The BRC Members Forum

  Sari replied ...
Marathon # 2 was a success!  It erased the painful memory of my 1^st marathon out of my brain.  For those that don’t know me, I completed Goodlife in the fall in a time of 5:36 and felt totally shattered by it.  However, I wasn’t giving up on the 42.2.
This time around I was not injured at all, not even during training.  I was ready to rock, and decided that I had to come in under 5 hours. I pre ordered a pace band from marathon dynamics for 4:50. Unfortunately they messed up and gave me one for 4:05.It’s personalized, and really pretty but I don’t want to die!  I used the RR band and
Was on pace up until 33K. That was fine, because I really wanted 4:59 if anything.
I know the rule about not trying anything new on race day, but some rules are meant to be broken. In this case, I didn’t do my 10 and 1’s.  The water stations were every 2k  so that’s when I drank and walked, and kept on going.  It’s true what they say about the mental component of the race, because by 34K the pain was setting in.  My legs were heavy and I could have easily walked every few minutes. However, I knew that if I did that my goal of sub 5 was not going to happen, and I wanted it so badly.  I focused on it and kept thinking of how I’d feel if I didn’t come in under 5hrs. That thought alone kept me going and pushing the pain aside.  There were many runners that were ahead of me most of the race, and after 35K, I was passing them. At 41K the 2 ladies in my age group that I was running behind since the halfway mark were now eating my dust.  I felt great with 2K left to go.  The final push to the finish was the best that I have felt in a long time. I felt so proud of myself, and the cheering crowd was amazing.  When I crossed the finish line I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.  4:55 and hugs from cheerleaders Anita, Julie and Heather the minute I came in.  I have to thank everyone for their encouragement and support.  I likely won’t run another marathon until next May, when I give Goodlife a second chance, and show it who’s boss.  I want to focus on halfs and improving my speed. Mainly I just want to become Julie Petten (she’s got a PB story of her own)
Congratulations to everyone who ran Mississauga, and those that qualified for the Big B.
Good luck next weekend to Heather and Graham in Halifax! To those running in Ottawa, have fun, and good luck! We’ll see you at Brag night Jun 1^st.
Posted on: Monday May 17 10:27 AM | Quote This Reply

  Duff replied ...
Excellent Sari: and you looked marvelous...  we are so happy for you and your accomplishment.
glad you tried something new that worked.

It will be good to hear more of your victory and PB Posted on: Monday May 17 01:45 PM | Quote This Reply

Julie replied ...
So this was supposed to be the race to run 2:09 or better. And if I didn’t do it at Mississauga then I was going to call it quits and just run half marathons for fun! Nir agreed to be my personal pace bunny and keep me in check time wise. I always go out to fast and end up shuffling at the end. His job was to figure out which pace I needed to be and to keep me there. More on that later….

As Sari mentioned, some rules are made to be broken, and I too went sans water belt. I figured that with the water stations every 2 km that I could just use those as 30 second walk/water breaks. Well…..not quite. The first couple of stations were busy and I still had water in the bottle I carried with me from the start. Since I didn’t stop for water I ended up running the first 8km without stopping. At the 8km water station I grabbed a cup and drank some Gatorade. I walked briefly and ended up with a sticky hand. Next up was the first real downhill portion of the race. It was heaven! I rode that wave until the hill at 10km, wasn’t as bad as I remembered/imagined. Got a little winded at the top of the hill and Nir asked if I wanted to take a gel. I could hardly breathe so I said no. In reality I don’t like taking gels. And I’ve never taken one before in a half marathon. Didn’t see the need to start now. Down we go Mississauga Road. Looked at all the nice houses. The crowd was pretty sparse. Nir would try to get everyone going by clapping and yelling as we ran by. Some responded. When Nir agreed to be my pace bunny I gave him a list of things he couldn’t do. Clapping was one of them. It drives me nuts! So by clapping at the crowd, rather than at me, this was his way of getting around that rule. Crafty one he is.

