Around the Bay Virtual Race

 

This Sunday I ran the virtual Around the Bay Road Race, a 30 kilometre run which usually takes place in Hamilton but due to the pandemic it’s gone virtual. It was first run in 1894, three years before the Boston Marathon and has been won by the best from around the world, including Boston Marathon winners and Olympic gold medallists.

I previously ran this race in 2018 and 2019, and I was registered to run the 2020 event but due to Covid19 it was first rescheduled for November 2020 and then ultimately cancelled. This year the race was turned into a virtual event and they recycled the 2020 Bay Race medals in order to not waste them. They did this by turning it into a double medal where the front has the 2020 date and logo and the back has the 2021 date, runner’s name and race time.

Usually the run occurs the last weekend of March (around my birthday), but this year they made it a month long event and I opted to run the last day available in order to give myself a chance to recover from the 4x4x48 challenge and build up my training once again.

My training runs basically went like this: Sunday-- long run, Monday-- recovery run, Tuesday--hill repeats, Wednesday--single track trail runs, Thursday--speed work and Friday--recovery run. Saturdays I don’t run.

Even though I trained for about 6 weeks (I had a strong base built up during the winter months), I wasn’t feeling overly confident with my fitness. Every time I tried to increase my pace on my long run, my heart rate would skyrocket. On one Sunday run I was surprised to see it got to 204 bpm quite early in the run and I had to slow down to a walk until it was at a more reasonable level. My resting heart rate is around 47 bpm so it’s always interesting to see it get so high when running.

 

The Run

I actually slept through the night and was surprised when my alarm woke me up at 7 am as I usually wake up 2-3 times a night. I reluctantly got up, made coffee and fed the cats. As I sipped at my coffee I got myself ready and remembered to lather myself in Chamois Butt’r before I dressed.

I really wasn’t feeling it today. As much as I love to run, running a virtual ‘race’ is not the same as running in a live race. I really miss participating in a live race event, but who knows when the next time we’ll be able to participate? I continue to run these virtual races in order to keep them viable so that when we can actually run live races they are still around. It also gives me a reason to continue training and to challenge myself, but today, I just wasn’t feeling motivated.

It was raining when I left and I blew kisses to Cilla through the window as I made my way down the driveway. I was wearing a tank and shorts and although it was raining and the temperature was 9 degrees, I wasn’t cold.

I made my way to Taylor Creek trail, ran down the ravine and turned right. It wasn’t very busy, most likely due to the weather. I could tell from the very beginning that this was not going to be a very good run as I struggled with keeping my heart rate down. It was the first day of my period so hormones could have something to do with it. Lately my cycle was only 21 days (yay perimenopause!) so it was all a bit frustrating.

The only thing I could do was continue to put one foot in front of the other and continue moving forward. Whatever happened, happened.

I tried to distract myself with the beautiful surroundings. Everywhere there were signs of spring—wildflowers were coming up and I could see fresh buds on the trees and birds were flying overhead, singing loud and proud. Soon the trail will be immersed with beautiful colours and foliage.

From Taylor Creek I headed north to Sunnybrook Park where I reached kilometre 10. There were more runners up here, but it was still possible to social distance and I exchanged friendly greetings with several of them. One runner was wearing an Around the Bay shirt and cap, so I assumed he was also participating in the virtual race. I wished him luck as we crossed paths and he waved in return and smiled.

My right hip was hurting for most of the run which was odd since my hips have actually been the one thing that haven’t bothered me. I was also having some muscle spasms in my SI Joints and lower back which was manageable as long as it didn’t travel to my tail bone, because the few times it has the pain was excruciating.

I headed back to the forks of the Don and continued south on the Lower Don Trail where I ran to kilometre 21. I then turned around and headed home. It was really windy and I was continually being blown back. The last 5 kilometres were torture and I just wanted to be done. It’s very rare that I don’t feel like running, but it is horrible when it happens.

Just before the 3 hour mark I arrived home, happy to have done it, but even happier that it was done! It definitely wasn’t a PB at an average pace of 5:57/km, but that didn’t matter. I did it. Not every race will be a PB, but it’s good to just get out there and try your best at that moment.