Second Attempt at Breaking a Guinness World Record -- Success

Having come off London with a failed attempt at a record, I went to the website to see what other races I could make a similar attempt, and was very pleased to see that the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in October was one such race. I had enough time to plan something out, add that race into my already busy fall schedule, and train. I even got a trainer for the effort.

Having decided immediately after London that I wouldn't attempt that specific record again, or anything else that required carrying something nearly that heavy, I went with something much simpler, and even somewhat aerodynamic: fastest dressed as a super villain. In my particular case, The Riddler (as portrayed in the movie by Jim Carrey).

In the weeks leading up to the marathon, though, I had a big shock -- a change in the time I needed to beat. When I originally submitted the application, the record had not yet been set, so all I needed was 4 hours -- a mark I can usually easily hit nowadays unless everything goes wrong for me. I only knew of one person chasing this record in the Berlin Marathon in September, I followed his results, and he didn't finish under 4 hours -- I was set! But, no, it turns out there was a second person who also chased the record that day, and set it far faster than I had previously run: 3:03:03 -- nearly a full 9 minutes faster than my then-PR of 3:11:54. Gulp!

I had originally gone into training looking for a 3:10, and my coach was insistent that with the way everything had gone, 3:05 shouldn't be a problem. Nice, but did I have enough in the tank to drop another 2 minutes beyond even that? Race day would tell.

Just as was the case with London, the weather was ideal: cool (about 50F), mostly cloudy, relatively low wind -- it was all on me, my training, and the prior few days leading up to the race. I was feeling confident. I had my pace band on, my Garmin all set to show me my splits, all my nutrition and water -- show time.

Lesson #1: When running in a country that just might have a different way of measuring distances compared to what you are used to (even if you know how to make the conversions), find out in advance what they use for "mile markers." Typical American, I think in mileage. Toronto had markers every KILOMETER. I didn't realize this until I hit the first marker. And that they didn't include the intermediate mile markers. D'oh! Given how horribly my Garmin was acting up (which I didn't really know during the first half), I had no real idea how well I was doing until I hit the half-marathon mark (a time that I had on my pace band). Beautiful -- 1:29:29. I was ahead of pace.

Now all I had to do was keep it together. In hindsight, it looks like I had played all sorts of mind games on myself in terms of trying to figure out what my pace was and needed to be for each of the successive kilometers.

Lesson #2: If you carry some form of ID and/or payment with you during the race (I typically do, just in case there's a medical issue, and insurance card if racing in the U.S.), make sure it is fully secured. At some point in the race, mine fell out of the belt I had always carried it in. Amazingly, not only did a runner see it laying on the course, but they stopped to pick it up. And miraculously, not only did they know who I was -- presumably from posts in one of the FB groups I'm in about my record attempt -- but they wound up overlapping with me during one of the out-and-back portions of the course. Given that day's extremely unique outfit, I was instantly recognizable, they shouted out my name, held out the cards, and handed them to me as we were both full steam ahead. To whomever that kind soul was, again: THANK YOU.

The kilometers kept piling on, and despite getting ever so slightly slower during the second half, I knew I would make it as I was seeing those last few signs inside of 1km to the finish. And I had a peak at the official clock when I was a couple of tight turns away from the finish. I was going to make it -- but by how much. Pour on the steam to make it as much as possible. Full attention focused on the finish line, I didn't hear my friend who was there specifically to cheer me on shout out that I was going to make it. (I only heard it once I saw video of my finish.)

Whereas in London, when I crossed and locked eyes on the Guinness adjudicator I shook my head, this time as I crossed I knew I had succeeded. She started to approach me, but I needed to cool down just a bit. I walked in tight circles out of the way of other finishers until I could stop and take the "money shot" photo:

Set your sights on a goal. Put in the work. Be confident in yourself. You can succeed.

I've got another one I'm aiming for later this year, but don't know if the race will be held. More on that when the attempt finally happens.