Toronto 1/2 Marathon Report

So I ran the Toronto In'l 1/2 Marathon as a Pace Bunny yesterday ... it was FUN!!

I stayed in Toronto with my friend Cathy in a room at the Sheraton we got at a good price by my brother (thanks bro!) Race morning we get up at 5 ... after fitful sleeping. We check the weather and its cool 9C with not much wind. We get our food and changed and head out at 6:20 to catch the bus to the start.

We wander around race start .. me with my HUGE pink bunny ears and sign ... a couple of people ask me smirking if I'm the 2:45 MARATHON bunny ... like I look like I could run a 2:45 full?!?

Then we find the start line ... a bunch of people come over to talk to me to see how I'm doing it and what it means to be a pace bunny. Cathy and I hug and wish each other a good race and she moves up in the pack.

Starting off I have a Scottish couple and another woman from NZ with me. I tell them I'm doing R3/W2 consistently and it works. The Scottish couple say they'll see how they do. The hub is having hip issues and it's the wife's first so she's not sure how she'll do. We hit the first K in 7:15 .. 30 sec ahead of pace! Then by the time we hit the mile marker it's 10:50ish instead of the 12:36 pace I'm supposed to be doing! The bad bunny syndrome is starting.
But we carry on ... we pick up a fellow who stays the whole race. He's run a bunch of marathons before and is getting back to it after injury. I'm still carrying my sign and in fact carried it the whole race. (Am I tough or what!??!)

By 3K we're 2 mins ahead of pace ... but everyone's feeling good. We hit Hogs Hollow hill which is the hilliest part of the course a approx 41/2K and walk up it ... we're having fun! I'm singing and talking ... asking if anyone needs groceries when we pass a grocery store and doing the math of how much we've got left.

At 8K we make a turn onto a lovely park-like area. And at this point I've got quite a pack of folks with me. Funny thing is that there were a bunch of other small groups doing 10/1 and we kept catching up to them! One woman doing 10/1 asked what we were doing and when I told her she didn't believe me until I did the countdown to a walk!

At 10-12K the crowd around me got quite quiet whenever I asked how everyone was doing so I started a new song and ask them to fill in the words during a walk break. I'd sign at the top of my lungs "We are Strong, We are invincible, We are Half-marathoners, half-marathoners". It was fun!!!

15K in and we're 5 minutes ahead of pace. I think to myself that this is a little quick ... so I decide to slow down my walk pace and not tell anyone. We carry on ... also around this time my baby toe on my R foot gets "hot" ... not a good sign.

Some folks have dropped off ... but there's approx 6 folks with me. We are carrying on and having fun. We hit 18K and one gentleman looks to me and says "thank you so much it's been great! I'm going to go" and I say ... my pleasure have fun! So he takes off.

The rest of the crew I tell them that when we hit 20K I expect them to take off and finish and everyone says that the R3/W2 is good so we'll see what happens then. We hit 19K and someone on the side says are you the 2:45 bunny? cos the 2:30 just went by not long ago! I say sheepishly "yep we're ahead of pace, I'm a bad bunny" and the folks with me say "no she's a great bunny!"

We're getting close to the finish ... everyone's doing really well .. the Scottish couple has been with me the whole time and the woman says that it was sooooo much better than she thought. She said to me "you kept us laughing and looked after when we needed to walk ... its been great" and the husband says "this is the best time I've had during a race"
So the bad bunny did it again ... 2:38:36 is my official time ... and it's my longest run since the achilles difficulty in JULY!

My plan is to see how the blister is tonight and maybe drain it 'coz I'm going to a conference tomorrow and will need to wear hard shoes. Then do a little 5K on Wed/Thu and then on the weekend another 20K ... the 28th is the Niagara 1/2 where I get to do it again and I plan to tack on another 5K after it ... and then another 1/2 Nov 2 with DS and I'll tack another 10K on after it for my longest run before the full Vegas. It won't be a PB ... but it should be fun!