Uncategorized – Laura Katherine

Toronto Half-Marathon 2026 in Review

A few days ago, I ran my second half-marathon race.¹ It wasn’t easy, and it took a lot out of me to make it to the finish line, but I’m happy to say that the Toronto (Half) Marathon is now in the books.

I trained for the race with a roughly fifteen-week plan designed to take me from my winter “running maintenance routine” (wherein I was running three times a week and maintaining the ability to comfortably run 10km) to a 21.1 kilometre distance at a quicker pace. This meant that quite a bit of my training took place during the brutal winter we had this year in the city. I did as much running as possible outdoors, which meant becoming an expert at dressing for the elements. Each week throughout my training, I went on three runs (two shorter and one longer) and tried to incorporate strength training once or twice. It was tough, but very rewarding. I proved to myself that I could be tough and adaptable, especially in less-than-ideal weather conditions. I saw a significant improvement in my pace throughout the training, especially during the taper period.

This said, I was a little apprehensive in the weeks leading up to the race. Most of this came from hearing horror stories about past Toronto Marathon events, including overcrowding, the organizers running out of water for participants, and incomplete road closures putting runners in precarious positions. The novelty and excitement of running 21.1 kilometres had also started to wear off: by race day, I had already run the distance three times before, including just a few weeks prior on April 12. Fortunately, once I picked up my bib and other runners on social media started to post more about it, I started to look forward to the race.

And then, the unthinkable happened. On the evening of Friday May 1, roughly thirty-six hours before the race was set to begin, I found myself in bed, curled up in a ball, so nauseous I couldn’t even stand. Things only got worse from there: I had a terrible sleep on Friday night and woke up on Saturday exhausted, with a splitting headache, and a still-unsettled stomach. I ended up spending almost the whole day on the couch watching TV. My plans to pick out my race outfit in advance, get a shakeout run in, or even carb-load evaporated. It took everything in me to force down PopTarts and plain white rice. I went to bed on Saturday night assuming that I would have no choice but to sit the race out the next morning.

Miraculously, I was wrong. I woke up at 5:00am (thanks to my cat) on Sunday, May 3 feeling absolutely fine, aside from the smallest bit of stomach upset. I ended up popping an Advil and making the decision to run. Going into the race, especially given my mystery illness the day before, my goals were simple: first and foremost, cross the finish line, and, second, if possible, beat my previous race time of two hours and eleven minutes. I gave myself unconditional permission to stop running and drop out if I started to feel even a little bit sick during the race.

The weather was perfect- it was mostly sunny, and the temperature fluctuated between seven and ten degrees. I wore a baseball hat, long leggings and a long-sleeved shirt with my hydration vest on top. The shoes I wore were my beloved Brooks Ghost 17 GTXs.

The Toronto Marathon is generally known for having a great route. The half-marathon course started in North York, at Yonge and Elmwood, and continued south down Yonge street. The first few kilometres were very hilly- mostly downhill, but with a few notable periods of elevation. I ran the first few kilometres alongside my friend Stephanie, but then lost her at a water station. After that, I found my boyfriend in the crowd around the five kilometre mark. There were some frustrations that were obvious from the start of the race- namely, major overcrowding on the course. There were thousands of runners, and I don’t think start times were staggered very well. Also, only half of the lanes on Yonge street were actually closed off. This led to a lot of congestion throughout the entirety of the race. I found myself weaving through and hitting or getting hit by other runners or veering into live lanes of traffic throughout the whole race. Stopping or slowing down at water stations made this even more difficult to navigate.

At about the halfway point in the race, the course turned off of Yonge Street and onto Rosedale Valley. This was easily the most scenic part of the race with lush, green foliage overhead. It was here that I looked down at my smart watch and realized I was making exceptionally good time. I ended up making the gametime decision to try and finish the race in less than two hours. A sub-two half-marathon was not a goal I ever set for myself, even before I got sick. I didn’t incorporate any speed training into my plan, and had no pacing strategy for the race. I generally find that focusing on speed tends to detract from my enjoyment in running. I’m also very liberal about stopping or taking walking breaks on my runs to stretch, take gels or drink water.

