Hurray for Sherry and Dianne!!

The cheers could be heard all across Ontario down to New York City as many TPWs were tracking the whereabouts of Sherry and Dianne as they raced in the New York Marathon.

I hold my breath every year, worrying about the weather, even if I'm not doing the race, because we all know how terrible it feels to walk in the Cemetery, in the rain let alone walk 42.2k!  Miraculously the weather seemed to hold for them this year...(or so it appears in the photos online).

It's an awesome race, with some of the most iconic views along the way.


                           
NYC and Marine Corps Marathon are top of my list for scenic races.  Another favorite because it is just so much fun is Disney.  No one takes it seriously, so the pressure to finish in a good time, is lessened.Another lovely smaller race, that provides potato chips halfway through the marathon, is the Baltimore Running Festival. 

Some of our walkers won the lottery, literally, to get into the latest big city race, in London England, and we expect to hear from them after their late March race.

Walking isn't only doing marathons, but the elated feeling when you cross the finish line is worth it, even if just once!!

Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon 2018

TPW was there...both walking and volunteering!

• Shirley and Helen were the 'sweeps' for the 5k and Half marathon respectively
• Rorie, Edie, Philippa, Catherine and Sherry raced in the Half Marathon
• Michael and Phyllis worked the finish line in various places

Anyone else out there that I missed? Here are a few photos from the day. My apologies for not capturing everyone.

 

 

TPW Strong

We're back at Mt Pleasant Cemetery!  In bright colours and great numbers.

Saturday was a terrific day for walking, and there were 21 of us out there walking, talking and catching up. While we waited for the '5 minute grace time' for latecomers and because it was a bit chilly, most of us enthusiastically followed Diane's instructions as we tried to warm up our muscles. Thanks Diane.

Sue also told me that we will be 30 at our annual year-end 'black and medals' dinner on Nov.21st. Woo hoo! It's not too late to sign up. You don't need to wear black or medals, but feel free to dress up  and/or wear your medals so we can be inspired by you. My philosophy this year has been that multiple 10ks, and a half or two were perfect for me!  I will get back to marathons, but not right now.

Come join us on Sat mornings, or check the sidebar for Tuesday and Thursday walking info. Just keep 'walking the distance'.

What Grandeur, What History!

It was really hot walking on Saturday even down by the lake. Heading east in the early morning I was quietly dreading the return trip, an hour and a half later.

But I couldn't complain because Michael had already walked 6k even before I started, and was walking another 24k as part of his training for his first marathon as a power walker.  We walked east, past Ontario Place, past the 'washrooms' near Coronation Park, past the Music Garden, past Queens Quay, past Sugar Beach and started walking down Cherry Street, when it was time to turn back. Hallelujah!

Like a horse heading back to the stable, my pace quickened. Having just consumed a gel for energy, and turned on my music, I was on my way back! What also quickened my step was the thought of cooling off in the Sunnyside swimming pool at the end of my walk.

I knew that bathing at Sunnyside has been an attraction for Torontonians for over 100 years, although originally bathing was only in Lake Ontario. The Sunnyside Bathing Pavillion as I later learned opened in late June 1922 as a place for patrons to change into their 'bathing costumes' to swim in the lake.  I'm not sure if the pool we swam in on Saturday is the original one built in 1925, but I do remember it being renovated in 2010, and closed most of the summer. On Saturday, it was heaven!

We cooled off in the pool, some walkers were ambitious and swam multiple laps.  I was content to lie in the cool water and bring my body temperature and heart rate back to normal!

After a short dip in the pool, we had brunch at the Sunnyside Cafe where only a few weeks ago a group of us ate heartily and felt like we were on a tropical vacation. The magic still held this week too.

What started out as a hot and humid walk along the lake, ended much more pleasantly having enjoyed a refreshing swim in a place that many Torontonians have been coming to for 100 years.

The photo below was taken in the 1940's, likely 
from the Sunnyside Bathing Pavillion, 
looking east to the beach and the pool.

Power walking in Jerusalem will leave you breathless

I spent a week recently in Jerusalem, a city I know well from my younger days, visiting my mother. 

