Prince Edward Island Half-Marathon Results
And now, the time you’ve all been waiting for: 1:54. Yes, that’s right, 1:54…and some odd number of seconds. Gun time, chip time, it doesn’t really matter as I was so close to the start of the pack, it took mere seconds to cross the start line after the siren went and the race began. So many differences between this race and the NCR back in May. Yes, there were some that were inevitable, like a hillier course, and cooler weather. But I can definitely take credit for all the hard work training these past four and a half months. And I think that made the biggest difference of all, in my confidence and preparedness. I knew what I could “get away with” during the race, so that I wasn’t sweating the small things. That includes the hills. It was definitely hillier than the NCR. Nothing massive, no, but there are rolling hills here in PEI that are fun and easily forgotten if you are traveling by vehicle…not so much when you’re hoofing it on foot.
I was very nervous leading up to the big event. But there were several distractions that took my mind off the race itself, until heading to bed the night before. I worried about how I was going to pack everything, I worried about airport security vs. my water bottle, I worried about our connection in Montreal, I worried about the tiny old planes they had us on (first an RJ 100 and a Dash-1 Turboprop). Well, everything packed nice and neatly, with room for expansion (always a good thing when going somewhere you know there are going to be souvenirs beckoning to be purchased). It turns out the security guard who had to search my suitcase either is a runner or knows a runner, because upon opening the suitcase, he asked immediately if I was a runner, and when I told him that I was going to PEI for a half marathon, he nodded, and said “21k, nice”. Then he proceeded to ask me about my training program, keeping my attention off his searching hands. It was still a pretty nervous moment, I mean, I’ve never had my belongings hand searched like that. But it was nice to know that the person doing the search would probably recognize every last piece of weird running gear I had packed in there.
The plane trips themselves went just fine. Though our suitcases are within the limits for carryon luggage, they had to be checked at the gate each time because those little old planes don’t have overhead bins in the cabins that are able to hold the larger modern carryon suitcases. Still, I always prefer flying out light and ensuring that all my luggage arrives with me. When they collect luggage at a gate, you’re assured it’ll be loaded, sometimes you can even watch from the window. And it’s the first stuff they unload upon arrival, too. The connection in Montreal was so funny-the departure gate was in the same small terminal that we arrived in. Also fun was boarding and exiting right onto tarmac. The weather certainly didn’t make that the least bit problematic. What was a little intimidating was boarding the plane to Charlottetown. It was a Dash-1 Turboprop, and that indeed means that the wings had exposed propellers, perfectly visible from my window seat on board for the entire flight. I actually got some nice shots with my camera of that propeller, as well as the clouds and land below.
Landing in Charlottetown, it turns out the airport here is about the size of a nice, clean bus terminal. We actually landed a bit early, so we had to wait for my sister and her boyfriend to pick us up. But that’s okay. It was a nice balmy 19 degrees, and the sun was shining. I actually got a couple outside photos of the plane, since there was no rush to leave.
Once things got underway here, there was so much to do, I found refuge in the present moment. Which just let me savour the whole experience all the more. I started to immediately get my bearings for the race course, since it went right by the airport. And as soon as we’d settled our stuff in at my sister’s place, we took a walk over to the Confederation Centre to pick up my stuff at the race registration that had just opened up. Then it was all about enjoying the evening with my sister and her boyfriend, with supper at The Pilot House, and then drinks and desert at the 42nd Street Lounge.
The following day, we started with a grey, cloudy day, which turned rainy later on. Still, after fluffy blueberry pancakes courtesy of my sister (the one who inherited the kitchen smarts as well as the fashion smarts), we went to a couple stores (chocolate shop and comic book store), and saw a little parade, before heading out for an afternoon drive to take pictures of the island. Despite the rain, we got some really nice shots (visit my Flickr site). And with the rain we were home in good time for my sister to prepare her delicious lasagna (which I have to get the recipe for, because I think I could actually make it myself-quelle surprise). Pasta is just what you need the night before a race…along with raspberry cordial (actually just soda from the Anne of Green Gables Chocolates store), and finished up with a white chocolate pie that my sister made in anticipation of our arrival. Apparently, she has developed her kitchen smarts mostly to accommodate her sweet tooth-and that’s a perfectly good reason IMO, seeing as my favourite recipe to make is my mother’s chocolate chip and raisin cookies.
Saturday night I was nervous, but somehow, I fell right asleep. Sunday morning, I tried to stick to my preparations, so that the nerves didn’t get to me. Though it rained from afternoon through the night, the next morning was sunny and drying off. It was also crisp, but the sun helped me warm up when the race began. It was great to be in a race that didn’t have several thousand people racing together, because I got to start mere seconds from the start line, with my supporters right nearby.
