Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.......

So, I finished 2nd lady at Edmonton Marathon but in all honesty, I don't feel like I deserved the $975 winnings that I walked away with. I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't chuffed to finish 2nd, but I was 15 minutes behind the winning lady, and I was a little disappointed with my time of 3.06.55 - just 30 seconds slower than Calgary Marathon back in May. Then, I was ecstatic with my time, but having gone through half way at Edmonton in 1.31 and been 2 minutes up on the half way point in Calgary, I really thought I could get closer to the 3 hour mark. I guess it just goes to show that with a marathon, no matter how well your prep has gone, things can still go pear shaped when you finally get round to the race.

Training had gone well in recent weeks, I'd been feeling fit, and with Edmonton been described as "flat and fast", I thought this would be it. The only difference was that I hadn't done any 10k races recently which were the confidence boosters for Calgary, so on Sunday, whilst feeling fit and relaxed, I wasn't perhaps as confident as I was back in May.

Northlands Park, Edmonton and waiting for the start of the
2013 Edmonton Marathon

Conditions were pretty perfect for racing when we started at 7.30am - 14 degrees, clear skies and a slight breeze. It did warm up later and I did find myself drinking at every feed station, but today, it was my mind that let me down. 

The route was pretty simple - out and back in one direction, covering 25k, and then out and back in the other direction for the last 17k.

The first part, I was comfortably knocking out my target km splits of around 4.15 to 4.20. However, I was having trouble focusing thanks to a chap right behind me, clearly using me as a shelter from the wind as well as his pacer - whether I speeded up or slowed down, he was sticking to me like a leach. I don't mind running with folks in a race so long as they do their fair share of the work, but he clearly had no intentions of helping me out. I was getting even more frustrated and so at the next feed station, I stopped dead in my tracks which caused him to hesitate, not sure what to do, before he decided to carry on. To myself, I called him Captain Distraction and as he  soon disappeared down the road, I was relieved to be able to regain my focus - at least until I reached around 26k and started the second out and back section.

And we're off -2013 Edmonton Marathon

With 16km still to go, my mind had really gone wandering and I was starting to struggle. I found myself craving some hills just to remove some of the monotony of flat running, whilst the km markers just seemed to come along far too slowly. I found myself cursing the course far more than usual and even though we seemed to be heading down a gradual hill, I really didn't feel any benefit from the descent. Saying that, I was still running at a good pace, so much so that I caught up with Captain Distraction from earlier, and once again, he became clingy,  tucking in behind me and letting me drag him along for the next few kilometers.

I'd been warned about a devil of a hill at 37k, but I never even noticed it in all fairness although with just 4k to go, I realised I had finally dropped "clingy bloke" and had started to speed up again.

With just another 20 minutes or so of running remaining, my mind was once again back on the race as I started to count down the distance to the finish. I was well aware that I'd been 2nd lady right from the start, but as one of the cycling marshalls pulled alongside me and queried to an unknown third party via his earpiece whether he should stay with 2nd lady or go back to 3rd, I became paranoid that I was been chased down and would likely slip down the field if I didn't get a move on.

Finding another gear was hard to muster, but somehow I managed to get the legs to speed up and was back to 4.20's again when finally, with the utmost relief, I saw the finish gantry.

Post Race - 2nd lady in 3.06.55

I finished strong, and it was a lovely feeling to hear them calling out my name over the loud speaker as 2nd lady, although I felt a little embarrassed to cross the line in that sort of time with"elite" plastered on my number!

The Edmonton Marathon was a fabulous event and despite everything, I did enjoy it. The support out on the course from both spectators and fellow runners was excellent, and I was really happy to have ran a similar time to Calgary which at least shows consistency.  I'd done far more miles leading up to Edmonton as my real focus has been on my ultras,  so it's hard not to be happy really, but at the same time, I know that this wasn't my best race. Everybody was fantastic at the finish line and I shook hands and high-fived so many people - even Mr Clingy Bloke who ended up finishing about a minute or so behind me. I still had a smile on my face and I know that come next weekend, I will have forgotten all about Edmonton and I'll be mentally preparing for my 100km trail race in less than 2 weeks down in Lethbridge.

Running is a funny old sport - you have the highs, you have the lows. It's not just a physical battle but also mental, and it was the mental side if anything that let me down today. I used to think I was more suited to flat, long, road races, but I'm beginning to think that exposure to the beautiful trails and mountains of Canada are spoiling me - I'm slowly converting to a trail runner, so who knows what the next couple of races will bring!

A good day at the office and $975 better off