Ottawa Half Marathon Race Report

Quoted message said:

Half Marathon
Ottawa Race Weekend
May 28, 2006
Ottawa, Canada
10:15 a.m.
warm, humid, sunny, probably around 30C with humidex

Ouch! That's a killer.

Quoted message said:

The race was a lot of fun. It was a good one for me, but very hard near
the end. The heat was incredible, even at 10am, just before the start.
Many of us were huddled under the shade of a tree, awaiting the
starting gun. But the organizers were prepared for the heat - they had
tons of water available, including sprinklers set up here and there
along the course.

Very good. I've heard a lot of horror stories about running out of
fluids, especially for the mid to back-of-pack runners. I'm surprised
that a race in Canada would be prepared for such conditions. Good for
them.

Quoted message said:

At every water station, I took two cups of water, one
to pour over my head and one to drink. I was basically drenched
throughout the race; it was the only way to stay cool and keep from
overheating.

In Boston last year I found it refreshing to put ice under my cap and
just let it drip over my head. I'm not sure if it did any good, but it
did feel good.

Quoted message said:

I drank way more water than I had expected to, but the
body really needed it. I ran it in 1:55:44 (chip time), within the
2-hour goal I set for myself. My pace was fairly consistent throughout,
ranging from 5:10 to 5:21, then for the last 5k, the pace ranged
between 5:46 and 6:19 (the end was tough).

Congrats on beating your goal. What do you think you *could* have done,
given better conditions.

Quoted message said:

Placed: 1,301 out of 6,646
Gun Time: 1:57:05.9
Pace/Km: 5:33
Chip Time: 1:55:44.8
Men's Place/Total: 936/2916
Category Place/Total: 168/515
Category: Men 40 - 44

Thanks for reading...... Cam

Nice race Cam. Sounds like you prepared as best you could. Running the
Badwater 135 wouldn't be too much more difficult. ;-)

Thanks for the report.

--
Phil M.

Cam said:

The race was a lot of fun. It was a good one for me, but very
hard near the end.

Sure sounds it. The heat will do that.

Congrats on a solid race, and beating your goal by a comfortable
margin!

Good call with the "drink one, dump one" at the water stations. You've
just gotta do that in any kind of real heat. I sometimes notice in a
race that shortly after getting doused with cold water, my legs will
speed up almost on their own. Does that happen to you?

Quoted message said:

So I zoned out - went to my "happy place", found a pace my legs
would tolerate and kept moving.

Lucky you. I don't think I'd have been able to find a "happy place"
until my post-race beer!

What's next?

Phil M. said:

Very good. I've heard a lot of horror stories about running out of
fluids, especially for the mid to back-of-pack runners. I'm surprised
that a race in Canada would be prepared for such conditions. Good for
them.

Oh, it gets pretty hot in certain parts of Canada. We're not all igloos
and hockey sticks up here 🙂 We've sometimes gotten into the 40C range
with humidex, at least here in Ottawa. Not sure about other parts of
the country

Quoted message said:

Congrats on beating your goal. What do you think you *could* have done,
given better conditions.

Well, I was hoping for at least a 1:50:00, but was prepared to be happy
with anything under 2 hours. On a slightly cooler day, I think I could
have done that, or better. I have done half marathons before in 1:46 -
1:50. With the predicted heat, I figured I'd be a bit slower, plus I'm
four years older, and trained on fewer days a week for this one. But I
did the job and enjoyed it.... more than the other races, I think.

Quoted message said:

Nice race Cam. Sounds like you prepared as best you could. Running the
Badwater 135 wouldn't be too much more difficult. ;-)

Thanks, Phil. It was a blast.

Cam

Hey Charlie,

I did sort of find more energy after the ice cold water dumped over my
head. Sometimes I felt a bit of a chill from doing that, but it was in
a good way, and it only lasted a few seconds. Nothing medically
worrisome 🙂

Perhaps it was more of a mind over matter thing that I did at the end
there.... not necessarily "happy", but I just took my brain away from
the pain (hey, that rhymes!). Anyway, I knew the beer was at home in
the fridge, waiting for me.

Thanks!

Cam

onemarathon said:

Half Marathon
Ottawa Race Weekend
May 28, 2006
Ottawa, Canada
10:15 a.m.
warm, humid, sunny, probably around 30C with humidex

The race was a lot of fun. It was a good one for me, but very hard near
the end. The heat was incredible, even at 10am, just before the start.
Many of us were huddled under the shade of a tree, awaiting the
starting gun. But the organizers were prepared for the heat - they had
tons of water available, including sprinklers set up here and there
along the course. At every water station, I took two cups of water, one
to pour over my head and one to drink. I was basically drenched
throughout the race; it was the only way to stay cool and keep from
overheating. I drank way more water than I had expected to, but the
body really needed it. I ran it in 1:55:44 (chip time), within the
2-hour goal I set for myself. My pace was fairly consistent throughout,
ranging from 5:10 to 5:21, then for the last 5k, the pace ranged
between 5:46 and 6:19 (the end was tough).

Congratulations on meeting your goal, Cam! Sounds like you had a good
time - with of course, the usual food finale!

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people"
-Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

onemarathon said:

Half Marathon
Ottawa Race Weekend
warm, humid, sunny, probably around 30C with humidex

The race was a lot of fun. It was a good one for me, but very hard near
the end. The heat was incredible, even at 10am, just before the start.

Yes indeed! That's hotter than I would expect for up there!

Quoted message said:

body really needed it. I ran it in 1:55:44 (chip time), within the
2-hour goal I set for myself. My pace was fairly consistent throughout,
ranging from 5:10 to 5:21, then for the last 5k, the pace ranged
between 5:46 and 6:19 (the end was tough).

Congrats on making goal in such heat! I imagine you're not so used
to it as we are down here, so good job! And glad to be hearing from
you again Cam!

Quoted message said:

Thanks for reading...... Cam

Teresa in AZ

Dot said:

Congratulations on meeting your goal, Cam! Sounds like you had a good
time - with of course, the usual food finale!

Hey thanks, Dot. Yes, it was all thoroughly enjoyable. I know that food
shouldn't be what it's all about.... that would indicate an eating
disorder of some kind, I hear..... but when you're struggling to finish
the final km's of a half, you do whatever it takes to take you to the
finish line :-)

Merci,

Cam

Teresa Bippert-Plymate said:

Congrats on making goal in such heat! I imagine you're not so used
to it as we are down here, so good job! And glad to be hearing from
you again Cam!

Frankly, I surprised myself with my results, since training had nearly
entirely been in cool and/or rainy weather. I admit to being able to
handle heat quite well..... I have raced well in very hot, humid
conditions before, and I attribute that to my dislike for the cold
(well, what am I living in Canada for then, you ask?) and love of the
heat. So I get out there and train in the heat, which of course gets
the body used to it. Couldn't do that this time, but I still somehow
managed to beat the heat and do fine. Still happy....

Thanks, Teresa!

Cam