Plain Can Be Lovely

Since I don’t have too many updates while training for my next half marathon (and no travel plans until June), I thought I’d go back to trying to recap my older races.

A week after running the Disneyland Half, Dan and I ran the Yorkville 5k in Toronto. We both raised money for a local women’s shelter, so it was for a good cause. The Yorkville 5k has lots of nice swag. For registering we got a gym bag, water bottle, t-shirt and a finisher’s medal. There was also really good food at the end of the run. The course is fast and flat and seemed like a good way to get back into running after the half.

Me after the race with my medal and t-shirt.

I noticed that I recovered much faster from my second half than from my first. For my first half I was really sore and stiff and we went for RMT massages the very next day. For my second half only my feet hurt and I was fine a day later. With that said, it still didn’t make it easy to race in a 5k a week later.

We drove over to Yorkville and parked in the underground parking lot. They said that there was parking validation for the race, but we ended up getting it from the supermarket inside. The race was very loud and I couldn’t hear any of the speeches at the beginning. I’m sure they were good though.

My goal for the race was to finish 5k in under 30 minutes. I hadn’t been able to do that yet, though I had come close once finishing in 30 minutes and 6 seconds. When the horn went we took off. I felt good for the first half but slowed down in the second half. We skipped all of the water stations and my body felt exhausted. There were lots of families who ran the race too and it never fails to astound me how fast kids can run.

I love this kid who was running with us. She was fast and full of joy.

As we approached the finish line I could see the clock and knew we were close to 30 minutes. I started to sprint. Dan mistook my sprinting and thought that I was trying to beat him to the finish. “Oh no you don’t!” he screamed and ran off. I can never catch up to him so I was mad that we didn’t finish together.

Dan sprinting ahead. See the look of determination on his face to beat his wife to the finish.

I like this picture because it actually looks like I’m running.

Me finishing the race.

In the end we finished in 29 minutes. It was my new PR and it would stand until I ran the Peel 5k in 2013. After the race we ate a bunch of food and then I went to try on shoes (they had a good sale). While I was trying on shoes a yellow jacket landed on my knee and stung me. Dan immediately hit the yellow jacket and killed it. My knee started to swell so we forgot about the shoes and went to the drug store to get benadryl before heading home. It was strange that I would get stung after the race because the week before Dan got stung by a bee after the Disneyland half. We felt like they were out to get us.

Overall it was a fun, flat race for a good cause. If not for the Yellow Jacket we would have stayed longer.

The medal. Isn’t it pretty?

Dan and I with our medals after the race.