The Toronto Women's Only Half Marathon - May 29th 2011

I managed to snaffle Cindy M's bib for the 3rd Annual Toronto Women's Only Half Marathon, I figured I should try and get some race legs back get my mileage up a little be & gain some confidence back.

I ran the inaugral Women's only. I'm not a huge fan of races in Parks mainly because they are not closed off to the public and you have to dodge folks walking their dogs, with strollers, walking hand in hand enjoying each other's company on a fine Sunday morning. Not condusive to a focused run, not in my opinion.

The start was done in three waves - each bib was colour coded based on your stated finish time. I snuck into the last wave to start the run with Sandra. We started almost 6 minutes after the gun went off.

The race is run through Sunnybrook Park & starts near Eglinton/Leslie follows the path down towards Pottery road, but due to contruction we had to turn just after the 6k mark and then nip down this little side area and then back on to the main path way to make up the distance.

I was running with Sandra Lalonde who in the last day was able to acquire a fellow RoadRunners bib, having bumped into Sandra at the movies the night before, I was informed that we would be running together. Well so much for my slow recovery run to ease myself into the distance. LOL. Sandra is always good company & great motivation.
So we were moving.
Finally we stopped just after the turn around at the 6k mark. We were on pace according to Sandra. I'm not sure what the pace was other than fast. LOL.

The water station with the firemen... non event for me, but a big hit with the ladies. I haven't figured it out yet, but there you go. Different strokes for different folks. Maybe it's my years being married to a Police Officer that has tarnished the luster of this. Who knows. At any rate, they should be thanked for coming out to support this run and POGO (Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario) Thanks fellas for taking your shirts off for charity.


By the 10 K mark I was starting to breath a little heavier, the humidity was coming out to play & it wasn't playing nicely. Bad bad BAD humidity. Grrrr.
By the 14 K mark I told Sandra to run her own race, that I wasn't going to be able to keep up our pace. My calf muscle was doing okay, but my breathing was getting more laboured & my ITB was starting to ache.
I didn't want to hold Sandra up as that would just be more anxiety for me. This run was suppose to be about getting back into the swing of things.

Coming up to the 17 k mark, I had slowed down considerably but that was okay as my breathing became much more relaxed. I could get air finally. I was relaxing so the constriction in my chest loosened & breathing became easier.
At the 18 K mark I increased my walking as my ITB really wasn't happy at all. I could feel it just winding up for a big "BOING" ( yea folks that's a technical term) Yeeeshh everyone's a critic.

I neared the 19K mark and along with that the chocolate station. No time to eat / enjoy the choccie so I put it in my water belt pocket. Saving it for later.
Then over past the 20 K mark still doing my longer walks. I believe that I was about about the 20. 5 K mark and running rather reasonably when we hit the parking lot & some Einstein said " this is the last kilometer" ... " only one more to go" I just about did my nut. I think I was a bit grumpy. I was running to finish this race I had picked up the pace calculating everything to make sure I didn't injure myself but ran the last 1.1k & this gal threw that all off. I got so peeved I started to walk across the parking lot.
Then I realized she was completely wrong and started to run again.
I figured I would be crossing at around 2:40 and almost felt dispondent. Okay I did feel dispondent.
As I came out from under the over pass (ahahah that's funny) I could almost make out the timing clock. As I motored down the path I saw Jim T & Brendan K cheering in the runners. They almost looked out of place in their civvies.
The timing clock looming closer I read 2:25:xx. I didn't suck as badly as I thought. Sandra & I must have made some good time the first 14k. Yahhoo.

And since we were in the last wave I could subract almost 6 minutes from my time. My offical time was 2:20:44 which all things considering - was acceptable. I wasn't about to push it since my longest run had been 15.5 k the week before. I have no desire to reinjure myself and have to deal with another year of recovery.

Althugh I like the idea of a Women's Only race, I think that the venue isn't the greatest. Not only is there the fact the course isn't closed (however; most of the people in the park try to be respectful of the fact a race is in progress) but the trail is pretty much a single path and when there are runnings going both ways because the race is an out and back (and several turn arounds) space is at a premium, plus due to the rain the day before huge swampy patches that the ladies are picking through, holding up the run. I find it very frustrating.




I did manage to forget how many hills there are in the run too. Same thing I do with the Harry Rosen in High Park. ( but the trail in the park there is much wider)

The shirts this year seemed to fit rather "snuggly" I tried on the large that was in the race kit & it fit like a tailored medium. So the organizers may wish too look into this for next year.

The medal which is actually a necklace is very beautiful. Well thought out and a piece of jewelry that I haven't removed yet. The inaugral year they had the medals/necklaces hand made by Splash Pile jewelry. The last two years by Foxy Originals. I love it & a fantastic idea for a Women's Only race. Nothing better than jewelry and chocolate!!!


All in all I'd give this a 5 out of 10. Great atmosphere, just not a big fan of the course.