Parents Visiting for my Marathon

My parents arrive last week Monday. They called me when they got to Deep River, just after 4pm. I was waiting at work for their phone call so I could leave for the day. I met them and we caravaned home. We hadn't been all on the ball and didn't have anything for dinner so we decided to hit up the Lebanese restaurant in town. It was delicious! Jeremy and I headed to work the next day and then Jeremy was nice and made a wonderful walleye dinner. I decided to take a 1/2 day on Wednesday, turned out to be a 2 hour early leave(it's been a bit busy at work), and we eat lunch, then took Hayde out to the Forest Lea trails. It turned out to be a gorgeous day - warm, sunny, and the leaves were just starting to turn. We came home, then my mom and I started making spinach(and mushroom) lasagna. Ummmmmm!!! I took Thursday off. I had made a vet appointment for Hayde in the afternoon, but I needed to collect a urine sample first thing in the morning and drop that off at the vet within two hours. I managed to do this somehow! My mom and I also went for a quick run thru the Petawawa Terrace (a few blocks away), then after breakfast, we went into town to the Bulk Barn! No one can pass this store up! We also made a few other quick stops before heading back. We also did a quick walk along the cat walk or my old running trail along the Petawawa River. I then took Hayde to her appointment.

I made this because she's been "wetting the bed" at night occasionally and it's become a bit more frequent over the spring/summer. When Jeremy's family was here, I mentioned it and they suggested I get her check for diabetes. I hadn't thought about that, but began to get concerned. We had tried not to let her drink a lot before bed and it helped a bit. So, they tested her for diabetes(negative) and did some blood work. We think she just has urinary incontenance...possibly a side effect of being spade? Anyway, they put her on estrogen (I'll have to look up the relation). We're just starting that, so we'll have to see if this helps.

Thursday, evening I spent working on getting my music loaded onto my mP3 player and my parents and Jeremy went thru some of the race details to see how they could best watch. We did a 1/2 day on Friday, came home, packed the cars, got the animals ready and headed out. We dropped Hayde off at our friend's Marnie and Jason's in Quebec(unfortuantely by car, it's a good 45 min way), then headed off to Toronto. We got there after 8pm, got our luggage up to the room, got the cars parked, then headed to the bar downstairs for a drink before heading to bed. We did NOT set an alarm!!!!! Wow, probably the 1st night in MONTHS that I didn't have an alarm set and didn't have to get up before 7am! But, of course after soo many days of getting up early, we were all awake around 7-7:30. I think we finally got out of bed around 8 though.

We ended up eating breakfast in the little cafe downstairs and then walked to the expo(~2 miles away). I got my race packet and then we walked around the expo for an hour. I managed to find one short sleeve (neon) green shirt and a (neon) yellow long sleeve shirt! I'm so excited....I love the super bright colors (safety!). We then decided to take the bus back downtown. It dropped us about 5 blocks from the hotel so we headed back to drop off all the goodies we picked up and decide how we wanted to spend the rest of the day. We walked to the market and walked around there for a while. It was full of food! Then we headed a bit further to the distillary district, where they've turned a lot of the old buildings into art galleries. It was quite interesting. We finally started our walk back and stopped at the Old Spaghetti Factory to eat dinner. When we got back, I got my running stuff ready, we reviewed the plan for the race and got to bed.

We were quick getting up and getting ready and got out the door. The race started only a few blocks from our hotel. My parents and Jeremy opted to walk me to the start where my corral was and then head back down the street a little ways to get a good spot to catch the beginning. I went for a short warmup run for a few blocks and felt ok and got in my spot. It took me 5 minutes to get to the starting line, but I was off!

I shortly caught sight of my parents and Jeremy. We continued on. The 1/2 marathon and full marathon started together so it was quite crowded and semi-slow, but it's never a bad thing to start slow. It was about 50F which is cool for me, but thankfully I opted for just the right clothes and managed to warm up quicker than I had anticipated. Before long, I was pulling my gloves off. Thankfully, my parents and Jeremy were waiting again. I handed them my gloves on my way by before headed out on the west loop. We turned around probably somewhere between 6 and 7 miles. I got to see the elite runners go by on my way out as they were headed back towards downtown. They're always amazing to watch! I was feeling pretty good at this point and my pace was good. On the way back, I knew I was going to have trouble. My hamstring was tightening up and my left foot was hurting(the pain you get from standing on them too long). I figured I just keep going and hope I'd be ok. When we got back downtown, the half marathoners veared off to the left and headed back downtown as they were almost done. The rest of us continued on. I saw my parents and Jeremy again soon after that. This was the last time I'd see them before the finish. Sometime after this, a big cloud came over and almost looked like it could rain. It never did! This stretch east of downtown was tough. We had a few out and backs and all one could see was a long stretch of runners. My hamstrings were feeling more and more tired and tight and by this time I knew I wasn't going to hit my goal, but still wanted to do the best I could so I kept going with as quick of a pace as I could, but I was definitely slowing down. It seemed we were never getting closer to turning around. Soon enough, people were coming back already, but still no turn around in site. Finally between 32k and 33k we did turn around. This was a tough spot since there were some small rolling hills. By this time, even small inclines are tough. Then after I turned back, I realized, it was going to be almost as long of a distance back to downtown. UGH! I kept going. I was passing people yet which always helps the mental attitude. Finally we got back to the distillary district and then we passed by the market and I knew we were getting close. My watch/GPS was still saying I had 3-6 more miles though. Finally we turned and headed into downtown more. I knew I must be close, but again kept looking at my watch and it said I still had 1.5 miles to go. Finally, I saw my parents and Jeremy, then I notice a 200m sign so I picked it up just a little and finally made it thru the finish! Whew! My legs really didn't want to go anymore - they were almost burning from tightness and being tired. My shoulders were sore and I could tell my back was getting sore. All, from lack of lifting... Somehow, my watch read 24.something. I think at the beginning, it couldn't pick up the satelite with all the tall buildings, then we went under the highway for a bit so I lost that distance. The time was still acurate.

Here it is!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/50835380

I met my got thru the runners and found my parents and Jeremy. After a few minutes to sit, we walked back to the hotel so I could shower and we could pack up. We ended up taking the long way around town to get back on the highway and Jeremy and I made a quick stop at Bass Pro Shops before heading back thru Algonquin and picked up Hayde and made it home between 10:30 and 11pm. We had a chat with Marnie and Jason too. Today, I'm definitely feeling stiff and sore, but hopefully in a few days will be able to walk and get some strength back in my legs and hopefully can start running slowly again with Hayde. Pictures to come - my computers about to loose power.