5 Races to Run This Year

What I love about races: I LOVE races because the extra people and hyped atmosphere push you to run harder than you ever would on your own or even during a group run. What I also love about running and races is that even though technically it is a “race” where you are competing with people, in reality you are only competing with yourself and your previous times. I have been running since I was 10 years old, always just in school track and cross country and I was never very good. In fact in grade 10 I was dead last (by a lot) in the 3000m track event. It was pretty humiliating, not going to lie, but I am so happy that it didn't make me quit running because as an adult I have found such a passion for it and achieved my own version of success. I’ve run two half marathons and several 5km, 10km, and 16km races. My half PB is 1:48 and my 10km PB is 45:10 (unless you count the Sporting Life 10km, in which case it's 43:29, but you can't really use a downhill race as a benchmark lol). I will run a marathon when I am ready to commit to the training.

Racing mindset: However, competing with yourself can become a dangerous mind game as well. For example I ran the Sporting Life 10km for the second time last year, and I ran it a bit slower than I did the first time and was SO hard on myself. I felt mad and disappointed, failing to celebrate the fact that I RAN a race and that is an accomplishment in and of itself. I wasn’t allowing myself to feel the rush of runner's high or even feel proud of myself or grateful for the ability to run. After that experience I decided I didn’t want running to be a source of negativity for me, because there is no such thing as a bad run, only the ones you didn’t do. You should never not run out of fear of being slow; you’re still faster than someone who didn’t run at all lol! So that being said, these days I’m running and running races just for the love of it, because it is such a fantastic workout, stress reliever and endorphin releaser. If I run some PB’s, amazing, but If not that’s cool too!

This summer I am super excited to do some more races, here are the ones I am hoping to do:

Lululemon 10km: I did this race last year and it was a beautiful run (along the waterfront) and very fun event! It's sponsored by Lululemon so you get a nice Lulu t-shirt. They have pace bunnies and tons of cheering sections which added a ton of fun and hype, including all the Lulu employees cheering while riding stationary bikes! They also had the 416 Beats drumline and my personal fave, the Argos Cheerleaders cheering us on :) Date: June 16th, 2018
Sporting Life 10km: I have run this race twice and it is a super fun and easy race - great for your first 10km because it is all downhill (straight down Yonge St.)! The proceeds go to Camp Ooch to help send kids to camp. You get a nice t-shirt and $20 Sporting Life gift card. Date: May 13th, 2018
Women's 5km & 10km: I have done the 5km once and 10km twice, both are great! All female (except for the odd male including my dad who paced me last year haha), so it's a very fun and supportive atmosphere. It is through Sunnybrook park. Date: August 25th, 2018
Scotiabank Half: I ran this in 2016 as my second half, (two halves make a whole right ;) ) and it was awesome! It's in the fall so the temperature is perfect, not too hot or cold. Highly recommend for a first half since there are so many runners, you will always have people to hang on to. The first half I ran was a very small one in Whitby, so I was on my own most of the race, so this was a much more fun environment for 21km! Date: October 21st, 2018
MEC Race Series: I have not done these ones but MEC has really cheap races. Check out their site for more info! The next one is coming up on May 6th.

Races are more fun with friends so lmk if you are running them too! We can train together!

Marlie GoddardApril 29, 2018