The Spring Run Off

Spring is a fantastic time of year. With the cold and snow (mostly) behind us, the roads clear and runners take to the streets for the first road races of the season.  

In Toronto, the traditional kick off to road running season is the High Park Race Roster Spring Run-off (http://canadarunningseries.com/race-roster-spring-run-off/), held the first Saturday in April.  This year I had three clients participating in the event, and I wanted to take a moment to highlight each of their performance, as they worked hard over the winter to reach their fitness goals. 

Juliane Weiss ran first in the 8km course. Despite suffering from an unfortunately timed sinus infection she braved the day and finished in 48:54. Juliane has come a long way in her run training with me over the last 18 months.  After tackling several 10km courses last summer and knocking her 10km run time down to a sub 60min PB, she was using this 8km run as a tune-up for her first ever half-marathon next month.  We’ll be cheering her on for that. 

Next up on the 5km course were Kate Ria and Alice Chow.  Kate was attempting her first ever 5km road race after spending most of the winter working hard on the treadmill.  I think we can all agree that running outside in the fresh air, surrounded by the beautiful trees of High Park was a refreshing and energizing change of environment for us all.  Despite struggling a little on the last hill of the course, Kate finished in 39:47, which was actually 1min faster than our practice run the weekend before.  Nicely done Kate!

Alice Chow starting running with me last year.  We entered her in the Toronto Waterfront 5km last October as a fun fitness test, and to our pleasant surprise, she finished a strong 6th place in her age group, not bad for her first time racing.  After a long winter of training for improved strength and speed in both the gym and the track, Alice was ready to tackle her second 5km race.  And tackle it she did!  Alice laid down a speedy 32:14 on a very hilly course, never slowing down on the last killer hill, and claimed first place in her age group!  Way to go Alice!          

I’m proud of all my runners who worked hard and continue to improve and impress me along their fitness journey.  I am looking forward to what the future holds for all of you.