Ottawa Marathon

“There is no Try. There is Only Do or Not Do.”
- Yoda, Jedi Master.

This is the first year since 1999 that I haven’t written a public marathon report in the Ottawa Citizen. For longer than that, I’d been running on the race weekend, and then coming into the Citizen on Sunday afternoon to put out the race results section for the next day.

The run-publish ‘duathlon’ was fun to do, with runner and graphic designer Chris Macknie and the small group working that evening.

At a suitable break, we’d eat takeout pizza and chat about the day, and get the section to pre-press just in time. This year that didn’t happen. The paper decided that with electronic race results so accessible, it wasn’t prudent to devote about a dozen newsprint pages to names and race times.

It was also good timing, because Chris is in Africa for three months and not here to do that painstaking design task. If you think it’s not important, just try taking phone calls from relatives the next day bemoaning the fact that someone is missing from the results. (It usually turned out that they really were there, just slower than originally thought.)

So here is my less public report on yesterday’s marathon, my 14th:

First of all, I will never again criticize the “dumb” drivers who don’t know about road closures. I was sitting on my front porch Saturday at 5:15 waiting to be picked up by a friend, when the lead group of 5k runners passed by my door, followed quickly by everybody else. It’s a good idea to check the routes of all races, not just the one we’re in.


In spite of the long bleak stretches where I felt I was running alone, I met so many interesting people along the way. There was a woman who said she quit last year in the heat at km 37 and was mad at herself all year, and came back to redeem herself. I was there when she passed 37 this time. There was a bike store owner from Windsor who started running at 57, and was back to the Ottawa Marathon for the second time. In just a few short kilometers he told me what bike I should really be riding. There were excited first timers from Markham, and repeat visitors from Peterborough, and everyone thought Ottawa was great, and they like the new course.

Thanks to my friend Larry McCloskey who kept up the tradition of watching for me on Colonel By and running beside me until Carleton. The distraction is so appreciated. And unlike the other people who dropped in and out of race life, he stayed at my pace.

Congratulations to my friend Anna Shannette who did the 10k Saturday night and then the marathon Sunday. I turned her down when she invited me to join her in what I deemed a crazy pursuit, and then went back and forth to City Hall so many times Saturday, that I ended up doing more than a 10 k anyway, with no bragging rights.

The rain over the second half was much better than heat; I thought the weather was perfect for running; though unfortunately less so for spectators and volunteers.

There were certainly times during this long marathon when I questioned why I was doing it. I’m tired, my feet hurt, my race times get slower and slower, so why bother. Nothing is ever as exciting as your first marathon, so why keep doing it if you aren’t getting faster.

Sure, I’ve got some health problems that could be used as an excuse, but I continue to be in awe of people for whom nothing is an excuse.

It takes a particular brand of courage for the back of the pack marathon participants to keep going for so long, and without the crowds, the validation of those with faster times, or Pace Bunnies.

And even though I force myself to run along, I am aware that walkers are walking faster than I am running. Lots faster.

I guess it’s about continuing to meet the challenge. I’m a different age, so it’s a different race. As Yoda says, “There is No Try. There is only Do or Not Do.”

I’m already signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon for the fall.