Description of Race: 8km Run
Race Date: Sunday April 7th 2007
Race Location: High Park, Toronto On
Race Name: Harry’s Spring Run-Off
Race Website: http://www.canadarunningseries.com/
Sport: Running
I don’t know why I run!! Everytime I enter an Adventure Race, the weather is perfect: Sunny, warm, light breeze, dry e.t.c. and every time I sign up for a run the weather is terrible……cold, wet, miserable, snowy/rainy e.t.c. I’m cursed!!
Ok, you don’t want to hear me whine….you want to know about the race.
This is the second offical run my wife Meagan and I have entered. Last fall’s Zoo Run was our first and we decided to start off 2007 with the Harry’s Spring Run-Off through the awesome High Park. The race started at 10:00am and after a bit of a run-around (pardon the pun) by the organizers at the sign-in desk, we were off. If you have not taken a run through the park, you owe it to yourself. It’s fantastic. Lots of trees, water, parks and people throughout and, as a non-runner I can say this, it really takes your mind off the fact that you are running.
As we finished our first couple of km’s, we both felt great. The sun started to peak out from behind the clouds and we began to warm up. A steeldrum band played some pretty upbeat music and we both commented how fun the run had been so far. A quick turn of the corner and we made our way down a pretty steep hill and across the back end of the park as we made our way to the 3 km mark. But, just as we were feeling good, we remembered the old adage “what goes down must go up” and we started to make our way up the other side of the park via a nice hill. But as we made our way to the top and past the 4km marker, we continued to feel great and we pretty psyched to take on the 2nd half of the race.
We passed the 5 and 6km markers and kept up our pace up as we knew only 2km’s remained. A short run along the shores of the pond in the park and we were on our way to the finish line. As we curled past the 7km marker, only one thing stood between us and the finish line….THE HILL. If you have run this race before you know the one that I mean. We had to push it a little bit but as we hit the top, we put it in gear and crossed the line feeling good. Now here’s the best part…we were able to cut more than 1 minute/km off of our time at the Zoo Run. Not bad for a couple of newbies!
The post-race festivities included a pancake breakfast, bagels, apples and a nice cup of coffee/hot chocolate. In addition, our swag bags included 2 t-shirts, one being a technical T! I think that we will definitely be back next year. It was a great race.
