Nobody panics when things go ‘according to plan’…”

Race: GoodLife Half Marathon

Where: Toronto, Ontario

Date: May 5, 2013

Event: Half Marathon

One benefit of having two competing factions that stage the major distance races in Toronto proper, aside from the now staggered dates which give us a Spring and a Fall opportunity to set a major running goal, is the chance to run on two different and unique courses.

The debate will continue to go on until one of the operations close up shop as to which course is more representative of Toronto, and the possibility of a new marathon route in conjunction with the upcoming Pan-Am Games will only add to this.  Having run both events multiple times I do have a preference for the Half Marathon route that is run as part of the GoodLife Fitness race weekend in May.

I’m sure the reflex reaction to my choice would likely be one of “well of course, it’s downhill so infinitely easier”.  Anyone who has blasted the first half of Boston or disrespected the inevitable climbs that are Hogg’s Hollow and those two other gentle but noticeable inclines before hitting Rosedale would likely disagree with that snap judgment, but there will still be naysayers.

Rather, I do have an odd fascination about running down Yonge Street, and the aforementioned Rosedale Valley Road is one of my favourite spots in the city to run through (though I did enjoy it more in previous editions with the fall colours, however the tree canopy had actually filled in quite nicely this year).   One criticism is that I do miss the old Queen’s Park finish area.  Ontario Place is a bit of a dead zone these days and a real pain to make your way out of once all is said in done.  Moving the finish back to the core would be a real upgrade for the sake of transit or if you wanted to stumble to Baldwin/Kensington Market/Yorkville for celebrations of any sort, that option would at least be available.

So this race was actually the target race of the season for my girlfriend.  Most people who support their loved ones at races typically wait in a prescribed spot for an indeterminate period of time for that brief six to eight second moment of elation as they pass, then either figure out what to do with the rest of their day or do their darnedest to get to the finish area to meet up with them in time.

I feel fortunate enough that I USUALLY can have the best seat in the house to watch her by registering for her race and tagging along.  However the unique combination of her getting faster (she had a great training cycle this go and just continues to improve) and me getting slower (my legs were still beat up badly after Boston in a big way and my runs between the two events were mediocre at best) made the plan for the day a crapshoot.  She had set a goal that was 8 minutes faster than her previous best, and 2 to 3 minutes faster than what most of the online ‘equivalency calculators’ had her at.

After much negotiation, she relented to my request that if my quads seized up she was to either (a) immediately leave me for dead or (b) at most push me into a nearby ditch, drainage area, or side street, then carry on.  Agreement in place, our spots were secured, numbers pinned on our matching shirts (my idea totally), and we were good to go.

And from the word go she ran steady like clockwork.  Her pace was a bit faster than even we anticipated and as I called out splits and asked for diagnostics she was just ticking right along, adjusting effort levels at just the right spots to deal with the elevation changes, fuelling consistently, and finding just the right line to move through smaller groups of folks and other assorted obstacles.  Everything was totally according to, if not better than plan.

Having said that, it wasn’t the easiest task in the world at times.  As each edition of this race progresses it seems to me that there are fewer and fewer available lanes heading westbound on Wellington Street.  I don’t know if this to appease City Hall and traffic planners for the day but it does get a little treacherous when there is very little space between other runners in the midst of poorly placed aid stations, streetcar tracks, and irritated Sunday drivers.  Combine that with this being the general vicinity where people realize how close to (or far away from) their finish goal they may be and it creates some interesting runner behavior at the same time.

There were two other things I noticed more of this year than in year’s past.  The first was that an inordinate number of people were oblivious of their surroundings as a result of the use of headphones impeding the approach of marshals and emergency vehicles.  There was even a point where a group of us had to scream at someone to get the you-know-what out of the way as they were, to the untrained eye, pacing an ambulance, despite the fact the driver was on the external speaker instructing folks to move to a prescribed lane WELL in advance of them arriving.

This leads me to the second thing I saw more of this year…downed runners.  I don’t know if it was relative newcomers disrespecting the course or overestimating their abilities.  I don’t know if it was bad luck.  I don’t know if it was the fact this was the first ‘warmish’ race day/run day we had in Toronto in quite some time and folks came unprepared.  All I know is that thankfully any incidents I saw were being tended to and had sufficient levels of support in the area.

Regardless of the race, respect your surroundings, and prepare for anything as despite the fact you may have a plan for the day, sometimes things may not proceed as designed and you have to be ready for that, or else the consequences can be disastrous.

As for my girlfriend…we didn’t have resort to any of our alternate plans as she totally rocked.  Set herself a new PB by 11 minutes.  My legs behaved so I got to watch the whole awesome thing.  It was a solid and honest effort with no signs of panic or desperation at any point on both our parts.  A perfect run on a great day with my favourite person.

One of those days I was thankful to be able to do what I do.