Marathon day in Ottawa

Today was the second day of Ottawa's annual "Race Weekend." Consequently, the marathon and half marathon were run today.  As Jeannette was participating in the half marathon I ended up observing a few more of the festivities than I likely otherwise would have.

Almost as soon as we arrived on the scene it was clear that this was a bigger event than I had imagined it would be (despite the fact that Jeannette had already told me that about 11 000 would be running the half marathon with her).

Even though there were thousands of runners assembling for the race when we arrived it was pretty easy to find Jeannette's starting position.  Once she decided to head into her corral I made my way to the other side of the starting line so that I could watch the race begin, which was scheduled for 9:00 AM (the marathon had started at 7:00).

My plan was to hang around the finish line until I saw Jeannette pass by.  Unfortunately, the density of the runners prevented me from seeing her as she passed.  Eventually it became clear that her corral had been emptied and that I had somehow missed her.

I then made my way over to the finish line with hopes that I might see the winners of the marathon.  While making my way to the finish line, a task that proved more complicated than I originally anticipated, I saw a few runners on the other side of the canal as they were nearing the end of the race.  While I don't know if these were the first and second place finishers (though I think they were), I do know that they must have been near the front of the pack (and that they certainly arrived with a few minutes of the first place finisher's 2:09 time if they weren't the winners).

I finally made it to the finish line at about 2:23 after the beginning of the marathon.  Fortunately I was still early enough to see a few of the international marathoners come in.

Actually, the first guy I saw finish turned out to be a guy from New Zealand.

As this guy ran past me it look as though he had run through some mud, which seemed strange considering how dry it was.  A second or two later, while the guy was still in sight, I finally realized the source of the 'mud' running down this guy's leg.  I'm now pretty confident that I won't ever be trying to run a marathon.

A few minutes later I learned that I had, in fact, managed to make it in time to see the first female.  My memory is that she finished around the 2:30 mark (and seemed to be going strong).

Just before the three hour mark, maybe at about 2:53, I spotted MP Ryan Leef (the runner in white in the photo below).  A recent Ottawa Citizen story on the MP alerted me to the fact that he would be racing today.  Fortunately he came through at a time when there were few enough racers finishing that individuals were still easy to spot even if you weren't too familiar with their appearance.

At the 3:10 mark I noticed the 3:10 'pace bunny' finishing.  Much to my surprise, this individual managed to finish within about 50 seconds of their target time.  This seems particularly impressive given the delays that one can experience at the beginning of a race.

At about this time the first of the half marathon competitors finished.  My guess is that the first half marathoner finished at about the 1:11 mark, or 3:11 on the marathon clock (you may recall that the two races started two hours apart).

At about the 3:16 mark a runner being guided towards the finish line by a member of the medical team crossed just as they made it to the finish line.  It was really quite impressive to see them lose all control of their body, but only once they had finished.  Though this wasn't the only medical emergency of the day, I'm glad to report it was one of only two that I saw (the other was a woman being similarly guided towards the finish line but I didn't see if she collapsed or not).

But then Batman came by and cheered everyone up.

About four minutes later I saw a guy running without shoes.  As far as I could tell his feet seemed to be in fine shape, though I guess without a closer inspection might be hard to tell.

At the 1:43 mark of the half marathon I finally saw someone I recognized, our friend Duncan, though just as he was passing me.  It turns out that our friend Kate finished just before Duncan and some how made it past without me spotting her.

Just after the two hour mark for the half marathon I spotted Jeannette.

She ended up finishing less than a minute after her targeted time.  When you consider the quantity of congestion she had to deal with at the end of the race I think it's pretty fair that she met her goal (even if she doesn't see it that way).

Almost like magic Jeannette and I found each other easily after the race (I was worried that the thousands of racers and spectators might prove to be a barrier to meeting).  After walking around the festivities for a while, and hitting up the four free cans of beer tent, we grabbed a few coffees and made our way back home.

A Few Quick Notes 431

-Today was a wonderful day. The sun was out, though not too intense, until sunset. While it was warm, it was not so warm that it was unpleasant.

-As planned, Neil, Jeannette, and I (along with a few math types) volunteered at water station no. 5 of today's Blue Nose Marathon. As expected, it was a pretty good experience.

Though Neil warned me that it could get pretty busy, I guess I really didn't expected to really need to put out 2000 paper cups over the course of about 30-45 minutes.

-I allowed myself to take a rather long post-race nap.

-Tomorrow is the Victoria Day holiday so I may not really be able to do that much grocery shopping. Hopefully we have enough on hand to get us through the day (I think we do).

