Nike Toronto Women's 15 KM

Today I surprised myself, and I ran the furthest I've ever been thus far. It began with a 4:45 alarm and a departure time of 6:15 from my house. I wanted to give myself lots of time to get on the ferry today. Because cramming more than 10'000 women plus spectators wasn't going to be a breeze to get through.

I got to Toronto shortly after 7 and found a public parking lot for $15.00. I didn't think it was a terrible price for being close and easy. The price you pay for your priorities. Anyways, I was on my way to the Ferry Dock lineup. When I got there, there were about 8 rows of lineups that seemed to be never ending. I will give Nike a big pat on the back (clearly they've done this before) because I didn't wait much longer than 20 minutes to get on a boat and make my journey across the lake. Good job Nike for the organization!

The ferry ride wasn't that long, maybe about 10-15 minutes or so. I booted it to the washroom as soon as I got there instead of finding prime seating. Prioritize.

When all of us got off the boat we were greeted with welcome signs and volunteers to guide us the right way to the start. Right at the entrance there were washrooms, whose lineups weren't THAT bad., but they were still pretty long. Luckily my stomach was playing nice today. Even with having pains in my stomach at midnight and 3 am.

Since it was early, about 8 ish, by the time I got to the island and situated I dilly dallied around and got myself to bag check. I waited outside the tent on the lawn for a while where there were food trucks and washrooms, but I don't eat before races, and I didn't have any company with me so I just sat with my phone and stayed warm and dry (under my poncho I stole from my mom, it was raining out) until about 9:15 came around. Then I checked my bag, which was also extremely organized, and I was on my way over the bridge. This was where the start and finish lines were.

 I wandered around to find another washroom, with no lineup I might add, then headed to my corral in Wave 8. Selfie time!

 It took us a while to get to the start line, but it was finally in sight when the first 7 wave's were gone.

 Then we were off!

The first 3 km were on asphalt before we got  to the Billy Bishop Airport strip. We ran for 2 km up and down the runway and then continued onward. It was pretty neat to be able to see the airplanes take off and land beside you, though not as cool as the Runway Run that i've done, and see the city landscape from a different perspective.

This was when is began to drizzle/rain out. But it didn't bother me. It wasn't a cold rain luckily.We continued to run through the island past the starting line area and continued onto Algonquin Island. There was a slight inclined bridge to get onto it, but i ran up it no problem. I felt good with my pace of 6:45 to 7:30 doing 4 and 1's and was waiting to 'hit the wall'.

After Algonquin Island we travelled through Ward island and passed the 13 KM mark. I knew on my map that once 13 KM was past there is only another 2 km, it would likely be the hardest part, but it was all straight to the finish line.  I passed 13 km and STILL felt pretty good with my pace so I picked it up slightly and enjoyed my wet run down the boardwalk.

14.2 km were done and a girl asked me how much further. I told her only 800 m left and that she could do it, which in turn motivated myself to keep going. Then, I did it. I crossed the finish line. I had the biggest smile on my face because I didn't know if I could or not. I had no proof from prior training as I hadn't gone more than 10 KM before. I walked through the finish line to receive my turquoise Tiffany & Co. box with my pendant in it and I was more than thrilled.

We got bottles of water, apples, and a bag of snack bar's and chips as well. I would have preferred a banana however. There could have been them on the other side though. I love my new Tiffany's jewellery! First ever!

Overall here are my split's. About 2 KM in I had to take a pit stop that cost me about 2:00, but I was quick and in dire need of a loo!

I would absolutely do this run again. But i'd definitely do it with my mom or a friend. It was extremely well organized, there were great race shirts and shirts to buy, and pretty Tiffany's jewellery. I'd much rather that than a medal for a rack. It was a pricey run ($120) but well worth the money. And now I'm motivated, more than ever, to do another race. As well as more sore than ever! Off to the hot tub!

Barrie Waterfront 5km

Today my mom and I ran the Barrie Waterfront 5 KM run. 

One of my worst run's ever. My stomach was crappy, and I regretted only getting up an hour before we left. I really needed more than that to get situated today. But I got my stuff together and headed out the door by 7:45 as planned.

The run began at Heritage Park at 8:30 AM. Along the way I took a pit stop at the Tim's on Dunlop and we continued our way to find free parking just East of The Ranch. We got there minutes before we started our run. In fact I didn't even have time to get my nervous pee out of the way when we got there. I was fine though. So we quickly lined up and were off on our run. Mom was set to do 10 and 1's, and I kept to my 4 and 1's. I should probably progress past that, I know. After next weekend perhaps. 

