Goodlife Fitness Toronto Half Marathon,Sunday Oct.17,2010
Here it was,my goal race for the season.The first true half marathon I had trained for.Training had gone extremely well since my less than impressive Acura 10 mile showing,but as history has shown,I normally bounce back from disappointments well.The Expo visit was short and sweet though I did linger a while talking racing with Arnold from Mizuno.Love those Wave Riders Arnold!
Race day dawned cool and sunny,not as frigid as the previous year when temps were in the negatives.I had been watching the forecast for the past two weeks and had my race wear picked out well in advance based on the predicted single digit temperatures.So it was all systems go,my training buddy Bill picked me up a few minutes early and we arrived in North York over an hour before race time.Threw a knapsack on the baggage truck,warmed up,then handed my hoodie to my Dad who lives around the corner from Mel Lastman Sq. and it was time for a few strides and to the start line.
Started out fast,maybe too fast,but hell,it felt good.After breaking the 1:20 mark in Whitby in May,I was hoping for another PB on this fast net downhill course.A 5:40 first mile felt real fast,but real good.The downhill began toward Hogs Hollow so this afforded me a slight ease up on the accelerator.Dan McKinnon passed me on the way to the”hill” and I checked that move with a slight pick-up.Had to keep this guy in my sights!
Worked hard on the hill and now the group had thinned out.Hills have a habit of doing that.Daniel and I kept up the pace and at my 5k time check I was ahead of pace for a 1:18 finsh time.The next 10k was basically down Yonge St and the Rosedale Valley Rd with the odd roller to keep the quads honest.My time check at 15k showed me well ahead of pace so I decided to pick it up a bit as I still felt incredibly strong.The gel taken at 11k was sitting right and doing its job.I threw away my cotton gloves and maintained pace with Daniel and trying to keep ahead of impressive 50+ yr old Paul Huyer.As we passed 16k and made our way onto King St I decided to make a push.Paul had a good friend of ours waiting to pace him in for the last 5k or so and I wanted them to work hard.I also wanted to turn the tables on McKinnon who had bested me at Acura.I expected someone to come with me but no-one came,so on I pushed.The turn onto University made a slight increase in work necessary to keep pace and after a half kilometre or so I was kicking it again.Now all was left was the agonizing circuit around Queens Pk that seems endless in the marathon but slightly easier than that today.With about 150 metres to go I felt a prescence on my shoulder!! McKinnon? No,a young upstart in the 25-29 age group Henning Petzka.Regardless of who it was,nobody was going to out-kick me on this day.Not after I had worked so hard and was having the race of a lifetime! So I cranked it up,which made for some real cool race photos and nipped Henning by .8 of a second.We shook hands after,for all is fair in Love and War,and sometimes racing is war!
1:17:49,a massive PB,2nd place Masters,Swiss watch,met Katherine Switzer and the legend Boston Bill Rodgers up on the podium!What an unbelievable day! My wife and 3 kids there to cheers me on! Perfect! I just hope the weather for next year in May is similar.I love this course.
Cheers
It seams our reports are the perfect bookends to a great race. Anthony, I took a good long look at you slipping ahead up University, and had to let you go. If this had been my goal race too, we would have had a dandy of a horse race to the finish! Maybe next time? Any way well done, and congratulations not only on this race, but also on your sub 60 at the Whitby 10 miler.
I will remember this day for a long time. It was a racer’s race. Exciting stuff!
Hey,nice comment Daniel.It was a great day for racing and one I wont forget in a hurry.Forgot to mention and thank-you for the traffic control at Yonge/StClair!What was up with that!I sent a note to the race commitee.You set a good pace in that race and kept me from slacking off.I proved something to myself that day and still appreciate the feeling of accomplishment on a purely personal level.Now we gotta catch Lawrence Warriner!! Happy Holidays.
ps Enjoyed your Toronto Half report,thanks for the mention!