16 Runs with 16 Friends: January Update

Starting off my 16 runs with 16 friends with fellow Hot Potato and Runivore, Stephie!

Run with Friend #1: University District / Puente de Luz / Waterfront Trail (Downtown Toronto)

Date: January 1, first run of the year!

Temperature: Feels like -8C.

Distance: ~7K

Highlights from the run:

Being able to start 2016 with this girl was awesome! Our friendship has really grown since last January when we first met while recruiting for the Hot Potatoes relay team. Long story short: We connected when I Facebook messaged them about running in the Goodlife Toronto Marathon Relay together after reading Runivore's post about running their first marathon at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2014. Stephie said yes and the rest is history. I look forward to more running adventures with Stephie this year (including racing in Ottawa)!

Also, finally being able to run across the yellow bridge that I love was definitely a "cartwheel moment" for me. Too bad we didn't bring a camera! I first saw the "yellow bridge" during one of my trips on the GoTrain a couple years back and immediately fell in love with its design. The way the bright yellow stood out and how the shape acted as a stream of light in the midst of the blue and grey of the condos in the area. Soon after my first sighting, I searched it up and learned that its wonderful name, Puente de Luz, meant Bridge of Light! How appropriate!

Run with Friend #2: Humber Bay Bridge / Humber Bay Park Trail / High Park (Downtown Toronto)

Date: January 16, first time running through High Park!

Temperature: Feels like -6C.

Distance: ~8K

Hello Toronto, from the West end!

Highlights from the run:
It looked like the sun came out that afternoon, just in time for our run! Our route was very scenic, so we didn't hesitate to stop to take photos and enjoy the nature around us (including some duck fights in High Park!). 

On the Humber Bay Bridge!

We conquered some hills in High Park while contemplating what qualifies an incline to be a hill (without coming to any conclusions). Then my friend's inner coach voice came out to push us up a long set of stairs to end our run. We were happy to learn afterwards that we ran further than we expected! We just kept going on the Humber Bay Park Trail, found another bridge and explored a bit before turning back.

At Sheldon Lookout!

This friend and I are in different life stages. She's still in her undergrad, while I am done school and figuring out my way in "adult life". We met by chance last summer and managed to stay in touch since then. I knew that she liked to run on her free time, but it wasn't something that we initially connected over. It just goes to show that asking someone to do something new with you is really inviting them to take part in expanding the horizons of your friendship. And when they say yes, it can be awesome! Just look at our smiles!

Run with friend #3: Tom Taylor Trail (Newmarket)

Date: January 23, that time we ran towards each other.

Temperature: Definitely felt below -12C...

Distance: ~7K

Our hands were shaking 'cause it was too cold to be standing still outside!
It always feels colder when you're not running!

Highlights from the run: 

When I received a text message from my friend saying that he was on his way and I should run along the trail towards him, I knew this was going to be an epic run. We literally RAN TO EACH OTHER.  It. Was. AWESOME. (Caps for excitement, not for aggressive ear-splitting volume.)

I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent here to give some background on this friendship. This friend and I lost touch after high school graduation. To be honest, we never hung out together and I think we'd both agree that we were more like classmates and bandmates (proud bandgeek here!) who shared mutual friends. One of the main reasons we reconnected after 7.5 years (besides me sending a random Facebook message) was because of our shared interest for running. After I gushed about being in training for a half marathon (because I do tell anyone who is willing to listen/has ears), to my surprise, he shared my enthusiasm for running! We met up last year (for the first time since high school) to run together and I felt so much renewed energy from reconnecting with this friend because we share the same philosophy about running. No music. No watch. No GPS. Just running for the sake of running. :)

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I ended up running outdoors once a week, for a total of 5 times this January. I don't remember ever running outdoors in January before, so I must say I'm pretty proud of myself. The warmer winter and friend meet ups have helped me dip my toes into winter running! Hopefully, I can keep out this winter running next month! 3 runs down, 13 more to go!