Around The Bay

Sunday 26 March was the 123rd edition of Around the Bay, the oldest road race in North America (founded in 1894). My goal was to run at a target marathon pace of 4:44 mins per km, to finish around 2 hrs 22 mins.
 
Lots of runners travel down from the Ottawa area to participate in this famous event, and I was with a group of friends from my local Running Room.  Many had raced here before but for a number of us it was the first time.
 
To mark Canada’s 150th birthday this year, a huge flag was passed over the runners waiting at the start line, which was a nice moment before the horn blew and we were off.

I started just ahead of the 2 hr 20 ‘pace bunny’ and aimed to stay ahead of him as long as possible. The last part of the course includes some hills so I knew it would be a good idea to build a time buffer if I wanted to stay on target. 
 
For this event I wrote an additional message to wear on the back of my shirt, to raise awareness of my goal, and the charity.  I was pleased that a number of runners asked me about the challenge because of the sign and I was able to tell them about Start2Finish and the Pathway of Hope. I think it’s the first time that I’ve ever had conversations whilst racing!



Weather at the start

The forecast had been for light rain but after some overnight and early drizzle the morning was grey and windy. The headwinds were particularly strong for the first 15 km as we weaved through the industrial heart of Hamilton.  Crossing the Canal lift bridge I was impressed by the size of the waves on Lake Ontario.

The course has a number of features and traditions, the most talked about being ‘Heartbreak Hill’ (Valley Inn Road) which was part of the course again this year after roadworks for the past two events.
The last third of the race covers a number of rolling hills, and by itself the Valley Inn Road isn’t very daunting – but after 26km at race pace it was a tough climb that I only just managed to keep running up, and the pace bunny passed me on the way to the top.

The headwinds picked up again on the York Boulevard bridge, and I was starting to feel a pain in my right knee so I took a walk break to try and stretch a bit and reduce the ache.  Then I encountered another of the Around the Bay traditions: Tim the Grim Reaper, greeting runners at around 28 km. His words of ‘encouragement’ spurred me on towards the finish.
 
I needed another walk break at the 29 km marker as the pain in my knee became more persistent.  As I struggled here a passing runner gave me a real boost with some positive words, and I picked up the pace for the stadium finish in the FirstOntario Centre: 2 hrs 21 mins.


FirstOntario Centre (pre-race)