I really wasn’t planning on doing the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon race. After the race in Prague, I hadn’t been interested in doing another half marathon any time soon. However… I had mentioned to some people on my Ultimate Frisbee team that I was looking for people to run races with (because standing at a start line by yourself really does suck) and one of them invited me out for the half marathon. I was like weeeelllll mayyyyybe I can do the half.

So race day came and I was really worried about my knees. REALLY worried. I met up with my teammates and we huddled together (it was dang freezing COLD) at the start zone in a slower corral than I was marked for (it didn’t matter, they weren’t really checking our line up skills it seems). One thing I noticed right off the bat was just how well this event was handled.Nothing like Ottawa Race Weekend’s utter fucking disaster zone at the start. And even though there were tons of people in this race since the half and the full started at the same time, it went off without a hitch. At no point were we forced to stop and walk because the crush of people was too large. I cannot say how much I appreciated that. Having to stop and walk because there’s too many people is just soul-destroying as you watch your few seconds/minutes of edge dwindle away into nothingness. OTTAWA – You need to fucking fix your shit for next year because every other city is managing to do this with MORE people than you have and they’re not nearly as clusterfucky!

So we took off and the first section was uphill ( 😐 ) to Bloor Street. It then cut along down Bathurst and out to Lakeshore. I saw some amazing signs (“Pain is temporary, but internet race results last forever” was definitely my favourite!) and some cute costumes (Captain Canada stuck out in my head as he would stop to high five little kids on the side of the street! I also saw some crazy guy JUGGLING the whole way! He ran the half at an incredible pace AND juggled the entire time!). I was having a GREAT first 10 kilometers. I was doing a fantastic pace (around 5:51 per k) and not feeling out of breath or in pain. I hit the first 10k mark at 58:55 which surprised and pleased me.

But then, rather rapidly, around the eleventh kilometer, my knees started to get tighter and tighter as I pushed on. I tried correcting my stride to straighten out my legs/knee. Then I tried knee ups and high kickbacks – those seemed to help a lot and they’d alleviate some of the pressure on my kneecaps, in particular the left one. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t super painful yet. There were some nasty uphills on the loop back into the city (we had run out to High Park, then u-turned back down Lakeshore to head back to the downtown core) and I wasn’t too happy to see those suckers towards the end of the run. (It seems the race organizers have a different definition of a FLAT RACE than I do!)

When I finally hit the 20k marker, I started to get incredibly emotional. As I approached the finish line, I was on the lookout for my husband who would be very close to the finish line (assuming he could get a spot in the crowds of people) and he had never seen me run a race before. I was really looking forward to seeing him and I was in so much in pain from my knee and broken down physically that it was started to have an impact on my emotional state. (I can’t even imagine what running a full marathon feels like.) I was near tears towards the finish line (although I didn’t spot him due to a miscommunication: he thought I’d said I’d be finished by 11 a.m. whereas I had said I’d be done just slightly after 11) but sucked it up for the last 300 meters and actually managed to sprint towards the finish line (which is interesting, I thought I had been pushing it more than that… I don’t know why I suddenly had more gas in my tank.).

I crossed the finish line at a gallop and came to a grinding halt right after the track mat that logged my official finish time. My left knee completely seized up – I suddenly couldn’t bend it anymore, and if I tried, I was gritting my teeth with the pain. I exited the finishers’ chute slowly and painfully with a peg leg that was not bending. I’m sure I looked ridiculous. I grabbed my medal and silver foily blanket and made my way out to the family area where my husband was waiting.

In the end, I managed to finish in 2:07:25, which was over a minute faster than the half marathon in Prague last month. This surprised me because I hadn’t been training and I was significantly heavier than I was last month as I had gained about seven pounds. I was really happy to have done even that small bit better because it’s such a confidence booster!

Race Results

• Finish Time: 2:07:25 (new personal best!)
• Pace: 6:02 per kilometer
• Overall placement: 5959/10542
• Age group placement (F30-34): 431/912
• Gender placement (F): 2531/5627