Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon

I ran my 5th marathon yesterday, my second STWM. Last year I did the death march and was determined to not do that again.

There was confusion at the start of the race. Was on the wrong side of the road to get to corral so had to walk a block at least and around the bottom to get into the blue corral. Didn't actually get in it...was too crowded and was behind it, behind the gate. When the crowd moved up, I was basically moved along into the corral by the crowd. Felt like a cow...

The race started and it was hard to get a clear path for some time. Also had to use the washroom again....quickly. I ran the first few k's looking for a place to go (port-o-potty or business) but nothing...So at 7K I spotted the Fleet Street Lighthouse and just past it, a bunch of bushes. So there I went...I figured hey, men do it all the time so why not...ducked in with thousands of people running past.

On with the race....finally settled into a pace of 5:28/km and held it for quite some time. Felt great through the half running it in 1:56:18. Ran the 30K in 2:45:45 which I think is my fastest. After that started to get a little uncomfortable. Had a wicked pain in my mid back (diaphragm I think), lower back pain and terrible pain in my hips. Made for a tough run...but kept running. Was determined not to walk.

Made the turn around in the Beaches and bam what a headwind...smack right in the face. I thought oh crap. I used every argument in my head to stop and walk and it was quite the battle going on in there. But I kept running. The pace had slowed down to about 5:30 and then to 5:31. My goal was to keep it below 5:34 which I thought would get me a PB and a 3:55 for my second BQ and first under the new standards.

Kept running and running and the last 2.5k were pretty brutal (took me about 13 minutes I believe) and I crossed the line with an average pace of 5:32/km....funny though, the overall time was 3:55:03.7....4 seconds too slow for a BQ. However I was surprised because I thought anything better than an average of 5:34 would get me the time...guess not. Guess the first km pace on the pace band is not sufficient to carry you through. Guess it's the last .2 km and all the extra mileage (my watch read I did 42.48 km) messed me up. I didn't have a pace band for 3:55 only for 3:50 (which was my A goal), so only wrote down the pace...but it wasn't right.

Oh well...still very pleased with the result...especially the fact that I didn't walk...it took everything in me not to as I really wanted to...and for that I'm proud. I'm in for 2012 Boston, and won't run it again, so the BQ was really just to make the standard not to get in (thank goodness or I really would have been sad).

It was a tough day for racing (the last 8K), but a great race. Was able to see the elite's on course, Mr. Singh and was thrilled to hear how well Ed Whitlock did.

I came home and watched the race and it was quite exciting to watch. Reid Coolsaet did awesome (and had to take a bathroom break too according to his coach's comments on the live coverage...hmmmm). Congrats to Eric Gillis with a Olympic qualifying run....wow the stress, crossing with one second to spare!

When interviewed it was a relief to hear all the elite's complain about the wind too, made me feel like less of a whiner....

Here are my official stats:

Chip Time: 3:55:03.7
Overall Placement: 1511/3955
Category Placement (w45-49): 47/182 (love this)
Gender Placement: 331/1400