After four winters of living back in Southwestern Ontario I finally got around to running the Around The Bay 30K! ATB’s claim to fame is being the oldest road race in North America and it’s been on my running bucket list for quite a while. Training through a long cold dark winter was rough but the race itself was great.

Pre Race

I spent Saturday in Toronto with Laura doing important pre race activities like shopping at Target and carbo loading with pasta and a bruschetta pizza. We drove into Hamilton on race morning and met up with Steve who had kindly picked up our race bibs the day before. I did not have a time goal going into this race although I thought a finish time around 3:15 was realistic. Steve, Scott and I made our way to the open corral and lined up near the 3:30 pace bunny. Race day weather was cool and just above freezing but there was no rain or snow so there were no complaints from me.

Start – 10K in 1:03:25 (average 6:21 min/km)

During the first few kilometres I tried to let my legs find the pace that they wanted to run. I decided to do a 9/1 run/walk which meant that that occasionally a walk free fast kilometre would bring down my average pace but I wasn’t too concerned. I was mostly just worried about my ITB. The first 10K was nice and flat and passed relatively quickly. Believe it or not, some of the runners ahead of me actually got stuck waiting for a train to cross the course but it was all cleared up by the time I got there.

10K – 20K in 1:04:02 (average 6:24 min/km)

The first part of this third of the race ran along Beach Blvd and up to the Burlington lift bridge. I felt a little twinge in my left knee which caused a bit of panic but it seemed to resolve it self on its own. I hit the half in 1:35:25 feeling pretty good. After the bridge (which is a metal grate and not fun to run over) we kept running north and them made the turn into Burlington and onto North Shore Blvd. I knew that the hills would be starting soon but I hadn’t really memorized the race profile so I just took them as them came. There were a few easy rollers before the 20K mark but nothing too bad. I actually sort of appreciated the change in terrain and let my pace adjust naturally.

20K – 30K in 1:01:02 (average 6:06 min/km)

There were lots of small or medium sized hills at the start of this section. Again I just sort of took them as they came. I did occasionally move a walk break so I could take advantage of the downhill running. Around here I kept passing and then being passed by the 3:15 pace group. They were running continuously so they’d pass me on a walk break and then I’d pass them while I was running. The pace bunny kept talking about the two minutes they’d banked up for the “big hill” which seemed sort of excessive to me but what did I know?

The big hill came just after the 26km marker. It was steep but really it wasn’t that bad. By the time I was half way up nearly everyone was walking so I felt good about the fact that I still had some pep in my step. I took a scheduled walk break just before the 27km mark and decided that I was about ready to be done with this race. Up until that point I’d really been running within myself but after conquering the hill I was ready to call it a day. I kept up a steady pace and when I hit the 28km marker I decided to throw down the hammer. I reasoned the faster I ran the sooner I’d be done! My last two kilometres were by far my fastest at 5:23 and 5:06.

As I was running past Copps Coliseum I saw Laura, Alice and her girls cheering me home. The finish inside Copps was pretty cool although it happened very suddenly. Previous races I’ve run with a stadium finish were all on 400m tracks or football fields so you had a little more time to enjoy the crowd. Nevertheless it was a good experience.

Post Race

After the crossing the finish line on the floor of Copps Coliseum (3:08:27) I quickly picked up my medal and a bag of snacks. Then I went outside and found my friends. My legs were a bit shaky but all in all I was feeling great which was good because it took about another hour for our whole crew to finish and get assembled. Luckily Laura had bought cupcakes.

I’m really happy with how this race went. I definitely did not run as fast as I could but that wasn’t the goal of the day. Also I negative split ATB by over 2 minutes!! I’m quite pleased with this given that all the hills come in the second half of the course.

Sometime back in 2010 I promised my friend Alice that when she was ready to run her first marathon I’d make her a training plan and run the race with her. This race report is my perspective on her first marathon – her version is here. By the way that offer goes out to pretty much all my friends. You want to run your first marathon. I am there! Think about it.

