New(ish) route - Thoughts? - The Toronto Weekend to End Women's Cancers

Ashley Costa · Senior Member

New(ish) route - Thoughts?

lmcphail · Veteran Member

Since the new route was new to me a first time walker I can't compare. I can however tell you, that baking in the sun when the other sidewalk was shaded was pure torture. That last 1/2 km uphill at Downsview all rocks and pebbles did me in. One rock busted the very large blister on my left foot and because there was some grass in my sock the blister became infected. To me that was beyond cruel and unusual punishment after the grueling heat of the day. However, having said all that I would do the walk again in a heartbeat without hesitation. Congrats on your finish. I was unable to get my shoes on Sunday morning and made the heart wrenching decision to opt out of the second leg.

lparolin · Member

Ashley,
I too agree the downhills were more painful than up, since I had 2 bruised toenails.
Today I am resting, but back to work tomorrow.
I enjoy this route, but the pebbles and uneven ground did make it difficult.
Once again I too have signed up for next year...being my 4th in a row.
Trying to recruit newbies for next year.

Walker1 · Veteran Member

I missed our walk through High Park on the Saturday morning....even the long hill part. I understand they had something else going on in the Park so we weren't allowed to use it this year.

Hope we go back to that route next year.

Corynn · Veteran Member

I'm new too, and I'll tell you that hill on Mt Pleasant was the beginning of the end for me. My knee swelled up so badly that I barely made it to the finish line.

That said, I signed up for next year!

Didds · Veteran Member

I actually think that all that downhill is what made my feet swell up so badly this year. It's my only explaination!

Noreen · Senior Member

I much prefer down hill more then up hill. I wasn't looking forward to that huge uphill battle in the park that we had last year. :) At least I can breath going down hill. I have such a struggle going up.

kazalicoley · Member

Saturday, I was thinking "where are all the hills?"... thank goodness!! Compared with other cities (Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver) Toronto is very flat. But Sunday, I agree I found the downhills hard... and it's probably why my bruised toenails have turned into blisters.

I'm not sure why they've always had us going over the gravel at Downsview (or at least since I've been doing the walk)... maybe because of traffic in and out of the main entrance... but I also agree, it plays havoc on your feet after 33 kms!

Where was the Gatorade this year? I didn't see any on Sunday at all... and it was all packed away by the time I could get some at closing.

augmentium · Member

This was my first time walking (2 days). There were many pros and cons, but in terms of organization for next year, here are my hopefully constructive comments:

a} Hated the very slow start on day 1 that took forever to get to the first stop. Apparently it took 2 hours longer than it should have, all of us shuffling up past High Park. There were stretches on the trek up to Bloor where all of us were forced to walk only on one side instead of both sidewalks. This was silly considering the slowness of the pace; our team kept skipping over only to be forced back by crew.

b} Being forced to walk on the sunny side of the street rather than the shady was also irritating. Organizers could have scouted out beforehand where the shade would be at certain times of the day.

c) Second stop on 1st day had run out of gatorade and there was a huge line for food. We skipped it all as we'd already had such a slow start. I finally got a snack at the 3rd stop in Humber Park (gatorade was out). I think I first got gatorade at lunch and really needed it. Next time I'll pack my own snacks. How about having crew go through the line with boxes of snacks to hasten the process?? Or have two tables set up.

d) Gatorade and medical should be at every single stop, not every other. The first day they kept running out of gatorade which was not only annoying but dangerous considering the heat. Being told to buy some along the way was insulting - the next store I saw was about 3km's away. Some people said they had no money on them, as they were relying on being able to get what they needed at the stops. Many people fainted on day 1, the medical people were saying gatorade should be available at every stop. By the 2nd day they didn't run out where it was available.

e) Fresh fruit! First day not much of it available, 2nd day was much better.

f} Medics at camp: there was one particularly obnoxious doctor who I and others encountered. I know they're volunteering, but please screen the volunteer docs for empathy and kindness! We don't want to be patronized after walking 32kms in the blistering sun!

