R Bowlan 2004 click to enlarge
At the finish line with Nana and Grumpy

My first marathon, The 2004 Prince Edward Island Marathon.

I can't believe the alarm clock is going already, I've been travelling for more than a week and only home for less than six hours, and only half of that was sleep! It felt like this day would never come, deciding to run the race back in May seems like a long time ago, but none the less it was now on my door-step and with the bare-minimum of training is was now or never. It was still dark outside, but I managed to jump in the shower to help wake out of my stupor. I found my neatly piled clothes and running stuff I had prepared the night before, and got ready. I toasted up my bagel, slapped some peanut butter on it and was out the door. I was a quick five minute drive to meet the bus at the Confederation Center for the trip out to the start line on the North Shore of the Island at Brackley Beach. The bus ride was good, and it gave me some time to relax, drink some water and meet a fellow runner from New Brunswick. Rodney Howland was also running his first marathon today and ironically enough, out of the 241 runners he came three places in front of me; good job Rodney. You meet some of the nicest people in running!

The bus got us to the start line around 8:00am in plenty of time before the race which was to start at 9:00am. The crowd steadily grew, and it was comforting to see many familiar faces and talk to many of the other runners as we all stretched, warmed up, and continued to drink (water that is). You could see the look of excitement and anxiety on most faces, about the same look that was probably on my face! Lots of training and kilometers on the trails and pavement were now coming to a head.

I had asked a good friend, Chris Wilkinson, a couple of weeks ago if he would mind coming to the start line and following along the route with his Tracker and camera in hand, to not only document my race a little, but to take shots of many of the other runners and to get a different perspective on the race in general. He gladly accepted the challenge, and as always, with his enthusiasm and creativity he did a fantastic job as I am sure you will all agree. Thanks Chris, you da man! It is so neat to be able to look back at the different stages in the race and see who is around you at the time and how the dynamics of a race of this level change from beginning to end. I think I had turned around once or twice during the entire race, and you are so focused on the road ahead you don't really realize what or who is happening around you, so to be able to see what was going on behind you and who was ahead of you after the fact made it very interesting. I wore my bright yellow hat so that Chris could find me (race number #1018).

The weather perfect for running, although we did see the sun come up, it was pretty much overcast, and the forecast was calling for a chance of light showers. It was around 12-13 degrees already and the prediction was for a high of 16 (almost too warm, but at least it wasn't snowing!). At the start line, I again was looking for familiar faces, and found Nancy Morris (race number #1178) who I had run a half marathon with the month before. Nancy is very easy to talk to and we run almost the exact same pace; it sure makes the time go quicker when you have someone to talk to. This was her second marathon. After a few commments from race organizers and a quick inspirational message from US Olympic Gold Marathon runner, Frank Shorter, the starting gun was fired and we were all off to the races! It sure wasn't the Chicago, Boston or New York Marathon, but 241 people sure seemed to be a lot of people.

As Frank said right before the race, this is an endurance event; the goal here is to make it to the finish. "Start out slow and pace yourself"... and that is what we did. Over the summer I had a lofty goal of running the course and completing it in under four hours. Based on any of my training runs (which you are supposed to run a slow pace anyway), I didn't think it was very realitic at this point. It is amazing however how the power and excitement of the people around you pull you along and the rush of the race and whatever concoction of chemicals is running through your viens, push you along harder than you ever would alone. The phenomenon of competition and will power is amazing. Nancy and I were clicking along well and chatting away over the first number of kilometers. It wasn't long, around km five when Joanne (race number #1164) from Souris ran up beside us, and asked what our time goal was, we were all on the same page as far as pace goes, so she stuck with us for a while as well. The sun shone for about 20 minutes and the temperature sure felt much warmer for a while (go away sun). The sun provided us with a pretty rainbow with the light shower we had a few minutes earlier; no time to stop and enjoy it today! The run throught the National Park was nice, and since I had run 3/4 of the course twice in that last month, it was also very familiar. Definately an advantage when knowing what was coming up next as far as hills and terrain. I took a quick porta-potty break around km 11 as we were heading by Dalvay by the Sea on the way out of the park. It took a good couple of minutes to catch up to my running mates, we were all making pretty good time and taking advantage of all the water/gatorade stations to keep hydrated and fueled up. The spectators and cheering along the roads was great; they made you smile when noramlly you wouldn't and they helped contribute that spark to help spur you on when you needed it most. Before long we were approching the 21km half way mark, where the half marathoners had started their earlier quest to Charlottetown. By this point some fatigue was setting in and the large group of 241 was certainly thinning out. The racing chip that was attached to everyones shoe identified each runner and tracked their times at the half way point and the finish line; a great way to use technology to simplify the tracking and provide accuarate results! Cool! I crossed the half way point at 1:58:45. My time at this point was not to bad, (my previous half marathon was 1:52) but not likely quick enough to get close to 4 hours. This was OK, because at this point I just wanted to finish something I hadn't done before.

