Santa Run 5K

Oh my gosh! This run was too hilarious! I am so glad that I ran this race because it was hysterical to be a part of 2500 Santas running through downtown Burlington.

At one point on the race route, a guy who was trying to cross the street (granted, you don't want to wait for 2500 Santas to cross, but people were being kind and letting folks through) so he gave us all the finger! Who gives Santa the finger? Someone on the naughty list that's who!

At the end of the race, all the Santas looking up their finishing times was pretty funny as well. Definitely looked like they were checking out the naughty/nice list.

And the tree made of Ferrero Rochers pretty much topped off the day well. That and all the free pizza! Excellent run to start the holiday season! This is another one I hope to do again some year!

Hug A Runner Virtual 5K, and 22q Deletion Awareness!

Another virtual race as on-call life kicks me in the butt! Why doesn't every race team want to hold their race in a small rural Ontario town of 1000?! You know, to be convenient for me! Ha!

November is the awareness month for 22q Deletion syndrome, which is what Gia's sister has. It can cause a wide range of problems from minor difficulties to really huge issues like congenital heart defects! In midwifery training we learned so little about 22q, but their slogan is correct "The most common syndrome you've never heard of" affecting 1:4000!

Since this month is the awareness month,and the day appropriately on the 22nd, I decided to spell out Gia's name! I figured I'd run back and forth until I got to 5k but her name clocked me the 5k perfectly! :)  I RUN 4 GIA!

Crossroads Turkey 5k

This race was the sweetest race that ever existed. I am pretty sure also that ever will exist. It was run by the Crossroads Church in Scotland, Ontario and it was the epitome of small town loveliness!

Registration was super simple even though I was showing up on the day of. There weren't very many runners, so the course was easy and open, but they had a start and finish line and chip timing! It was the big race come to the small country!

Folks were super chatty and welcoming, even though I was there on my own. All the races I've gone to, nobody spoke to anyone unless they were there in a group, or working for the race.

There was also a huge table of door prizes, and being Thanksgiving weekend, when my name was called- I went for the bushel basket of local veggies. I hope I will be off call another year to come back and run this one again! :D

Island Girl 5k

The island girl race was such a good time! It takes me about 2h to drive to Toronto, so I used Air BnB again with equally excellent results! It's so nice to have a spot to stay close to the race so you don't have to drive like a fool early in the morning!

The first ferry over to Toronto island left fairly early (6:45?) and I juuuuuust squeaked onto it after having to run to the docks. Good warm up I guess?! I used to go to the island all the time when I was growing up and it was so cool to be back as an adult!

The race was very well done with good "island" food (aka a lot of fruit) afterwards. Since I was in Toronto anyway, I also got to eat delicious ramen, and I found the Japanese bakery (Nakamura) that I went to all the time when I was growing up! Such a lovely trip!! I really wanted to run this race with my sister this year, but she couldn't make it work out, so hopefully next year!

Forever Friends Virtual 5k

 Well, I didn't think I'd be running another virtual race so soon....but I couldn't help myself! An online group was running this virtual race and the proceeds were going TO the I Run 4 organization! How could I say no to that?!

The medal was a 2 part-er which was great. I try my best to get an extra medal to send in the mail to Gia, which so far I've had really good luck with (Thanks race organizers!!) But it was nice to have the race already be coordinated for a buddy pair!

During this race we also hit our 100 mile mark! When I started running, I couldn't even finish a 5k. I was done after 30 minutes and was convinced my lungs were going to explode. Now, while I might not be fast, I can run a 5k consistently and have been clocking the miles for Gia. We fill in these cute little running shoes each time we run a mile and mail them to our buddies- or if the buddy is old enough, the colour in the shoe themselves! So here's to the next 100 miles!  I RUN 4 GIA!

  

Beat the Heat Virtual 5k

Ahhhh the virtual run! The race I can run while I'm on call.....okay, and at night too is helpful. Virtual races seem to be a bit of a controversy amongst mid-range runners.

I feel like the hardcore runners don't care at all because really, for the most part they don't seem to be interested in a virtual 5k given that they might knock that out for a warm up one day.

Beginner runners seem to feel pretty excited about virtual races. It's an opportunity to clock some miles, get a medal, and improve your race game since you are in fact, being timed- even though you're doing it yourself.

Mid-range runners seem to either be happy for the virtual races, happy for those who run them, or super crabby! "Why do you even get a medal?! All you did was run around the block like you usually do!" Or "well, it's not really a race anyway" Well, I say "Meh", It works for my schedule, and my on-call geographical radius of 30 minutes from home/hospital bases so....I will enjoy my sparkly watermelon medal thank-you-very-much!

Emergency 9-1-Run!

Whaaaat? A run, IN Minto? Well how could I not race in this one? My goal was to run in a 5k each month this year for my first year of running for Gia.

I had just run the Waterloo Classic, but I really couldn't pass up the chance to run in my hometown. I really hope they do this run again, even though I was slow as balls, and it was really rainy, it was still a fun day.

And the money raised went to the Mapleton-Minto family health team, so, win for healthcare!