Jerusalem, as many know, is an ancient city, from approximately 2400 BCE located in the Judean Mountains, approximately 2500 feet above sea level. Toronto, by comparison is only 250 feet above sea level.

Jerusalem is a relatively small to moderate sized city, and having arrived two days earlier I decided it was time to get out and walk. My 16k route took me from the new city to the old city, walking primarily along quiet city streets and a 6km rail trail, following part of the old Ottoman Jaffa-Jerusalem rail line. Once I reached the old railway station, I continued to the Old City walls, and walked up Jaffa street, one of the city's main thoroughfares. Now on my way back to my starting point, I passed major government buildings such as the Supreme Court, and the Parliament building, as well as the Israel Museum and one of the two campuses of the Hebrew University. 

In addition to being a city filled with new and old sites, as well as gorgeous vistas, did I mention that Jerusalem is really hilly? 

Jerusalem is breathtaking both because of its sites and views but also because of its altitude and its hills. While my first 16k walk this trip was tough-due to altitude, hills and perhaps my jet lag, I am pleased to say that after walking around town more casually, virtually every day, I was able to complete my 2nd walk along the same course with much less effort, a mere 4 days later.....I was no longer breathless when power walking in Jerusalem.

Sometimes it happens

Life gets so busy, between meeting the gang to walk on Saturday mornings, and going out for breakfast, then working in the garden to get rid of the fallen leaves.

Sunday was busy too, not sure with what but with the cooler weather, curling up with a book all day, transformed a chilly Fall day into fantasy excursion.

Monday was busy getting ready for the annual TPW dinner. Where did I put those medals from all my races this year?

Before you know it, someone at dinner was asking about where the weekly blog was? Oops, that didn't get written.  No matter, we are all done racing for the season, and Phyllis randomly makes up distances for Tuesday night intervals.

Love the Fall, when training becomes optional, and choosing breakfast options is the toughest part of our Saturday morning.  We are all looking forward to Spring training and races, but don't rush. Downtime is important too.

Stand Up, Don’t Sit Down

Did you know that 8 out 10 people suffer from acute or chronic back pain? I know that better now than I did a few months ago as my husband has been afflicted with and incapacitated by it for the past 4-6 weeks.  For a runner who has been waiting for spring to arrive it is very cruel to be watching everyone else run and walk and not be able to join in.

The root cause for his pain we are sure, is sitting at a desk, even with an ergonomic chair for too many hours, at work and at home. Having a good chair is helpful but we would all be better off if we stood up and moved around at least every 20-30 minutes.

When you aren't confined to a chair, stand up and stay active. By exercising you strengthen those muscles surrounding your spine. Maintaining a healthy weight will also lighten the load that your lower back must bear. With a healthier body overall, you'll feel better and sit a little taller.

One other personal observation: we all need to do more stretching and cross training. Walking is terrific, better on the knees than running, but we need to work harder to stretch – after a short warm up when we start to walk, and more importantly after exercising – regularly and completely. Take as long as 20 minutes after a long walk. Do it, you may even save on massage and physio visits.

Summer is not far away

If you were out in the snowstorm or shoveled snow this weekend, you probably couldn’t imagine that summer will ever return to Toronto, but I have proof that it will.  More on that soon.

After grey and snowy weather on Thursday and Friday it was quite a welcome sight on Saturday morning to wake up to a clear blue sky.  It would almost make you want to get outside and walk.  Well some of us (Mary G, Barb DL and Phyllis) were out there, at 7:30 am to walk in the nicely plowed cemetery. Not….

After we found alternate places to park we set out around the periphery of the cemetery, hoping that by the time we walked around to the Mt Pleasant side, the gates would have opened. Not….

