Right off the bat, I knew I was going way too fast (what happened to the LSD??). It was downhill and I wish I had my heart rate monitor. Good thing my Garmin 305 was working properly as I had a problem with it after recharging it a few days ago -- it wouldn't turn on. I enjoyed the downhill decline and I remembered to shorten my stride. The one big uphill I walked it as I wasn't going to injure myself with 1 week until the Mississauga half marathon. Lots of downhills before the route became flat. It was indeed a fast race, passing Eglinton, St. Clair, Dupont, Bloor, College, Dundas, Queen, and then a turn on Adelaide, south on Sherbourne, before heading to the finish line by running under the Gardiner Expressway. The 1 minute breaks did arrive quickly (no complaints!). Also took brief walk breaks at the Gatorade stops -- the Gatorade tasted great! For the final minute walk break, I ran it since I was only a couple of minutes from the finish line. My chip time is 1H 06M 29.1S; gun time is 1H 13M 44.7S. I placed 7229/8590 overall; 3592/3895 according to gender and 550/586 according to age.
Overall, a great race! There were a total of 8590 runners and walkers. It's great that the walkers had separate results and bibs. I saw many power walkers and they looked strong. At times, it was crowded running -- especially heading south on Sherbourne. The wait for time chip removal was once again awful (and dangerous) as movement was practically a standstill. Most racers got their time chip removed at the first 2 stations. The last few stations had a time chip collection totally less than the number of fingers on 2 hands. The good news is the finisher's medal is amazing! So different from last year and I like the raised engraving. I picked up a complementary copy of the new magazine, Canadian Running, with the "Joggler" as the editor-in-chief. Some bed time reading! Had 3 apples, 2 bagels, and multi-grain cheerios as post-food.
Rest day tomorrow. Maybe a very slow run on Tuesday or more rest (but definitely a maintenance run on Thursday). I will try to remember to wear my heart rate monitor for the half marathon in Mississauga next Sunday. I will be going slowly since it's an endurance race of 21.1K (cannot go at the pace I did today). I'm also looking forward to the expo on Friday after work -- I'll have to leave work early to beat the traffic.
