I had the pleasure of running in the Backs in Motion 5k run hosted by Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) this past weekend and let me tell you for a race in big city, it had a small town feel. There were three things that stood out.
1) Course
The race course took us behind the behind CMCC by the Lower Don River which was a beautiful trail north of the city. The weather has not been great this year, but we got lucky and had a beautiful sunny 10 degrees at the start of the race. Because of the lack of nice weather, I over dressed for the occasion, but was lucky to have had shade throughout the full run on the trail. The trail was shared by walkers, cyclists, strollers, etc, but that wasn’t an issue. The course was well marked and had many volunteers and marshals on site.
2) Food & Awards
Let me tell, there was a plentiful amount of food at the race site when finished. Bagels, bananas, yogurt, just to name a few. Also they were many awards for a small race. Every age group winner walked away with a $150 gift certificate for running shoes from the Orthotic group, rock tape, and some other goodies. Not to mention medals for the top three as well. There were also numerous door prizes and pretty good swag bag for a small run.
3) Treatment
Yes that’s right, after your run, you were invited to treatment from the student therapists onsite. My therapist was a 4th year student whom was just a few weeks away from graduation. I have a tight IT band, and a got a good amount of time on the tumper and a stretch was much appreciated.
It was my first time running in this race and definitely not my last. Most runs take place somewhere downtown, so it was nice to be able to get in a short run while not having to spend more time in my car than on the course. I was able to run a PB in my race and finished in the top 10 overall. It probably helped that there were two big city marathons taking place on the same day, but I will take it.
So if your looking for something local, friendly, and fun be sure to check out Backs in Motion.
