50K Becel Ride for Heart 2016

On Sunday June 5th, I joined 20,000 people who participated in the Becel Ride for Heart 2016 :)

It had been nearly 4 years since I did the last Ride, and 2 years since I last rode a bike, so to do the Ride again, I was a bit nervous.  It didn't help that forecast said rain either.  But rain or shine, the ride would go on - though my preference would be no rain obviously.  Though I didn't train for it, I knew it to be a more leisure sort of event vs competitive.  Basically stay to your right if you're a slow bike rider; the faster riders would be on the left.

Since my bike had been in storage for so long, I had to make sure it was still in good riding condition.  I pumped up the tires and oiled the gears and took it out for a short ride on the Friday along the Martin Goodman trail.  Everything went well, I was relieved.  My bike good to go; lol as was I.  Muscle memory did not fail me.

The Saturday night, I was out late with friends, having gone to the Stratford festival to watch Chorus Line.  Following a little pitstop at the Halton Hills Outlet mall, and then we had birthday celebration (my friend Susans' birthday) at a

Chorus Line Musical @ Stratford Festival

korean restaurant which ended late.  Lots of fun, but by the time I returned home, it was nearly 1am.  Not good at all since I had to get up in... 4 hours? haha  After freshening up, it was 1:30am.  Now it was 3.5 hours.  Sleep did not come easily as I was worried I'd oversleep and miss the checkin time - latest was 8:30am for the 50K riders.  I wanted to get there for the earliest possible one, 6:30am since I knew I wasn't a strong rider, I would need all the time I could get.  So I was up by 5am (though I had woken up at least a dozen times, 3am, 4am, 4:50am, lol.  I'm not even sure if I slept at all!).  At any rate, adrenaline helped me a lot, along with a blend of both excitement and anxiety.

I geared up with my new adventure hydration pack (one that I had purchased for my Northface Race), packing extra clothes and socks in case they got wet in the rain.  For the past few nights I had been checking with the weather network on the weather, just to see if there were any changes.  However, it kept saying it was going to rain AND thunderstorm eventually.  I checked hourly time as well - it wasn't looking good.  Either way, to be safe, I had worn a long sleeve technical shirt, along with a light sweater and a raincoat.  I really didn't want to catch a cold.

I ate quickly, making a open-faced peanut butter sandwich and made another non-open faced one to go; just in case I got hungry and needed energy.  I put that in the pocket of my rain jacket for easy access. LOL literally, food in my pocket.  Packed away in my pack I also had cliff block gummies for electrolytes, and extra water (and a Chinese rice crispy, for that sugar rush if needed).

Flat tire on my hybrid bike!

I was out the door and I rode to the Martin Goodman trail.  Just as I arrived there, I heard this strange screeching sound.  I dismounted from my bike and then inspected my bike.  Oh my.  The back tire, it was completely deflated!  I was sure that I had pumped it up on the Friday.  I checked if it was because the cap was loose, maybe I could just return home and re-pump the tires.  But it was tightly capped on the tire.  This meant that my tire must have had a flat somewhere.  Nooooo.  I was no expert with fixing flats, so I pulled the bike along and walked back to my house.

I didn't want to give up though.  After dropping off my bike at my house, I took transit to reach my workplace which had some spare bikes available.  I had asked previously if I could borrow one for the ride (as my bike at the time hadn't been tuned up yet), so it was really a backup.  Who would have known that the backup would be my main option.  I was thankful for the mountain bike though.

I picked up the bike and then rode it to the Martin Goodman trail and then to the Exhibition place.  I had never rode there on my own before so I was little worried I'd get lost.  But with the ever so helpful google maps and also seeing a lot of people with the heart and stroke helmet cap, I was able to follow and get to the startline without incident.

After riding there, I had already done 10km.  I was tired. LOL. And the race hadn't started yet.  It was 8am.  I checked my phone to see if my friend (Susan) had arrived.  There was nothing, but I assumed she must have started already and had no time to message since she was doing it with family.

I texted her anyway, telling her that I had arrived and wished her luck with the ride.  Just as I was about to get on my bike to start the ride, I looked over and saw Howard adjusting his bike.  I kinda did a double take of course, what were really the chances of that?  We greeted each other, laughing at the oddity of it all and I asked where Susan was and she literally just walked up to me, not too far behind the rest of her family members doing the ride.  Talk about a morning of coincidences though!

Anthony, Me, Howard (behind me), Susan @ the Ride for heart start line

We took a quick picture together and we set off.  While I only had to ride on my own bike and carry my own weight, she took on the task of alternating with her cousin in pulling her nephew along for the ride.  I could imagine it was no easy task.  We rode at first together, and then I rode ahead for a little bit, stopping occassionally to wait for them to catch up.

