It might be in our DNA. When we need to go to the washroom, the closer we get to that, the more pressing it becomes. Now, imagine you are actually there, and the washroom is not available, so you have to hold for another while. The distance to the closest washroom is 15 km, and if you need it again, you have to go for 27 km more. All that is covered by foot. When you heroically reach a washroom, you notice it has no toilet paper or hand sanitizer. Welcome to Maratona do Rio!

The Rio Marathon is the largest running event in Brazil. It takes place in Rio de Janeiro, a city surrounded by mountains and the largest urban forest in the world: Floresta da Tijuca. It is beautiful from a distance and chaotic as you get closer. Despite the incredible course, iconic at every corner, the race was the worst experience I ever had in a marathon.

I had no personal goal this time. I was pacing my wife to achieve her first personal best in her second marathon. It was an easy long run for me in preparation for my next race. We were excited about the course, for the first time racing in Brazil, and for the overall experience, but all turned out to be frustrating. I could list so many issues, but I will limit myself to just a few that I thought were critical to a minimally viable race:

Crowded Expo

There were many people, long lines everywhere, and no flow controls. They just let everybody get in, all the time, without any constraints. If you are still considering attending this race after reading this article, try to go to the expo as early as possible.

More experienced organizers try to distribute attendees in time slots. If runners do not respect their slot, they should be happy to wait in line outside of the building.

Crowded Start

Despite the wide area available at the start line, too many people were concentrated in a narrow space. We had to wait for the race to start to finally get into the wave. We couldn’t even hear the “gunshot” sound if we needed a gun time in the watch. The road was all reserved for the event, so it was a super simple problem to solve by just spreading the waves a bit longer, and everybody would comfortably fit.

The Washroom Situation

In the first kilometers, runners were already talking about their urge to go to a washroom. To everyone’s surprise, there were none for the next 15 km. Runners who couldn’t hold anymore were pissing and shitting on the streets. The smell was strong and sometimes unbearable. I saw women surrounded by other women behind trees, trying to improvise some privacy. On the beach segment, we could find public washrooms, but they were paid ones. I had to use my credit card to get access to one of them. Waiting in line, I talked to a lady who was working on a water station. No washroom was offered to her either. When passing my credit card, I overheard the cashier talking to another person about a woman found dead in that washroom early that morning. As it turns out, Rio is not for amateurs.

Trash, Trash, and More Trash

Water was served in plastic cups and all thrown away on the streets, forming piles and piles of garbage. An environmental disaster! I saw some Garis (city cleaners) cleaning the mess, so I suppose the city was in charge of the clean-up, not the organizers, which is unusual and less efficient. By the way, people working for the race were not volunteers. They were paid to be there but acted like they didn’t want to. In my experience, races run by volunteers are much better. They act like they own the race. They are self-managed, proactive, and problem solvers.

The water cup was actually handy. The water was contained by a thin aluminum cap, easily punctured with a finger. By making a small hole, we could drink the water, and the rest of the cap prevented it from spilling. This way, we held the cup for a while and drank it slowly until we found a bin to discard it properly. It was a problem that runners could solve, not the organizers.

Something Positive Though

In my opinion, the pictures package was the best feature of this race. There were so many photographers, especially at those spots with iconic views like the Sugarloaf, Corcovado, Tomorrow Museum, Copacabana, and Ipanema Beaches. They were strategically positioned to get the best shots. But that was all. Further reflecting on this, how can a secondary and optional feature, like pictures, be better executed than the actual race? Was it because other companies ran it for them or because what really matters is to let runners organically promote the race on social media using those amazing pictures?

Wrapping Up

The temperature was high, and the view was too distracting, but what really affected our race was the lack of washrooms. In the three days that preceded the race, we did a lot of city tours and ate in many restaurants, which we think made our stomach and gut upset. So, during the race, the dehydration was aggravated by gastro problems. Widely available washrooms would make the experience less painful. To give you an idea of the suffering, we really considered pooping behind a car parked on the street. We held it, but just having that thought is disturbing.

We were so excited about this race and glad to strike it out from our wish list. It is frustrating not to be able to recommend it to our fellow runners. Actually, these issues are easy to solve. A single trip to a race in Europe or North America would give them insights about how to do it right. For the moment, they are too far from a proper running destination. Avoid it if you can resist those natural wonders.

Despite the elastic time, it was a nice Z2 long run, finished without injuries and in good physical condition. It was hot, but I managed my hydration well, which is a great lesson learned from all previous marathons.

Number: 12
Time: 05:10:13
Best Marathon Time to Date: 03:56:04
Elevation: 86 m

The Walt Disney World Marathon is the kind of race to put in your bucket list to run once in your life time. No more than once I would say. It takes place in all 4 Disney parks in Orlando, in a time of the year, right after Christmas and New Year’s, when we eat the most and exercise the least. It feels more like a fun run than an actual competition, since there is a lot to see and it’s totally OK to do multiple stops to take pictures with the characters in the course.

