A few weeks ago, I had my first 25k run on my schedule. But, I had pubruns on Saturday and book club on Sunday! What’s a girl to do? After some stealthy Google-mapping, I realized that the location of bok club was 25k from my house, give or take a turn in the road for two. So I decided to do it. This meant no drinking at book club (booo!) but it meant seeing entire parts of the Toronto Waterfront I’ve never seen before (yay!). The farthest west I’ve been on foot was to the Humber River bridge, and this route would take me 20k past that and through some of Mississauga’s nicest neighbourhoods. I was excited, and I was scared.
The corner where it all began.
I started slow, taking my time and enjoying the view. It was perfect weather for a long run in February. The trail isn’t consistent in Mississauga: it follows the water then ends and you run through residential area where very special people enjoy their private waterfront properties. Then I ran through some woods, then more waterfront, then more residential area. That seems to be the trend for the first 18k. Then I realized it was 6pm and I was still in Mississauga! I was tired and cold and I had run out of water. The trip went from enjoyable to terrible pretty fast. The CN Tower was off in the distance, taunting me. I took a few dead end turns and had to back track. I grew weary. It grew dark. Protip: running on a trail in the dark is SCARY. Sure, by this time I had passed the Humber River and the trail as partially lit and I wasn’t the only insane runner out that night, but I spent the next 5k convinced someone was going to jump me when I least expected it. But I kept moving forward, focusing on getting to Bathurst Street. I decided if I got to Bathurst Street, I’d be home free.
Toronto: still so far away.
Once I did, my determination kicked in, and I knew I had to make it the whole way home. My legs were rubber and I was a tad dehydrated, but after running for 3 hours, it felt like a small challenge.
I did make it home. 4 and a half hours after I left my friend’s. 3:42 minutes after I first started running.
This was the farthest I’ve ever run and I learned a few important things. 30k runs require more water than 15k runs (I know, right?). I need to get better at pacing myself — I still found it in my to sprint (or do what felt like sprinting) the last k, and that shouldn’t have happened. In fact, this entire run probably shouldn’t have taken ALMOST FOUR HOURS. But speed is something I can work on in the future. For now, I’ll just be impressed with the fact I ran from Port Credit to Toronto.
The run: 28.1k in 3:42
The route:
(Note: every time I google map this, I get a different km total. But you get the idea.)