In awe

I am having my International Debut at the Toronto Marathon.

The trip has been short. I spent a night at Niagara on my way to Toronto. And two nights in the suburb of Toronto (Markam). It is maybe 45 mins north of Toronto. Traffic is pretty bad here but probably not as bad as back home in the Washington, DC area.

It is a bit far from the marathon start and finish, but there is a large chinese population and many chinese stores. Some considered this the new china town(s). For me, the whole weekend have been tasting many chinese cuisines. They are low price and good food. People speak my native language. I can understand them but I can’t speak to them. I had dimsum for breakfast, Hong Kong beef noodle soup for lunch, and congee/soup for dinner.

I had a bit of problem for the first couple days because of not able to connect to the canadian cellular network until I was able to sign up for a local data plan. I purchased a prepaid sim card at a supermarket. Many stores no longer sell sim cards because you could order them online. I didn’t know that before I arrived.

Tomorrow would be the Marathon. I have been resting quite well. My mileage has been quite low. I started the GVRAT – and this year, I am aiming to run 10k (ish, 5-6 miles) everyday for 123 days.

It adds a bit of challenge. Day 1 was good. Day 2 was a bit hard. Day 3 was very hard, especially with the trip to Canada. Day 4 and 5 were a bit better. The body started to adjust of being out there every morning. Tomorrow would be day 6 plus, the marathon. I don’t know if I could handle the day after tomorrow. I bet the body would be screaming for recovery.

One good thing about being able to run is exploring places on foot. I ran down either direction from my hotel, traveling 3 miles one way and then another three miles the other way. It doesn’t beat driving, but it does give a sense of accomplishment to cover the surrounding area of I am staying.

It is not my first time visiting Niagara Falls or Toronto, but actually the first time to cover a lot of miles on foot. One reason I picked Toronto Marathon (May race instead of the September race) is the course being point to point.

I think the race will be good. I will write more (hopefully).