Around the Bay: Pre race & goals!

Almost Around the Bay day!!! I seriously love this race. A little cranky that the C has been taken off Copps Colliseum, though. What am I going to aim for as we run down York??

RIP, giant Copps Coliseum C. All of the old signage is coming down today. #HamOnt #sl pic.twitter.com/wk47z908YT
— Adam Carter (@AdamCarterCBC) March 24, 2014

Expo

This afternoon I went to the race expo to pick up my bib and browse the vendors. One of the many things I like about this race is the expo, which usually has a nice assortment of stuff for sale. Unfortunately, I ended up in a super sketchy parking lot where the machine to buy time was really confusing, and it wasn't until I'd paid for the parking that I realized I hadn't bought enough time to really enjoy the expo. And I won't be entirely surprised if my identity gets stolen soon (that parking machine was seriously questionable). I browsed a bit at the expo but didn't buy anything.

Kit pickup! Very efficiently set up as always. 

Finish line! Finishing inside Copps is a unique part of this race and one of the things that sets it apart. OK it's not called Copps anymore; I still call the Rogers Centre Skydome so clearly it will take a while for the new name to take (especially since I can't remember the new name).

It's the 120th anniversary of the race this year, and as a bonus the organizers included anniversary hats in the kits! I'm hoping it will be a good hat, I could use a new one.

Women's shirt is purple (yay, my favourite colour!), men's is grey.

There's a change to the race shirts this year. Traditionally the shirts say 'older than Boston' on the back, and the race is known for their shirts. So it's a bit weird that they don't say that this year. But on the other hand I like that they made them special for the anniversary race. I'm sure 'older than Boston' will be back on the back next year.

Back of the 2012, 2013, and this year's shirts.

Goals

This year ATB is a stepping stone to the Mississauga Marathon, so I've gone back and forth a few times on how to approach it. Training run? Race? Something in between? After a successful Chilly half, however, I think I want to go for it and really see what I can do over 30k. I definitely want a new PB (given that last year's 3:05 included 5 minutes standing around waiting for a train to cross the course, that shouldn't be a problem). 2:45 would be tremendous, but realistically I'll think I'll be between 2:45 and 2:50, since hills really aren't my strong suit and they mostly come later in this race. We'll see what happens. I'll start the race with Patty and my watch hidden, letting her set the pace per usual (I am such a mooch). I'll reevaluate how I'm feeling every 5k or so and adjust the pace as necessary. I also want to stay on top of my nutrition with this one - I tend to skip gels later in long races and I really need to get that right now, because screwing up the nutrition at Mississauga would be bad.

The outfit

The race outfit is really important. There's practical concerns like comfortable, weather appropriate, and enough pockets to carry everything I need for a 30k race: ID, gels, gum, emergency chapstick (in case of bodyglide failure), etc. And the incredibly important question: does it look good? I'm pretty sure wearing cute coordinated running clothes makes me run faster. Really.

Picking my outfit this year has been a pain. You just never know with late March weather, and I have several new skirts and keep changing my mind about which one I want to wear. I think I have it narrowed down to something in this pile, but the damn forecast has changed again to colder temperatures. Gah!

Too many options!

So, other than final outfit decision, that's it. Time for another run Around the Bay - I can't wait!!