Trek for Tourette’s Race Recap

Let’s begin with the end in mind.

I crossed the finish line, let out a big whoop, and hugged a former clinic participant who crossed the line before me.  It was her first timed race, and her enthusiasm spread to me.  It’s more than just a time.  I crossed that line and felt like I crossed back to myself, to the person remembering nothing is impossible just a little challenging.  If I can meet the challenge, I can do anything.

Today’s challenge consisted of icy patches in Assiniboine Park.

Let’s rewind a little further, to the reason for this event.  Tourette’s Syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by facial ticks, or other involuntary muscle movements.  The most common symptoms actually happen in *10-15 percent of cases where a person may say something inappropriate such as swearing.

The Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada puts on these treks every year.  This is the fifth edition of the event.  Winnipeg decided to partner up with the Running Room to add a 5 or 10 K run.  The folks in Toronto dismissed the idea.  Once again the perception Winnipeggers do not run in the winter rears its head.  Listen, or in this case read, we run in winter.  Winnipeggers do a lot of things in winter, and we have some babies to prove it.  If today proves anything this run will happen again next year with fingers crossed.

The smartest thing this event did was start the 10 K people first then us 5 K trekkers.  No muss, no fuss, and most importantly no chaos.  The horn blew after the gazelles 10 K runners passed by signaling our turn.  Remember last Sunday’s run?  The one that knocked me sideways?  Well, I had two simple things to establish:

1. Get the first 10 minutes under my belt.
2. Pick up my feet and keep them up.

Occasionally I did have to shuffle.  While the park had most of their concrete sanded down, quite a bit happened overnight after a mild Saturday.  Around the 2-3 K mark the snow started to fall.  This time the air stood still as big, cottony flakes fell to the ground.  People did groan at the sight, but it looked really beautiful.  I had to balance admiring the beauty without slipping and falling on an ice patch.

The event also reminded me about the fun had running with someone.  J ran beside me, ran ahead of me, then finished ahead.  I started to run out of gas a little towards the end.  If this was a 10 K I would be in a bit of trouble, namely the next lap would have felt like hell.  It means 10 K training must happen as laid out in the plan.  No excuses. (Alright, allow for unexpected life events.)

Now to go from running to Hobbits.  I sense a Midweek Geekiness post.

Foot Notes: