Marathon Petit Train du Nord 2023 Race Report
Summary: Gorgeous day, amazing supporters, I ran the race that I wanted and PR.
My Summer training cycle felt difficult. Covid in June, three weeks family trip in July and then the big steady ramp-up in the heat. I felt like I could not hold any tempo without tremendous efforts. But I was constant and healthy, zero injury.
It was hard to establish a race goal besides trying to beat last year time. I vaguely knew that I wanted to test myself somehow for no particular reason besides having done all that training. I had settled on a range of acceptable paces knowing that it all depended of how much of a struggle I wanted.
This was my fourth marathon, the second one on this slight downhill straight point-to-point course.
The familiarity of the parking/bus/bag drop/wave start was very reassuring. I started calm and wanting to enjoy this cool, clear sky morning with the Fall foliage in all its glory.
I started in the sixth wave having been optimistic during registration ten months ago. I quickly found other runners going at a reasonable (in the previously identified range) 5:50min/km pace and settled on that for my overall race pace objective. First 10k in 58:20, spot on.
The course grade is particularly favourable in the next portion. I went by effort and kept a comfortable fast pace. I was looking forward to the Mont-Roland Station: At 17km, my cousin’s partner was volunteering and I took the time to hug her and take a selfie. They had made a sign just for me and I took another selfie with it. I was crying for a while after, nobody had ever done that for me before.
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The 3h50 minute pacer

passed me then (they had started a wave after me so 5min behind). I decided to stay with them for a while. I wanted to see if I could hold that BQ pace and if it would break me. That was the challenge I needed to add to this race, one that would be more meaningful and more of a learning opportunity than chasing an arbitrary number.
I shouted internally

when I saw my 21.1k time, knowing that my family would see it on the tracker too: 1:59:44.
At 28km, my cousin was waiting for me. I hugged him and having such support mentally carried me for a good while, at least through the toughest 4km of this course.
I was no longer looking at time, the last 10k being open, do as I feel kind of strategy so I just kept paces that felt comfortable. I never hit a wall. Nutrition and hydration were near perfect. I was mostly passing people. I had a side cramp in the last 4km. I thought of DD who have learned to deal with them and I just kept moving forward. I sprinted the last 200m.
I finished in 4:02:40, a PR by over 16 minutes and better time than anticipated. The word I texted my mom to describe my race was “impeccable”. It was really my best race ever. Not the fastest, not the goofiest, just greatly managed. My paces when I looked at them later in the afternoon confirmed that: 5:50 on the dot for the first, third and fourth quarter, 5:32 for second quarter, the speedier part.
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I practiced something else besides food and recovery after the race: I went to a bathroom, washed up and changed. Yes, I felt fresh enough to tour a Disney park! No need to return to the resort during Springtime Surprise
Finally, I went cheering for
@azrivest. It is a real pleasure seeing a new marathoner and a smiling success! Congratulations