After many long hours of training, the “big day” arrived – the 2006 ING Ottawa Marathon on Sunday, May 28th. Craig and I packed the car and left Pickering on Saturday morning, heading to Ottawa bright & early. We arrived shortly before noon, and headed right to the pre-race health & fitness expo, which was being held on the Carleton University campus. There were hundreds of people at the expo, but thankfully the process for collecting my timing chip and race shirt was absolutely painless-by far the best-organized routine I’ve been through yet at a race! We did a quick bit of shopping in the official race merchandise booth, as I had decided to reward myself with a beautiful royal blue jacket with the race logo on it.

With the shopping over, we met up with my running partner Paul, his wife Juli and their 2 kids, Katie & Jonathan just outside the expo doors. The 6 of us piled onto a double-decker bus, and took advantage of the free 1.5-hour marathon course tour that was narrated by a very enthusiastic and funny young tour guide named Eric. Paul and I realized that although the course is advertised as being flat & fast, the first half was actually going to involve a few smallish hills, including one long, slow downhill stretch that was a bit worrisome to me (going downhill seems to put far more stress on my legs than flat or uphill running does). The temperature on Saturday was extremely warm, and the forecast for Sunday was no better, so I knew we were in for a challenging run by the time we climbed down from the bus, sticky from the heat and anxious from the course tour.

We spent a lovely, relaxed dinner hour with Paul, Juli, Katie & Jonathan, my friend Melissa and her husband Dave (who was also running), their friend Heather, and Melissa’s parents Dan & Darlene. We ate at the Marriott hotel, since it was convenient for everyone to get to, and was where Craig and I were staying for the weekend. After dinner, there were photos taken, and messages of good luck exchanged among the 3 runners and our supporters. Then it was off to bed!

After a surprisingly good sleep, I awoke bright & early to have my usual 2 pre-race breakfasts. After the alarm went off for the 2nd scheduled time and I had eaten, I stayed awake to get geared up and ready to meet Paul in the lobby of our hotel. He was driving into downtown from Manotick, where he was staying with relatives. We arrived in the lobby of the hotel – me in all my race-day gear, shifting anxiously from foot to foot, and Craig carrying my extra stuff in my Running Room race day bag - only to find that Paul was running a few minutes late and had not yet arrived. A quick phone call between our cell phone and his assured us that he would be arriving momentarily, and true to his word, he was walking jauntily up Queen St toward the hotel when we emerged into the bright, hot sunshine.

Thankful for the 7:00am start time because of the impending heat, we made our way at a brisk pace to the Lord Elgin Hotel to meet up with the other members of our Running Room clinic who had traveled to Ottawa. We were all full of anticipation and nervous energy as we bounced around on the sidewalk, had a group photo taken, and went through our pre-race routines.

Many of us at this point were taken with the idea of writing our names on our arms, so out came the Sharpie markers, and names were written on runners’ upper arms, along with meaningful symbols or slogans such as “Go 4 It!”. We saw the marathon walkers and then the wheelchair marathon participants star their races-incredible to think that those wheelchair athletes were going to cover the same distance I was, but that they were going to be using the relatively small muscles of their arms to propel themselves and their chairs, while I was going to have full use (or so I thought!) of all the muscles in my legs!

We made our way to the roughly-divided starting corrals, indicated by a variety of goal times posted on lampposts and on signs held aloft by the pace bunnies. There were pace bunnies in our vicinity, but we were very fortunate to have the company, humour and expertise of a Pickering marathon veteran, Chris Gates, to pace us along and help us achieve our time goal for the day. As the national anthem was sung in the distance and I looked around at my fellow runners, I was struck by the fact that in just a few short hours, I would be a marathoner……reaching the pinnacle of my fitness goals, completing a feat that only 1% of the total population ever attempts. This was the first of many emotionally-charged moments for me over the course of the run. I turned to Paul, on my left side, looked him in the eye and said “This is it!” or something similar, as we touched fists in our routine gesture of solidarity and encouragement. The crowd began to move forward, and we were swept along with all the other runners, staying with a few other Pickering runners for the first couple of kilometers.

The course in Ottawa is very scenic, providing breathtaking views of the Rideau Canal, the Rideau River, the Parliament buildings, and may other beautiful areas of the city. As we ran through the affluent Rockcliffe neighbourhood, we got a good look at many historic homes with beautiful gardens, as well as some of the official residences for foreign dignitaries who reside in Ottawa. At approximately 9km into the run, we ran into Paul’s boss Kathleen running with a friend, and exchanged pleasantries and encouragement with her as we ran along a beautiful residential street. Chris, Paul and I commented on many of the lovely houses and gardens along the way, enjoying the scenery and trading comments with other runners as we made our way to that long, slow downhill portion of the course that I mentioned earlier. Thankfully, the down-slope wasn’t as hard on me as I was expecting. The mood was lightened even further by Chris’ constant stream of humorous comments, and interaction with folks around us. Paul’s cell phone rang, and as he chatted with Juli and his kids, the pack of runners surrounding us also began to talk to them by calling out funny comments, and in particular saying a very musical “Hi Katie” as Paul held his phone up over his head.

