Last year, as part of our IronMan training, I set a goal. After the 2007 Ottawa half marathon, I wrote:

I’m hoping that the next half marathon we do, we can get our times down to 1hr 45 mins – I’m not exactly sure how fast I can go, but I definitely want to find out

And with that, I had the seed of a plan in place—to hit 1h 45min as a time in a half marathon.

Based on the way everything has gone this year, that goal should have been achievable. I had a plan in place to run faster for each 5km split of the race and then really run hard for the last 2 or 3 km.

And then the gun went off.

Plans must change. While I had in mind the perfect race, my body didn’t agree. I’ve been sick for a week with a nasty cold and cough in my chest and that made it difficult to breathe throughout the race.

I had to run slower than planned. I had trouble keeping my heart rate low. And, about 13km into the 21.1km race, I managed to feel a tweak in my right hamstring. There was a point where I just physically felt like I couldn’t go any faster. And with that, I had to move to plan B.

Plan B for this race (much like IronMan last year) was simply this: finish.

So I did, in just under 2 hours with a time of 1:59:18

I suppose this is the life of a runner or triathlete. Plan B = finish.