16 Runs with 16 People: April Update (Part 2 of 6)

Hello from the Leslie Spit!

Run with Friend #10: Tommy Thompson Park

Date: April 3 2016, first time running the Spit!
Temperature: -15C
Distance: 12K

I didn't know Karen at all until a week before we ran together on that fateful Sunday, although I'm sure some of you reading this know her as @karengeterdone on Instagram and Twitter. Karen reached out to me on Facebook and her message was simple; she wanted to run with me! I immediately responded and we planned to run together a week later. We decided to run the Leslie Spit since I had never run it before and it was close to Karen's neighbourhood. All of this seemed almost too easy to be true! But

I was super excited to run with her partly because she was the first person to reach out to me since I've started telling people about my goal of "16 runs with 16 people"! She wanted to run with me! A total stranger! But the feeling was definitely mutual. During our initial series of back and forth messages, I let it slip that I was "just" running a half marathon as part of the Ottawa Race Weekend in May (which she also happens to be running) and she didn't let me get away with it. "Did you say 'Just' run the half?" Funny thing is, I remember myself saying the exact same thing to another runner not too long ago. Great minds think alike! (Even though great minds can be hard on themselves sometimes.) Karen also has a blog documenting her athletic adventures as a runner and mountaineer (her first love!), and she is also pursuing a similar goal of running with more running groups this year. Through our short exchange, I could tell that I wanted to get to know more about the person behind the positive voice!

Running with Karen was such a great time! 12K flew by in no time! Unlike me, Karen trains a group regularly, the Adaptive Running Academy. During our run, we did some sprinting up the hill that leads up to the beautiful lighthouse, and she also told me about fasting days where she wouldn't eat anything but 10 almonds after a morning run, and then run some more late that day with no additional food intake. As if that wasn't scary enough, she also said that her coach once had her sprinting for 8 minutes. 8 minutes straight! I don't know about you, but just hearing that has me gasping for air. Behind that big smile, Karen is also one tough cookie!

Karen and I are both training for the Ottawa Race weekend and are taking a similar approach: no tune up races, just steady training. For me, running Ottawa has turned into an opportunity to spread the word about #JPsTeam. For Karen, the Ottawa Marathon will be the spring marathon that she has long been training for. WE GOT THIS KAREN!! I feel so happy that we met and look forward to seeing her friendly face in Ottawa in less than 3 weeks!! There's no doubt in my mind that we'll be catching up on our race experiences over a weekend run after our time in Ottawa.

ALSO: Please don't believe Karen when she tells you her age. For a reason that is beyond me, her reported age is a whole decade added onto what her youthful appearance suggests. ;)

16 Runs with 16 Friends: April Update (Part 1 of 6)

April 2 was World Autism Awareness Day! What better way to celebrate it than by running a Virtual Autism Awareness Race with friends who also love those with Autism?

Run with Friends #8 and #9: Autism Awareness Virtual Race

Date: April 2 2016, my first time running a virtual race!

Temperature: -1C

Distance: 5K

Michael, Danny and I love those with Autism!

When I saw that someone was ordering bibs and medals for a Virtual Autism Awareness in April, I immediately thought that I should find some people to run this with. I saw that Michael and Danny were interested in this event, so we connected and soon set a date to run together on World Autism Awareness Day!

I met Michael and Danny last summer when we worked at Autism Ontario Kids (AOK) summer camp, but I never knew whether they liked to run or not. Regardless, I'm glad they wanted to run together for those with Autism. We decided to wear our AOK camp shirt to honour the occassion, and to my surprise, Danny showed up in his Vibrams! I've never run with someone in toe-shoes until that day we ran together! We even ran into a guy who Michael identified as working for GoogleMaps because he was carrying a large box on his back (which I thought was a boxed fridge) and walking around with a camera. I wonder if we got captured in the map. Our run together was relaxing and we added a sprint in the last 100 metres! It was really nice to catch up with these guys and I even got to ride in a pick up truck afterwards.

When we worked together as counsellors at AOK last summer, I learned a lot about kindness and patience from Michael and Danny. Danny was the one who inspired me to volunteer for a shift with Habitat for Humanity GTA last year and he's keeping me accountable in my goal of donating blood at least once this year. Michael is highly involved in Ryerson University's Social Work Students' Union and drummer in the band Six at Best (check out their music!). They're both stand up guys who are passionate about giving back to the community in their own way. During our run and chat together, I also learned a few new things from them. But what happens on the run, stays on the run. ;)

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I feel so lucky to have been able to run with 8 people in April! 8! I can't believe it! Special thanks to Jean-Paul Bedard for sharing about my goal on social media and connecting me with some friends of #JPsTeam. ^_^

Unfortunately I've been procrastinating writing about the runs because it's already May and I haven't written about all the runs from April yet! I'm sorry, but I will try my best to get those updates written out within the next few weeks. Definitely before May comes to an end.

Until next time, keep running!