Ste Anne 20 km

Definitely got more than I bargained for.

Thanks again to Ralf and L. who made my participation in this race possible. L. thanks for putting up with my cheesy jokes

Going in my legs felt heavy from an active week of training. Despite having a few minutes to myself to warm up, I just could not establish a comfortable rhythm and proper mindset.

To complicate matters, I bumped into an old friend. With Ralf having disappeared to run his errand. I stayed with him and he choose to line up near the front of the line. In hindsight, that was the worst spot to place myself. Right from the start, I felt someone kicking my heels as the aggressive flock of runners jockied to establish their position.

Having placed myself in the front to be with my running mate proved to be an exercise in abject failure as I never saw him once throughout the entire run. He began running at a modest pace and completed with one as well.

It was psychologically damning to place myself in that section of the line up. Being passed did not bother me that much (I'm used to it ) What I lament is my inability to slow down when my running mates around me are running at a pace that I cannot sustain. It's not that I'm not aware of the swift pace of the pack, (my garmin doohickey served as my sheppard for this run), but perhaps out of pride or vanity that I steadfastly refused to back down. *Ugh* why in the world do I put myself in these positions?

Once the crowd strung itself out once we left the school grounds and traversed the overpass, it was there that I was finally able to quell that irrational urge to sustain a pace that I knew I could not.

The path was consisted of two loops of a 10km that originated from the school and headed out toward a trail that looped back on to itself prior to us returning back to the school. The relief of ther terrain would be best described as a series of undulating hills. Though gradual or in one form or another (ie. overpass) that were not imperceptible.

The first 10km of the race transpired without incident. I found my way back to the school and found that runners were running all over the place. Instead of running in the right hand side of the road, runners placed themselves any and everywhere. It was a slightly chaotic but manageable.

Upon leaving the school grounds for the second time as I began my second loop of the course, fate struck me...in a big way. At this point in the race runners from the 10km race iin addition the the 20km runners were running the same course. I was headed toward the nature trail when I saw a water station in close proximity. I heard the girl chant out, "water" in successive fashion and I flagged her attention . I was running on the right hand lane of the two way road. I made eye contact with the girl and focus on the handoff. I extended my hand toward her as I drew closer and she took a step from the shoulder of the road opposte to the lane that I was running in order to make the exchange. My focus never left the cup and when the exchange was made, I went numb.

A runner had collided into me. I was stunned and stopped dead in my tracks. We stood infront of each other in a standoffish fashion and and remember having a blank expression on my face. He uttered an expletive in a sigh of resignation and took off. I don't remember the girl saying anything and I found myself slowingly moving again. I was incredulous and thought to myself, "Did what I think happened just occur?" My instinct as I resumed running was to drink the contents of my cup. Nothing was in it, it was empty. Just like myself.

I managed to regain my composure and repress thoughts of what had transpired as at the 12km mark, fatigue had caught up with me for the folly of the starting out too fast. At that moment, I found myself in the trail run segment of the race. I found myself alone for long stretches of this segment of the. Not being used to trail runs, the undulating nature of the course, fear of twisting an ankle, fatigue and not being able to see in the shade with my sunglasses on. I slowed down. I could actually feel myself slow down and could only watch as my breathing was belaboured. *ugh*, I was fading and in a bad way.

A ring of viscuous membrane formed over my lips and collected at the corner of my mouth. I remember trying to wipe it off with my hand to no avail so I ended up using my singlet as a face cloth. What is that stuff anyhow? Anyone ever have that when they run?

Fortunately I made it to the crest of the hill and had the wisdom to used the downhill segment to recover. This active rest was desperately needed as my pace stabilised and enjoyed not having to exert so much effort.

The city limits were in sight as I made it over the overpass over the freeway (possibly highway 40). At that point, it was still possible for me to realise my time objective for the day. The final overpass over the freeway closed to the school grounds had other ideas. It was just so demoralising as I felt a sense of urgency and despiration conspire to prevent me from succeeding. Time seemed to slow down for that final ascent and instead of accelerating, I slowed to in s deliberate and sustained fashion. Well, at least that's what I keep telling myself anyhow.

Was that was done, I had to pour it on. All my thoughts of fatigue and insecurity became ethereal. It is quite possible that the lack of oxygen contributed to my state of mental numbness that allowed me to, "go for broke" However the mental numbness affected me as I had less than 10m to the finish line.

I recall two volunteers located at the fork of a path to the finish line telling me that one path was for the half finish and the other for the 10km. It didn't make sense to me as still does not as I found out that both races share the same finish line.

In do not recall hearing what they said. I'm sure it was due to my state of fatigue but I ended up going direction at the finish. In a state of despiration I yelled, "half marathon" in an semi-incoherent way and I was redirected to the proper finish. I recall the announcer apologising to me over the,"PA". Just by chance, "L" happened to take a picture of me as I approached this fork in the road. Upon review following this event, I don't think that I completedly at fault:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=64985801308&photoid=84985801308

Despite all of these challenges I was still able to realise my time objective.

I told my story to the one of the female volunteer at the finish line and we both found that these were events that could have been easily avoided. The waterstation incident could have been avoided if there were volunteers working on either side for the road and for the finish line, if the bib's were color coded, the volunteers would be able to direct me to the proper finish.

As I sat on the grass eating the scrumptious parfait (quite tasty), a runner approached and I feel beneath his shadow. He looked at me with a stern expression on his face and said, "Are you the one I ran into" I took off my sunglasses and looked him steadfastly and said, "yes". At that point we apologised to each other and he told me that I was on the proper lane. I thought that I had drifted over to oncoming traffic but Michel confirmed otherwise. As he was barrelling down the path, he witnessed a human wall emerge out of thin air and by the time he reacted, he only had tiime to side step the volunteer who's back was faced to him and step into my lane where I was.

Ralf, I'm so jealous of you. You had your own personal companion along with way who brought you home safe and sound. Next time, I'm borrowing Grommit's services :P

Grommit. That was indeed a classy thing for you to do to bring him home in style.. Then again, from you, it's not really a surprise:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?collid=64985801308&photoid=54985801308&&refreshkey=1122843616043

All in all, a good run. a few surprises and defnitely a run a won't forget. My running shoes have since expired as I feel a pain on the outside of my respective knees and a soreness from in my shoulder from the body check.

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Base/3001/results2k5/resultats2k5_7.html#20K