Sporting Life 10k Toronto

"I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we're all cowards."
-Alberto Salazar, three-time winner of the NYC marathon 

I've officially survived another race.  This one somehow seems like a bigger deal to me.  I guess training for one race in one season is one thing, but having the gumption/insanity to run a second race is something much bigger I think!

My morning started at about 4:00am as usual.  One of the joys of waking up so early naturally is that I'm not tired on race day.  For breakfast I managed to choke down a piece of toast with peanut butter.  Bananas are still unripe due to poor planning on my part, so I took along an apple for the road.

All the busses were packed with other runners, it was all very exciting.  I also was proud to be wearing my bib with a blue stripe on it.  The blue corral is the fastest non-elite corral. 

I arrived at the start by about 7:20am, and decided I had time to either find a washroom, or check out the elites.  I made the right choice and found a washroom.  Running is really just a matter of simple yes/no decisions.  Do I need to pee?  Should I stop and remove that small pebble from my shoe? Is my pace too slow?

We were hearded into our corrals at 7:45am, and then I had to wait for what was quite possibly the coldest 20 minutes of my life.  When I ran my half-marathon back in October the corrals were not as strict, so I was able to freely run around to stay warm.  No such luck this morning.

More waiting.

8:00am the elites take off in what I assume is a very exciting start.  I'm surrounded by giants as usual and can't see anything. 

8:05 my corral gets to leave!  Everyone plays it smart and walks to the starting line.  I turned on my stopwatch a little before the mats, to avoid tripping.

8:11ish~ I hit the 1k mark.  I think I ran it in about 5:25, which is 25 seconds slower than I was aiming for.  Did I go out too slow?!?!  I was running at the same pace as everyone else so I assumed I would be going too fast.  I decided to stick with my pace since it felt right at that moment.  I think this was a good decision, although I always regret not pushing myself a little harder at the start.

I ran the next bit at a nice even pace.  I was really astonished at how smooth I felt.  Everything was going well until I hit the 4k aid station.  I knew that I could not stop to walk, as that did not bode well for me during my last race, so I chugged down some orange gatorade.  This was my first mistake.  I loathe orange gatorade.  the course description said the gatorade would be lemon-lime  Why do races always lie about gatorade flavours?  Lemon-lime is the best, and everything else is disgusting.  So, my stomach was not impressed and decided to ball itself up in a nice tight knot for the next 2k.  I thought I was going to die.  I kept pushing on, not letting myself walk but easing up on the pace a little.  This was really frustrating.  All I could focus on was moving forward.


I hit the 4k mark in around 20:45 and then it took me almost seven minutes to reach the 5k flag.  Then it took me another seven minutes to hit the 6k flag.  That mistake cost me four minutes!  Gah!

After this I decided it was time to kick it up a notch, and show this race who was boss.  I hit the 7k flag around 40 minutes in, which was kind of a bummer mentally for me.  The course was really flat now so making up any more time was going to be tough, and I had hoped to do 8k in this time. 

Running along Richmond there was a great band playing some Steve Miller.  Lets just say that was exactly the pick-me-up I needed!  I turned onto Peter street and I was singing along with the band.  Well, by 'singing' I mean 'mouthing the words and trying to make sound'.  it was still glorious.  I know I had the stupidest grin on my face this whole time.

I missed the 8k flag entirely, and I got kind of confused.  I thought I was a little closer to the finish line than I was, so I started to kick.  If there's one thing I can do well, it's kick.  I was hoping to kick for the last 1200m or so, but since I didn't know how far along I was, I had to guess.  I guessed wrong.

I'm chugging along and I still have no idea where the 9k flag is.  I eventually see it waaay off in the distance.  Looks to be maybe 500m or so.  Great.  My second mistake.  I had already started speeding up.  How was I supposed to maintain this pace for another 1500m?  Well, it turns out I can't!

The crowds were also starting to get really dense here, as the road was pretty narrow.  I was starting to have to decide if it was worth it to dodge around people.  I have a half-marathon in a fortnight, and I could feel a hotspot on my right big toe, so I decided to just run with the pack.  A little underwhelming of a finish, but it's all good. 


My gun time was 1:04:XX, I think I crossed the start line around 8:02, so my chip time will be around 58:00, give or take 90 seconds maybe.

After the raceI got my medal and had to wait in an impossibly long line to get my t-shirt.  The shipment was delayed so they weren't able to hand them out with the race kits.

I then gorged myself on free post-race food.  Apples, bananas, bagels, cookies, and starburst candies.

The hotspot on my toe is almost a blister, but it's a small price to pay for a pretty good race!

Oh, and by the way?  6 months ago I couldn't run a sub 30:00 5k to save my life, and I just ran a sub 1:00:00 10k.  Suck it!