There was a yellow school bus, however, that followed close behind us, like a constant reminder that we had to keep pedalling lol.  There was one point where I waited a while and found that I couldn't see them.  I rode on ahead, thinking I would eventually see them down the line, not that I was biking all that fast, lol I was starting to feel some discomfort on my saddle.

Finally, I reached the 25km - 50km split mark.  I had a choice then... I hadn't seen Susan for a while, so I wasn't sure if she opted to do the 25km (with the family) or continued the 50K.  Aside from that, everyone biked at their own pace, just like in running.
In terms of my weariness, I was pretty tired at this point, the 25K seemed like the easier way out.  But then... when did I ever choose that ;)  I had no reason to quit.  I signed up for the 50K.  It wasn't raining.  My legs were doing fine (just the soreness from the saddle bothered me.  I could do this.  I should do it).  And so I rode on.

I rode on my own for a bit and then I bumped into Howard.  He updated me on what happened to Susan, flat tire on the bikes.  Oh boy, I've had my share of it, so I understood.

Howard and I continued to ride on for a bit, I struggled quite a bit with the uphills.  Like struggled struggled.  lol the 'walk of shame' (walking up the hills!) even happened, though I tried my best to avoid it.  At one point though, I told him to go on, since he was on a road bike and technically speaking, I was totally slowing him down.  Besides, they had plans afterwards, not like my plan:  to bike home straight afterwards.  You see, I didn't have a bike lock lol.

After he rode off, I took my time on the hills, some walking, others I pedalled to the metal allowing the momentum of a down hill help me go up.  All the while, I kept noticing the dark storm clouds looming above me.  I would glance every so often at my watch, remembering that the forecast said it was going to storm in the afternoon.  Hurry.  Hurry!  Must stay ahead of the storm clouds! lol.

Toronto - Cityscape

I finally saw the Toronto cityscape.  Very nice, I had thought at that moment, at the same time, it also indicated that it was almost done.  lol.

Keep pedalling.. just a little while longer.  But I made sure not to over do it, I still had to reserve energy to bike home.  From that stretch until the Exhibition place, it seemed like forever.  I kept reading the signs on the highway, when I finally saw, "Next Exit:  Exhibition Place", I had expected to see the Exhibition place... but it was no where in sight. Where was it?  Why was it so far?  lol.  At this point, my discomfort on my saddle had intensified, I could feel every little bump.  I took a little more rest (dismount walk 2 minute, back on bike).  I didn't want to spend too much time out here, as I still feared for the storm to break out at any moment.  I was so close also.

Finally, I saw it.  The Exhibition place.  I was so happy.  So so happy.  I was even happier when I passed another finish checkpoint where it indicated that we all had to dismount our bikes and walk from that point on.  Yes.  Gladly.

I dismounted and walked a few meters and then saw lots of food being housed in front of me.  Bagels (three choices! plain, blueberry, and raisin!), with becel butter.  They had apples, bananas, and oranges I think.  And Eskin water.  I was just happy to see a bagel.  The bagel came with a fork.  Awesome.  I picked the raisin one and started eating it ferociously.  lol!  You'd think I never had a bagel in my life!  But after 60K (including my morning biking), that bagel was delicious.

I ate my bagel, chewing it with such relief as well, I walked passed where they were giving out the medals.  One of the attendants was going to give it to me, but my hands were full (water, bagel and bike lol), and he had to put it around my neck.  It was quite the feat since I hadn't taken off my helmet yet.  We had a good laugh at that.  After that I made my way to an empty picnic bench and plopped down happily.  Ouch.  It hurt, but it felt so much better than being on a bike.

I kept chewing on my bagel.  Mmm... so good.  I checked my phone then and saw I had messages.  Susan apparently had finished a 15 minutes ago.  She had done the 25K with her cousin and filled in the gap of what had happened after the flat had happened.  Volunteers had aided them in fixing their tires so they were able to continue their ride, though the bike Susan had to ride on couldn't completely be fixed.  Her bike no longer had the gliding capability, so in order to keep moving, she had to keep pedalling.  Wow, that must have been tough I thought.  But silver lining, great exercise? haha.

She said she and Howard were in the parking lot putting away the bikes, and asked if I wanted to get a ride back home.  I was actually okay riding home (reserved energy for it already), but the offer... the temptation of just sitting in a soft cushiony car instead of on the bike again... lol I couldn't reject it.  I was game for the ride, though it was a matter of whether my bike would fit on the bike rack.

