Just about a week or so ago I did the Toronto 10 miler.
I am only signed up to do 2 races this year. The marathon in September and this one. There's no need to embarrass myself any more than I have to.
The guy on the right, wearing the same red running shorts he owned in 1991 and the bug eye sunglasses purchased in 1996 would be me. I'm pretty sure everyone in this photo was going past me.
Actually I did ok in the race. Better than I expected. I finished in 1:20 something and had planned to run about 1:27.
You'll notice that in my HR data there's this point in the middle where I came to a sudden stop. 3 times actually.
This is where my hamstring decided to test my pain threshold and simulate someone stabbing me in the leg with a knife. It was essentially exactly at the halfway point and so I decided to see what would happen if I kept on running.
I can hear you calling me stupid right now. It's ok. You're probably right.
Fortunately it didn't get worse, and it actually felt only somewhat sore at the end. It was probably a very stupid move but the fact that my kids were waiting for me at the end was a motivating factor. They see their Mom race all the time. But it was a big deal to see Dad running.
I've gotta say however that I was a bit disappointed in the race overall. Not from a personal performance perspective but just overall.
The race starts in a very nice location of Toronto, the Distillery District. I don't get down there nearly enough. If you do visit Toronto it's one of those places you should consider going to. After you've gone to the Toronto Islands. (In summer)
But I digress.
Maybe it's just me. Maybe the last time I picked up a race packet was in 1998 or something. But the race packets for the 10 miler really sucked. A bag of chips and some brochures for other races. Yeah the shirt was fine. But seriously, if that's all you're going to have in the bag, don't make me drive downtown to pick it up the day before the race. Just let me grab my shirt after the race or something.
The race route, under the Gardiner Expressway, and then out on the Leslie Spit, was ok. You're running out by the water, with a few nice views of the city. But it's a bit barren out there, nobody watching, just trees to look at.
The organization at the start of the race was good. Lots of Porta-johns. Lots of room to warm up. A less than efficient bag check but fortunately I had the family there to back me up.
Why do people think they are fast? If there's one thing I know it's that I'm slow, and I don't want to be holding up a faster runner behind me. So why does everyone feel the need to cram to the front of the corral? It seemed to me that the shorter and wider they were, the more they tried to cram.
Now, most of these people were faster than me so perhaps I'd better shut up now. I just would have liked it if the whole start was spread out more. I have personal space issues.
Which brings me to a piece of advice. Please shower before crowding into a pen with hundreds of your fellow humans. Or, stand at the back. For the love of Jebus!
So, the Toronto 10 Miler. I may be back. It wasn't good enough to make it a certainty but it was ok.
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