Ocean Breeze Trail Run 5K

This was the 4th year for the Ocean Breeze Trail Run. This race will always be near and dear to my heart – it’s the first 5k that I ever ran and started me on my running journey and it’s sponsored by Liam’s school.

Held at the beautiful Lawrencetown Beach, the 5k route follows the Atlantic trails inland. Which means that you quickly lose the fresh ocean breeze and move onto the unshaded path. It’s a great spot to run; crushed gravel trail, mainly flat, beautiful views... it’s just HOT. I thought that the year of the near-hurricane conditions was the worst weather, but I’ve decided I hate running in the heat even more. This year they had 2 water stations set up – at the 2.5K turn around and again at the 4K mark. I don’t think I would have managed the last kilometer if there hadn’t been cold water there for me to dump on my head.

This year I ran it with my friend Nicole. This was her first 5K. She tore her ACL a couple of years ago and was waiting for a surgery date to have it replace (which happened out of the blue 3 days after the run!). We trained together once a week for the past couple of months. She did great! She had a sexy looking knee brace and was able to run pain free once we figured out her tight calf muscle issues. If anything, my speed held her back. But we started together and finished together in 48:28 minutes. Not my best time, but I was very pleased with it given the heat.

Sole Sisters 5k

Sole Sisters is Canada's largest women only race.  Capped at 3000 participants it sells out every year, so this was the first year I was able to register in time.  They are known for their purple colour scheme and their tutus.  I love me some purple - I even dyed my hair to match, but I've never worn a tutu in my life.  Apparently I can pull the look off!

It was an amazing scene of purple clad women making their way to the starting line.

It was a fun run, not timed and included a chocolate station and hug station that had a shirtless, buff firefighter giving out hugs to encourage people at the 3k mark.  He only got a high-five from me!

I met up with 2 friends that I've been running with - Grace and Teresa. We got separated from Grace before the race started and I encouraged Teresa to run at her own speed.  This was her first ever 5k and she nailed it!

I ran a good race and finished in 46 minutes, which seems to be my new 5k time.  The best part was crossing the finish line and having Grace and Teresa there to cheer me on.