It is indeed the most well organized marathon I ran so far. From the Expo to the finish line, everything went smoothly. We stayed in a Disney resort, which made the experience even more relaxing. From there, we took a free bus to the Expo in a nearby sport complex. It occupied three sport arenas and no matter how many runners were around, the queues were kept to a minimal. Following a clear path, the runners went to the first arena to get the race kit, to the second arena to visit the expo, and to the third arena to shop the official merchandise. When finished, our bus was already waiting outside to bring us back to the resort.

In the early hours of the race day, a long line of buses was waiting for us outside the resort, giving the assurance we needed to be at the start line on time. During the walk to the gathering area we could seek medical assistance, buy official merchandise, buy food and drinks, take pictures with characters, and drop our stuff off. The gathering area was organized in 6 groups (A, B, C, D, E, F) and each group contained 3 waves. It helped to spread the runners, preventing agglomerations in narrow spaces.

In the course there were too many aid stations and all of them handled the load beautifully. Before every water station, there was a medical station as well, with all medication and attention a runner would need during a long distance race. The flow after the finish line was also smooth, with runners grabbing the medal, water, hydration drinks, bananas, a box of snacks, and a Mickey’s ear hat, followed by the drop-off trucks, and the buses back to the resort, all in a single walk. The logistics they put in place was indeed out of this world.

However, it had its drawbacks. The exact course and elevation profile are not available and if we want to minimally plan the race we have to do some research based on information shared by other people. But no plan can resist to waking up at 3am to get ready and take the bus to be at the start by 4am. I never had to wake up that early for a race. It turns out they want the runs to have a minimal impact on the parks’ functioning after their opening time. Despite crossing all the 4 parks, the course is more iconic than exciting. The majority of the run is done in parking lots and the highways that connect the parks. To help alleviate the monotony, Disney spread characters and music performances throughout these long sections, but what really distracted runners from the pain was the Cinderella Castle, the Tree of Life, and the Spaceship Earth.

Despite these issues, I had a lot of fun! It may sound dubious, but I’m sincere when I say that I had a wonderful experience that I don’t plan to repeat again. I ran it for the fun and for the iconic moments, but I enjoyed other races more for half the cost.

Number: 11
Time: 04:25:16
Best Marathon Time to Date: 03:56:04
Elevation: 101 m

Running is the most collective among individual sports. There is a sense of community and mutual support rarely seen in other sports. When we go for a run with friends or in a race, we feel that we are not alone, that going through the same struggle actually reinforces our bounds.

The same phenomenon happens all around the running event. Those who organize, volunteer, and watch such events also feel bonded among themselves and to runners. They also have the privilege of observing the runners, feel their body language, cheer for them, expecting nothing in return, still willing to assist with anything they need. I like to say that a runner will only understand the true meaning of running when they experience a day as a racer, as a spectator, as a volunteer, and as a organizer.

My first experience as volunteer was at ENDURrun Ultimate 2023. I already shared my experience running ENDURrun Sport 2023. The ultimate edition is two times longer. It’s a multi-stage, full-week running event that demands a lot from everybody involved. I wanted to learn by closely observing what it takes to run 160km in one week, to see how runners felt at each stage, and how they put their strategy in place to win, to gain positions or simply finish it.

I brought my whole family to volunteer with me. They already accumulated some experience volunteering at the Sport edition, which happened a month earlier, so I could learn with them and make a great team to support the runners. Here are some of the tales from our water stations:

1. Most runners drink water, but the demand for Gatorade increases as the race gets tougher

I’ve seen some research showing that water is as effective as Gatorade on hydrating runners. I don’t know how they ran their experiments, but I believe the extra calories and the electrolytes in Gatorade’s formula helps in longer distances. Our water station offered both water and Gatorade, and we noticed that the most experienced runners prefer water while the other ones opted for Gatorade. But the curious fact is that, by the end of the race, all of them preferred Gatorade. Looks like the brain pushes us for more calories when things get tougher.

2. For those slow runners who take two cups, let me tell you a secret: elite runners do the same

The one thing that will keep you up and forward the whole time is a proper hydration. You may slow down when lacking calories, but you will certainly faint if you don’t have enough fluids in your body. You don’t want to over-hydrate either because it dilutes your electrolytes, which leads to fainting as well. That’s the reason why we serve cups just half filled. The best strategy is to listen to your body and drink when you are thirsty. Sometimes it means more than one cup in a visit to the water station, which is fine, but don’t be tolerant with your thirst. We can assure you the leaders of the race take as many cups as they need, so why wouldn’t you?

3. Some runners follow a ritual

Running is probably as much mental as it is physical. In a water station, we have plenty of time to observe runners, so we noticed that some runners keep the mind in sync with the body by following some ritual. We saw runners switching their cap back and forth after a lap, keeping their mouth closed the entire time, running in pairs, and even believing that the weight of a t-shirt would make a difference on the final time.