With my stomach being off, and my leg's beginning to cramp up I told mom good luck and she went off ahead of me. My leg cramps lasted for just under 3 KM, then mostly went away. I really hate leg cramps. I think it's because I was a bit dehydrated from the night before and also because I didn't eat breakfast.

The route for this race was nice. It was a bit chilly, but it warmed up nicely. We ran alongside the waterfront for 2.5 KM, slightly up hill near the end but nothing dramatic, and turned around for the remaining half. At the turnaround point we met up with the 10 KM and half marathon runner's. It was marked to tell who to go where, until the finish line. All of a sudden someone was screaming at you for half-er's to keep right and all others to keep left. It made me feel like I had to make a last minute decision to grab that last brownie before the person behind me grabbed it. I survived to figure out where I was to go, and ran through the finish.

Afterwards, I met up with mom near the washrooms...our usual meeting place if we break away from each other. There were some Clif/Builder Bar's to test (I enjoyed the Mint Chocolate ones!), some Domino's Pizza and some banana's. I obviously opted for the Pizza. Great choice that I will probably pay for tomorrow. Then mom and I headed to go get our Podium cow bell's. When we got there, there was only one left. But that's okay, because who really need's two cowbell's in the Jones' residence?!

Here was a picture of our post-race selfie after.

And here was the medal alongside my bib and race shirt, if you couldn't gather that.

Overall, it was a great race that I would happily do again since it is nice and close. There were only about 400 5 KM runner's. It was small, worthwhile, great route, and reasonably priced. Not amazing shirts, but I really haven't been too great with wearing those lately anyways.

Slow and Steady

After picking up my pretty race shirt's for my Nike Women's 15 KM run on the 14th I decided I had to wear them immediately. Plus it was laundry day. But I'm a sucker for wearing new things right away. I knew I had to go for a run today, and I knew it also had to be longer than 6 km. I decided 8 was a good idea, and so I went with it. I have a 5 km race tomorrow so I didn't want to go overboard.

I took my mom's advice and went for a slower pace than usual. My average running pace, without walk adjustments is usually 6:45. Today my average running pace was 7:04. I felt like if someone watched me run I looked like a turtle stuck in PB, but I did it anyways. My stomach survived. On my run I decided to use a different running app today, called Spotify, to listen to my music on. I am getting bored of my shuffle music, so I mixed it up and gave into buying 3 months of Spotify for $1. Why not! I quite enjoyed it. Not my repeated songs over and over again that I get sick of.

I quite enjoyed my run today with my slower pace. I did 4 and 1's, which isn't anything spectacular, but I ran. I could have gone longer, but I ran out of water and I also didn't want to push it.

Though 8 km is just about half of my 15 KM run I have set up for next weekend, I know I can do it. Well, I think I can do it. And that work's for me!

Race Kit Pickup day!

Today was a double race-kit pick day! And Boy was it exciting!

In the morning, I headed up to Barrie (Running Free) to pick up my mom and I's 5 KM race kit's for Sunday morning. I ended up getting to Running Free at 11:30, even though they said pick up began at noon, but they were okay with my earliness. I picked up an Appleby's bag with a bib, shirt, Cliff bar and a few pamphlets. The shirt's were nice looking, but very long and I didn't love the material. But it is a tech shirt and it's unique with Barrie's landmark pictures on it. I picked up a Large for myself and a medium for my mom, and the medium was millimetres smaller than the large. Perhaps it was a men's accidentally? Whatever it was, it was big for her. Mine fit me just fine.

Inside the bag was alto a 'spend 100 and get $20 off' coupon for the Running Free store. I believe it was also advertised that you received 20% off of Running Free items during race-kit pickup day too. Excluding electronics, however. The last pamphlet was for the Podium Group which, if filled out, provided you with a free cowbell! Very cool! So we filled those out!

My second race kit, I picked up on our way to Toronto to watch 'Once' the musical. Nike provided a few race kit pick-up day's over a week before the race. So I took advantage of that and picked mine up at the Sporting Life store on Yonge Street. I love this store and never walk away from it without a race kit or purchase in hand!

When I got to the store I saw the beautiful Nike Toronto 15 KM shirts and couldn't resist! I headed upstairs to pick up my race kit first then decided I would shop, while Doug waited for me. I was asked for a piece of ID and my confirmation e-mail (the first I have ever been asked, for a race kit) and they set me up with my kit.

Inside the kit were a ferry ticket, course map, race wave bracelet, bib with tracker, beautiful peach tech shirt and two packet's of 4 Nuun tablets. (The orange/lime I found out I was not a fan of).

I opted in to be searchable in the system by name for tracking me the day of the race and then headed over to the beautiful other gear. I ended up buying the $45 turquoise tech tee that says 'Nike Women's 15 K Toronto' as well. Because when again would I get a shirt like that! It was very pretty!