Predictably, making the decision to attempt a sub-2 half marathon totally changed the race for me. Once I set myself a time goal, I lost focus on the route, my music and enjoying myself. The only thought I had throughout the second half of the race was, “keep going”. I started to hit some crazy (for me) paces- 5:15 mins/km (at km 17), 4:53 mins/km (20)… even 4:31 mins/km (19). Ultimately, my efforts paid off and I ended up finishing with an official time of one hour, fifty-nine minutes and twelve seconds. I hate to define a run by my finishing time, because it’s really antithetical to my entire running philosophy, but the truth is that I ended up making this race about speed rather than the experience as a whole.

The finishing chute was probably the most disorganized part of the race. I crossed the finish line to thousands of people crammed into a tiny, fenced-in area to get medals, bags, food and water (the race organizers actually did end up running out of water at the finish line when I was passing through). I managed to fight my way through the crowd for an oversized medal and one banana before leaving with my partner.

Overall, despite the hiccups, I did have a good race and I’m so proud of myself for making it through the months of training and across the finish line. I’m so grateful to my body for being able to push through everything. I really showed myself I can do hard things and exceed my own expectations.

I’m confident these are lessons I can bring forward with me in the future, when- drumroll please– I’ll be training for my first full marathon.

Until next time,

Laura Kate

The official event was the Toronto Marathon which hosts a full marathon, a half-marathon, a 10k and a 5k. ↩︎

Am I Running to Lose Weight?

What do you write about when you have nothing to say?

Well, I suppose it isn’t entirely true that I have “nothing to say”; I actually just don’t have a lot to talk about that I feel comfortable sharing. I’ve been having a tough March. My family dealt with a loss early in the month, I experienced a disappointment at work, and some complications came up with Elune. The weather still isn’t particularly warm or sunny; despite it being spring, the forecast for the next week is actually calling for snow again. I’ve been coping with some not-so-great habits, including unnecessary spending and more screentime.

Honestly, in the last few weeks, the place where I’ve found the most joy is in running.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about food, exercise, body image, and the relationships between them. I’ve started posting more about running on my Instagram account, which has made me consider how my posts might be perceived by others. I made the decision to post more about running because it’s a big, positive part of my life. I was also inspired by a host of running influencers to be part of the online running community. This said, in this new era of obsession with thinness in our culture, I also wonder where fitness content online fits in. I worry my followers might think I’m showing off, exercise-obsessed, or disordered.

There’s a lot of discourse about the recent shift we’ve seen from the body positivity of the 2010s to the “thin is (back) in” mentality. We’re constantly being bombarded in the media with emaciated celebrities and influencers, disordered eating habits disguised as wellness trends and, of course, the widespread use of GLP-1’s and other drugs for weight loss. There are a lot of conflicting lines of discourse, and I agree simultaneously with a number of them. On one hand, for example, I agree that we’re in a crisis- we’re overwhelmingly being sent the message that being skinny is the most important thing a person can be. At the same time, I also think that a lot of people have become too quick to label any fitness content, body dissatisfaction or desire for weight loss as disordered and insidious.

I’ll admit that, like a lot of people, I’ve dabbled in and out of disordered eating habits in the past. I’ve gained and lost weight throughout my life. This is something I’m aware of, and something that’s caused me to reflect on whether running is just the newest disordered habit in my life. This said, I don’t believe that just because someone has had a bad history with diet and/or exercise in the past means that they can never have a healthy relationship with it.

Even though I still haven’t entirely healed my relationship with food and my body (possibly something that will be a lifelong journey), I overwhelmingly believe my relationship with running is a healthy one. Most of the reasons I enjoy running have nothing at all to do with my body. I like to run because it’s a challenge. I like it because it makes me feel strong. I like it because it gets me outside (even before becoming a runner, I would walk hours every week outdoors). I like it because the post-run endorphins boost my mood. I enjoy training for races because training plans give me direction and something to strive toward.

I also understand the importance of rest and recovery in running, and try not to push my body too far outside of its limits. I take regular “de-load” weeks and give myself as much flexibility as possible within my training plans. I take days off when I’m sick or tired- Hell, I take multiple rest days every week. Sometimes I fuss about missing runs, but the reason behind the anxiety is never that I think I need to run to deserve food, for example.