We continued our trek back to the main gates to meet the other walkers.  Along the way we met up with Sherry. By 8:30am we met up with Ann-Louise, Diane, Sue S., Martha and Linda (our newest walker) and checked to see if the Yonge St. gates were open. Not…

So, we led the whole gang on our new periphery route, checking out gates and not being surprised that they were still locked. Resigned to our fate of trudging through snow piles and some plowed/shoveled sections, we set out ambitiously to Bayview Ave.  Along the way, we chuckled at the two energetic runners who had scaled the fence to get into the cemetery; they were obviously younger than we were, and oblivious to the fact that they were actually trespassing!

On our return via Merton St to where we started, we joked that according to Murphy’s Law, the gate will likely be open, and low and behold, it was! Sue, Mary and I couldn’t resist walking once around the cemetery, and we were rewarded with a snowy blanket covering all the grass, and beautifully plowed roads.

While I did not walk my full 24k, I followed the winter walking rule of walking safely rather than worrying about speed - walking for the time I would have done normally, rather than worrying about covering the distance.

Summer…yes, it will come.  I know it because I received an email from the Midsummer Nights Run folks, who said that the race registration is now open. If you are planning to be in town on August 17^th, sign up now. The rate goes up on March 31^st. We always have a good number participating in both the walk and the dinner to follow. If we ask nicely, Rorie might even invite us to her pool the next day, as she so graciously has done in the past few years. 

Why do we walk?

West on the Lakeshore PAST the gazebo

Recently, I’ve walked  a few times from my house to High Park to meet up with the 8AM group, knocking 10k off my distance at the same time. Walking on your own gives you lots of time to think and talk to yourself. One of today’s topics was ‘why do we walk’.

The majority of the group, as I have observed, walks as a means to an end – if I walk with the group, then I can eat a hearty breakfast (which sometimes consists of more calories than were burned…). Some of that group trains for a particular event – 10k, 15k, 21k, and so distances are determined based on the published schedule.  Others just come out for the fun! I’d say all of us enjoy the social connections and friendships that have developed over time.  I sometimes call this group the “walking couch” – I always come home from walking less stressed as I had someone to share my woes with.

A very small percentage of us train for marathons, and I am excited that Ela and Helen S. will be racing in the Marine Corps Marathon with me on Oct. 28^th. If you have never completed a marathon, here’s abrief run down.

Training for a marathon is hard work, no doubt about it….but very exciting and satisfying when we reach the starting line. We follow a 16-week training program, with training regimens 3 days a week. We are performance athletes, and think about the race all the time as it affects our sleep (did we get enough) and the food we eat and drink.  The weekly mileage also takes a physical toll on our bodies. Mentally, you may not realize how much of a game you have to play to convince yourself to get up at 5:30am to get out the door, too.  Marathoners also notice that mileage is a relative thing….a month or so ago, 24k seemed to be an achievement, now its celebrated as a light week, as we vary between 24k, 27k and 32k for our longest walk of the week.  Before we know it, we will start ‘tapering’, cutting back our mileage to allow our bodies to rest and our brains to get excited as we think about the marathon being only a few weeks away.

Completing your first marathon is a life changing event.  Completing your second or seventh is almost as exciting. No one says you have to walk fast (most races allow 7 hours to complete the race) but you have to complete it to say that you are a marathoner… Many of our members are marathoners, and I personally hope that we will have more TPW’s walking and training for a marathon.

Garage Sale at Carol's

This Saturday TPW held a very successful garage sale.  Its success was three-fold.  Firstly, we raised $850 for Women’s Habitat ! Secondly, most of us managed to resist the urge to bring home more garage sale items than we got rid of! Thirdly, we helped the neighborhood contribute items to the Diabetes Canada truck that picked up bags and bags of clothing and multiple boxes of leftover items from our sale. Kudos to Rorie, Linda, Lee and Carol for an awesome event, and to all of us for participating actively and raising money for a good cause.

Last but not least, good luck to our racers in next week’s Kitchener-Waterloo Walkers Classic – the only walker only half marathon! We’ll be thinking about you as we walk our distance next Saturday.

Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

We’ve been waiting for this all winter…July is here, and unfortunately so is the heat and the haze. We shouldn’t complain we should get out there and enjoy it while we can.

