Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Recap

I've finally decided to sit and write my Scotiabank Half Marathon recap (what better way to use my sick day)!

I knew that my weekend was going to be busy. I went to go see Wicked with some co-workers on the Friday and had to go to the Expo to pick up my packet on Saturday, so I mentioned to my husband that it might be a good time to go visit his parents since they'll be able to help him out while I'm away all weekend.

 

My race plan going in was to run the entire race and allow myself to walk through the water stations so that I could take my fill of fluid, but also not spill any and I was aiming for a time around 2:30.

 

I took advantage of the solo time and stayed at my sister's place in Toronto on Saturday night so that it was less stressful to get up and to the race on time. I took the train since all the streets would be closed on the way home. It made life 1000 times easier!

 

 

I stupidly forgot to check the weather before I left my house on Saturday morning and realized that I wasn't going to be prepared for the cold temperatures that I'll be standing in while waiting for the race. I decided to stop and get a bagel along the way and instead of walking and eating it, I decided that I'd sit inside the Starbucks and stay warm. Knowing I was in the purple corral (the last corral), I had plenty of time to get to the start line. The race started at 8:45, but my corral wouldn't get through the start line at 9:05. So I wasn't too rushed. I stopped at the port-a-potties, saw the elites get rushed out of their warm waiting spot and to the front of the start line and then walked to the back of my corral.

 

I found a spot, around the middle of the corral. I was looking for the 2:30 pace bunnies (which  was the time I was aiming for) and didn't see them so I figured I was way behind them. Turns out, I was ahead of them.

 

We slowly shuffled our way to the start line and eventually started the slow run. Then things started to spread out a bit. I heard one guy yell out, "You're almost done, just a few more kilometers to go" and I immediately started laughing.

 

About 3 k in, I found the 2:30 pace bunnies who came up from behind me. I stayed with them for a good chunk of time and was really pleased with myself.



Honest Ed's (which is the building on the medal)

 

Around kilometer 6 or 7, I found my friend Lisa, who was doing 5:1 and I stayed with her until she did her walking. At the 10 K marker (which had a clock available), I was running 1:15, which was exactly where I was hoping to be.

 

That's where things started to go wrong. My asthma hit and I had stupidly forgotten to bring my puffer with me so not only did I not get to take it before the race, I wasn't able to take it during the race when the asthma attack hit. Instead, I had to walk and cough it out. I ended up waiting for a port-a-potty for awhile because once I start coughing, the bathroom becomes an immediate priority.

 

Darn bathroom line ate up a good chunk of my time!

I managed to fight off the asthma attack by about 15 kilometers, but by then my time was just ruined and my body was just exhausted from coughing. I completely threw in the towel and adjusted my plan to running until a certain point, walking to a certain point and then running again.

 

Lisa had passed me while I was in the bathroom line and I caught up to her again around 20K. I ran with her and her friend until about 400 meters to go. My mind kicked into track mode (thank you track workouts) and I immediately pictured myself running the track. 400 meteres, 1 lap. 200 meters, half  lap! I pushed myself to the finish line from there.

 

My time was 2:52:33. Not happy. I actually subtract about 7 minutes because of the bathroom waiting line.

 

I was hoping to better my Niagara Falls Half Marathon time from the previous year of 2:39, but clearly that wasn't happening.

 

Clearly, I'm blaming my asthma!

 

Once I was done, I decided that I hated running and that I wasn't going to do any long distance runs until next fall...if I did any.



If I didn't love to eat such bad food, I wouldn't have to run.

 

It's amazing how quickly that hatred disappears and you're ready to do it all over again.


Not sure when my next long race will be, but definitely not during the winter. Maybe it'll be Scotia again next year and I'll be hoping for a much better outcome.