A Tale of Two Halves - 2024 Toronto Waterfront Marathon RACE RECAP

[@kevinjohnston3901]

Dang, I kept showing up just in front of you in the videos at the 2 turnarounds. Had I known at the 33 k turnaround, I could have yelled some encouraging words. Congrats on the PB!!

[@runwithbritters]

Came here for the cat ending 😂 Great recap. It's always nice to see someone on the sidelines you recognize when you feel like you need a boost.

[@SherryOram72]

Thank you for your honest opinion. Looking forward to following the rest of your journey 😊🇨🇦

[@647Anna]

Fan support is the best part of Toronto runs🎉

[@Zvanunhoft]

Great recap Aaron. Makes me thankful that I ran the half! 😃

[@ovelmo]

As I commented in your race weekend video, this is my local marathon and I've run it four times now--but god help me if I don't overcome that second half someday! I always have to walk-run for a bit between 36k and 40k. The finish area wasn't so bad for me, it had thinned out by the time I got there since I was in a later corral and finished a little over 4 hours. I haven't run any other marathons to compare it to, but I'm glad to have this one in my city. Hoping to get sub-4 next year! I'm glad you had a positive time overall; I like it when people come here and enjoy their time, I'm sure other Torontonians feel the same way. Great recap, congrats on the PR and I'll make sure to keep following your journey!

[@mc603]

Great breakdown!! This type video is incredibly useful. Thanks.

[@FreshBrewRunClub]

Thanks for watching!

[@Ason426]

Congrats on the race. I ran toronto marathon this year as well. Im from Toronto and youre right Toronto traffic is absolutely the worst. I know you mentioned driving into downtown on race day as being risky, but i drove and didnt have any issues. Absolutely agree that on race day they should make an exception to open the subway earlier. It would probably help to reduce traffic. I got a hotel about 30 mins away from downtown. I left at about 630am and got downtown to a parking garage about 2 blocks away from the race at around 7am. I had lots of time to get ready before the race and wasnt rushed at all. And i was travelling with my girlfriend and 2 year old. You just gotta make sure you plan ahead and leave yourself more than enough time for unforseen delays. I was in the red corral too and couldnt find my pace group either so i basically paced myself the entire race. Totally agree with your assesment of the race, espeically the second half. I was surprised with the hills and it was a grind. Pro tip: stop at a hotel or shop to use the bathroom instead of the portapotty.

[@Jbbbbb282]

Great recap and Congrats on your PR! I was on red corral too, but like you, i couldn’t find my pace bunny due to so many people and the pacer banner was tough to find. But for some reason, I was still able to perform well on the last half. Negative splits all throughout. I think I was too locked in to even notice the unpleasant points you’ve mentioned about the last half. But still, this race is far way better than the toronto marathon in spring. My experience there was horrendous.

[@topoisomerace]

I agree with you about the first 7 km. They could reroute the race so that more of it resembled this opening part, but instead they have stubbornly stuck with a mundane second half out and back and a poor finishing chicane. It's a very good event that just needs some clever route adjustments to be phenomenal.

[@young-spark]

As a local who have run this marathon the last 2 years, your observations are spot on! 2nd half is a bit of a bore and like you, I did not notice the elevation in the beginning. The finishing shute def can be overwhelming and sad to say that the Toronto Marathon in May is 10x worse. You are shuffled into an indoor area, near where you picked up your bib, and you are in a long line before you get any nutrition. Hope you enjoyed Toronto and shout out to Carlos Delgado for real!

[@Vicshade]

That last 90 degree turn sounds like a real heartbreaker. “I’m almost done! Oh…no I’m not”

[@FreshBrewRunClub]

My brain was so foggy, I forgot how far the last stretch was haha

[@jkc877]

@@FreshBrewRunClub after the turn, i think it's about 1 more km

[@FreshBrewRunClub]

Just measured it, and it’s about 630 meters. Definitely a bad time for me to start sprinting 😂

[@SenaLee]

I enjoyed the second half as I could start playing my music without interruption. But I agree with the last part, Bay/King-Queen. I hate that part, too.😅

[@annemarieholohan]

Never run Toronto marathon in the spring. It is horribly run. I didn’t get water for an hour. The only good thing about it is the course is more scenic than the waterfront. And it’s downhill and flat.

[@FreshBrewRunClub]

Yeah, everything I read about it seemed like an absolute disaster lol

[@SenaLee]

I am @10:25 Blue ribbon pigtail! Congrats to PB. I had a great experience from my first race as well!

[@matthiassventoest6800]

great job…

[@FreshBrewRunClub]

Thank you!

[@kerry_runs]

Ran Toronto earlier this year definitely shared some same issues around logistics around the end of the race. Toronto marathon was deceptively hilly as well. Nice recap👍

[@FreshBrewRunClub]

Thanks for watching! Did you run the spring race? I saw that was far more chaotic

[@kerry_runs]

@@FreshBrewRunClubyeah it was a good race just a bit more technical than I anticipated. The finisher area was a bit of a mess.

[@SteveMcRae-zn9fh]

Still a decent day. Saw myself running ahead of you about 16:25 into the video. 👍

[@FreshBrewRunClub]

Nice! All things considered, it was a solid day!

[@jkc877]

It's pronounced Gardener

[@niclai3779]

just an fyi since you asked, we do pronounce it "Gar-din-ner express way"

[@timtrenholm3698]

So you were probably dehydrated, which probably contributed to your result. Not sure if you mostly use gels/chews for fuel, but even 1 handheld with heavy carb/electrolyte mix to get you to the halfway point where the aid stations start to get less chaotic might help you. The added weight is more than compensated by dialed in hydration/nutrition. That classic marathon fade at 32k is the real killer, especially if you are forced to run/walk...even if just through the aid stations.

[@htiek12]

Scale of 1-10, how do you rate the overall experience? (The race, organization, ease etc) Plan on running this one next year and would like to hear opinion! Also, I might have missed it, but are you doing same marathon in 25?

[@FreshBrewRunClub]

I’d say 7/10. If I ran the half, I’d probably give it a 10/10 because the first 21K was awesome, but that second half was tough and not so fun. There’s better courses to run a PR, but overall this was pretty good. Not sure what I’m going to do next year, might run the hometown Detroit Marathon

[@Justinbpierson]

Were you happy with the AF3’s?

[@FreshBrewRunClub]

Outside of the rock that got stuck in the bottom, I was happy with them. Much better than the AF2s, which really got uncomfortable after 20 miles

[@LaROSE248]

Heartbreaker run got deleted 😡😡😡🤬