ORW: a new PBPB

On one hand, Ottawa Race Weekend feels like it was ages ago, but on the other, I can’t believe it is Thursday already. Yikes!  Anyway, it’s back to reality and past-time I posted my report!

On Friday and Saturday I had the pleasure of hanging out at the iRun booth at the expo (we happened to be across and down a little from the Heart and Stroke Foundation booth, which was a little depressing as they had those models that show you how much sugar, salt, and fat are in your favourite foods).  I met a lot of interesting and inspiring runners, a few new friends, and bumped into some people I had met at previous expos – thanks for saying hi!

I reprised my role as the 2:45 half marathon pace bunny, so I also hit the Friendship Run on Saturday morning.  This is always fun as it is very small – maybe 50 or so people – and the food is good!

Sunday morning started out cloudy and cool which was just fine with me. I was a little late arriving in the starting corral, as I hadn’t realized that the second wave was lining up at the same time as the first wave, but I still had lots of time to chat with runners and answer questions before the race.  I didn’t think I would like the wave start but I have to say it was kind of nice.  The second wave felt small and intimate, we could hear the announcements at the back, and it was much easier to hit my goal pace within the first kilometre – last year it was a struggle to find some space and get into a groove.

I wore two watches, one for my time, the other to signal walk breaks; I didn’t want to be fussing around with buttons and risk messing up the settings while bopping people with my sign.  This worked out well for the most part.  I decided to start the less-important of the two before reaching the start line so that I could start the most important one right when I hit the timing mat, as we pace bunnies are evaluated on our ability to come as close to our goal-chip time as possible without going over.  It wasn’t until I reached the first kilometre marker that I realized, to my horror, that I started the watch I was using for timing my splits ahead of the start line, not the 10-and-1 watch as intended.  Oops!

As usual, the crowd support was fantastic. People had noise-makers, pots-and-pans, whistles, and horns.  My favourite signs this year had to be “Smile if you’re not wearing underwear,” and  “Enjoy the one beer it will take to get totally drunk after this” (it’s true! That’s part of why I stay away from alcohol right after races…mostly).  I particularly loved the Hintonburg cheering station where iRun Editor Kathleen Wilker and the Shuffler gave me hugs despite my not smelling so good by then.

I had been working on collecting cheesy stories and jokes for the quiet parts of the course, but I went through them too quickly, so when it really got quiet, I had to call on the runners around me for help.  You know when you’re running and you’re hot, and the strangest things give you the giggles? Well for me that day, it was Q: Why does Snoop Dog have an umbrella? A: Fo’ drizzle!

This year the half marathon course came back over the bridge into Ontario with less than 5K to go, and the group around me was very quiet by then.  As I ran along the Canal I became painfully aware that very few of the people who were around me were actually with me – that is, the core group I started with had either taken off or dropped back, and very few people I was running near were adjusting their pace to intentionally stay with me.  I shouted out the countdown at each kilometre-marker and talked a bit with spectators and volunteers.  When we crossed the Pretoria Bridge to head for the finish, I did my best to get the crowd cheering, and tried to scoop up people who were slowing down, dropping back, or walking.

While I spent the whole race not knowing how many seconds I was off, I can’t say that it affected me much – I stopped my watch at 2:45:01, which turned out to be 2:44:49.1 chip time – so I was 10.9 seconds under my goal.  While this won’t be close enough to win me the bag of carrots, it was certainly a vast improvement over my 40-seconds last year – a PBPB, if you will; Pace Bunny Personal Best!

When you’re a pace bunny, you don’t get a lot of feedback during the race – people are working hard, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.  But after the race, I had several people come up to me to say they were glad I was there in the last few kilometres.  In fact, I got the highest praise I can imagine receiving – one woman said to me, “That was the most fun I have ever had following a bunny in a race.”

And that is why I do it. My work here is done.