Pre Race

Alice and I drove into Toronto the day before the race and headed to my friend (and number one running supporter, seriously she’s been to 4/6 of my marathons) Laura’s place. From there we headed down to the expo to pick-up our bibs and then to my favourite Toronto vegetarian restaurant for lunch where we feasted on veggie burgers and green tea.

We awoke on race morning to pouring rain and made our way to the start area fairly efficiently. Even though we’d given ourselves lots of time by the time we got from the car, through the porta potty line and into the corral we only had a few minutes to spare before the first wave went off. It was still raining lightly but fortunately we has bought ponchos from the dollar store to keep us dry.

Start – 10K (35:19/35:14 5K splits)

Our goal was to run at an average pace of 7:07 min/km (for a 4:59:59 finish which is equivalent to 5K splits of 35:35) while doing a 6/1 run/walk pattern. Alice’s watch was counting down the run/walk intervals and we used my watch to lap at each km marker and keep us on pace. This part of the course headed north up to Bloor street and then back down south to Lakeshort. Since the marathon and half marathon started simultaneously we were surrounded by runners (although never crowded) and there was good spectator support.

10K – 20K (35:19/35:49 5K splits)

At this point we were running well within ourselves and headed west to the turnaround and then back east towards downtown. The half marathon and marathon courses split somewhere around the 19th km. It got pretty quiet after that point and things started to get a bit more serious. We were doing a good job sticking out our run/walk plan and taking in nutrition (I took a gel every 8km or so and alternated taking water and gatorade from the aid stations).

20K – 30K (35:25/35:33 5K splits)

We hit the half way mark at 2:29:14 proving that I am a pacing ninja! This section of the course was probably my least favourite. It was mostly through light industrial roads with a few out and backs and very few people around. For whatever reason, I’m not a huge fan of out and backs. We kept plodding along and maintaining our goal pace.

30K – 40K (36:01/46:34 5K splits)

The section from 30-35K ran through the Beaches neighbourhood. This was a really nice part of the course with good support and generally friendly motorists. I ended up running anywhere from 5-15m ahead of Alice trying to keep on pace for a 5 hour finish. This was as per our agreement, I would stay on pace and if she wanted me to slow down and give up her goal time she would have to tell me to do so.

You can tell from our splits that the wheels really came off just after the 35K mark. Our split for the 36th km was 9:53. Alice’s legs just didn’t have any more to give. There was stretching, there was walking and there were tears but we just kept making forward progress. I tried to distract Alice with silly stories and we started ignoring the 6/1 run/walk. From here on out we ran when Alice felt she could and then walk when we needed. I was seriously impressed with the race organization in the last five kilometres. We were asked by multiple volunteers on bikes if we were doing OK. We were fine but it was nice to know they were ready to provide support/medical attention to those who needed it.

40K – Finish (18:43 2.2K)

I insisted that once we make the turn north towards the finish that we start running because I felt it was really important that we finish this race strong. We came across the finish line in a chip time of 5:13:56 with smiles on our faces.

Post Race

After the race we met up with Laura and Scott and I called Alice’s husband to let him know he was now married to a marathoner. Then we had to walk back to the car which Alice had completely not factored in her marathon mental plan. I guess I should have warned her the crossing the finish line didn’t mean the day was over yet! Despite the fact that this is the slowest marathon I’ve ever run it was a lot of fun pacing Alice and totally taking the pressure by having no personal time goals. To top off the day we got to feast on marathon celebration cupcakes baked and personalized for us by Laura!

Early on in the process of moving back to Waterloo last year I did a web search for running races in the area. I came across the Run for the Toad website and knew that eventually I would have to do this race. Last year the timing didn’t work for me but this year with a planned marathon in November (instead of October) it fit in perfectly. The Toad is something else. It’s Canada’s largest trail race (1350 participants) and was named the number one must-do trail race by Canadian Running magazine.

