This year, the race took on a bit more excitement as I was on Team Mike. Read more about the different teams and the draft process here H&P Waterloo Classic Results
I was definitely shooting for a time close to 37:30. This wouldn't be a PB, but certainly a good time on this course, which has it's fair share of hills.
It was a beautiful day, which allowed all the runners to warm up outside on and inside the track at Waterloo stadium.
The race kicked off at 9am and it was a huge sprint for the 50m down the track before making a sharp turn through the gates before hitting the roads of Waterloo.
The pace was fast and I was doing my best to keep fellow H&P teammate Greg Dyce in my sites, as he was the one I was lined up against against the other H&P team, Team Dave.
After the first 3K of the race, my average pace was pretty much around 3:30/K, which is pretty darn quick for me, and I was pretty surprised at this point. The pace felt challenging, but I really wanted to push myself today to see just what I could do.
I went through the 5K point in 17:40, which would be a new 5K pb for me, but if it's not in an actual 5K race, it doesn't seem to count! Just past the 5K mark, I passed a fellow H&P runner Ahmed Ahmed, who was actually drafted ahead of me in the team draft, so that was encouraging.
At about the 6K mark, the same runner (Gigantor) that I battled with at the Waterloo Half Marathon caught and passed me. I tried to stay with him, but he was just going a bit faster than I seemed to be able to go today, and he slowly pulled away as we crested the hill on Westmount.
As we approached the turnaround point for the 10K I could see where I was overall. I figured I was in about 12th overall, and judging by the athletes I saw coming back, I thought I was the top master runner.
Unfortunately, as we got back to the top of the hill, another runner caught me, and I was definitely a master runner, so I knew I had to stay with him. I did just that pretty much all the way back to the 9K mark, where he ever so slowly inched away. I know I was going to be disappointed if I lost to him at this point, but I can say 100% that I was going as hard as I could (I think!).
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| Only about 600m left in the race |
As we got back to the track, it was only 350m to the finish, but we had to dodge, duck and dive around the slower 5K runners still finishing their race.
I pushed hard, but could not reel in Mark Meyers, who finished as the top master. I crossed the line only 3 seconds after him in 36:46, which was a new 10K pb for me and was much better than my 37:30 goal time. I ended up 13th overall and second master which allowed me to take home the $75 cash prize for that, which was a sweet bonus!
As far at the MikeVsDave H&P team battle, Team Mike lost by only 10 seconds overall, which is the combined time for the top 5 athletes on each team. Man, that was close.
After the race, I chatted with all the members of the team, had some food, did the awards thing and headed home pleased with my result. The following weekend I headed to Syracuse to the the Ironman Syracuse 70.3 for the second year in a row. See my next blog post on how this race went (hint, it went well!!)
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