I noticed the difference in temperature and humidity this Saturday as 6 of us met at the Grenadier at 7am to walk.  We were there for a variety of reasons – beat the heat, places to go and things to do, had a long distance to do.  Regardless of our reason for being there early, it was great to have company.  We had approximately 1.5 hours to walk before meeting up with the other group at the foot of the hill at the Lakeshore. Rorie suggested that we go straight down to the lake.  Good idea…cool and peaceful.

We walked west to the gazebo and back completing approx 8k by the time we met up with the other group.  We lost a few from the 7am group and gained 6 more from the 8am group, and walked out to the gazebo, again. It was remarkable how much warmer and more humid it was on our second time out there. We were happy to head back up the hill to High Park’s shady paths and roads, and of course, to breakfast.  

Keep ‘walking the distance’

No poetry or gushing words about how wonderful you all are….just excitement.

As you know, I enjoy walking, and at times leave people in the dust because my feet just need to move fast.  I’m looking forward to all the fast walkers that are coming up behind me, or have even passed me.

I’m excited with our walkers – new and veteran who are taking power walking so seriously.  I’m guessing that two rounds of training with Lee Scott had something to do with it.

I’m excited with the terrific walking and racing that has been going on all summer and fall. Many Personal Best’s (PBs) have been earned this year.

I’m excited to be celebrating at our year-end dinner on November 21^st, with all of you and your medals. Be sure to wear all of them, so others can be inspired.

I’m also excited with the plans that are being made for the spring and the winter.  If you’re going to Big Sur, you have to train all winter, and many of us will be training with you to keep you company on those long winter walks. The cool jacket for “Chilly Half” is an incentive as well.

I’m excited and hopeful that we’ll have a few brave souls who will train for and walk a marathon this year. Personally, I’d like to go to the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington next October, and I don’t want to do it alone! I can however be convinced to do a different marathon, if the dates work out.

Looking forward to an exciting 2012!

Getting ready for Fall

I know that I am rushing the seasons, and we have barely experienced spring let along summer (wasn’t Saturday an absolutely gorgeous day!!)….but training for a race involves planning 12-16 weeks out.

We’re in the middle of our May racing season, having completed races in Pittsburgh and Toronto in mid May and the Toronto Women’s Half at the end of this month.  We are meeting on Monday May 30^th (Harbord House, 6:30pm) to set our next goals for the Fall.

We are encouraging everyone to complete a half marathon in the Fall, specifically on September 25^th.  There are two choices – the Kitchener-Waterloo Walkers-only race or the Island Girl Half (on Toronto Island, mainly women but not exclusively).

It’s so much more fun to train together, commiserate about the miles on a Saturday morning at 7am and then celebrate with breakfast on the patio of the Grenadier Café, together. We have a few first-timers and they are counting on our experienced racers to help them through the intricacies of what to eat, and drink, and when, what to wear in all kinds of weather. No matter what your pace is, you are experienced if you have completed the distance in a race…

We’ll also talk about shorter races to keep us motivated through the summer, one of our favorites, with great gear and water bottles at the finish line, along with a medal is the Midsummer Night’s Run (August 20^th).  We usually celebrate with munchies at a pub somewhere nearby.

We’re looking forward to walking and talking our way up and down the shore of Lake Ontario, and up and down the Humber river, with you this summer.

P.S. Don’t forget our third and last training with Lee Scott tonight at 6:20pm at Mt Pleasant Cemetery.

Good turnout for a cold weekend

A quick note to update the blog -

We had terrific turnout on Saturday, 16 bundled up walkers, walking fairly quickly around the cemetery. We applaud everyone's committment to walking, but especially those who were taking CPR training later that morning - it would have been quite easy to stay in bed an extra hour or two.

The next morning was even colder but some TPW walkers were out there.  Many thanks to Helen B from Shorethings for taking this photo from the finish line of the 8K Robbie Burns race.  It doesn't look too cold to me.

Spring is apparently around the corner, according to Helen S. We will be posting the half marathon training schedule soon, and the weekly details are contained in the training sidebar.  As Helen indicated, we'll focus on Tuesday and Saturday distances for now, and re-introduce Thurs. night walking when spring really comes!

