In his final few exhausted strides, Eric Gillis was chasing a dream as time was running out.

He’d come nearly 42.195 kilometres of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, through biting winds, up hills and around corners, in packs and running alone. With about 300 metres to go, he wondered if his best chance at qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics was evaporating.

But somehow finding the reserve only the most elite athletes can summon, the will and technique and ability to block out distractions honed over years and years of what can be mind-numbing training, he made it.

He needed to run 2:11.29 and he ran 2:11.28 to earn a second spot alongside fellow Canadian Reid Coolsaet in London next summer.

A second.

Imagine that.

All those steps, all those kilometres, all those minutes that add up to hours and it was with just one second to spare that Gillis made to the Games.

“A marathon? One second?” he would say later, a tinge of incredulity creeping into his voice.

“I could have just as easily been one second over, so I just feel really, really lucky to get that standard.”

Gillis’s was one of the best stories on a day that saw a 27-year-old man collapse and die just shy of the Bay St. finish line.

Kenya’s Kenneth Mungara won his fourth straight Toronto marathon — going 2:09:49 to beat Ethiopia’s Shami Dawit by a stride and two seconds. Coolsaet ran a personal best of 2:10:55 to finish third but failed to beat Jerome Drayton’s 36-year-old Canadian record of 2:10:09.

But for pure inspiration, nothing beat the efforts of 100-year-old Fauja Singh, who became the oldest runner to ever complete a marathon when he crossed the finish line in 8:25:17.

Singh was joined by almost 100 followers as he covered the final 100 metres or so north on Bay off Wellington St.

Among the younger set, Gillis, 31, and Coolsaet 32, got Canada back in the Olympic marathon for the first time in 12 years.

It wasn’t easy.

A strong headwind buffeted the runners for much of the race, turning it in a matter of survival rather than a day to truly let loose. Gillis got through the tough start into the wind and seemed well on the way to meeting the Olympic standard before the winds got him late in the day.

“At 34 K, I was well under … so I thought, ‘Okay, I have the standard,’ ” he said. “With 300 (metres) to go, I wasn’t sure. I just knew I had to put my head down and get up on my toes as much as I could.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Now the two clubmates with the Speed River Track Club can set their sights on London together.

“Just the fact that now we can work together for the same marathon again is a huge benefit for both of us. I think without Eric as a training partner, I’m not running 2:10. Without me training with him, he’s not running 2:11.28,” said Coolsaet.

“The two of us train together and we really helped each other to run well at this race, pushed each other day in and day out, and now we have each other to work together with towards the Olympics.”