Notes
Number 6 under the belt.
First marathon in Canada. Really a neat experience and a fun time. Spent the night at Ty's (friends are the best!). Up at 4:15 this morning. Not the best night's sleep but it won't stop me. 4:45am we cross the border. no problems thank goodness. Lose an hour due to Atlantic time. Not many people there at 7am when we arrive, but we run across Dave AKA Marathon Maineiac and watch him start off with the early starters. As we made our way to start for 8am these aerobic dancers we're dancing (warming us up or them?!), got a good chuckle out of that, looked really silly to me before a marathon, why waste energy with that nonsense? Ty and I decide we weren't going to let any Canuck (mostly Dave Nevitt) show us up. Our plan wasn't formal by any means but it was certain we wanted to get under 3 hours. The course went out on a bike path that turned to crush gravel (very similar to the Acadia carriage roads) after 3 miles. The turn around was at 7 miles or so which was kind of awkward but we managed. At this point Dave N. was with us (a murder!) and both Ty and I felt strong, so without really thinking about it the pace quickened. Mile 8 was fast 6:24. We were passing all of the marathoners, being passed by the first two half marathoners, and getting lots of cheers from the the runners (half marathon, 10k, and 5k all at the same time on the course, starting 10 minutes apart). By 10 miles it started to get a bit clustered and we had to swerve in and out of bunches of people while also paying attention to runners coming at us. Not terrible, but if you didn't speak up at some points you would defiantly lose time by waiting for them to move. Half way came and went, Dave N. still with us. I think Ty decided (or did it kind of just happen?!) to quicken the pace 14, 15, and 16 all under 6:30, Dave was dropped for good by 15(he would go on to get another sub 3). At the final turnaround at mile 19 I made the decision to keep working fairly hard and not fall of pace too much. There was a slight breeze and Ty was beginning to fade slightly, while he came back around 22, he lost a few steps, than a few seconds by 23.5. I was alone. The bride over the St. John was slippery as it started to mist/rain a little more. The slipping around made you more aware of each footstep and defiantly made me perk up a bit. the final stretch after 25 on the bridge i was able to chase down a couple with a dog and stroller, gave me something to work for. Didn't have much of a kick but i felt strong through the finish line and pleased with my time only a month after Boston. I would defiantly recommend this race to anyone. Volunteers, runners and spectators were super friendly, the course although a bit clustered at times is defiantly PR worthy for those looking for a flat, scenic course.