However, the one ritual I was expecting to see was runners washing their hands and face, but I couldn’t witness that. This is an evolutionary adaptation that humans acquired over thousands of years to cool down their bodies when exposed to high temperatures. We can observe it often in ultra trail races, specially when runners are crossing rivers, creeks or lakes. They instinctively wash their faces and hands, which have great volume of blood flowing under the skin, distributing the cold of the water throughout the body. It has the potential to improve the runner’s performance by 15%.

4. You think you are doing a great job until the middle of the pack hits you

I firmly believe that Gauss and Laplace were right about their normal distribution. If we take random people and put them to run together, a small number will be on the front, another small number will be on the back, and the vast majority will be on the middle. When we were in the water station, we forgot this theorem, and got completely overwhelmed when the middle of the pack reached us. We didn’t have enough cups already filled with liquids to serve so many people at the same time. Fortunately, that was just the first lap of the first day, so we learned quickly and adapted.

5. Eventually, we run out of water

It happened only once, but when it happened I was thankful for being an endurance athlete. It was in the last ENDURrun stage, the marathon. The race started when it was still dark and chilly, but the weather quickly shifted to warm and humid after the sunrise. Runners were profusely sweating, getting quickly thirsty, and consuming a lot of water and sports drink. We were never concerned, up to that point, about the availability of fluids, but we had a feeling that something was not right and decided to check how much water and Gatorade were left in the containers. Panic!!! The Gatorade level was still OK, but the water was almost empty, and we knew we had a lot of water “customers” coming up.

We were in the middle of the trail, surrounded by nature, 3 km from the start and 1 km from the nearest street. We had to notify the race director about our needs, pull a cart with the empty container for 1km, meet the support crew with a full container, and pull the cart back to the water station as fast as possible. And that’s what I did. Before leaving, we emptied the remaining water in cups to keep up with the demand while I was out. I ran so fast carrying that cart that I even passed all the runners ahead. I arrived just in time to prevent a supply disruption. I considered that moment as my water station graduation.

6. The Snake

The stage was 4. 10 miles hill run in the Walter Bean Trail. Part of the trail was closed for maintenance, forcing the organizers to change the course to a branch that linked the trail to the road. Our water station was positioned right at the turn of that branch, where they would grab a cup, make the turn around a big rock, drop the empty cup in a trash bin, and continue the loop.

What the runners were not aware of was that there was a snake under that rock! We arrived at the spot right at the moment the snake sneaked under the rock. It stayed there for the rest of the race and all runners were less than a meter from it in 3 occasions.

I learned later that species is not venomous and would scare only those who have some sort of phobia.

7. A water station is surprisingly a great marketing opportunity

Some water stations operate in the middle of nowhere, completely out of context. People who pass by can’t help asking what is going on there, with all that setup and volunteers behaving like they were waiting for someone. We had to explain to them, repeating several times what was the race, the distance, the organizer, and everything else that could attract their interest. I know the number of people asking is insignificant compared to the current reach of the website and the email marketing, but if we had a small banner with the logo of the organization, then it would certainly help with the brand.

We all love running and racing, but if you ever find a reason to volunteer, because you need to rest from training, or because a loved one is racing, or even because you have an annoying injury, then do it! The races we love are only possible because of the help from people who love running as much as you do.

What is great about running is the variety of challenges we can sign up for. There are races of all distances, terrains, elevations, weather, and even all together in a single event. That’s the case of ENDURrun, a staged race that offers something different every day for 7 days. I had the privilege of competing at the Sport edition, which covers 80km of paved paths, trails, and track, in different locations around the Region of Waterloo. This is half the distance of the Ultimate edition, which occurs a month later, challenging runners to complete 100 miles in a week.

Stage 1: Sunday, 10km at RIM Park, Waterloo

The first edition of the ENDURrun Sport 2023 started with a moderate 10 km on the Grand River Trail, in the surroundings of RIM Park. The course was a 5km loop, mostly flat, with hills at the end of each lap. I started slowly, one of the last ones in the pack. Most of the runners pushed strong from the beginning, which scared me at first, but as I warmed up, I got faster and caught up with the others. I finished 14th overall and 10th among males.

© Julie Schmidt

Something special happened at this stage. My family volunteered in a race for the first time. My wife and kids were in charge of a water station. It was so cool to pass at their spot! But I had to be careful to take a cup from each kid so I wouldn’t leave them debating my preferences.

Stage 2: Monday, 7.5km at Riverbluffs Park, Cambridge

© Julie Schmidt

The second stage was a time trial on the Grand River Trail, at Riverbluffs Park, Cambridge. The trail is scenic, with many ups and downs, but it is not technical. Runners started the 7.5km distance one after the other, 30 seconds apart, with the slower starting first and the fastest starting last, based on the results of Stage 1. I was the 12th to start and passed all the previous runners, but my position stayed the same, finishing in 13th place overall and 9th among males.

Stage 3: Tuesday, 5km at Shade’s Mills Conservation Area, Cambridge

© Julie Schmidt

The third stage was pretty short but tough. We ran on a beautiful hilly trail, 20% technical, 30% grass, and the rest regular. The course was a 5km loop, 95% covered by trees. When running a shorter distance, runners tend to run faster, so I had to push through those hills to keep my overall position. That was tougher than expected, giving me chills about the next stage 30 minutes later. Finished in 13th and 10th among males.