Sushi Burrito

They tried several times, but nearly gave up on putting my bike on there.  However, luckily on the last try, it clipped properly on the bike rack.  Yay!  Now it was a matter of fitting me in the backseat. There was another bike on the other side of the backseat so I had to squish into the back.  But all was good.  I wasn't complaining. lol.

Susan and Howard went to wash their hands and then I got a call from Susan saying they saw a Sushi Burrito truck; did I want something?

Given how much I loved that bagel, and sushi = more carbs in my system, I was happy to jump at the proposition.  We got the softshell crab burrito and the spicy salmon one.  They were delicious!

Mac and Cheese Festival 2016

After engulfing the sushi within probably 5 minutes? we ended up deciding to go to the Mac and Cheese festival which was just at Ontario place.

We walked over, purchased 15 food tickets and wandered around.  We tried samples, got free coconut water, and also purchased on mac and cheese to share (it was a mac and cheese ball).  After we ate it we all realized that we were too full to really enjoy the food, so we used up the rest of the tickets to get takeout instead.

Mac and Cheese (deepfried)

It was just as well because as we just as we bought our last takeout item, the skies had suddenly gotten really dark.  Yep.  The storm was coming, and it was coming very quickly.   We swiftly made our way back to Susan's car and just as we neared the BMO field building, it started to rain.  We made a mad dash and got into the car before it really started to pour.  The rain was like an accumulation of weeks with no rain, it crashed down like a waterfall.  Driving in it was no walk in the park either.

Rain rain rain...

Thankfully by the time we reached my place, it had stopped - perhaps the clouds didn't extend all the way to my area ;) who knows... I wasn't complaining and so weren't my friends who still had to help me get the bike off the rack in the back.  Once I got home, I thanked my friends, and rolled both the mountain bike and hybrid bike to storage.  I freshened up and then just relaxed by watching some television.  It was nice just to sit. haha.

All in all, I made it.  The Ride was a lot of fun, and it could be an annual thing now :)  Once I fix that flat in my hybrid bike, I'll try to do more bike trails so that next year it would be easier.  Many thanks to the wonderful supporters who sponsored me for the ride:  Lynette, Madeline, Cecilia, and Kai!  For those that are still interested in making a contribution, I believe they are still accepting donations:  Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart Donation webpage

Unionville and Sporting Life 10K - First Races of the year

The two races that I opted in doing this year were the Unionville race, one in which my friend Susan and I participated in last year, and the Sporting Life 10K (one that we had missed the previous year since we were away for our friend's cruise wedding).  Both were usually a week apart from each other, but for some reason this year, they were back to back, one on the Saturday and the other on the Sunday.

Yikes indeed.  10k's back to back as the first run of the season?  It sounded pretty tough.  In reality, it was seriously tough - especially combined with something women experience on a monthly basis (the infamous period).  Sigh.  Timing!  It's all about timing.  Initially I was quite mortified that of all the weekends, it had to be this one?  Couldn't it have waited 2 more days?  But as with it is in life, you can't will things to go your way, but you can adjust and deal with it :P

Unionville Race - 10K

Woofles and Cream

I stayed over at my friend Susan's parents' place that night since the race was close to their home - one of the main reasons why we chose to do this particular race (and the swag bag + food!).  Our friend Madeline came to join us for dinner, and we had pasta and lobster lol. What a combination, but it worked.  You really couldn't say no to lobster.  At least not for me.  Later we grabbed dessert at "Woofles and Cream", which was quite the delight.  We got savoury Hong Kong style egg waffles with soft serve icecream.  The selections were all appetizing, but in the end we went with Susan's recommendation: "Lap Cheung" waffle with greentea icecream.  So good.  MMmmmmm.

But of course it took time to prepare it (15 minutes), so we walked around the small plaza and ended up getting a second dessert.  Yes, how wisely we use our time haha.

After the double dessert, we headed back to Susan's parents' place and Madeline headed home.  We freshened up and spent the rest of the time prepping for the race (pinning bibs, clothing, etc).

Pasta dinner - night before race #1

Morning came about, 6:00am my alarm rang.  I was up before it, having not slept too well.  My back felt kinda tense, like I pulled a muscle.  I did a bit of stretching, but it still ached.  Oh well.  Nothing I could do about it at this point.  I showered and dressed, and once Susan was freshened up as well, we ate a peanut butter sandwich and a banana before heading out.

Parking wasn't too difficult to find despite our worries that we were running late.  Yes, despite having gotten up at 6:00am, somehow we had lingered too long and were in a rush.  But it was okay, it seemed that there were a lot of street parking available.