After crossing the half way point, it was "downhill from here"; no pun intended, the hard part was left to do... We turned off of Route 6 and onto the converted railway to trail system on PEI called the Confederation Trail. I had cycled the whole 273km of it last year so was quite familiar with it and in training over the last month had also done this 12.5km section a couple of times. I found myself running down the trail, just thinking about getting to the end when I find I am running next to another lady. The most ironic thing is that in looking at the pictures Chris took, many times in the first half of the race, she was either right behind or not too far out in front of me and the others in our group, yet I had not talked to her till now. We exchanged names and I told her that this was my first marathon; I was amazed when she told me that this was her 26th! I thought that was so cool, she had done one for every mile (26.2 miles in a marathon). Her name was Carol Ferris (race number #1070) from Eastern Passage, NS (just outside Dartmouth), and for about 11km on the trail she helped me get through the hardest part of a marathon, getting past the 20mile/32km mark. Although she told me she beleived we were running at the same pace (which made me feel good) she had a strong non wavering pace that really pushed me kilometer after kilometer to keep up. This was the extra shove that I needed as for the longest time, I just wanted to slow down and as more fatigue set in, my muscles sure yelling "STOP!". Carol kindly explained that what you are feeling right now as you get to the 32km mark is the worst its gonna get, you just need to run through it. The trick being is to stay constant in your pace and stay focused on the finish! I was all ears and very eager to learn from someone that has "walked the walk", Carol's encouragement and desire to help a first timer was very much appreciated. Again, you meet some of the nicest people in running! Thanks Carol!

Carol and I talked about a lot of things, like her Siamese cats, military career and living out west, but before long the hour or so had passed by and we were back pounding on the pavement. This was all new to me from this point on, as I had never run past the 34km mark before, and I still had some good hills, a fair headwind and about 8-1/2km to go. As time ticked by, I was passing a number of others as we appoached University Ave with about 5km left. Carol was right, it wasn't getting much harder, but I sure was getting tired. My pace, with the wind in my face and heading up the hills was slowing somewhat. Once we were past UPEI, it was pretty much a gradual downhill from there, and the kilometers kept clicking away. At this stage in the game, at least I knew I was going to be able to finish and with not a bad time either; I had just gone over the 4 hour mark with less than a kilometer to go. There were a couple of runners ahead of me who we had passed each other a couple of times over the last number of clicks. I could just see the finish line as I was coming up to Euston St and my pace instinctively started to quicken. From a reserve tank somewhere, I had poured it on with what I had left over the last 350m to the finish line, passing the last few runners along the way. I crossed the line at 4:04:26, I was very pleased to get so close to my goal, thanks to all my running mates. Rhonda, Chandler and Connor were at the finish line to take pictures and congratulate me, which made finishing the race that much sweeter. It was the first time I had seen my kids for 11 days, as I had got home just 12 hours earlier and they were sleeping when I got home and when I left for the start. It sure was good to hug them! If you look close in the finish photos, you can see Connor had jumped into the race and was running just behind me the last little bit of the race (he came 114-1/2 ;) ), the first thing I felt when I stopped (not easy to do!) was Connor tugging on me yelling "Hey, Daddy!", what a great surprise. So many people stopped by to see me finish... My Family, Leanne & Jeff, Shelley and Jody, Nana & Grumpy, and of course Chris who was with me the whole time (in his Tracker). Thanks everyone, I appreciated it very much. I was however quite disappointed, in all the excitement, I had missed Carol at the finish line and although I had looked around to find her, I didn't get a chance to thank her. I am sure I will be able to find her e-mail address somewhere.

I felt the race was very well organized and was a great success with over 900 participants in all events. Thanks to all the organizers, sponsors and volunteers. I can't wait till next year... it will definately be under four hours! Now time for some rest. 8^)

Full results available here

  My Final results:

  Half time  1:58:45  137th out of 241    gained 23 places in second half
  Finish     4:04:26  114th out of 241    pace: 5:50/km