Bib Pick-Up
Walked to the Commercourt Running Room on Saturday for bib pick-up. I forgot to go after work on Friday. The tech shirt looks plain but that’s okay. Timing chip would be given out on race day.
Sunday morning
Slow run to the Distillery District (i.e., my warm-up run). Got in 4.11 K and felt good – although it was a tad humid. Arrived with 20 minutes before the race started. Had to ask where the timing chip station was located. Nice to see water and Gatorade available before the race and got both.
Got into the Yellow Corral. The race started promptly at 8 AM. What was particularly noticeable was the potholes in the roads. Had to becareful. The 5 K and 10 milers started together and once we hit the 2.5 K mark, the 5 Ks turned around and then there was much more room to run. I carried a water bottle (like I always do) and got rid of it when I figured out that fluid stations were every 2 K. It was a bit humid and cloudy (with the sun coming out at times).
The race was the latter part of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Full Marathon (although this year will be different). We ran from the Distillery District south on Parliament, then east to Commissioner’s Road and through Tommy Thompson Park. I’ve always run on paved roads so running on rocky trail wasn’t enjoyable. When crossing a bridge, a man behind me nearly tripped and that reminded me to be super careful. I didn’t find running through Tommy Thompson Park all that exciting, although there was a good view of Toronto. Was thrilled to leave the park and make my way back to the distillery district as that meant the race is almost over.
I did a good job with pacing. I kept looking at my Garmin and was successful in not starting too fast (this is something I tend to do) – 6:00 min/K at the beginning and then getting it to 5:30 min/K after getting into a good comfortable pacing. Although I set my Garmin with 15:1, I ignored it as I took a 15 to 20 second break at each fluid station as I drank the Gatorade (first station was water and Gatorade). For the second half of the race, I got the pacing to 5:00 min/K and even went below that. The final K was particularly challenging as I gave everything I could. Good thing it was hot and humid as I didn’t feel all that great after reaching the finish line. The 3 bagels, 3 bananas, and 2 apples certainly helped refuel.
I didn’t know how long is 10 miles … it’s 16.2 K. I thought it was 15 K and was aiming for a finish time of 1H 30M. Turns out, due to the fast 2nd half, that my chip time is 1H 29M 22S, which is 8 minutes better than last year’s chip time in the same race. I placed #859 out of 1724 . My split times were 48:58 and 42:34 (definitely a much faster 2nd half).
And a souvenir wash cloth:
Everything seems to be going as planned! Next race is next month, the 30 K Midsummer Night’s Run. It’ll be through the same route and I hope the night run will be okay – although I’ve heard the course isn’t always paved. That’ll be a good test for the full marathon in late September at the Toronto Waterfront.
YTD = 920.80 K
