Montreal in 2019 (half marathon)

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Canada Running Series

Scotia Bank 5K

This year I decided that I would take part in the Double of the Scotia Bank Half Marathon. That means that on top of running the half marathon on Sunday, I would also run the 5K on Saturday. As they say, it seemed like a good idea at the time...

During the week prior to the event I started having doubts about my decision. What if I hurt myself in the 5K and messed up the main event? Oh well, too late for that...

I usually don't run 5K races because that's like a training distance for me. But this time I decided to do it in order to have an official time for the distance. 

What I was really hoping for was a personal record in the distance, but that was not in the cards for me, unfortunately.

It rained most of the week prior to the race and the Saturday morning was no different. It was raining and it was cold, a good day to stay in bed drinking hot chocolate, not to be running around in the city... :-(

I went by metro to the Parc des Îles. I usually go by bicycle to this event, but this year the main access to the islands (via the Jacques Cartier bridge) was closed off, so there was no other way to get there other than the metro.

For the first time ever I used the baggage check service. I had pants and jacket over me because of the cold, so those have to be checked in before the race.

The line for the port-a-potty took longer than expected, so when I got out of it, it was already one minute past the start time for the race, so I had to run to the start line. It was so cold that my hands were hurting and my feet were throbbing.

When I got to the start line a volunteer told us (there were many of us late) that the race had already started, so we could start running right away.

The problem is I had to face the slowest runners and the walkers and the parents with baby strollers. I had to do a lot of zig-zagging around them. My first kilometer must have had at least an extra hundred meters because of that.

Anyway, as I got underway, things got better, I was passing people left and right and I felt wonderful. My speed was just about right in the first two kilometers, I was well in my way to break my personal record (23m48s).

Well, that is, until I hit the third kilometer. I started feeling terrible pain in my chest, specially on the left side, I thought I would have a heart attack right there in the middle of the race. In the middle of that kilometer I had to stop and walk for a minute, to bring the pain back to a more bearable level.

I resumed running, but for the last 1.5 km I could not go as fast as my legs wanted to, because my chest would not allow it.

In the home stretch, when I saw the finish line I tried to do a sprint, but I felt a sharp pain on my chest, so I had to continue jogging to the finish line.

In the end my time was 25m09s. I was not very happy, because I get this time in most of my training runs. For me this was a failure.

Scotia Bank Half Marathon

The next day at least it was not raining. It was still cold as hell, but we were not wet, which made a huge difference.

This time I didn't have problems at the port-a-potty, I even had the time to do a little warm-up before the race.

Five minutes before the start I went to the last corral and waited for 9 am. The race is not that big, so starting at the back is not a huge problem.

My Garmin is new, so I'm still learning how to use. I usually have it showing total distance and total time, but somehow I inadvertently changed that, so that it only showed the distance and time for the current kilometer. I was a bit lost, I didn't know my total time. But as I kept every kilometer under 5'40'', I knew that I would get my sub-2.

By the first kilometer I left the 2h bunny behind. I tried to connect with the 1h50m bunny, but try as I might, I never saw him.

The kilometers were piling up, I was doing them between 5'02'' and 5'39'', so I was quite happy.

I started suffering a little bit around km 17, but it was par for the course, nothing out of the ordinary.

I was even able to do a little sprint in the last kilometer and do it in a little over five minutes, it was one of my fastest kilometers in this race.

In the end, when I crossed the finish line, my total time was 1h52m09s, a new PB by almost four minutes. Now we were talking!

I was very happy with my result. I wandered around the finish area, got my finisher meal and a few other goodies and then I got back home, by metro again.

What a fantastic week-end we had!