Penguin World Conference IV
Toronto, Canada
May 24 to 27, 2002The first international Penguin encounter and the first encounter outside of the United States
Race Report from Nancy Toby of Alexandria, Va...
Date: Tues May 28, 2002
Subject: RR: Burlington Ontario Half Marathon
Short version: Paced to a half-marathon PR of 2:38:38 by David Gegear and Heather Stewart. Encountered with some great penguins. Had a blast. Long version: I’m going to stick to a report of the actual race, since otherwise this would read like War & Peace and the thank-you list would sound like the longest Academy Award speech you ever heard. Suffice it to say that I went up to Toronto for the Penguin World Conference IV and had an absolutely fantabulous time meeting with old and new friends from all over the continent. FEEL THE LOVE! Let me just add my voice to the huge grateful chorus telling every single one of the Toronto Penguins, “THANKS for a job incredibly well done!”
Race morning dawned early. I peered out the 16th-story window of my hotel room and was happy to see the distant pavement looked dry, although the sky was heavily overcast. Perfect running weather, cloudy and cool. I downed my potful of hotel-room coffee and snarfed a protein bar as I put on my running clothes and headed down to the lobby and waiting bus at 5:30. Organizer extraordinaire Glenn Gabriel did a quick early morning head count and was amazed to find 40 or 50 penguins all present and accounted for five minutes ahead of schedule! A short bus ride brought us to Burlington, Ontario and we all disembarked and walked a few chilly blocks to the race start in a park in a residential area.
Old friend Lauren Clark, with whom I had run the Vermont Covered Bridges Half last year, reminded me that she had waited for me at the end of that race in the cold rain and that I’d better wait for her too. I assured her she would probably finish before me, but I would wait for her at the finish if she came in after me. We all did the usual pre-race nervous pitstops and anxious chatter and massed in the street at the half-marathon start line, with the 5K runners and marathon runners standing on the sidewalks waiting for their chance to start. The gun sounded at 7:30AM and we were off to the cheers of our fellow runners and scream-teamers!
Longtime Team Penguin correspondent Dave Gegear had kindly offered to pace me at this race to attempt to beat my 2:41 PR, using 5:1 run-walk intervals, but I had my doubts. I had never met the guy in real life before, had never been paced in a race by anyone except Mr. Super-Nice-Guy Ron Horton, I was accustomed to a different run:walk routine (previously using 1 minute walks at the mile markers), and was pretty sure that if anyone tried to talk to me after the first ten miles I would be likely to take their head off. Dave kept insisting that didn’t matter, and so with some trepidation I accepted his offer. It was worth a try. He seemed like a normal enough friendly person. His buddy Heather Stewart was joining our little pace group, but despite numerous invitations to other folks it turned out to be the three of us through the entire race.
I had my pace chart in miles and kilometers on my waist pack, and just checked it now and then, letting Dave and Heather be responsible for the time-keeping duties during the race. It felt like we started out a little fast, but BANG! We were spot-on the pace when we set out, hitting the first kilometer marker at 7:30. I was already hot enough to throw down my “throwaway” long-sleeved tshirt and run in just my thin Coolmax shirt.
No mile markers on the course (although they were marked on the map - see above), so I was outside my frame of reference already. We stuck religiously to the 5:1 intervals and kept reeling off the kilometer markers one by one. Most of the time Dave and Heather ran side-by-side and I ran behind, to keep from blocking the road for the faster runners coming from behind. We always looked carefully behind us before we took our walk breaks, or headed up to the sidewalks. The marathon started 30 minutes after the half, so it wasn’t long before they overtook us slower half-marathoners on the course.
I always welcomed the walk breaks! The running pace always seemed slightly fast to me, but not excessively so. Fortunately every time I was desperate for the end of the running interval Heather would cheerfully call out, “80 seconds to go!”. It seemed pretty manageable the whole way – I never felt like I was really hurting badly. The water stops were frequent enough for me, and we walked long enough at each one to actually get a goodly amount down. Despite the temperatures in the fifties, I was warm enough to pour a cup or two of water on my head. I took some Gu and salt and hard candy at various times and maintained a pretty good balance of energy and hydration.
