Goodlife Toronto Marathon - BQ or Bust
Posted: Fri May 06, 2016 9:03 pm
The backstory...
Since I started running (for the sake of running!) almost 10 years ago, the Boston Marathon has held that allure for me - something I hoped to maybe, someday, do - if I got fast enough, or old enough. I ran my first marathon in 2007 in 4:15, and have slowly worked that time down, running a 3:49 in 2012 after my daughter was born. That 3:40:59 BQ was starting to feel like it might be in striking distance, when they went and took away five minutes, plus the buffer needed to get in these days, it seemed just too far out of reach. Last spring though, I had a break-through marathon, coming back after my second baby and ran 3:35:52. I was so close, I could almost taste it.
The training...
I had a great training cycle over the always tough Ottawa winter, again following a New York Road Runners plan. My training partner qualified for Boston last year (she's two age groups up from me), so I chose an early May race to line up our training timing and to hopefully have cooler temperatures than Ottawa race weekend (more to come on those cooler temps!). This was my 6th marathon, but my first trained for while being a working parent - the juggling act of two kids, a husband who travels out of town for work, and starting a new job in February was the hardest part to handle. I did almost all of my week day running during run commutes - my trip is about 7.5 km each way. I incorporated tempos and intervals into my morning runs, ran doubles a couple of times a week, and did some faster race-pace running on days I was late to pick up my kids! Saturday mornings meant early long runs - cold temperatures, slippery footing, ice and snow, but having a buddy for those made them the highlights of my week.
The race...
I traveled down to Toronto solo on the train and stayed at the host hotel. If you do this race, I highly recommend this option - easy to take the shuttle to the expo as well as to the start line. I even manged to read an entire book on the train - The Illegal - turns out, the woman next to me on the train was also traveling for the race and reading the same (running themed) book! After a brief trip to the expo, I grabbed a thin crust pizza for dinner and watched The Spirit of the Marathon in my hotel room before turning in early.
The next morning we woke to the forecasted wind and rain.
I didn't have to worry about hot sunny temperatures! After obsessing over outfits, I landed on capris, short-sleeved T, smartwool socks and arm warmers, plus the new visor I'd picked up at the expo. I boarded the bus and made friends with the woman sitting next to me - we ended up chatting the whole way there and hung out before the race. It was a great way to shake off the nerves - this was my first time going to a big race by myself, so it was a lovely distraction. We were able to go into the municipal building to use the bathrooms and stay out of the rain which was really nice. I ate a banana around half an hour before the start (since I'd eaten breakfast about 2 hours pre-race) plus a gel as we headed to the start. I bonked last year and wanted to try and fuel better this time around. I found the 3:30 bunny and soon it was go time.
I knew this race would be a bit tricky to pace - lots of down hill to start. Our bunny told us he would bank some time in the first half, and we had a good chatty group. I ended up chatting with a woman wearing a Another Mother Runner shirt, a company who do books, clothes, a blog and a podcast I love. She had just run Boston two weeks earlier and decided to the race on a whim Saturday night. Again, we hit it off and ended up running together for the next 2+ hours! It was just like being out for a Saturday morning run with my friends. The sub-5 minute kilometres clicked by as we ran through the city, trying not to get too far ahead of the bunny. We passed the half way mark around 90 second ahead of pace, which was just where I wanted to be. I was feeling fabulous! We saw a friend of mine from Ottawa who had come down to cheer and I was all smiles.
At the 26-27 km mark, you head along the lake shore path, past the finish area. It's hard to know there's so much left to go, but I was still feeling great...until I got a wicked cramp in my left hamstring. It was so surprising I didn't even want to mention it to my new running buddy, but I thought I might be done. I took one of my extra salted gels to try and help, and some kind strangers were giving out coke, which was just the distraction and magic fuel I needed. I was starting to tire and really looking for that turn around point. Around the 32 km mark, I could tell my running buddy was fading and she encouraged me to go ahead.
Finally we hit the turn around - and were greet with a wall of wind and rain. Those last 7 km were the hardest I've ever faced in a race. It was "put your head down to keep from blowing over" rain. Just miserable. Around km 35-36, I slowed by 10-15 seconds. I felt like giving up, when a girl ran by pacing a friend and blocking the wind for her, and told me to hop on their train. I tucked myself in behind them, and told myself I would stick with them at the faster pace until the hill around 40 km to at least get the wind blocking. This was SOOOOO hard! But I kept it up, and made it up the hill, and passed them as the friend started to fade. Everything hurt. I was exhausted. But marathon math told me I was close, oh so close.
The finish line is a right hand turn that's obstructed, so you can't quite tell how far you have to go...that last stretch seemed to last forever. Finally, I turned the corner and saw the clock. I'd made it.