Those nerves metamorphosed to excitement when the siren signaled the start of the race, because for the first couple kilometers, I was running at a pace between four and five minutes per kilometer. My goal was to maintain 5:27 per minute (so that with walking breaks my average would be 5:41), so since the quicker pace didn’t feel so bad, I followed my body’s cue and let it go until the first walk break. I didn’t do too badly with the walk breaks, but I did miss several of them. I was able to hear all the signals from my Garmin despite having my MP3 player going (having the theme from the movie “The Lost Boys” playing while I ran past a graveyard was nifty), but several times I was distracted by the course/spectators/fellow racers or I just didn’t feel like taking a break. Meanwhile, I could see a difference fairly early on with my pace band, as I was reaching the kilometer markers more and more in advance of the times calculated for my goal time. I just flew along the scenic route, with the encouragement of spectators at the side of the road. I only took water at one water stop, though, because I was doing just fine with my bottle (and it’s easier to handle than a paper cup). I did have difficulty with my sport beans, though, and spent about a kilometer or two trying to open the package. Instead, I actually accepted a GU gel at the aid station around kilometer 17, which is technically a no-no in a race-you’re not supposed to try anything new, and while I’d tested both Cliff Shots and Carb-Boom gel packs during training, I hadn’t tried GU. It was the same flavour as my beans, though, and tasted fine, so I might actually stick with them in the future (way easier to open, for one thing).
The hills were actually mostly gradual, except for one pretty large downhill and one significant uphill (featuring a construction zone, so my shoes are now a little pinkish from the iron-rich island soil). The lengthy straightaway to the finish was really nice, as I could see the finish long before I got there, and the kilometers just flew by. As I neared the end of the course, my chest tightened with emotions, because I knew I was going to shred my previous personal best. My only worry was that my family was going to miss my finish, since I knew I was going to come in about five minutes earlier than the estimate I’d given them before the race. But they managed to arrive a minute before I did, and were ready with cameras to capture my finish.
It was a great race. A perfect balance of road running, and the scenery and nature that I so loved from the racing I used to do back in my school days. My only regret is that I was unable to take photographs of the beautiful scenery along the course, but that could easily be rectified with a tour of the course on foot, some other time. Before the race, I was fairly certain I’d only run it the one time, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe I’ll make this an annual trip to visit my sister and run the half-marathon during the visit. Either way, this was an experience I eagerly look forward to repeating, even if it doesn’t happen in the same place next time.
The rest of the trip ended just too quickly. We went out for brunch at Cora’s after I cleaned myself up, and then we did some shopping before the awards gathering. My sister’s boyfriend did a great BBQ for that evening’s supper, and we relaxed into the evening. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go out for celebratory drinks, but that was okay in the end, as I was certainly tired, and they were returning to work while we had our voyage home the following day.
So, a great big thank you goes to my sister and her boyfriend (and their two cats) for the lovely stay in PEI. Another goes to the clinic instructors and staff at the Running Room, plus the community of runners I got to be a part of over the months of training. It is such a world of difference from when I was struggling to run by myself for the past several years, to now when I have no intention to stop in the foreseeable future. Not that I ever stopped enjoying running in the past, but it is definitely easier to commit myself to a training schedule when I have friends running alongside.
I was very nervous leading up to the big event. But there were several distractions that took my mind off the race itself, until heading to bed the night before. I worried about how I was going to pack everything, I worried about airport security vs. my water bottle, I worried about our connection in Montreal, I worried about the tiny old planes they had us on (first an RJ 100 and a Dash-1 Turboprop). Well, everything packed nice and neatly, with room for expansion (always a good thing when going somewhere you know there are going to be souvenirs beckoning to be purchased). It turns out the security guard who had to search my suitcase either is a runner or knows a runner, because upon opening the suitcase, he asked immediately if I was a runner, and when I told him that I was going to PEI for a half marathon, he nodded, and said “21k, nice”. Then he proceeded to ask me about my training program, keeping my attention off his searching hands. It was still a pretty nervous moment, I mean, I’ve never had my belongings hand searched like that. But it was nice to know that the person doing the search would probably recognize every last piece of weird running gear I had packed in there.
The plane trips themselves went just fine. Though our suitcases are within the limits for carryon luggage, they had to be checked at the gate each time because those little old planes don’t have overhead bins in the cabins that are able to hold the larger modern carryon suitcases. Still, I always prefer flying out light and ensuring that all my luggage arrives with me. When they collect luggage at a gate, you’re assured it’ll be loaded, sometimes you can even watch from the window. And it’s the first stuff they unload upon arrival, too. The connection in Montreal was so funny-the departure gate was in the same small terminal that we arrived in. Also fun was boarding and exiting right onto tarmac. The weather certainly didn’t make that the least bit problematic. What was a little intimidating was boarding the plane to Charlottetown. It was a Dash-1 Turboprop, and that indeed means that the wings had exposed propellers, perfectly visible from my window seat on board for the entire flight. I actually got some nice shots with my camera of that propeller, as well as the clouds and land below.
Landing in Charlottetown, it turns out the airport here is about the size of a nice, clean bus terminal. We actually landed a bit early, so we had to wait for my sister and her boyfriend to pick us up. But that’s okay. It was a nice balmy 19 degrees, and the sun was shining. I actually got a couple outside photos of the plane, since there was no rush to leave.