Going into the race I had absolutely no time goal. It was technically a rest week in my marathon training program so my plan was to treat this race as a catered long run. My trail specific training mostly consisted of reading the trail sections of Runner’s World and Canadian Running magazines in the week leading up to the race. Taking all of that into account I came up with the list of the following three goals:

• Goal #1: Do not sprain or break my ankle or sustain any other major injury,
• Goal #2: Have fun,
• Goal #3: Start slow and attempt to negative split the course.

Pre Race

Around 9pm on Friday night I thought it would probably be a good idea to pack for the race. I basically picked one of every type of running clothing that I had and decided to make a game time wardrobe decision. On Saturday morning I woke up at 6am, ate some oatmeal and hit the road for the 45 minute drive down to Pinehurst Lake Conservation Area. My initial inclination had been to arrive at 6:30 when packet pick-up opened but in the end I managed to talk myself down to a 7:15 arrival.  As a side note: my 7:15 arrival got me into the closest parking lot. Some runners who arrived later faced up to a 10-15 minute walk between their cars and the start/finish area.

I picked up my packet and race goodies and wandered around the aptly named tent city checking things out. I especially enjoyed the free Timmy’s coffee which I had with my banana and PB.  The sun rise was a gorgeous shade of red and we were treated to a beautiful rainbow over Kettle Lake. Minutes after the photo below was taken light rain started to fall and continued on and off for the rest of the morning. With the rain, I settled on wearing shorts, a short sleeve shirt, arm sleeves and a running vest. The pre race ceremonies started at 8:45 am with the race start at 9:30 am. I lined up about 75% of the way towards the back of the pack and felt ready to take on the challenge of the day.

The Race

The course is a 12.5km loop through the Pinehurst Lake Conservation Area. As a 25km runner I did the loop twice. I wore my Garmin but shut off auto lap and resolved not to monitor my time or pace and to run solely by feel. I did however hit the lap button at the 5, 10 and 12.5 km points of each loop so I could do some retrospective data analysis.

Loop #1 1:24:50 (35:04/33:26/16:20)

There was a bottleneck about 500m into the race as we had to shuffle along while everyone walked up the first significant incline. After that the course opened up and there weren’t really any major congestion issues. The first 2km were mostly on pavement and then we headed onto the trails in the Pine Forest. It was awesome to finally be running on trail! Although the trails were not very technical I kept focused on taking shorter steps and trying plan a course that would avoid potential ankle spraining roots and rocks. I hit the first 5km feeling awesome.

The next section brought us through the Grasshopper Meadow into the Carolinian Forest. The Meadow section was pretty easy but the trails in the forest were a little more technical. I kept walking the uphills and reminding myself to save it for the second lap. During the last kilometer of the first loop I was passed by the 25km race winner. He was flying!

Loop #2 1:22:26 (33:31/33:15/15:40)

I took a gel at the aid station immediately after recrossing the start line. Other than gatorade from the aid stations this was the only nutrition I took in. I also didn’t carry any of my own fluids which worked out fine since there were four aid stations per loop. I continued to walk up the major inclines but as the kilometers clicked away I ran more and walked less. I felt like I was consistently passing the runners in front of me and I was still feeling strong but I kept holding back a bit because I didn’t want the wheels to fall off.

At about the 8km point of the second loop the rain really started to pick up. The trail conditions had deteriorated and in sections I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Because it was a loop course by the time I was on my second loop 1,800 pairs of feet had run over trails before me. I’m not sure but having trail shoes might have helped with traction. My mantra for this section was “this is runnable” which I kept repeating to myself as I negotiated the slightly more technical conditions.

The biggest hill on the course comes just after the 11km mark of each loop. It’s short but steep. The second time around I was concerned that it would be dangerously slippery but I made it up with just a bit of side stepping. After I hit the top I knew it was pretty much clear sailing to the finish line. I estimate I passed 10-15 runners in the last 1.5km alone. After I passed the 12km marker (24.5km) I really turned on the jets. Fortunately the final 500m was on pavement and dry trails so I was actually able to run strong through the finish.

