My first race of the season was the Waterloo Half-Marathon, which was run on Sunday, April 23rd, 2006 at 10:00am. I was feeling like I was in pretty good shape this early in the season, and set my sights on breaking an hour and thirty minutes for the first time.

I arrived at the race site an hour early in the cold, wet, rain. Thankfully there were indoor change rooms, and most of the runners stayed inside until the last possible minute. I warmed up inside, then headed out to the start line at 9:55.

After blowing up at the 11 mile mark in my first half-marathon, I learned the importance of pacing, and aimed for a 4:15/km pace. I still started out too quickly, and was under 4 minutes for the first kilometre, but soon settled in and found the rhythm. The rain was steady, but a running hat helped keep it off my face and made it bearable! I also wore hot-mitts and a long-sleeve dri-fit shirt to help keep warm.

Around the 12 kilometre mark, despite the mitts and the long-sleeves, I really started to feel the cold, and was wishing I had worn my tights under my shorts!! My toes were getting a little numb, and the rain showed no sign of stopping. I was still keeping up a good pace though, and washed down a Power Gel with some Gatorade at the aid station.

By 18 kilometres, I knew that with a final push, I’d get under 1:30 for the first time! Despite the numb toes and aching hamstrings, I managed to track down two runners ahead of me over the last three kilometres, and crossed the line with approximately 45 seconds to spare in 1:29:16.2. I ended up in 20th place overall, and 3/18 in my age group! Sportstats has the full results.

Overall, despite some poor conditions, my winter training paid off and I set a personal best for the half-marathon!! It was a nice start to the year!!