Where's Franktown?

I finally decided to run a local race, the Where's Franktown? 5K. To be honest, it was nice not to have to fly or drive for hours to get to a race!

My running buddy, Frogger, is heavily involved with organizing this event and the race doubles as a fundraiser for a local school (Calvary Christian Academy). Admittedly, it was more the handmade medals than anything else that convinced me to sign up. 

The whole Where's Franktown? event is awesome. There are four races (1K, 5K, 10K, and 15K), so anyone can find a distance that fits their skill level. The race kit pick up on the morning of the race was very well organized - in and out in less than 5 minutes! And, since the event takes place at a school in a rural community, parking was a breeze - and free!

After a short walk to the start line, I watched the 10K runners line up and head out. I was aiming for a quick time, so I lined up towards the front. Stupid move. Five hundred yards into the race I realized I was still recovering from the Orange County Half from 6 days ago.

I'll skip over my ghastly performance, filled with walk breaks, cursing and praying I'd make it to the finish line alive, and just get right to all of the great aspects of the day:

1. Free parking
2. Washroom facilities (that weren't port-a-potties)
3. Easy race kit pick up
4. A well-marked, flat course
5. Watching tons of children getting active and having fun with their friends
6. Multiple water stations!!! (seeing as how it was 24 degrees when we set off, this was a godsend)
7. A huge handmade start/finish banner hanging across the roadway (I love small towns!)
8. Handmade finishers' medals made by the children of Calvary Christian Academy in Franktown for all participants. 
9. A massive BBQ complete with home-made baked goodies for dessert (too bad I didn't get to stay!)
10. The fantastic volunteers who made this event a great success.
11. Being part of an awesome community event, raising money for a local school.

How awesome are these?! The amount of work that went into making each one is amazing.

Despite my shitty finish time and the reappearance of old injuries, I had an awesome time. The crowd support at the finish line was much appreciated. Kudos to all the many volunteers who made today's event great!

One more super-special medal to add to the race shrine!

My 1st age group award!

After a horrible week at work that seemed to go on forever, I got home to find a package in my mailbox. I find getting mail exciting! Hell, I don't even care if it's a bill, I just like the fact that there is something/anything in my mailbox. Imagine my extreme happiness when I reached into the box and pulled out a package! (Getting a package instead of a letter is like a double bonus!)

The return label read The Chocolate Race so I knew it was probably my award for taking 2nd place in my age group in Port Dalhousie two weeks ago. To help the anticipation build, I set the unopened package on my desk and forced myself to do 15 minutes of clean-up and tidying.

Boy, was the build up worth it! I ripped into that package like a kid on Christmas and pulled out the most awesome piece of hardware!

This is definitely incentive to train hard, run fast and kick some ass! Now I just have to build and install a shelf beside the race shrine to display this beauty!

I love my first age group award!

Orange you glad you ran Orange County?

Another great race went into the Tee-Dubs' history books. The course was absolutely amazing! It had the right mix of hills, twists and turns, beautiful coastline and stunning residential sections. It never got boring and there were people sitting out in lawnchairs almost the whole way.

Our shuttle left the hotel at 5:05am and drove us 6 miles away to the start line. We spent most of the pre-race time chatting with a Calgarian who had relocated to Orange County. Leave it to a bunch of Canadians to find each other in a sea of 10,000 people! We made our way to B-Corral around 6am and lined up with the other runners hoping to finish in 2:00-2:20. We decided to run 6 min/km with hopes of finishing under 2:10.

Tee-dubs getting ready to whoop some ass!

There's something really powerful about standing shoulder to shoulder with 10,000 other runners while listening to someone sing the Star Spangled Banner. The cheering that followed was inspiring and motivating. We started to shuffle towards the start line, and with a blast of the horn, we were off.

Corral B as it approaches the start line. Loved the arch of ballons!

The first few kilometers were fairly crowded and slow. There were lots of first-timers who had directionality issues and were weaving all over the place. A litte frustrating when you're in a crowd that big.  We hit the first downhill portion and headed towards the coastline. There were thousands of spectators cheering us on as we made our way along the Pacific Coast Highway. I remember being utterly amazed by the massive caterpillar of runners spread out ahead of us on course.

We turned onto a residential street that took us down towards the waterfront. The houses were spectacular and the landscaping was amazing. Definitely lots to look at and keep us preoccupied! We hit the coast to find people on their decks, porches and balconies dressed in their PJs and holding cups of coffee while offering cheers, applause and words of encouragement. Many runners shouted their appreciation and gave a wave. The coastal section took us along the beach and past marinas with some pretty awesome yachts. Honestly, the views and the roadways made this course immensly enjoyable!

We crossed a bridge and began the first of two large hills. We slowed our pace to 6.5min/km and powered up an almost mile-long hill. We were greeted by an entire football team (the Lancers) cheering us on and handing out water. It was really nice to see some high school kids taking pride in their volunteer work and making a difference. And, they had the best hand-offs out of any of the water stations, too!

At the top of the hill, we rounded a bend and found ourselves running along the bluffs. The view was spectacular! We passed a flag pole with a huge American flag flying proudly over a monument to American soldiers. That was probably my favourite part of the race.

Both Kim and I felt strong, despite some nagging injuries and my shin splint had stopped hurting altogether by the 10K mark. I somehow managed to run 16K before I needed my first walk break, a new high for me! After a short minute, we were right back to pounding the pavement and even took a small detour to run across someone's lawn and through their sprinklers!

Then we hit the next big hill and rocked it. Someone had a sign that read "Make this mile your bitch!" and another that said "The surgeon general didn't warn about smoking the competition!". It's signs like these that get you through the pain and hurt!