Besides all that, I really enjoyed the walk, even tho I had to give up my shoes at Queens Park because of massive blisters. The change to sandals made me much happier. Highlights were definitely all the lovely people cheering us on and feeding us along the way; the girl in a car holding a sign "you saved my mom" on day 2; free cupcakes on day 1 (weren't they good?!). Have already signed up for next year!

-- Edited by augmentium on Tuesday 15th of September 2009 01:38:26 PM

JulieK · Senior Member

I personally liked going up Indian Road and missing that hill in High Park. I did find the sewers stunk the first morning but nothing you can do about that.

I missed going down Glen Road (flat, scenic) and thought going along Mt. Pleasant was ludicrous. It's hilly, single file for a chunk of the way, and there's lots of traffic.

Gravel at Downsview seemed worse this year than last... not sure why.

I too noticed that there was less gatorade this year than others... I missed it.

Naamphong · Senior Member

As a first year walker, I found the lack of food, so many hills in the blistering heat with no shade, no gatorade, and the stop and go on that first few streets we were on very disheartening. Don't get me wrong, I loved the walk! But, I guess I had high expectations after reading all the great things on the boards. And if one more person had said just 1.8 k to Downsview Park, I think I would have swept. It was not 1.8k to the park from where they started saying it. I have spoken to several during Sunday and many of us think it was more like 5 just to the entrance, let alone the mountain goat path we had to climb. Then be told that there were no massages! I was devastated with that lil gem! On Sunday morning just after 6 am only one medic in the tent and we begged for syringes to drain our own blisters and finally they relented. Someone posted somewhere about a very nasty doctor and the fact they had little empathy, I concur, we do not need a lecture we needed encouragement from all the medical staff, most were amazing, but it only takes one to spoil the basket.
Getting to the first pit stop and being told by a crew that came down the line up to inform us they were out of food and gatorade and water, was <insert your own thought here>. The ladies I walked with where horrified as this was their second walk and they literally did not believe it to be true! We had no real fruit until Sunday.

But, it was still an amazingly positive experience!

crash · Member

This was my 2nd year walking. I walked in 2006. I'm not sure when things have changed over the years but I definitely thought this year was much worse of an experience than in 2006.

1) the backup of people at the start is basically inevitable. Unless there is some sort of system where we do not have to wait for all the street lights (maybe every other or something like that). The lines pile up at street lights and then a narrow sidewalk on the other side does not help to get it flowing again. This also happened in 2006 though so I guess they haven't found a way to solve it yet!

2) the route this year compared to 2006 was much less scenic and much less sunny. I didnt find it much different in terms of uneven ground and gravel though. Of course there is the gravel at downsview, but the rest of the route I didnt find bad. Unless of course you went off the sidewalk to try to pass or something. The downhills were brutal though. I find that going downhill makes my feet slide to the front of the shoes and my blister aids slide around

3) Route marking - in particular the signs about next stop distance. These were not consistently at every stop. It is nice to see these signs regularly as we go along. I also found the signs were not accurate. One sign would say an amount to the next stop and amount till end of route, then the next would be different if added together!

4) food was terrible this year!!! I barely ate anything during the walks. We ordered pizza at the hotel as we were starving. The line-ups were also bad. The crew should have separated the lines as it seemed like only 1 line formed when there were several boxes of the same food around the table. I dont remember any lines in 2006 - basically just walked up the table and got what you wanted.

5) closing ceremonies - not much to say here as I actually left in the middle. I was pretty upset that I waited around for a couple of hours and then the ceremony was for the most part un-moving. I could barely hear anything and there was no wow factor for me (besides the survivors walking in). It was way better in 2006 and left much more of an impact on the walkers AND the crowd. Was definetly a waste to wait around this year

6) changing the name to "the Weekend to End Women's Cancers" . I'm fine with having walkers be able to allocate their funds, but I think the traditional name should stay that same!