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Photograph by: Ashley Fraser, The Ottawa Citizen |
This would be my first time competing at the Canadian Forces
Running Championships in Ottawa as part of the Ottawa Race Weekend. I had run
the Ottawa Marathon in 2004, but had never run the half here nor had I ever
competed under the Canadian Forces banner. I was very thankful to have the opportunity
to race in Ottawa as it meant I would get the chance to return to Ottawa and
see my family. I was also very moved
that I would get to race and represent the Canadian Forces.
I arrived to Ottawa on Thursday afternoon and was greeted at
the airport by my father. It was a nice warm afternoon with temperatures in the
high twenties. I was clearly overdressed arriving from Edmonton in jeans and a
light sweater (when I had left Edmonton it was 4 degrees Celsius). Once back at my parents house I changed and
headed out for a run, my first in almost two weeks. The last time I had run was
on the 15th of May – a short easy recovery run. As a bit of an aside…I
had been scrambling the last two weeks completing renos around our house in St
Albert so we could get it on the market and had placed training on hold. My
legs that afternoon felt sluggish but that was to be expected. I was subsequently
able to get short runs in on Friday, a quality run with intervals at race pace,
and Saturday so felt fairly comfortable going into the race on Sunday morning.
The problem I faced was I didn’t have a clear sense of what
I was capable of running. I had run a 1:17:30 through the first half of the Las
Vegas Marathon in December so figured 1:17 was a somewhat realistic goal. I
knew I was in great shape but had not gotten in a couple key training runs in
the last few weeks so was lacking feedback. I was also very unsure of how I was
recovering from IM St George and was a little concerned that the lack of
running over the last couple weeks may have eliminated my top end speed. I
decided that 1:17 would be my goal and I would attempt to run and hold a
3:40/km pace.
Friday afternoon we had a mandatory meeting at Ottawa U for all
Canadian Forces members racing during the weekend. We were given the standard
brief of what to expect and then issued our race shirts along with some other
goodies. After the meeting we headed over to the Ottawa Convention Centre for
our “pasta” dinner. We got a great meal and a speech from Mr. Running Room,
John Stanton; a very impressive man who has been an unbelievable ambassador for
this sport. He has quite a few positive words to say about the military and
some words of wisdom heading into the race. It was a great time chatting with old
friends while meeting some new ones.
Saturday was race packet pick-up at the Ottawa Convention
Centre. The Military PSP staff had arranged with the race organizers to have
all our packages. This made life extremely simple. We showed up at the military
booth, signed our waiver form, and were provided our packages – a total time of
like 5 minutes. I swung over to the shirt counter picked up my free race shirt
and then spent some time touring the expo. I made sure to stop by the Brooks booth
to see if there they had any good specials and also to see if they had either the
Brooks Cascadia or Brooks PureGrit. (More on why I was looking for these in a
later blog edition). Unfortunately they didn’t have either. I toured the
remainder of the expo to see if the Compressport crew was in town. And to my
surprise/delight there they were. John was running the expo when I stopped by
and introduced myself…well kinda introduced myself. As soon as I said Joel and
sponsored by Compressport, John quickly said something along the lines of, “Joel
from Edmonton right?.” I thought it was pretty neat that John, someone I had
never actually met before, knew who I was. (I was a little embarrassed as I
didn’t really know who John was) John and I discussed my experience at St
George, how business was going at the expo, and then I excused myself and
finished my tour of the expo.
Moving now to the big day…Sunday. I had managed to get only
about five hours of sleep as I tossed and turned for a good hour or two prior
to falling asleep on Saturday night. I awoke at 0515hs as I wanted to get a
good breakfast into me while ensuring sufficient time for my stomach to digest.
I went with what I knew had worked in the past: two eggs over easy, two pieces
of toast w/ jam, a cup of coffee, and a banana. I was still feeling a little
tired so elected to take a quick power nap; a quick fifteen minute nap made all
the difference. I got changed and was ready to go at 0645hrs. We departed my
parents at shortly after seven and headed over to pick-up my oldest sister Kelly.
I thought it was pretty neat that my parents and oldest sister were coming out
to cheer me on; moral support is always appreciated. We arrived downtown at
around 0730hrs without incident and easily located a parking spot about a five
minute walk from the start.