Final time - 3:29:18.7 - BQ by 5:21 and a PB of 6.5 minutes
And yes, there were tears
(The not so good part...the finish of this race was terrible. No blankets on a freezing wet day, no bottles of plain water, no signs directing us to the shuttle buses and no one who knew where they were. If it weren't for my friend who met me with an extra rain jacket and helped to guide me way out of the way to the buses while I shivered like crazy, I'd probably still be curled up in a puddle crying somewhere)
Since I started running (for the sake of running!) almost 10 years ago, the Boston Marathon has held that allure for me - something I hoped to maybe, someday, do - if I got fast enough, or old enough. I ran my first marathon in 2007 in 4:15, and have slowly worked that time down, running a 3:49 in 2012 after my daughter was born. That 3:40:59 BQ was starting to feel like it might be in striking distance, when they went and took away five minutes, plus the buffer needed to get in these days, it seemed just too far out of reach. Last spring though, I had a break-through marathon, coming back after my second baby and ran 3:35:52. I was so close, I could almost taste it.
The training...
I had a great training cycle over the always tough Ottawa winter, again following a New York Road Runners plan. My training partner qualified for Boston last year (she's two age groups up from me), so I chose an early May race to line up our training timing and to hopefully have cooler temperatures than Ottawa race weekend (more to come on those cooler temps!). This was my 6th marathon, but my first trained for while being a working parent - the juggling act of two kids, a husband who travels out of town for work, and starting a new job in February was the hardest part to handle. I did almost all of my week day running during run commutes - my trip is about 7.5 km each way. I incorporated tempos and intervals into my morning runs, ran doubles a couple of times a week, and did some faster race-pace running on days I was late to pick up my kids! Saturday mornings meant early long runs - cold temperatures, slippery footing, ice and snow, but having a buddy for those made them the highlights of my week.
The race...
I traveled down to Toronto solo on the train and stayed at the host hotel. If you do this race, I highly recommend this option - easy to take the shuttle to the expo as well as to the start line. I even manged to read an entire book on the train - The Illegal - turns out, the woman next to me on the train was also traveling for the race and reading the same (running themed) book! After a brief trip to the expo, I grabbed a thin crust pizza for dinner and watched The Spirit of the Marathon in my hotel room before turning in early.
The next morning we woke to the forecasted wind and rain.
I didn't have to worry about hot sunny temperatures! After obsessing over outfits, I landed on capris, short-sleeved T, smartwool socks and arm warmers, plus the new visor I'd picked up at the expo. I boarded the bus and made friends with the woman sitting next to me - we ended up chatting the whole way there and hung out before the race. It was a great way to shake off the nerves - this was my first time going to a big race by myself, so it was a lovely distraction. We were able to go into the municipal building to use the bathrooms and stay out of the rain which was really nice. I ate a banana around half an hour before the start (since I'd eaten breakfast about 2 hours pre-race) plus a gel as we headed to the start. I bonked last year and wanted to try and fuel better this time around. I found the 3:30 bunny and soon it was go time.I knew this race would be a bit tricky to pace - lots of down hill to start. Our bunny told us he would bank some time in the first half, and we had a good chatty group. I ended up chatting with a woman wearing a Another Mother Runner shirt, a company who do books, clothes, a blog and a podcast I love. She had just run Boston two weeks earlier and decided to the race on a whim Saturday night. Again, we hit it off and ended up running together for the next 2+ hours! It was just like being out for a Saturday morning run with my friends. The sub-5 minute kilometres clicked by as we ran through the city, trying not to get too far ahead of the bunny. We passed the half way mark around 90 second ahead of pace, which was just where I wanted to be. I was feeling fabulous! We saw a friend of mine from Ottawa who had come down to cheer and I was all smiles.
At the 26-27 km mark, you head along the lake shore path, past the finish area. It's hard to know there's so much left to go, but I was still feeling great...until I got a wicked cramp in my left hamstring. It was so surprising I didn't even want to mention it to my new running buddy, but I thought I might be done. I took one of my extra salted gels to try and help, and some kind strangers were giving out coke, which was just the distraction and magic fuel I needed. I was starting to tire and really looking for that turn around point. Around the 32 km mark, I could tell my running buddy was fading and she encouraged me to go ahead.
Finally we hit the turn around - and were greet with a wall of wind and rain. Those last 7 km were the hardest I've ever faced in a race. It was "put your head down to keep from blowing over" rain. Just miserable. Around km 35-36, I slowed by 10-15 seconds. I felt like giving up, when a girl ran by pacing a friend and blocking the wind for her, and told me to hop on their train. I tucked myself in behind them, and told myself I would stick with them at the faster pace until the hill around 40 km to at least get the wind blocking. This was SOOOOO hard! But I kept it up, and made it up the hill, and passed them as the friend started to fade. Everything hurt. I was exhausted. But marathon math told me I was close, oh so close.
The finish line is a right hand turn that's obstructed, so you can't quite tell how far you have to go...that last stretch seemed to last forever. Finally, I turned the corner and saw the clock. I'd made it.
Final time - 3:29:18.7 - BQ by 5:21 and a PB of 6.5 minutes
And yes, there were tears
(The not so good part...the finish of this race was terrible. No blankets on a freezing wet day, no bottles of plain water, no signs directing us to the shuttle buses and no one who knew where they were. If it weren't for my friend who met me with an extra rain jacket and helped to guide me way out of the way to the buses while I shivered like crazy, I'd probably still be curled up in a puddle crying somewhere)
You BQed like you meant it!!!! And that PB? Monster!
).
