Catching Up -- 2 Race Reports

Harry's Spring Run-Off 8k

I was hoping to spot and meet fellow running bloggers Aneta and Cynthia, who were running this one, but no luck.  We've never been in a race so close to home before, so we lolly-gagged our way through our morning prep and didn't get there until 15 minutes before the gun.

We chose to take the subway as it was only a few stops away and the High Park area is notoriously bad for parking.   The TTC (public transit) was really happy to see us, after all these years of not-so-much-taking-the-bus.  Apparently, the fare collector at the station slept in this Sunday morning, instead of catching his usual nap at work, so there was another TTC employee standing at the turnstyle telling people to "Go on through since there's no Collector."  Hmmm.   Are union rules really that stringent that he's allowed to spend his time telling people their rides are free rather than taking over collection duties?  Who cares?  Score $6.00 for Phil and Barb!  Oddly, on the way home, there was a collector, but the woman ahead of us bought 5 tokens and forgot to take them with her.  Score again!  Not really.  Phil tracked her down, getting on the subway going the wrong way for one stop, and returned them to her.  He's a swell guy that way.

I kinda hated this race.  Nice scenery, crisp and sunny weather, well organized, but I think there was just too many people for my liking.  I won't even comment on the hill at the end -- I think that's what the race is known for.  It would have been nice to have a little more room at the top of the hill before the finish line to get a bit of a sprint on, but them's the breaks.  Finished in 52:10 and Phil was about 40 minutes.  I call PR on an 8k (never raced one before).

Cadillac Fairview 10k

This small race was held in Sunnybrook Park.  This is the same park I'll be running the Toronto Women's Half Marathon at the end of May, so I thought it was a good training.  There were about 150 10k participants and many more 5k walkers. The 5k started 15 minutes after the 10k, so there was no dodging walkers at the start.  Unfortunately, I caught up with them in the last 2k, when it had started raining and the were taking up the whole path AND carrying umbrellas.  But it was all for a good cause -- paediatric oncology -- so what are you going to say to the people, who are in your way, but are also wearing t-shirts with pictures of little kids with cancer on them?

Regardless -- I got a for real PR!  My previous 10k race PR was 1:07 something.  I was shooting for 1:05 and came in (Garmin time) at 1:04:58.  Woot!  I'm feeling good that I will smash my under 60-minute goal by the end of the summer.  Phil came within 9 seconds of breaking his land-speed 10k record.

Nice bonus of this race was the spicy chili at the end.  So good -- from famed chef Oliver Bonacini's Luma restaurant -- with fixings of shredded cheese, sour cream and crushed up crackers.  Yum.  I will definitely go back next year.

Hurray!  I just found out I won a give-away over at Marlene's!  I think April is my lucky month -- first a free subway ride, now this!  Thanks, Marlene.

Off to Florida for 4 days as soon as the boys are off from school today.  If any burglars are reading this though, I have people coming to my house to cat-sit.  Big, burly men who are, um,  policemen.  Yeah.  Policemen.  So don't bother robbing us.

Game of Life 10k Race Recap

I'm a little behind here.  I ran the inaugural Game of Life 10k in The Beaches on March 20 with Phil and Tim.  It was small -- not sure how many people, maybe 500.  I'd never run over on the other end of the Waterfront Trail before, so it was nice to try it out and get a medal for doing so.  The race kit included a red tech tee and samples of Dextro Energy tablets, which I have since used on a couple of long runs and think they should be renamed "instant-kick-in-the-pants" because they work like a dream.

The race ran out and back along the boardwalk, then out and back on some roads, then back to the boardwalk.  Being a west-end girl all my life, I get all disoriented when I'm east of Yonge Street, so that's as specific as I can be.  The first turn-around proved to be a bit of a problem, seing as it was half a kilometre early, thereby creating the inaugural Game of Life 9k.  I could smell a PR coming since I'd never run a 9k before.

Oh well.  Stuff happens.  It was fun but I didn't do so well -- went out a bit too quick and bonked later.  As I was coming in to the home stretch, I gave it everything I had to sprint to the finish, then a lady pushing a stroller crossed the course right in front of me.  She had been talking to a bunch of spectators, so was clearly aware there was a race happening and that she was AT THE FINISH LINE. I did manage not to trip over her baby or swear at her, but wish a photographer had been there to capture that fail.

Phil ran an amazing time and came in 4th in his age group -- so close!  You'll get 'em next time, Tiger!  Tim did really well too, even though he should really have been on the injured list as his back is giving him trouble.