It would be a lie to say I never think about how running impacts my body. I’m in a place where I (mostly) appreciate what my body looks like and how it works for me, and I know that running plays a role in dictating these things. This is one of the reasons I’ve stuck with running, but certainly not the main reason. Would it be better if body image played no role in my exercise habits? Probably- but I don’t think this is totally realistic. I don’t think it’s achievable to never think about what our bodies look like and never hope that our bodies will look different; especially in the appearance-obsessed world we’re living in now. I think we just have to do our bests.

One thing I’ll say about running and weight loss in particular is that there is truly no guarantee that running, especially long-distance running, is something that will cause you to lose weight. Running is a really high-intensity, high-impact exercise, and you need to eat a lot to properly fuel your runs. Many runners, especially those training for longer distances like marathons and ultramarathons, end up maintaining or even gaining weight during their training blocks. I say this to say that your decision to run probably shouldn’t be rooted in a desire to lose weight in the first place.

All of this said, of course, I acknowledge that my own relationship with exercise doesn’t reflect everyone’s. There are certainly people, running influencers included, who use exercise largely to fuel their disorders. Self-reflection (and maybe even therapy) is so important when it comes to evaluating our eating and exercise habits. If you find yourself working out to earn food, struggling to take time off or obsessing about body weight or composition, it might be something worth looking into. Like I said, I think it’s definitely possible to have a healthy relationship with exercise, but it might be something you need to work towards.

Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts. The relationships between food, body image and exercise are complicated, and I’m still figuring out how they interact for me in my life. I’m also not perfect or a professional- just a person on the internet writing a blog post. So, for the time being, I’m happy continuing to run and sharing about my love for it online.

Until next time,

Laura Kate

Life in Eluneyland

So, major life update. On December 12, 2025, I adopted my first cat- a sweet, six-year old tabby named Elune.

Elune was born in a shelter on May 20, 2019 (she’s a Taurus). For the first few years of her life, she lived with a couple in Toronto, but they surrendered her to the shelter when they started having kids. She was five at the time. Elune lived with a foster for ten months before I submitted my adoption application. The application process went very quickly- after a phone call with the shelter, a video meeting with her foster and a signed adoption agreement, she was mine.

Elune got her name from her first owners. I think the name originated from World of Warcraft (there is apparently a moon goddess named Elune in the game). I didn’t want to change it because she’s had the same name her whole life, and I loved the nickname possibilities: Luna, Loonie, Loon and Lunetta, among other things (though, she’s mostly Baby to me).

Elune is a sweetheart who wants nothing but love and attention (on her own terms). From the day that I brought her home, she has slept with me in bed every single night. She’s not a lap cat, but she loves to be around me and have me in her line of sight at all times. She’s taken to nestling beside me on the couch when I’m quietly reading or working on my laptop. She’s very friendly with visitors, if a bit hesitant at first: she never hides and is always happy to socialize. She’s curious, attentive and very smart: I bought her a puzzle feeder and she learned how to solve it right away. She’s also playful- right now, her favourite toys are a wand toy with ribbons and a laser pointer. When I turn on the laser pointer, she makes an adorable chirping sound as she chases the red light around the room. Elune also loves sitting on towels, which has resulted in my mom calling her a “beach baby”. She spends most of her time during the day sleeping on a throw blanket on my couch beside the window basking in the sun. She’s very well-behaved for the most part (though, sometimes when she gets overstimulated she tends to get a little bit “spicy”- we’re working on it).

It’s taken me a while to post about her, in part because the first month post-adoption was very difficult for me. I was struggling with major post-adoption blues. Post-adoption blues (or, puppy blues) is a common feeling among people who adopt new pets. It can result from the sudden imposition of new responsibilities and a loss of freedom after adopting a new pet.

I spent the first week after adopting Elune in tears almost every day. What bothered me wasn’t necessarily the added responsibilities of being a pet owner,, it was the fact that there was another presence in my apartment. I have lived alone for the better part of seven and a half years. Suddenly having another presence in the apartment was something I needed to adjust to. As I mentioned, Elune likes to be around me or have me in her sight at all times- I felt like I had a little shadow following me around all the time (I’d traded in all of my beloved alone time for Elune time). I also felt like she was taking over my space: I was leaving toys and towels all around the condo for her, and constantly playing relaxing cat music out loud.