The morning weather wasn't too cold which was good for us.  We walked around and took some pictures, put some stamps on our hands (lol, mine was an epic fail), and drank sample coconut water.  The swag bags we could see were there, but they were to be given at the end of the race.

There was an announcement that since there were so many 5ks, they would have another wave for them, so that meant our race was pushed later.  Which was alright, gave us more time to just chill and rest.

I had to admit, I was sort of out of it in the morning.  My insides were cramping and uncomfortable and despite having done training (lol yes, I have been training properly! In fact, I went up to 20km a few weekends ago).  I was also really low on energy.  Usually the first two days for ladies time are the absolute worst for me, and this was day 1 and I was going to attempt to do a 10k.  I was dreading it.  Though I told myself if it does get too tiring or bad, I would just stop and take things easy.  Afterall, lol I wasn't planning to win a race or anything - this was something that should be enjoyable.  I was functional, and as long as I remained so, I'd try to finish the race; walking it was always an option.

And that was what I did - powerwalk.  There was no way to run I decided after trying a few times.  I had told Susan that we'd just meet at the end (we always run at our own pace anyway), but this time, it was going to be at a much slower pace.

Surprisingly, however, there were in fact quite a few walkers!  I didn't feel so alone.  I was worried that I'd be the only one - after all, it had been listed as a 10k run.

I walked for about 4K on my own and then it was during this one section where I lost sight of the person in front of me and thought I had taken a wrong turn that I met Lilitha.  She turned out to be an avid walker that powerwalked a lot of races.

We chatted from that point on until the finish line on a variety of somewhat random but intriguing topics - societal issues, races, environment, running gear, etc.  It was very enjoyable and made the time pass by very quickly.

Finally when we reached the finish line, we got a picture taken together before I met up with Susan.  As I walked around with her, I couldn't help but ask:  where was the food?  Maybe I had taken too long walking..., but Susan told me that in fact when she finished, there wasn't any of the fancy bagels and such either (the ones we really liked last year).  The 5k'rs... they must eaten it all!! hahaha.

Look how full of energy I am? haha (Post race)

Aw boo.  Oh well.  I was ok.  We decided we would just grab some kind of breakfast then.

But the fancy bagels!  I had been looking forward to them.  Sigh.  I went to pick up my swag bag and life bag as well.  So many goodies in it!!

We walked around the area a little bit still trying to decide what to eat, dim sum?  dumplings? korean? Finally though we settled on having western breakfast in the area.  I ordered Nachos and Susan ordered a breakfast meal; both of which we split half and half.

When we finished eating, we were off to wholefoods to buy ingredients for a meal she wanted to prepare for the evening.  She had some of the groceries already, but not all of it.  We got steak, lemon, and fresh scallops and headed to her place - it would be my first time seeing it since she bought it over a year ago!  It was really quite nice, cozy and a good size for easy maintenance -- though I can't say much for the many bathrooms ;) that would be tough to clean.  But I guess just don't use all the bathrooms, it should be fine.

First on the agenda was tackling the fruitcake she wanted to make for Howard.  While Susan worked on the fruit cake,  I began preparing the pasta and also slicing beets and sweet potato.

The hours passed by quickly, but I had to admit I was really tired.  While 10ks didn't usually drain me, the cramping and twisting my body was pretty much screaming for me to stop moving. lol, what a delicate body indeed.  Also at this point, that pulled muscle pain that I had felt in the morning when I woke up pre-race, had escalated to actual pain pain.  Sigh.  Not my day at all.

The fruit cake was completed, and it looked wonderful - we even had chocolate dipped strawberries!  We put it in the fridge as a surprise...

Howard arrived shortly after the steaks were ready.  He got to watch as Susan finished frying the scallops.  And then we started to put things away, and Susan told Howard to put the cheese in the fridge -- at this point I was on the otherside of the room, tired and ready to just vegg...but the alarm bells went off when he moved to open the fridge.  I didn't think I had it in me to move so fast, but I managed to get there before he could turn his head to look into the fridge.

"no no, let me do it."  He had a preplexed look on his face, but he went with it.  phew.  'surprise' saved...  I couldn't help but give susan a look, haha, she had that shocked look on her face as well - she had simply forgotten about it for that moment. LOL.  Let's say, it wasn't really just that one moment.  It was many many many times.  Poor chocolate covered strawberries... its all I can say...

The table was finally set as the scallops were plated with the steaks.

Mmmm yummy!

The meal was delicious and healthy. And then it came to the final surprise, calling over Susan's cousin, husband and kids.

