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The TC10K is quite simply an epic race.
For hundreds of people every year, it鈥檚 their first race ever. A triumph of sweat, persistence, and spirit culminating in the delighted discovery that a reluctant walker can indeed become a runner, although you would never describe yourself as that despite the weeks of training and crossing an official finishing line.
With friends and family lining the sidelines with handlettered signs and slogans of support, it is a community celebration that鈥檚 a touchstone for runners of all ages and sizes.
Mothers run with daughters. Fathers push strollers. Co-workers sign up as teams and later congregate for calorie-laden brunches. Spouses wait at the finish line with flowers and hugs.
It鈥檚 a destination race and a hometown favourite. A rite of passage. An annual habit.
And this year, I鈥檓 back where I started more than 10 years ago.
It was in 2003 that I took a TC10K learn-to-run clinic while on maternity leave, using my daughter in her stroller as a convenient forward-moving vehicle to hold onto.
A year later, back at work, I began writing about my running as a public shaming post to get back to the exercise that I had embraced and then ditched as my job pushed good intentions curbside. Signing up for another clinic, and writing about it, kept me honest.
Back then, Paul Martin was prime minister (Stephen Harper had just won leadership of the newly formed Conservative Party of Canada), the 91原创 dollar climbed above 78 cents US for the first time since 1993 and Google introduced gmail.
And here I am full circle. Using public accountability to get me to the start line. (With less money in my pocket, ensnared in email and wondering about leadership in this country.)
After years of training clinics - or as we like to say, coffee clubs that like to run - and 10K races that morphed into half-marathons, I was humbled and hobbled by injuries to stop running last December. Cue the violin music and tears, pull up the sofa. Actually, I heard AC/DC and a challenge.
After weeks of physio treatments and advice for cross training, strength exercise and stretching, I am tentatively running again 鈥� not unlike those early days of 10 years ago when it was walk/run and giddy triumph over short distances of continuous running.
I have my eye on the TC10K. It won鈥檛 be my fastest 10K.
But it鈥檚 the 25th anniversary of an epic race. How could I resist?