Stage 4: Tuesday, 10km at Shade’s Mills Conservation Area, Cambridge

© Julie Schmidt

The only difference between Stages 3 and 4 was the distance. The course was the same. I felt like I was part of an experiment. Why didn’t they merge stage 3 and stage 4 into a 15km distance, running the loop 3 times? Perhaps to burn our legs in a faster 5k to make the 10k look tougher. We will never know, but I felt stronger than during Stage 3. I slowed down a bit at the beginning, fearing the distance, but as the race went by, I felt good to run negative splits. Around 4km, I felt a runner approaching, but my negative splits discouraged them. I ended up gaining 2 positions, finishing in 11th overall and 8th among males!

Stage 5: Wednesday, 8km at Water Bean Trail, Kitchener

© Julie Schmidt

The fifth stage was tough. We ran a loop twice, on a pretty hilly trail along the Grand River. The trail is well-covered by trees and not technical at all, but part of it was closed for maintenance, forcing the organizers to adapt the course. I was optimistic after my Stage 4 performance, so I tried to closely follow faster runners, but soon the hills slowed me down to a more realistic pace. They were so steep that I got my heart rate up pretty quickly. The gap increased between me and the next runner to the point I had to change my strategy to simply maintain my position. Finished in 13th and 10th among males.

Stage 6: Thursday, 13.4km at Baden Hills, Wilmot

© Julie Schmidt

Cancelled! Weather Canada has a history of overreacting to weather conditions, so everyone was skeptical when they announced a severe thunderstorm coming to the area. Runners, volunteers, and organizers headed to Baden Hills as planned, just to be surprised by the force of the storm, which left part of the group stuck under the tents and others in the parking lot. I was in the car and could barely see outside, given the density of the rain. I was afflicted in there, thinking if I could be of any help outside, but the fear of being hit by lightning was overwhelming. On my way home, I witnessed at least three lightning strikes on the ground, which confirmed my worries. I learned later, through the Facebook group, that everybody got safely home. That’s what matters.

With the cancellation, I finally had time to carefully look at the results up to that point. The next male was almost 10 minutes ahead, and only an injury would change the game. Then I looked at the female ranking and noticed 4 women ahead of me, but one of them, Joanne, was just over a minute ahead. Well, I had two more stages to bridge that gap, but I remember well how fast Joanne is. She beat me at stages 1 and 2, with a 5 minutes advantage, then I narrowed the gap on the trail stages 3, 4, and 5; since I have been training hills a lot lately. The next stages were flat and fast though. My chances of going up on the overall ranking were minimal.

Stage 7: Saturday, 5km at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School, Kitchener

The seventh stage was a track race. We had to run 12.5 laps in the inner lane of the track. Because it was a short, flat, and fast course, we couldn’t do much to bridge the gap between runners, so the overall ranking stayed the same, but that was so fun! The participants were divided into two heats, the fastest times in the first one and the remaining in the second heat. I was in the second one and had the chance to see the fastest runners putting in place their strategies. Some started fast just to find themselves fading away in the last minutes, others started slower to push harder at the end, and leaders took it easy, saving energy for the final stage. My strategy was to start slow and focus on passing the next runner, one by one, until I couldn’t anymore. I ended up finishing my heat in the first place, which was unexpected.

Stage 8: Sunday, Half-Marathon at RIM Park, Waterloo

The last stage was a half-marathon on the Grand River Trail, in the surroundings of RIM Park. It was the same location as Stage 1; but with a slightly longer loop, with 3 laps of 7km. 21km is enough distance to catch up with other runners in the ranking, but it meant I needed to run one of my fastest half-marathons and hope others were not on their best day.

Around 1km into the race, Joanne paired with me and we ran side by side for 14km. During this time, I noticed something surprising: I was comfortably talking to Joanne all the time. That means we were at a conversational pace, but the pace was 5:15/km! This is 40 seconds faster than the pace I thought was my easy one. I was feeling good, so good that I ran the last 7km averaging 4:50/km, making a new half-marathon best time! My final result, considering all stages, was 12th place overall, and 9th among males. It took me 5h:47m:41s to complete all stages. A time that put me 13 seconds ahead of Joanne. That was nothing after 7 days and 66.6km, but still.

Something unusual happened that day. One of the runners forgot his left shoe. I have seen people forgetting a pair of shoes, or bringing the wrong pair of shoes, but I’ve never seen someone forgetting one of the shoes. When I was about to leave the house that morning, I looked at my pair of Brooks and said: “I’m gonna bring these just in case”. Looking at his desperate face, I felt I had a chance to save his day and said: “Are you 11?”, “Yes”, He said. I lent him my pair of Brooks and saw him disappear with the leaders. I was in the middle of the second lap when I saw him again, walking! “What just happened?!”, I thought. When I asked him, he said: “I’m done”. “Was it my Brooks’ fault?!”. The next time I saw him, he was finishing the second lap, walking barefoot, holding my shoes. “It was definitely my Brooks!”, I thought, feeling bad for him, but I also felt OK because that was not an act of sabotage. The good news is when I was halfway through my last lap I saw him running again, with my pair of Brooks, a relief.

