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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Preview: Hamilton Road to Hope 1/2 Marathon

The Race

The Hamilton Road to Hope Marathon. I signed up for the 1/2 marathon on a whim, after some friends suggested it.

Things I know about it:
  1. It's in Hamilton
  2. The course is net downhill!
  3. Simon Whitfield is going to be running the 1/2
  4. The course is net downhill!
  5. It's point-to-point
  6. The course is net downhill!

Apparently this is the best full marathon in Canada for qualifying for Boston (it produces the highest percentage of qualifiers). I'm only doing the 1/2, but I'm counting on the downhill to help me!

My Strategy

I'm not all that confident... had a run on Sunday that seems to have tweaked something in my knee, looks like IT band is acting up again. I've been icing/stretching/Ibuprofen'ing like crazy, hopefully it's enough to hit the start line healthy.

My best 1/2 marathon was 1:49:17 in February of this year, with snow on the ground... in fact I've only ever done 1/2 marathons in February! I'm really hoping to crush that time on Sunday and set a new Personal Best. I feel like there's a 1:45:00 in me waiting to come out, but a lot will have to go right to find it!

8 comments:

Kieran said...

Funny, my PB is 1:49:34 from Niagara last year, and I think there's a 1:45:00 in me too... I ran the full there last year and although it's a net downhill you should know there's a 7k stretch where most of that downhill happens. It's something like 3k flat, 7k downhill, 11k flat. Should make for a SMOKING fast half - as long as the wind isn't as bad as last year!

See you there!

Boris T said...

Good luck in Hamilton! I might try that one next year.

Jon P said...

@Kieran - cool, didn't know you were going. Can you pace me to the 1h45 please!? :) LOL.

Paul said...

Good Luck! Sounds like fun. My first 1/2 was in October. My second is on Thanksgiving. Can't wait.

runwuf said...

Go for it! go set a new PB for me to catch up! :-)

Is the full marathon course also downhill?

Jon P said...

Yup, full is net downhill.

It's the best BQ course in Canada:

http://www.marathonguide.com/races/BostonMarathonQualifyingRaces.cfm?Year=2008

31.1%!

Honestly, not sure how much of a difference it makes in the marathon... the downhill comes at the start of the second half, and as Kieran says it only really lasts 7k. That leaves 5/6 of the marathon to do, and I read the first part has some rollers.

John C said...

I'm sure I'll see you guys there. If not, best of luck to you.

Jon P said...

@JohnC - see you there! My knee feels better today, so I'll gamble on it.