A birthday was celebrated, everyone was happy lol.  Good food never fails!

Now to tackle the next race...

Sporting Life 10K

This year the Sporting Life 10K race had an additional 2 waves.  This meant that people were slated to start with earlier start times compared to previous years. Wehad to yet again, be up by 6am, but this time we really couldn't linger too long since were were up in Stouffville.

We got up for 6:30am and things ran late again, though this time it was worrisome because Sporting Life 10K had one of the most race participants in Toronto.  Parking was going to be a pain.

It was a race for time as we still needed time to pickup Howard from his house and we were already late.  Luckily, we managed to secure some parking by a school.  Ironically Gordon, who was also doing the race, had finished running before we had even arrived - he was in the earlier wave.

When we got there to the race start line, the end of the blue wave had been called.  I had just picked a modest wave to start, and so I had no idea what my friends had picked.  As I tried to get started in the same wave as them, there was a race volunteer that literally held out her hand to disallow me to join the race.  "Not you," were her words to me.  I was surprised since really, my wave was next anyway... and we were at the tail end of the the blue... what the heck?

But whatever.  It wasn't like I was going to be running with my friends in my state anyway.  So I stayed back as Susan and Howard started their run.

About 15 minutes later, I started with my wave.  I started with a little trot, just to test the waters.  Then stopped. Hmm.. maybe not a good idea.  I tried a few times but at one point I realized the longer I stayed on the course, the worse I was feeling.  Fine, I decided then: Get it over with, and just take as many pitstops as needed.  By this time, a lot of coffeeshops had opened along yonge street, so I had safety nets. This had not been the case in the race the day before, where we were running through trails.

I finished it running vs powerwalking, which I was really glad.  It wasn't fast, but it was definitely faster than walking it.  I met with my friends and took some pics before heading down to Spadina to our usual food place after the Sporting Life 10K, "Asian Legend"!

We ordered a lot of food, but it was so delicious, so no complaints!

Spring Onion Pancakes

Dumplings

Peking Duck

Deep fried tofu

After all the food, we headed back to our respective homes.  Though I had wanted to do more activities since the weather was so nice, my body had other plans - just sitting down was good haha. 

Now for the next race...  Blue Mountain here I come!  Crossing my fingers I make it through that one :D

Niagara Falls Half Marathon 2015

Wow, how fast a year just flies by!  Recapping the Niagara Falls 2015 race brings back some nice memories - mostly of my friends and I eating huge feasts, both before and after the half-marathon.  Note that before part probably was definitely something that I regretted on race day lol.  Hard lessons tend to need repeat exposure it seems (recalling my Midsummer Nights' Race a few years back).

Last year I did the Niagara Falls Marathon, and boy did it hurt.  Zero training = lots and lots of pain afterwards (plus loss of two toenails.. but we'll not get into that).  This year, although I didn't train extensively for the half, I did do several shorter races throughout the year; Unionville, Sunset, Longboat, and Island Girl.  So prep wise, I was in a good place, not great, but good.  Expectations for the race was just to enjoy the scenery and to hangout with my friends afterwards :)  Oh and of course, EAT! lol.

Pre-race Day - The Saturday
We arrived at Niagara and went to the Expo to pickup our race package.  This year, thankfully, they had improved the racekit pickup process.  Instead of having it hosted at a mall with ambiguous directions as to where to assemble our racekits, everything was in one big convention hall  (the Scotiabank Convention Center) with the standard pickup process in place.  The usual:  get our bib numbers, activate our tracking chip, and then line up to add on goodies to racekit bag.  Phew, much much better than last year!

After we picked up our racekit, we headed to our hotel and checked in.  We rested for a bit and then we headed to have dinner a bit earlier so we would have time to digest (which was probably a very good idea).  We went to East Side Marios and we ordered enough to feed 10 people.  Mind you, there was only 5 people.  And only 4 of us were running.  LOL.

Look at that food (see above picture).  We ordered about 4 pastas, a pizza, 2 soups, and 2 salads.  Oh, and before our orders even came, we each ate a stick of bread on our own.  Craziness.  The one person that wasn't running was looking at us like we were kinda overdoing it, and tried to talk some sense into us.  Sorry Mad we didn't listen to you!  But of course, noone was more sorry than our poor stomachs the next day.  Well, at least for mine :P

After dinner we didn't do too much, just walked around the Falls area and headed back a bit earlier to rest up for race day.

