After 2 back to back half marathons, I signed up for the inaugural Mississauga Marathon. The race started from Square One and headed south towards lakeshore to finish at the Promenade Park. It was a very well organized race considering it was held for the first time. The support on the course was excellent with water stops every 2 kms. The latter part of the race was along the lake. The only disappointment was the medal. Even the 2K, 10K and half marathon finishers received the same medal. Furthermore, the after race food stall only had bagels and water on offer and there was no massage tents as well. The journey back to "Square One" was a pain. We had to walk 2 kms to the race bus that took an hour to transport the runners back to square one.
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It was one of those back to back races. After completing the Burlington half the weekend before, I decided to drive to London Ontario on race morning. The journey was a little over 2 hours and the race started from the UWO’s athletics’ arena. The race course was really enjoyable. It was an out and back course and most of the run was through the parks in London. The race time was as usual around the 2 hr 10 minute mark. The post race massage was a real disappointment as my masseuse seemed like a real lazy “B” as didn’t feel like exerting any pressure. The food stall was quite good though and I got myself about 10-15 power bars. I drove back home afterwards and was treated to a lovely warm bath and a gourmet meal by Nadia.
I woke up an hour before the race and by the time I got out of the house it was already 40 minutes left to the race start. As expected, the 401 on a Sunday morning was empty. But due to rain I could not speed on the highway. By the time I got to the race start, half an hour had already passed and the place was deserted. The race marshalls had even taken the cones off the road. Luckily I found some people on the street who guided me to the course. For the first half an hour, I was the only runner on the course and twice I took a wrong turn and drifted off the race track. Finally, I saw some runners and even overtook the van that was clearing up the cones from the street. The rest of the journey was by and large uneventful as I continued to pass all the slow runners and walkers on the way to the finish line. The one good thing I achieved by starting late was being photographed at quite a few locations! I finished the race in a little over 2 ½ hours but my race time was around 2 hrs. After the race, I got my medal and even won a bag in the draw!
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AuthorZiyad Rahim is an adventure-runner from Pakistan. He currently holds 10 Guinness World Records in long-distance running, ranging from marathons to ultra-marathons. Race Reports
July 2018
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