Sporting Life 10k Toronto, the race report

Chilly Toronto morning, before
the start of the 10k race

I’m not quite sure how and why I registered for this race. Maybe because I never ran a 10k race, and was curious to see how would that go. So, here I was, on an early Sunday morning, shivering in the wind under a cloudy sky on Toronto’s Yonge street, and waiting for the start. Thanks to my humble prediction of finishing between 40-48 minutes, I was in the second coral. Those brazen enough to put their expected finishing time under 40 minute were strutting in the coral ahead. In the meantime, on the recent test runs I realized that I can run a 10k under 40 min, but it was too late to change anything. I would have to zigzag around slower runners, until the route is clear.

Self-portrait, 10 min before start

Just as we pushed forward at start, I noticed a colleague from work running from the fastest coral, and leaving me quickly behind the layers of runners. I decided to catch him, and flew ahead. Well, ‘flying ahead’ was just a metaphor - I ended up adding to my mileage by running around a few groups of teenage girls who squeezed ahead of me, and several guys who were already hyperventilating, although we barely started. I had my headphones on and cranked the music up - I hate listening to myself (and others) breathing when running, for some reason it throws me off the rhythm. I learned long ago that, if I don’t pay attention to it, my breathing magically matches my strides. So, I locked my eyes on the bright yellow shirt the colleague was wearing, and kicked the heals. Boy, but did he start fast!

My splits for the first 5k are:
1k - 4:04
2k - 3:32
3k - 3:57
4k - 3:11
5k - 3:35
The pace is quite inconsistent, with surges whenever the road was clear enough. By this time I was still about 20-30 steps behind my colleague, all my body signs screaming alarm, knowing I am going too fast, but unable to give up the chase. Luckily, the man I was chasing overestimated his own strength and started slowing down after 5k. After a couple of strategically used downhills, I was behind his back by 6k, too breathless to say ‘hi.’ We turned off from Yonge street, but surrounding was a blur. I wasn’t able to pay any attention to the neighborhood we were running through, too busy trying to catch my breath and loosen the legs for finish.

The next 5k splits are:
6k - 3:32
7k - 3:46
8k - 3:56
9k - 3:48
10k - 4:06 (this last one was probably faster, but I lost time fumbling to stop my iPhone’s RunKeeper app, which was tracking my race).

It’s obvious I slowed down as soon as I caught my colleague and surged only in the last 1.5k, when I realized that I have some strength left for strong(er) finish. As we ran shoulder to shoulder, he looked quite spent, but managed another little burst of speed about a km before the end. I knew I had no strength for a long finish, so I fell behind him and waited for the last 500 meters, then accelerated and left my poor colleague behind.

My official result is:
Chip time: 37:25
Overall placement: 115 (total participants: 12,157)
Age group: 7
Gender: 100

Finishers’ medal is really nice - check the picture. The nightmare began when we went to claim the baggage. Our bags were sent from the start in trucks, and since the race is so short, the volunteers didn’t have enough time to sort out the bags according to the race bib numbers. I was freezing for about an hour, looking for my backpack, which soured the whole experience.

Meg was there to take pictures, also freezing and wondering what is taking me so long. She dropped me off at the start and drove down to the finish, so we can have the car near by for speedy retreat. It was a nice race, but somehow organizing logistics is not among its strong points. Toronto, despite its size and population, seems unable to learn how to cope with crowds, whether it’s in traffic, or public festivities, or footraces.