Road 2 Hope - The dreamer's dream

Wow wow wow. What a GREAT day today was for most everyone of the 11 or so folks that ran the Road2Hope Marathon in Hamilton. Though before I get into the details of the race - let's back up to yesterday for a moment shall we? Roger, Keith and I headed down to the Expos around 11am - got there after a uneventful ride. Found the right turn off, then the next, and then the next. As we entered Confederation Park they were in the midst of the 10 run. Nice to cheer for the in coming runners as we headed to the expos and the much needed portopotties. Ya'll know about hydration and then the de-hydration that occurs shortly after. The expos... well uhmm.. How can I say it with out being unkind? It was rather economical in size. Held in the palivilian in the Park. With 80km/hr winds - they may think about WALLS for the next one next year. display racks were being tossed over. People being swept away from the bargains. ( that was sarcasim) Not a lot at the Expos. Four tables at the most. E-Load table ( since they were a sponsor), The Runners Den - sponsor-. Deals... ehhhh...., Phyo-berry, and uhmmm yeah that's about it. The packet pick up was painless. VERY painless. Getting the shirts. Not so plainless, but then I wasn't speaking teenager, I had taken off my translator when I left home. Drat. The nice thing about the actual bag the chip & bib came it was that it was uncontaminated by an over dose of pesky bits of advertising, samples, magnets & lip balm. Phew... Plus with the limited Expos; I walked away with my handbag being the heaviest thing I was carrying. Then lunch at the Queens Head. A rousing game of footie on the Big Screen TV,checked into our hotel room. Low and behold as we walked in - it looked like much grappling had gone on in there. Musta been a MMA or UFC try out... *blinks innocently* well that's what the guys said. Dinner at Boston Pizza. YUMMY. Then back to the room to laugh at the outfits that the Canadians were wearing & Tim Curry's outfits in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, then lights out and loud a/c on. Clocks back. Woke up in time. Breakkie. And then off to check out and head to the race. We won't mention the fact we took a wrong exit and landed up on the 403 rather than the QEW. It was a short detour to get the andrenaline going. Pump Bill up a bit more. Park up. Line up for the bus. We won't talk about the incident by the car - but if you ask any of us - we'll gladly tell you about Keiths' unfortunate moment. On the bus to the start. Off the bus - meet our BRR crew and get ready for the run. Bzzzzzzzzzzz... The run is actually very wonderful. LOTS of country roads. Very little traffic to get in your way. However with country roads comes ROLLING HILLS... yeah.. NOT a big fan. However; Rick stuck with me on this to help me PB - I was hoping for a 4:30 something... We were well on track. At 22 K then we started down the express way for about 6 K. The cambre on the road at times was pretty severe to you had to be on the top or bottom of the road. There were no water stations there either. But it was AMAZING to run on the motorway. IT WAS CLOSED to traffic. Imagine that?! Then we took on part of the ATB route. under the under pass and heading up that street. PB'd the 30 K at 3:13. Yippee. Then 35 k happened. I started slowing down. Rick was great - he was chattering to me the whole time. Then we were on the Hamilton Beach Trail for the last 6 K. ARGH... Things started slowing down. I was exhausted. 37,38, 39... " Hey Ricky just get me through the next 90 seconds - then walk break." He was soo good. Kind when I needed it an ass kicking when I needed it more. There were Barrie supports on the route as well, Chuck Lloyd & Brendan & Marie Kavanaugh. It was so GREAT to hear them cheering. I so needed that. With only 400/500 metres left Brennan & Marie were there cheering saying the finish was really around the next corner. I thought for a moment about how many times I had heard that in the past and how many times they LIED THROUGH THEIR TEETH - but knowing they were runners & from Barrie it had to be true. So I dug a little deeper and started to pick it up. Not enough to get my 4:30 something - but enought to get 4:40:15 - drat drat drat drat. Shouldn’t have taken that last walk break,Oh well. It's still a PB. Well deserved, beers, hot chocolates & teas at Jack Astors and homeward bound there after. Thanks to everyone , the runners, the well wishers & on site cheering clapper less section. What a truly wonderful day it was!!! JvH