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Marathon

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The 30th edition of the Montreal Marathon was held on September 24, 2023. It was my second half-marathon of the year and I ran a personal best time of 1 hour 33 minutes. The half-marathon is a warm-up run as part of my ten Canadian province challenge, wherein I am running a marathon across the ten Canadian provinces. I have already run six and I have four more to go. It is always great to run a personal best and dig deep inside to push oneself to the next level. As the saying goes, we play the way; we train. I had recently run a personal best for the full marathon two weeks earlier in Regina, Saskatchewan. I ran a time of 3 hours 20 minutes which is a reduction of 24 minutes to my former personal best which I ran in the 2022 Montreal Beneva Marathon.

It is great to see the hard work finally begin to add up and make more sense. Prior to these back-to-back personal best runs, I had increased my weekly running volume to around 90-100 KM. In the months of June and July, I was averaging at least 10 miles per day. I still have a long way to go to qualify for the Boston Marathon. My personal best is presently 3:20 and I need a time of 3:05 for Boston. I am getting closer and it is going to require more more and consistency.

Meditation

  • Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt -Love and Acceptance
  • Even though challenges are a part of life, it isn’t easy when we are in them. It is helpful to remember that: All challenges come and all challenges go.
  • Affirmations: May I be happy and learn and grow from all my challenges. May I accept myself just as I am. May I be kind to myself,

Daily Jay with Jay Shetty – Unlikely Teachers

  • I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers. – Khalil Gibran
  • We can’t control how other people behave; we are all on our own separate paths at different points on our journeys. Sometimes we are going to run into people whose behaviour we don’t like, it can be easy to let them bring you down, but with patience and intention, you can learn from them. Instead of letting your frustration overwhelm you, identify what actions or traits make you bristle, then engage in some self-reflection.

Podcast

The GMS Queen City Marathon in Regina, Saskatchewan, was my sixth full marathon in 2023 as part of my ten Canadian Marathon Running Challenge. I reduced my personal best (3:44), which I ran at the Beneva Montreal Marathon in 2022, by 24 minutes to a time of 3:20. I ran my first sub-four-hour marathon at the 2022 Beneva Montreal Marathon and have since been running sub-four marathon times.

Running a personal best felt good as I have been putting in the hard work by increasing my mileage, averaging 100 KM per week in the past 6-8 weeks. My new personal best of 3:20 proves that hard work pays off. I am getting closer to some of my marathon running goals: Qualify for the 2025 Boston Marathon (3:05) and run a sub-3 hours times. I know how to achieve these goals; I need to trust the process and keep showing up daily.

The Manitoba Marathon was my fifth full 42.2 KM marathon in 2023, and I finished with a time of 3 hours, 59 minutes and 16 seconds. The race was held at the University of Manitoba (Starting Line) on June 18, 2023. I ran four marathons in May 2023 – Toronto Marathon (Ontario), Fredericton Marathon (New Brunswick)Halifax Marathon (Nova Scotia) and Calgary Marathon (Alberta). The Manitoba Marathon marked the end of the first half of my Ten Canadian Province Marathon Running Challenge, which is my effort to run a full 42.2 KM marathon across the ten Canadian Provinces.

The Servus Calgary Marathon was the fourth and last marathon for May 2023. I ran four full marathons in May, and the Calgary Marathon was the toughest as I walked the last 7 KM of the marathon. I finished with 4 hours 31 minutes, running 168.8 KM in May. I ran the following marathons in May – Toronto Marathon (Ontario), Fredericton Marathon (New Brunswick), Halifax Marathon (Nova Scotia) and the Calgary Marathon (Alberta).

The 45th Stewart McKelvey Fredericton Marathon 2023 was held from May 13 to 14, 2023, in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The Fredericton Marathon was named Best Boston Qualifier – by Canadian Running Magazine. I participated in the full marathon (42.2 km), my second in May 2023 (my first Back-to-Back Full Marathon, I participated in the Toronto Marathon last week). I finished with a time of 3 hours 53 minutes.