After I had my goods in hand I was out the door in a flash. Doug was happy about that. And we were off on our way to the Downtown core. 

Both places were well organized and I had no lineup to get to. Though I have heard the Nike one had a lineup of 25 people at one point of the day, around rush hour. Glad I went when I did!

Newmarket Easter Seals 5 Km Run

On May 24th, I ran in the Easter Seals 5K run with my mom in Newmarket. The run began at 9:25 so we left at about 8:45 to make it just in time. I hate having to wait around to run so I enjoy getting there moments before we start. I made a quick pit stop at the washrooms, there were about 7-8 ports potties but were readily available, then we joined our 5 km group and we were off. This was a pretty decent run. The course was nice, it was an out and back, but with the 5 km there were several kids, bikes and strollers to pass by if you were at the back of the corral. Luckily we were smart enough to make it to the front of the pack. The route was soft rolling hills and nothing too hard. I quite liked it and hope to do this again next year.

When we were finished and collected our medal, we made our way to a tent that a church group had organized. Under the tent was watermelon, apples, chocolate milk, juice, blueberry muffins and amazing granola goodness. The granola things were superb and I'm certain they, along with the muffins, were made by the church. 

Kverl it was well organized, fun, the weather was great,shirts awesome and bright, medals were okay. But for everything all accounted for is definitely do it again and suggest others do so as well. 

Here was what my race loot included:

My mom got out bibs and they never labelled whose was whose. When we got to the race I confirmed my number and had to change with my mom. So I was actually bib #55. 

Here were our medals. 

Until next year, Mr. Persuchini!

Sporting Life 10 KM

It was a year ago today that I registered and ran my first race ever! I trained for it in just over a month and finished in 1:07:18. I thought that was an okay time. I ran it by myself, as my mom was away on a vacation, and tried to pace myself as best I could.

This year I decided to run the Sporting Life 10 KM run in support of Camp Ooch again. However, I was in good company with my mom alongside me. I hadn't ran as far before this race this year slash winter, so I knew what I was in for. But with my mom's recent second foot surgery with this past winter, she was equally out of shape as I was. My dad picked our race kits up on the first day they were available (Tuesday) and we were ready (kind of) for our 10 K.

We left pretty early because we paid for and used the shuttle to the start line before the race. We left our house around 6:00 AM to get there for 7, and get on the bus for 7:00-7:15. My stomach was not up to par in the morning, which may or may not have involved a parking lot pit stop, but we were ready and on the bus by 7:05. The bus ride there took us about a half hour just about. It went on the 401 then down Yonge Street. As we approached the barrier to stop cars from travelling up Yonge Street, one bus pulled to the side to let off their runners. But seconds later it let our bus through and we were thrilled. This gave us almost a kilometre less of walking to do...up hill nonetheless! Anyways, we got off the bus...lined up at the first washrooms we saw (Wait till you get to Sporting life and use them there next time...seriously, there was a ton!) and then we waited. We had about an hour and a half wait between our bus ride and our corral starting (9:15 AM). Coincidentally, my mom's friends were also running and they spotted us amongst the 27'000 other people. I think they need to buy a lottery ticket just about. So we stuck with them and ended up chit chatting, taking selfies, then heading to the start line. It was 8:00 and we were getting bored of waiting, so we skipped up a few corral's and went off with the green corral at 8:40.

Mom and I knew we were going to be doing 4 and 1's due to our recent running capabilities, and it was hot out, so we knew we weren't going for a PB. The goal this time was to complete it. And that was just what we did! I started off with some pretty awesome calf cramps in both my legs that didn't go away until about the 4 KM mark. I drank some water, stretched it out briefly, and had some stingers in hopes that would do the trick. Our 4 and 1 slowed pace seemed to do the trick, even though I still felt pretty rough. It was about the 6 KM mark that mom and I made the executive decision to make a run for the washrooms as a McDonald's we were about to pass. Not worried about our time, we quickly ran in and out and went on our way.

On went our run, and we definitely had to slow our pace down quite a bit. It was about a 7:00 min/km pace to a 7:30 min/km average pace. At about the 8 KM point my mom's friend found us as she was lagging behind the other women, so we kept with her for the rest of the race since we knew we weren't wining the Camp Ooch 1st place medal. We finally got to the final stretch and made our way through the forever winding route of metal fences to get our bling! This year they were nice, big and pretty colourful!

When we got to the field I was starving. They offered us water, banana's, and bagels...look for the food signs next time. It was difficult and seemed a bit disorganized, but i guess that's kind of hard with 27'000 + people. The nice thing was the ample washrooms. I kind of wish there were more at the starting line and less at the finish! Oh well. After the pit stop we walked back to our car at Ontario Place and we made our way home.