Takeaways

• I performed better when I ran negative splits, starting slow and accelerating when I felt I could. I did it in stages 4, 7, and 8, feeling good to go faster in the last minutes.

• There is a single bib to identify each runner throughout all stages. We have to attach it to the clothing every time. So, I left my bib in the car since I had to drive to races in different locations.

• If you signed up for the race and other people with you have nothing else to do while you are running, then consider making arrangements to engage them as volunteers. Active hands are always welcome to move things around, mount, dismount, hydrate runners, mark, clear, clean, and so on.

• I increased my VO2Max by 1 point during the event. My last point took me 4 months to earn, and this one took me just a week, given the pressure to compete every day.

• My performance improved at every stage, despite the increase in intensity and competitiveness. The big question now is: Do we really need a tapering period before a race?

Wrap Up

ENDURrun races don’t have a big field. A week-long commitment is not for everybody. They have just enough runners to build strong connections among them. Everybody greets and encourages each other to keep pushing forward. Before and after each stage, we have so much to talk about. We share our running history, training adventures, what happened the day before, how the ranking looks like, what we plan to do next, which strategies to bridge the gaps, and mutual praise.

Now, I have one year to build enough volume to run the Ultimate edition in 2024. I’m sure it will give me the confidence I need to go far beyond the marathon distance.

With a 200 m elevation gain and temperature above 20︒C, Calgary hosted a marathon as hard as Ottawa last year. I worked more on my acclimation to the warming weather this year, but it wasn’t enough to contain my profuse sweating. At least I was 25 minutes faster than that fateful Ottawa race, showing gradual progress over time. On the other hand, compared to the marathon I ran less than a month ago, it was a shame. Should I put all the blame on me?

Calgary hosts a mid-size marathon event, with a field of 1200 marathoners. It was well organized, mostly scenic course throughout the suburbs, downtown, and along the Bow River. The public was supportive and welcoming. I had nothing to complain about, except for the pacer I decided to follow.

As I have reported in my previous post, the 4:05 pacer at the Toronto Marathon was so good that he played a key role in pacing me to my new personal best. My strategy was to start slow, following him from a distance for a while, slowly approach his pack and stick to them to the finish line. I tried to follow the same strategy again and realized too late in the course that I fell into a trap. Between me and the 4:05 pacer was the 4:10 pacer. He was too close, a few seconds, not 5 minutes apart. Looking at my watch, I noticed I was consistently running a 4h marathon pace (5:41/km), something I didn’t plan to do. I just wanted a new PB and one second faster would suffice. That speed was strange for someone behind a 4:10h pacer. I thought something was wrong with my watch after passing through the buildings downtown, but it continued like that for a long while. The 4:10h pacer was supposed to run an average pace of 5:55/km and the 4:05h pacer, 5:48/km. At some point, they were both beyond reach.

In my naivety of trusting those pacers, I had no more fuel left to fully run the race. I had to walk. A marathon is a long race and running it without a strategy, a plan to face the hills, to eat, to hydrate, makes it just another long run. I was frustrated when I finally realized my strategy has failed because of a variable I couldn’t control: the behavior of the pacer I decided to follow. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I had to learn it through experience. During the next marathon, I will ignore the pacers and trust the math and physics embedded in my smartwatch.

Out of curiosity, I browsed Strava and found the profile of the 4:10h pacer.

The data I’ve found was revealing. His average pace was 5:40/km for 35 km! If he continued like that, he would finish the marathon in 03:59:07h, but he slowed down in the last 7 km to make sure his finishing time was 4:10h.

Is there a chance he has “hit the wall”? It is very unlikely for a runner with an average heart rate of 150 BPM (Beats Per Minute). The fact is, he was running mostly alone, trusted by nobody else but me, and deliberately adapted his pace to finish at the goal time.

I would like to emphasize that I do not blame the organization of the race for what has happened. I strongly recommend it to all road runners looking for a great experience. I will likely plan another vacation to Alberta around this time of the year to be able to run it again. Until then, I will certainly have time to get my strategy straight.

Number: 9
Time: 04:20:21
Best Marathon Time to Date: 04:05:19
Elevation: 200 m

I picked the Toronto Marathon as the first long race of the year. That’s the second time I run this race. The first time was before the pandemic. With my plantar fasciitis constantly bothering me, I couldn’t build any real expectations about the outcome. The plan was just to put into practice some lessons learned and run the whole course. To my surprise, I ended up getting a new personal best in a chaotic race!

This time I made some changes to my pre-race routine. Two weeks before, I drastically reduced volume, limiting running to three times a week and no more than 10 km each. The week before, I increased hydration with electrolytes and started carbo-loading. I slept as much as I could, so it wouldn’t be a problem if anxiety impacted my rest. The day before I had sushi, my favorite pre-race meal, full of carbohydrates and sodium, which are great for replenishing energy stores and water retention.

