Pride and Remembrance Run

Finishing up our June festival of 5ks was the Pride Run, which is becoming an annual event for us. We first ran it in 2006, when we were so slow we came in right before the band that was bringing up the rear. Last year, we wimped out and walked the 3k instead of running the 5k as planned. This year, we're happy to report we were even fast enough that the police still had traffic waiting at the cross streets when we passed!

The Pride Run is always a very fun event. There are always people in costume. There have been groups of (male) brides, (male) Dorothys, and cowboys in the past. Several of our friends did the race with us. Missy went as Wonder Woman. Our dragon boat teammates including Ashifa wore rainbow grass skirts. Sadly(?), I got there too late to grab a skirt. We decided to ride our bikes to the run and Missy's bike had a pedal malfunction and I ended up having to wait for the bus with the bike and got to the race just in time (to avoid the skirt).

Ashifa points out our bib numbers and wonders who

the keener was that signed us up so early. I don't know.

David and Paul also did not partake in the grass skirts,

but got into the theme with their Hawaiian shorts. They were

walking, so they offered to be our sherpas and carry

our backpacks so we could avoid the gear check line.

It was a hot day. Unlike most 5ks, the Pride Run starts at the civilized hour of 10 a.m. However, in late June, that usually means it's a little warm. But we managed to do quite well in the race. Shif came in at 32:22, which was exactly one minute faster than her time at the Runway Run two weeks ago! I arrived in 36:05. My goal had been 37 minutes, after my 37:49 finish at the Runway Run, so I was very happy. It was a great way to kick off Pride weekend. We celebrated with the crew at a patio with a pitcher of sangria and breakfast!

Toronto Pearson Runway Run

There were just too many cool events in June, we couldn't pick just one. So in addition to the Mud Run, last weekend we did the Toronto Pearson Runway Run. They actually close a normally active runway. Runway 06R-24L to be precise. If you're familiar with Toronto, it's the one closest to the 401. Click here for an overhead view.

They had the runners and walkers gather before the race at one of the garages where they house the airport maintenance equipment, so we got to see some of the giant snowplows and other large objects. And lots of orange cones.

Step away from the snowplow!

Security was actually surprisingly low, considering we were about to walk out into an airport. There were police and security scattered around outside. But there was no x-raying or frisking or checking of strollers and water bottles. There was a security pup, but he didn't seem to be taking his job too seriously.

After an "opening ceremony", all of us (1200 runners and 800 walkers) were led out in a group to the runway.

Walking out to the runway. Plane is not moving. :-)

At the starting line.

Probably the world's flattest 5k course.

The race involved... running in straight lines. Run down to the FedEx plane and turn, run past the Air Canada plane and keep going to the end of runway and turn, and come back to the Air Canada plane! Shif had an awesome race and obliterated her previous best 5k time by several minutes. I did pretty well too, 20 seconds faster than my time for the Achilles 5k in March. We're happy to not be at the very back of the pack anymore!

After the race, everyone wanted to pose by the plane and on the runway. It had to be done....

The run was really fun. It was definitely a cool family event, too - there were lots of families with kids doing the 2k walk. Highly recommended to everyone for next year!

A few more pics here.

Stupid Thing #6 – Mud Run

A series of “stupid things” can’t be complete without spending a Sunday morning rolling around in the mud! And so, we hauled our butts out of bed this past Sunday, and headed out to the Claireville Conservation Area to run in the 5th annual Toronto Mud Run.

The run was a 5k trail run through some swampy trails, across some knee-deep rivers, up some steep muddy hills, and through some obstacles, and it ended with a graceful leap into a giant sopping-wet mud pit! The trail was well-primed, as it had rained quite heavily the night before, making the already-muddy route even slicker…which of course made the whole experience all the more worth it!

The route began with a bit of a gravel-road run before heading onto the singletrack wooded trails. The idea (I think) was to get people running a bit so we’d be in order of speed and a bit spread out, thus avoiding a bottleneck situation on the trails and at the obstacles.

Unfortunately, these efforts didn’t pan out so well – as some of the runners (the ones doing the 10k run) took a wrong turn, and ended up getting to the obstacles at the same time as us 5k-ers, which resulted in everyone arriving at the obstacles at the same time. As you can see in the photo below, we had some long waits in the middle of the run as a result. After we waited a few minutes to cross this creek, everyone was struggling to get up a very slippery hill. You can see people already lining up. That wait was almost 10 minutes long!!





