Digging deep

Event: 5km Race
Location Yamachiche, Quebec
Time 8:45am
How many hours of sleep I had the night before 6 (disjoint, a segment of one hour follwed by a phone interruption an hour of trying to fall back to sleep and five.

How I felt the night before: Physically: slightly tired. Mentally prepared (as best I could -see below). Emotionally, a feeling of resignation. I felt I was in over my head for running such an event that I never trained specifically for. The

What I ate for breakfast: two slice of toast and a banana (ran out of yogurt).

What I wore, Nike white singlet, navy blue New Balance shoes, wright socks and White Asics Nimbus V. Accessories: sunglasses and Garmin Forerunner

The purpose of running this event was for projection purposes as requested by Dorys. In a previous meeting he presented a projection chart for realising specific times for specific distances. In this chart, each column represented a specific distance. This chart would be read from top to bottow, with the fastest time at the top and increasing as we read down the chart. From my understanding each column is a compilation of running statistics of 10,000 runners. Assuming that the standard normal distribution applies here ( I am slow, but not more than 3 standard deviations worth- or at least I hope not. Each column is drawn to it's own scale and placed specifically at a certain point on the sheet beside the adjacent columns.

The conventional means of, "guestimating" a marathon time is to take one's half-marathon time, double it and add 10 minutes to this time. However any conventional metric solely focuses on one reference point. However the short coming of this approach is that a countless number of regression lines can be projected through this point. Having two references points, enhances the accuracy of this estimate as only one regression line can be drawn through.

This was the purpose of my run this day. Mapping my 5km time and my half marathon time Dorys would be able to extrapolate what my finishing time would be for the full. Naturally this is an estimate and I realise that it is subject to many internal and external factors.

I awoke to the sound of both of my alarms at 6am. I had to be over at Bonnie's place for a 7am departure. My body was phyically tired from the heat and humidity outside. I had not been sleeping well. I managed to grab to quick pieces of toast layer with Skippy creamy peanut butter (mmm... trans-fat) and head front door with my packed bag at 6:30am.

We arrived in Yamachiche with 15 minutes to spare. The ride proved to be more interesting that it needed to be as we almost ran out of gas. We were fortunate enough to fnid our way to a gas station just on the outskirts of Yamachiche.

Following registration, I handed my bag to Bonnie and proceeded to the start area. With 10 minutes to the start of the run I ran up and down the finishing straight-a-way trying to warm myself up. It was then when I discovered what I was running aginst.

This was the 9th running of the Marcel Jobin half marathon. Marcel was a former Olympian in the sport of power walking. I recall seeing runners from Vainquers, Milpat, La foulée, Boreale there. It seemed that I was one of the few runners that was not affiliated with a running club. This just went to show the strength of the field

As I ran up and down the path, I fouund myself warming up faster than I normally would have. The runners eventually gathered in a huddled mass at the start line and almost in instinctive manner, I moved to the back of the pack. The event seemed to be either well organised or these field of runners present that day are used to running this event. In my estimation, probably both. Following a brief greeting and a quick overview of the course, the mayor of the town called the start of the race.

In near perfect synchronicity, we all raised our arms to start the timer on our watches. The pack quickly strung itself out with the leaders quickly disappearing from view. My attention was drawn within and my focus never sharper. There was no time for self doubt, no was the time to go.

I was surprised how easily and quickly I was able to initiate race speed when the race started. Perhaps it was the combination of the adrenaline and excitement of running with a strong field of runners that facilitated the transition. I was able to temper my enthusiasm with the reality of inexperience. Prior to this event, I had never ran a 5km race before so I kept a "comfortably difficult" pace.

Following the first km (4:16 according to Garmin) I entered a comfort zone where I came to the realisation that I could run this event and my body fell into the natural rhythm that it does after a half hour of base running. I was able to maintain a similar pace without over exerting myself. Time according to Garmin 4:18

The effects of fatigue began to show as I my focus was shattered by thoughts of were the turnaround point was. The race was essentially a 2.5km out and 2.5km back. My body could no longer sustain that pace and settled down to 4:21 for the third and fourth km.

My legs felt heavy and my breathing laboured as I as found it harder and harder to maintain my composure. My thoughts were chaotic and nonsensical. Despite the intensity as I made my way back, I was not aware of what was happening in my surroundings. I rounded the cornered and with 100m to go I remember mustering a final effort as my arms were being drawn back as hard as possible. Final km time according to Garmin 4:07.

My only regret is having looked at my watch a moment before crossing the finish line. However I was able to record a time of 21:32.

As I look back, I am surprised that I was able to sustain such an intensity despite not having trained for it. If I had to think about why I was able to record such a time, I would credit my base training.

Bonnie and the kids' arrived 5 minutes later and Bonnie had to go to the washroom, she had expected me to arrive later. So did I.