I was also totally preoccupied with her and worried about being a good cat owner. I spent a lot of time and energy online researching how to take care of her. The preoccupation made it very difficult to keep up with my housework, stick to my routines, or even sleep. According to my Garmin, my “body battery” and “sleep scores” for the second half of December were in the gutter. As a Type A person, a creature of habit and someone with a history of anxiety, I was having a really difficult time coping with all the changes that came along with a new pet. It wasn’t something I ever expected to experience or had been warned about.

And then, unexpectedly, I got sick with the flu. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I spent two weeks “mostly in bed, taking a variety of medications, binge-watching House, M.D. and surviving on Oreos and Fudgesicles”. The illness forced me to slow down and take things easy, and, importantly, gave me the opportunity to really bond with Elune. While I was sick, she was so sweet and attentive and I really appreciated her presence in the apartment. I got to spend more time with her, learn more about her and develop our relationship. I think we’re friends now (at least- she’s my friend. I hope she feels the same way about me).

Now, one month after adopting her, I can confidently say that I feel like I’m over the hump of post-adoption blues. I love her and I’m so happy to have her in my life.

With love,

Laura Kate

Cleanin’ Up Bottles on New Year’s Day

And 2025 is over, not with a bang, but with a fizzle.

I had a great year overall. 2025 was my last full year of my twenties. I celebrated three and a half years of being a lawyer and three and a half years of living in my apartment. Things are going well with work; most of the time, I feel genuinely grateful to have the job that I do. 2025 was the year I became a long-distance runner: I ran my first 10k race in the spring and my first half-marathon in the autumn. I also reignited my creativity; completing Julia Cameron’s creative recovery program The Artist’s Way, learning how to paint with watercolours and repairing my old DSLR camera. I took two creative writing classes through the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, and started learning how to cook and bake.

Unfortunately, the last few weeks of 2025 were not reflective of how positively the rest of the year went, and were mostly marked by anxiety and stress. I underwent a major life change (I won’t talk about it now, because I’m still working through it and it deserves a dedicated blog post of its own) and spent two weeks sick with the flu. I spent the latter part of December mostly in bed, taking a variety of medications, binge-watching House, M.D. and surviving on Oreos and Fudgesicles. If I learned anything from the experience, it was the importance of getting the flu shot.

Something that you probably won’t be surprised to find out about me and my Type A personality is that I’m a faithful new year’s resolution maker. I agree with a lot of the usual objections related to making resolutions (there isn’t anything inherently special about January 1st, you can make changes to your life anytime) but I also think that there’s something inspiring about the start of a new year. Setting resolutions is a great way to give yourself direction.

In order to give myself the best chance of making my resolutions stick, I always make sure that my goals are achievable and measurable. I don’t like setting goals that are too lofty or too vague- I prefer to set easily-trackable goals like “work out four days a week” as opposed to goals I can’t really evaluate like “work out more”. I also make sure to check in with myself every month to evaluate my progress and whether I’ve been sticking to my resolutions.

My 2025 resolutions were as follows:

Go to the Optometrist and get a new Pair of good-quality Glasses. Done! When I came up with the resolution, it had been years since I’d gone to the optometrist and my prescription was so outdated that the only places I could buy glasses from were sketchy online websites with suspiciously cheap products.
Travel somewhere. Done! While I didn’t do any big trips, I travelled to a few places in Southern Ontario including Tobermory, the Kawartha lakes, and Manitoulin Island.
Pay off my Student Loans and Save a Certain Amount of Money. Partially done. While I was able to pay off my student loans in 2025, I didn’t save as much money as I wanted to. Money is something I definitely need to keep working on my relationship with in 2026.
Read Twenty books. Done! I finished my 20th book of 2025 the evening of December 31. My top genres of the year were contemporary fiction and non-fiction memoir. My favourite new-to-me book in 2025 was The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
Take One Course with the U of T School of Continuing Studies– Done- I did two!
Work out and Eat Well– Done! I evaluated this goal throughout the year by tracking things like daily step counts and sticking to my running training plans.

