Fin

We’re done! Shif and I did 12 Stupid Things (plus 5 or 6 more “bonus stupid things”) over the course of 2009 and we had a great time doing it. We ran 51 km in races, orienteered on snowshoes, climbed the CN Tower, canoed 6 km, did a duathlon, dragon boated, and biked 250 km!

Thanks to everyone who joined us or followed our fun. The first thing that we found out was that people hate saying the word “stupid”. People would ask about our “silly things”, “exciting things”, “crazy things”, or just our “things”, but would refuse to say “stupid”. We must have extremely polite friends.

Speaking of friends, we want to thank all of you who joined us at various events over the year – Missy, David and Paul, Nancy and Clare, Melinda and Diane, Lucy and John, Steve, Lesley and Maureen, Fahreen, Maria, Lisa, Dave, and Madeleine, all the Flaming Dragons, Nicki, Adrianne, my mom Nancy, brother Doug, and sister Lorna. Missy was there at the beginning and the end, the Resolution Run and the Santa Jingle, and two other events in between. David, Paul, Nancy, and Clare were in for three events each. And my sister, Lorna, did the Turkey Trot and what was probably our stupidest unofficial Stupid Thing (which Ashifa was supposed to blog about!), a 220-km (135-mi) bike ride from Boston to Provincetown in September.

The whole project was great for us. We not only got to do a lot of fun things together and with wonderful people, but it was tremendous motivation for us to get in shape and especially to become better runners. (Although oddly, despite all this healthiness, I was actually sick for three of the events – flu, vertigo, and gall bladder attack!)

Lots of people have asked if we’re going to do the 12 things again next year. We definitely won’t be so formal about it, but we plan to do lots of events. We’ll probably repeat some of our favourite events from this year, like the Snowshoe Raid, Pride Run, and Santa Jingle. We'd love to have you join us! Our biggest adventure will be the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a 200-km, 2-day bike ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls in June. We’ll be trying to raise $2500 each for cancer research (I'm sure you’ll be hearing more from us about this!).

Inspired by this year, we’ll also be upping the ante a bit next year. We’re both toying with the idea of training for a half-marathon. I’d also like to try a few new things, like a trail running race. And I’m looking for a partner to do the Muddy Buddy! Any takers? Ashifa will be starting the year off with the Toronto Polar Bear Dip, along with some friends. She's trying to convince as many people as she can to join her (maybe so she doesn't back out).

Thanks for following us this year!

Stupid Thing #12 - Santa Jingle 5K

We saved the best for last.... I think the Santa Jingle 5K was our favourite event of the year! Shif and I and our friends Missy and Adrianne were among 2,400 Santas running a 5K through the chilly streets of Burlington, Ontario, last Saturday.

Santa Shif

Santa Missy gets a calf stretch

Just a few of the Santas at the start

Adrianne displays her new facial hair. The beards made
nice neck warmers, which was good considering it was -7°C
at the start.

The Santa suits were part of the race kit and you had to wear the suit to run. It was really fun to part of a herd of Santas. There were a few people out cheering us on (and probably a few very confused children). You heard lots of jokes like "catch that guy in front of you - the one in red".

Santas rolling up Maple Avenue

I decided toward the beginning that this was not going to be a terribly serious race for me (the fact that I had hardly run since the Turkey Trot may have had something to do with it). And the pictures taken in the middle of the race are evidence that I wasn't trying too hard. I did kick it in a bit over the last two kilometers. I still had a decent time, but this was the first 5K of the year where I didn't set a personal best. Shif was still in pursuit of her 30-minute race, but figured the cold and the Santa suit would probably keep from getting there. She managed to get pretty close, though - still under 31 minutes.


This was definitely one of the funnest events we did all year. The fact that we got a nice hot breakfast afterward helped! I think we'll definitely try to do this race again next year. We already have the suits, after all! We've also decided they'll be useful for future Halloweens if we want to go as a gang of Santas.

So, we're done! 12 stupid things are done (plus a few extras). I'll be back with a little wrap-up in a day or two.