I’ll be racing in Toronto this weekend. Yep, my first international race since my very first marathon in Florence in 2006. When Krysten of DawinianFail mentioned running it and yelled at me through Twitter to come North and enticed me with TimBits (want to see what TimBits are?), it was a wrap.
We’re doing it big!
We’ve got a massive gathering arranged for the expo and pre-race dinner. Fellow bloggers, friends, FitFluential crew and runners are coming out to play. When I say the pictures are going to be EPIC, I’m not joking. Prepare to see numerous photos flying around on Twitter and Instagram. I’m going to do some name dropping so you get a feel for what is going down:
@DarwinianFail, @CandyFit, @redrunningshoe, @dextweets1, @eatspinrunrpt, @RobynBaldwin, @LifeAfterBagels, @trulyjess, @fitcheerldr, and MORE. Sorry, if I forgot to give you a shout out.
Race expectations:
I ran a 50 miler a three weeks ago, so my legs should be fine with the distance. Speed? That may be another issue. My body may have become accustomed to a slower, more consistent pace for climbing and descending mountains. I ran a 3:54 on a hilly course in March and if I can channel that pace on a mostly flat course, a PR is a possibility. I’m going to put 3:45, but you know I’d like that number to be lower. Ha.
Tutu what?
I’m going to blame Krysten for this one. She mentioned running in tutus awhile back and I tried to deflect saying “yes” for awhile. One thing about a runner who is also training for a tri, they are persistent. Recently, when she mentioned rocking Boston blue and yellow tutus, the answer was an easy yes.
How far is that?
You’re welcome. I love Eddie Izzard… one of my favorite stand-up comedians.
So the metric system… I know the rest of the world is on board, but my education in the US, has not prepared me for this. Okay, that’s not true. At some point in school we had to learn how to convert, but if you don’t do it regularly, you simply forget. Rather than seeing 26 signs marking my miles, I’ll get 42 every KM. I’ll also have to figure out how warm or cold 18 C is… that number seems low when you are used to 60 F.
Good times.
I haven’t been this excited about a marathon in awhile. It’s going to be full of fun and energy with all of us racing different distances and I’m looking forward to meeting all of these wonderful people in real life.At least I won’t have to worry too much about grammar and typos or keeping the conversation under 140 characters.
Any messages I should deliver?
If you could race anywhere in the world, where would it be?
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I honestly love racing in New England…then again I’ve never raced any where else! I would love to race somewhere flat…like really flat! There are a few destination races I would love to do like in Seville, Spain or Bermuda!
PR I am so excited to meet you!!! We finally get to FUFACE together!!! 2 more sleeps!
It’s going to be so much FUn!
THIS I cannot wait to see!! :-)
:)!
How exciting and awesome! I can’t wait to see all of the pics!
Good luck :)
Holy cow am I jealous! Sounds like complete fun. Can’t wait to see the tutus. ;) Good luck figuring out the metric system. I long forgot it!
Give everyone big hugs for me and have so much fun (well duh!)!!!! What an epic event!! xoxo
What fun!!! I can’t wait to see all the pics & read all the stories! I am not a racer but I have always wanted to visit New Zealand & Switzerland.. not to race tough. ;)
You guys are going to have so much fun!!! Wish I was joining you, but I’ll live vicariously through your tweets, etc. Please give FU and Krysten big hugs from me!
i’m beyond jealous and envious. But I’ll be there sherpa’ing in spirit, k?
Krysten, you, tutus. Dang, jealously excited over here. Seriously, you’ll be hugging her all weekend for everyone, but please give my favorite bionic badass a big hug.
Looking forward to twitter/instagram stalking my way through the weekend. ;)
J.E.A.L.O.U.S. That’s all I have to say. I so wish that I could join the fun!! Especially if you are going to be wearing a tutu!!! :-) Have fun. Lots of pictures please.
I am SERIOUSLY JACKED! And I WILL collect on that massive hug. Oh and the course is mostly downhill and finishes flat so you’ll have that in your favour as well!
Looking forward to meeting you. I hope you really like our city and the race!
So much fun! And just because us Canadians are so nice and all, there will also be mile markers out on the course :) No need to worry about converting – which is a good thing for me because this Canadian gal runs in miles too!
If I could run anywhere it would definitely be Ireland!
Enjoy my city! It’s a fun race through the city.
And welcome to the metric system…
So exciting!! I might be just a tad bit jealous ;-) Enjoy enjoy enjoy!
Seriously awesome weekend! You guys are gonna have way too much fun. Can’t wait to hear all about it!
Countdown to Sat night is on!
Good luck tomorrow and thank you for the kind words of advice – will be resting up and attempting to stay off the foot as best as I know how… It was great to meet you tonight! Say Hi to the Mrs for me.
I want to run a race in France someday.
Ah you ran in my hometown! How’d you do? Isn’t it a great city?
Great to meet you after the race! I was one of the ladies who accosted you in front of the Princes’ Gates as you were having your picture taken. Sorry :)