I woke up early in the morning and drove for one hour to Toronto. I parked the car close to the finish line and took a bus, offered by the organization, to the start line in North York. I arrived in time to pee before the race, however, there weren’t enough toilets to serve the crowd, so runners were also using the washrooms of a shopping mall across the street. The lines were so long that I felt sorry for the ladies, who had to wait twice as long for a chance to pee. That was one of a series of problems that embarrassed the organizers in the days that followed the race.

The problems started the week before, when the organizers sent several confusing emails. Instead of being crystal clear about the race and checking the details before sending them out, they had to send corrections and clarifications later. I don’t remember the last time I had this kind of problem, which seems pretty trivial to prevent. One of the messages indicated that some runners didn’t receive the bib by mail in time for the race and were asked to go to the kit pickup location to get another bib. However, people paid for the mail option because they planned to arrive in Toronto on the race day. They had to make annoying arrangements to arrive the day before. At the start line, lucky enough for having no issues up to that point, I just hoped that everyone solved their issues in time to be there with me.

With some delay, the race started and I decided to go for a conservative pace for the first 10 km, where most of the hills are concentrated. If there is one positive thing about this race is the beauty of the course. It passes through the best of Toronto, especially a large portion of green areas, parks, and the charming waterfront of Lake Ontario. The cheering crowd was mostly concentrated in downtown, which is roughly the middle of the race. It was around that point that I met the pack following the 4:05 pacer. I thought that if I stick to that pacer I would, at least, get a personal best.

I was feeling good after the 25 km mark, which made me think the pack was slowing me down. So, I decided to move on only to face one more issue. Someone was holding a sign, indicating the course separation of the marathon and half-marathon, but this person was moving around, making the arrows confusing. So I accidentally took the wrong way and had volunteers chasing me for 200 meters to put me back on track. The pacer passed me for a large margin after this confusion and I had to catch them again, but this time I stuck to the pack.

I didn’t have any problems with hydration this time, but the water stations seemed to be struggling to keep up with the demand. In some stations, not enough people were handling the cups, making runners slow down to grab one from the table. In one occasion, I grabbed an empty cup, forcing me to skip that station. I think it didn’t affect my performance, but seeing everybody throwing away the cups on the road, without a chance to hit a garbage bin, made water stations big messy crossing points.

Around the 30 km mark, the segments were very narrow, making runners pass very close to each other in opposite directions. We were sharing the last section of the race with riders who couldn’t care less about the race. putting themselves in the middle of the runners. Police officers in charge of the course had to call their attention. If I was chasing a Boston Qualifying Time I would be very upset with that.

My strategy of sticking to the 4:05 pacer was going well. I may include pacers as another positive experience of this race. My own pacer, and the others I saw passing, looked very confident to deliver to their followers. I fell behind in the last 3 km but finished seconds shortly after the 4:05 time.

I crossed the finish line 2 minutes faster than my previous best time from 2 years ago. Happy with the result, I was not expecting that feeling to go away any time soon. But… “Where is my medal?!” - I asked myself in the area where they were supposed to handle them, since the 5 and 10km medals were still hanging there. Looking around, I saw some people already with their medals. I asked one of them where they got one and they pointed to some empty boxes spread on the floor. Panic!!! With that crowd around, did they leave boxes of medals unattended on the floor?! I checked. They were empty. More panic!!! I decided to follow the flow of people into a building nearby, where, to my relief, I received my medal from a young man after crossing a narrow passage. He asked me which race I finished to handle the right medal, despite my bib letting it explicitly obvious.

Well, as the saying goes, “after the storm comes…” more storm?! My first impression of what was going on in that building was like a market raid. People moving fast, in all directions, with cardboard boxes full of goods, grabbing everything they could hold. I couldn’t judge those people after finishing a marathon. With my limited cognitive capabilities at that point, I guessed we were super lucky to have such a generous sponsor. So, all I wanted was my own cardboard box and fill it with all goods I could find on my way. Nobody can judge someone exhausted, thirsty, and hungry, but back to my sanity, I realized we have been selfish. I would suggest the organizers learn from Around The Bay’s crew how to organize a proper race. Around The Bay was flawless!

Despite all these issues, the Toronto Marathon was still important to me. I got a new personal best, which serves now as a baseline for my goal of finishing the distance in under 4 hours.

Number: 8
Time: 04:05:19
Best Previous Time at this Race: 04:18:12
Best Marathon Time to Date: 04:07:11
Elevation: 193 m

It has been 3 years since last time I ran this race. It was in 2019, in my first year in Canada. Meanwhile, the pandemic cancelled the 2020 and 2021 editions, and the 2022 edition was so demanded that the race was sold out a month in advance. This time, I couldn’t miss Around The Bay 2023 and registered as soon as possible.

Hamilton is not that far. I drove 1 hour to reach the OntarioOne Arena, where we can chill out before the race. The race starts in the street in front of the arena and finishes in the middle of the arena, in the coolest finish line in North America.

