Mt first Marathon was the Manitoba Marathon 2011, I was so excited. I had trained really hard and was prepared for this challenge.
To: Manitoba Marathon Association
I am writing this letter to you to express my frustration and devastation at the experience I had at the 2011 Full Marathon. I have been running for 3 years and I finished my first half marathon in Thunder Bay Winnipeg Winnipeg
I am a member of the Thunder Bay Metre Eaters and through great friends and determination I began training for the Full Marathon in February 2011. Once a week at least I would be on the Manitoba Marathon website checking the ticker to see how many days were left, reading all the information provided on the website over and over including the rules of the race. I can remember when the ticker on the website read 149 Days and then before I knew it, it said 5 days left to go and I set out to Winnipeg Duluth Manitoba Winnipeg Winnipeg
It was a perfect day; I woke up June 19/11 and felt great, the forecast was looking good. I got all my stuff together and left my sister-in-laws house and headed for the start line. It was very well organized; bag check was easy to find and the start line was very well organized. I was at the back of the group at the start line as I had planned just to finish the race. Next thing I knew the gun went off and away we went. It took me a few minutes to get to the start line, so as I crossed the starting mat I started my Garmin and away I went. I was thrilled, I had never ran in such a big event and I felt great.
I had read and reread the rules over and over again to make sure that I didn’t forget anything and that I understood all the requirements I had to meet. I will just quote what your rules say on the website regarding closing of the course.
“2011 Manitoba Marathon will close at a pace of /mile. Rides back would be provided for all participants who have not passed Mile 21 by .”
I had read this rule over and over, so on race day my first goal was to get to mile 21 by . Now when I reached mile 21 on my Garmin which would be going by my chip time told me that I had at least 4 minutes before they were to close the course, which is a long time. When I was coming up to mile 21 the volunteers were just folding up the split time mat, I was confused by this as nowhere does it say that they are going by gun time, which in my opinion is unfair if you have started out at the back of the pack in the beginning and still have minutes to go. The gun start should only pertain to the front runners and this would be why the rest of us have chips. According to my chip time I had made it to mile 21 by so I carried on, thinking great I met my first goal. After this point was where the rug was ripped from under me.
I had made it to mile 24.49 and I was so excited, in my head I was finished. I only had a mile and a half left to go. I had been running for at this point. A police officer on a motorcycle came up behind me as I had crested the River Rd Bridge. He said to me and these are his words “You have to get on the bus” I then thought this is not happening, I just looked at him in disbelief and said “Are you serious”? He said to me “You have two options; option one is to get on the bus, option two is you will never run in Winnipeg
As I got on the bus I was in tears, I was devastated. I could not believe this was happening. I felt overwhelmed with sadness as I took the so very short 1.5 mile ride back to the stadium. The bus had picked up a runner at mile 25 and 25.5 and tried to pick up a runner at mile 26, yes I said mile 26 and she refused to get on the bus and kept running.
I had met your requirements, no where does it say that you will get picked up anyways after mile 21, and if that is the case it is not clear in the rules and should be clarified so this does not happen again. I am devastated by what happened, I had set out in February 2011 to start training, race day was perfect and I met your requirements and you made me quit. It would have been different if I was injured or unwell (heatstroke) but I was in good shape and was headed to the finish line. I want to know at what time the River Rd Bridge was reopened, I hope it was within minutes or there would have been no reason I would have had to have been picked up.
Who ever made the time limit should also have a distance mark that if you are past a certain point no matter the time limit you are safe to finish. I’m sure the person writing the time limit rule does not know what it is like to work so hard for 6hrs only to be robbed of it with 1.5 miles to go. I have worked just as hard as the first place finisher, I’m sure they would agree that being picked up at 24.5 miles is appalling.
Up until the 24.5 mile mark I was having a great race weekend. I had picked up my race kit, walked around the Expo, I even bought a souvenir Manitoba Marathon t-shirt, long sleeve shirt and tank top. I was so happy to be there. My sister-in-law and her husband and I went to the Pasta dinner which was great.
I spent two days after the race in Winnipeg visiting and I can only describe how I felt by saying that if you have ever had anyone die that is close to you and every so often you get an overwhelming feeling of loss, that is how I felt. I felt an overwhelming feeling of loss. I had all the battle scars of the race and no finish. I had chaffing and sore muscles but no medal, I was devastated.
I returned to Thunder Bay
Even to this day I feel a deep sadness at all my hard work I did and nothing to show for it, by nothing that I could have controlled.
I am writing this letter so that this awful scenario does not happen to someone in the future, because it is hard to get over, I’m sure I’ll never forget it.
Here is a shot of my Garmin with the time that I got picked up by the bus and the mileage and a pic my sister in law took at the finish line, notice the time on the clock is the exact time that the bus picked me up.
Check out the times, is that weird or what....Here are a few of my favorite shots,
My sister in law and her husband and I attended the pasta dinner the night before and had a great time.
Here is my glamour shot the morning of the Marathon, I am not a morning girl, I was also trying to keep my nerves in check.
This was the first time I saw my sister in law, she was yelling my name and I was so excited at this point to see someone I knew it was great.
I had been talking about the sponges they handed out in the race the days leading up to the race and here they were, I had not been in race with sponges ( the small things keep me happy) they were my savour from the heat.
My Post Race Party!
Redemption Marathon here I come, Myrtle Beach 2012!
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