Toronto Waterfront - 2011 Finale

What a day!

The Toronto Waterfront Run marked the finale of our first year running the Fit with Phonak program, and what an event it was.  The weather on race morning appeared ominous as grey skies and harsh winds threatened to make the day very, very uncomfortable.  Although this is a well organized event the sheer number of participants made the simple act of getting to the start line a bit of an effort.  I was happy to have fellow Phonakians Steve Mahon, and Brad Caves with me on the way to our designated “coral’.  A small case of race nerves had been brewing, but were quickly put in check when we passed a small crowed of fans surrounding 100 year old Fauja Singh, pictured below, who was about to embark on his 26.2 mile mission to become the oldest man to ever run a marathon (a feat that he accomplished that day in 8hrs 11mins.)  We managed to see quite a few of the over one hundred Phonak/CanHEAR teammates at the start, but with thousands of people in the queue it was near impossible to make contact with anyone.  

I'm officially out of excuses.....

Congratulations....

Congratulations to everyone who ran last Sunday.  I haven't heard from the West-Coast crew yet, but Phonak's own Janace Daley informed me that everyone who ran Wolfville lived to tell the tale.  Apparently the weather on course this year was unexpectedly warm, which is a stark contrast to the cool windy day we had last year.  I  hope everyone is recovering nicely.  Congrats again!

Janace, Dana, and Aimee looking great after the finish!

Toronto Participants

Hello All

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend and used the opportunity to do a little bit of advanced "carb-loading" for the race.  There are a lot of details that you need to familiarize yourself with for the run this weekend, particularly if you are coming in from out of town.  Most importantly, you need to arrange to pick-up your kit prior to Sunday....see details about this and other race information below:

Best of luck this weekend....

to our runners on the East/West Coast.  I'll be thinking of you all this weekend.  This morning's 4 day forecast looks stellar, brisk, but stellar.  Remember to layer up for you warm-up.  Daryl Houghton will be on hand in Victoria, and Janace Daley will be running with the gang in Wolfville.

For any of you that end up with photos of the CanHEAR team in action please send them along.  If anyone cares to add a report to the blog I'd certainly be happy to post that also.  Best of luck, and happy Thanksgiving.

Fact:

Can't make it to the Toronto run???

If you are registered for the Toronto run (particularly the half marathon) but don't think you'll be able to make it please let me know ASAP.  We've got quite a few last minute folks who really want to run and are on our waiting list.  As the half marathon is closed to general entry, a transfer spot is their only hope.

That said, I hope that everyone is injury free and pumped to take on Lakeshore Blvd in a couple of weeks.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

9 Days until Victoria/Wolfville

Hello All

We're in the final weeks of our 2011 race calendar with races in Victoria and Wolfville just 9 Days away.  As always, please refer to the race sites to ensure that you are familiar with the race schedule for the weekend.

Race kit pick-ups:

Victoria does not permit raceday kit pick up unless you are from out of town:
Standard Kit Pick-up is as follows:
Victoria Conference Centre, 720 Douglas Street
October 7-9, 2011

• Expo Hours of Operation:
  
  • Friday, October 7, 3:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, October 8, 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Wolfville is pretty straight forward as you can pick up your race kits on the Saturday before the race, but also any time after 6:30am on race day:

Wolfville Kit Pick-Up

Acadia University Athletics Complex, Acadia Main Gym
Saturday, 8 October 12:00pm to 7:00pm
Sunday, 9 October 6:30am to 8:15am