Back to the whole pace issue. We figured that I would have to run 6 min/kms or better to achieve my goal. I got 2 pace bands from the expo just to make sure 2:07 and 2:00. I didn’t even look at the 2 hour band, because let’s be realistic people, I could barely run a 2:10 half, let alone 2 hours. I looked at the 2:07 band as we passed every Km marker and would notice that I was always ahead of it. I was getting nervous. Because of my tendency to start fast and slow…right…down….at….the…end…… But Nir told me I was fine and I believed him. At 10km I was at about 55 mins. I was on target! For 2 hours! But since I can’t do math in my head while I run I didn’t realize this. At some point I finally broke down and took a gel. About half of it. I was not interested. My stomach was feeling full of water and I didn’t want anymore. So I ditched it. And I’ve also been running the entire time. Didn’t stop at any water stations because at some point I had an epiphany! Nir, who could care less about his time, could fill up my water bottle for me at the water stations while I kept running. We did this twice. It worked out very well. At 18km I was getting tired. Nir noticed my pace was slowing down ran ahead of me in an effort to get me to follow. To my credit, I didn’t stop, although I really really wanted to. Got to Lakeshore and we’re in the home stretch. At that point Nir tells me that if I run this last Km in 4:15 or 4:30 pace I could break 2 hours. And of course my reaction is this: Are you serious? Rather than tell me congratulations, you tell me I could do better? He says this: You haven’t finished the race yet so I can’t say congratulations. I wanted to hurt him. Just after that I see Ginny and Christa on the side and run over to high five them. I do believe I yelled “I’m at 1:56!!!!!” I see the crowd of runners ahead of me breaking to the right so I know the finish line was very close. And there it is. The end. And I cross with a time of 2:01:30. I immediately see Anita to the right and go over and hug her. I think she’s happier than I am! She’s hugging me and kissing me….I almost cried. It was a great feeling to finally accomplish a goal I’ve had since Sept 2009. Next up: Sub 2!
Posted on: Monday May 17 05:48 PM | Quote This Reply

    Prez replied ...
Awesome races ladies, just awesome!

It was not my day but I enjoyed being there hearing about and seeing all of the Running Room and Beaches Runners doing so well.

Thanks to all of the supporters and cheering. It does not go un-noticed even as we run by barely able to high five you all!

The picnic was a great idea, most fun post race ever, despite the fact it took ame a while to recover.

I will manage to blog a full race report soon. I am still mentally recovering.
Posted on: Tuesday May 18 07:47 AM | Quote This Reply

Nir replied ...
Wow!...This group of runners just keeps impressing. The Mississauga marathon/half marathon experience was fantastic. Where do I begin, well I must start with my lovely and dedicated better half Julie.
The “talk around town” was that Julie was going to run a PB in the half and all prognosticators were predicting a sub 2:10 half. There were even rumblings of a 2:06 amongst some of the critics.  So, when I was asked/told that I was going to pace her I had no choice but to shut up and run. And run we did! I know Julie felt pressure to break her PB so I just kept up a faster pace on the downhill.  From then on it was ALL Julie, she pushed the pace and not once did she complain. Okay, maybe she complained a few times. Still, she was great and when it was very apparent that not only was she going to crush her PB but that 2 hours was close she was all smiles(on the inside). Very proud puppy!
To the Beaches Runners, the Running Room contingent and our dedicated cheerleaders, you guys “rocked”.
Congrats to all, to Mike Hannon who ran a 1:40 when he was coming off injury and didn’t know what he had to give. Awesome Mike.
To Walter for completing his first marathon. Talk to anyone and they are so impressed that we run marathon. Now you are one of us, one of the less than .1% on this planet.
To Tricia, who did it...she’s going to Boston. Enough said!
To Sia, who ran a PB in the half and I was lucky enough to even get a victory dance from her.
To Matt Sylvain, who as part of his training for the ENDURrun  just wanted to run an easy marathon and breezed in with a 4:05.
To Geoff who ran hard and even harder once Charlyn picked him up and ran him in.  well done, 3:30 knocks off almost half an hour.
To Dave Carpenter, who once again ran close to a 3:30 marathon. I know that day is very near when you kick my ass so I thank you for letting me have my 15 minutes of fame.
To Bruce(that guy with the hair), solid time even though you have no idea how fast you are.  FYI Bruce, you ran it in 1:42
To Brad, who just keeps on running fast. Only a 1:31 half on a sore knee.
To Melanie, who also coming off injury was very very impressive in at 1:52
To Fred, nice PB of 4:16  and shed 15 minutes from his last marathon
To Paula D, who also did it!!!...BQ’d and I can’t wait to hear the stories of how close it really was. See you in Boston.
To Sari, the winner in my books.  The training, the dedication and the perseverance all paid off …chopped off almost 45 minutes in running a PB. Don’t stop please.
To Mike Oneill, 3:09.  That’s right folks, 3:09 in the marathon.
To Jim, great job in your first.
To Jose, 4:47 !!!!!....way to go another PB in this group.
To Duff, my guru…you are the man bringing in a gang under 2 hours.  So selfless bringing in a dozen women and getting hugs and kisses  for his task.
To the Prez Dave, another marathon down.  What is that 17 marathons in how many months? How many more this year? Looking forward to running with you again and again.
I know I missed some so congrats to you all.
 
