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The Shuffler

My sixth Hintonburg 5km – woot!

July 17th, 2012

Loyal readers, I apologize for the utter lack of posts in the last week and a half. I’ve been scrambling to finish my PhD thesis and dealing with a bunch of annoying last-minute wedding details (at press time, I’m still waiting on a shipment of 100 peacock feathers from China). On most days, even if I’d had the energy to write, I’m sure the post would have been a garbled stream of obscenities aimed at whoever was pissing me off that day (e.g., the lady on Etsy who shipped me the wrong pair of shoes). So really, you should probably thank me for sparing you that depressing spectacle. Moving right along…

Last Sunday, I ran my sixth Hintonburg 5km in a row and it was great. My running buddy Renée had agreed to stop by my house at 8:30am before the race so she could get her race kit from me. Now, I should tell you that in the absence of having a “job” or a “normal schedule”, my sleeping habits have worsened quite a bit. How bad are they? For most of my PhD, I’ve slept most nights from midnight to 8-8:30am. Now it’s more like 1:30am-11am. So I wasn’t feeling fantastic at 8am last Sunday. And then Renée showed up 10 minutes early. I forgave her immediately when I saw what she brought with her: a bridal veil covered in glitter with a big feathery headpiece and a T-shirt saying “Bride-to-be” on the front and “6 days until the BIG day” on the back. She helped secure it to my head and we headed off to the race.

Ready to rock at the start line

As you can imagine, the veil attracted quite a bit of attention. I think I heard more “Congratulations” that day than I’ve heard during the entire six months of the engagement. My local MPP, Yassir Naqvi, came up and said some kind words. Unfortunately, my very favourite running politician, Paul Dewar, was Missing in Action. I hope he had a good excusive like a conference or a summit or something.

Conditions on race day were jungle-like levels of heat and humidity, much like they’ve been for the last month or so. We ran a conservative pace. Actually, I should clarify: Renée ran an easy pace for her and I huffed and puffed like it was my first run ever. This is what lots of long, slow miles do to you: It makes 6:45min/km feel like interval pace.

The half-way point (a.k.a. outside my building)

As usual, the race organization was great and the volunteers were enthusiastic. Lots of Hintonburg families were sitting outside cheering and I overheard other racers and spectators saying “bride” or “veil” pretty frequently. My favourite moment was at the 4km mark when a woman sitting with her family sitting outside yelled, “Congratulations to you and your groom!! Or the other bride, whichever!!” Congratulations and an endorsement of marriage equality. I love it. Second-favourite moment was the guy standing outside in a cowboy hat playing his guitar and singing. He was really great. I think the guys who had come outside their house two doors down had come to hear him, not cheer the runners!

Volunteers with water misters - best thing ever!

We finished in about 35 minutes or so. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Hintonburg 5km without some little disaster. As we were standing around, eating our cake, we heard Jeff Leiper, the organizer, announce that anyone who happened to spot a box of trophies should please let him know. After that, I headed home for a nap. I don’t know what to do with my veil but everything in my house had some glitter on it for the next few days, including one of my cats.

 

 

 

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4 Responses to “My sixth Hintonburg 5km – woot!”
  1. Sam Says:

    Love it! Good work, Renee!

  2. Natalie Fraser Says:

    Sounds like fun!

  3. Meghan Says:

    This is such a great post, hilarious as always. How wonderful of Renee to come up with this! And way to go rocking that veil during the race. I regret that we missed it in person (us also being a family of late risers;) Four days to go til the BIG day!! And those damn feathers better get here stat.

  4. Renee Says:

    Thanks again for being a good sport! And, the image of one of the cats with glitter on it is hilarious. That stuff definitely gets everywhere…

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