I should have known! I learned a rule about my job a long time ago.  NEVER MAKE PLANS AFTER WORK!  So, silly me, what do I do?  I plan a #TYS10K training run with Parkdale Roadrunners after my 6am-6pm shift!

Just as Murphy’s Law of EMS would dictate I got a call near the end of my shift that put me into overtime…..  You’d think I’ve learned my lesson by now, which I have, but sometimes you just have no choice about when you need to schedule things.  I ended up clocking out at around 615pm (should been about 545pm) which actually wasn’t that bad since The Parkdale Roadrunners run every Tuesday at 8pm sharp.  The only other speed bump was that I offered to pick up fellow Digital Champion Allison Miceli.  I had just enough time to change in to my running gear and high tail it out of my base and head downtown.

The Parkdale Roadrunners take a lot of pride in the fact that they will never turn anyone away!  If you want to run with them you show up and they will welcome you with open arms

EVERY TUESDAY. 8PM.

RAIN OR SHINE. ON TIME.

NO ONE LEFT BEHIND.

I arrived in the city at exactly the time Allison and I had planed; Thank You traffic gods!  We found parking, slightly farther than we liked, and headed into Community54.  WOW it was parked!!!  This to me is a sign of an amazing running crew!  Allison and I snaked our way through the sea of other runners in the store and we were able to briefly meet Melissa Doldron, Jess Colins, and the amazingly talented Digital Champions Manager Jenna Pettinato.

The group was quickly quieted down and gathered closer so that a rep from Parkdale Roadrunners and Alan Brookes could speak.  The welcomes were made and the instructions for the run given.  An announcement from the organizers that the group had collectively raised over $10,000 towards Ronald McDonald house in honour of one of their members that needed their services!  Way to go!  Alan was then called up and he gave a very motivating talk to all of us pumping us up for the nights run and the upcoming #HSROT & #TYS10k.  He also told us about the subliminal messages that are printed onto the Canada Running Series Medals.  You’ll have to register and complete a race to get your own and find out what it is for this year though 🙂

Alan Brookes rally the runner before the 8k run

Very quickly the group was then ushered outside for a group photo (remember the whole “ON TIME” part of their slogan).  Something they do a lot of before their runs.

Can you spot me in the group?

It wasn’t long after the pic was done before the group just stood right up and started running!  Holy crap!! I didn’t even have my Garmin turned on!!  Lesson learned!! I only discovered after I downloaded the data, how long it took for the GPS to get a full signal!  You can see how long it took here.  It also will show how difficult it is to actually maintain a good signal when you’re running in a city like Toronto!  I didn’t actually run all over the street(zoom the map in) like that and it was supposed to be a complete loop!

Speaking of running in the city; what a new experience that was for me!  I found out in a hurry just how used to running in my quiet subdivision I am!  I really felt like I was running an urban obstacle course!  There are traffic lights to keep track of {oh by the way you may as well just turn off that run/walk setting you have cause with the street lights you be running and walking totally different times and distances than your used to!} pedestrians, cyclists, parked bikes on bike posts, bags of garbage out for morning collection and large tree planters.  So you step off the curb to the road to avoid the big mess oh wait watch out for that crazy cabbie honking at you!

All in all I was able to stay with the lead pack of the long run and push myself to a harder run than I was used to!  Thank you Parkdale Roadrunners for that!  I even managed to get a new record!

I highly recommend you seek out and try running with a running crew at least once!  The Parkdale Roadrunners is an excellent choice if you’d like my opinion!

Have you ever run with a running crew or part of one?

How was your last run?

Have you run in a big city before?

Is it call a #PB or #PR?

#KeepSmilin