Awesome run this morning in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon. Pretty happy with my time - shaved about 10 seconds off what I ran last year. It was nice to have a good run again in a half marathon considering the run I had in Ottawa.

Great race again in Toronto. The marathon winner was hot on my heels - he came in about 6 minutes after me and set a new record for the marathon on Canadian soil. Unreal.

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon 2009 Race Report

Half marathon number five and Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon number two is in the books. All in all, a good day, and a solid run through the streets of Toronto with 20,000 friends. As with the Midsummer Night's Run and the Ottawa Half Marathon, I was running with my usual running buddy, Nicole.

Things started off as expected. The horn sounded right at 7:30 A.M. and we were off. Well, a couple of minutes later, at least. We were seeded in the blue corral with a few thousand runners between us and the start line.

Down Bay St. to Wellington was awesome with a good crowd of supporters on either side of the road cheering the throng of runners as they funneled south and then east towards Parliament.

We took our first walk break at ten minutes and noted that we were right on the money as far as our pace went. Continuing east for a bit, we made the turn south on Parliament towards Lakeshore Drive where the majority of the run takes place.

=== He may not be running for Mayor again, but he's still a running Mayor ===

We made the turn west and under the Gardiner for the run towards the Rogers Centre and eventually out to Humber Bay. I spied Mayor David Miller around Bay Street. He was looking happy, keeping an eye out for the photographers lest he be caught looking anything less than strong out on the course.

Up the hill at Spadina and down the other side I started noted the 18km marker and wondered what I'd feel like on the return trip. No time to think too much. Next up was the Princes' Gates at the CNE grounds. I spotted my dad cheering from the sidelines.

Then it was time to move to the south side of the course in anticipation of the elites already returning from the turn around. Crazy. They passed us around Ontario Place, already 7km ahead.

The next few kms are pretty boring but the turn around point gives you something to look forward to. I crossed the 10k mat in just over 55 minutes, still on a solid pace to finish under two hours.

=== Mental note...use the porta-potties before the race ===

12km and the turn around came and went. I was in a groove now. In fact, I was in such a groove, I totally missed a walk break at 1:05:00. Not a problem, really, as I was seeking out a porta-potty by this point and figured skipping the walk would make up for the quick stop to get rid of some excess fluid.

I ended up watering a tree near Sunnyside Pool and rejoined the course in time to see Nicole again. We hadn't been running together since about the 11km mark and I was glad to see she was still on a good pace through 14kms.

That was the last time I saw her until the finish as she was having some foot and stomach issues at this point. I was feeling good so I kept with my pace and ran on alone for the remainder of the race. I powered up the hill near the Rogers Centre and down the other side before taking my last walk break.

=== I hate the hill on Bay ===

Just over a kilometre to go and all that was left between me and the finish line was the hill on Bay before the last 500m push to the mat. That hill is a killer.

Through the last 500m, I looked at my watch to see if a sub-two hour gun time was possible. It wasn't, but beating my time from last year was still a good possibility if I could finish well. I kicked it up and bit in the last 200m and finished strongly, crossing the mat in 1:57:42.

Then I waited for Nicole to cross. I did an interview with 680 News at the finish and just as that wrapped up Nicole crossed the line. She missed her sub-two hour half once again but with another chance remaining at the GoodLife Toronto Half Marathon in a couple of weeks, she was still happy with her run.

We walked through the chute, collected our medal and then waited while the marathon elites finished. The winner came through in a new Canadian record and we were amazed again at the kind of pace these top athletes could maintain. We ran 21.1kms in two hours, they needed just another eight minutes to complete 42.2kms. Supreme athletes.

That was that - a solid run on a pretty good day for running.

=== One more done, one more to go in 2009 ===

I was happy with my run and my time. My goal going in was to beat my time from last year and I did that by about ten seconds. It was as important to me that I just have a good run. Ottawa was terrible and I wanted to run a half that wasn't a struggle.

Next up is the GoodLife Half in three week. I'm fairly certain that I won't be besting my personal best in that race. I ran a 1:52 earlier this year and I was hoping to beat that in a fall race. But after today's effort, I don't feel as though I have that kind of pace in me. But, you never know.