My friend Laura and I registered for this race back in October after receiving a brochure for it at the Toronto Marathon Expo. It’s a good thing we did because the half filled up months ago with a cap of only 1,500 runners. My plan for this race was to run with Laura, have a blast and help her finish in the best time possible. We made the agreement that she was allowed to hate me during the last 5km if I tired to push her.

The days leading up to the race had been relatively hot and unfortunately the heat did not break before the race. It was sunny and around 20C at the start of the race and rose maybe 5C while we were running. Although the course was shaded and breezy in parts we were predominantly running in full sun. The heat started affecting us around the 5km mark and once we got to 10km it was clear the the goal of the day was just to finish the race. At about 14km we switched from a 9/1 run/walk ratio to 4/1.

I have never had more to drink during a half marathon. I carried 600mL of water with me and I took at least one cup or gatorade and/or water at each of the six water stations plus I had my bottle refiled once. I also consumed two gels and a Cadbury 100 calorie chocolate bar. That’s right, I ate a chocolate bar during the race! Hey, if they’re going to put out a chocolate station (I loved the sign “Attention Chocolate Ahead”) I am going to partake.

In the end we finished in 2:42:14, a time which was severely influenced by the heat. It’s a minor miracle that neither of us ended up dehydrated or sunburnt. I seemed to bounce back quite well from this race which I consider to be a positive sign for the Goofy challenge. I’m not saying I felt ready to run a full marathon when I woke up on Monday morning but I did feel like I could have gone for a run had it been on my schedule.