Mom and I ended up finishing at about 1:17:42 (chip time of 1:19:06; i guess we spent 2 minutes in the bathroom at McDonalds!), not a PB but we did it and we did it together. That was a lovely mother's day activity we both can remember for later :) I'm lucky I get to do things like running with my mom. I hope to do many more races with her in the years to come!

Mississauga Marathon 5 KM Run with 'Guts To Run'

Tis' the weekend for the 'Mississauga Marathon'. Now to be clear, I did not run the marathon as I am not about to use 5 hours of my day moving my legs constantly. I'd prefer to use part of that time for a run and the remainder of the 4 hours sitting on the couch watching tv. It's all about moderation!

Friday afternoon after work I decided to pick up both my mom's and my race kits. If we hadn't picked up our rackets then we would have to pick them up by 3:00 PM on race day. We were told they weren't available at the run, though they were giving out bib's there. I'm not certain that they were giving out race kits then however. Anyways, I drove to the Port Credit Arena where I had to find a parking spot on the road, then I made my way into the arena. When I got in I began picking up some of the free stuff, and spun the running room wheel to win a 20% off coupon, to extend my extra swag from the race. Amongst the free stuff I got was some NButrience dog food (for Thatcher of course), protinis (which were quite good!), some slug slash garden bug traps and plant food, cold FX, and contact solution. Finally i made it through the winding route to get my bib, cotton 5 KM race shirt, and race kit. By this time my hands were full so I went back to get anything I missed. That's when I also decided to use my running room coupon to buy a nice new running jacket. I don't have one of my own, I often use my mom's purple one, so I bought a nice neon coral running jacket. Another motivator to run in the wind perhaps?! 

Here was what my goodie bag looked like. I was quite impressed with what we got. 

I did quite like the Mississauga Marathon 10KM, Half and Full Marathon shirts (which were all the same and were tech shirts). The women's were neon orange and grey, and the mens were royal blue and lime green. Both were quite appealing.

The next day, Saturday, I set up my race gear for my run. I participated in the Charity Challenge in support of Crohn's and Colitis - Peel. As you may or may not know, I have Ulcerative Colitis. So anything that support's raising money for the cause or helps people become aware of what it is is something I am interested in doing. We had a great team that was put together by Maria Gladden and Rob Trewartha. They really rooted us on and gave us great shirts too! This year they were purple this year. I already can't wait to see what colour they will be next year. That's a sign that I'll definitely be participating in this again :) So far our total money raised for CCFC is over $16'000. Which is fantastic! Way to go Guts To Run!

Around 3:30 we left for the hour trip to Mississauga and parked at the Community Centre on Cawthra when we got there. It was from there that there were ample shuttle busses lined up to take us to the starting line. The line ups for the washrooms in the arena were a bit lengthy, so note for next time...stop at Tim's or hold it until the starting line.

When we got to the starting line, we had about an hour, since the last busses for the 5 KM ended at 5:00 SHARP. At the starting line there were several washrooms with no line up, but were a little 'tippy' on the unloved land. They still did the job. We hung around enjoying the sunshine until about 5:30 where we gathered with our Guts To Run group for a group shot before our race.

6:00 came around and we were ready for the start. It was a bit of a chaotic start as there were no side barriers to prohibit runners from bottlenecking in through the starting gates. The run was a nice flat-is course with small short inclines, but nothing substantial. The run alongside the lake was beautiful and  provided us with a nice breeze. However, the swarms of what looked to be baby mosquitos were terrible! I should have held off on the pre-run protein bar because I'm certain I could have gotten my daily supply just from the mouthful of bugs alone! That's my biggest complaint about the race though. Overall it was a well organized and decent route. I enjoyed seeing several kids there with their family members, but I do wish they stuck to one side of the path or refrained from aimlessly weaving along the path for no reason.

The last kilometre of the race you look around an area of land that forms a bit of a bay and you are able to see the finish line from that point. It's a great way to motivate you to the end. At the end we received our medal, got our shoe chip device cut off and got a few goodies. I came away with a half a blueberry bagel, a box of organic wheat squares, a chocolate milk, some facial cleanser and moisturizer samples, a chocolate milk sponsored ice pack and towel, and a vector bar. I can confidently say this race didn't lack in the free stuff! Something I definitely appreciate! Here is what my two shirts, bib and medal looked like. :)

Anyone looking to do a race in around Mississauga, the 5 KM or even the 10 KM is one I'd recommend. I hope to do this run again but with the 10 KM perhaps, next year. I appreciate the tech tee's way more. And they're prettier too :) Until next year Mississauga!