I’m not always in shape for a race. The past two months I’ve had long gaps without training as I took a break after several races in a row in the fall, plus I’ve been away from home a lot for work. But with a last-minute invitation to run the Bahamas Marathon in January, I simply couldn’t refuse (hello, it’s the Bahamas!)…but I opted for the half-marathon. I figured I could run 21.1 easy as a training run, but the same doesn’t go for doing 42.2k.
The race started at 6 a.m., and it was rainy and then mostly overcast until I finished the race when the sun came out just in time. Half of the race route went through town and the latter half we ran along the beach so my thoughts focused on how nice it’d feel to be swimming in the water rather than thinking of how hot and sweaty (aka miserably hot and sweaty) I was actually feeling.
I was by the finish line when Sarah Dohan from the U.S. won the women’s marathon and I got a chance to speak to her. It was the 20-year-old’s first marathon race, and she seemed a little stunned; happy but stunned. She’s run several halfs and hadn’t expected to finish first.
As for myself, I finished 17th in my age group, out of 43 women, which I’m more than OK with as I walked whenever I felt like I wanted to have a sip of water, which was often. When I”m doing a training run in not ideal conditions, I usually find it helpful to have my watch for 10s and 1s but I’d forgotten to pack it, which means I usually will walk even more often than every 10 minutes. Given the heat and humidity that morning in the Bahamas, I’m actually surprised my time wasn’t slower than my 2:20 time!
After the race, I spent at least an hour on the beach soaking my feet in the water and drinking the Klik beer I picked up at the food tent (where they had plenty of food including peanut butter and crackers — so much better than a plain untoasted bagel!).
This here is just a super brief rundown on the race. For my full race report and all the juicy details you want to know (especially if you’re thinking of running this race!), you’ll have to go check out my post at iRun.ca! (And if you don’t follow @irunnation on Instagram, go ahead and do that, too! I post regularly on Fridays for #fashionfriday!)
February 1, 2016
Alright, so we have a few more days of enjoying the holidays and ringing in the new year, but then comes 2016 and I know I’m planning to get stronger next year. You, too? Then join me in Nike’s 21 Days of Better For It. It kicks of January 4th and to get started, just take a quiz on nike.com to help find the right fitness program for you. It takes into account your preferences and lifestyle — this way you can be sure to stick to it.
It’ll be easier to keep motivated to the more of us that band together to do it, so let’s get fitter, stronger, faster, better as one. Ready? Once more with sweat! Take the quiz here.
December 29, 2015
I expected four intense days with Nike last week, ending with the Nike Women’s Toronto 15k. But I don’t know if any of us expected it to be as wondrous as it all was.
My Thursday started with a media tour of the space at Harbourfront taken over by Nike Women Village. Nike always goes all out so the space was sleek and modern, filled with gear that had us all drooling. The most exciting news, though, was that nike.com will finally be introducing e-commerce in Canada. And let me tell you, we all cheered with glee (no more needing to hunt down pieces in the city, or having friends in the U.S. pick up things for me!).
Then we were introduced to the Nike Master Trainers, including, of course, Toronto’s very own Eva Redpath. Soon after, we all entered the stunning Crystal Coliseum, a barge floating in Lake Ontario. It’s such a gorgeous space you can’t help but feel inspired and put in that extra effort in class (or was that just me who felt that way?). We did a killer NTC class with the trainers and that was a wrap for me for day 1.
Friday, day 2. I’d signed up for the Skylar Diggin’s Zoom in 5 NTC class and it was just as upbeat and awesome as the first class, despite the gloomy skies. I found myself wishing I’d registered for more NTC; I hadn’t put too many in my schedule as I didn’t want to exhaust myself before the race.
Friday night, I returned to Nike Women Village for a speed run with Global NRC Coach Bennett and Toronto NRC Coach Rejean Chiasson. I’d added this last minute to my Nike itinerary (I’d been scared of wearing out my muscles so close to the race). We had a bus take us to the West Toronto Rail Path where we did speed work totaling one mile. Coach Bennett assured us that a 5k pace isn’t tough…that is when you’re running it for only 200 metres.
The most inspiring part for me were the group of schoolkids they had join us. These young girls were fast. And at the end of our one mile of speed work? Food trucks! All of us sweaty runners downed some sliders and gelato bars and then called it a night.
Saturday, I focused on resting up for the race and in the evening, joined in for the Nike pasta dinner at Cafe Diplomatico. It was fun to have some social time with fellow runners as we all ate pasta and fretted about whether a glass of wine would be a good idea or not. Coach Bennett was there and introduced his first crush, Joan Benoit Samuelson, the woman who won gold in the 1984 Olympics the first year the women’s marathon was introduced. Joan was racing Sunday with us and it didn’t matter that I met her two years ago in San Fran, I was still starstruck. Her athletic feats put me in awe.
Sunday, race day! Well, the forecast had not been good and the rain held out…until about 20 minutes to the race start. It poured on us and we shivered in the start corrals. But everyone’s spirits were high. I went into it not feeling too confident; I had caught a cold earlier in the week so hadn’t run all week and my training has been spotty at best given I’ve been traveling and I’m just worn out (I guess four races is too much in a season for me). My ideal goal was to finish in 1:15 so I started with that pacer.
I felt fine til 8k but then started feeling tired and a little lightheaded. I’d maintained a 4:58 pace up until then, but after that, I slowed about once second each kilometre and slowly lost sight of the pacer. There was a variety of terrain (cement, grass, sand) and many puddles to contend with, and throughout the race, given the narrow path, you were always surrounded by other runners. The race took us onto the runway at Billy Bishop airport, and it was incredible to see the stream of runners racing along the runway.
The rain stopped when I was about 4k into the race and I almost felt myself wishing for rain at that point as I was feeling warm. In the end, I finished just under 1:18 (1:17:50) and I’m fine with that.
The pretty blue boxes from Tiffany & Co. were a welcome sight as was the generous buffet spread and mimosas in the Nike VIP. It’s a shame the weather was miserable as many of us hightailed it off the island as we were wet and cold.
It’s not confirmed whether this race will be held again in Toronto, but I truly hope so as it was a heady four days of fitness, not to mention the amazing experience of racing with 10,000 women giving it all they’ve got in a 15k race.
For which, we all are, of course, #betterforit.
June 17, 2015