A Few Quick Notes 430

-We are in the midst of an almost perfect day in Halifax. Presently it is about 20 degrees and sunny with a slight, but not overpowering, breeze. Though I haven't spent too much time outside today, I have been able to make at least a few brief trips outdoors.

-I think that I am finally starting to get the hang of my new charcoal barbeque. Last night I was able to get it going and not have it blow-out part way through the cooking process. Actually, I think that, if anything, my current problem is getting it a little to hot (which leads to burning on the outside before things cook on the inside). I am hoping to take another crack at it tonight when by using it to cook some chicken (I really should get started on this chicken).

-Yesterday I took advantage of a club soda sale and picked up 12 2 liter bottles at 66 cents each. Today I decided to go back with hopes of acquiring a similar number of bottles. Unfortunately they only had 5 bottles. What a bummer. The real bummer is that as this is only a three day sale I don't imagine that they will have any more before the sale ends tomorrow.

-Last night we had a few friends over to play poker. After some remarkably bad playing on my behalf I happened upon a particularly luck streak and managed to win our tournament. This unexpected and undeserved win likely means that I am now coming close to again being a life-time winner.

-If all goes as planned, I, and a few friends, will be volunteering at a water station along this year's Blue Nose Marathon course. Neil and Rebecca had such a good time doing this last year that I was motivated to volunteer this year.

A Few Quick Notes 316

-We are presently in the midst of another overcast and wet day here in Halifax. Fortunately, the wind doesn't seem to be too high, nor does it seem to be particularly rainy.

-It seems that Neil and Rebecca, along with the other members of their water station crew, managed to win the most spirited water station prize, which is a $1000 donation in their names to St. John Ambulance. The funny thing about this is that before they went they didn't think that they would be into the cheering/being supportive side of the volunteering.

-I just took five loaves of bread out of the oven. I am not really sure where I am going to put them all once they have cooled.

-While at the grocery store I decided to check out the seed selection to see if there were any flower seeds I might consider buying for hanging pots I acquired about a week ago. After quickly scanning the seed rack I settled on thunbergia vine, also known as a black-eyed susan vine (but a different plant than a black-eyed susan). Apparently these grow quickly and do well in hanging pots, the two criteria I was looking for. I have planted some of the seeds in homemade paper pots and will place them in the hanging baskets once they sprout. I am kind of curious to see how this new method works.

What a day for a marathon

Yesterday I learned that the Halifax Marathon (or as it is officially called the Scotiabank Bluenose Marathon) was to take place today and that Neil and Rebecca would be volunteering at a water station all day. Given that neither of them has showed all that much interest in competitive running in the past I was a little surprised to hear that they were to be participating. Even more surprising was that to be able to volunteer today they had to take an online training session. The session included content on the history of the marathon and Nova Scotia as well as 'safety' content (apparently all drinks should be handed out only by gloved hands).

That Neil and Rebecca were involved encouraged me to head out for a walk this morning to take in a few of the marathon related sights. Unfortunately, I think that most of what I saw ended up being related to the various shorter runs that were taking place at the same time on similar routes.

I was pretty excited to see one of the water stations, which I presume is somewhat similar to the one Neil and Rebecca are working at the moment (they have to be there from 8:30 to 2:30 if my memory serves me correctly). At first I thought that this set-up was the finish line and that this was a pretty lame marathon, eventually the presence of hundreds of cups of water and Gatorade clued me into the fact that I my original impression was a little wrong (though I still don't think that this marathon is quite on pace with the NYC marathon, which is the only other marathon that I have seen).



Eventually I made my way around the commons and came to the real finish line, which was next to the Metro Centre. This was a little more like what I expected at the finish line.



When I arrived the race was about 3 hours and 16 minutes old and a number of people were still making their way across the finish line. The good thing about my timing was that many of the people finishing were in pretty good shape and didn't look as though they were about to die. My other marathon experience would suggest that sometimes as these things drag on some of the participants don't look so good as they near the finish line (one guy I saw a few years ago looked as though he was about to die, which he may have as when I last saw him he was on the ground surrounded by paramedics and non-responsive).

After a few minutes of finish line action I decided to make my way back home. When I was about a block away from our apartment I noticed a car and a bus that seemed to be in a strange configuration. As I approached the scene it became clear that the car emerging from an underground parking facility had hit the bus as it was at a bus stop. The woman who was likely the driver was still talking to the bus driver, who didn't seem interested in moving any time soon. While neither vehicle seemed to have sustained much damage I do imagine that it will be pretty embarrassing for the driver of the car, who wants to be known as the person that managed to t-bone a parked bus?

The people I felt particularly bad for were the bus passengers. All of a sudden their bus trip was delayed quite drastically. I wonder how long it took things to get going again?