For 2026, my resolutions are very similar:

Take Two Courses with the U of T School of Continuing Studies
Save a Certain Amount of Money
Continue Working Out and Eating Well– I am signed up for a half-marathon in the spring and anticipate training for another one (or maybe a full marathon?) in the fall.
Publish Two Blog Posts a Month– I’m paying for this domain, I might as well use it.
Keep up with my Philosophy Personal Curriculum– As I mentioned in my previous post, I am trying to learn philosophy and have been working on designing a personal curriculum for myself. So far, I’ve been working through some introductory texts and lectures.
Read Fifteen books (including two Short Story collections)– I reduced my goal from twenty to fifteen books this year to account for the longer, more dense philosophy texts I’m hoping to get through. One of the books I read in December was The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, and even though it was less than 130 pages it took me almost a month to get through and I still don’t feel like I totally understand it.

In any event, I’m hoping that the start of 2026 goes better than the end of 2025 for me. I daresay things are starting to look up already.

I hope you’ve all had a good start to the new year as well, and that you accomplish any resolutions and goals you set your mind to.

With love,

Laura Kate

Staving Off the Winter Blues

Happy December!

As I’m beginning to draft this post, it’s early Saturday morning. I’m sitting on the couch in my living room, nestled under a cozy blanket. I have a mug of coffee beside me and a scented candle burning. Outside of my window, I can see a dusting of snow on the nearby rooftops.¹ It’s 7:30am, but it’s still dark. The sun hasn’t yet started peeking out over the horizon.

I haven’t published anything on this blog for nearly a month. When I was working through The Artist’s Way, I had a designated topic to cover every week in my posts. Without the program, coming up with new topics to write about has been a challenge. The lack of inspiration may also just come with the season. I’ve been apprehensive about the winter for months; and I think it’s safe to say that it’s finally here. The days are short: during the week, I start work at sunrise and don’t get home until after sunset. Going outside is much more daunting with the bitter cold and biting wind. This time of year is difficult. I wouldn’t quite say that I have seasonal depression; but I, like a lot of people, really struggle to enjoy the winter. I’ve already noticed myself having less energy and feeling less motivated than usual. What’s worse: it’s only December. The worst is yet to come.

In this blog post I wanted to talk about some of the things I’ve been trying to do to stave off the winter blues. Hopefully, if you’re struggling, it might give you some inspiration or ideas about how to cope.

Layering Up

“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.” This is something my boyfriend tells me all the time in response to my complaining about how cold it is (which is often). This winter, first and foremost, I’m committed to properly dressing for the weather. Over the last few years, I’ve developed a winter “uniform” that I wear on most days. The outfit formula is as follows. For tops, I wear a turtleneck base layer (generally something from the Uniqlo Heattech line) and a knit sweater. For bottoms, I usually wear thermal leggings (again usually from Uniqlo) under my pants. If I need to wear a skirt or dress, I wear fleece-lined tights. If I’m heading outside, I wear a warm jacket and all the accessories I need to stay warm (i.e., a toque, gloves and a scarf).

Keeping an Exercise Routine

I signed up for another half-marathon in May, so it’s important I maintain a certain level of fitness over the winter. On a weekly basis, I’m going on about three runs and incorporating two strength training sessions.² My runs now are much shorter than the ones I was doing during half-marathon training over the summer. I’ve been committing to one short run (usually 5km), one medium run (6-8km), and one long run (9-10km) every week.

I’m also determined to continue running outside as much as possible. I’m staunchly an outdoor runner; I can’t stand the treadmill. Because of this, I’ve needed to make a number of changes to my routine to address some of the risks associated with running outside during the winter. I’ve transitioned from primarily running in the early morning to running in the afternoon (especially during my lunch breaks at work) to take advantage of the sunlight. If I do have to run in the morning or at night, I’ve purchased LED bands to wear to make sure I’m visible to other people on the roads. I also purchased special shoes for running in cold and wet conditions: Brooks Ghost 17 GTXs (waterproof road running shoes) and Brooks Cascadia 19 GTXs (trail running shoes for when roads are snowy or more slippery than usual).

