When I ran almost-a-PB at the TCS Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon mid-October, I considered my racing done for the year. I planned to take a week off then start up again just to maintain fitness with 3-4 short runs a week.
And then a day or two after the race, I got an invite to run the Reggae Marathon in Negril — which has a half-marathon or 10k distance.
Who can turn down an opportunity to visit beautiful Jamaica?! So I decided to go and figured if I took a week off to recover, that would still leave me with about five weeks to train.
Then, I caught a cold, which lasted a little over a week so I didn’t train. And my training got further derailed by some consistent travel: I went to Montreal for four days (saw Pink in concert — what a show!). A trip to St. Kitts got cancelled last minute, but I ended up going to Niagara Falls for the weekend to see Nick Carter in concert. I got busy working on one project and then went to Punta Cana for five days (I managed to fit in one treadmill run while there).
I also fit in a press trip to Kananaskis, Alberta, with My Fitness Pal. You may know that the Canadian Rockies is my happy place so even though my schedule is a bit nutty, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity. That trip was quite short and I had no extra space in my carryon and I didn’t bring running shoes at all for that trip.
All this to say my running was very sporadic. With the time change and the sun setting so early (and not being a fan of running after dark), I haven’t yet been successful with shifting my schedule to fit in my runs midday. I also caught a minor cold after returning from Punta Cana. Feeling rundown, I shortened one of my longer runs from 15k to 12k and shortened my last long run from 18k to 15k. And I didn’t bother to do a shakeout run the day prior to the race because I figured it wouldn’t be making or breaking my race.
While I never planned to fully race the Reggae Half (I know how much the heat and humidity would make racing difficult), I did plan to run a decent time. But with the lack of consistent training, my new plan was to run comfortably. I did set broad goals, though. My A goal was to run between 2 hours and 2:15; my B goal was to run between 2:15 and 2:30 — and based on the weather, I thought it’d likely be the latter that I could acheive.
The day prior to the race, we had some activities–nothing strenuous but more active than I would be if I were at home. Then we hurried to the press conference for the race, which was held at 7 p,m. Not ideal timing–I’d like to have been eating dinner by then. By the time we got back to the Royalton Negril and went to the buffet (which we figured was the fastest option), it was 8 p.m.
I got back to my room at 9 p.m. and prepared my gear and was in bed by 10 p.m.
My alarm went off at 3 a.m. and I ate two little buns I’d taken from the buffet and an iced latte I’d saved from the cafe the night prior. We met in the lobby for just prior to 4 a.m. and heading down the road about 2km by van to the start.
At the start, there’s some fun things in the works pre-race: they light up torches that line each side of the starting chute; there was a guy (maybe a rasta?) on stilts, and everyone seemed just happy to be there. I didn’t have my usual stress since my plan was to run comfortably.
The race started at 5:15 a.m. sharp and it was about an hour before sunrise. So the first half is in the dark; kept reminding myself to look for potholes. It, thankfully, wasn’t excruciatingly hot and humid yet.
While there was reggae blasting from speakers at every mile (I swear there seemed to be less reggae in the second half of the race, though). I was glad that I had decided to take my AirPods with me. With the very early start, there are extremely few people cheering along the route — and I always need as much distraction as possible, so I was grateful to have my running playlist to keep me going.
The water and Gatorade on the route is in sealed bags. I was wearing my fuel belt so I never grabbed one although I did mean to try it out — they reminded me of the sippy sacs I’d get at the corner store as a kid after going to swim at the YMCA, I think they cost 10 cents.
I maintained my comfortable pace and for the first half my pace was anywhere from 5:52/km to 5:58/km and in the second half it slowed slightly to just over 6:00/km. As I ran, I was thinking I was on track to reach my A goal, and was happy about it. And in a brief moment of confusion (I blame the lack of sleep), I was was disappointed when I realized I was finishing closer to 7:30–I mistakenly thought we had started the race at 5 a.m. and didn’t understand for a minute why I wasn’t reaching my A goal based on my pace. Then I remembered the actual 5:15 gun time.
I picked up the pace a little bit in the final kilometre. I knew I’d done pretty decently for the runners that day–the route is a loop so I was able to see how many women were ahead of me and I hadn’t seen that many.
I crossed the finish line with the clock showing 2:11 and change and was pleased with my easy, comfortable pace completed with inconsistent training the past five weeks. After I crossed the finish line, I took a photo by the step-and-repeat, got my Red Stripe and headed to the beach to drink my beer and take a dip in the lake. I found the other media running the race and got a fresh coconut to sip and changed into flip flops as I enjoyed the reggae playing at the post-run fete and at about 8:30 we got back into the van to head back to the resort to shower.
