Race Recap: Yorkville 5K

After running the Richmond Half Marathon last week, the idea of a 5K seemed pretty easy by comparison. That is, if you’re not totally sleep deprived, hungry and hungover.

We returned to Toronto for a wedding, and my lovely mother-in-law signed us up for the Yorkville 5K on Sunday morning. I figured that I would try to behave myself at the wedding, and if I was a bit tired, so what? It would take longer to get to the start line than to actually run the race, so I figured I would be back in bed resting in no time. Also, I was excited about running this particular race. Not only did it come with the BEST race kit of all time (a long-sleeve New Balance tech shirt, New Balance capris AND a black New Balance tshirt!), it also boasted a fabulous post-run party with tons of food like pizza, gourmet sandwiches, baked goods and cold-pressed juice.

Clearly, I should know myself better. I drank a lot of white wine and danced around all night in bare feet, and actually cut the bottom of my foot on some broken glass. Whoops. I had such a great time socializing and dancing with my friends that I also kind of forgot to eat. I think I ate a tiny pulled pork slider at some point… and I have a vague recollection of eating a rib while on the dancefloor. Sigh…

When the alarm went off Sunday morning, I was not in great shape. But I pulled myself together, got in the car and headed to the race. It was quite cool and a bit drizzly but I was thankful. Add some humidity to the day and I would have surely been sick at the start line.

The race started off with a nice gradual downhill so I got off to a great start. And as soon as the competitive drive of race day set in, I managed to maintain my pace as the road levelled out. I kept telling myself that the faster I went, the sooner it would be over. I crossed the finish line next to Graham with a time of 27:42, a mere 12 seconds off my personal best for 5K.

And just like that, my hangover was gone! Hooray! I was able to properly feast on the plethora of lovely snacks, promptly consuming 5 times more calories than we burned.

The best part of the day was that two members of our group – Ian, my father-in-law, and Keith, my uncle-in-law placed in the top three of their age category. What a day for the Markham fam! I was so proud to have two members of our team accepting some well-deserved race day hardware. Very inspiring.

And speaking of hardware, check out the picture of the medals they gave us! They are massive! A very large medal for a very short race.

A big shout-out to my mother-in-law Janet for organizing the day. I am sorry for being a grump on the way there. I did truly enjoy myself in the end. Also big shouts to brother-in-law Andrew who ran the race in borrowed, decrepit shoes with a hole in the bottom and still got a blazing fast time. And congrats to his girlfriend Lesley who did amazingly well despite claiming that her goal was to not be last! We were pretty spectacular, all things considered.