Ottawa Race Weekend

Holy...what a weekend. I am exhausted.

We headed up to Ottawa Friday morning and arrived around 5. Nothing eventful really...except for trying to actually get into out hotel when the bus lanes are in full force in downtown Ottawa. We pulled a 'Mario Andretti' to be able to make it in after doing a few circles around the block. Dinner Friday was at Johnny Farinas on Elgin. Good fun, good carbs and pretty quick service. Fine by me..

This was followed by gelato at Pure Gelato. This made the husband happy:

The Husband raced on Saturday night in the 10km....during what was probably the hottest time of the day. He rocked out a 47 min 10km but of course was not happy with this. Boys....

Before:

After:

Sunday morning came and I knew for me the weather was going to be a bit of a concern. We had yet to do a long run in any real sort of warm weather so here we were with a gorgeous sunny day and at least 17 degrees all day. I just made the best of it.

As usual, I wasted 5 min at the first porta potty stop. Seriously......10,000 runners and there are 2 bathrooms?! If you want me to go ahead and use nature as my bathroom like everyone else was doing I will....and next year I will.

The first 12 km were great. I felt really good but the heat was getting to me and others apparently. I think in total between 6am and during the race, I took in at least 5 liters of water and still felt under hydrated. I saw a lot of people without water out there...and also saw a lot of people in the medic tent after, getting treatment on the course and even saw a few people on stretchers. Yikes....

Overall, I really enjoyed the race. The course is pretty scenic...Gatineau was ....interesting.... The funniest part was going through the last water station before the bridge back into Ontario and going past the entertainment stop with the guys playing the drums. At fist I thought it was cool and then my next thought was: "this kind of sounds like a death march". Nice.

The spectators were amazing - tons of people out to cheer you on and the water/aid stations were great. There were no where near enough portapotties on course and there really is no shade at all. It would almost be better to have the half start at 8am instead of 9am as the last few years have been really hot but I have no idea if this is feasible.

So thumbs up to Ottawa. Taking off my stops for the bathroom and a little good samaritan efforts when I flagged down a medic to go check on someone on the side of the curb, it was a PB but I will just put it down to more racing experience.