Virtual Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon

 

The sun was just making it over the horizon, its orangey-red hues starting to color the sky, and for a brief second, the water on Lake Ontario sparkled in my view as the early morning light reflected on its surface. The waves crashed angrily at the shore in violent counterpoint to the pit-pat of my footsteps and a cold wind brushed against my face, a foreshadowing to the coming winter. It was -1 c outside and I was glad I decided against wearing shorts.

 

I was 5 kilometres into the Virtual Toronto Waterfront Half marathon race and so far my pace was ahead of schedule at 5:05. I had followed Runners World sub 1:50 half marathon training plan, which wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was free and interesting and a change from what I normally did. The main problem I found was the lack of specifics when it came to speed.  For instance, the plan would say fast, but not specify heart rate zone, or pace. Fast could mean anything really. Is it my 10 km race pace? My 5km race pace? My sprint pace?

 

Even though I was using a sub 1:50 training plan, I knew that there was no way that I could hold a 5:13 pace for an entire 21 kilometres, so my plan was to run a 5:20 pace and finish in a time of 1:52.  On October 4th, I had completed the Waterfront 10 km race and had a personal best of 52:30 with a pace of 5:15, so I hoped that with perseverance and minimal pain, I could make it to the finish line in my proposed time.

 

I was running along the Martin Goodman Trail which was showing off its impressive rainbow of colours. For many kilometres I ran through fallen leaves that had scattered all over the path, making a satisfying crunch underfoot, their earthy fragrance filling the air. Fall is my favourite time of the year for running. The temperatures are cooler, there are lots of race events to choose from (although this year they are all virtual), and the humidity from the summer is gone. There is newness in the air and it’s a great time to set running and race goals for the coming race year.

 

 

As I ran further along the Martin Goodman Trail, groups of runners wearing race bibs passed by, travelling in the opposite direction. The bibs were marked with only numbers, and no identifying race information, leaving me curious as to what event was taking place. I was a little perplexed as I thought all live races were cancelled. There were some race officials guiding the racers at the intersection of the trail, and I gave them a friendly wave. I wanted to stop and ask questions, but since I was in the middle of my own race I continued moving forward.

 

Just before Cherry beach, I passed an encampment on the left where there were numerous tents set up. A lot of these encampments started because the homeless feared being exposed to COVID-19 in shelters. They have, for the most part, been left to flourish during the COVID pandemic with little police or city presence, which has caused some problems.

 

I continued past Cherry Beach where I now entered the industrial Port Lands area. Just as I crossed the first lift bridge, passing over the Toronto Harbour Shipping Channel, I hit the 10 kilometre mark in the time of 52:26, just seconds faster than my 10 kilometre race pace. I was now running at a 5:15 pace, still ahead of my 5:20 target pace.

 

There was a lot of construction on Cherry Street and the road was torn apart with barricades blocking traffic on the one side. I crossed the road, avoiding the pot holes and other debris as well as the traffic flowing on the other side of the street and soon after I crossed the second and smaller lift bridge over Keating Channel. In 2019 the bridge failed to lower and remained locked in its upright position for several weeks, frustrating runners and cyclists alike forcing us off the new, freshly-completed section of Toronto's Martin Goodman Trail that opened on the same day as the bridge's mechanical failure.  It took almost a month before we were able to use it again.

 

The trail continued alongside the Gardiner expressway, then onto Queens Quay. There wasn’t a lot of traffic partly because of the early hour and partly due to the pandemic and not a lot was open. There were quite a few cyclists and runners though, so I had some company. Unfortunately I didn’t always have a view of the lake since the buildings obstructed it. It was really windy down here and I struggled to maintain my 5:20 pace at times. I had fun racing the odd streetcar though, much to the amusement of its passengers. At Lower Spadina I reached kilometre 14 where I turned around to complete the last 7 kilometres.

 

As soon as I did the wind hit me in full force, almost knocking me backwards. My heart sunk as I knew my chances of sustaining this amount of effort for the next 7 kilometres was very slim. I pushed hard, my legs tired and heavy; my breathing fast and laboured. I willed myself to keep moving and even with the amount of effort I was putting forth, I wasn’t able to push past a 5:30 pace. To add insult to injury, my feet were hurting quite a bit thanks to my shoes. They were the newest version of the Mizuno Wave Inspire which is a brand of shoes I’d been wearing for about 3 seasons now. But this version was horrible on my feet. I had hoped that I would eventually adjust, but never have and there is constant pain in both my feet and ankles and huge blisters on the side of my right foot.

 

Finally, with one kilometre to go I got a burst of adrenaline and clawed my way up to a 5:12 pace. I crossed my imaginary finish line in the time of 1:53:31 and the average pace of 5:23 per kilometre. It was not the time that I was looking for and I was a little disappointed. However, on the bright side of things, it was one minute faster than my race time last year.

I love the Toronto Waterfront race. I’ve run it 3 years, twice as a half and once as a full and now as a virtual. Obviously nothing compares to the live race experience with cheering crowds and like-minded runners, but at least doing it virtually keeps me connected to the community. Hopefully next year I will be able to race it as a live event and perhaps even get my 1:50 time.