The Ottawa Marathon of 2012 is a great memory for me. But I wasnt so sure it would be on race day.
Two weeks earlier I ran a 25 K and ever since then my foot was prickly and hot. I googgled my complaints and realized it was from nerve compression from the tongue of my shoe. I tried running with the tongues of my shoes sticking out and it felt OK. It didnt bother me when I was running but when I wasnt my foot felt prickly and funny. Also after the 25K and my last 30K run I felt sick and dizzy afterwards and had to sit down. So I was having doubts my body would be able to take a 42 K.
One of the best parts of a running vacation is the hotel. We love going for a late night swim and we look so forward to the hot tub after the race. When we got to the hotel in Ottawa we were so disappointed to find out there was no pool OR hot tub! I had just assumed there would be one. Hotels close to the starting line get booked up fast so beggers cant be choosers. It was a small room with 2 double beds. Don and I would use one double bed, my 19 year old daughter Esther and my sister Dory in another double bed and my 25 year old son on a mattress squished in the corner on the floor. Good times!
Another thing we really enjoy on race weekends are going to the Race Expo the night before. Thats where you pick up your running number and shirt and there's alot of running stuff for sale and little freebies and samples. So I shrugged off the bad hotel and set my sights on the expo. It was a beautiful day and we met up with Ed my brother in law and my mom in law who were staying in the same hotedl and walked there. As soon as we entered the building we were informed the expo was over. I couldnt believe it! Ed and I had to hurry and get our shirts and numbers before it closed. I guess we had the time wrong. What were we going to do now till supper with this big crowd of people?? We couldnt go back to the tiny hotel room and there was no pool to go swimming. We decided to go walk downtown and look for a pub/restaurant even though it was kind of early to eat.
When you are running a race you are supposed to carbo-load the night before. We always eat pasta the night before a race. Ed and I say "Eat pasta to go Fasta". Running geaks I know...it was on one of Ed's running t-shirts.
Well do you think we could find a restaurant that served pasta??? It was fun watching some street performers downtown Ottawa and looking at all the vendors. There were so many restaurants but the only ones we could find that served pasta was either really expensive or had a line-up down the road. There were alot of runners in town that wanted to "Go Fasta".
We decided to just eat at the Don Cherry's that was in the lobby of our hotel. We had a great time eating and drinking. Ed and I had beer which you really shouldnt do before a race, but Ed had one, so that meant I could too. He's my coach after all. We went back to the hotel and I went to bed while everyone else in our room watched TV quietly. Of course I didnt sleep but at least I was resting. I wouldnt have slept anyway from excitement and I couldnt expect everyone to go to bed early because of me. Besides, they all had no choice but to get up early because of me.
I woke up around 4 am. I tried to get back to sleep but I couldnt, I was too excited. I managed to stay in bed till around 5 and then jumped out and started making my pre-race ritual breakfast. I always have half a wholewheat bagel with peanut butter and honey and half a banana.
I put on my Lululemon outfit and my hat with the big yellow flower on it. I wanted my family to be able to spot me easily. I put my MP3 player in my back pocket. Darrin had put a bunch of new songs on a spare IPOD shuffle that he had and a couple of favourite songs from each of my kids so I could think about them during the run but we discovered on the drive up that it didnt work. I was disappointed but thankful for the effort. I still had mine for backup with all my awesome, inspirational worship songs. I put my number on and laced up my running shoes with the timing chip I had put on the night before.
![]()
I did some stretching and went outside to check the weather. I was so excited! I love this prerace time! Im nervous but its a good nervous. My parents called us and said they were trying to find a parking spot and Don told them we were leaving soon too and that we'd meet them at the starting line. We met Ed and Mom down in the lobby and starting walking to the start. Did I say I was excited!
We took some pictures at the Ottawa marathon sign and then Ed and I proceeded to the long porto-potty line up while everyone else headed for the starting line to find my parents. I thought even harder than running the marathon was going to be Don's job of keeping everyone together and finding me and Ed.
The porto-potty line ups are always huge at races but they move quite quickly. Its a chance to check out all the other runners. I saw alot of interesting people, cool and not-so-cool tatoos and cool and not-so-cool running outfits. As Im checking out people I try and guess what their story is and why they are running the marathon.