Post Race

After crossing the finish line I got my medal, some water and a chocolate chip cookie. One of the things The Toad is known for is the catered post race dinner. Even though I was soaked through I decided to follow the crowd and just go straight ahead and have lunch instead of taking the time to get changed into dry clothes. This ended up being a good decision for me since as time progressed the lunch line just got longer and longer. Lunch was delicious and even though I didn’t feel super hungry I absolutely devoured it. I think my body was craving the calories even if my stomach wasn’t. After lunch I went back to the finish line to see the 50km winner finish (a woman won the race outright) and grab another hot coffee for the drive home.

Looking back at the data I’m happy to see that each of my splits in the second loop were faster than the first loop. Mission accomplished. I seem to have recovered quite well from the race and I’m ready to dive back into to marathon training. I’d definitely like to do this race again next year. I’m not sure I’m up for attempting the 50km but maybe someday…

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.

Pre Race

Laura and I picked up our race bibs on Saturday morning and spent a few hours jetting around the city doing some shopping. We took things easy in the afternoon, had a delicious dinner of homemade (although not by us) pasta and then spent the evening watching a movie. On Sunday morning we woke up at 5:45am, ate breakfast and took the TTC to Yonge and Eglington. We walked up past the start line to drop off our bag, did a short warm-up jog and then parted ways at the entrance to our corrals.

The weather reports had been calling for thunderstorms and a 90% POP. It was a warm 18C and humid but mercilessly the rain held off for the most part.

My primary goal for this race was to set a new personal best. That meant running faster than 54:02, my time from my only pervious 10k: the 2006 Dawg Dash. My pie-in-the-sky goal was to go sub 50:00. Just before the race started I decided to throw caution to the wind and try to run 5:00 min/km for as long as I could and see what would happen.

The Race

Despite the fact that the race has a large net downhill (87m or 285ft) there are sill several uphill sections particularly in the first half. I had to do a bit of jockeying for position during the first kilometer but eventually settled into my goal pace. Actually I threw down some ridiculously consistent splits during the first 5k. The were all between 4:55 and 5:03. I hit the 5k in 24:57. I was feeling good but not great at this point and knew I had no room to slow down if I wanted to break 50:00.

During the second half of the race I had to really concentrate on running the kilometer I was in and not worrying about how far it was to the finish. I held things together through the seventh kilometer and then I started to fade. The eighth and ninth kilometers came in at 5:11 and 5:09, respectively. I figured that put me about 20 seconds behind and I’d have to try and make it up in the last kilometer. I turned on the jets with about 750m to go and then really sprinted the last 200m. I knew I had to give it everything I had left because I would be upset if I barely missed making my goal. I hit my watch after crossing the timing mats and felt like I might fall over. When I looked at my watch it read 50:00.21 so I was pretty certain I’d broken 50:00 by chip time. Yippee!

Post Race

I got my medal, some food and drink and then picked up my checked bag. Laura and I met up at our appointed meeting spot and then made the trek up her her condo via TTC. It was sort of cool that even though we kept getting further away from the finish line we kept seeing people on the streets with their medals around their necks.

Data

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                 Cumulative    Cumulative    5Km
Km     Split        Time         Pace       Split
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 1    04:58.5    0:04:58.5     04:58.5
 2    04:58.8    0:09:57.4     04:58.7
 3    05:02.3    0:14:59.7     04:59.9
 4    04:54.5    0:19:54.1     04:58.5
 5    05:02.5    0:24:56.6     04:59.3     24:56.6
 6    04:58.0    0:29:54.6     04:59.1
 7    05:01.1    0:34:55.7     04:59.4
 8    05:11.3    0:40:07.0     05:00.9
 9    05:09.4    0:45:16.3     05:01.8
10    04:39.8    0:49:56.1     04:59.6     24:59.5
      49:56.1
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Overall place:  2670/11913 (77th percentile)
Gender place:   648/6684   (90th percentile)
Division place: 138/1221   (88th percentile)