While gearing up to participate in next month’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, you might be wondering how this tradition of a Marathon started…

Here’s a short history lesson on how it all began:

Legend holds that the world’s first marathon was run — unintentionally — in 490 B.C. by a Greek soldier, Pheidippides, who ran the 25 miles to Athens from the town of Marathon to announce a battleground victory over the Persians.  “Greetings, we win!” he shouted — and then fell to the ground, dead.

It would be more than 2,000 years before the marathon would make its return, at the revival of the modern Olympic Games in Greece in 1896. In that event, 17 runners ran 40 km, or 24.8 miles, with Greek runner Spyridon Louis taking the gold medal with a time of 2 hr. 58 min. 50 sec.

Inspired by the event’s success, Boston inaugurated its race the next year; it is now the oldest annual marathon in the world. In 1908, the marathon course at the London Olympics ran from Windsor Castle to the royal box at the Olympic stadium in White City (some sources say the Princess of Wales wanted her children to watch the start of the race from their home). The length of the race continued varying for years, but in 1924 that specific distance — 42,195 m, or 26 miles, 385 yd. — was made the worldwide standard.

The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon started in 1990 (then called the Coors Light Toronto Half-Marathon & 5k) with only 1,500 participants. Last year’s Marathon boasted over 14,000 participants in the 5k, Half Marathon and Full Marathon. Now in its 21^st year, the Scotiabank Marathon is incredibly popular for being “flat, fast & festive” and one of the most competitive Marathon events in North America.

Whether you’ll be participating in the Full Marathon, Half Marathon or 5km, you’ll be taking part in a little piece of history!

Source:  Randy James, Time.  “A Brief History of the Marathon”.  October 30, 2009. www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1933342,00.html.  (July 20, 2011).

Jessica Romano wanted to get more active and so she decided to join the Mount Sinai gym with a co-worker. That is when she saw the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon ads.

“I thought it was a great idea and a goal to work towards,” she said, of her decision to participate in the 5k option.

Romano works in the Microbiology Clinical Laboratory and she is looking for others in her department to join her marathon team, the Little Buggers. And with a goal of raising $1,000 for Mount Sinai, the Little Buggers are well on their way.

“We are getting a great response from people who will sign up with us or support us. We’ve currently raised just over $400.”

Romano knows that there are a plethora of reasons to take part in the marathon, not only charitable ones but personal ones as well.

“On a personal level, it is encouraging me to stay fit. As I am doing this with the department I work for, I feel it’s a great team building experience and a wonderful way to get co-workers together out of work and have fun. The fundraising itself is very beneficial to the Hospital. It’s a great way to raise money and awareness for Mount Sinai as well as to fundraise for smaller areas in the Hospital such as the labs or certain smaller clinics that may not be as well known to the public eye,” she said.

To register for a run or walk, visit the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon website — and remember to sign up for the Charity Challenge when registering.

To sponsor a Mount Sinai participant or team, visit the Scotiabank Group Charity Challenge web page, and click on Sponsor an Individual or Sponsor a Team. Select “Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation” from the list of charities and click on “Search”. You will then see a list of individuals or team names. Select one and go to their personalized page to make your donation.

Think Halloween should be more often than once a year? Here’s your chance to break out your favourite costumes, at the Best Dressed Costume contest at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon!

You’ll not only have fun running through the streets of Toronto wearing an outrageous outfit, you’ll also raise more funds for Mount Sinai.

The ‘Best Dressed Costume’ category is in all three events – categories are as follows:

-          Best Costume in the Full Marathon $2,500; Honourable mention is $500

-          Best Costume in the Half Marathon $1,000

-          Best Costumes in the 5km: 2 x $500

Don’t wear anything too uncomfortable or itchy – you have to finish the race in your costume!

All costumes will be judged by 3 Celebrity / Media Judges at the Finish Line.

What would you want to see cross the finish line? A giant carrot? A Paperbag Princess? Buzz Lightyear?

As you begin pounding the pavement to train for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, it is important that you pay close attention to the shoes you’re lacing up. The decision behind what running shoes to wear for your marathon experience is a lot more complex than you might think.

Viki, a New Balance employee, took some time out of her day to offer some tips to runners in the market for a new pair of shoes. “It’s important to know what kind of foot you have,” she said.

The first step in finding a shoe is to undergo a gait assessment to determine whether your foot is pronated (turns in), supinated (turns out) or neutral. This is why it is essential to shop at a specialty store, especially if you’ve never purchased proper running shoes in the past. Employees in these stores, such as New Balance, have the knowledge and ability to help you find the right shoe for your foot.

