The Best Laid Plans...

There is many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.... I am covered with something.

I went out for a 3:30 pace and knew by the first 10K that I would have to adjust my pace, although Rachel and I did it in 48 minutes. It was clear sunny day and the temperature was quickly rising. My heart rate was pushing 170 a good hour ahead of schedule, but I felt great.

My time at the half was 1:48 and I was on target for a 1:40-42 pace which would have been a 12 minute improvement that I could live with on my journey to qualify for Boston this year.

At 18 miles I was still on schedule for a 1:40 but got my first twinge in my guadriceps muscles.

I was well-hydrated, had gone through my normal gels, taken my electolytes and my heart rate was fine, but my legs were seizing up. Badly. In fact, I've never experienced anything like it before, even in an ultramarathon.

At 22 miles I had to walk 400 meters (yards). From then on in my cramps were so severe that I could not get my heart rate above the mid 150s. My breathing and heart rate were fine but the wheels had fallen off my race car. Even on downhills I couldn't increase my speed.

Finished the race around 3:52 or 3:53. (actual time - 3:53:16)Probably a new personal best by about a few seconds.

Back to the drawing board. Kelowna here I come.

You have to respect the distance. You have to respect the race.

Patrick, Micheal and Rachel finished in 3:25, 3:26 and 3:27. Brilliant work on their parts. I was so proud of them and my other runners that it almost made up for my own time, or should I say, lack thereof...

Trying to keep it all in perspective is going to take an effort. I am very disappointed and trying to overcome the feeling that the past four months of training have been squandered.