Most of the course wound along attractive residential streets with little traffic. The tulips were in full bloom, and I enjoyed seeing them a second time this spring. It was a bit hilly for the first few km. There was one stretch on the main street with heavier traffic and stores and mini-malls on both sides, but it offered Dave a chance to zip into a McDonalds for a break. I spotted a porta-potty and didn’t want to stand in line to hold up our pace group, so I just ran around behind it and refreshed myself, so to speak. We continued on our course. Our time for the first 10K was a couple minutes faster than the last 2 10Ks I have run, despite the hills. I didn’t think that I’d be able to keep up the pace, but I just kept trotting along after my two pacemates.
Dave and Heather were really wonderful along the way. The pace was clearly more difficult for me than it was for them, so I just concentrated on breathing while they were able to chat away. I was content to follow along and just listen – holding an actual conversation would have been too much for me. Every few miles they asked how I was doing, just to check, but weren’t too intrusive about it. We joked, thanked the volunteers, invited people close to the same pace to join us. The best parts were when we saw familiar faces along the way – cheering for Ken Myers striding past us easily on his way to qualifying for Boston, encouraging our fellow runners and getting a lift from their encouragement to us. Cheered on a Clydesdale running past us. I remember seeing old friend Harriet Kang with us for a while earlier in the course, and dropping her, and later in the course the same thing happened with penguin pal Lauren Clark, who was doing 3:2 intervals that just didn’t jive with ours.
Finally at about Mile 10 (I think – the distances are a little hazy to me) the course turned back towards the start, heading back through more residential neighborhoods with glimpses of water off to our left. I wasn’t hurting anywhere in particular, which was a good sign, but I was getting awfully tired. Dave asked me how I felt and I said something about it’s better if I don’t say, I want to stay positive. But up in the distance, we heard a bell ringing. . .
It was the Penguin Pitstop!! It was such a charge to see them! Glenn Gabriel welcoming us in by announcing our arrivals by name in a booming voice, Mary DeMattia who had appeared from nowhere, Kelly Ambrose and Julie Wobbe and all the other friendly faces were there supporting us in a happy blur. (Later they were awarded a justly-deserved ‘best water station’ award). Heather stopped and rummaged around in a bag and came out with – to my wonder and delight – CHOCOLATE!
That was enough of a lift to get us through the rest of the course. Our pace dropped off a little due to fatigue. Dave started to tell me that I could walk more if I needed to, but Heather promptly corrected him – “Hey, you didn’t let ME walk!” – so I kept slogging along, one tired foot in front of the other. A couple of frustrating zigs and zags on the streets before the finish, seeming like we would never get there, and then finally we were turning the corner into the park, seeing the colorful arch of balloons at the finish line so near and so far.
We happily picked up the pace for the final push to the wire. Heather easily ran ahead, while I ran to keep up with Dave. I grabbed his hand for the home stretch. Out of nowhere Lauren Clark sprinted up from behind on my other side and grabbed my other hand. What a joy! We raised our arms triumphantly as our fellow runners and penguins cheered us in as we crossed the finish line. Natasha’s husband’s camera caught us just at our moment of triumph as we arrived at the finish line.
A PR for me by 98 seconds, and my first Canadian race finish.
The numbers show that we were close . . . .
Place Bib Name Gun Pace Group Division Chip City 1017 870 Heather Stewart 2:40:14 7:36 150/156 HF3539 2:38:35 Toronto 1018 813 Nancy Toby 2:40:18 7:36 12/13 HF40C 2:38:38 ARLINGTON 1019 900 David Gegear 2:40:18 7:36 12/12 HM1C 2:38:39 London 1020 806 Lauren Clark 2:40:18 7:36 122/128 HF4044 2:38:52 Columbus . . . but the numbers could never show how close we were in our hearts after we crossed that line and collapsed into hugs of congratulations.
Thank you, Dave and Heather, for dragging my reluctant carcass to the finish line with time to spare and for being such wonderful support as we shared entire the race experience, and thanks also to Lauren for helping to make that finish line crossing extra special. (In an indirect way Lauren also helped me after the finish when I was wet and cold by providing me with a home-sewn poncho that she had previously given to Harriett Kang who gave it to me, in another show of penguin solidarity!)
When we were all able to walk again without our knees buckling and we had collected our medals, we all went around back to the finish line to continue to share the joy of the finishers as they kept arriving, half-marathoners and marathoners in turn.
There will be more races to run, but I know I’ll always look back and say, now THAT WAS A DAY!
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