We stayed for the awards and festivities at the end -- who knew we were again going to be dazzled by celebrity?  You may remember my most favourite race last year, the Audi Best Buddies 10k resulting in these relationships:

Me and my boyfriend Reid Coolsaet and my new friends the Olympians



Me and my BFF Joannie Rochette and Phil's thumb



Well at this race, there was none other than Heather Moyse!  Don't recall?  Can't quite place the name?  You'll all recognize her instantly when you see her doing her thing in the picture on the right.  She's tucked down behind the person wearing the black helmet.  I knew you'd remember!

Seriously, she and her teammate won Gold in 2010 and she gave an eloquent speech promoting the charity they were raising money for (again, that's about as specific as I can be).

And I won an award!  Not for running fast, but for remembering Heather's name in the random trivia prize handout.  It was an extra large men's Adidas running jacket.  Excellent!  So I managed to get my picture taken with Heather and the President of Mizuno (never mind the prize was from Adidas). 

 

Fun day over all.

It's genetic.

After the exhilaration that was the first race of the year last Sunday, I dove into the swag bag and pulled out the iRun magazine. Love it.  For some reason, I was the only one out of the five of us who had the magazine in the bag.  Strange, I thought, but now I know it was KARMA. 

I've been cursing The Running Room because they never put my favourite $179 running shoes on sale and I can't find them anywhere else locally.  This, I might add, is just one of a long list of reasons I curse The Running Room close to me.  My plan was to cross-border shop next month when we're heading to sunny Florida for a few days, (St. Pete's or Boca?  Boca or St. Petes?  Or Lauderdale?) because they sell there for $129 (even though the Canadian dollar is currently worth more than the Mairkan dollar).

Then lo and behold, and I may be getting to the point now, iRun advertised my very shoe, to be delivered to my door, for $129.  I'm talking about these guys:

http://www.razorsports.ca/ in case I linked it wrong.



Yes, we have the cutest
doorbell ever.
http://www.doorbellfactory.com/

 



I ordered them up and they promised to come to me in 2-3 weeks. Those Americans may be used to such fabulous service options, but I'm not. Two DAYS later,  "Bing Bong".  It was my favourite Purolator man, with a package for me.

Right

on,

buddy!

These are Brooks Glycerins.  They're not just any shoe.  They've got DNA technology, baby.  That's science!  That's zero blisters, zero chafing, zero sore spots in almost 400 miles on my first pair.  I'm even overlooking the pink details in favour of no black toenails.

Going to try out my new kicks at the Game of Life 10k tomorrow. Surely the joy of wearing new genetically engineered shoes will get me a PR.  Wait a minute...is that a Running Room event?   D'oh!

Faith n' Begorrah n' Chili n' Beer

I did not want to run today's Achilles St. Patrick's Day 5k.  I've been a total wuss in my running life lately -- too much working, too much rain, too little mojo.  I've missed most weekday runs and my weekenders were less than stellar.  I thought an easy 5-miler yesterday would be a good way to boost my confidence, but I had a very tough time with no handy excuses -- the weather was perfect and the sidewalks were clear.  I was worried this run would be just as bad and I would be put off running for good by demonstrating publicly how much speed I've lost.

But we went anyway.  We were doing the race with our friends, which is always fun and motivating -- Tim, who's been in many of my race recaps; Mel who ran the Hamilton Half with us and, appearing for the first time as a runner, Mel's husband Steve.  You may remember back to this post, where Steve looked out for the dead bodies being pulled out of Lake Ontario while the rest of us were too busy trying to breathe to notice.

My hand isn't really that big.

The race was run downtown, starting and finishing at the Steam Whistle Brewery.  Lots of expensive parking close by, indoor waiting area, vibrant green tech tees (they are excused for this due to the mandatory vibrancy of the Irish this time of year) and matching gloves, which I was very thankful for since it was a little cold and windy.

The race started right on time, but the starting area was chaos.  They reported having 1800 people signed up and made no request for the walkers to start at the back of the swarm.  So there they were, walking 10 abreast, arm in arm, wearing jeans and backpacks, laughing and chatting away as runners tried to get around.  It took me about a half mile to be free to them.



Can a mascot be a stalker?
This guy's at every race!
Still don't know what he is.


But that was my only complaint.  After that, I felt like I was flying.  It's nice to have so many people to pass!  My splits:

Mile 1:  10:59 -- see above + undone shoelace
Mile 2:  9:43 -- nice!
Mile 3:  10:13 -- no more downhills, apparently.
Mile 0.13:  7:34 pace -- booked it!  Didn't start the sprint until I saw the finish line this time.  Can't believe people can do whole races at this pace. Or even whole miles.