I’ve also put together a winter running uniform. For tops, I wear a long-sleeved base layer (I’m a fan of the Fluid Seamless Fitted Tops from Old Navy, Momentum Seamless Tops from Athleta, and the Uniqlo Heattech line), a fleece insulating mid-layer, and a wind- and water-resistant shell jacket (I’ve been wearing the MEC x AQUANATOR Rain Jacket from MEC). For bottoms, I wear thermal leggings (my favourites right now are Uniqlo Heattech Active Leggings and Lululemon Fast and Free High-Rise Thermal Tights). For accessories, I wear a toque, gloves and a neck gaiter. I’ve been mixing and matching the pieces to suit the weather conditions- sometimes, it’s been warm enough that I haven’t needed the fleece or all of the accessories.

Continuing to run outdoors in the winter seems like an intriguing challenge. I’m interested to discover what will work and what won’t over the next three months. I’m sure there will be a lot of trial and error. For days with very bad weather, I’m not opposed to running on the treadmill; but for the majority of runs, I’m hoping I can stay outside and that the proper clothes and equipment will keep me safe.

Curbing Social Media Use

Over the last little while, I’ve started to notice my social media use gradually increasing again. Doomscrolling social media never feels like a good use of my time- I feel better after doing literally anything else. To combat this, I reviewed the social media platforms I use and deactivated and deleted a number of my accounts. I also reduced my timer on the Instagram app to ten minutes a day (and, surprisingly, haven’t tampered with it in a few weeks).

I primarily use AppBlock and UnTrap to help curb my social media use. AppBlock is a phone app and a Chrome extension that allows you to block or set time limits on apps and websites. I like AppBlock so much that I pay a monthly subscription fee for it. UnTrap is a Chrome extension that allows you to customize the appearance of YouTube on the browser and make the interface less addictive (for instance, by hiding YouTube Shorts and disabling the infinite scroll feature). I also always ensure all of my notifications from social media apps are disabled on my phone.

I’m definitely not perfect with my social media use. Even with all of my precautions in place, I still find workarounds and end up mindlessly scrolling social media sometimes. I used to get more upset with myself about this, but now, I see social media use and addiction as a battle we are all constantly fighting everyday. I don’t hold myself to a standard of perfection. I can see that I’m in a better place with my social media use now than I was two years ago, and the progress is what matters.

Making Time for Hobbies

At the end of October, I signed up for a short story writing class with the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. I’ve been loving it! I’m in a better place now with my writing than I’ve been in years- I feel so much more confident about my skills and abilities. I largely credit The Artist’s Way for this, as it encouraged me to start taking short story writing seriously. Throughout the writing class, I’ve drafted four short stories that I really like. I’d like to continue building up a collection of short stories and pursuing the Creative Writing certificate with the SCS.

Learning Something New

Over the last few months, I’ve been intrigued by the concept of creating a personal curriculum. This idea has been gaining a lot of popularity online as a means of fighting social media “brain rot” and encouraging lifelong learning. To create a personal curriculum, you start by choosing a subject that you want to learn more about and then develop a self-directed “course” with designated readings (books, articles), lectures (videos, podcasts, audiobooks) and assignments.

I’ve personally been interested in learning more about philosophy, and have started to build a personal curriculum for myself around it. My goals are to get a better grasp of the history and topics within the field and read some primary texts. This isn’t necessarily just a winter project, but something that might turn into a 2026 goal more broadly. If I stick with it, I’m sure it’s something I’ll make more blog posts about in the future.

In any event, these are some of the things I’ve been up to that have been helping me deal with the winter blues. I hope that if you’ve been struggling, this post (or others like it) might be able to give you some ideas on how to stave them off for yourself. And, if not, just remember that this too shall pass. Even though the next few months are going to be tough, spring will come again soon enough. I started off this post by talking about how it was 7:30am and the sun hadn’t yet started to rise. It helps to keep in mind that December 21st is just around the corner, and the days will start getting longer again.

With love,

Laura Kate

This might sound romantic, but I actually live in a condo in an industrial area, so it’s much less picturesque than you’re probably envisioning. ↩︎
Strength training is new to me and something that I’m doing to make me a stronger runner. I’m keeping it very easy and have just been following videos from fitness coaches online. My favourite workouts have been from the channel Nourish Move Love on YouTube. ↩︎