Around the bay in two hours (and 46 minutes)

It's less than five weeks until the marathon, and I'm almost through the worst of my training. One more 32K run and it's time to taper! I'm really looking forward to tapering.

It's not even the long runs that are getting to me; it's the early morning runs, particularly the days I have to run 13K. I get up at 5:30 a.m. on those days to run and, as you can imagine, I'm really tired.

But otherwise, training is going very well. A few weeks ago, I did the "famed" Around the Bay race in Hamilton. It sounds exactly like what it is – a 30K race that literally takes you around the bay through Hamilton and Burlington. Most of the course is fairly flat, but the last 10K take you along Northshore Blvd. and up Valley Inn Road – and those who know the area know that there are many hills, especially the "big one" on Valley Inn.

The Bay race is known for those killer hills, as well as being known as the oldest road race in North America. It actually pre-dates the Boston Marathon by a year or two, but since it's not a real marathon, it doesn't quite have the same cachet! (And you don't have to qualify to run the Bay… anyone who wants to run it can sign up and do so.)

Still, around here, the Bay is "the" race to run. If you don't want to do the full 30K, you can do 5K, or you can do the relay (in teams of either two or three). All in all, it's a great race. Very fun, very challenging and a great warm-up race to a full marathon. (In fact, many people who are running Boston use the Bay as a training run.) I had always planned to use it as my warm-up race as well.

All in all, the 30K race was a success for me. I ran it in 2:46 on the nose, which was almost 15 minutes faster than my three-hour "amazing" goal. I honestly figured it would take me at least three hours, if not longer than that to finish. Sure, I ran two sub-two-hour half marathons, but they weren't much under two hours. And this was the first time I was running 30K – I was sure to slow down.

I didn't – and honestly, I didn't even realize how fast I was going until I rounded the corner into Copps Coliseum and saw the time on the jumbotron (another amazing reason to run this race – it ends IN the stadium!)

Was I happy? You bet. But it wasn't all perfect. While my speed was good, I did have some terrible cramps between 10K and 17K – bad enough to make me have to walk a bit. I wasn't sure what caused them – something I ate the night before, a too-tight water belt, dehydration – but it made for a slightly unpleasant experience.

The other problem was that I was so fast, Mike and the kids hadn't even made it into the stadium to see me finish. He got a text message from me saying I was done while he was still outside. He had trouble finding parking – definitely something to keep in mind before the marathon.

So what did I learn from Around the Bay? Here's what it taught me for my marathon:

1. Watch what you eat the night before. I experienced some of the same cramps on my 32K run, and the only connection I can find is that I had ground beef the night before. I suspect that may be the culprit for my cramps. And even if it's not, I'm still going to avoid it in my pre-marathon meal. I think I will have what I ate before the Chilly – a vegetarian pasta dish on brown rice pasta.

2. Get there early. That goes for the start line AND for the family heading to the finish line. You never know when you'll be done – or how bad parking will be. I really don't want my family to miss me finishing the marathon.

3. I'm stronger than I think. I KNOW the 30K is easier than the marathon, but I once thought it was impossible too. It's not – and I need to remember that around the 37 kilometer mark of the marathon when I want to give up.

4. I really need to eat. I gobbled Sharkies energy chews on the Bay race, but I'm experimenting with other chews (the gels make me sick) before the marathon. So far, I've settled on the GU energy blocks. They taste amazing, and they have electrolytes, carbohydrates and sodium to get me through the 4+ hours of the race.

Take those lessons as well-learned. I'm applying them in my long runs now, and hopefully it will help come race day!

Happy trails…