But before we left, we checked the printouts of the results. I finished in 2:11:01, and was the 6th in my age category.
6th? That sounded pretty great to me, but it being such a small race, maybe there were only 6 women in my category!
My time didn’t really make sense to me given that the time on my Apple Watch Ultra was shorter. When I got online and looked up the results, I realized the posted results are gun time. For my actual results (chip time), I finished in 2:09:36, 123rd out of 299 half-marathon finishers, 32nd out of 144 women, and 6th out of 18 women in my category. Small playing field, but hey, more than six women in my category, haha!
If you’re wondering how small the race is, it’s typically capped at 3,000 runners for all events; this year, 299 runners finished the half and 911 ran the 10k. But more participants are expected for 2024–I share more about the race in my post up on irun.ca on 7 Reasons to Run a Reggae Marathon.
The race was fun–I wouldn’t say it’s the most beautiful race (the views are primarily of the entrances to resorts along the road, although you do catch some ocean views here and there in the second half of the race) but you can soak up all of Jamaica’s beauty after the race. Having done several Caribbean races now, I love the tradition of finishing the race and being able to be on a beach immediately after crossing the finish line to cool off in the sea and kick back on the beach. And can every race end with a Red Stripe and a fresh coconut, slashed open on the spot?
it was nice to not be super stressed about time, and it’s still kind of crazy to me that I was able to run for 2+ hours straight comfortably without a single walk break. And the beauty of small races is that you could potentially podium (not something ever within reach for me in my usual races). If I could’ve run the same time I ran in the Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon, I’d have podiumed in 3rd place for my category here at the Reggae Half…
…which is making me think I should train properly and have another go at this race next year! Ya, mon!
December 22, 2023
Winter is my least favourite season. OK, fine, I hate it.
Correction: Winter in the city is my least favourite season. But given that winter here in Toronto pretty much stretches from November through to practically April, that’s a long time to be feeling miserable. So I have strategies that help me hate it a little bit less — one might even say embrace this c-c-cold season:
I remind myself that I prefer winter running is better than summer running. As someone who doesn’t love sweating, summer running in Toronto’s summer humidity is a nightmare. When I train through the winter, I am not a sweaty mess (so it’s relatively more comfortable — although the wind can make some runs super frigid) and running gets me out into the fresh air, which lifts my mood even if it’s -30 outside. I’ve registered for a race in March so I already have motivation to run regularly through the season.
I plan to get out into the country, where winter is actually beautiful. The grey city with dirty snow and ice is not pretty. But when you get out into cottage country and it’s a winter wonderland and you can appreciate the snow and ice. I already have one weekend road trip planned, and usually try to do day trips to hike so that I get some natural beauty breaks. Plus, Billie Jean adores the snow, and her joy on hikes, leaping like a bunny through drifts, is an instant mood boost in itself.
I cook my favourite winter comfort foods. Shepherd’s pie, braised short ribs, tourtiere, spaghetti bolognese, hearty stews, mashed potatoes. So many great heartwarming meals to be had.
I consider how if I love cold plunging, then winter can’t be all that bad. I haven’t completed many successful cold plunges recently — I think I lost the mental strength it calls for over this long break from it — but knowing I willingly have done cold plunges (up to nearly five minutes on a retreat with YETI and Unbounded!) and also did the most wondrous plunges in Oak Lake in the winter at Unbounded Cold Camp in February, well, it’s a reminder that embracing the cold can bring about awesomeness — the high you feel post-plunge, the knowledge you can do hard things. And even though I’ve resisted immersing myself into the cold plunges lately (I couldn’t even attempt getting into the lake in October!), I know it’s all part of the process–cold plunging never becomes easy.
I indulge in cozy things at home. Curling up at home underneath a blanket to binge-watch a series or read a book. Wearing cute, cozy pyjamas like this buffalo check set from Knix. Lighting a great candle for a day hunkered down at home. Sleeping in (always easier for me in the winter since the sun rises so late).
And overall, I try to be mindful of little things that spark joy daily. From the sound of the crunch of snow underfoot to the soft cashmere toque I put on to walk Billie Jean, How satisfying a cup of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows bobbing it is after coming in from the cold. How Lake Ontario looks like one giant slushie–it’s mesmerizing. The warm, cushion-y Uggs on my feet for quick errands. How cute Billie Jean looks in her winter coat.
