Goodlife Toronto Marathon 2012

 Hey everyone!
As you all know, I completed my 5th marathon this past weekend. I had been contemplating running Toronto since about October of 2011 and in January I had decided to go through with it. As my Christmas and Birthday Present, Matt bought my registration and airfare. Such a sweetheart! (seriously, he knows me so well...this would make any runner happy I am sure :P)

I arrived in Toronto May 2nd and met up with my lovely friend Jess as I spoke about before. We have been speaking for a little while now via Youtube and this was our first time meeting face to face and we hit it off. She was my little tour guide for most of the trip :). My Mom arrived on  May 4th. She was a major help on race day for sure!

On the Friday, I took a cab to "Direct Energy" center to pick up my race kit. I absolutely LOVE the race pack pickup, every race I go to I take my time and just soak it all in. The race kit included SO many goodies, including two shirts! Here is some of the stuff I got :)

I will admit, I was very nervous for this race. It was the first time I was attempting to sub 4 hours and it was on new terrain and it had been very humid. I went for a run on the Thursday to take a feel for the roads and man, it was tough to breathe. Saturday, I had a shopping trip with Jess and hung out with my Mom. Made sure to wear super comfy shoes and try and sit as much as possible. All in all, no sore feet by the end of the night. My Mom and I went to Hye's restaurant where she told the waiter I was running the next day. After the lovely steak dinner, the waiter surprised me with a dessert that he prepared just for me for free. It was a brownie with a candle on top and he wrote in chocolate "GOOD LUCK." It was very sweet.

Then Race morning I was up at 5:30 am. I walked downstairs to grab two coffees and made my breakfast in the room. I was planning on the hotel having morning room service but they did not so I bought bananas and bagels. Also had a waitress smuggle me some peanut butter packets (cuz that's how I do!). The bagels I bought were made with added whey protein...28 grams of it. Therefore I could only eat 3/4s of it. I was stuffed! I body glided, trimmed the toe nails, squeezed into my compression socks, packed my fuel belt and sun screened my face (which I learned wasn't enough since my shoulders and chest were bright red after the race!). I decided to go down to the lobby to the shuttle earlier then I intended just because I was done getting ready early. I was down there at 6:45, and boy am I glad I caught that shuttle bus! They were hurrying all the Full marathoners on the bus, I guess it was a longer bus ride then I thought it would be!

The race started promptly at 7:30, and I crossed the start line about a minute and a half after the start gun. I kept trying to keep my pace. It can be hard at the start of the race when you are stuck in the MASSIVE crowd of people. I kept finding myself going too quick, or too slow. Finally found my pace around 4 km. I had a few locals war me about "hills" and being from BC I thought, "uhhh Toronto has hills?!" Maybe I was being over confident but I didn't think no hills could scare me off. There was a hill in the far distance as I was passing kilometer 5 or so and I was like "oh boy, that looks substantial..." but I swear it must have been a mirage!! because it really didn't seem as steam once I approached it. I got to the crest of the hill and kept on going and it didn't really phase me.  I really enjoyed the route, gave me a nice look around Toronto. Man that is a giant city!
At kilometer 12 they had a banana station which I really enjoyed. I also thoroughly enjoyed seeing a man pelt a young girl with his banana peal after he shoved it in his mouth! I don't get why people don't look before throwing their gel wrappers, cups or peals during the race! I was feeling pretty good by the half way point, however when I checked out my Garmin I had come to the realization that I should have taken it a tad slower. I finished the first half around 2 hours and I had planned to do that in 2:05, oops.

I began to speed up, I usually take the first half at the same pace then speed up for the next 11 km, and even quicker the last 11 km. So I may not be the most consistent runner, but it works for me. Anyway, the route took us all the way down Young and we eventually got down to the lake. I really loved running along the water but at that point I had run out of nuun in my bottles and I was incredibly hot and thirsty. All I wanted was to jump in the lake. I had a lot of confidence around kilometer 36 that I was gonna break 4, but I kept telling myself "Jenn calm down, ANYTHING can happen at this point." Around 38 km, I had a walking break and texted Jess where about I was on the course. I knew she would be waiting for me so I wanted to give her a heads up.

