Sunday was a great day for a run, and an even better day for a marathon. Starting with the temperature around 9 degrees and a partially overcast later parting way for calm and sunny morning. 

Being well rested in the morning I woke up, had breakfast and warmed up on my run to the starting line. Having not run all week except for the 6 miles Saturday morning I was a bit hesitant on how my performance will be. The week before I was having a little too much fun running trails around High Park and tweaked my left knee a bit. 

This was the first marathon that I did not travel to which made it feel almost as if it wasn’t real - strange I know.

The turn out was fantastic even at 7am the course was lined with people cheering the full and half marathoners on. All of the volunteers at the stations were always on top of their game  and the police were keeping the traffic off the course. 

I ran my personal best with a chip time of 3:33:46.4 that is ~ 13 minutes faster than my previous PB in Ottawa earlier this year! If you knew anyone who ran or want to check out some of the results make sure you get over to Sports Stats results page.

This was the first time my parents came out and saw me run (thanks for the pictures!)

The Globe and Mail also did a article on the top finishers of the race.

I think I might need to start doing some sort of action at the finish line… even waving your hands in the air seems more entertaining than just finishing the race. What are your thoughts what should I do from now on when I cross the finish line?

I just registered for both Toronto Marathons this fall. The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon and the Goodlife Fitness Marathon. Two marathons in 3 weeks seems like a lot but I ran the Ottawa marathon and than the Niagara Ultra 50km which was 3 weeks apart so I think I should be good, lets just hope that I keep up my training. 

Originally I wanted to be able to do both Toronto Marathons because there was serious talk about cancelling one of the marathons because there had been too much public complaint of road closers in the Toronto core. Serious, with all the talk about our race becoming overweight traffic congestion and drivers should never have the ability to prevent an an athletic event, especially one like running and marathons, they draw huge numbers into the city and give people goals to aim towards athletically, whether it is a 5km foot race or a ultra I feel the promotion of any physical activity should prevail. That is just my thought though. 

Anyways here are some pictures and my results from the Niagara Ultra and Ottawa Race Weekend that I hadn’t had time to upload until now.

Ottawa Race Weekend 

At Ottawa Race Weekend the following is what I was doing:

Niagara Ultra

At the Niagara 50km I ran the following:

 46 184 Jordan Shaw 4:58:00 LM-39 14/28 38 5:58 4:57:43 Toronto 

The Acura 10miler race was pretty fun. Given I only registered yesterday afternoon it wasn’t something I originally has on my race schedule - it was definitely a kind of last minute decision. It was just another excuse for a good run sunday morning, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It was well organized and it wasn’t too humid given the temperatures in Toronto the last week. Running out onto Leslie Spit there wasn’t any shade but since you were out in Lake Ontario there was a tiny breeze.

The course was pretty cool, until today I have never been out along the Leslie St. Spit, its a really nice place I am thinking that I should start to make some more use of it. Running out into Lake Ontario you almost forget your in Toronto when you look down South over the lake and than at the turn around you look North and see a wonderful view of the Toronto Sky Line!

I alway enjoy running in a group of people, there’s always someone to catch up to. Anyways upon finishing I watched the Awards for the top 6 male and female finishers and headed back home. I checked the results when I came home and realized that I came 3rd in my age group! I was totally not expecting that.  Here is my official times and splits:

139 1:13:29.3 4:35 1:13:01.4 1985 SHAW, JORDAN TORONTO 119/802 3/44 Men 20 - 24 36:57 36:33

I thought I was doing just about average I wasn’t pushing too hard because of the heat but apparently I did pretty well, I was surprised to say the least, 3rd place in my age group, 119 in my gender and 139 overall.  

Maybe it had to do with my pre-race diner of Greek style Gnocchi and a strawberry pine-nut salad?

The race was fun, apparently I did well and it was a great day for a run! 

I’ve just moved downtown and am looking for some people to run with. So far I’ve really only run solo but that can get a little boring at times especially during long runs. If anyone wants to hit up a run sometime send me a message and we’ll get running! My email is jrdnshw@gmail.com. Enjoi your Sunday!