Unionville Festival 5K June 2012

25:12 (5:02min/km)
M30-39(2) M(35) O(48/214) 

The story of this race is long and interesting. Originally it was meant to satisfy my own ego. I live in Unionville and this race was hosted in Unionville during our annual Unionville Festival. I always call Toogood Pond my "backyard". So I wanted to PB and hopefully sub 25 in my own "backyard". After the good result I got in April's MEC 5k race, I was even more determined to achieve the sub 25 goal. I trained so hard in the month of May, I even doubled my mileage from April to May. To do all this just make my ego happy.

One day we received a message from Tu, to most of Felix's running friends. The message was about Felix was going to move to BC and everyone chip in $5 to register for Felix so he could do this race with us. It's a way to thank him for the past years inspiring and helping us in running. Immediately everybody agreed to register for Felix without Felix and Judy's permission. But the race conflicted with Ride for Heart which Jenn and Ray already registered. We were going to pick Pearson Runway run instead, but the date was so closed to Felix's moving date already. We didn't want to cause him any trouble for his moving job, so we decided to do Unionville together. This race used to have only 5k in distance, but this year they added 10k. Not long after the MEC 5k, I was so pumped up, and I started to check for 5k races not too far away and results. One race I found very interesting was the one in New Market in the end of May 2011. They have both 5k and 10k just like Unionville Festival run. I checked their results from last year and I found out most fast runners were doing 10k. And the top three overall for 5k were 19:xx, 24:xx, 26:xx. After seeing that result, I thought to myself, maybe I had to chance to finish top 3 in my age group. So I was sooooo happy when I heard the everyone else were going to do 10k with Felix. Thanks to them I had more chances to win. Horray!!

On the race day, I was so nervous. I wasn't this nervous when I did MEC 5k in April. Probably I had higher expectation this time. It was just 20 minutes before race, I wanted to warm up but it seemed nobody else wanna warm up. I wanted to warm up because I know I can do better if I warm up properly. I left the gang and went for a jog myself, and I noticed my HR was going at 170bpm. 170bpm for warm up?? What's my race HR gonna be??? 200bpm? I started to worry and I think that actually making my HR higher. I returned to the gang after a jog and I thought "I'm probably going to screw up this race, maybe I should just aim for a PB which is anything faster than a 5:19 pace. I was worried and restless. I just wanted the race to start and get this over with.

Finally the crowd started to move toward the starting line. Within few minutes, the race started. I think I placed myself too far behind. The trail was so narrow and I had to run on grass to pass people. This was supposed to be my backyard, why did I make this stupid mistake. After going for a while, I was able to maintain 5min/km pace for the first 3km. On the 4th km I started to struggle. I was tired and out of breath and started to slow down. I really wanted to stop and walk for a bit, but I knew if I stop and walk, I was probably not going to run again. Suddenly I heard beeping sound from my watch. Oh my, 1km left. That's what I needed to know. It's only 2 and half laps on track, I could finish it. It's like the last set of interval, just bare with it and you'll be done soon. Then I was 400m before finish line, I saw quiet a few people in front of me. I wanted to attack but I had second thought. I started too early during MEC 5k and ended up breathless at the end. I thought maybe I should wait till 200m left. Then I saw group of people in front of me started to speed up but I was still hesitating whether I should follow them or not. Soon they were out of my sight from the right turn and I knew I missed the chance to attack. I ended up sprint to finish line with nobody in front of me for me to beat. But it's okay, I beat my biggest competitor which was myself, my lazy self. I finished the race with 25:12 and I was happy. Even I didn't achieve the goal of sub 25, but at least now I know I can do it. I was proud of myself. And thank you Felix, I wouldn't had done this without your coaching and encouragements in the passed years. And now, no more slacking and start all over each year. I'll keep improving and one day I'll be able to race against my running friends.

This was the biggest win for us. We grabbed total of 5 medals. Felix AG1, Tu AG2, Jack AG3, Daniel AG2, and me AG2. Now we can really claim Toogood Pond is OUR BACKYARD!

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 25:14.3 5.02 5:02 1 4:59.7 1.00 5:00 2 5:02.8 1.00 5:03 3 5:01.2 1.00 5:01 4 5:17.4 1.00 5:17 5 4:51.0 1.00 4:51 6 :02.3 0.02 2:26

MEC Lakeside 5K April 2012

26:58 (5:22min/km)
O(57/119)

After the winter slacking and hibernation, I signed up for Unionville Festival 5K in June with a couple of friends. But I didn't have any race plans before June. I just wanted to take my time to train and hopefully I can hit sub 25 this year. I started to run again since March 1st this year. But it was still 3 month away from June's race so I was taking it easy. In April Felix told me there's a cheap 5K race downtown that I should go to test my strength. I was hesitating on signing up because I was still struggling with 5:45 pace during my workouts. I didn't wanna go if I couldn't do better than before. Thanks to a colder than normal April, my business was not too busy so that I have time to rest. Plus Felix and Daniel kept on encouraging me to go. So I finally signed up for this $10 5K race. I asked Felix what pace should I do for this race and he told me to try 5:20min/km pace. I didn't believe him that I could do it because I was struggling to finish 5K with 5:45 pace during my workouts. So I told myself just to finish the race with 5:40 and I'm happy. The week before the race, I wasn't not doing any workout at all. I rested 7 days prior to race. Not because I wanted to rest, because I have a low expectation for this race and didn't want to run.

