On Ottawa Half Marathon

"I'll never do this again!" Yup, that's what I was thinking when I crossed the finish line at Ottawa half marathon past weekend. But I can't chicken out since I'd already registered, and paid for the hotel room. So I ran anyway... even though I didn't train for it. My longest run so far was a measly 4 miles, and the half is 13 miles.

It started off being a good day. I woke up at 5:45am and got ready for the race. We stayed at the Hampton Inn, and I think the race attracted lots of people from other cities as well. When I went for breakfast the cafe was full, half of them wearing the race shirts. The weather was slightly cloudy on that Sunday; perfect weather for a run. I started my run at the back of the pack... way, way back really, and joined the 3hr running group. My pacer was doing a 10 minute walk and 1 minute run. I thought I'll just follow the group until I can't go on... and then, walk (or crawl) until the finish line.

I managed to follow the pack until the 19th km. I was already falling behind the group, when I saw Roy and the kids. They were cheering for me and waving. Melur even made a poster that read, "Go Mom Go!" I can't give up now. And I was almost there. But the last km was the longest stretch. And the organizers put up signs all the way... 750m to finish... 500m to finish... 250m to finish... I think I looked quite bad such that people started cheering for me... Some were just blatantly lying, "looking good." Yea, right... I think I looked like a walking zombie. I also heard some people cheering with different variations of my name (since "eruani" was printed on my bib)... eruan, ervan, erwah... Well, they tried.

I finished the run in 3:01:47 hours. I could not walk for two days. And now I have a slight cold and am walking like John Wayne. But it was a nice run though. The route was nice, probably the most scenic... and so well organized. They really did a good job there...

PS) Am creating a training schedule for my next run in September...