We wound our way down the hill and back towards the downtown core, while the heat was building minute by minute. Up to this point, the large trees in Rockcliffe had provided a certain amount of shade, and the early-morning start had ensured that we weren’t starting off in the blazing sun. However, it became increasingly evident that the water stations placed at 3 kilometre intervals were going to be most welcome for the duration of the race, and I started to look forward to the first sprinkler and wet-sponge stations slated to appear after the halfway point of the marathon.

As we entered the downtown core, the tall buildings provided a certain measure of relief from the sun, and I started to think about the bottle handoff I had planned with Craig. He was to meet us at the water station right outside out hotel, just past the halfway marker and provide both Paul and me with full bottles of our sport drinks (E-Load for me and HGuO for Paul). I had used approximately half of each of the 2 bottles in my belt, so with Chris’ assistance in holding onto one of the bottle lids, I put all my remaining E-load into a single bottle, replaced the cap on the empty one and kept it in my hand. I learned a valuable lesson at this point – it takes an enormous amount of concentration and co-ordination to pour liquid, hold 2 bottles and still keep running forward, all at the same time!

As we passed through the archway proclaiming “You’re half way home!”, Paul and I started to scan the crowd for Craig, unsure of where exactly we would find him. Just past the water station, we spotted his Superman-logo t-shirt on the left-hand side of the road and I could see that he was holding the camera in his hands and had the bottles at his feet. I held my empty bottle out in my right hand, waving it to catch his attention. He took a few quick snapshots, then picked up our full bottles, handing them to each of us as our empty bottles landed at his feet. As I put the comforting weight of that new bottle of fuel into my belt, I heard him yell “You’re looking great! Go Cheryl & Paul”. What an incredible boost it gave me, to hear the pride in his voice and to hear his encouragement!

Despite having my name written in bright pink marker on my arm, this was the first time someone had called out to me by name. I had been wishing my name was Chris, as the huge black lettering on his arms had caught spectators’ eyes and folks had been calling out to him by name the whole way!

So far, so good….despite the heat and the sun beating down on us, I was feeling strong, and had no doubts about what I could accomplish during the race. At approximately 22km, I realized that despite feeling pretty good at that point, I was not going to be able to keep pace with Chris as he ran towards a time goal of 4:15:00, so resigned myself at that point to likely not achieving my ”ideal” time, which was also 4:15:00. I caught sight of Melissa and Heather on the right-hand side if the road around the 23km mark and as I was waving to them and happily hearing them call out my name, I was surprised to see Dave standing next to Melissa! He popped out onto the road and ran with us for a little while, and we commiserated about the heat and about the fact that it seemed none of us would have the “race of our lives” on this day.

As the long, exposed stretch of road went on before us and the Rideau Canal snaked by on the right, my left knee began to ache ever so slightly. That just added to the misery of the foot pain that had been plaguing me since around the 12km mark. Being accustomed to occasional foot pain, I was able to set that aside and not be concerned. Also at around this same point, I started to feel the familiar pang of a knot in my lower right quadricep muscle, just above my knee. This knot only ever appears during races, never during training runs, so I had been expecting it. But between the right quad and the left knee, I was experiencing some significant discomfort.

Although it is scenic and flat along the Canal, this was a long and difficult stretch of the course, with very little shade on the road. Being more than 2 hours into the race, the heat of the day was upon us. Because of the physical discomfort and the challenges I was consequently suffering from a psychological perspective, some of the memories of the 2nd half of the race are somewhat muddled.

Around 28km, I had to stop and stretch out that knot in my right quad, and I remembered our clinic leader Jack extolling the virtues of salt for relieving cramped muscles. So, I dug a salt packet out of my waist pack, dumped some water into my mouth, and emptied the salt packet into the liquid. Swallowing a mouthful of intensely salty water on the run was an interesting experience. I learned another lesson at this point: when emptying a salt packet into a liquid-filled mouth, don’t touch the packet to the water…..you end up with a lump of wet salt that you have to lick off the paper wrapper in order to ingest it!

As we left the canal behind and continued out along an exposed stretch of asphalt and were getting ready to make a left-hand turn into a parking lot, we saw our clinic buddy Frank on his way out of the parking lot, making his way up a slight incline to an overpass and onwards to the finish line. At the same time, another Pickering runner, Sharon, passed us with some words of encouragement and a smile.

By this point, we had been through a number of water/Gatorade stations and I had discovered that the student volunteers were more than happy to throw water at me instead of me taking cups from their hands – it was more useful to me at this point to be wet and cool than to drink the offered liquid! As I ran into the water portions of these stations, I yelled “Just throw it at me! Yes….I said throw it at me!” and waited for the welcome splash of cool water on my skin. There was also a number of sponge stations set up in the latter portion of the race where volunteers were handing out sponges soaked in cool water, ready to be squeezed out over runners’ heads, shoulders, torsos…..basically any exposed body parts. I saw runners with sponges stuck into the shoulder-straps of their tank tops, in the necks of their shirts, or, like Paul, under their caps and being squished at regular intervals to release their water!

