Although the weather did not look promising days prior to the event, it turned out to be a great day for a run, temps around 2C with overcast skies, and only a light wind.

PRE-RACE

6:45 AM – Get up & have my usual All-Bran cereal, whey protein/milk combo, and a banana.

7:25 AM – Hit the road with Mrs. Fat Guy, and stop at Tim’s for a coffee of course. 🙂

8:10 AM – Arrive at the parking lot of the event, and walk to the registration area which was inside Grimsby High School.  I look up my race number from the board, and pick up my number card, and timing chip.

8:30 AM – I strap on my Brooks DYAD 5 running shoes, number belt, and timing chip and bring my bag to the bag-check.

8:45 AM – Go outside and do a little jog to warm up followed by some minor stretching.

9:00 AM – The half-marathon starts.

9:05 AM – I proceed to the 3k start area and continue to keep the muscles warm.  I also get my Garmin FR 305 ready to record the race.  I stand towards the back of the pack thinking I’d be the slow one.  This turned out to be a bad move.

9:15 AM – Horn sounds & we’re off & running.

THE RACE

I started off at my planned pace which was about 6 mins/km (9.6 min/mile), and even at the slow pace I found myself being held up by slower people, and getting around them cost more time.  The first stretch had a minor incline, but nothing that really bothered me.

After the first turn, things opened up a little, so I picked up the pace a little to make up for the blockages, and it also helped that there was a minor downgrade.  The first km went by quick and I was surprised how good I felt, so I upped the pace a little.

The 2nd km started with a nice downgrade which I took advantage of  picked up the pace.  Then it followed by a flat on Main St.   At this point, I was still passing quite a few people thinking to myself the whole time “Am I going too fast?”.  But I still felt good, heart rate holding steady in the high 150s, low 160s, so I kept the pace.

Then the final km…the last leg, started flat, but then around the corner came a nice hill.  Since I still felt strong, I maintained my pace, which at this point was around 5:30 min/km (8.8 min/mile).  This grade was taking it’s toll on a lot of people, and where I did a lot of passing.  The last half km after that hill was flat, then downhill.  This is where I decided to “drop the hammer” and started running.  At one point close to the end of the race I looked at the Garmin & my heart rate hit 184 BPM.  So much for the started formula of 220-age to determine max heart rate….I had just blown that number by 2-3 BPM. 🙂

POST-RACE

After it was said & done, walked around a little to cool down & catch my breath, but with the adrenaline still going, I felt great and was really happy with my race.  I had smashed my goal of 18 mins with a 16:45 min finish and was on cloud 9.

After 5-10 mins, we proceed inside to get my bag, and I changed into some dry cloths.  I took a peak of the unofficial results and was happy with what I saw.

Click Here are the official times for the race.

Overall Place: 42 of 93 runners
Age Group Place:  9 of 11 (30-39 age group)
Official Time: 16:45.3
Avg Pace: 5:36 min/km

Changes for next race: Start closer to mid pack, and maybe pace a little faster at the start.