Scotiabank Waterfront Toronto Half-Marathon (Sep 25th to 29th)

What a nice getaway from rainy Vancouver to sunny Toronto for a few days. Even though I didn't feel too good after the 4-hour flight to Toronto, I was still able to enjoy my stay. To be honest, I was so nervous as it got closer to my half marathon race. As I wasn't feeling too well, I had to try to keep a positive mind and to stay focused before the race. Thanks to Ray who was there to help me to get through my nerves and also a few other friends who text messaged and facebook messaged me to give me words of encouragement leading up to the race. This was my FIRST half marathon race and it was stressing me out a little bit but I managed to pull it together and did the best I could on the day of the race.
Ray and I also had the opportunity to do some sightseeing in downtown Toronto. I couldn't remember anything except the CN Tower since the last time I was in Toronto about 10 years ago. Geez....where did the time go!!! On the first two days we walked a lot exploring the city and it was really tiring especially on the legs and feet before the race. So we smartened up and took it easy for the next couple days. We also met up at the Expo with friends from Vancouver who we ran with during the training for the Marathon. It was held at the Metro Convention Centre. There wasn't a great deal of merchandise at the Expo but I did buy a couple of new outfits.

Here are the official race results: Ray finished with a PB of 3:23:55 which placed him at 238th/2532 overall, 211th/1577 for males and 43rd/219 in his age group. Even though he was aiming to get a 3:15:59 to be qualified for Boston Marathon, I still think he did fabulous!!! As for me, I was feeling pretty emotional as I was approaching the finish line. It was indeed a sense of accomplishment for me. I finished with a time of 2:04:26 and came in 3387th/6373 overall, 1415th/3534 for females and 263rd/589 in my age group.

Grouse Grind Mountain Run 2008

Another win this year for team Kung Fu Pandas at the Grouse Grind Mountain Run this morning. Also, a successful race for Grouse Mountain, sponsored by BMO (Bank of Montreal). More than 500 racers participated in this year's race, more than last year. Every year, the popularity of this race draws people from different places to come and take on the challenge of this tough climb.

Every year, I say to myself that this would be the last one for me but of course, I've been doing it for the last 4 years and still saying it after today's race. Although I didn't PB my time this year, I will certainly not give up but it gets tougher every year as I get older. I was a little disappointed about my time in which I was 23 secs slower than last year but I was so happy that our team in the Open Co-ed division won. Great job to all my teammates; Ray, Ethan and William. Well done!!!!

Ethan is my 10 year-old nephew and he was interviewed by a reporter asking him how old he was and what he would say to others doing the Grind. He answered, "Prepare to sweat!!!". I thought it was a great answer :) His finish time was 49:14mins, a PB for him, and came in 247th/504 overall, 199th/351 for males and 4th/12 for his age group.

My brother, William, was about 2 mins slower than last year because he hasn't been able to train a lot ever since he had a baby boy. Nonetheless, he finished with a fabulous time of 51:11mins and came in 261th/504 overall, 210th/351 for males and 57th/94 for his age group.

As for the speedy one of the team, Ray stayed with the fast pack pretty much the whole way and did a sub-40mins, as usual :) He finished with a time of 38:01, coming in 62nd/504 overall, 55th/351 for males and 6th/94 for his age group. Amazing time!!!!!

As I mentioned earlier that I didn't PB this year but I was still able to do sub-53mins even though my goal was to do 50mins but it was a tough one for me. I had been training for my half marathon which is coming up next Sunday, Sep 28th in Toronto. It has been a long and tiring process for me this summer to train for both this race and the half. For my race result, I did it in 52:49mins and came in 278th/504 overall, 53rd/152 for females and 18th/45 for my age group.

Tackling Stawamus Chief

I couldn't ask for better weather today to hike up the infamous 'Chief'. About 15 of us got up early today and started our journey to Squamish in the hopes of getting up to Second Peak and Third Peak. Our abilities of hiking skills ranged from beginner to avid level. There were about 3 of us who had not done any hikes and then the rest of us had done two or more hikes at some point in our lives. Regardless of the different abilities, we still had a good time going up the Chief and everyone made it up to the two peaks. That's all that matters. Good job, everyone!!

This was my 3rd time going up the Chief. Life's more complete now that I've done all the Peaks (1st, 2nd & 3rd). It sure took me 3 summers to do all of them and finally, I did it!!!

The next hiking spot to tackle is Black Tusk at Garibaldi Park. I remember I did it more than 15 years ago but I think I am better conditioned now so it shouldn't be a problem...maybe next summer.

5 Peaks Trail Running Series at Buntzen Lake

The last series of the 5 Peaks concluded today at Buntzen Lake with gorgeous and warm weather. I didn't run this one due to a minor injury on my left calf muscle from my Grouse Grind training last Thursday. I didn't want to aggravate it more because I will be doing my first half marathon which is coming up in 2 weeks in Toronto on Sep 28th. Anyway, today's race was successful with over 400 racers doing either the Sport course at 10k, Enduro course at 15k or half marathon at 26k. With this being the last race of the series, I had the opportunity to take some photos of some of the people I had been running with in the past and also people that I had made friends with from this 5 Peaks. Kathryn (the picture on the right), the owner of 5 Peaks, was nice enough to drop what she was doing and posed for a photo with me.

Here are the race results: Ray finished with a time of 51:34mins at 5th/215 overall, 5th/87 for males and 2nd/22 in his age group. For the points series for the whole of 5 Peaks, Ray came in 1st for his age group and 2nd overall for doing all the series. Amazing job!! What an accomplishment...I am proud of you!!!