The highlight of the route came at the end as we entered the giant mud pit. Prizes were to be awarded for the most creative entrance into the mud pit. We opted for the more traditional option of stepping gingerly into the pit until we gracefully sunk knee-deep in mud, and then did the classic duck waddle trying to get our legs out without losing our shoes.


The run was definitely fun, but nothing to be taken too seriously. We got a good run in for the first half, but the delays the rest of the way meant it was more of a social outing. :-) To give you an idea, our usual pace these days for a kilometer ranges from 7:00 to 7:30, but here are our split times for this "run":

1st km - 8:13

2nd km - 8:04

3rd km - 7:48

4th km - 23:31!!!!

5th km - 10:10

After we had our fill of dirt and mud, we made our way to the outdoor communal showers that were set-up. We washed off some of the mud we were covered in, and opted to change into some fresh clean clothes before getting back into our AutoShare car. I’m guessing that car seats caked in mud would have been grounds for being kicked out of AutoShare!

You can see some more pics here.

Mud Run - it's not too late!

The Mud Run is Sunday! We are mostly looking forward to it. It's not too late to join us. Registration is still open and you can register at the race.

There's a chance of rain, but it'll be warm rain - perfect for running in the mud. Our primary goals for the race are to have fun and to not get hurt!

Stupid Thing #5 - Canoe the Credit

This morning we did one of our more low-key stupid things, the Canoe the Credit charity paddling event in Mississauga. The event was designed to raise money for conservation of the Credit River. Brightish and early, we met our friend Steve at Harbourfront, where we picked up Steve's canoe and Ashifa's kayak.

A good use of an AutoShare car

Getting ready at the start, along with 180 or so other paddlers

We chose to do a leisurely 6 km flatwater route. Reading about the event online yesterday, we discovered we'd be doing two laps on a little course between the QEW and Lake Shore Blvd, two of Ontario's busiest roads. This didn't exactly sound like a getaway in nature, but we're always surprised how you can find these little natural spaces even in the middle of hyperurbanity and multi-million dollar mansions. Once we got going, we sailed along reedy marshes, Ashifa spotted a deer, and Steve and I paddled right by some nesting swans. I'm sure the water was disgustingly polluted, but the wildlife was lovely! All the more reason to support conservation efforts!

Getting ready for the start

Queen Victoria blew the starting horn. Later, they had cake for her birthday.

Kayakers on the water

One of the goals of the day, besides the relaxing float along the river, was to do a little cleaning up. Each boat was given a trash bag and we got a raffle entry for each bag full of river crap that we brought back. Most people took a serious paddling lap and then spent the second lap collecting floating garbage.

Steve displaying our collection

As you might be able to guess, the two primary things that filled up our garbage bags were plastic bottles and styrofoam. But we also found a few interesting things - a shoe, two cans of spray paint, a football, three tennis balls, several wine corks, and.... two coconuts:


The event raised over $25,000 for the Conservation Youth Corps program! We had a lot of fun poking around this not-so-urban river and helping to do a little tidying up.

Airport Run - Shif's In!

I'm excited to report that Ashifa has juggled her work schedule and she's now free to protect me from loose airplanes at the Pearson Runway Run!

Registration for the run closes on June 1, so sign up soon if you want to join us! I'm guessing you won't find a flatter 5k route, so no pesky hills to worry about. And don't forget, there's a 2k walk option.

Ready to be muddy!

We still have the May stupid thing - Canoe the Credit - ahead of us. That'll be fun. But what we're really looking forward to is the Mud Run June 7! The website for the Mud Run has always been blocked at work for me (Jen), but for some reason is not anymore. So I've just spent a few minutes (yes, on the taxpayers' dime) looking at pictures from the last couple years and it looks so fun! Looks like there are lots of things to climb over, tires to run through, creeks to wade. And, of course, mud to slide through. We have at least one friend joining us and we're currently trying to convince his partner that this will be a worthwhile venture.

Take a look at the pictures.... seriously, how could you not want to do this?? Come with us!