Oh yeah, to the race crew(Anita & Cameron) and all the cheering crew, don’t ever stop coming out.  We are all so lucky to have good friends and fellow runners that support us.
Thanks to Ginny , Christa(hope your cheering injury isn’t too serious),Heather ,Graham, Boston Bob, Matt R, Charlyn, and Larry D.
 
Happy trails folks,
Nir
 
 
Posted on: Tuesday May 18 07:40 PM | Quote This Reply

Nir replied ...
I know I missed Rob & Anne the personal race crew for Paula. i want to hear the "paula" marathon story.
Rob on Bike and Anne on foot for how long? Posted on: Tuesday May 18 07:41 PM | Quote This Reply

  Prez replied ...
Great race reports. Nice recap Nir - you really do have to like our running community! Posted on: Wednesday May 19 07:02 AM | Quote This Reply

  Duff replied ...

Excellent report from Group Leader Nir and we were talking about the positive attitudes from  all those who stepped on the starting line.. even  the BRC prez has to be happy with his overall accomplishments.

and I totally agree with the race crew support and the excitement they bring to the clinics and races. We probably would not be the same without them.

Each and everyone one of you should be proud to belong to this magnificent community of runners .
 

Posted on: Friday May 21 12:35 PM | Quote This Reply

  Beth replied ...
Just want to say a huge congratulations to everyone on their marathon and half marathon accomplishments at Mississauga. You guys all rocked! Ian and I are also very proud of our LTR group who finished their first 5k race in Mississauga on the Sat night - BTW Hazel actually does stand at the finish and cheer everyone in!! Our clinic members excelerated their training to achieve 3 x 10 and 1's in a row over and above the program's goal of 20 minutes of running. It was so rewarding seeing them cross a finish line for the first time; I am confident that you will see many of them in further half and full marathon clinics! Cheers Beth Posted on: Friday May 21 02:14 PM | Quote This Reply

  Prez replied ...
Thanks Beth, and congrats on your clinic. Well done!

Here is my report for Mississauga

CLICK HERE
Posted on: Friday May 21 02:30 PM | Quote This Reply

dave c replied ...

Thanks for the generous words Nir, and congrats to all who ran. Glad to have #2 under the belt - my race sounds a lot like Dave E's, minus the puke part. I now appreciate the saying 'you don't run the marathon, the marathon runs you'
Dave C

Posted on: Friday May 21 04:48 PM | Quote This Reply

  Natalie McLean replied ...
Okay first of all I want to say congrats to everyone.  Julie, yippee you get the necklace but you were only suppose to get 2:09-wow the bar has risen.  Maybe Anita and I can persuade Nir to be our personal pace bunny(we will choose what he wears-just ears and tail)

Sari, congrats under 5:00 you go girl.  I bet a few bottles of wine have been consumed in the last few days-ha-ha.

Walter, your first full-wow 

I am looking forward to Ottawa this weekend, but obviously no PB's will be reached but I am very excited to be a Pace Bunny, and was not nervous until the Great Duff started freaking me out. 

Ummm-Dave I just noticed that I am not on the members list-I know I have been busy but hey dont forget about me. 

See everyone in Ottawa this weekend,

Nat Posted on: Tuesday May 25 07:10 AM | Quote This Reply

    Prez replied ...
http://www.beachesrunners.com/register.php Posted on: Tuesday May 25 09:06 AM | Quote This Reply

Anita replied ...
I know I am late to read all the posts but WOW, great stories.  Cam and I really loved waiting for you all to cross.
It never gets old for me, I think to recharge your batteries and appreciate life, standing at the finish line of a marathon will give you a boost that no drug could ever do.

Carry on.... Posted on: Tuesday June 01 10:48 AM | Quote This Reply

David Simmons replied ...
I am not a member here nor a runner - however was shooting the Mississauga Marathon in Port Credit area - http://s1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii481/devs666/Mississauga%20Marathon%202012/ let me know if you find yourself or want a copy of a picture.
Posted on: Wednesday May 09 06:58 PM | Quote This Reply

    Neil replied ...

Wow...

Awesome race reports guys! Doing tha club proud once again. I will have to steal some of your spirit & energy to get me through my race on Sat (Seaton Trail 52k) I will be carrying the BRC flag for sure. Reminds me of one of my favourite running quotes:

"Running a race is not about finishing, it's about having the courage to start!"

Posted on: Thursday May 10 10:19 AM | Quote This Reply

    Prez replied ...
Lol, these reports are a year old. Dude before you Bear must have googled us and posted on this old topic.  Posted on: Monday May 14 05:29 PM | Quote This Reply