Sporting Life 10K Race Recap

The Sporting Life 10K was the first race that hubby and I would be running together. I had always talked about this race to my running friends as it is billed as the one of the fastest 10K races around and is also Canada's Second Largest run. This race runs down Toronto's Yonge Street which was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at 1,896 km (1,178mi). The section we run is almost all downhill. This year it sold out at 27,000.

We had a group of  9 running this year. I had run this race 3 years ago right after I had sprained my ankle and then had a severe cramp at kilometre 7. I was hoping that I would do better this time, however it was going to be my third weekend in a row of racing. I had just run two half marathons the weekends leading up to this race. I spent most of the week resting, but wanting to go out and run. I listened to my body and took it easy with some yoga and weights.

Group shot before and after

We all got up bright and early on a cold Mother's day morning. It had been nice and warm all week leading up to the weekend, but a COLD front decided to move in the night before. It was around 4 degrees Celsius which is 39 F for my American friends. We were FROZEN. We were dropped off at the start line and hubby and friend drove down to the finish line to take the shuttle back up to the START to meet us. Luckily we were able to stay warm at a Tim Hortons and get some pre race food.

Once our drivers made it back up to the Start line we headed out to try to check out bags. With 27,000 people running the corals went up the road for almost a kilometre. When we finally found the bag check trucks the line up was beyond crazy. I don't think they were prepared for so many people. At one point people started throwing their bags into the trucks and almost taking out the volunteers. It was utter chaos. I hope they rectify this issue next year. By the time we checked out bags and started walking back to the corals, the race had already started. We are so far up the road that we couldn't even hear the emcee announce the start, that's how far the bag check was :(

We quickly moved up to find our corals and away we went. Our group had runners of all different levels. We had 2 runners that were running their first ever 10K and others that were seasoned runners and 2 of us were husband and wife teams.  It was my first race with hubby, but I had told him that I was going to try for a personal best this race and he was o.k with it. We ran the first 4 kilometres together and then I took off. I warmed up after the first few kilometres but every so often the wind would pick up and just knock you down. I kept up with my pace and as I approached kilometre 7, I had flashbacks of my cramp which left me walking the last time. I stopped for water and kept on going, thank goodness no cramp. There were drummers and some music along the way which made it quite entertaining. I picked it up as I saw the finish line nearing and gave it all I could. Unfortunately, the finish line was a bottle neck and I had to push my way over the timing pad as people had decided to stop when they finished to wait for friends.... ARGH!!!  Another issue I hope they fix next year as there were not many volunteers helping clear the finish line and it was the runners yelling for people to keep on moving.

I'm still happy that I ran this race. Our group had a blast, the course was fantastic and I got my PB :)

With the Hubs 

Results :      Age/Gender Place411/1546

                   1st 5K -  28:25

                   2nd 5K - 27:42

                   Finish   - 56:06 * Personal Best

                   Pace:  - 5:54