Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Thanks to all the soldiers and their families that have given so much to make the USA so wonderful.  Also Happy "not technically summer but officially summer"!  The weather definitely made it feel like summer - humid and hovering around 90F.  I packed the weekend out with as much summer stuff as possible.  I turned on the A/C and I did a 5k and hiked and biked and ate.  I even spent some time with my family and the new dog (my sister lol).  I saw an ice cream truck jingle down the street, but mom had some amazing dirt for us for dessert or I would have run it down like I was eight years old.  I also enjoyed the sunset while driving home. -A

Canadian Run

As far as races go the Toronto 1/2 Marathon has moved to the top of my list. Although I love training in quiet rural location or city parks, I like racing in big cities. A couple of weeks ago, my husband M, friends A, and A ran our spring race in Toronto. It was our first international race although the drive there was rather short. :-) I anticipated the route would be mostly level or downhill as the route was down Yonge St toward Lake Ontario. I did glance at the elevation chart once but I apparently ignored the inclines. I started out running at a rather fast but comfortable pace. After the first couple of miles was a dreaded hill and I clocked it as a mile on my Garmin. That slowed me down a bit as well as the temperature was rising rather quickly. After the hill I started to focus in on the route and the run itself. I started to count the coffee shops as I usually do and track my pace on the GPS. Mile 3 through 10 seemed to fly by until those last 3 miles. The sun was bright reflecting off the buildings but my eye on my watch got me through to the end. I ended up with a PR and once I met up with my husband I found out he did too. To make the day even more special it was our wedding anniversary. - P

Castle!!!

On the top of my list of things to do after the half marathon in Toronto was go to Casa Loma.  I really love castles.  After our race and lunch, with the help of the Metro, we trekked to the castle.  It was a great activity to stretch our legs and keep them moving as well as a nice little retreat from the hustle of the city.  Even though it was located in the midst of the city, it was like its own private area.   -A

Race Report – Toronto Half Marathon 2012

Preparation for the race started in January, which is when we all signed up.  We try to pick race places and times of the year so that the chance of it being warm is minimal.  So traveling from northeast Ohio to Toronto Canada in early May sounded great.  The day started off with almost perfect weather conditions.  If they would have stayed that way, it would have been wonderful, but needless to say, the sun rose more and it got a little warmer.  I think the conditions during most of the race hovered around 62 degrees F.  That is warm for a 13.1 mile run for me, though most of the time those conditions are considered ideal and beautiful.  I have to admit that going in to the race, I was confident that I could finish at or around my previous finishing times, but I didn’t think that I had enough back log of training to get myself into PR territory.  The race was run well in my opinion and I was thankful for the shuttle from the hotel to the start line.  This was the first half marathon I’ve run where the start isn’t in the same location as the finish, so the shuttle back to the hotel was also a great aspect of the race organization.  The actual race itself started pretty calm and uneventful.  There were not as many people in this race as had been in several of the previous races, so the lack of commotion actually was relaxing.  After the first water stop, P and I lost each other for almost a mile and I really thought I’d be running the entire race on my own.  However, I went up on a random curb for one final look around and saw her and we stayed together until around mile 8.5 when she went on ahead.  I have to admit that I didn’t think that marking the course in KM instead of miles would matter much, and it didn’t, until around the last 5k.  I guess I don’t have 5k calibrated in my mind enough to judge how much longer (distance and time) I have to go when I am drained (and slightly hurting) from the 10 miles I just ran to get up to that point.  All in all, it was a good race and we did get to see a lot of Toronto while running, since it was primarily on the main strip and ended at the water front.  As predicted, I didn’t get a PR, but I did log my second fasted time.  Five half marathons down.  -A