Finally the race day, I went to downtown with Daniel and met a new running friend Tu there. Tu was a really interesting guy and he said something that moved my heart. He said "You gotta keep training and keep running, keep signing up for races to keep yourself motivated". I started running with Felix since 2009 and yet I'm still slow and can't do anything greater than 5K because I always lack motivation. Each year I only train for the race I sign up, after the race I become lazy and return everything I trained. Every year is the same. Maybe I should sign up for more races to keep myself motivated throughout the year. I was so glad I came to race today and met Tu. After we talked for a while, the race finally started.  Again, everybody charges out like crazy and 200-300m later I realized I was going too fast. I was already doing sub 5min/km speed even I was already trying to control myself not to charge out with the pack. Then I did what Felix told me, I was trying to control my speed around 5:20. After 1km I still feel okay, probably the cold air from the lake helped me to cool down. Maybe the anxiety helped me to push myself. I was doing better than I thought. Then I found lady with similar pace to follow so I didn't need to keep looking at my watch. After 2.5km turning point, my pace bunny started to speed up and I already started to feel tired. My speed slowed down to 5:30min/km. Then I found another pace bunny, but only this time this bunny was a fat dude. I ran beside him and chatted a few words with him, not because I wanted to chat, just because I wanna relax and calm myself.  400m before finish line!! I could see the banner from MEC!! So I left the fat bunny and started to speed up. But I was going too fast in the beginning and when I was near the finish line, I was already out of breath and had to slow down. I should had done the exactly opposite: gradually speed up and sprint the last 100m.

After crossing the finish line and high-five-ed with Daniel and Tu, I found myself with sub 27 minute finish. WOW, that was totally unexpected! This race gave me exactly what I needed: confidence! It got my heart pumped. And I'm going to keep this up and do better each race. I'm going to quit being a slacker. And I'm going to try my best to achieve sub 25 in June. Time for more workouts.

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 27:01.7 5.03 5:22 1 5:06.8 1.00 5:07 2 5:29.5 1.00 5:29 3 5:26.1 1.00 5:26 4 5:35.0 1.00 5:35 5 5:16.1 1.00 5:16 6 :08.3 0.03 4:25

Pearson Runway Run 5K June 2011

27:52 (5:35min/km)
M30-39(64/139) M(229/507) O(293/1086)

A couple of running friends were planning to do a race together just for fun since Bill Harper run no longer exists. We were going to do Unionville Festival 5K run but the organizer was so rude to Jack some of them decided to do Honey and Bread. Me, Kang and Ray signed up for Pearson Runway run. After last year's Bill Harper 5K result, I was hoping I could improve the time for a little bit. My goal was actually 25minutes. But things were not going as well as I thought. I got bruised heel in May and it hurts a little bit when I run. I tried to rest a week or two but it didn't go away. I couldn't do much hard workouts and eventually I gave up the goal. I just wanted to finish this race and try again when I'm healthy.

On the race day, I still had the bruised heel. I had been over a month and still not 100% recovered. It still hurt when I was warming up at the Pearson Airport. I didn't know if I should race or not because I don't want the injure to become permanent. But I decided to run it, you only live once. This was probably the largest race I've been to so far. Over 1000 participants to run on runways shouting and jumping. And you probably can't find any other courses flatter than this. So the race started, 1000+ warriors charged out, it was so exciting. But the excitement couldn't stop the pain from the heel. I ran with pain for the first 2km and I don't feel pain anymore. Probably the mental torture or pain from the muscle were greater than the pain from the heel. 3km, 4km, and 1 more km till finish line and I was tired already. I had been slacking too much for the bruised heel, I was totally out of shape. I finally could see the finish line in sight. I started to speed up, I felt like i was going to fly on the runway. I felt so good and I was so happy I ran this race instead of walking it. After I crossed the finish line and the volunteer gave me my first ever finishing medal. I was so happy because I earned it. I'll never forget this event, probably going to brag to my grandchildren in the future.

Bill Harper 5K Run Aug 2010

25:15/4.75km (5:19min/km)

After the humiliating last male finish in front of Hooter girls last month, I wanted revenge. I went to Felix and asked for his help for training. He helped me with training plans and how to test my skills, and those brutal interval workouts. Just for that I don't finish as last male again in Bill Harper run. After training for 5 weeks, I was on the Centre Island again. I was so pumped up and eager for race. And for the first time in my life, I actually went warm up for a race. Before I used to think "I can barely finish 5k and you want me to run extra km to warm up? No way!" But after all those workouts during the 5 weeks training, I now warm up every time before I run. It makes huge difference in performance.

