I did this race to pace my youngest sister in her first half marathon. Actually, her entry and my accompaniment were her Christmas present. Over the last year she's lost over 40lbs and started running - it's really awesome.

We had done a few long runs together so i knew her pacing and set up my Garmin to do 10 and 1's. It was a chilly but sunny morning and the gun went off without a hitch. We probably ran the first 8-10k faster than she normally would have but it wasn't outrageous. We kept it in check with the walk breaks. And she had shoe lace malfunctions several times in the first 6 k.

It really was a beautiful day - with spring heaving out some blossoms and the leaves sprouting I kept marvelling at how pretty it was. We ran through the university which is pretty most times of the year and in quiet neighbourhoods in Old North (I had no real idea of where we were). The day was so nice that even running on Adelaid rd was nice. When we turned onto Windermere where there are few rolling hills my sister was getting tired. I was sort of pulling her along - we were past the half way point. We were chatting bit by bit but keeping at it steady. By the time we got to 17k she was falling behind and i was running a bit ahead.

I have to say i was a bit frustrated because I felt gggggrrrrrrrrreeeeaaat and it would have been easy to pick it up. But then she had that determined look and was just going so i took a minute and remembered how hard my first half marathon was. How horrible I felt at the end and eased up. Today was not about me. I started to think of songs to sing which we did for a little bit but that was too much energy for her.

There's a steady incline on the way back to the park and it does take it's toll. there was a lady in a pink hat who we had leapfrogged with several times that finally got ahead of us for good. I have to give my sister credit. She didn't stop. Though with about 1.2 k to go she wanted to stop to eat some sport beans and I made her run instead. We were WAY too close to the end to be stopping!

I didn't force her to sprint or anything. This was her finish. I got her to give me her sunglasses for the finish photo and we saw our other sister, her fiancé and a friend cheering for us at the end! I lifted my arms and people started cheering for us so my sister did too.

So, there it is. I paced my sister in to her first half marathon. Really, i just kept her company.

If anything I would have back off a bit. It was my sister's race.

Food!


I really liked the half marathon course. I would definitely do it again. The nice weather helped but it's a fair course - not too hilly but not perfectly flat either. A good mix of scenery - trails, roads, main streets, side streets, etc.