The first cycling race in Quebec, the Pont-Rouge Classic, was scheduled for April 20. With huge quantities of snow falling this spring, the course was not judged to be safe, and the race was canceled.

In my case, it didn't really matter, this winter I had signed up for the Montreal Scotia Bank Half Marathon on the same date.

As a cyclist, trying to improvise myself as a runner, I learned the hard way. Before running my first half, I thought that the effort would be similar to a 40Km time trial, with a duration being a bit longer, say 20-30 minutes. So in March 2004, with a few kilometers of running in my legs, I got off the couch and ran a half marathon. I did run it in a respectable time of 1:30, but I also ended up staying on the couch for another 3 months injuring my right knee.

Since then I ran two half marathons as part of half-ironman distance triathlons, and also ran the Montreal Scotia Half last year. Last year, I completed in a fair time of 1:22:45, but had started much too fast, and finished the last couple kilometers at a crawling pace, almost walking.

This year, Jeff, a friend of mine and Ironman triathlete, suggested that I follow my own pace, rather than trying to keep up with the pace of other runners in the excitement that occurs during such mass start event. As a cyclist, we have a built in instinct that pushes us to hang in with the pack, at all costs. As a runner, that is not a good strategy! You have to accept that there will always be faster runners (like the Kenyan's who clocked in at 1:03), and find your own pace.

So I found my own pace for the first 10 kilometers, slowly reeling in runners that started too fast, until a small group of 4-5 runners caught up to me. I joined the group exchanging "pulls" in the headwind sections. On a slight tail wind, the only woman in the group (her name is Jutta Merilainen), increased the pace. A triathlete in the group whispers in my ear, "she's doing it again, hammering on the tail wind". A few minutes later, everyone but myself was dropped.

I soon realized Jutta was a strong runner, who had paced herself and was ready to turn on the machine mid race. It motivated me to keep a consistent and rapid pace in the second half of the race. With a few kilometers to go, we saw a few women ahead of us. I motivated Jutta so that we would gradually come up on them before the end, as at that pace I know she was a contender for the podium spot. With about 2-3 kilometers to go, we passed this small group, and in the last few hundred meters, Jutta kept on motoring, to the point where I could no longer keep up.

Post race, I saw Jutta on podium, then congratulated her, thanked her for showing me how to pace myself to my personal best of 1:20:45 on a half marathon.

Enough about running..., the bike season starts in a few days! Stay tuned.