Back in the 200's

Managed to squeeze in just over 200 in April. It's been a peculiar spring up this way, it's like the weather really doesn't want to break. On the flip side we've had some pretty hot days going in to the 80's a couple of times, but for the most part it's been coolish with a persistent wind. The sun make sup the difference, keeping it feeling warm. Good for running, keeps you feeling comfortable once you've warmed up.

I'm looking forward to the Mississauga half next weekend, it'll be my first race since the Hair of the Dog on New Year's Day. I'm keeping the race and running budget down to the bare minimum this year. I'm finding race fees getting more and more out of hand. It follows the concept of what the market will bear, and as long as folks are willing to hand over 50, 80, 100, even more for race fees, then events and RDs will continue to charge those numbers.

There used to be a few sources of cheap races in the area. The Ontario Roadrunners Association used to host their 'Orange' race series, which gave fun little 5k and 10k events at about 15 dollars for a non-member like me. As a bonus they were held in the park I train in which meant a warmup jog from the house to the start line. These events are history now. As a substitute I was running some XC stuff the Ontario Masters were doing, but they've also bumped fees for non-members (mostly a ploy to get you to join...the race fee is the same as a membership fee...that sneaky Dougie Smith :-) ). I might join up, maybe next year when I turn 50 and I really do feel like a master. I'm still just a young gun.

Anyway, I'm limiting myself to this, the Nightcrawler, maybe the Toronto Challenge as I mentioned last post, and maybe a fall half (or even full, depends on my training).

Speaking of people willing to pay expensive race fees, the Sporting Life 10k goes this Sunday. I imported the confirmation list from the website and came up with 11900 entries. This includes 7 Kenyans and 4 Ethiopians (just in case any locals had designs on the win). This will be my destination for Sunday morning, sprinting down to catch the leaders as the turn off Yonge Street, which makes for a great viewing point as you can see them well up the street. New course this year, they've finishing in Fort York and they'll be turning west off Yonge onto Richmond. Years past, the exited Yonge east and looped back to finish below the CN Tower, which meant I could see the leaders turn off Yonge, then jog over and catch them at the finish. Can't do it this year, I have to run just as far as the leaders to get there, so I have to choose my vantage point. I'll still be able to catch the pack at the finish line. The new route cuts down on cheating to, there's no short cut as they route is already the shortest distance.