Mercedes Benz Oakville Run

Today was a chilly 4 degree start but warmed up nicely for my 5 KM run in the Mercedes Benz 10 K in Oakville. It took me about an hour to get there from my house to the Bronte Go station, and I'm surprised I wasn't more tired from getting up at 5:30 AM. When I got to the GO station, we were told to park there due to the limited parking near the site, I had a bit of a wait to nab one of the shuttles due to the long lineup. But I must say they went fast! The busses were quite evenly spread out and filled up quickly. Once I was onboard I had a short trip to Appleby College.

Upon arrival at the park, with the hundreds of other people, I went to get my bib and race packet. Now I know last minute pickup's are chaotic, but it seemed quite unorganized. I has to ask if I got a shirt, then ask again to get a bag. Good thing I was on top of things! It's all about the goods, :) Once I had everything I put it in my bag and headed to bag check. Note to self, bring a unique bag next time for bag check. I don't typically use bag check, but it was quite easy even with the identical white bag everyone else was using. Here was what was in the bag, minus the medal of course.

I headed to make a quick pit stop then went to join the other 5 KM'ers. The guy who was on the speaker waiting for us to line up was quite funny. The corral's were lettered 'A' through 'D'. He said things like "if you wear something that makes your hips jiggle when you run (a water belt), head to corral A. If you're wearing jeans, head to corral 'D'". The wait wasn't terrible, but it was hard with the slight wind and cold. Not long thereafter, we were off. It was a difficult start with the other runners jammed into road with barriers, but after the first turn onto the open road it was fine. The route was nice and flat with a few downhills. I remember going down them and thinking, "crap, what goes down just go up again" but there really were no decent uphill running bits. So that was nice. Near the 3.5 KM / 4 KM mark I looked at my watch and began running a bit quicker noticing it said 28 minutes. I knew my best 5 KM race time was 33:35, so I was determined to make this one my new PB. I put some extra hitch in my giddy up and I was able to push it to the end. My final time was 32:47 and I am pleased with that! There were some nice Tim's bagels at the end, an Emergent C sample, bananas and water. I collected my medal and goodies then was off to head back to my shuttle bus.

Overall, this was a nice route to run. It was organized nicely. It could have been a bit better with including corral intervals, more organized on for race day registration, and have much more crowd/volunteer encouragement, but I'd still do the race again. Happy Sunday!

Did I just do that?! 15 KM here I come

My next race is tomorrow, the Mercedes Benz 10 K in Oakville (I'm doing the 5 KM run option). I'm excited to get some more use out of my new motivational running gear to get me going because I have signed up for a new running distance for me, 15 KM! On June 14th I have signed up for the Nike Toronto Women's 15 KM run. I am excited to train for this run since it will be my longest distance yet, but I know I can do it. As my mom says, "walk it if you have to!"

On to bigger and better things!

Last weekend I was signed up to do the Toronto Yonge Street 10 KM run, but due to this overwhelming cold I got that went into my chest I opted to sleep in. I was pretty excited to do this nice downhill run, and the race kits were pretty good too. It will be my goal for next year now :)

Here was the race kit:

Harry Spring Run-Off 5 KM

This year I decided to get an earlier start to my medal collection than I did last year. Last year was my first year of training to run. I started around April after I signed up for my first run and 10 KM race, the Sporting Life 10 KM, and began training as fast as I could! My goal wasn't to get a PB by any means, but I was pleased with my completion time of 1:07.

At first, when I signed up for this race it was the dead of winter and I was amped up to get some 'BLING!!', so I signed up for the 8 KM run. A week or two before the race I realized I hadn't nearly trained enough for the 8 KM just yet so I paid the extra $10 to drop down to the 5 KM. And BOY AM I GLAD I did! After scouring Instagram for pictures of race kits, bib and shirt pictures as well as past medal pictures, I found myself curious about the #killthehill hashtag. I hadn't heard anything about a hill before, likely since I haven't ever run at High Park, and I started to get worried. I started thinking about if this 'hill' is going to 'kill me'!

The morning of the run was a bit chilly and windy but nice and sunny. I think it flurried the day before, but I can't be certain. I was going to drive myself down then take the subway, but my mom and dad ended up driving me down instead. It was the first time my mom has cheered me on along the sidelines and it was quite nice! I definitely appreciated her company! When we got to High Park in Toronto I headed over to get my race kit (that included a shirt, some goodies, and a drawstring bag) which was quick and easy and then hung out for a bit. When I signed up I also signed up to get a Pancake Breakfast for $3, even though I typically go gluten free. Since my mom was with me I gave it to her so we got that before the race then slowly made out way to the starting line.

After waiting for the time to tick away all the corral's were in place and went off at once. It was a nice  route that started with a small loop past the crowds, where I picked up my handheld water bottle I had forgot from my mom, and then began to descend.....and descend again....and again....And I thought to myself, crap....what goes down must go up again (in races). The route was all paved roads through a forested area that passed by a river and wound around and back. It was not too bad really....until I realized what the #killthehill hashtag had really meant. It was the last half kilometre of the race where this hill took place. And it took up 400 meters worth of it, no lie. Thankfully my mom was along the sidelines of the hill to let me know it was just up the hill then I was done, and that definitely kept me going, but I won't lie and say I ran up it all. I definitely had to take a 'break' to walk at one point and likely another. But the end was upon me and I received my medal and matching light green beanie and another race had finished.

Overall it was a great race. Now I know what to expect with the hill and I'd definitely be willing to do this route again. It had a great medal and swag (It is a Canada Run Series run, so I knew it would be good anyways). The nice thing too was that with it being downtown with limited parking, the subway was a short walk away. This made it easy to park at another location and take the subway down. And I definitely advise that.

Here's my race swag to add to the drawers and medal rack!