Once things got underway here, there was so much to do, I found refuge in the present moment. Which just let me savour the whole experience all the more. I started to immediately get my bearings for the race course, since it went right by the airport. And as soon as we’d settled our stuff in at my sister’s place, we took a walk over to the Confederation Centre to pick up my stuff at the race registration that had just opened up. Then it was all about enjoying the evening with my sister and her boyfriend, with supper at The Pilot House, and then drinks and desert at the 42nd Street Lounge.
The following day, we started with a grey, cloudy day, which turned rainy later on. Still, after fluffy blueberry pancakes courtesy of my sister (the one who inherited the kitchen smarts as well as the fashion smarts), we went to a couple stores (chocolate shop and comic book store), and saw a little parade, before heading out for an afternoon drive to take pictures of the island. Despite the rain, we got some really nice shots (visit my Flickr site). And with the rain we were home in good time for my sister to prepare her delicious lasagna (which I have to get the recipe for, because I think I could actually make it myself-quelle surprise). Pasta is just what you need the night before a race…along with raspberry cordial (actually just soda from the Anne of Green Gables Chocolates store), and finished up with a white chocolate pie that my sister made in anticipation of our arrival. Apparently, she has developed her kitchen smarts mostly to accommodate her sweet tooth-and that’s a perfectly good reason IMO, seeing as my favourite recipe to make is my mother’s chocolate chip and raisin cookies.
Saturday night I was nervous, but somehow, I fell right asleep. Sunday morning, I tried to stick to my preparations, so that the nerves didn’t get to me. Though it rained from afternoon through the night, the next morning was sunny and drying off. It was also crisp, but the sun helped me warm up when the race began. It was great to be in a race that didn’t have several thousand people racing together, because I got to start mere seconds from the start line, with my supporters right nearby.
Those nerves metamorphosed to excitement when the siren signaled the start of the race, because for the first couple kilometers, I was running at a pace between four and five minutes per kilometer. My goal was to maintain 5:27 per minute (so that with walking breaks my average would be 5:41), so since the quicker pace didn’t feel so bad, I followed my body’s cue and let it go until the first walk break. I didn’t do too badly with the walk breaks, but I did miss several of them. I was able to hear all the signals from my Garmin despite having my MP3 player going (having the theme from the movie “The Lost Boys” playing while I ran past a graveyard was nifty), but several times I was distracted by the course/spectators/fellow racers or I just didn’t feel like taking a break. Meanwhile, I could see a difference fairly early on with my pace band, as I was reaching the kilometer markers more and more in advance of the times calculated for my goal time. I just flew along the scenic route, with the encouragement of spectators at the side of the road. I only took water at one water stop, though, because I was doing just fine with my bottle (and it’s easier to handle than a paper cup). I did have difficulty with my sport beans, though, and spent about a kilometer or two trying to open the package. Instead, I actually accepted a GU gel at the aid station around kilometer 17, which is technically a no-no in a race-you’re not supposed to try anything new, and while I’d tested both Cliff Shots and Carb-Boom gel packs during training, I hadn’t tried GU. It was the same flavour as my beans, though, and tasted fine, so I might actually stick with them in the future (way easier to open, for one thing).
The hills were actually mostly gradual, except for one pretty large downhill and one significant uphill (featuring a construction zone, so my shoes are now a little pinkish from the iron-rich island soil). The lengthy straightaway to the finish was really nice, as I could see the finish long before I got there, and the kilometers just flew by. As I neared the end of the course, my chest tightened with emotions, because I knew I was going to shred my previous personal best. My only worry was that my family was going to miss my finish, since I knew I was going to come in about five minutes earlier than the estimate I’d given them before the race. But they managed to arrive a minute before I did, and were ready with cameras to capture my finish.
It was a great race. A perfect balance of road running, and the scenery and nature that I so loved from the racing I used to do back in my school days. My only regret is that I was unable to take photographs of the beautiful scenery along the course, but that could easily be rectified with a tour of the course on foot, some other time. Before the race, I was fairly certain I’d only run it the one time, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe I’ll make this an annual trip to visit my sister and run the half-marathon during the visit. Either way, this was an experience I eagerly look forward to repeating, even if it doesn’t happen in the same place next time.
The rest of the trip ended just too quickly. We went out for brunch at Cora’s after I cleaned myself up, and then we did some shopping before the awards gathering. My sister’s boyfriend did a great BBQ for that evening’s supper, and we relaxed into the evening. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go out for celebratory drinks, but that was okay in the end, as I was certainly tired, and they were returning to work while we had our voyage home the following day.
So, a great big thank you goes to my sister and her boyfriend (and their two cats) for the lovely stay in PEI. Another goes to the clinic instructors and staff at the Running Room, plus the community of runners I got to be a part of over the months of training. It is such a world of difference from when I was struggling to run by myself for the past several years, to now when I have no intention to stop in the foreseeable future. Not that I ever stopped enjoying running in the past, but it is definitely easier to commit myself to a training schedule when I have friends running alongside.