The Toronto Waterfront 10k is a race I had never run until last Saturday. Two years ago, the girls and I cheered at the race and last year, Aimee and I volunteered while Chloe ran it. This year, it would be Aimee and I running the race and Chloe cheering!
5 AM came early on Saturday morning since I wisely stayed up past midnight finishing the documentary The Staircase on Netflix with Anson. Since the entire family was going to the race, it was a morning filled with a lot of, “Hurry up! We need to go soon!” heard throughout the house.
We hit the road at 5:50 and Anson dropped Aimee and me off really close to the race start. We waited for Cathy to arrive with our race kits (thank you for getting them for us!!) and then pinned our bibs on and headed to bag check! After a quick and painless bag check, we headed to the bathroom line before heading to the corrals.
The corrals felt like they were miles from the bathrooms and it made me miss the NYC half marathon set up where the porta-potties were literally IN the corrals!
After some confusion, we found Carmy and the three of us waited to start the race. It didn’t take long before I started thinking that I needed the bathroom again, but I have somewhat of a nervous bladder so I hoped it would go away once I crossed the start line. (spoiler alert: it. did. not)
In my eagerness to help Aimee feel prepared for her first race running alone (she’s too fast for me to keep up!), I forgot to get myself prepared! I crossed the start line and realized I hadn’t turned my watch on so by the time I got it started and running I wasn’t sure how long I had been on the course. Oh well– I knew I wasn’t going to be breaking any records anyhow!
As we headed down University toward Lakeshore I found myself looking at every building and corner and wondering if there was somewhere I could hide to go to the bathroom. My stomach started hurting and I got worried as it seemed like there were no shops open and zero porta-potties! I finally spotted a gas station ahead and made a mental plan to run off course, but then as we got closer I saw the 3km sign and some bathrooms on the course. I had to wait in line (and had a few people cut ahead… grr to them!), but it was well worth it!
When I hit halfway I was mentally over the entire thing, but somewhere around 6km I started feeling better and decided that I would probably not actually die on the side of the road! I kept running while looking at the other side of Lakeshore hoping to spot Aimee. I never spotted her but it definitely kept me entertained!
The final hill in the last kilometre is a bit of a cruel joke but just on the other side, I spotted Anson, the kids, and Henry, Carmy’s boyfriend. I wasn’t running for a PB so I stopped to high five Chloe and tried to snag a kiss from J before heading to the finish. I crossed the finish squinting from the sun but feeling good!
The finish area was crowded but I got my medal, some water, and a giant pretzel along with an amazing Lululemon bag to stash it in. Props to the race organizers for passing out bags– it is one of my top things that are needed after a race. Trying to balance a ton of stuff after running is nearly impossible!
I grabbed my bag from bag check (again, it was really easy!) and headed to the finishers area to find my family along with Henry and Carmy! Thanks to them we got some great pictures plus J loves Henry so it was extra fun for him!
After all our picture taking, we got a few more treats including some flowers (Aimee was the most excited about the flowers!) and then headed to the car.
Aimee turned 15 the day of this race and I was (am) so proud of how great she did. She has been running consistently for a few months now and was so excited to run this race. She crushed her first 10km and immediately started talking about what other races she can do. Thanks to Canada Running Series and Lululemon for making this race a great experience for both of us!
