10,000 runners in a sea of orange

May 30, 2005

Yesterday I joined 10,000 eager runners (and walkers) in the Nike RunTO 10K race on Toronto's Centre Island. Even if you're not a runner, unless you've been walking around with your eyes closed for the past 3 months, you're sure to have seen the orange and navy blue ads on bus shelters, in subways, on websites -- they were everywhere.

And man -- what a party! Even the sporadic bursts of rain didn't stop everyone from having a great time. All day music (including live stage acts along the run route), massages, hot tubs, beach volleyball, and good eats pumped everyone up while we waited for the 2:45pm start time. Even Maestro Fresh Wes (guess he's gone back to his old moniker now) was on hand to perform "Let Your Backbone Slide". Apparently he's releasing a new album in August? Who knew?

Everyone was divided into "waves" so that we wouldn't be trampling each other as we followed the course. When our wave finally got started half an hour into the race, I saw some cross the finish line!! Cripes! That's fast. It took me twice that long. As each person approached the finish line, other runners and spectators took pictures and cheered on -- nothing can describe this feeling of exhiliration! Everyone found a way to make it to the end of the race, no matter what. One girl even crossed the finish line on a stretcher!

Now that I finally have a 10K race under my belt, a 1/2 marathon is next!

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