The weather was cold but sunny, comfortable to run without thick layers. I was feeling great! No injures, no soreness. Excited to run along thousands of runners around the bay of Hamilton. There were so many people that it took a while until I had enough space to set my pace. The first water station at 7km was overwhelmed, unable to refill plastic cups in the same rate of demanding runners. One would need to slow down to get some water.

My goal was to simply beat my previous race time of 3:04 hours, which was not very ambitious, given my running volume during the winter. My strategy was to run the first 10 km slowly, then the second 10 km a bit faster, saving energy to run the last 10 km as fast as I could. It worked! I reduced my time to 2:49 hours, 15 minutes faster. I still felt I could do better after finishing with a pace under 5:00/km. I guess I was afraid of the hills in the last 10 km, making me opt for a conservative strategy. Since I went well in that part of the race, I will be more aggressive next time.

One thing I regret was to use my cellphone to take pictures of the course. Marathon Photos caught me running while trying to unlock my phone to take a picture. It made me look like an idiot. I was also caught crossing the finish line with my phone, which was ridiculous. I still need to take pictures, but I have to find a better solution for that.

Distance: 30 km
Time: 02:49:44
Average Pace: 5:40/km
Best Previous Time at this Race: 03:04:48
Elevation Gain: 204 m

The winter is the season least exciting for runners. As an outdoor sport, running is affected by the fear of frost-bites, picking the wrong gear for the weather conditions, and falling in slippery roads. Less people outside means less running fitness, which leads to less interest on races. Those who don’t fear the winter, like me, struggle to find races close by. The ones that actually take place have smaller fields and cover shorter distances, like 5, 8, and 10k. Shorter distances are not my thing, but this year I decided to try Re-Fridgee Eighter in Waterloo, Ontario.

My family and I registered just a week earlier to make it a winter outside activity. We were expecting sub-zero temperatures, but for our surprise, it was 6 degrees and sunny! It felt like a spring event. We started running and after a few minutes on the course, I noticed I was already warm and overdressed for the weather. That would be OK in a flat course, but not in one with several elevations. When going up, the heart beats faster, heating the body and stimulating sweating. That makes the run tougher.

But that was a shorter race after all. I knew my breaking point was far beyond that distance, so I went for an aggressive pace to match my fastest 10k pace. Pretty ambitious goal after running 16k and having a couple of beers with friends the day before.

The uphills really held me back, and despite running my fastest pace in almost three years, it wasn’t still enough to beat my best one. I blame the lower volume of training during the winter, but specially my pre-race lack of discipline. The only thing I can’t complain is the race organization. They were impeccable! Run Waterloo does a great job organizing races, attracting people from all over the province. The race started on time, the course was well marked, volunteers everywhere, precise distance measurement and timekeeping, gorgeous medal, and delicious and abundant food waiting after the finish line.

I was coming from a very disappointing Toronto Waterfront Marathon, with lots of lessons learned, anxious for another race to put in check those lessons. The Virginia Marathon was the next on the agenda, but would it be the one to test my knowledge?

Certainly not the one to chase a personal best. It is organized in the countryside, in the charming wineries of Virginia. The route is unpaved and irregular, but not too technical. The gravel and the dirt already drag a lot, but almost 1000m of elevation drags even more. The competitive spirit is always there, but in a fun race, the only time we can beat would be the one from the same race in a previous edition, which I had none, so it was really about having fun.

Why run a marathon in such a remote place? We were just trying to find an excuse to visit relatives in the US. After travelling to so many races, running became a must-do attraction anywhere we go these days. That’s why we started our planning by asking “Is there a race happening soon, close to where they live? Are they free at that time?”. Luckily, we got Yes for both questions.

A big plus for this race is its trail characteristics, surrounded by trees, farms, birds, and locals. Nature always distracts our minds from fatigue, but the race day was uncomfortably cold. I was afraid to be overdressed, which makes me sweat a lot, causing sodium depletion. Fortunately, I had family around to leave my top layer with them and start with just two layers. To my astonishment, the elevations started right away, with a long downhill (which also meant a tough finishing) and multiple ups and downs, like waves. My body was warm in less than 2k, which turned my warning sign on. I decided to slow down and enjoy the view. Since the beginning, my goal was simply to finish the race while constantly running. Some runners passed me and for the first time, I was OK with that. The number of viewers on the course was surprisingly high for a race in the middle of nowhere, but the most amazing experience was getting more encouragement from other fellow runners.

I felt strong through the whole race, even passing those who passed me at the beginning. The tricky part was a 10k straight uphill, from 20k to 30k. I kept my pace slow and constant because I knew I had a long downhill on my way back. In fact, there were ups and downs throughout the whole track and my strategy was to slow down when going up and let gravity push me when going down.

Despite the fatigue at the end, it was nowhere near the wall I hit in Toronto. I was able to finish strong and even together with my son, who was also finishing his 5k at the same time. What a special moment!

I think some pre-race changes made the difference this time around. The day before, we had Japanese food for dinner, instead of pasta. It is rich in carbohydrates and sodium. Since I lose a lot of sodium through sweating, this food is my choice from now on. During the race, I was drinking mostly sport-drinks, rarely water, and felt great all the time. So I think I have room to drink just water next time.

