I need to find a port-o-potty – and pronto.

My nerves have kicked in. I wasn’t supposed to be running in the Goodlife Fitness Victoria half-marathon. I signed up months ago but I decided not to run because of the huge hole in my wallet.

My pal, Audrey Cann, planned to drive to Victoria and sleep on her yacht (it’s yours for a reasonable offer ) in the inner harbor. I couldn’t resist her invitation.

Because the race was so last-minute, I hadn’t set any personal goals.

Sure it would feel great to hit that sub two-hour mark but I wasn’t counting on it.

I wasn’t convinced my present running schedule would be enough to shave the minutes off my PR time (2 hours, 56 seconds).

Founding the 13 Mile and Higher Club (with Lana Blais Venier), has improved my endurance. My pace, on the other hand, is pretty much at a stalemate. Working on my speed hasn’t been a priority.

Looking around at my fellow runners, I knew I had it in me to run the 21k without too many tears.

I convinced myself the race would be just another Sunday long run with the core 13 Mile group (Lana, Ashley Davidson, Tammy Twelvetree).

Except this time, there wasn’t a hell of a lot of elbow room. I started off in an easy jog. I was determined not to burn out in the first hour. That has been my track record. High on adrenaline, I typically take off like a bat out of hell.

If you ask just about any Grande Prairie runner who races, chances are he or she has raced Victoria. I can’t count the number of runners who have said to put Victoria on my running bucket list.

I was truly looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was all about.

The course started at the B.C. Legislature in downtown Victoria. It wound its way through the city streets to a few neighbourhoods around the coast, through some other neighbourhoods, and back along the coast to finish back in front of the Legislature.

I gazed at the Royal London Wax Museum, Ogden Point, Olympic Mountain Range, a Terry Fox statue and Beacon Hill Park. I played tourist for the first 10k.

Victoria is so picture postcard beautiful. In my running-induced daydream, I had quit my job and was selling seashells on the seashore.

What a runner’s paradise.

When I hit the 7k mark, I could smell the ocean. At 9k, I could see it.

I crossed the timing mat at 10k. I glanced at my Garmin. I was at 57 minutes. I decided to pick up the pace. I was feeling good. I made a quick decision to push to the line in under two hours. Must have been the ocean air.

A lot can happen in 11 kilometres. I continued to monitor my Garmin. I didn’t want to run too fast or too slow.

My biggest obstacle has always been my confidence in myself. I have always put in the work but something always holds me back from pushing harder. In Red Deer, I literally gave up at the 18k mark. I held a good pace throughout the race but in the end I quit. We all have our reasons for running and I want to push my limits.

Before I left Grande Prairie, my friend Terri McLean chided me firmly and gave some tough running love. She told me to buck up, get over myself and just do it.

After my tears had dried, I thought, ‘yeah you’re right. I should toughen up.’

I had to dig deep to keep running without stopping. A steep hill and strong wind around the 16k mark tested my resolve.

I knew the last few kilometres would be my biggest test mentally. A fellow Death Racer from Edmonton ran up beside me. (I wore my Death Race shirt so I heard the Death Race mantra plenty). We chatted about the Death Race and Victoria.

I think that conversation alone kept me in the race. Before I knew it, there were only 400 to go.

I crossed the finish line with a smile and my arms held high.

The clock read 2:01 something. Are you kidding me?

I claimed my bag, grabbed my BlackBerry and began to text a few people. I asked my guy pal in Grande Prairie to look up my time on the race site.

My chip time was 1:59:33. I will take it.

For me, the race wasn’t about setting a new PR but getting over my mental hurdles and self-sabotage. I think I am finally there.

Audrey had a great race and surpassed her 2:15 goal by coming in at 2:14:11. Landon Dunbar was the fastest Grande Prairie runner, crossing the line at 1:28:03, followed by Leonard Scharbach at 1:29:54 and Duane Stevenson in at 1:36:54.

On a side note, Lorna McNeil and I apparently ran the same race but in different cities. The six-time Ironman finisher breezed through the BMO Okanagan half marathon held on the same day as my race. Lorna finished in 1:59:53 Call it “maritime kinship.”

Also in Kelowna, Robert Carroll clocked his marathon at 3:19. He gunned for 3:10 but stopped for a McDonald’s Happy Meal along the route, which explains the nine minutes.