Sporting Life 10k (spectator report)

Tony had his first solo race today...the Sporting Life 10k. We woke up at 7am, got ready and took a taxi to the starting area. I could feel the race excitement in the air, and I wanted to race too! However, racing 10k on a downhill course the week before my marathon was probably not going to be good for me. Even if I told myself to take it easy, it's just too tempting to push it in a race situation. So, I settled for the role of coach/cheerleader and helped Tony warm up.

Two weeks ago, Tony and I ran the Sun Run, which was also 10k. We finished in about 1:20. Tony had only run once or twice since then, so I wasn't expecting a lot of improvement. Still, it was a downhill course, so I thought it was maybe possible for him to finish around 1:10.

I left him in the crowd and scurried to the start so that I could see the seeded runners take off. I didn't quite make it. I only managed to get some shots of the mobs of people crossing the starting line.



Expecting the winners to finish in about 27-28 min, I doubted that I could get down to the finish line in time by subway + walking. I was right. I scurried down to Eglinton station and was stalled by the ticket purchase line-up. I finally got to Union station and ran around the Air Canada Centre to the finish area. The clock read about 37 min...the winners were long done. I can't beat them even if I use the subway :(

So, I waiting near the finish line for quite awhile, applauding as all the runners came in. The clock ticked on...55 min...1:00...1:05...1:10...1:20...I didn't see Tony. I considered the possibility that I had missed him finishing. 1:25...1:30...1:40...very few people coming across now. I had definitely missed him...and if not, I had reason to be very worried. I finally walked over to the finish chutes area and there he was. "Where were you? I went to CN tower like 4-5 times already," he said. We had agreed to meet by the tower if we couldn't find each other at the finish. Turned out that he finished in a time of 1:00:23...20 min faster than his time 2 weeks ago, and 30sec faster than my personal best time!! I was quite shocked, but of course very proud. I mean, how can you improve your 10k time by 20 min in 2 weeks??

Congratulations honey :)