As there was still plenty of time before the start we just
hung around out front of city hall and talked. I was a little nervous, but
pretty excited at the same time. I think the nervousness was primarily caused
by the uncertainty I faced going into the race. I had no clue of how my legs
were going to respond and had done almost no running since IM St George (my own
fault/choice). At approximately 0815hrs I decided it was time to start my
warm-up. I did a couple minutes of light jogging up/down Laurier and then a few
excels and I was ready to go. I moved to the start line with plenty of time to
spare and was at this point extremely happy to have my dad at the race. It
meant I could keep my warm clothes on until a few minute before the start and then
hand them to my dad. It was ~14 degrees Celsius but there was a slight breeze
from the south and it was overcast. As people started filling the blue coral,
the first coral, my mind started to wonder. I didn’t recognize any familiar
faces and I started wondering who in this coral was a threat…you honesty just
can’t tell. I convinced myself not to worry about the competition and to just
run my own race.
The horn went off at 0900hrs and we were off. I had managed
to start right at the front on the left side. The temptation is always to go
out really hard. I had told myself that this would be disastrous. Going out a
little hard was ok, but I needed to check my pace early and often to ensure I
did not overdo it. I checked my watch every couple hundred meters and tried to
bring my pace into check, 3:40/km. I was running faster than that but there was
another Canadian Forces member just off my shoulder so I figured I ‘d keep
going at my 3:30-3:35/km pace and see what happened. There was no way I was
looking over my shoulder to see who was behind me. I was told previously that
looking over your shoulder is a sign that you’re struggling so I just kept the
hammer down. The pace was faster than I had anticipated, but it felt
comfortable and sustainable so I pressed on. At one point there was a couple
kids along the road and it appeared they wanted high fives. So I did the
honourable thing…swung to their side of the ride and gave each of the kids a
high five as I ran past. The crowd in the area erupted cheering for the CF. I
felt an extra surge of energy realizing the little joy I had brought to those
kids. The early kilometers went by very quickly and before I knew it we were
passing through Tunney’s Pasture. I went through the checkpoint at 10kms at
~36:00 and I knew it was only a matter of time before I was really going to be
forced to focus to hold this pace.
The twelve kilometer marker passed very quickly thereafter
and I just continued to put everything I had on the line. I had been running in
a pack of runners 4-5 up to this point in the race. It was at this point that
two of the runners (Jeremie and Andrew) really started to push (or perhaps I
was just getting a little tired). As
they surged I decided I was going with them. I have absolutely no clue what was
happening behind me or if some of the other guys came with us as I never saw
anyone else after this point. We crossed to the Gatineau side and were greeted
by a couple small hills…definitely not comfortable but hey I like hills. A
quick jaunt on the Quebec side and then the climb up and over the Ottawa River
on the Alexandra Bridge…that climb sucked. I dropped back from the group I was in
by a few meters as I was really struggling to hold their pace. I knew I only
had a few kilometers to go and I was pretty confident that I could bring home
first in the CF. I knew I just needed to stay strong.
The eighteen kilometer mark passed and I knew with three kilometers left I could hold it together and finish strong. The nineteen kilometer marker passed and shortly thereafter we made a right turn and crossed the canal. The twenty kilometer marker passed and it was at this point that I knew that I had the CF title. I picked up the pace and really started to push. I saw the 400m sign and then really started to surge, 300m even faster, 200m still faster, and then a final big kick to bring it home. I was greeted by a ½ marathon banner, I signalled upwards and in my mind said a silent prayer of thanks to my Father above for having given me the strength to finish. I was excited to have completed the race, ecstatic to have set a PB 1:16:22, and simply humbled to have won the CF Championships. It was an honour to be wearing the CF singlet and have received the amazing support of the crowd. My mind drifted back to Afghanistan and I was reminded of the ramp ceremonies I had participated in for fallen comrades. I was struck by the realization that these fallen comrades would never get to feel the support of this great nation. A nation they had died for while in a fight to secure freedom.
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Photograph by: Jana Chytilova, Ottawa Citizen |
Wow! What an amazing experience. The support the crowd
showed for the CF was truly inspiring. It’s amazing to know that we as member
of the CF are supported so well by the men and women of Canada.
It was a great race for me. I was happy to have finished 6th
overall, 3rd in my age group, but most importantly first in the
Canadian Forces Championships. I had given my best and set another PB in the
process. The best part of the day however was being able to celebrate the race
with family. Thanks Mom, Dad, Kelly, and Julia for coming out and sharing the
experience with me.
Thanks to the crew at Compressport Canada for the continued
support and Brian Grasky of Grasky Endurance Coaching for keeping me going. A special thanks to the PSP staff and CF
running crew in Ottawa for making the CF Running Championships such a fantastic
event.
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