Day of the Race

There were different start times for 10k and halfs, so the three of us, Susan J, Susan C. and I had to get up a bit earlier to head out.  Gordon, lucky guy, got to sleep in a bit more.  Just a tad. The bonus to getting out early, though meant we would catch our hotel's continental breakfast too.

Too bad I was still so full from the night before.  I still ate something, just to keep my energy up.  I got myself a slice of bread and peanut butter and jam.

Once we finished breakfast, my friends and I made our way to the Crown Plaza Hotel to catch the school buses that would take us to the start line.  Along the way to the Crown Plaza, I couldn't help but admire the beauty of the Fall leaves.  Quite breathtaking.

The early sun, catching on the tree leaves.

The sun peaking out just behind the Falls.

We didn't have to wait too long to get on a bus to the startline.  There we huddled together in a Warming tent until the race started.

The Race

The race itself was quite enjoyable -- though this is of course talking about it almost 6 months afterwards.  This is why recaps should be closer to the date it was done.  One thing I can say, though, is that the Niagara race is very scenic and is easily one of my favorites.  It is also a race that you don't really get hot in; I had to wear my jacket the whole time.  To be honest, I'd rather it be cool vs being hot.  

After the Race

Lots and lots of food hahaha.  We went to Shoeless Joes (I think) for lunch.  We again ate enough to feed 8-10 people. LOL.  But I'd say we kinda deserved it? ;)  

Post race shot of the runners and our support!

Our delicious post race meal:

After feasting, we decided to go Niagara on the Lake winery hopping :)  Bought a few ice wines and late harvest wines!

Overall, it was a good way to end the last race for the year.  Until next year!

Island Girl Relay Race 2015

After a week of rest since my last run, the island girl relay race had finally come up.  My friend Susan and I had signed up earlier in the year for this.  Like the previous year, the run would start with Susan running the first leg, and me running the second.

Unfortunately, as they say, the best laid plans, oft goes awry!

The night before the race, susan called and told me she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to do the race.  lol but she said I could totally do her leg too if I wanted to, and I completely balked at the idea.  The year before I had "winged" a full marathon, and it was one of the toughest things to go through.  lol I wasn't planning on just waking up and doing a half marathon.  

I told her to rest up, and that I too was considering of not going too.  Ironically about 5 minutes before she had called, I had just fallen while going up on an escalator.  The result was bruising on my shins, and some scraping of the skin too.  Eck.  Not a good way to prepare for a race the next day.

At any rate, I did still want to see if I could do it, since there was no pain (at least noticeable), when I put weight on my right leg.  I figured that if anything, I would just go to the island and if my leg did hurt, I would just walk around and skip the race.  

I set my alarm, one for 6am and one for 6:30am as backup.  If anything, one of them should wake me up since I had planned to catch either the 6:00am or the 7:30am ferry.  

Race Day

I missed my 6am alarm.  And my 6:30am alarm.  It was 6:50am when I got up, and so like a mad woman, I raced to put on my gear and thankfully the night before I had set that all up.  

Freshening up and all geared up (plus a jacket!), I was out the door and waiting for the street car by 7:05am.    This was really cutting things close.  The ferry would definitely leave promptly at 7:30am.. would I even make it?

I got to the ferry docks at 7:34am.  Lol totally missed the boat.

Fortunately, it seemed I wasn't the only there for the race.  There were in fact race crew people there, with their wagon of stuff as well.  There was an 8:00am ferry to Centre Island.  Phew.

While waiting, I laced up my timing chip and also discovered that there were no safety pins in my race kit envelop.  No worries, I knew that the baggage check-in area always had safety pins available.  

The ferry ride was quite uneventful, though I saw a super cut dog on it with his owner.   I so wanted to pet him (or her).

Arriving on the island I had about 20 minutes to spare since my race didn't start till 8:40am.  I checked in my baggage and got my safety pins to attach my bib to my running shirt.  Sadly this year, Island girl package didn't include a free tshirt, but instead sandals.  Liked the sandals, super cute, but the shirt would have been more of a practical use for me in the long run. 

Once I had checked in the bag I realized then that I hadn't eaten for the morning.  Sigh.  How could I have forgotten such an obvious thing?  Worse was also I had forgotten to bring my bottle of water! 

Great. 

lol.  I would just have to make do, I knew there were a few water stations along the way.  Just had to last until I got to them.  Hunger.. well, I would deal with that later.   It was too late to eat, the race was starting in a few minutes!

I took this time to speak with the race crew on what I should do since I was doing the relay solo.  I was told by them that I would just do the first leg and then just head to finish line afterwards.

That sounded just fine by me lol as long as there was no expectation of me running both legs haha.  Though honestly the chance of that happening was quite impossible.

