Edmonton Marathon – Half Marathon

Fake it till you make it!

Coming into the year I set some big goals for myself, they were mostly related to road running. A sub 18 minute 5km, sub 38 minute 10km and a sub 1 hour 23 minutes and 30 seconds half marathon. For me achieving them would be something I wouldn’t have thought was possible four years ago when I started OCR Racing. A few of my other goal races had already gone down, now it was time for the big one, The Servus Edmonton Marathon, I would compete in the half marathon distance. The lead up to this one was a bit special. I was chosen as one of 10 ambassadors for the race, something I was delighted to be part of. Going into this race I came off of a bad half marathon attempt so I was a little nervous. Friday night I attended the Pre Race Party at the Central Social Hall where a lot of the other ambassadors attended and some other participants as well as Running Room staff. There was a lot of talk about the forest fires in BC which caused a lot of smoke in Edmonton for the previous 2 weeks. There was some doubt surrounding the event still taking place. Luckily the smoke passed and the event went ahead.

Course Preview

Edmonton is a flat and fast course. There is little to no elevation change with no hills to speak of. This race starts out with a great run along Jasper Ave until 111th street where you take a right and switch onto 102 ave. From here racers run all the way until 137 street, a nice long straight section to settle your pace. A turn around point at 137 street leads you to a right turn onto George’s crescent before making your way to 142 street. Racers run all the way down to 85 ave before navigating some turns in residential areas. On the way back a few more turns into some residential areas lead you back to 102 ave and your are coming into the final few kilometres. The nice straight section leads all the way back to 111 st. Racers turn right on 102 ave and left back onto Jasper to run the final fast mile on Jasper ave finishing at the Shaw Conference Centre.

My Race

Going into this race I had several goals. A goal was sub 1.23, B goal was sub 1.25 and C goal to beat my previous PB of 1.26.26. Leading up to the race I had a lot of conversations with my friend Packie Kiernan about running and pacing together. Unfortunately he got terrible news of a stress fracture the week before the race and wouldn’t be able to race. Looked like I would pace by myself and as it turned out pick up a few other runners along the way.

I got to the race site an hour early. Parked a few blocks away. I did last minute prep, dropped my bag off, took of my extra layers and now it was time to finish my warm up. i made my way close to the start line near the top of the pack. There was some elite athletes racing this race so standing beside them is always a great feeling. The National Anthem played and next thing I know we are taking off. I wanted to start out conservative and not let the occasion get to me or ruin my race. A 4.06 for the first km made me laugh because it was the same pace from the Lu Lu Lemon 10km. I panicked less cause I learnt my lesson and being a longer race the first km at a conservative pace wouldn’t kill my race, at a hard effort though it could.

Still feeling strong just over half way!

Running along Jasper ave is always a great experience, turning on to 102 ave, the best cheer station would be located at the corner. Lu Lu Lemon really encapsulate the atmosphere of an event and their cheer station really helped racers push through especially on the way back towards the finish line! We were now on 102 ave, another 3 or 4 runners were running with me and one of them introduced himself, asked my pace and he stated he was going for the same. This group stayed together all the way until 137 street. One or two of the runners picked up the pace but I held back trying to hit even splits. I had ignored the first 2 or 3 water stations but from now on I would grab water at all the remaining stations, something I don’t usually do but it defintley helped for this race.

Kilometers 7, 8 and 9 along 142nd street were all smooth, I was in between two groups here but felt comfortable running on my own, I took my first bit of nutrition here, I was using Cliff Gels vanilla flavor. Now into the first of 3 residential areas, I felt really strong and picked up the pace from kilometer 10 until 16km. However at kilometer 12 it feel like I had an indication cramp setting in. I had passed about 4 or 5 runners by kilometer 16 so felt good. Another kilometer around Georges crescent and we were brought back out to 102 ave so a long straight away until 111 street and two turns to bring you back on to Jasper Ave. I took my final 1/3 of gel here and threw the rest in the bin, the gel was sticky and hard to swallow so in future I am going to be using a different fuel source.

Pain was creeping in at kilometre 19!

17km in and there was some pain starting to creep in, my kilometres started dropping to 4.04 a km but I had run a strong 10km – 16km to afford some slower kilometres. Before I knew it I was back at the LuLu Lemon cheer station and it was just the boost I needed at the right time. I hit the power up sign, heard Packie shout ‘you’re right on time Ben’ and pushed on to my first sub 4 km in since kilometer 16. I was back on Jasper ave and into the final mile. another racer caught me and said lets go, he kicked on great and I up my speed but was defintley feeling it for the last 800m along Jasper ave.

I kicked on and ran under the finish line with a new PB of 1.23.14. I was delighted with my time and effort, hit a sub 1.23.30.

Race Experience

My sons second ever race, amazing experience to share with him.

I loved this race, it had a big event feel to it and always great seeing some of the best come out to compete. i got to talk to a lot of friends who either hit PBs, completed their first marathons or just really enjoyed the experience. It was great hearing such positive feedback and I was honored to be an ambassador for this race. After the half was finished I ran the kids race with my eldest son which has been postponed because of the smoke the day before. This was harder to run than the half because my legs were so sore but it felt even better running with my son for his second ever race. He was delighted with his medal.