Day 61 July 6, 2011 Whitby to Toronto 45km
6 Jul
Personal bests!
My cousins Jean and Chris decided last night that they wanted to come with me and run into Toronto. So the four of us started out early and stopped at Tim Horton’s for multiple breakfast sandwiches on the way out to Whitby.
As we started out, both Jean and Chris ran with me. After about 5km they started alternating so that one would run 5km or so and then switch off with the other. It was great for me as I was able to pepper each of them with questions to catch up.
Before today the longest Jean and Chris had run was 10km, but that was soon about to change, and by lunch they had already gone much farther than that. The weather was pretty good for most of the day, despite the fairly heavy downpour that found me running on my own for about 3-4km, the only time I spent running without one of them.
We stopped for lunch, although each of us ordered breakfast at a small restaurant called Interlude just outside of Scarborough. When we restarted running after lunch, I began to quiz Jean and Chris about the places we were running through to see if they recognized them. We actually had to get pretty close, within about 8km of their house, before they began to recognize things. Apparently they don’t go too far East of where they live normally.
As I ran past a large beach just outside of downtown, I got a phone call from 24hr newspaper for an interview. It only lasted about 10 minutes and Jean and I were soon running towards the heart of Toronto. Chris joined in for the last 3km and soon Aida, a girl who worked for Prostate Cancer Canada appeared in her running gear with a blue PCC tie around her neck. We were close now. As we arrived at 1 Queens Quay West we were greeted by a number of people from the PCC who had made signs and come out to cheer us on. It was awesome! At the end of the run, after having never run more than 10km before, Chris had run 21km (a half marathon) and Jean had run 25km!
That night we had a small gathering at Bedford Academy, put on by my good friend Kendra Thompson. I saw a number of people that I haven’t seen in a very long time. I saw friends from medical school in Ireland, friends from high school and college, and a ton of family and family friends. It was a great night!
The MCC did manage to get a parking ticket…
Tomorrow I’ll be on Breakfast Television in Toronto and Vancouver!
My cousins Jean and Chris decided last night that they wanted to come with me and run into Toronto. So the four of us started out early and stopped at Tim Horton’s for multiple breakfast sandwiches on the way out to Whitby.
As we started out, both Jean and Chris ran with me. After about 5km they started alternating so that one would run 5km or so and then switch off with the other. It was great for me as I was able to pepper each of them with questions to catch up.
Before today the longest Jean and Chris had run was 10km, but that was soon about to change, and by lunch they had already gone much farther than that. The weather was pretty good for most of the day, despite the fairly heavy downpour that found me running on my own for about 3-4km, the only time I spent running without one of them.
We stopped for lunch, although each of us ordered breakfast at a small restaurant called Interlude just outside of Scarborough. When we restarted running after lunch, I began to quiz Jean and Chris about the places we were running through to see if they recognized them. We actually had to get pretty close, within about 8km of their house, before they began to recognize things. Apparently they don’t go too far East of where they live normally.
As I ran past a large beach just outside of downtown, I got a phone call from 24hr newspaper for an interview. It only lasted about 10 minutes and Jean and I were soon running towards the heart of Toronto. Chris joined in for the last 3km and soon Aida, a girl who worked for Prostate Cancer Canada appeared in her running gear with a blue PCC tie around her neck. We were close now. As we arrived at 1 Queens Quay West we were greeted by a number of people from the PCC who had made signs and come out to cheer us on. It was awesome! At the end of the run, after having never run more than 10km before, Chris had run 21km (a half marathon) and Jean had run 25km!
That night we had a small gathering at Bedford Academy, put on by my good friend Kendra Thompson. I saw a number of people that I haven’t seen in a very long time. I saw friends from medical school in Ireland, friends from high school and college, and a ton of family and family friends. It was a great night!
The MCC did manage to get a parking ticket…
Tomorrow I’ll be on Breakfast Television in Toronto and Vancouver!
