Sporting Life Downhill 10K
Sunday, May 1, 2005
Rose at the finish of the Sporting Life 10KRace report from Rose...
Date: Sun May 1, 2005
Subject: Sporting Life 10K
Evening, What a neat Sunday! Weather reports said rain in the afternoon, but at 9am, the sun was out and 6300+ runners lined up on Yonge Street.
Anne and I lined up near the front, and then we were off. I lost Anne about 100 meters in, so it was just me for 9900 meters. 5k in, I had hit my goal time for the half-way mark and I was pretty sure I would surpass my goal of beating 50 minutes. Running south on Yonge is always cool, but Adelaide was pretty rough, with streetcar tracks and potholes.
A thank you to Maureen and her hubby Rob for giving me, my hubby Matthew, and Marcella a ride to the race. I saw Anne, Eric, Andre and his spouse after the race. It was my first time doing this race and the first time I've met up with people I know.
I'm honestly not sure what I enjoyed more - fulfilling my goal, or hanging out with other Penguins! My chiptime was 49:08.
My hubby Matthew was there with his camera, here's a link to his website and some pictures from the race: http://robertsonphoto.blogspot.com/2005/05/downhill-sl10k.html
Next up for me is the Becel Ride for Heart. I think I have my eye on doing my 2nd half-marathon at the end of the season, Scotia Bank Waterfront, or Toronto Marathon.
Rose
Race report from Sanjay...
Date: Sun May 1, 2005
Subject: Sporting Life 10k reportHey
I wasn't looking forward to this race. I haven't exactly been putting a good effort as of late in my training. I didn't have any doubt that I would finish it but I wasn't looking for a great time. I figure I would have gotten something over 53 minutes. I haven't ran faster than 53 minutes this year.
Got up this morning and went out to my balcony. It felt very cold although it was sunny. I am thinking great I may need gloves. :-P Got there by 8:10 am. It was a bit of a trek from Lawrence to Sporting Life. From there it was hectic. I didn't even look for anyone cuz I had to pick up my race pack, check in my bag, walk to the start line and stretch too. I wasn't happy that I got a non guranteed T-shirt. Meaning that u got whatever size was available. That wasn't the case last year. I did manage to get a large but I usally get x-large. Well my sister might use it. Also the lineup for the bag check was long. Took me about 15 min before I was able to check in my bag. I was doing stretches while standing in line. But I still had 5 min to spare after all was said and done. Thank God.
The race itself was cool. 5800 runners pounding down Yonge St! Gotta like it. Plus u had different bands playing along Yonge. Took me about 3 minutes from the gun going off to reaching the start line. I didn't/couldn't see all the markers for each km. So I wasn't sure what pace I was going. I only manged to see the 3k, 7k, 8k, and 9k markers. They changed the course a bit. At a certain point we went off Yonge before heading to the Lakshore. However, that was good cuz you didn't have the hill near the end of the race. The destination was still the CN tower. The main clock read 54 something. According to my stop watch I ran 51 min and 9 seconds. I was floored!! I never thought I would do that well. I was 30 sec slower than last year but I was expecting a lot worse than that!
After the race we got medals!! That was sweet. Made up for the non guranteed t-shirt. Met a few people I knew including Penguins. I'll let them make their presence felt. :-P Got a few freebies then took off. The weather was quite nice.
Finally, I also met a celeberity on the subway back. One of our mutlple gold medal Olympic Champions, Marnie McBean. I chatted with her a couple of minutes on the subway back.
That's pretty much it. Waiting to hear the reports from the other Penguins that were there. :-P
Sanj
Race report from Julie...
Date: Sun May 1, 2005
Subject: Sporting Life 10k reportHi Sanj,
Great Race Report!!! I'm sorry I missed you and the other penguins. I did see Marcella, she actually walked with our friend Marianne and I saw Myra briefly at the finish line which was nice:)
Here's my account.
It was a great race:)
We got to start line around 8:30am. We chatted with those around us, snapped photos and Geoff warmed up. He was hoping to break 50 mins. I'm proud to say he did. He finished at 49:12. (I think I was at the 5km point at that time;))
Around 8:50 we started walking to the back of the pack. I lost a few of our group as they wanted to start closer to the front. Given the race is chipped I wanted to start near the back. I felt it was only fair to the runners and I did not want to repeat what happened at the Toronto half. We started too close to the front and my shins were killing me by the first km.
It was incredible back there seeing all the particpants:) I always feel so inspired at a race.
Whether it's your first or your 100th race there is this energy that's just incredible.We crossed the mat around 5 mins. maybe more after the first person. Around 1 km in I realized we were at the back of the pack. Where had all the the other walkers gone, either they started up front ot started to run. When I caught up to another walker she said don't worry around 7km you'll start passing runners. I knew that would happen as it always happens during races. I wasn't worried, I was using this race as a slow training walk and I like to start at a slow pace and gradually speed up.
It was fun walking the route we have trained on for so many months. The weather was perfect and the crowd support just enough. We met another walker named Kathryn and she asked to walk with us. I agree it's more fun to have company, she commented on my energy. It was fun to watch the volunteers, police officers and spectators faces as I cheerfuly said hello, Good Morning & Thank You. Kathyrn commented that she guessed they were expecting me to be tired given how far back we were;) Not the case, I'm a penguin and we are friendly:) Around 6km we started passing runners. I felt bad for some of them, they were really tired and breathing hard. We asked if they were OK and they said yes so on we went.
All in all I had a blast! I took a ton of photos and throughly enjoyed the race. Take a look:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=v2k3377.858ao3ff&x=0&y=-g6bdvkAll of us finished with impressive times. Geoff came in first at 49:12 followed by Glenn 1:06, then Virginia 1:08 followed by Marcella and Marianne (I'll leave the time out for Marcella's report) then myself and Annette (1:31) who finished her first race upright and smiling, actually skipping:) A few minutes later Kathleen, Katrina and Anita finished. They are all proud to say they didn't finish last LOL.
The medals are nice and so were the shirts. I gave both of mine to my husband (it's the least I could do, given all the stuff he's picked up so that I can train)
We then walked over to Milestones for a much deserved brunch and drinks. Annette, Glenn and I celebrated with Mimosa's. I've since decided I want to have Champagne when I finish the Marathon in 2 weeks!!!
flipper hugs,
Julie
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