Around 38 km I could barely get my fuel down. I was gagging every time I had any of the dried fruit I packed, especially with no water left. Sometimes I get times like this where my body just can't take my fuel, many runners get this sometimes. I also found out that the course had run out of Dixie cups from this point on since the Halfers had come through already. Well isn't that fun. I had to get them to pour water in my hands and TRY to drink it. That definitely cut into my time.

At kilometer 39 I was told "WATCH FOR THE BIG HILL." But like I thought, this BC girl did not get phased by it. Just motored through! I started closing in to the last 2 km. More and more people were walkin the opposite way with their HUGE medals. I kept chanting the most positive things I could in my mind to keep my mind off the sore IT bands and calves. I noticed that the mantra I wrote on my arm had completely sweat off me. "one more thing, one more time." I only had to do ONE more thing ONE last time to beat my opponent (aka my past self).

Then, I hit a bit of a weak moment. I began to gag. The smell of hamburgers and mini donuts. "OH GOD" I thought. "please don't puke, please don't puke." I looked at my Garmin around 41. 1 km, it had just read 4 hours. "Dammit!" I said under my breath (no joke). At this point I could be a whiner and sulk about it or embrace the fact that I would be taking off at least 10 minutes off my previous time. That is amazing! More and more people began to crowd with people reading my name and cheering me on. I had one last corner and there it was! The finish line! I picked up my pace to what felt like a sprint, my Garmin thinks otherwise. I stopped my Garmin at 4:01:11 (official chip time of 4:01:13 though). I took 12 minutes of my previous race time and DAMN I was close to breaking 4. I know I can do it next time. Though I did not reach my desired time, I am proud to say I PRed.

After the race, I met with Jess who had this AMAZING sign and bag of goodies for me. I picked up a coffee and some Chobani Greek yogurt and we I hobbled while Jess walked to the shuttle buses. It was SO sweet of her to put all the effort into making this sign and goody bag, and finding her way across town despite the many road closures! Love that girl and I will miss her lots! I know I will see her again soon though :).

On the shuttle bus I chatted with a man that used to live in North Van. Honestly, runners are the nicest people. I have only met a handful that can be meanies, most of the time they are such positive and happy people. He gave me a few hints on where to go after the race and we parted ways when the bus dropped us off. After the race my Momma met me outside of the hotel and walked me to the room. She ran me a bath and as I got ready she put together a little surprise for me. She had bought me blue Ugg slippers (OH MY GOD SO COMFY, lined with sheep wool), foot cream and a strawberry shortcake cupcake I had been eyeing at second cup all week. Best mommy EVER! NOM.

I got freshened up, put some lulus on and we headed out for lunch. We went to Milestones and I nommed on a gluten free burger and fries. (hey! I burned over 2500 calories man!) Twas scrumptious. My recovery was not too bad. I honestly felt a little stiffness in the calves and that was it so we walked around the mall and bought lattes and just enjoyed some Momma daughter time. We then went out for dinner at Earl's and went back to the hotel since everything was closing (Sunday night). I slept right away and woke up with a little more stiffness in the quads but definitely nothing like what I had after my last few marathons. Non scale victory? recovery became easier. I also can feel my weight is down since my knees did not feel as tender as they usually are after this sort of distance.

All in all, I am super pleased with the experience. AMAZING weather that day, had a nice breeze eventually come in and it wasn't too humid. Beautiful course, the roads were pretty decent (aka very little potholes and what not) and pretty quick course! Also really enjoyed the the expo! I had a chance to meet the always lovely Kathrine Switzer again and she had recognized me. She signed my book that I received in my race kit "Be fearless and have sweet dreams" since we had a huge conversation on taper week marathon dreams. Love that woman, seriously gets the little feminist and runner inside of me all excited :D.

Anyway, hope all of you out there that are hobbling around like they rode a camel for a few days feel better soon!

Question(s) of the post: Have you ever thought of running a full marathon? If you have run a marathon, have you speculated a triathlon or ultra marathon? What is keeping you from those goals? or are you on the way to achieving them?