STWM - Oct 16, 2011

Did the STWM Full today, had big expectations after a string of pretty good races but it wasn't meant to be today. In spite of falling short of my goal it was the fastest road Marathon I have run this year. It was never a death march and I really enjoyed the last 10K though the beaches and downtown.

Up at 3:00 am after not a whole lot of sleep I headed out at 4:20 arriving at the Royal York around 06:40 where I met Grant and Matt and picked up my race kit. We hung around the hotel until the last minute and seated ourselves in the Yellow Coral with about 10 minutes to spare.

The three of us started out together but it wasn't long before Matt took off. Grant and I hung in there together for the first half and a bit. Grants pace was a bit aggressive around a 4:53 pace. I kept trying to slow him down but he was just too fast. I fell off pace around the 25K mark, hung in there around a 5:30 pace for a few Ks trying to get something back but it wasn't the day so I down shifted to a comfortable 6:00 trail shuffle that I more or less held for the last 10K. I was disappointed that I couldn't keep up with Grant but I was resigned to avoid the death march. I was reasonably comfortable at 6:00 pace and was really enjoying the crowds through the Beaches and again through the Downtown. With 1 little over a K to go I had to walk for a couple of hundred meters ...had an overwhelming nauseous feeling and I really didn't want to puke in front of the crowds. Cruised in the last K and finished standing up feeling good. I paused for about 5 minutes in then headed to the car and then drove home.

I finished in 3:53:34 , 1290 out of 4869 participants and 1034 out of 2472 Male Finishers. In my AG 50-54 I finished in 107th place.

Splits
10KM 49:29
21KM 1:44:46
30KM 2:34:02
35KM 3:05:05
40KM 3:38:21