Chip time:  31m51s, 72/179 age group, 369/929 women (I've NEVER been in the top half before, so maybe all those walkers are a good thing.)

So I'm back to where I was before!  Woohoo!  Not a PR, but pretty close.  Not smashing my 2011 under 30 minute goal, but closer than I thought. 

Phil and Tim were way ahead of me; don't think either had a PR but still awe-inspiringly fast to me.  Steve and Mel came in shortly after and both had PRs.  Way to go!

Then into the cozy warm Brewery for Irish chili (beef or vegetarian) with bun and Steam Whistle Beer, all before noon on a Sunday.  Very nice.

Next up:  Harry's Spring Run-Off 8k  in High Park on April 2.  Hill training starts tomorrow.

Update:  Someone turned the internet back on and I've signed us up for a 10K in the Beaches next weekend.  The fever is back!

Take my credit card. Please.

Things are getting nutty around here.  I've just signed up for 9 races and have 5 registrations pending. Somehow, in discussing the schedule with Phil, it seemed like a good idea to shoot for the Midsummer Nights Run 30K in August.  Post registration, I'm not so sure. Someone turn the internet off before I do more damage!

Work sure gets in the way of living.

Wow. I've been totally consumed the past month with opening up the new midwifery practice.  I just have to share our practice's logo cuz I think it's too cute:

Otherwise, I've been spending far too much time doing work on the computer (which makes blog entries just another chore) and no time seeing pregnant women and their babies. It all changes this week though as the paperwork, accounting and computer system set up should be pretty much in place.  We officially opened up last Monday, just by posting our phone number, and have already filled most of the spots we had.  Nice problem to have.

I've been slacking in the running department, and have only been able to get in a few longish runs.  I've been keeping up with bootcamp though, and trying to give it all I've got when I'm there, so hopefully I haven't lost too much fitness.  Training for the Toronto Women's Half Marathon (May 29) starts this week.  I'm using a plan from an old Women's Running magazine, so hopefully can rack up a PR.

Off to catch up on about a billion blogs.  Have a great weekend -- hope it's a long one for you too.

Stylish? You bet. That's me.

I'm officially the last person on the internet to be awarded the Stylish Blogger honour (thanks, Running Lawyer), but seem to be having some trouble downloading the icon.  I'm sure you've seen it everywhere else though.  Here's seven things about me you NEED to know:



Not really ours -- neighbourhood peer
pressure demands the gray garbage bin
be smaller than the blue recycler.

 1.  I have an unnatural fondness for our city garbage/recycling system and for my personal household set up.  Everything is on wheels and has a special spot in the garage for easy access.  I read the special calendar from cover to cover.  Our garbageman sanitation engineer waves at us every week and gets a very nice Christmas bonus.



The grossest one for sure,
but even the organic waste is manageable.



2.  Perhaps related to (1.), I am the opposite of a hoarder.  I am not sentimental about stuff.  I put my wedding gown in the Goodwill donation box.  My sisters bring their childhood stuff to my house because they know I can dispose of it without guilt.  Needless to say, this does not apply to race medals.

3.  And yet, I never miss an episode of "Hoarders" or "Hoarding: Life Under the Pile of Crap" or whatever it's called.  I've also never had a weight problem (5lb here or there) but LOVE the new reality show "Heavy".

4.  My brother is a physics nerd and teaches at our local high school.  My son, Sam, is in his Grade 9 homeroom and science class.  Apparently, the Toronto District School Board does not consider this a conflict of interest.  Parent-teacher interviews are interesting.  Should anything under an A+ be acceptable?  I got my brother an extra present at Christmas this year.  I'm trying to think of something nice for St. Patrick's Day too.

5.  I hate bananas but love banana flavour.

6.  I go to NYC every year with my sisters and niece.  My new tradition is to get a picture with Batman in Times Square. 



2009



2010. He did lift me up again,but I like
this picture better 'cuz I look like a little
girl meeting Cinderella at Disney World. 


 



7.  I love my midwife job, and I love babies, and I loved my boy babies in particular, but if I had to go back to taking care of a newborn 24/7, I don't think I'd make it through a week.





Like I said earlier, I am the last to receive this award, so can't find anyone else on the internet to tag.  Spoil sport, I know.  Go ahead and tell us 7 things if you want!