With 12 miles down and 1 more to go, we realized we may actually be on pace to run sub 2:10. And had it not been for the fact that the course was actually 21.35km (instead of 21.1) we would have done it. Some poor bloke hit the wall about 50 yards from the finish line and fell flat on his face. He was being tended to as we crossed the line...in 2:11.25. A wee bit shy of the goal, but another personal best for me!

Finishing the Orange County Half Marathon brought us one race away from completing our Beach Cities Challenge! But for now, another awesome medal gets added to my wall and tons more memories of running with my sister.

TW2 and TW1 after completing the Orange County Half Marathon.

Happy trails, fellow runners!

Orange County, how I've missed you!

I am strongly considering relocating to California, given the fact that I'm on my third trip here in as many months. The races are abundant, courses are fantastic and every race seems to have a kick-ass medal! I'm currently waiting at the OC aeroport for my sister, Kim, to arrive from Vancouver. My flight was 45 minutes early, so the 2 hour wait grew to almost 3! What airline boasts this impressive feat? United! And their in-flight snack selection was amazing too! With this kind of time on my hands, I've been reading, stretching and researching. We may have to rent a car after all. The Toronto Blue Jays are in town playing the Angels! Too bad I left all my Jays gear at home. It may not be the best idea considering our race starts at 6am tomorrow and our shuttle leaves before 5am :( But who can say no to a night at the ballpark?! Two nights at the Hilton Orange County - Costa Mesa, two days in another great coastal town and the second race in a three-race series to complete the Beach Cities Challenge. By this time tomorrow, the Tee-Dubs will be one race away from our biggest, most fantastic medal yet! (Just so everyone is following along, Tee-Dubs is how Kim and I refer to ourselves as a package. The name comes from nicknames we got in high school, TW-1 and TW-2 - twin 1 and twin 2) One more hour to go before we're on our way to the Hilton to spend the afternoon lounging by the pool!

I run for chocolate!

The race slogan says it all: Because life is short, running is hard and chocolate tastes good! You don't have to twist my arm to convince me to run a 10K for chocolate!

Lining up to start the Chocolate Race 10K

After last weekend's personal best at the Toronto Yonge Street 10K, I felt like I could push a bit harder and beat that time. Even though the course at Port Dalhousie was more difficult, I had a new-found confidence to push even harder.

Somehow, I ended up in the first row of the race. I really didn't want to be there, but they kept getting us to move up closer to the start line. I usually force myself to start farther back so I don't go out too fast. When the gun went off, I found myself holding tight in good position. I ran the first 2K in 9 minutes, which was 2 minutes faster than I was aiming for. Ooops.

Busting out a solid 4 1/2 minute kilometer somewhere along Lake Ontario

I had to remind myself to slow down and settle in to my 5 1/2 minute pace. I decided to skip the chocolate station at the 2.5K mark. Last year, I made the mistake of grabbing a shish-kabob and nearly choked on the chocolate-covered marshmallow. Who knew chocolate could be such a hazard?!

The race cruises through some residential streets of Port Dalhousie and merges onto the waterfront trail that follows the shoreline of Lake Ontario. It is quite beautiful, and because it's an out-and-back, you can get pumped up by the faster runners passing you on their way back.

It was somewhere around the 4.5K mark when I realized there were only about 15 runners ahead of me. I felt pretty good hitting the turnaround, but I made a deal with myself to kill the hill right before the water station at the 5.5K mark and take a 30 second walk break to down a cup of gatorade.

I kept reminding myself that I had already run further than what was left in the race and it would all be over soon enough. I got myself into a good rhythm and really linked in to my music. And then disaster struck...

With just over 2K left to go, some twit clipped me from behind and sent me flying. It is pertinent to point out that this race isn't very big and that particular section of the course had plenty of room for passing. By the time I realized I was falling, I had to expend a huge amount of energy to prevent myself from face-planting on the blacktop. All this idiot could offer was a "Sorry!" as she kept bombing along. I must have yelled an expletive (who me?!) because she turned around again to yell sorry. I was pissed and devastated. I was on track for a sub-53 minute race!!! I tried to get myself focused again and took some deep breaths to reset my breathing pattern, but everything had been thrown off. I had to take a short walk to get my legs to loosen up and get my breathing back.

Getting back in the zone was a lot tougher than I thought. Seeing the sign for 1K to go was a good kick in the ass. I knew my Mum would be waiting for me somewhere near the finish, so I reminded myself that I had less than 5 minutes to go and I turned up the tempo.

Screw the clumsy twit who tripped me and the chocolate-covered pretzels I passed up along the course, I was gunning to beat my Yonge Street time!

As I entered the final stretch I started picking off people to chase down, and then I envisioned Reid Coolsaet finishing strong at the 2012 Yonge Street 10K and told myself there was only a minute of pain left to go! And then I channeled an old 100m track buddy of mine and took off. Was I moving particularly fast? Probably not. But did I chase down a whole bunch of runners? Hell yeah!!

The official chip time said 54:46, which is unfortunately 4 seconds slower than the downhill Yonge Street course. My Garmin told me it was closer to 54:40.

When I got the race results, I was stunned. I got my first top ten finish!!! 23rd overall, 10th woman to cross the tape and 2nd in my age group. It was definitely an awesome race. And to think I don't really see myself as a "runner". I'm starting to see the light...

Not too shabby and a good confidence booster for next weekend's Orange County Half Marathon.

And most importantly, one more medal to add to the wall!

With my medal and Kim's (I wore both bibs because she decided not run)