If you're a runner, you can't help but fantasize about barrelling down the finishing straight, a multitude of spectators wildly applauding as you break the finish line tap, your arms raised in glorious victory and hoards of runners start filing in behind you, each relegated to serving their personal goals rather than that big one.
So let's first make a few adjustments.
There were no wildly applauding spectators. There was the race crew, comprising of two co-directors, a photographer, a small handful of setup volunteers and the guy riding the lead bike.
There was no finish line tape, just a line. There were no hoards of runners filing in behind me, unless 6 constitutes a hoard.
However, a W is a W, and a W is what I got. The race was part of a 64 race summer series known as the Beat the Recession 5k Trail Series put on by a couple of enthusiastic runners that have staged events before. It's 20 dollars per event, whether you sign up online or onsite. The courses aren't deadly accurate or certified, but most trail racing is more about the course than the distance, it's a race, not a time trial. The events move from location to location, and this one was located a convenient 1 mile warmup jog from my house. Makes it kind of obligatory to enter. Future events are located here and there around Toronto in small city and regional parks. These are easy trails, not the kind you encounter in the 5 Peaks series where you need your wits about you every second to avoid having something really bad happen to you.
It was fun to lead the pack, to have the bicycle escorting me through the route and clearing the way. It was small and would have constituted 'cherry picking' if I'd known who was going to be there, but I showed up not really knowing what to expect. Their innaugural event last Sunday featured 2008 Toronto Marathon winner Daniel Mburu of Kenya, who took the win in a casual 17:16 (compared to my 19:26). I'm sure it was not much over a jog for him. For me, it was leave part of my lung on the course, as I hoped nobody in the group behind me was sandbagging it.
They return to this venue again in 3 weeks. I'm hoping support for the series picks up. It's fun, well organized and fairly casual at the same time. And it's cheap, anytime you can get a race in for 20 bucks, it's a good deal. I know I need the occasional race to get the legs turning over, speed workouts and tempo runs don't quite reach the same level as gutting it out in a race.
This morning I felt fine, did a nice easy 5 miles and had no after affects to deal with. My concern was getting a bit burned before Sunday's half in Mississauga.
It appears that Ryder Photo did the event photography, as their website has a link to it, hopefully whatever pics they took will be up soon. I'm thinking I was looking a bit stressed down the chute.
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