Then, soon enough, once again the days will get longer and warmer and before you know it, another winter season is behind us.
November 29, 2023
My first in-person race since the Dead Sea Half-Marathon in February 2020 and it’s good to be back!
I didn’t intend to take such a long break from racing. Although I did run a few virtual races in 2020 (the very taxing Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee (and Back Across) and the Lululemon Seawheeze Virtual Half-Marathon), after those races, pretty much for all of 2021 and much of 2022, I had no time to run. I was working usually more than 80 hours a week, seven days a week, usually with just 1-2 days off a month.
And when I did find time to run — I started making more of an effort to fit in running around December 2021 (I would run as my commute), I was pretty much as slow as when I started to run back in 2007. Looking at my pace times on the NRC app was depressing and rather than motivate me to want to run more consistently, I just felt dejected. I’d almost BQ’d in the Detroit Marathon in the fall of 2019 only to be as slow as when I was a complete newbie.
Another reason it took me so long to run a race? With the ongoing lockdowns we had in Toronto, often you were never sure if a race might get cancelled and have to be run virtually. I don’t enjoy virtual races that much–I love the excitement of in-person racing! With being non-committal when it came to registering for a race (I didn’t want to pay and then be forced to run it virtually if in-person were to be cancelled), I didn’t train consistently and then time would fly by and before I knew it, the race would be mere weeks away and there’s no way I’d be able to race it based on my fitness level.
But I kicked off 2023 determined to get back into racing. I planned to run the Goodlife Toronto Half-Marathon in the spring — my preferred race distance is the marathon but I knew I’d need to ease back into longer distances.
But then, on January 2, I caught a cold — one that would last for about six weeks. Not the worst cold I’d ever had but just feeling a 7 out of 10 level of shitty. I eventually mostly recovered but continued to be hit by waves of exhaustion, where my eyelids felt so heavy with sleep. Then, I was relatively healthy for about two weeks, and then I caught another cold. This one much worse–full on congestion. This cold lasted about a month.
By the time I felt well enough to run, I had four weeks left to train for the Toronto Half — not nearly enough time when I was starting with zero base fitness. (Also, perhaps ironically, this race recap is coming more than three weeks after the race because, guess what, I caught another cold that put me out of commission again!)
Which brings us to this summer. I started running regularly to build a base (a minimum of three but sometimes four times a week, five if I added a short recovery run), but I also got busy with work starting in June. But I was determined to run either the Detroit Half or the TCS Toronto Half. I had a few getaways (both for work and vacay) and I was running around working most days when I realized I had seven weeks until the race day. So I knew I had to really get training.
I kicked off a training program (I took one a friend was using and adapted it based on my experience in my years of training for races and what I felt I could tackle (some of the speed training was quite intense, so I made some of the workouts more moderate, for example). And because that’s just how I am, I thought “well, I should try to PB!” even though I was far from the fittest I’ve been as a runner. I had a vague idea of what my half-marathon PB is so, without looking up my PB, mentally, I set a goal of 1:50.
I was able to hit my target paces in speed work and that lifted my spirits. But then a couple of weeks later, with a tempo run, I realized there was no way I could maintain my half-marathon target pace for 21.1k — I was struggling even maintaining it for a few kilomentres. I got home, and texted a friend that I didn’t think I could PB and that I had to readjust my goal. She was encouraging and said the last few years (the pandemic!) have put everyone’s physical and mental health through the wringer and so things just aren’t the same anymore.
What she said made me feel a whole lot better. Sometime after that, I actually looked up what my half PB time is and it’s the time I ran in the Nike Women’s San Francisco Half-Marathon in 2014. The 1:50 goal I’d set was about two minutes faster so I checked what pace I’d have to run to just PB just by seconds, and made a mental note of the pace. While looking up my time on my blog and on Sportstats, etc., I came across my other half-marathon times, and I think, since it’s been while since I’ve raced this distance, I forgot that most of my half-marathon times are what I now consider pretty slow. I think over the years, I’ve just focused on this need to be faster, faster, faster and forgot that many of my half times are time I now find unacceptable? (And yes, it has been pointed out to me that I can be hard on myself, haha!)
About a month before the race, having decided I was going to stay local and run Toronto Waterfront, I went to the race website to register and discovered the Half-Marathon was sold out. I was floored — since when did Toronto races sell out? Had it been that long since I’d even looked at a local race? Had everyone picked up running through the pandemic?! I panicked and scrambled around asking if anyone knew of anyone looking to sell their bib.
