Canada Runs for Japan. This is a local group of runners in Toronto area who decided to do something special to help the victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In order to raise awareness about relief efforts in Japan, this group that I have joined, are doing various runs throughout the year. When I first heard of this team, I was moved by how they are trying to help. So far from their last event, the Toronto Marathon, they have raised about $12,518.69 CDN. Proceeds from T-shirt Sales (see my wicking shirt on left image) and donations ($7,308.69 CDN) go directly to relief efforts in Japan through the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund organized through the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) . The remaining 4,210.00 CDN in entry fees paid to the Toronto Marathon Office will go to supporting future marathons which have generously supported the Canada Runs for Japan project and other charitable organizations over the years. Read more about Canada Runs for Japan, and an upcoming run @ the Montreal Marathon.
In preparation for this years run, I aimed to have it turn out differently than the last one - loss of two precious toenails (happy to report though, they have grown back now), and not to be heaving and nauseous in the middle of the night post-race.
Knowing my mistakes from last year, toenails were definitely well-trimmed a few days before hand and a full meal of delicious pasta was ingested at 11am in the morning. In hindsight, perhaps for the latter precaution I should have done the night before - the full plate of pasta that I had required more than a mere 6 hours to digest apparently :-(
@11:00am I ventured to a local restaurant on the Beaches - Tulips. I was at this same restaurant the night before my race for the rideforheart, a biking event that I completed earlier this year. I remember the pasta being really good and hearty. Just what I needed to fuel me up for the 30km.
Plus a side of mashed potatoes.
I honestly think I over-did myself on the food this time around. lol. I paid dearly for it. The unfortunate thing was it didn't end there. I broke a cardinal rule in all the training I had done in the past 3 years: never ever experiment on drinks on the day of the race. You do this while training, find out what works with your body while you're running and what makes you sick after drinking it. If there was ever a 'failed blog' moment, this was it. I bought myself 2 bottles of Gatorade - Extreme Grape.
I love grape juice. I like grapes. I like most grape flavoured stuff, candies, lollipops, raisins.. lol. So why not, extreme grape? Sounds so good! No. no. not good at all... it tasted ok the first few sips. But by 5km in, I was desperate to unload the Gatorade and replace it with just water.
Now that I have stated what went wrong, I'll just start from the beginning in what went remarkably right for an amazing night run.
@10:45am, I left my house with all gear in my backpack, and headed to Tulips for my fill of spaghetti (and side of mashed potatoes). I arrived at the restaurant and seated myself in one of the booths. Humming to myself quietly, I quickly selected out my meal and sipped on a glass of ice cold water while waiting for my order to arrive. I needed to keep hydrated :) I could hear the bustling around the restaurant - even at such an early hour, it was already getting so busy. I could smell the bacon and eggs, the butter, and the toast... It almost made me sad that I had to limit myself to just carbs. Not that I didn't like spaghetti... but I love breakfast food a lot.
When my pasta arrived, I took a quick picture of it, before digging in. Delicious. Mashed potatoes too disappeared quickly. I think I was the only one in the restaurant who was eating a pasta meal during brunch hours :)
After the meal, I had to head back home because I realized that I had forgotten my headlights. These headlights are lifesavers. Last year I needed them, and that was when I was a much stronger runner. This year, I had a feeling that if I didn't bring headlights, I'd be lost in the dark and tripping over my feet. I stayed home until around 2pm, which was when I had to go pick up my race kit.
@ 2:30pm, I arrived at McLeary Park, picked up my race kit. It contained my bib (and chip attached to the bib), and a nice midsummer nights run shirt. I had my option of black or white. I stuck around the park a little bit, checked out a marathon running stand. Like the Expo's, it had a whole bunch of marathon pamphlets. I couldn't resist but pick some up.
I realized I had a lot of time to kill. Time to go buy those water bottles I'd been stingy on! I headed off to the running room. Bought my 4 waterbottles set, some e-disks (just in case), and bodyglide. I also got my friend a waterbelt too.
I took my time there, and didn't start to head back to the park until around 4:30pm. As I got on the shuttle bus (by lakeshore and connaught area), I bumped into an old teammate (Janine) from Team in Training! We chatted a bit as the bus took us to McLeary. Turned out that she and her cousin were going to do the 15km. This was the first of many brief moments when I thought that 15km may have been a better distance for me.
Its about 5ish, and I'm mentally preparing myself for the run. I'm nervous. Definitely nervous. My longest run for the year had been a mere 20km. That was no where near the distance I was at the previous years. This was going to be a challenge, whether I liked it or not.
@5:30, I'm at the starting line and I hear a cheer, and we're off. I start off strong (adrenaline pumping), and its around the 5km margin, when I start feeling not so great. Not even a quarter of the way through, how was I suppose to maintain?! Panic was not helping. Stomach was doing sommersaults, cramps at the side, slight nauseous (gatorade culprit)... I kept on going. at 10km, I was struggling still, worse off than before. I saw my friend who came by while biking. It was a source of encouragement. This lasted me a while... until my back started to bother me. I kept on going, but by the 21km mark, I was starting to doubt I was going to make the cut-off point.
I remember the split. Just beyond the 21 km, the left one was for the 15km, and the right for the 30km. My heart pounding, and wondering if I was making the right decision, I veered to the right, and continued. My alarms on my iPhone had gone off, indicators that cut-off time was near miss... and then I met Michelle and her friend (who had super bright headlights) and Lorraine. Thank god I met these ladies. We really helped each other through. Lorraine and I stuck together, chatting as we ran. By the 26km point, the two of us were starting to turn into the Beaches, the place I do most of my runs. Familiar territory.. except it was in the pitch black. I had at this point turned on my headlights and was keen on not tripping over any bumps or cracks in the cement.. or the boardwalk :P
Lorraine and I kept on chatting as we cleared 1km after another, pushing to get to that 30km. I swear, 4km never seemed so far! It felt like an endless run, especially in the dark. It was however, very peaceful, serene. And then it started to spit again. I was getting tense, because last year, around the last few km was when the downpour came, and I was drenched from head to toe.
At last we cleared out of the Beaches, I was starting to count km as they came. My back was killing me at this point. I couldn't wait till I reached the finish line. At last we were at the 29km mark, I was so close! My pace steadied. My face determined. And when I crossed that finish line, my face broke into an exuberant smile: We'd done it. It was done. 30km! They hung a medal over our heads and we each gave each other hugs for our accomplishment.
When Lorraine and I parted ways, I called my friend Jeff who had been really supportive all evening in cheering me on, to pick me up. lol I had no energy to walk home this time around. The evening was a true success! Despite how sore I was feeling, it was so much fun. Meeting of old friends, and meeting of new friends, and of course, finishing the race!
Next race up... Duathlon? At the Toronto Islands. Oh Boy...
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