I tell you what… the fall out from this race has been lengthy… and I think it’s what caused me to wait so long to write about this race. The annoying thing is that I was perfectly trained for this. I’d done all my runs necessary (not as much as is sometimes listed on a training sheet, but way more than some of the races I’ve done where I’ve barely trained). And yet… this didn’t turn out so great.

I’ve run the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon quite a few times now. This might be my fifth or sixth time running, so  I’m fairly familiar with the course. It starts with a bit of an uphill, then downhill… then just flat for a very long time… until you get to the end and then it’s this horrible arduous uphill from roughly the 19th kilometer right to the end. It’s a nice enough race though (and the energy is incredible), so I find myself signing up for it every other year or so.

What I wasn’t expecting with this race was that around the 17th or 18th kilometers my knees started to lock up. Bending was becoming a real issue as my knees were wanting to stay completely straight. I haven’t mentioned this before, because it’s never really come up or been necessary to mention, but when I was younger I used to figure skate competitively – and that can really do a number on your knees. I’ve never had especially problematic or weak knees, BUT – once a year, in my teen years – one of my knees would seize up completely (generally my right leg because it’s my jump landing leg) and I wouldn’t be able to bend it for a week. Nothing every transpired with this – it never really HURT – it was just completely unbendable for a week, and then it would go back to normal. That sensation from my teen years was EXACTLY what I felt towards the end of this race. I had to force myself to bend my knees to finish the race, which was… arduous. But I did it and I was like “phew, whatever – at least I finished”.

After the race, my knees healed themselves as expected – within about five days I was bending them no problem. However… the fall out, which I didn’t expect, was that I had done something to my hip. It’s almost four weeks after the race now and I’m still struggling to get full strength back into my right hip. It’s much, much better now than it was (I had extreme pain for a solid week – I could barely walk), but it’s not where it was before. I find this extremely frustrating because I just don’t get injured frequently, and it’s meant that I’ve had to completely back off weightlifting and running in order to heal. I had tested it out by doing deadlifts about two weeks ago and almost put myself back to square one with the pain – so I waited another two weeks before I did anything physical again.

So I’m feeling out of sorts. This wasn’t a terrible race (although it certainly wasn’t my best), but I definitely did SOMETHING to my legs that pissed them off. I’m slowly running short distances now (did 2.5k yesterday!) and I’m happy to do be doing that because not exercising feels HORRIBLE. It’s a slow crawl to heal up to full, but I’m taking my time because I don’t want to re-injure myself or cause permanent damage.

Race Results

• Finish Time: 2:09:24
• Pace: 6:08 per kilometer
• Overall placement: 4966/9806
• Age group placement (Female 35-39 years): 289/601
• Gender placement (F): 2142/4712

The Pride & Remembrance Run (more commonly referred to as the Pride Run now) marks my racing anniversary! This is the race that got me in to racing, and it’s hard to believe that it’s my seventh time running this course.

There were a few changes this year: the most exciting one being that they’ve finally added some medals! I’ve always been sad we didn’t get rainbow ribbons and medals once we finished the race, but I understood that it was primarily a charity run and therefore medals are a bit of a waste of money. But they added them this year and I was so happy!

They also changed the course a bit. The start zone used to be just east of Church on Wellesley, and it was always a bit of a clusterfuck there. With Pride happening all weekend long, we were always jammed next to a sound stage that made the area incredibly crowded. They’ve now moved the start zone to Church street, with the actual gates being just west of Church.

I do think it made the area a bit less rammed with people, but it also became incredibly confusing trying to figure out where you had to get to. I ended up diving into the crowded and scurrying my way to the front as much as possible.

Once I got to the 27:40 race bunny I stopped, because going further forward would’ve been far too difficult. I like that the pace bunnies were more obvious this year – in previous years I felt like there weren’t that many of them and they were hard to find. I don’t really utilize them on the course, but I do use them at the start zone as a gauge on where to put myself in relation to the rest of the crowd (basically what I’m saying is… put yourself in your expected finish group).

I’ve had some finish times all over the board with this race: most often I come in around 26:40ish, but I’ve had some consistent 28 minutes ones, as well as a horrific over 30 (I was sick AND we got trapped behind a fire truck that had to cross the race path). While I love the community atmosphere of this race, it’s definitely not my favourite course AND it’s almost always incredibly hot outside during this race.

I started off this racing knowing that I was going to be quite slow. I had run the Rat Race only 36 hours prior, and while I thought I felt okay, I knew that fundamentally my muscles were quite exhausted. But I had run such a good Rat Race, that I had somehow hoped I would do equally well in this one… but hahah NOPE. As soon as I started to run I felt like I had knives in my hamstrings. They were so tight and painful, and it’s just because they were healing from the previous race and weren’t ready to be put to the test again.

Since I had already put out a great race on Thursday, I wasn’t that bothered by what my time would end up being on this one. Now it just became a matter of getting through the darn thing without expiring from pain and heat.

I finished up over 28 minutes (makes me cringe, even though I knew it was coming), and really I was just happy to be done. I do love where they’ve moved the start zone, and I hope that stays for next year. (To compensate for the slight movement west, they extended the loop at the top of  Queen’s Park by a little bit.) I also liked how the split off for the finish line was separated out a bit better too – it seems like the Pride Run has really stepped up their game!

So while this wasn’t my best race, the Pride Run is still one of my favourites to participate in. I’ve lived in the gay village for about 15 years now – it’s home to me. And this run has one of the best community atmospheres out there – it’s vibrant, welcoming and a whole lotta fun.

