Midsummer Night's Run Aug 21 2010

Oh I know ... late again, but I didn't want to steal the thunder of the SS240 write ups. That was some amazing running there wasn't it? Holy Hannah! Well done to all the Barrie teams that signed up! And a hearty congratulations to all the Barrie teams that placed in the top three of their divisions. WOOT WOOT!!!

On the same day the Simcoe Shores relay race was held another race was being run that evening, A Midsummer Night's Run in support of the Dept of Rheumatology at Sick Kids Hospital. I had a heavy decision to make regarding the relay vs. MNR and after weighing all the pros and cons up - I chose to run the MNR. I had a lot of fun running it last year with my fairy wings and tutu, this year had no reason not to be the same.

After some discussion in the back of the Running Room with fellow runner Jen Remazki & Cindy Marcelli I decided to join Team Abby, named after Jen's 7 year old neice Abby who has been suffering from Juvenile Arthritis since she was 2. We put out the call to our running friends for donations and once again the runners in Barrie answered the call. Donations started coming in. Jen was incredible with her fundraising abilities.
Then one night on the way home it hit me like a solid gold brick. RAFFLES ... the idea was to put together two baskets of donated items to raffle off: a runners basket & a pamper yourself basket. So again I threw my net out and once again the response was tremendous, donations were happily given by one and all. Tickets were FLYING out the door & by the time race day dawned we had raised $2500 for Sick Kids! WE WERE THE # 1 FUND RAISING TEAM!!!

Then off to the race we went - with, what we thought, was plenty of time. Yeah .. erhm... not so much. Traffic was manical on the 400 getting to the 401 East - So I said to Cindy well it shouldn't take that long to get the the 404 DVP .
Oh, said Cindy, we're taking Dufferin.
Are you sure? I think the DVP would be quicker.
Nope the Garmin says we are 9 minutes away. It'll take longer to get on the DVP.
Are you sure?

So for an hour the Garmin told us we were 9 minutes away. Stupid Garmin. So we sent a calm call to Alan Hewson to see if he could grab out race kits as we were ever so delayed. What a hero!!!
Along the 401 we got separated from Jen & her Mum so we agreed to meet up at the race. They took the low road & we took the slow road. *groans* Ackkk. Oh well.

*sighs*

We got there with time to spare. Found Alan, the portopotties & a wonderful tech hoodie rather than long sleeve Tech shirt in our race kits. I had my 60K button as well... life was good. Now back to the race-mobile and get kitted out for the race. We donned on our blue boas, sparkly blue bear metallic gift wrap decorations, our blue & green ribbons for our hair & we were ready for the next 3 + hours.
Abby & her older sister Marly were there to help us get ready & cheer us on. We'd meet them at the last 200 metres and they would run in with us. Mark Trenton the race director even agreed to allowing them to recieve a medal. What a guy! They even provided us with a free entry into the 2011 MNR for our raffle basket. Amazing support from the race directors office!! A big shout out to them.

I had little idea what or how I would be able to run seeing as the longest I managed to run was 14 k the Sunday before. This was going to be interesting. Very interesting indeed. My foot no longer bothered me & my calf musle was behaving as well. Fingers crossed.
After some discussion along the way we agreed upon running 15 & 2's. As Jen's mantra was "15 & 2's will see you thru! "
And it really did.

They changed the beginning of the run - Runners went south on Cherry St - to Cherry Beach and then along the Martin Goodman Trail, turn around at Urwin Bridge back out to Cherry St N and along Commissioners Drive. Then out to Tommy Thompson Park - around the light house and then through Ashbridge Bay Park then back on Commissioners to Bouchette where the finish (and start) is located.

I didn't have my Garmin with me & Cindy's wasn't functioning it was up to Jen to be the time keeper & pacer for that matter. Though I would make comments about how fast we were going & where did they think the race was?
As we headed towards Tommy Thompson Park we were over taken by herds of 15K runners and amongst them was the Rock Star himself Rick Ball! We must have sounded like crazy folks screaming out his name & cheering him on. Then on the way back more Rick. I did challenge him to a race earlier that week on Facebook, but well, I didn't want to embarass him in front of all his really incredibly fast running buddies. It just wasn't the right time. There will be other races. *ahahah*

Man those 15 & 2's were wonderful. I was puffing abit by the 13 minute mark and couldn't wait for the last 120 seconds to pass, but I wasn't about to fall over from exhaustion. This was the way to go!
Cindy was having difficulty with her hip and would need to ease the pain out now and again. Jen was just a task master which was amazing!!! Otherwise I'd have shaved off a few extra seconds here and there on our runs.

And as we came out of Tommy Thompson Park and headed towards Ashbridge Bay Park the rain was seriously coming down, it has been spitting earlier but now finally made the decision to release constant drops of warm water on our heads. Our boa's would be ruined.. oh well. Many a compliments we wee receiving on our "costumes" . We had dressed in the same blue shirts, black compression tights & boa's. We had it going ON!

As we were turning into the Park Cindy's spirits were seriously lagging. Funny as it was to listen to, I felt for her. It had been a long 22k to that point & it was getting darker and darker with no water stations and not that many more lights on the course. Having watched one too many episodes of Criminal Minds - every corner had a potential Reaper behind it. Every noise from the woods was a cry for help. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Were those 15 & 2's getting longer? What the heck? You want us to go around where? How much further? WHAT? ack. Poor Cindy. She wasn't loving the Park. I was happy when we were heading towards the exit, or is that the entrance? hmm.

We hit the 27K mark and I seriously needed a walk & a walk I was granted. I think all of us needed that break, we walked almost to the 28K marker. The rain was very steady by this point but it was a relief from the heat.
We hit the 29 K mark and were still running well. Granted we weren't the fastest things on two legs, but it was all about finishing - I wasn't about posting a PB. I hadn't run any long distances since March really. I was pretty darn proud of myself.
We could hear the crowds & music of the finish line and knew it was only a matter of moments before we'd meet up with Abby & Marly and sure enough 200 metres before the finish there were the girls cheering for us. We all grabbed hands and headed towards the finish line arms in the air!! Alan came and joined us for the last km or so, which was fantastic - it perked us up as well.
Jen, Cindy & I crossed the finish line in 3:45 - I had given myself a finish time of 4 hrs so I was more than pleased with my time. In fact I was over the moon!

Abby & Marly got there medals, Sick Kids got our donation of $2500, we got the priviledge of running for a cause! It was a stellar run!

Thanks to everyone who helped us become the top fund raising team!
Alan, Jayme, Stephen, 5 Peaks, Chatherine, MNR, the Barrie Running Room, Sandra, Trish, Samantha, Jen, James.
Thanks EVERYONE that supported us by donations & raffle tickets!

And the best part of it all, little Abby thought everyone doing the Midsummer Night's Run was running for her on Team Abby! And in a way they all were!
Thanks Mark & team for putting such a great run together for such a worthy cause.

After we headed back to the race-mobile changed out of our wet running gear, threw on some dry clothes and our nifty new black hoodie from the run and headed over to the SS240 relay race to start our shift as race crew for the Barrie Backpackers! Now that's a story for another day.

Until til the next race, which is Steamtown, take care of yourselves.
See you around.