As I packed my car in the morning, I noted that it was quite cool (-5C) which was no problem for me as I have some great winter running clothes. The drive from Toronto to Grimbsy took about an hour. When I got out of my car at the race site, the first thing I noticed was the heavy wind. It practically blew me over. Looking at Lake Ontario I could see huge whitecaps crashing onto the shore. It was gonna be a fun race!

After registering, I went for my standard 2-3km warmup jog with 6-8 strides with walkbacks. During the warmup (along the first part of the course), I noticed there was a significant head-wind after I made my turnaround. I had noted a tail-wind on the way out, but I didn't think it was that significant. Although I had planned to start conservatively and build throughout the race, this reinforced my strategy to conserve through the first two-thirds of the race so that I had something left to battle the headwind during the last mile and a half or so.

As the race start approached, I placed myself towards the top third of the group and awaited the gun blast. With a weird horn-like sound, we were off. Some guys at the front took off like bats out of hell. It was amazing to watch ... even more amazing considering they would keep this pace up for the entire race. I settled into what I thought was my 8k pace (6:40-6:50/mile) and tried to keep good form. Alot of people passed me, but I let them go remembering the head-wind that would greet me on the way back. I hit the first mile marker at around 6:32 - well ahead of pace, but the tail wind definitely helped.

Half-way into the second mile the course turns north into a park on hardened dirt roads. The course is slightly uphill and into some wind so I felt my sails lose a bit of air. However, I kept focussed and tried to keep a constant effort. I hit the second mile marker in 6:50.4 - significantly slower than my first mile, but still on pace. It was time to up the concentration and focus on keeping pace.

Mile 3 contained the turn-around which was a little bit more than half-way through the course. I got messed up with a guy on the turn around (I think he took the turn a little wide), but we both exchanged "sorries" and I keyed on finding my pace again. The end part of mile 3 was slightly downhill and I hit the third mile marker in 6:55.6. This split was significantly over-pace, but I still was in contention for a sub-34 final time so I started working on mile 4.

The last half of mile 4 and all of mile 5 to the finish were VERY tough. The wind was persistent and so blustery at times it nearly knocked me over. I was trying to find anybody to draft off, but at 6'1" my options are limited. Almost everybody who passed me or whom I passed made a joke about the wind it was that laughable. That is very strange as in most 8ks people don't have the desire to talk much at the end. I hit the finish line in 34:45.8 with the last two mile splits of 7:08.9 and 7:18.1. Just what I didn't want - increasing splits throughout the race!

Immediately after the race I drank some gatorade and water then did an easy 2km jog and some easy stretching. I was very glad to get out wind and back into my car for the ride home.

So, with a final time of 34:45 I missed my target of 33:55 by about 50s. That's not too bad considering the conditions. My time got me a 72/310 OA, 61/162 Men, and 10/20 in the Men 30 - 34 age groups. Searching the results a bit further, it seemed almost everybody who ran the race this year and last finished between 1min - 1.5min slower this year than last. This gives me some indication that I wasn't the only one struggling out there. It also makes me think my goal was realistic and probably attainable on a "normal" day.

See you at the races,

-Clive

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