matching downhill. The course was nice and meandered through a lot of Ottawa's historic areas and buildings before heading for about 7K of running through Gatineau, Quebec's small town french streets. Lot's of french cheering and great support from this area and although my french is limited, "Bravo" and "Tres Bien" was good enough to encourage me. I found a pace partner at about 3K who was also gunning for 3:45. Unfortunately I lost him at a water station so I continued to run alone for the most part, talking briefly with several people here and there. We headed back into Ottawa at 10k where I split at 54:00 - a 3:45 pace - right on pace! I hit the halfway mark at 1:53 - still on pace. This is where I started to tire a bit and figured that was normal and kept up the pace until about 30k. I was still thoroughly enjoying the race at this point but I had a stitch that would not go away and was not too painful but forced me to take shallower breaths unless I was willing to endure the pain of deeper breathing. It was bearable but I am sure it caused the late race slowdown. At about the notorious 32 K / 20 mile mark I feared 'the wall' but seemed to sneak past it with no probs. I was walking through the water stations to push the wall further away but by 35K it felt like running through mud. I had taken a gel at 32 k but grabbed another anyway and that seemed to help. at 36K I felt the most incredible urge to spin to the right, like a car with a flat tire. I hated the course for a bit and all of it's beauty was lost on me, especially with the rain soaking my shirt and making my bib stick to my stomach ... and my right knee aching ... and my right foot hurting with each push off & bend of the toes ... and my left thigh hip area throbbing ... and the feeling each gel or cup of gatorade or water was going to come right back up - but other than that I felt awesome! LOL - thankfully the crowd support at the end was fantastic, as it was for most of the race. I knew if I could get to 39K, the last 3k would be do-able on adrenaline alone. For the final 10K I was doing crazy splits...a 5:30k, a 6:15k, a 5:24k, a 6:30k and so on. Fortunately I was able to do the final 3K in about 16-17 minutes to keep it under four hours. The crowd was yelling at everyone in my general area to keep at it for a sub 4 marathon and that helped. We had merged with the Half marathoners by this point so it was really crowded. I was passing so many people who were struggling to finish and I honestly wanted to slow and encourage each one of them. The signs read; 750K, 400K, 200K and I was thinking thank god, it's almost over and I will have run a sub 4 Marathon. I did it. I was over the finish line! Unfortunately because of the other friends and famnily still going I was alone . I didn't get the swell up of emotions as I walked through the rainy finishing area and crowded timing chip removal. But as I write this and rehash it 2 days later, I am feeling a little choked up. For my own accomplishment as well as the fantastic results from the rest of the family. It was too bad our 18 year hasn't continued to train and run with us. Hopefully he will join us again for future Daddyo family race weekends! And - Thanks to all of you RA runners for your support & encouragement! The Event was well run for such a large event although the finishing chute is very crowded and it is really hard to meet up with people afterwards. Food was average and race expo was the norm. I have seen better race kits but the Brooks technical T shirts were nice and are different for each race (5k, 10k, HM, M - including different versions for men and ladies, 8 different shirts in all - cool - the 2k got cotton t's) Results Time - 3:56:23.2 1469 / 3109 Overall 1139/1969 Overall Male 229/355 Men 35 - 39 Gun time Splits 10K - 54:48 21.1K - 1:53:55 30K - 2:44:14 My self coaching post race synopsis. What I will change for next time! - 1. I walked around way too much the day before. We walked from the hotel to to the race event area which was about 1K , to watch other friends do the 10k race. This was after doing the usual race expo walk. Then we walked a while looking for a place to have dinner while we waited for the 10k-ers to run. After dinner we walked back and stood around waiting for them to finish then walked back to the hotel. Several trips back out to the car to get stuff and back and my feet and legs were tired! 2. I ate too much breakfast, which may have caused the stitch. My brekkie was; Half grapefruit 1 apple 1 PB and J sandwich 1 bowl of oatmeal 1 bowl of Vector cereal Water 3. I ran without water, relying on the water stations which were every 3Ks. Although I think I got enough water, I didn't get it at some points where I felt I needed it. I wanted to run without the weight of the belt but I may choose differently next time, unless the water stations are every 2k. - What I did well - 1. Other than running the HM a little too hard 2 weeks ago, I tapered well. last week I ate well and slept well. I trained pretty hard considering family/work and other time constraints. 2. I did well mentally I think. Whenever I felt crappy I was able to get through it, using techniques I have read here, or from Hal Higdon or similar books. Running a few punchlines through my head helped, as did reciting lines from The Office ("You have one day" and "Bears eat beets, bears, beets, battlestar galactica") 3. The shorts I bought that have the little pouches across the back were great for holding gum, chapstick and gels as well as my ipod shuffle in case I felt the need. 4. I didn't use the shuffle and enjoyed the ambiance and atmosphere of the race. Even the loud talkers which may or may not have made me speed up a bit much at one point to get away from them 5. My parents drove all the way just to be there for the weekend too, which was really nice, their support has been great for all of us! 6. I just plain did it. - sorry I mean WE did it! Dave

as did reciting lines from The Office

LOVE this! Congrats to you on the great time and congrats to whole family !

CONGRATS!!!! Great race report and GREAT time!! WTG on your first marathon. When are you doing your next? Tell your family CONGRATS as well. Love to hear a family running together!

WOO HOO!!! COngrats to you and the entire Daddyo Family! What a great race report, race reports always get me choked up and this one was no exception. WTG getting in under the 4hour mark!

You're the man, Dave. Great run. Sub four hours in your first marathon is a BIG accomplishment. I doubt that 3:45 will allude you for long. In your self coaching post race synopsis, it would be fair the change your titles of 'the positive' and 'negative' to 'did well' and 'do differently'. After all, your first marathon ought to be about finishing the race standing up and smiling (as it seems you did) and learning for the next time - n'est pas?

Dave, you are right, 'Did well' and 'do differently next time ' is well put. I also modified it to fix the 'overall' results stats : ) Thank for the kind words everyone!

According to one article, ... Source: http://www.mpnnow.com/news/view_story.php?articleId=8901

Good article Dave....funny thing...as I am reading it, I am thinking to myslef, hey, I should post this on the RA site, quickly forgetting I had just found it here!

Great job, Dave! Congrats to you and the fam!

Nice job, Dave! Great race and report. Good to hear you already talking about your next one, sounds like you're hooked.

Yep - the next one is being planned. The next 2 actually. I think I will stay home and do Toronto this October with fellow RA alum Arne Parne and Tuf_aint_enuf. Then in January, I'll go visit my ong time best mate who now lives in Scotsdale, for the Phoenix Rock n Roll Marathon. Who knows, maybe a BQ time is in my future ?!?!?!