Overall, the race was organized, scenic, welcoming, and supportive. I was excited about finishing one more marathon feeling so strong. I can’t recommend it enough.

Number: 7
Time: 4:22:24
Best Marathon Time to Date: 04:07:11
Elevation Gain: 921 m

It was like forgetting everything I knew about running. In other words, a failure. I was in my best running shape and form, with no injures, all intervals and long runs done, and I didn’t even get a personal best. What happened?

After 3 years of good service, my old Garmin watch broke. These days, a runner without a tracking watch is just a wild beast, so I had to get a new one. The new model came with a coaching feature. The watch is capable of guiding and monitoring my workouts, not like a real coach but quite close. I joined a half-marathon program by Jeff Galloway and defined as goal a new personal best time for that distance. My actual distance is the marathon, but that half was what was available for free. I followed the program and by 3/4 of it, I overachieved my goal by 5 minutes! I’m not fully endorsing the program, since I practiced more than it required, but it helped to develop other running techniques and organize my intervals.

My new half-marathon personal best was less harder than I expected and it gave me too much confidence to risk a faster marathon. Confidence is good, but it might be harmful in distances like the marathon or longer. Only experience and intensive preparation can bring genuine confidence. I had that for a half and I thought I had that for a marathon too, but it pushed me to make a few mistakes that I already knew how to prevent:

1. Started too fast: we always are full of energy at the beginning and excited by the crowd, but my confidence made me forget that I may not have enough fuel to spear in the final hour. Also, my smart watch tried to alert me, showing that I haven’t slept enough lately. Despite everything, I kept a pace 10 seconds faster than my goal for 33km. That’s too fast and walking at the end was inevitable. What I’m supposed to do instead was to start slow and gradually increase my pace to reach the average goal. This strategy can vary according to the elevation, where I can go faster in downhills and slower in uphills.

2. Put on too many clothes in a cold day, but I forgot to get rid of excesses after the start. I ended up sweating too much, losing precious minerals like sodium and potassium, unable to refuel in the same rate along the race. That situation made my heart rate jump even when moving slowly. It’s a clear sign of fatigue caused by dehydration. There are guidelines about how to properly dress and gear for running in different weather conditions. In this occasion, I just had to protect my extremities, like my head and hands, and resist the initial cold for a few minutes, since the body warms up comfortably in the first 2km.

3. Didn’t ingest enough sodium prior to the race: I thought I learned how to properly hydrate in my long runs, but training for me was always slower than racing. I thought sports drinks and gels would help me, but they messed with my stomach. No more gels from now on. By ingesting more sodium, we retain more water within our body for longer, but for me, it works better to consume it before than during the race. A good tip is to eat sushi with generous soy sauce seasoning the evening before.

4. Intentionally matching or passing other runners is a classical mistake. Each runner has an individual strategy that might not match mine. Slower runners may be saving energy for later. Faster runners might be better prepared or make the same mistake. By passing them, I was burning energy too fast. In some races, they mix different distances, which was the case of this event, so many fast runners might be targeting a shorter distance. Especially in large events, runners start at very different times, making other runners the worse reference points. I actually have to stick to my pacing strategy and forget about others, passing them naturally, not intentionally. In case I really want to chase someone, I can follow close behind until I pass them naturally or when I’m confident that I can sustain a faster pace until the end of the race.

I was exhausted at 33km to the point I had to walk. Minutes later, the 4:00h pacer passed with a bunch of runners surrounding him. Many of those that I have intentionally passed were naturally passing me. My mind was full of negative thoughts, frustrated with the situation I was in, with still 9km to go. Then I remembered Jeff Galloway’s repeats, where I had to run 800 meters and walk 3 minutes. I recall those workouts added up to 8km to my mileage, so I did it, which helped me to control my heart rate which was going up too fast. I felt I could faint if I forced a continuous run until the finish line. The funny fact was that, in the last 2km there were simply too many people cheering, diverting my mind from the pain, and suddenly I was running like nothing happened. How? Did my mind play a trick on me?

In his book “Endure”, Alex Hutchinson reports that we get progressively more fatigued throughout a run, but when the end is in sight, we speed up. The brain probably holds us back during long efforts and then releases the final reserves when we are nearly finished and the danger is past. It matches my experience because I was afraid of fainting, then the crowd at the end distracted me and all I wanted to do was to finish it.

I didn’t get a personal best, but I was 1 minute from it. I believe Jeff’s intervals helped me to face the remaining distance. My initial goal was finishing under 4 hours and I was on track until the 33km, which is my longest stretch running at 5:30/km pace. At least my finish time is my best time after the pandemic, also above average overall, in my gender and age categories. Best of all: I felt very minimal muscular pain the day after like I could go for a run without issues.

Number: 6
Time: 04:08:42
Best Previous Time at this Race: 04:23:24
Best Marathon Time to Date: 04:07:11
Elevation: 160 m