Less pressure means more fun for Wodak in Toronto marathon return after grind of Olympic pursuit

Five days from her ninth marathon, Natasha Wodak looks happy, healthy and relaxed in the company of her cats in the backyard of her home in North Vancouver, B.C.

It's a refreshing change for the 42-year-old, who arrived nine days before the Hamburg Marathon last April in Germany, where anxiety had time to build up before her third race in eight months and last attempt at the Olympic qualifying standard.

"In Hamburg, everything was about the race," Wodak told CBC Sports. "Here, I'm [living my everyday] life. I'm feeding my cats, going outside, having a coffee, cleaning the house. It feels like less pressure and less to think about."

Wodak reached the finish in Hamburg in two hours 30 minutes 24 seconds, over three minutes shy of the automatic entry standard for the Paris Games. She experienced stomach cramping in the days before and during the race. Wodak and her coach, Trent Stellingwerff, determined not being able to properly fuel with drinks and energy gels caused her quads to seize after 30 kilometres.

But a healthy Wodak is excited for her first 42.2-km race in Canada since 2013 on Sunday at the Toronto Waterfront event (Streaming live at 8 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem, and the CBC Sports App). Wodak's marathon journey began there 11 years ago with a 2:35:16 clocking.

Initially, she planned to run Sunday's half marathon in Toronto in preparation for the Dec. 1 Valencia Marathon in Spain, considered the fastest marathon in the world.

But the two-time Olympian didn't like the idea of feeling pressure, again, to run a specific time. The women's marathon standard is 2:23:30 for the World Athletics Championships next September in Tokyo.

"I thought, 'I want to have more fun this time,'" said Wodak, who is scheduled to