It is also important to test out the shoe in the store before you make your purchase. This doesn’t mean put a shoe on one foot to see if it fits. You should be putting both on to walk (or run if possible) around the store for an extended period of time. This is the only way to ensure that they are a good and comfortable fit.

The general rule of thumb when it comes to fit is to go for a half-size bigger than your usual shoes. This will allow for the swelling that inevitably comes with long distance running.

With this information in your back pocket, you’ll be able to make an informed decision regarding your marathon footwear and on race day, you won’t have to worry about your feet. You can focus all of your energy on crossing the finish line.

Don’t forget – all Mount Sinai employees get a 15 % discount at the Hospital location of New Balance.

Since Mount Sinai Hospital became a participating charity of the 2011 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, we’ve raised a total of $193,687 with the help of over 200 fundraising participants! These funds have been used to provide excellent patient care, ensure our medical equipment is state-of-the-art and that our healthcare teams have the tools they need to provide the very best comprehensive care.

Now in our fifth year of fundraising with the Marathon, we’re looking to make a big difference this year by raising $90,000. One of the areas of the hospital that needs funding is the Right from the Start: Mount Sinai Hospital’s Campaign for Women’s and Infants’ Health. This campaign involves adding six floors to our Murray Street wing to bring together clinical care and research dedicated to women and infants.

This expanded space will help Mount Sinai build a better future for our single biggest group of patients, many of whom are our tiniest and most vulnerable.

This is just one example of the many other areas of care in the Hospital that need donor support. Whether you’re fundraising for a specific area of care, type of research or for the highest priorities of Hospital, your continued fundraising efforts will ensure our Bright Minds and Big Hearts can provide the Best Medicine.

What are you fundraising for?

Plans for the 2011 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon are underway! The Marathon will take place on October 16, 2011!
If you haven’t registered yet, be sure to register and get fundraising!

Registration is now a streamlined 1 step process – you can register for either the 5km, Half Marathon or Full Marathon.

As a Mount Sinai Hospital fundraiser, you can take advantage of registering at a discounted rate – register as a Charity Challenge runner and use the special pin code 11SGCC.

If you raised more than $500 last year, you’re eligible to register for free for this year! Contact us to get your free registration pin code.

The more you raise, the more you’ll get! You’re eligible for great prizes by reaching fundraising milestones and for being a Mount Sinai supporter! You can keep fundraising post-race until October 31st, 2011.

Support Mount Sinai Hospital by making a donation or by sponsoring an existing team!

Stay tuned for posts on health tips, interesting articles and interviews!

Dr. Sabine Cordes sent this report about her team’s run:

We really enjoyed the half-marathon.  It was a very early morning for us and our wonderful support crew spearheaded by Ryan Mui. We met at 7:15 in front of Smoke’s Poutinerie, because Joanna — the fastest among us — loves poutine and would run extra fast for it. We were all wearing team T-shirts designed by Ryan, which had “Team Cordate – if you have a backbone you’re one of us. Run for mental health” and a drawing of a running woman or man. In biology, you see, all animals that have backbones are classified as chordates. 

The Cordates gather at the start line: Mike Cook, Stephanie Almeida, Teresa MacLean, Joanna Yu and Sabine Cordes

We hustled over to the start, the clock struck 7:30am and off we went.  Running together in this event can be a real challenge, but Stephanie and Teresa managed to do so for a while. At the 8k mark, Teresa’s injured knee forced her to stop and this made her very sad. Teresa really wanted to do the run. She and Joanna after all were the ones who had inspired us to do this together — she was a champ! Steph bravely continued on without her. 

Our fastest runners were Joanna Yu and honorary Cordate Mike Cook, a graduate student in the Tyers lab. Steph and I were glad to see the finish line and we each gave a final kick to cross it well. If you were there, you probably saw Steph’s blinding smile. We were met by our wonderful support crew: Ryan, who had followed us with camera in hand and had carried our sweaters and water bottles, and Andrew Seto, a grad student in Irene Andrullis’ lab and a fast marathoner,and Betty Zou, an excellent half-marathoner.

Full of tales of our running adventures and misadventures and joined by the rest of our support crew, Atta Gourarzi, another grad student in Irene Andrullis’ lab, and Joe Bondy-Denomy, we headed off for brunch to “carbo-pre-load” for next year’s event. 

We found running for the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation and fundraising for research in mental health an incredibly rewarding experience and are glad we did it or tried to do it. Teresa’s doing lots of physiotherapy to strengthen her knee and the rest of us are trotting through our runs, which now feel so very short by comparison.

