Sporting Life 10K 2013

I've been collecting my thoughts for a few days on this race. There were a lot of issues, most of which I thankfully didn't experience myself. I've decided that this post is just going to be about my experience with this race. I do encourage people to check out this post (including a very scary video) and this post on Kenny's blog. I'm definitely going to think twice before signing up for this race next year.

Race kit pick up was fine and easy for me. I was getting my kit, plus for two friends. I went on Thursday so not too busy and they still had the full range of shirt sizes. Race kit wasn't very exciting - shirt, bib and a coupon for Sporting Life.

Race morning, I took a quick cab ride over the the starting area. SO MANY PEOPLE! I did manage to find my friends relatively easy (thank goodness for cell phones) and we huddled inside the Running Room for a bit. I had gone back and forth a lot trying to figure out what to wear. I hate being too warm when running so went with a long sleeved top and cropped pants.

I went to check my bag (and cozy hoodie) 15 minutes before we needed to be in the corrals. Encountered a line up which ended up being about 100 people long. They finally ended up opening one of the trucks and my friend chucked my bag in (thankfully didn't lose my keys or metro pass).

With my co-workers. I look happy, but I was cold!

In past years, Sporting Life has been quite strict with making sure everyone is in their proper corrals. Not so much this year. They weren't very well marked and no one was checking bibs. I had no idea whether I was at the front or the back of the purple corral.

Waited, waited, waited some more. We had no idea whether or not the race had started. We slowly inched up to the start and were off - very uneventful.

I was going to run with one of my friends who was aiming for 1hr 8mins but he took off pretty quick. I debated catching up, but decided just to run my own race. Put the ipod in and stuck with my 10/1's.

There were so many people so I did a lot of dodging. People walking 4 across. Lots of pedestrians just stepping out into the street.

Despite the cold start, I was generally happy with my clothing choice for the day. Only cold parts were my hands. I had my hand held water bottle in my right hand - eventually had to switch it to the left when I realized that my fingers were numb and turning purple. What a difference a week makes! The Sunday before, I had been dumping cups of water on my head to cool down!

The main stretch of the race down Yonge Street was fun as always. I was using 7 min/km's to keep pace, and was hitting the race markers well ahead of pace so I knew I was in good shape. I didn't speed up though at any point - I was very worried about doing my normal crash and burn in the second half of the race.

Turned onto Richmond. I tried to speed up a bit running by the opera house in case any co-workers were out. Waved to one of the security guards.

More people dodging going down Peter Street. Almost got hit by a bike as someone was crossing at Front Street. Really needed more coarse marshalls.

Was happy to turn down Bathurst and across the bridge. An earlier finisher was yelling "You're almost there! Just around the corner than you can get a BANANA!!!". I was laughing at that.

Lots of people out in the last stretch on Fort York Boulevard. Saw a sign saying "Thank you for sending her to camp" with a little girl standing under it. Choked me up a bit.

I picked up speed for the last 500 metres and crossed the finish line with my arms in the air.

Can kind of see me - with arms in the air.

 Almost smashed into the back of another runner who had crossed the line and just stopped (not cool).

Finished with a time of 1:07:18, over 5 minutes off my previous 10K PB of 1:12:55. Overall pace of 6:44/km which is my third fastest pace EVER according to garmin connect (faster paces were on a 5K run and a 3.25 run). I ran the first 5K in 33:41 and the second in 33:37 so no crash and burn here! I might have been able to shave a bit of time off if I hadn't been so worried about burning out, but I'm happy that I stayed strong for the whole race.

Post race, had to walk about half a kilometre to get my medal (after stopping for traffic for a few minutes at Fleet Street). Since I had done this the year before, I knew the drill but there wasn't anyone giving instructions at the finish line so it was a mess. Got my medal, managed to find my friends (thankfully carried my cell phone with me), picked up a bagel.

Found what I thought was the giant line for bag pick up - turned out it was for free coffee. Managed to find my bag quickly (no one was really guarding the bags) and got my hoodie. I was sooooo cold so very happy to be in something warm.

While I'm very happy with my race times, I'm not sure if I'll be running Sporting Life next year. The race organizers want to increase the size from 27,000 runners to 30,000 next year. I really don't think they were ready for such large crowds this year so unless there are some major organizational changes, I'll be running Yonge Street 10K instead.

Sporting Life 10K 2013 Goals

Another Sunday, another race.

As I did last year, I'm following up my half marathon with a nice little run down Yonge Street. This will be my third year running Sporting Life. One of the main things I like about Sporting Life is the crazy amounts of people and this year the event is sold out with 27,000 people!

My goals for tomorrow:

A. 1:08:40 (6:52/km) - Completely based off the Macmillan Running Calculator, using last week's half
     marathon time. A bit faster than what I ran at Harry's Spring Run Off. Extra two kilometres tomorrow,                                  
     but no big hills. I've done 6:53/km on a 10K training run so if all conditions are perfect (weather, body, mind, no wardrobe malfunctions, etc), could be a possibility.

B. 1hr10min (7/km)

C. 1:11:10 Otherwise known as 10K's at my magic 7:07/km 2:30 half marathon pace.

D. New PR - Anywhere under 1:12:55

Current weather forecast for tomorrow morning is kind of windy, 8 degrees/ feels like 3 and overcast. Except for the wind, seems like nice running weather!

Sporting Life 10K cntd.

Forgot to do my usual what I liked/didn't like about yesterday's race so here it is.

Things I liked:

• The shirt. Nike dri fit shirt that fits. Even okay with it being bright yellow.
• Well organized start line with proper corrals. 
• Lots of people!
• The course down Yonge Street is fun.