The 2023 Toronto Marathon was held on Sunday, May 7, 2023, and it was my second marathon of the year. The Toronto Marathon was named one of the best Boston Qualifiers – by Canadian Running Magazine. I participated in the Mississauga Half Marathon on April 30. I finished with a time of 4 hours 13 minutes, it was a very tough finish as I had a deep muscle pull at 30 KM, but I dug deep to finish.

I ran six full marathons (42.2 km) and three 10 KM races in 2022. I ran a personal best of 3 hours forty-four minutes at the Beneva Montreal Marathon in Montreal, Quebec, and I also ran two other sub-four hours marathons, taking the sub-4 times to three in 2022.

The Marathons I ran in 2022 are as follows:

  1. The 2022 BMO Vancouver Marathon – 5:00:31 | Vancouver, British Columbia |  May 1st, 2022
  2. The 2022 Tartan Ottawa International Marathon – 4:37:39 | Ottawa, Ontario | May 29, 2022
  3. The 2022 Servus Edmonton Marathon – 4:00:20 | Edmonton, Alberta | August 21, 2022, 
  4. The Beneva Montreal Marathon 2022 – 3:44:14 | Montreal, Quebec |  September 25, 2022
  5. The Toronto Waterfront Marathon 2022 – 3:56:14 | Toronto, Ontario | 16 October 2022
  6. The Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon – 3:55:18 | Hamilton, Ontario | November 6, 2022

I participated in my sixth full marathon of the year (2022) at The Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon. I finished with a time of 3 hours 55 minutes and 04 seconds, making it my third sub-4 hours in 6 weeks. I had earlier ran a personal best (3:44:14) and my first sub-4 marathon time at the 2022 Beneva Montreal Marathon on September 24, 2022; I followed that up with another sub-4 performance in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon with a time of 3:56:14.

I participated in my fifth full marathon of the year (2022) at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. I finished with a time of 3 hours 56 minutes and 14 seconds, making it my second sub-4 hours in 3 weeks. I had earlier ran a personal best and my first sub-4 marathon time at the 2022 Beneva Montreal Marathon on September 24, 2022.

I had a target of running a time of 3:30, but it was not meant to be. Like every marathon I participate in, there were lots of lessons learned and strategies that I hope to implement in my next marathon, such as experimenting with my running shoes and running without a running bag et al.

The 30th edition of the Montreal Marathon was held on the weekend of September 24 (10KM) and September 25 (21.1 KM & 42.2KM). The Beneva Montreal Marathon was my fourth full (42.2KM) Marathon in 2022 (Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton), and I ran a personal best of 3 hours 44 Minutes. I set a goal to break the fours time for a marathon in Montreal, and I achieved it. It was a tough process getting to the finish line as the picture below shows.

Over 10,000 runners participated in the 2022 Montreal Marathon with the start line at Espace 67 on Île Sainte-Hélène and the finish line at Olympic Stadium.

I participated in the 2022 Toronto Carnival Run, a Caribbean-inspired run encouraging health, wellness, and active living. The 6th edition was held on Saturday, July 23, 2022, and I ran a personal best of 47 minutes for a 10 KM run. The run started at Sir Casimir Gzowski Park and heads East along the Martin Goodman Trail. The run/walk distance options of 5K, 10K and 1K Kid’s run

The Toronto Carnival Run takes place annually in downtown Toronto one week before North America’s largest cultural parade, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival (formerly known as Caribana), along the same route. 

The 2022 Toronto Waterfront 10K was held on Saturday, June 18, 2022. I participated and finished with an official time of 50:02 (sub-one hour time). It was a great warmup for the upcoming full marathon in a couple of weeks’ time. The 2022 Toronto Waterfront 10KM Marathon had 3974 Participants in total with 1949 women and 2015 men participants.

2022 Toronto Waterfront 10K Result

  • Men: Lee Wesselius (29:52)
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