In addition to water & sponge stations, there were First Aid stations set up at regular intervals, where volunteers were handing out ibuprofen (fondly known as “Vitamin I”), Tylenol, and Vaseline. Due to the constant wetting down from water stations and sponges, coupled with the extreme heat conditions, I was experiencing serious chafing from my shorts and had to make use of the offered Vaseline for the first time ever. Saying to Paul, “Oh God this is so undignified!” and laughing as he replied ”Who cares…I’m not looking….just do it!”, I applied the Vaseline in the necessary spots and onwards we went.

Without a doubt, kilometres 29 to 38 were the toughest for me, both physically and mentally. I was in pain in every fibre from my waist down, which really started to take a toll on my confidence in my ability to even finish the race, never mind achieving a time goal. I made a conscious decision to reflect upon a number of people I had identified as being key to my success – people who play pivotal roles in my life, providing support, encouragement and inspiration. I had written a number of these individuals’ initials on my paceband - I started at the top of the list, telling Paul to whom I was dedicating each particularly tough kilometre, and why I had chosen that person to be on my list. I reached the point of tears numerous times while using this exercise, but taking the time to think about the most important people in my life gave me the strength and the will to simply carry on running. I did not want to disappoint all the people on that list!

By 38km, all I could focus on was the fact that there were only 4km to go until I could stop running/walking, and that it would all be over soon. I was frustrated by the fact that I simply could not sustain the 10 minute running intervals that we had trained with and planned to use for the duration of the run, so I used that anger and disappointment to fuel my legs to go just one more step…then just one more step. Those “just one steps” turned into a system of running from an identified object such as a street sign until we had passed 2 or 3 lampposts, at which point we would stop running and take a walking interval. This system of miniscule goals got me through the distance between 39 and 41 kilometres, at which point the famous Ottawa crowds had started to gather all along the edges of the course.

The spectators all along the course were amazing….from families providing their own food & water stations on their front lawns to small crowds gathered at the designated cheering areas, there was nothing but positive energy being provided to the runners! Having strangers read my name off my arm and call out to me personally at various points gave me just enough of a boost to keep going when I thought I could not. This was especially true as we crossed over the 41km marker and saw the most welcome sight I may ever have seen in my entire life: a sign, suspended from a lamppost, which said “Only 750 metres to go!”

We were still using the “lamppost interval” method at this point, but when I saw the next sign, indicating “Only 500 metres to go!”, I turned to Paul and told him that I desperately wanted to run across the finish line, that I thought I had 500 metres left in my legs. We grabbed each other by the hand for a moment, used our usual fist-touching ritual for courage, and somehow managed to muster the energy to pick up the pace. Running down the gauntlet, arms raised in victory, between those large crowds of screaming fans, gave me a surge of adrenaline. As I counted down the metres to the finish line, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of what I was about to accomplish.

I remember glancing at the finish line clock, but not really caring what the numbers said. The fact of the matter was that I was about to become a marathoner. I stepped across the 2 mats under the archway proclaiming “Finish”. In the finish area, hands on my knees, I cried. I cried tears of pride & joy at having finished, tears of frustration at not having been able to maintain the pace I had trained so hard for , and tears of pain. As I stood up and reached to hug Paul, I also saw Dave and our training colleague Kurt in the finishing area. We exchanged hugs and exclamations of relief, pain, and frustration at the blazing heat that had affected all of us.

Paul found Juli and his family at the fence, and I heard Craig call my name from the other side of the course. I rushed over and sobbed onto his shoulder as well, until Paul joined us wearing a construction paper medal Katie had made for him. After a couple of finish-line photos, I hobbled over to Melissa, who was standing a bit further back from the finish line, and hugged her as well. Then it was time for all of us to have the timing ships removed from our shoes, enjoy the bottles of water that were being handed to each runner as they crossed the line, and bask in the achievements of the day.

In the food tent, we saw a few other Pickering-based runners, and we exchanged embraces, congratulations and stories about the race before heading into the Family & Friends area to meet up with husbands, wives and other supporters. I was very happy, in the end, to tell everyone that my chip time was 4:46:51.8…not at all a bad first marathon outing!

All-in-all, the 2006 ING Ottawa Marathon was an incredible experience-from the poor guy wearing a full-body kangaroo mascot costume at the Experimental Farm/Arboretum loop, to the ladies in weird & wonderful bras handing out water at one water station, to the support & encouragement I got from the spectators. Despite all the trials and tribulations along the way, I WILL do another marathon, and I can only hope that the overall experience is as wonderful as the one I had for my first-ever full marathon in Ottawa!

Cheryl Malton , Pickering, Ontario, November 2006