Starting in February some of us will be joining the racewalkers meeting at High Park with Stafford and Lily.  If you are planning to come, great!  If you're not sure, come and check it out. We will meet at the Grenadier Cafe at 9am!

Back to Reality

It was great to see 12 of us out on the snowy Saturday morning at the cemetery. What troopers! I understand that a few more were coming for breakfast too.

It was nice to be back with our supportive gang. I shared stories from Goofy (see Helen’s perspective below), discussed arrangements for Boston with Lee and talked about the Google group with Margie – all in 6k!

Time marches on, and races keep on happening…we have a large crew racing in the Robbie Burns race in Burlington on Sunday Jan 23rd. We need people to cheer them on too! Plans are also in place for racing in Pittsburgh in May (contact Barb DL), in addition to volunteering at THE Boston Marathon (contact Lee).

For the bulk of the winter most of us will be walking at the Cemetery on Sat. mornings. A few of us are taking advantage of the quiet of winter and will be starting race walking training to tune up our form and potentially speed up our walking. We’ll be walking from High Park on Saturday mornings. No experience is necessary, feel free to join us. Contact Phyllis for further info on time and cost.

This post is brief so you can have time to read Helen’s Disney Goofy travelogue. In short – the race was terrific, we’d all do it again….in a heartbeat.

Happy Holidays!

Our blog writers have been so busy this holiday season that we have been remiss in posting as often as normal.  We all need a break from the routine sometime. That includes walking as well.  It appears that most of our walkers were walking elsewhere, or in their sleep this weekend. We all need to sleep in a little too.

Our Goofy walkers are tapering for their Jan 8-9th mega walking event.  They are working on coordinating and communicating travel arrangements with each other and ensuring that back-up plans are in place if we get the mega storm or some facsimilie that walloped the Northeast recently.  The perils of winter racing extend beyond warm clothing and the wind chill factor.

If you are planning to join a group of TPW walkers who want to volunteer at the Boston marathon (Monday April 18th), be in touch with Lee who is coordinating the volunteer application.  Don't book flights yet until we know that they want us!

Others have been planning the Pittsburgh racing weekend (May 15), trying to find suitably located hotels, and decide if they are walking in the relay or the half marathon. Given the approx. 7 hour drive, the travel details need to be worked out in order to decide which race to sign up for.

It's good to have goals to work towards through the winter, as we walk shorter distances and give our bodies a rest. Don't worry about the distance you go for a little while, walk for a specific time, enjoy the company of your fellow walkers, get to know the new folks, share with them why we keep on coming out week after week. The important thing is just to come out and walk! (breakfast is important too).

So come out this weekend - we're walking New Years Day, at 8:30am - once around the Cemetery, and that's it! (even for Goofy).  On Sunday, we'll walk for 10-12k, same time, same place.

I hope to see you out on Sat/Sun - even if its raining or snowing....

Still training after all these months (with apologies to Paul Simon)

What were we thinking when we signed up for Goofy? Did we know that the weekend before Christmas we were going to walk 35k? (at least it isn't the weekend OF Christmas...). We're crazy, but we'll get through it.

I'm sure the training will pay off but it was hard to get into walking 26k this weekend along the Lakeshore, again. We (Ela, Lorna and Phyllis) were fortunate to have company for part of our route as we were joined by Bev, Martha, Mary W. and Rorie. Helen almost had to walk her distance alone but Rorie convinced her that despite oversleeping, she could still meet up with the walkers (which she did) along the Lakeshore. Our fifth Goofy walker Susan B was laying low, nursing an ankle injury.

Conversation at brunch was quite animated as many of the walkers chatted with Stafford Whalen of Ontario Racewalkers about how he can improve our walking speed when we learn their technique. We'll talk more about that at our dinner.

According to Sue, our Mt Pleasant reporter, there was also a good turnout at 8:30am at the Cemetery, including some new faces. It's great to find new folks interested in walking with us. Keep up the good work on the TPW intake, Sue!

