Acura 10 Miler,Sunday July 19 2009
Distillery District,Toronto
What a greta place to hold a race! The Distillery District! I faintly recall a Guinness party there several years ago,but that’s got nothin’ to do with running!
Sunday morning was warm and sunny,almost too nice to race,in fact my pre race 5K warmup run to the start line from home had me sweating and it was only 7:15am.Nonetheless,8am,bright sunny skies,the starting horn, and we were underway.
Making our way down Cherry St toward Lakeshore I got caught up in the furious pace (by my standards) for positioning.Now I was really sweating.South off Lakeshore to Commissioners and east,right into a headwind.Nice.That would make it a tailwind on the return part of this out and back.Nicer.South on Leslie and out onto the Spit.
I’m not sure why runners,especially those who run the Waterfront Marathon dislike this park.I love it out there! Wildlife preserves,no vehicular traffic,yachts and usually a cool breeze coming off Lake Ontario.As we rounded the lagoon in the centre of the Tommy Thompson Park,as it is officially called,a most welcome clould completely obliterated the sun and I instantly felt stronger.Good thing too,as my running mate Dave and I were trying to maintain 3:45 per km pace.The cooler temperature would hopefully aid us in this pursuit.
The return 8K back along the spit and onto Leslie saw us see-saw with our pace and turning west on Commissioners Rd I looked forward to that tailwind.Had the wind changed?With seemingly no wind advantage we paced along steadily,made our turn toward Lakeshore Blvd and home.As I hit the 15K mark I made a surge,more out of desire to finish than anything else,and to give Dave a run for his money.
Finally Cherry St. and the familiar red bick buildings of the Distillery.I couldn’t remember how far around the last corner we had to go to the finish line,and was elated to find it only 25-30yds.I took notice of the clock too,and realized I was on pace for my 3:45 per Km goal.A steady sprint to the line,59:51 and I was one EXTREMELY happy camper,er runner.And one tired runner too.Crap,I ran here didn’t I? What a stupid idea!
Needless to say,that was a nice easy pace JOG!
Great volunteers,great entertainment,beautiful venue,PB,what more could I need. A taxi maybe…
Cheers
Anthony
Congrats on the PB and enough free time to head to Lake Placid too.
What the heck were you doing down in LP? To sign up?