Things I didn't like:

• Finish area was very spread out and there was no flow into it.
• Took a long time to get a medal.
• Not enough water stations. One more would have made a big difference in my opinion.

Sporting Life 10K 2012 Recap

This morning was my second time running the Sporting Life 10K.
I was up super early to get ready and arrived at the start line without any issue. The morning was a bit cool and it started to rain lightly. The start line of this event is always a bit crowded as there’s 20,000 runners! But it was well organized and everyone is broken into corrals. The line ups for the porta potties were very long but isn’t it always?
I met up with a co-worker (unplanned, I just happened to find him) who was running with a friend. I started off with them but they were doing 10/1’s and I wanted to stick with the same 4/1’s that I did last week so I lost track of them around 2K in.
I felt pretty good for most of the run. My sore toe from last week was bugging me a bit and I made the decision that I need new shoes. I had my fuel belt on which I was very happy about as there were only two water stations at 4K and 7K.
Coming to the end, I realized that I was really close to my goal of 1hr13 but needed to push it a bit to get there so I picked up the pace for the last 500m. Crossing the finish, my garmin said 1:12:59 which I was happy about as I had just made it under my goal time. My official chip time is 1:12:55 so even better! That’s 8 minutes off my first 10K on the same course and 7 minutes off my previous 10K PR. 7 minutes seems to be my magic number these days.


The finishing area was pretty spread out and I had to walk awhile (seemed like a long while) to get there. Medal distribution seemed disorganized but I finally got my medal about 10 minutes after I finished. I couldn’t find the food/water stations, but luckily I still had water in my fuel belt. Transit was a bit of a nightmare and it took me about and hour and a half to get home (should have been closer to 40 minutes). Generally though, pleased with the race and my time.

Sporting Life 10K Goals

Tomorrow’s race has been completely overshadowed by last week’s half marathon. I actually pretty much haven’t given it any thought until a couple of days ago.

My goals for tomorrows 10K:

A – Finish under 1hr15min. Possible, but we’ll see. If I can repeat the first 10K of last week’s race, this could happen.
B – Finish in 1hr 15m. Based on recent times, I think this is do-able.
C – Break current PR of 1:19:50.
Have my usual pre-race dinner of pasta and garlic bread all set to go. Bagel, juice and banana set for the morning.

(again, I kind of love the shirt)

Spring 2012 – Race Plans

My current plan for the spring is 4 races in 6 weeks. I am registered for all of these so I’m committed.


Toronto Yonge Street 10K on April 22nd.
This is the former Sporting Life 10K, but Canada Running Series and Sporting Life are no longer working together on the race. I registered for this way back in May when the registration was pretty cheap.


Goodlife Fitness Half Marathon on May 6th.
I went back and forth a lot on this race. I wasn’t going to do it because I didn’t want to do 10K, 12K etc in the cold and snow. However, I set a goal last month to take every possible opportunity to enrich my life and decided that this fell into that category. I don’t have high expectations, but I’ll be able to finish. Also, it’s on my 32nd birthday!

Sporting Life 10K on May 13th.
Again, another race I wasn’t going to do, but they were offering a $50 gift card to Sporting Life and registering was $45 so I pretty much made $5! Also, it will be interesting to compare the two 10K’s. They’re both following the same route so the organization will be different.

And finally Toronto Women's Half Marathon on May 27th.
Running Jennie convinced me. I love the Toronto Women’s Runs and will already be through half marathon training so why not?

So that’s the plan for the spring. I was thinking of adding Harry's Spring Run Off into the mix, but maybe not.
Very much looking forward to being done with the cold!

Sporting Life 10K Recap

Last Sunday was my first 10K race, the Sporting Life 10K.

Bag check closed at 7:40 and as this was a big race with a lot of people, I wanted to get there early.
I completely overestimated how long it would take me to get there - I was at the race by 6:15 (race time = 8 a.m.) They were still setting up.
It was chilly, overcast, still dark so I went to sit in a coffee shop for a bit. I didn't fully warm up though for the entire day.
This was by far the largest race I've participated in (15,000 people). It didn't seem crowded though on the course as we were running on the street so there was a lot of room.
I was doing alright for the first 6k. Looking at my nike+ after the race, I apparently hit 5:55/km for a bit which is a bit ridiculous for me. Around the 7K mark, I hit a wall. I switched from run/walk intervals of 4m/1m to run 2 minutes/walk 2 minutes.  I was tired, cold, thirsty - there were two water stations on the course which wasn't enough for me. I hadn't brought my fuel belt either.
My main goal for my first 10K was just to finish, but I was hoping to finish in 1hour, 20 minutes. I made it in at 1 hr, 20 minutes, 39 seconds so not too far off.
Things I like about this race:

• Few bands along the route.
• Running down Yonge Street.
• Great t-shirt
• Medal!
• Lots of people – so many people running = great energy.

Things I didn’t like about this race:

• Lots of people – was very crowded. Especially at the post race party.
• Post Race Area – crowded. Really spread out so it was hard to find where to pick up my bag. The food selection was lacking (bananas, apples and bagels).
• Lack of water stations – there were 2 along the course. Probably fine for the speedy people, but being out there for over an hour, I needed more water.

My husband came to meet me at the finish line. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it down there until after I had finished. Ah well. He took a picture of me anyways.

Afterwards, I was a bit sore. I didn’t stretch which didn’t help matters and I was still cold! I came home and dove under the covers for a much needed nap.
My next 10K will be at the end of August. I’m hoping to improve my time a bit, finish feeling stronger and I’m going to wear my fuel belt!