Race Start

8:40am finally came and off I went.  I seemed to enjoy the morning run a bit more, something about the time of doing the runs make quite the difference.  The race route interestingly also went through the boardwalk section, just like the previous week, except I was going the opposite way.

As I was running along the route, I saw the km signs for the half marathoners and I couldn't help but think about what I was up for in October.  The 10.5 k was already quite a feat for me, lol I had dropped in cardio after not consistantly running.  

Once my allergies subsides more, I would start more outside training.  It would be good to get some fresh air as well.

I crossed the relay transfer point, did a virtual tag to my missing partner and then made my way to the finish line.

I left the island not too long after that, got a hair cut :P and then went boating - ironically, right back on the harbourfront again!

Island girl relay, until next year as well!

Longboat Run 2015

The Longboat Run was a race that I decidedly joined because there was a discount for it after doing a run earlier in August.  It was also probably not my wisest choice either, lol considering that I had a wedding to attend the night before - that lasted till 2am in the morning!  Thankfully the wedding took place at a boutique hotel and a room was booked for our stay.  I recall asking my friend susan if she wanted to do the run with me, and she had skyped me "LOL", and declined saying that we would be up too late into the night before.  

At any rate, she was right.

I didn't get to bed till 4:15am in the morning, and was up by 8:30am.  The race thankfully was later in the afternoon at 11am, so I had some time to relax when I got there.  

I was out the door of the hotel room by 9:15am and managed to grab some breakfast at... McDonalds. lol Oh the choices we make.  The night before I didn't have my pasta (delicious steak instead!), so I thought to substitute it with eating bread and .. potatoes. lol  At any rate, I thought eating hashbrowns would be helpful... I have to admit, it was a pretty bad idea. Although normally I love McDonald's hashbrowns, it felt more heavy and greasy then I expected.  No time to regret though, once I ate it, I just had to live with it lol - flash back to french fries eaten hours before a race a few years ago.

I got to the island with probably about 40 minutes to spare, so I put on my Bib and checked in my heavy luggage (overnight clothes and dresses for the reception).  In some ways, I had hoped to get there pretty much with less time to spare since it was so chilly.  

Race Start

The 5ks were the first to run at 11:00am sharp.  10 minute later, we finally started the run.  In one hand I held a bottled water and in the other I held on to my phone.  I know, really not the most stylish, I should get some sort of armband for the phone, but I hadn't had time to go shopping for one that would fit my new android phone.  I had one previously for my iPhone, though even for that one, I rarely used it.  I would just tuck into my running water belt since it was small enough to fit it.  I wouldn't dream of trying that my android phone lol, likely burst the seams of my water belt.  

The run started off well, I kept up with a good group of people, but I was really tired.  I guess sleeping for 4 hours doesn't really make good for race day.  The cool air, which I had complained much about earlier, though actually aided me.  It was really refreshing.  It reminded me of my training in the winter time (when I had a goofy race to do in January).  Although those training days made my face freeze up ("I can't feel my face when I'm with you"...), this was more of a consistent cool breeze.  

The course for the race was rather nice.  I didn't have a chance to look at it, so I didn't expect a section to be grassy nor a section where we would run on the boardwalk.  It was really pleasant.  Well, the grass part anyway.  The boardwalk was not quite as fun as I imagined it since it had rained the day before, making the wood a little slippery.  There were two runners in front of me, one had slipped twice.  Ouch.  I felt very bad for her, but good on her she kept on going.  

Near the end of the boardwalk, there were a few walkers, including myself, since it was pretty slippery.  I had nearly slipped, and started walk-jog, slowing down the pace.

It was kind of funny; near the end of the boardwalk path, there was an Asian volunteer standing who saw us, and he started to mock run to encourage us. LMAO.  Sort of a "You can do it!! Your almost there!" with no words required.  It was quite funny actually, totally put a smile on my face.  

I jogged just a little faster, and then once I hit the drier pavement, I kicked it up a notch.  And then I got distracted by a cat.  I think I got a strange look from one or two volunteers. lol. Oh well.  It was a really cute cat.  Worth the stop.

Back to running, I kept my pace on and off for the duration to the finish line.  I had a twinge of regret that I should have done more training (like any at all), but my allergies had been bothering me so much lately, I felt completely drained by the end of the day at work.  

Finally, the finish line came to view and with a final sprint, I crossed it.  Yay, another race completed.  lol  Until the next one... next weekend.  

The best part to the Longboat run, was that there was food involved at the end of the race.  lol  There was a BBQ involved, and you had a choice of hamburger or hotdog, with also a small bag of chips and a drink (apple juice or peach). 

