The seventh fastest female at the Los Angeles Marathon surprised herself with a personal best time.
“It was a huge shock actually. I didn't expect it at all,” said Ailsa MacDonald, the first Canadian female finisher at two hours, 48 minutes and 15 seconds. “It was a great feeling.”
The 32-year-old Imperial Oil plant operator from St. Albert set her sights on breaking three hours in the eighth marathon of her career.
“I knew I was capable of a sub-three (hour) marathon, but I wasn't sure if this was going to be the race,” MacDonald said. “I would’ve been real happy just to come in at three hours, or two hours and 59 minutes would’ve been perfect, but I thought if all the stars aligned and I was running the very best I possibly could run I would come in at 2:56. That would be the absolute best I could do so when I saw the clock at 2:48 I was flabbergasted. I had no idea. It was even better than my half marathon pace.”
Less than ideal winter running conditions actually worked to MacDonald’s advantage.
“I felt good. I was fueled well and I had plenty of rest before the race,” said the 51st overall finisher in Los Angeles. “I had done a lot of cross training and that was the key; a lot of strength training and fitness classes. It was all kind of supplementing the running because the conditions we had over the winter. It was really, really difficult to train and I was doing other things, which in turn made me stronger, plus I think running in the snow made me stronger.”
Bathed in perfect weather conditions on St. Patrick's Day (“about 16 degrees and not a breeze until the end”), MacDonald was literally walking on sunshine.
“I most definitely was in a zone and it’s a feeling of elation. You feel like you’re floating,” said the top runner in her 30 to 34 age group and the first non-elite female to go the distance.
MacDonald's last marathon was the Seattle Rock ’n’ Roll on June 23, a 3:03:18 effort to win her age group as the fifth best female for 49th place overall.
“I registered with my Seattle time so I was at the beginning of the pack (in the start corral) and I didn't really have to deal with a lot of congestion. I had plenty of space. I didn’t have to weave in and out of people.”
The endurance runner is also an accomplished age-group triathlete who will compete in the 2013 ITU World Cup in Edmonton.
“I love exercise in general really. I race marathons and half marathons and I do triathlons as well. I think I’m built for endurance,” she said. “I love the challenge of the marathon. I would never go out and do a 42 K training run so I like it because it gives you that extra little bit of challenge compared to what I would normally do for a long run.
“I’ve also been getting better at it and that really inspires me because now my times are getting faster and I’m placing. It’s really motivating.”
Among last year’s accomplishments was winning the second annual Spring Thaw half marathon in Edmonton at 1:29:16. And MacDonald was the female winner of the Red Deer half marathon at 1:25:09 for eighth place overall. MacDonald finished three places ahead of Shannon Maisano of St. Albert, the female runner-up at 1:26:51.
MacDonald’s 2011 feats included a time of 1:31:09 as the inaugural Leading Edge RunWild half-marathon female winner for eighth place overall out of 541 finishers in St. Albert, placed 12th overall as the fifth-fastest female at 2:27:57 at the Lake Summerside Olympic-distance triathlon in Edmonton, completed the Edmonton half-marathon in 1:25:56 as the second fastest female in her 30 to 39 age group for 27th place overall and was the No. 1 female at the Calgary Marathon at 3:13:31 for 44th place overall.
At the 2010 Boston Marathon, MacDonald placed 78th in the 25 to 29 age group as the 252nd fastest female for 3,003rd place overall at 3:12:10.
In 2009 MacDonald was the top female at the Las Vegas Red Rock Canyon Marathon at 3:44:15 and placed second at the Regina Queen City Marathon at 3:18.
Other noteworthy career highlights was qualifying as an elite for the Edmonton half marathon at 1:25:50 and achieved a 3:05 time at the Toronto Marathon.
The upcoming race schedule for MacDonald includes the Calgary Police Half Marathon on April 28, the Run Wild 10 km event May 5, the World Cup Olympic-distance triathlon June 23 at Hawrelak Park, Calgary Half Ironman on July 28 and the Edmonton Marathon on Aug. 25.
“I race as much as I can and as much as my work schedule allows me to. I love it,” said MacDonald, who works at the Kearl oilsands project north of Fort McMurray. “It all started definitely in high school (in Bridgewater, N.S.). I played everything and I always did well so it always kept me motivated to do even better.”
