Saturday, May 30, 2015

Ottawa Marathon Recap

Fun and fast times in Ottawa last weekend! A large crew headed north of the border, ready to rock the Canadian red.

First, a few behind the scenes shots from the race:
 
 The elite water bottle set-up
 
Jen showing off her race bib and drinking even more water


Some of the Ottawa crew touring the city.

 More after the break!
Here are the end results for Dojo and Friends of Dojo up in Ottawa:

Rachel Clattenburg- improved her second fastest time in the records, running 2:56:52, finishing 18th in a world-class field. Sadly (for us), Rachel is also racing for the fine folks over at Capital Area Runners now! She's put up some incredible performances in a Dojo singlet, and she's going to keep on doing great things with CAR. Got things off to a great start for them with a super fast marathon time.

Jen Maranzano- set her marathon PR of 3:04 17 years ago, and just broke it, running a 2:57:05 last weekend. She also won $500 (CDN) for finishing 3rd master, 19th overall. Huge accomplishment for Jen to finally break the 3 hour barrier!

Brian Savitch- very promising result, with a 2:51:35, finishing 7th in his age group. Looked very good every time I saw him on the course, was going back and forth with Drew.

Drew Killian- HUGE PR for Drew, running 2:52:29, 9th in age group. Well-deserved after he tirelessly organized long runs, constantly encouraged other folks, and even arranged our prerace meal (Johnny Farina's).

Paul Karlsen- followed up a great Boston with a fast Ottawa, running 2:55:55. He hung out with Jen, Rachel, and me for a few of the early miles, but then steadily pulled away and ran a great race. 14th in age group.

Matt Wieczorek- a gigantic breakthrough for a guy who had yet to break the three hour barrier. He did it, by a whopping 11 minutes. Matt ran 2:48:36, 14th in his age group, and led the way for the entire Dojo contingent on the day.


A few thoughts about the race-

* There were a few turns, and some moderate hills, but overall I thought the course was fair. Not blazing fast, but definitely not slow. A course (like MCM) where you can feel good about how the time you ran represents your fitness level.

* Race organization was fantastic. The race committee is making the entire weekend a major running event, with 40k people running a 5k, 10k, half marathon, and marathon. Great atmosphere!

* Benefits of the elite treatment. Jen and Rachel got a glimpse of the high life for elite runners this weekend. Biggest benefit: getting to put your own bottles out on course. It is MUCH easier to drink from bottles (as opposed to cups), and nice to put exactly the drinks you want out on the course.

* Kilometer splits are great. They provide much more frequent feedback than miles, and I thought they made the race go by much faster. For pacing purposes, I thought they just worked much better than miles. Will a brave American race ever go to splits for each kilometer?

* The benefits of easy logistics. Thanks to Paul, we were able to stay within a 5 minute walk to the starting line. The marathon was not so huge that you couldn't easily make your way to your starting corral. The lack of stress and commuting to make the start was really nice. A big plus for races with smaller fields and easy access.

And finally, a few more photos from the weekend:


The crew relaxing the morning after the race


Rachel and Jen checking out the course map after a visit to the elite hospitality suite...

2 comments:

  1. WOW! Congratulations, all! Thank you, Dan for the post.

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  2. Dan neglected to mention that he also ran the marathon. He ran every single step with me to help me try to break 3 hours. And I couldn't have done it without him. Thank you, Dan. Many congratulations to everyone on such great races!

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