Thankfully, iRun came in clutch — I write for the site every now and then and through their work with Athletic Brewing (non-alchoholic beer — I attempted what turned out to be a hilarious Beer Mile with them this summer!), I was able to register for the half. (In the meantime, though, I did look for what other nearby races I could do this fall, and settled on Hamilton as my fallback plan).
I completed the remainder of my training — I did have to shift my training around a fair bit but completed 95 percent of it despite traveling to Jasper for five days and then going to a cottage for four days (I always aim to complete my long runs at home since it can be impossible to devote the time required to running when travelling — so I can’t usually stick to the long runs on the weekend type of schedule).
I printed two pace bands — one to PB and tbh I don’t even recall what my B goal was for the second pace band.
RACE DAY
Sunday, October 15th, the temp was colder than I expected (I think maybe about 6 degrees) but quite ideal for running. I had some initial stress from getting stuck in traffic on my way downtown as I followed the GPS, which didn’t account for road closures, but I arrived at University Ave. and King St. W. before 8 a.m. and kept warm and zen in the Shangri-La Hotel. It’s one of my favourite hotels here and around the world, and it wasn’t initially very busy (which I like, I need that quietness–being around too many runners and their nervous energy leading up to the race start can just make me more anxious) and I really appreciated being able to use the washroom there and sit in the comfort of their lobby.
I got into my corral, towards the back of it as it was pretty full already and I didn’t care to work my way forward through the crowd. It’s been several years since I last ran this race, and I seem to have forgotten that it’s not as flat as I thought it was. I started the race feeling strong. For 75 percent of the race, in fact, I felt fantastic. I had about 90 seconds banked for much of the race and I thought if I could just keep this going, a PB is within reach.
And then I got to about the 17k mark. I think it’s an on ramp around there, and the hill (which have never been my strong suit) just about crushed me. At 18k, I got a mental boost from seeing my sister holding the great banner she’d made for me, but physically, I knew that my PB was slipping away. I tried my best to run as fast as I could, but my legs felt so depleted after that hill.
As I approached the finish line, I knew I was very close but that I had just missed a PB. Then as I crossed the timing mats, and to the right, I saw a guy standing by the barrier recovering and I thought “Yes, I too would like to just stand and just collect myself,” so I took a few steps to the right and then it hit me:
“Oh. My. God. I am going to puke.”
Now, I’ve heard of people vomiting after a race, and I’ve never quite understood it. But in that moment, I think it was the shock to my system of having been running at a brisk-for-me pace for nearly two hours and then all of a sudden not running? I had that awful retching feeling overtake me. And rather than being concerned about being sick, I just felt mortified that runners would be accomplishing their PB or completing a big personal goal of completing a long distance race and their view will be off me losing the bagel I’d had for breakfast.
Thankfully, all I did was have the dry heaves. I took a few deep breaths to compose myself and felt well enough to walk through the finish chute. Phew!
I immediately checked my chip time on the app. 1:52:39.
I had missed PBing by 25 seconds. Just 25 seconds!
And while not a PB, I was happy. My PB is from nine years ago. That I could essentially match my half-marathon PB nine years later, from two months of training, after having not run consistently the past three years? That’s major. I finished 52nd out of 338 in my age category, 776th out of 4,783 women, and 2,839th out of 10,682 half-marathoners that day.
I got my checked bag and changed into warmer clothes, went to the VIP to grab some snacks and then met up with my sister and we got a beer at Athletic Brewing and then made our way to brunch. She asked if I was happy with my race and was shaking her head at me when I said “Well, I’d be happier if it were a PB!” Hahaha. It is true, though. I was thrilled with the race I’d run, but ultimately, I wish I’d been 25 seconds faster.
What this race has fired up in me is that I almost ran my fastest half-marathon — I just about matched the PB I ran a good nine years ago, when I was younger and running much more consistently… and that I think this means if I put in the work, I can qualify for Boston. I just need to set my mind to it and get it done.
Thank you to iRun and Athletic Brewing for the opportunity to run this race, thank you to TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon and the volunteers for putting on such a well organized race and the great VIP lounge, and thanks to my sister for the cheers and banner–it’s such a boost to see familiar faces on the route!
Alright, 2024, I’ve got big running plans for you, comin’ atcha!
November 10, 2023
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