It was rainy in the morning on race day and trails were wet. I was worried about the final sprint because wet road may be more dangerous to sprint. But thanks to heaven it wasn't raining at all during the race. So gun fired and everybody's on their way to glory. I was well prepared for this race and put out everything I got. Remember from my mistakes, I didn't get drag by the pack in the beginning too. After 24-5 minutes I could see the finish line. It was a bit short, only 4.75km. As usual I sprinted to finish line, I was about to pass a group of 2 two racers, a female runner in the group saw me and started to sprint too. Seeing that pumped up my blood and I ran even faster. I was catching up and almost pass her, but finish line was right in front of us. I didn't know it's a tie or who actually won but it's okay, the excitements I had was all it matters. I was amazed by myself for the results, I was hoping to do a 27 minute finish but I actually did better. All thanks to Felix's 555 program: Improve 5 minutes in a 5K race in 5 weeks.

Honda Indy 5K Run July 2010

31:24 (6:17min/km)
M(21/21) O(31/42)

Since my first race in last Aug, I had not been doing much of training. I wasn't planning to do any other race then the Bill Harper in Aug. But in this hot summer day in July, Felix told me to go to CNE for a cheap race with him. The Honda Indy will be held during the weekend and we got to run on the race track on Thursday evening. I thought "why not, you don't get to run on Indy race track everyday. Plus Hooter girls will be there cheering." So I left work early on Thursday to CNE for the race. It was 29 degree and high humidity. It was really uncomfortable and Hooter girls are not doing much to cool you down. Thank god they have free Dr Pepper there for us to drink. Finally the race time arrived, but the organizer told us some of the "important participants" got stuck in traffic and will arrive soon. We had to wait under hot weather for much longer. Then they arrived and they started some pre-race competition. It was really dumb and waste of time. I could see a lot of racers are running out of patient. After all the waiting and pre-shows, I was already tired and thirsty, and I wanted to pee so badly. I just wanna get it over and go home.

The track was 2.8km long, so running 2 laps wold be longer than 5km. They asked runners to walk 600 meter forward to make 2 laps 5km. And the rest of walkers and people in wheel chair will just do 1 lap 2.8km. The problem was, there's nobody, i mean nobody, at starting line to direct us. We heard a gun shot from 600m behind us and we had no idea it was for us to start or what? Then we saw the walkers started to walking toward us. We still don't know what to do and some of the runners just started themselves and everyone else followed them. I was running slowly at my own pace and trying to survive. It was really brutal to run 5km in that hot weather plus all the pre-show already tired me. Finally I finished 2 laps and crossed finish line. I finished the race with 31:24 which was the last place for male category. This is the worst race ever, I would never come back here again, even if they double amount of hooter girls.

Bill Harper 5K Run Aug 2009

32:34 (6:31min/km)

Aug 23 2009, it was the race day for Bill Harper 5k. Without much of training but I went anyway. It was my first race, I was nervous. I didn't even know where to pick up race kit and how to pin my bib. But thanks to Felix and Kang, I got everything done. At 10am, race started. I was a newbie and like every other newbie, I got dragged by the pack. I was running much much faster than I could with the pack. But thanks to Kang, he started to tell me to slow down and don't follow the group. We started to run slower but that didn't help much for me. After about 2km, I was tired already. I told Kang to go ahead and I'll finish myself slowly. After 3.5km I had to stop and walk. I was out of breath. Then I started to run again. As I was about less than 1km to finish line, some pedestrian passed by asked me "Which race is this?" I said "I don't know, I just run". Funny, I don't even know why I was running. About 400m to finish line, I picked up the pace and started to run faster. I sprinted passed an Indian guy and sprinting made my face so GY(Taiwanese slang). Since that day, I crowned myself as GY-Face. This was my first ever race, it was brutal, but I finished it. Official time was 32:34. And I LOVE sprinting toward finish line, it just feels so great.

How It Got Started (2009)

Before I Started To Run

I started a recreational cycling group in 2008 and rode with couple friends in that year. Some of our friends got bored with cycling and eventually quit riding with us. In 2009, I discovered a website twbbs.ca and met Felix there. He had a running group every Sunday on Bayview park. Originally I wanted to pull him and his friends to join my cycling group, so I went to his running club a few times to meet people. After meeting him a few times, and with his pushing and encouragements, I signed up for my first race "Bill Harper 5K" on Centre Island. I had zero knowledge about running, training, and pacing. I didn't even train for the race. I was still enjoying riding my bike in the park and trails for 20-30km each ride. Just few weeks before the race, I thought running 5K was easy, I just needed to run a couple times before race then I should be good to go. But I was too naive.