I will be back again, longboat run, next year :D

Run for Women: Unionville 10k

This weekend past, I did a 10k run for the "Run for Women:  Unionville" with my friend Susan.  The charity that the race was supporting was the Women’s Mental Health programs.  With the small band of runners, they raised approximately $30,000.  Considering that they have this race in multiple cities, the accumulation of the funds would make for a good fundraising grand total.

7:00PM Night before the Race

After work, I headed to my friend's house to do some wedding favour assembly line work :D While we were doing that, two of my other friends made spaghetti - it was time to carb up! All the while, we snacked on some samosas that Cecilia brought over.

I had two huge plates of spaghetti - and normally I eat only one big plate of it before a marathon!  So we definitely overate :D  Oh well, haha, it tasted good never the less.

6:30AM Morning of Race

The morning of the race, I had intended to just layer my t-shirt with another long sleeved one and a raincoat just to keep myself warm.  At least that was what I thought I would only need.  It turned out it was -3 degrees!  So, I ended up having to borrow my friend's U of T sweatshirt.  And still even with it on, with my two layers AND a raincoat, it was still cold.  Yikes.  I checked my iphone and it said by the time we started the race it should be around -1 degrees (around 9am).  Yes.  2 degrees warmer, yet still in the negatives! haha.

We freshened up, ate breakfast (her parents were awesome to make bacon and eggs for us!), and got there by 7:30am.  Parking took a bit of time since the public parking that was right by the race was full, but looked like the lot could handle one more car (namely ours!), but wasn't meant to be and we had to find parking elsewhere.

Once we parked, we walked to the where the race startline was; Unionville Curling Club, it was right by a museum!  Too bad it wasn't open, I would have loved to just wander in there instead of outside in the cold.

We looked around to get some freebies - and we did!  shopper's drug mart 20x points option as well as some travel sized Listerine.

We wandered around and then wanted to head back to the car so that we could put away our goodies bag.  We returned again and walked around... we had a lot of time to kill.

Susan in the meantime debated maybe 4 to 5 times whether she wanted to lose the vest she was wearing on top of the three layers she was already wearing;  however upon walking towards the car, it became cold and then warm, then cold again.  In the ended, the vest stayed on haha, we had about a week before our trip, so it was better to be too hot while running than too cold.

Race Time!

The first runners that started were actually the little kids; they ran with their parents for 1km; it was very cute.

Following them, were the rest of us, 5ks and 10ks mixed together.

The route that we ran along was nice, not many uphills, some nice scenery and well marked path along with helpful officers diverting traffic and cheering volunteers.

You really couldn't ask for more from a race :)

Since I was running based off a 1k, I broke it down in my head that it was really just 10 1ks, perfectly doable.  With new running tunes on my iphone, I picked some really nice upbeat ones to keep my running at a rhythm.  I was really worried in the back of my mind that my left thigh would "spaz" out as it did during my niagara marathon.  It had hurt a lot, so I took it very slow and steady on my first 1k.  Not that I could really run that fast since my muscles felt so cold that it needed time to warm up.

When I reached the 5k mark, as I usually do, I felt a twinge of regret:  "I should have signed up for the 5km!", haha.  But I moved on, since I felt alright after 5k, the last 5k shouldn't be so bad.

It wasn't until I nearly reached my 9th kilometer that disaster struck - my earphones went partially out of commission.  It wasn't entirely unusable, but it wasn't working a 100% either; more like 50% since only the left earphone worked...

I decided to go the last km without music, and also decided that the raincoat at this point needed to come off.  The weather had improved dramatically in the course of the hour... either that or I was warmed up by the race - likely both.

Finally I reached the finish line, the timing just right as I had also just finished the last drop of my water.

As I crossed the finish line I was very pleased to have been given another water and also a surprise bracelet for running the race.

The best and biggest surprise was how good the post-race food was. lol.  Usually the food isn't too much to talk about; plain bagels, muffins and banana, etc.

But at this race, I was impressed to get fancy bagels!  There were onion, cheese, sesame, even a cinnamon crunch like bagel.  Butter and plastic knives were also available along with protein shakes and other granola bars.  One could get used to this type of post-race food!

Yummy.  Suffice to say, we enjoyed our food there.  And we also decided we would definitely comeback to this race next year!

We left the curling club and headed back to my friend's house where we freshened up and then met up with another one of friends for dim sum.  Like all our post race routines, we pigged out there :P  You would have thought we had run a marathon or something, but we told ourselves still, regardless, we deserved it :D