Next Saturday is our Habitat for Humanity work day for those who have signed up. We have space for one or two more volunteers if you are free on Saturday. Even if you are not signed up, you can always help out with a financial contribution.

Tuesday, Nov 30th is our year-end dinner. If you haven't sent in an RSVP, please do so, NOW. It'll be fun - 6:30pm at Harbord House

We're looking forward to seeing everyone on Nov. 30th - we need to plan out 2011! (as well as find folks that will walk part of the distance with us on Dec. 18th!)

New York, New York

Applications opened yesterday for the 2011 ING NY Marathon.

If you want to see a well-managed race with spectators cheering from every nook and cranny of the course, you need to apply. There will be approx. 45, 000 others on the course with you, but from the back of the pack, it’s not shoulder-to-shoulder as it appears in the photos.

Five bridges to cross, stepping into all five boroughs of New York City. The most notable bridge is the first, the Verrezano bridge, with a slight incline and 1.5 miles from end to end. It takes you from Staten Island to Brooklyn.

You’re done half of the race by the time you leave Brooklyn, then walk a few miles in Queens, and enter Manhattan for the first time across the Queensboro bridge (59th street). The walk up First Avenue to the end of Manhattan seems longer than the four miles it really was, but between the crowd cheering, and the gels they gave out at mile 17, you find strength to go over another bridge to the Bronx for one mile.

Bronx was much better than I imagined, and the mile in the Bronx went by quickly. I’d forgotten there was a wall at mile 20 in the Bronx until someone’s sign reminded me that we were ‘through the wall’.

Across another bridge and I could feel slight excitement in my body as we headed back into Manhattan.. From the enthusiastic spectators in Harlem, the crowds kept growing as we headed down 5th Avenue to the last few miles in Central Park. Before you know it, we exit the park for what feels like a victory lap, with throngs of cheering spectators for the last 1.2 miles along Central Park South and back into the park to the finish line.

Just when you feel you’ve walked enough, unfortunately you have to walk another 10 blocks past the UPS trucks with checked bags to get out of the park! It gave me time to put a few layers of clothing back on as the air was cooler, and the sun was setting. It was dark by the time I exited the park. It would have been nice to have somewhere to stop and stretch at the end, but walking slowly was a nice relief as well.

A lovely well supported race. I would strongly recommend that you apply for it now as it may take you 4 years to get in!

Farewell to High Park

Thirteen TPW’s met at the very civilized hour of 8am at High Park, for the last official Lakeshore walk for 2010. We walked 8-15k, turning around at the Inukshuk or as far as the Music Garden. We even ran into Rosemarie and David heading off to the Zoomer show at the Ex! We hope to see more of them and others at our year-end event. See below for more on that!

This marks the end of the official training season for most, as we head back to Mt Pleasant Cemetery for our 8:30am walks. We’re still walking on Tuesday evenings, but have gone back to our Rosedale location as the Reservoir is too dark (see sidebar for details on where we meet).

Important dates:

• Nov. 27th – Habitat for Humanity – We have room for friends and family.
• Nov 30th – Year-end dinner at Harbord House. We’ll celebrate the year that was and make plans for 2011. We are considering the Boston Marathon – no training will be required! Please come with all your medals from this year. RSVP please.
• Jan 8/9th – First race of 2011 – Goofy - Marathon and a half, Orlando FL

Contact Sue at tpw@rogers.com to sign up for Habitat (6 spots left) or the year-end dinner.

We’re looking for volunteers to help write the blog next year. As you can see, it’s not that difficult!

Congrats to all for another successful year.

No Complaints

Who can complain about this weather? It was a glorious morning for walking – sunny, moderate temperature, and very little wind. Not only that we started at 8AM, and only walked 13k!

It was a well deserved reward for Rorie, and Mary who are tapering for their marathon next weekend. Susan and Lorna are also in the same race. Woohoo!

The race is on Sunday, it starts from Mel Lastman Square at a civilized 9am and ends at Queen's Park (around 3ish for the marathoners). Come and cheer them in! We’re coming to the end of racing season for most of us.