We told everyone to go to the green coral at the start where the 4:15 bunny was. We thought it was better to stay with a faster bunny because at the race in Michigan I wanted to go with a slower bunny so I wouldnt have people dashing by me but I ended up wasting energy trying to get ahead of people.
We got to the green coral and easily found everyone. Now I was really excited! I was high fiving everyone and hopping up and down. When I look back at all my marathon pictures I am smiling ear ot ear in every picture. I just love everything about the race!
I decided not to listen to my music for the first 10K and just soak up the excitement and the energy. This worked really well and the first 10 flew by. In training for the marathon I would just repeat my 10K route so for the race I just divided the race into 4 10Ks in my mind. Also I saw a girl with the exact Lululemon outfit on. That killed a kilometer trying to run away from her. So the first 10 was done quickly. After the second 10 it started to get difficult. I was starting to feel really stiff and sore so I took an Advil and that really helped. I also ate an energy waffle. After the 25K race in Michigan I felt woosey and had to sit down. So I thought if I can make it to 30K I will be OK.
My family was supposed to be at the halfway point. Looking for them was making the kilometers go by. There were designated cheering stations and the crowds were huge and loud! I scanned the crowds but didn't see them. Then around kilometer 27 I saw their signs off in the distance. I was so excited!
I screamed and waved my arms and gave them all high fives. Don came up and ran beside us for abit and asked how we were doing and we said great and he said we looked great. I gave him a bumpy running kiss and he was off. I was flying like a kite!
It was so exciting and I was so pumped! But I said to Ed , did you see Darrin? He wasnt with the rest of them. Then all of a sudden I heard behind me "Mom". It was Darrin! He ran about a kilometer chasing me cuz he missed seeing me.
I was hoping for a special moment with Darrin because I had such a special moment with him at my last marathon. He was 15 years old and at that age when being cool is very important. He would always tease me and say I would never do it. Then towards the finish line he stepped out of the crowd onto the road and gave me a high five. It meant so much to me and this was even more special. With things like this I always feel like God knows my heart so well. He knows how much these special little moments with my kids mean to me. He knows our hearts and give us little gifts of love.
Another special moment was when Esther made me a sign the night before in the hotel room. It said - Go Mom Go! Let us run with perseverance the race before us fixing our eyes on Jesus. I still get teary eyed sometimes on my runs thinking about that sign.
Ed had his camera with and made us stop and got a couple to take a picture of us in front of the Parliament building. I was not happy because I didnt want the 4:15 bunny to get away. But I still smiled.
I was so excited because we had caught up to the 4:15 continous bunny, not the walk/run 4:15 but the continous 4:15 bunny! The only time we walked was to drink our water at the water stations. Then we even passed him! Imagine if I actually did it in 4:15! I didnt want to get my hopes up.
(Take that 4:15 Bunny! Na na Im passing you)
Once I got to 30K I thought to myself maybe I can actually do this. I felt so excited and felt really good. It sounds corny but I thought to myself, Im 50 years old and Im doing a marathon! All the training felt worth it!
The last 10 went easy because the crowds were so great. It was such a great distraction. Our bibs had our first names on them so people would cheer your first name. I was having a contest with Ed how many times we would hear our name. I lost count after 15, it was awesome. In the Quebec part they cheered it with French accents and bravo. The weather had been great throughout the whole race. It was overcast but now it was getting hot. I was so thankful it hadnt been like that the whole time. We started to see people passed out along the sides. I felt so bad for them because they had come so close.
I was scanning the crowd for my family. Usually the last kilometers are so brutal and am dying for the finish line to come. I was just concentrating on trying to find my family and then all of a sudden I crossed the finish line! I was disappointed I didnt see them but I was OK with it because the time I had seen them was so great and I was extremely excited at my time. My goal was to beat my 40 year old marathon time which was 4:32 and the clock said 4:16 (my official time was 4:14). I had beat my time by 18 minutes! I couldnt believe it and I felt great! There must have been people praying for me!
It took awhile to find everyone in the huge crowd but finally we were joined and hugged and took lots of pictures. We all went back to the hotel and they waited for me and Ed to shower and change. Then we went for a celebration meal at Mother Tucker's buffet. It was so wonderful being there with my family and everything turning out so great. My cup runneth over!