Race Results

• Finish Time: 28:14
• Pace: 5:38 per kilometer
• Overall placement: 556/1472
• Age group placement (Female 30-39): 67/279
• Gender placement (F): 165/770

I’ve run this Rat Race quite a few times over the years.. I think this was my 6th time running it? This was definitely my first race in absolute pissing down rain though! I’ve never experienced rain like this for a race before (and I was certainly long overdue for a weather event such as this)… the closest I’ve come to something similar was a light, but damp, misting in Reykjavik several years ago.

However… I was so thankful for the rain. SO thankful. I was not even remotely trained for this race. I had come off training and finishing a half marathon last month in England and never switched gears to training for speed for a 5K. I went into this race knowing that I would perform poorly, especially given that the heat in the last few weeks in Toronto had been uncomfortably warm and humid. I operate exceptionally poorly in the heat – I just can’t breathe properly and my body slows down immensely. So when it started to rain the day of the race I got super excited. The rain was cooling down the city and lowering the temperature!

By the time the race started (it’s a weird one – it starts at 7:30 pm on a Thursday), the temperature had dropped to just shy of 18 degrees and it was PISSING down rain. It was the kind of rain that absolutely soaks through all of your clothing. There was SO much rain that I felt like I had peed myself because everything was so, so wet. Luckily I had a ziploc bag to keep my phone safe because absolutely everything else on me was completely drenched.

I started out strong – I was dodging around people to clear out of the pack. This also meant stepping into massive puddles, completely soaking my shoes (ughhhh what a horrible feeling) and socks. The start of the race is a very slow incline up to Bloor Street, which is a great way to get rid of the incline at the start of the race, but it very much sucks when you’re doing it. Thankfully the second half is all downhill down Bay Street!

I had brought water with me, and I vowed not to stop at the water station. I’ve lost so much time there on 5Ks in the past that I resolved to just suck it up and keep moving, using only the tiny water bottle in my thigh pocket. And honestly, I felt really good during this race. I didn’t get an enormous side stitch like I think I developed last year (from eating dinner too late in the day), and I was moving quickly. I was *definitely* pushing myself, because I was approaching lightheadedness which only happens when my heartrate gets really high (around 190 from what I remember), so I know I was doing as best I could given my lack of training.

I crossed the finish line with a time of 26:47! Not my best, but not lightyears off my best either (course record for me on this one is 26:10). Given my lack of speed training, I was over the moon! I had fully expected to come in over 27 minutes, or even potentially over 28. And that always depresses me when I do that because I expect so much better of myself. Honestly, the thing that had the most impact on me was the reduced temperature and conditions. Yes, it was absolutely pouring rain, but that reduced the temperature made it easier for me to breathe, and since the sun wasn’t out either, I also wasn’t having my energy sucked away by the sun.

So, in short, I was really happy with this race! The only let down was that the photography was garbage compared to the year before. I don’t know if that’s because of the rain or what, but yeah not impressed in that regard. What DID impress me, however, was the people who were cheering us on – I couldn’t believe they were still out there in the rain with their noisemakers and signs. Good on you guys!

Race Results

• Finish Time: 26:47
• Pace: 5:21 per kilometer
• Overall placement: 293/1030
• Age group placement (Female 30-39 years): 26/166
• Gender placement (F): 67/448

While I love St. Patrick’s Day, and this Achilles 5K race in particular… sadly, this was not to be one of my better races.

I think this is my 5th or 6th time running the Achilles St. Patrick’s Day 5K. It’s a nice, easy course that is fairly flat (except for that one damn bridge you have to run over twice). It’s a straight shot through Toronto’s financial district for most of it. which makes it a very easy course. I’ve put out some of my best times ever for a 5K on this course (my 5K PR is 26:06 on this course in 2017) so I know it well, and I usually expect to do pretty good on it.  Last year I was injured, and yet despite that, I still put out a decent time. But this year… something just felt off. I had trained… sorta. But as it seems to happen EVERY year before this race – I got sick and had to take an entire week off training. Couple that with a 10-day visit to Ottawa after I was sick, where I was unable to run outside since it was so snowy, and the wine consumption was a aplenty with my parents… I knew I was going to be in trouble for this race.

The morning of the race I felt fine-ish? I’d slept better than I normally do before a race but I just didn’t feel… great. I felt like my body was sluggish and not in shape (which isn’t the case overall, but I just had an overwhelming sense of “I’m bloated”).

They’ve expanded the race to also include a 10K course (it’s a double loop of the 5K route) which means there were even more people at the start line. And sadly… the starting zone was only about one lane (maybe 2?) of traffic and it took a long damn time of shuffling slowly after we’d started the race to even start running just because there were so many people. I’m sure that slowed me down a bit, but overall it was just me feeling not so hot throughout the entire race. It’s a rare occurrence for me where I’ll actually feel like I need to go to the bathroom during a race… but I basically felt that way the whole time throughout this one. Which is a very uncomfortable feeling!

So my race time ended up being 27:03… which is disappointing. I haven’t fallen into the 27 minute range in a while, so it felt like a massive let down to myself. And truly, it wasn’t an atrocious race – I didn’t get injured and nothing bad happened… it was just a bad race. Races like that are super disappointing… but sometimes they just happen.

Race Results

• Finish Time: 27:03
• Pace: 5:24 per kilometer
• Overall placement: 314/1374
• Age group placement (Female 30-39 years): 43/245
• Gender placement (F): 106/781