The plan is generally as follows:

· Saturdays in October will continue at High Park at 8am. We move back to Mt Pleasant Cemetery in November (8:30 start) until next April.
· Tuesday walks continue until the end of October as well.

‘Goofy’ walkers (or anyone else who is interested), will continue walking from High Park as long as the weather permits, with an 8am start as well. This will be our ‘long walk’ day, and you can do your short walk either on Friday or Sunday as we try to simulate the back-to-back walking effort required for the marathon and a half race.

A few other dates to note:
· November 27th is our Habitat Build. Deadline for TPW signup is this week! Please contact Sue at tpw@rogers.com. We have committed to 20 spots and will open up the remaining ones to those that are attending and want to bring someone along and then to others.
· November 30th – our year–end ‘black and medals’ dinner at Harbord House. Further details to follow, but mark your calendar. If you have a friend or colleague who is considering joining us, bring them along. Don’t forget, wear ALL your medals from the current year.

Whether you’re racing or not – keep walking the distance, keep walking...

Why we train

I’m sure we’ve all asked ourselves this question, especially when it’s early and dark on a Saturday morning in the Fall, or early Spring.

We train because on race day, we want to finish ‘upright and smiling’. We don’t want to be limping across the finish line, or require medical attention after we get there. We want to be well trained to ‘walk the distance’, and still be able to celebrate our achievement with family and friends. We train because you never know how you are going to feel on race day, or what the weather will be, whether they will have Gatorade on the course, or not. You don’t know if your source of inspiration (your music) will conk out or not. Whatever happens, on race day, be prepared to adjust – your effort and your expectations.

This weekend our walkers were out there – in Toronto at the Scotia Half, and in training at High Park, and in Waterloo at the first walkers only half marathon.

Kudos to Bev and Jackie for a blistering finish at Scotia. They more than met their time goals. Laurel and Sue cheered them in. They also met Carol and some of her pals at the 5k finish, and despite Carol's lack of training, she was all by herself in a group of runners and finished very strongly. They also cheered in Laurel's beau, Jeff who finished in great spirits and good time.

Helen, in her role as marathon ‘sweep’, walked the first half with the back of the marathon pack, who were primarily first timers. As to be expected, she motivated them to move faster, by the time she left them halfway. Helen was pleased to say that she herself did the distance without any problems and felt great, which surprised her as she hadn't walked much at all since July. Goofy isn’t looking so daunting any more! We’re glad that you’re getting back into it Helen!

On Saturday, Susan B. apparently hit her own PB for the same distance, training far from the madding crowd. She is well placed for her full marathon in a few weeks. Diane & Sue enjoyed an 8am start from High Park (they'll be there at 7am next weekend) and did a respectable under 9k out to the gazebo and back and then had breakfast.

Meanwhile in Waterloo, over 200 walkers assembled at 7am for a very quick start to the half marathon. (Note: we arrived at 6:40am, and wondered where everyone was as the start line at Waterloo Square was barren). Six of us were there – Mary, Ela, Lorna, Sherry, Linda and Phyllis. Katharin H joined us for dinner the night before. She says hello to all and vows to back out walking. We’re looking forward to her self titled “Old(ish) woman walking” blog.

The weather was chilly, only 6 degrees, with the promise of a balmy finish line temperature of 9! Some of us were dressed in as many as four layers, while others were in tank tops and shorts. There were four walking judges on the course to ensure we all had at least one foot on the ground at all times, and had a relatively straight leg.

The course was basically a large square through lovely neighbourhoods, including the university and RIM’s campuses. It was a surprisingly hilly course too, but nothing that we couldn’t handle. The fastest race time for this race – not by any of us, for sure, was 2:15! There were also races for five and ten kilometre distances.

It was a race I believe that many of us would do again, and if you stay overnight –it actually feels like a mini vacation.

Next race coming up is the Toronto International Marathon – in mid October. Until then many of us will be training, so that we can handle whatever happens on race day.

P.S. Even if you are not racing, please come out and walk, whatever the distance, we need you to keep us company.