I ran a couple times a week but never over 6k. The week of the race I ran once.
So at least this time I just had a goal of running the course and seeing what happened. I didn't expect anything other than a fun time since I always enjoy running this race.
Though maybe not so much this year.
This year they added more runners, and I'm not sure they were fully prepared for it. The race was crowded the whole way. Sure there was points where it was a bit less crowded but there was lots of having to weave throughout the whole course. The first water station had hardly any cups out and people were taking them as the water was pouring at some times(Though the gateroade one had a good amount of cups available). And everyone knows about this issues with the finish line.
(Curious? Read THIS blog here)
All that aside it was a good run. The start was cold and I found a great guy named Conor standing next to me in the corrals who was radiating heat. It took me everything I had to not just start cuddling him. Of course being a mid pack runner I didn't hear any of the start stuff and only noticed the race started because our corral moved up. But then we were off.
The first couple of KMs were just about warming up and taking it easy.
km1- 5:59
km2- 5:55
km3- 6:07
km4- 6:04
One of my favourite parts was that the bands for the first bit were classical bands (is that how you would describe them?) Nothing like seeing a Cello and a couple Violins playing what sounded like a top 40 song.
I hit the first water station that was around 4k. The first two tables were a mess but if you went back a couple tables it was ok. And by this point all of me was warm. But there was still some gusts of wind that was crazy so I kept my homemade (knee socks from the dollarstore cut up) arm sleeves on.
I was a bit worried about how I would feel in the last half of the race since I never went over 6km in the weeks prior.
km5- 5:43
km6- 5:39
km7- 6:11
Hit the second water station around Km7 and grabbed some Gatorade. Actually felt pretty good still and just starting to feel the race. Though I do expect most of that is because the race is net downhill to this point really. Now it got flat and required a bit more effort to keep it up. Took a bit more of walk break just after the water station so I could get rid of my arm warmers. They did a great job and I had them around my wrists but they felt tight so I tossed them next to a garbage bin. At some point I believe in this section I saw a camera
Hey!
Cheese!
km8-5:33
km9- 5:51
km10- 5:34
In the last two Kms it was great seeing lots of people on the side lines cheering. The worst was going along Richmond and all you could smell was bacon. I believe there were a couple of us moaning and drooling at this. Crossing that last bridge just before the last turn was great. Even though at this point my legs were tired I just pushed it and kept it up. Mostly thinking I'll see my boys and be done.
I had told Hubs to be on the left side since its usually less crowded but I couldn't see them. They were on the right side and so we missed each other for the second year in a row.
But of course that didn't matter since I had to come to halt even before the first timing mat. I also stopped my watch at this point. Packed in like sardines we had to walk over the finish line(I was very thankful I wasn't attempting a PB this year). I won't get into the mess of the finishing area, but there wasn't much directions on where to get medals or post race food. I did manage to get both and head back to find my family. Of course the little men stole my medal on the ride out of parking lot.
All in all, I still like this race. Though I am tempted to jump over the Yonge st 10k next year I'll continue to see if they (Jay Glassman mostly) plan on addressing and doing what they can to fix the issues of this years race.
Unofficial time (by my watch)
58:37
According to my bib
Gun Time: 1:05:51
Chip time:1:00:26
SF30-34 1082/2099
Gender: 6406
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