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Thursday, February 11, 2021

Toronto Women’s 416 GOLD Run Challenge—Challenge Complete with Marathon

 


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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