Thanks for all your support!

Yesterday was a big day. Over 20,000 participants took part in the marathon, half-marathon and 5K races. Several records were smashed – with new times set for the fastest men’s and women’s marathons ever run on Canadian soil, and the top Canadian runner achieving the Canadian Olympic standard for the 2012 games.

But the best record-breaking stat is this one: more than $2.5 million was raised for 115 local charities (compared to last year’s $2.3 million for 99 charities).

And that’s $2.5 million — so far. The races may be over, but the Charity Challenge continues for another month.

FunRaisers Debra Kwinter and Frances Bartlett are 100 meters from the finish line

If you’re fundraising for Mount Sinai, I recommend sending out two race reports. Write one for your donors, telling them about your event and how much their support meant. Write another one to the folks on your list who haven’t yet donated and let them know they can still support you.

Your earlier solicitation may have arrived at a busy time or while they were on vacation. Whatever the case, most people will be glad they still have the opportunity to show their support – for you and for Mount Sinai.

On behalf of the Foundation’s FunRaisers, I’d like to thank everyone who participated in the Charity Challenge for Mount Sinai. Runners, walkers, donors — you’ve all made a difference. I know that as Debra and I walked those last few hundred meters of the half-marathon, we found it pretty inspirational to think of all the people who had supported us with donations, messages of encouragement, even colourful banners!

 Thank you. You were all right there at the finish line with us.

For the last two years, Cristina Rubino, a York University biology student, has been volunteering in various departments at Mount Sinai Hospital.

“Everyone in Volunteer Services has been amazing and extremely supportive,” she says. “They helped me find great volunteering opportunities with Dr. Keunen and Dr. Walfish. I have learned so much through these experiences.”

Cristina Rubino: student, volunteer, founder of the Mount Sinai Miracles Club and 5km participant

Her time at Mount Sinai has inspired Rubino to establish the Miracles for Mount Sinai club at York University.

“I wanted to do something unique to honour the support and mentorship I have received at Mount Sinai,” she said. “The club’s mandate is to raise money for the Foundation by organizing events on campus.”

For its first event, the club is going off-campus and taking its message to the streets: Rubino and seven others will be participating in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 5km walk this Sunday. Their team, Miracles for Mount Sinai, has been actively fundraising.  

Rubino’s club is planning a presentation at the University’s annual YorkFest. For 2011, the members are working towards an on-campus tennis tournament and social event.

 “I never realized how exciting and satisfying raising money would be, especially when it goes to an important cause,” said Rubino.

Today’s blog post is by Heather O’Brien, captain of the Max and Bea team.

It is all about the frame. Have you had that experience where you see a work of art in one frame and hate it and then you see it framed a different way and you fall in love with it? We humans are so interesting that way. You can take a picture of a human skull, make it pink, surround it with swirls and bling, place it on a child’s sweatshirt and it is adorable. It is all about the frame.

I have been thinking a fair bit about re-framing as I head into the last couple of painful and challenging weeks of my half-marathon training. Great cognitive efforts have been invested in creating ways of tricking my brain to make my body do things it does not want to do. For those of you who are not familiar with my story, running is not my activity of choice. Not simply because I don’t like it, but because health struggles over the years have made running a movement that my body does not do with ease or respond well to.

My re-framing has spanned from the ridiculous to the rational to the relational. For example:

“You know when your struggle will end, and that it has an end … they don’t know when it will end … or if it will.”

“You have to get home somehow, do you want to do it fast or slow?”

“Your body CAN do this, use the movement that wants to be released from the mom with ALS whose legs can’t move anymore.”

“If you get up and run, you get a Starbucks Vanilla Late … Grande.!”

“One step, one action, one movement, one moment … this is how we get through life, the good, the bad, the hard and the easy.”

Heather O'Brien re-frames her training look

“This is not supposed to be easy. This is supposed to be hard.”

“Head down, one step at a time.”

“If I can find the strength to finish this, maybe you can find the strength to believe that life will be okay again one day, and you don’t need to kill yourself when your mom dies.”

“You ARE doing this; like it or not, you are doing this.”

“If spirits exist and you can help me … please help me breathe … please help me keep my body moving.”

“You can only do what you can do; you will run until you can’t and then you will walk till you can run.”

No matter how I re-frame to get through each run, the amazing thing to me is this — we are capable of unbelievable and unimaginable things when our hearts motivate us. When we can find a way to get our brain to release its control and let our heart send the messages, we can do more than our brain could ever imagine.

Move over silly brain, we have a half-marathon to run and money to raise.

Heather O’Brien.