42.2 kilometres. No
matter how you look at it, this distance is far—only an ultra-runner would
think of a marathon as a warm-up run. On an average day I don’t even
drive this far (I actually don’t drive at all, but that’s beside the point).
But on Sunday February 7th I put on my running shoes and ran the neighbourhood
streets, completing the distance that only 1% of the population has run in
their lifetime. But by running this infamous 42.2 kilometres, there was no
glory: no cheering crowds, support or even a medal to symbolize victory. So why
put myself through all this pain—because there was pain—if it’s not because
zombies are chasing me, or I’m running for my life?
Well, the simple answer
is that I had 41 km left of the Women’s Gold Challenge so it seemed like a
great opportunity to finish strong. For the past few weeks my long runs were
between 30-35 kilometres, so what was another 12? Plus I love to be challenged.
I love to push myself as a runner and see what I can accomplish. I’ve run a
marathon before, so this wasn’t completely new territory, but I also don’t run
this distance regularly.
While I ran the marathon,
I didn’t race it. I simply wanted to complete the distance like any other
training run and not worry about speed and pace. This was for several reasons:
I had been focusing on building a strong base for race season in the spring and
hadn’t been doing any intervals, speed work or hill repeats. Also, the weather
was not conducive of racing. It snowed the night before and all the sidewalks were
covered in fresh snow, making it extremely challenging to run in. The third
reason is it’s just really hard to race a marathon distance virtually. There
are too many obstacles to contend with: street lights, people and traffic
making the ability to run continuous almost impossible. Plus without cheering
crowds and motivation from other runners, it’s really difficult to push
yourself hard.
I set my alarm on
Saturday for 6:45 am with the hope of getting out the door by 7:30 am on Sunday
morning. I woke up at 5am and lay in bed until my alarm went off and then went
downstairs to make a cup of coffee. There was no way I was going to run 42.2 km
without having coffee first. I lathered myself with Chamois Butt’r in the hopes
of minimizing chafing, then dressed warmly, but not overly so. I tend to warm
up quite fast and I didn’t want to sweat. I wore a light weight long-sleeved
shirt and a light running jacket over top. I wore my thicker running
tights and my wool socks. On my head I wore my balaclava which doubles well as
a mask when passing people closely and I topped it off with a toque. I also put
on my ankle braces, giving my ankles extra stability that they would need,
especially running in the snow. I wore a pair of heavy gloves instead of
mittens as I’ve been too hot with the latter. I put on my running vest, filling
the pockets with 6 GU gels to act as both breakfast and fuel for my run. The
plan was I would eat one every 7 kilometres and I had an extra in case I needed
it. My bottles were both filled with a GU electrolyte formula to keep me
hydrated. Lastly I put on my headphones and tucked my phone in my sleeve.
I gave Cilla a hug and
kiss before heading out into the cold, crisp air and almost wiped out on the
ice at the bottom of the stairs. As I passed the windows of our house I blew
kisses and waved to Cilla as she watched me go .Once I was on the street I took
off in the direction of Broadview Ave.
It was hard going on the
snow and ice and I had to work twice as hard as I slipped and slid through the
snow. It was early and no one was up shoveling their sidewalks yet. My heart
rate was quite high due to the combination of freezing temperatures and
fighting my way through the terrain, and unfortunately my heart rate never
slowed and stayed quite high during the whole run.
I turned south on
Broadway Ave and then west onto Danforth Ave and crossed the Prince Edward
Viaduct. Although the sidewalks on the bridge were shovelled, they dumped so
much salt I was skidding. I continued running on Bloor Street, then turned
north to run on Sherbourne Street North and ran throughout Rosedale on Crescent
Road. Both the streets and roads were pretty treacherous and I slowly slogged
my way through. I then ran north on Yonge Street. I was hoping that the
sidewalks on Yonge Street would be clear, and they were at first, but the
farther north I ran, the worse they got. People were out and about doing
errands and drinking coffee and I was thankful I already had mine, minimizing
my desire to steal another person’s cup.
It was cold and
unfortunately the sun was mostly blocked from the tall buildings and when I
went to take a drink from my water bottles I discovered they were both frozen
and I had to stop in order to drink from them. Ice had formed under the cap and
I had to hack through that to get to my drink.
As I passed Lawrence Park
Ravine, kids were having fun tobogganing down the hill. Their cheeks were rosy
and they had smiles on their faces, clearly enjoying themselves. I continued
north and just past Mill Street at kilometre 16 I came to a huge downhill
section that was both steep and long. If there wasn’t so much snow I would’ve
been able to fly down, but because I couldn’t get good traction my pace never
increased past 5:50/km.
I was dreading having to
run back up.
Unfortunately I couldn’t
go too much farther as I hit the 401 and there didn’t seem to be any way around
it, so I had to turn around 4 kilometres short of where I had anticipated. To
help make up for it, when I came to the Mount Pleasant Cemetery at kilometre
24, I took a detour, running 2 kilometres around the perimeter of the graveyard
before continuing south on Yonge Street. Then, upon reaching my turn-off point
at Crescent Road I decided to continue running south for 3 more kilometres to
make up for the rest of the missing distance before turning around and heading
home. This proved to be a big mistake.
As I got closer to
Yonge-Dundas Square, there was a homeless man wandering around carrying his
sleeping bag, which is not an unusual sight in downtown Toronto, but he was
very angry, and yelling. I had my headphones on so I couldn’t hear what he was
saying, but he was irate and maybe having some sort of psychotic break and I
didn’t want to get in the middle of it. Unfortunately, before I had time to
turn around, he was already at me, getting in my personal space, yelling at me
and waving his arms around. I was afraid he was going to hit me. I moved close
to the building and stopped, hoping he would just walk by, but he followed me,
getting right into my face, shouting and I was scared he was going to attack me.
I managed to get around him and when I looked back he was still watching and
yelling at me. It was a stark reminder of Toronto’s homeless problem and
the lack of help and resources these people are in dire need of.
When I got to
Yonge-Dundas Square there were 2 street preachers yelling about something or
other and were approaching me as I was waiting at the light. I didn’t want any
more confrontations so I turned my back to them hoping they would get the point
and darted across the street as soon as the light changed. I ran about another
half kilometre before I turned around to run the last 11 kilometres home.
At around 33 km my right
hamstring was forming a solid knot. I debated stopping to stretch it out, but
decided against it, worried that other body parts would stiffen or spasm if I
stopped.
The kilometres slowly
ticked by and I felt stiffer with each step and rigor mortis was setting in. Then
with only 5 kilometres to the finish I was smacked in the face with the feeling
of euphoria with the accuracy of an archers’ arrow. I felt happy and the tiredness I was feeling disappeared. I started
singing out loud to the music playing through my headphones. I’m not sure what
people around me must have thought, but luckily there weren’t many to witness
my sudden (tuneless) performance. I sang heartfully for the full 5 kilometres,
only stopping once I reached my backyard. I did it. I ran my marathon.
I took a few minutes to
stretch and calm the spasming that was attacking the lower half of my body before
I jumped in a hot shower. The Chamois Butt’r was successful and I had minimal
chafing. I needed to eat, but I can’t eat solids for a few hours after a run as
they make me feel nauseas so Trish made us soup to eat. Although it was just Lipton’s
Noodle soup, it tasted like a gift from the gods.
My whole body felt like
it had gone through a mincemeat grinder, but I didn’t care. I ran a marathon while also completing the 416
Women’s GOLD Run Challenge, running 416 kilometres in 36 days, besting the
amount of time it took to complete the last 416 challenge by 12 days.
416 challenge—check. Now
onto the next one…
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