The PB was just the whipped cream on my Starbucks Run for Women

I had the opportunity to run the Starbucks Run for Women in Unionville on Saturday.  This is the third year that Race Director Sara Sterling and her now ten-year-old daughter, Maddy, have hosted the women-only race, having raised well over $50,000 for Plan International’s Because I am a Girl initiatives in the first two years. It can only get better – this year some sponsors, including Starbucks, the Running Room and Multi-grain Cheerios, have come on board enable Sterling to turn it into a national series.

I have to say that it was a well-executed balance of feminism, community and sport.  There were plenty of men around – from fathers, husbands and sons there to support the women in their lives (shout-out to my dear husband who got up at 5 o’clock on a Saturday morning to support me!), to the mayor of Markham, Frank Scarpitti, who thanked us for raising funds for women and girls around the world in addition to welcoming us to his community.  There were firefighters there, but they hung out around their trucks – available if anyone wanted to take a picture, but definitely  not a played-up feature of the day (more on that later).  Canadian Olympic speed skater Catriona Le May Doan gave a fantastic short keynote address about goals that was universal regardless of gender or ability.  The goodies were mostly directed at women, with a lavender coloured tech-tee and lovely Foxy Originals bracelets in place of medals, but anyone could have appreciated the Multigrain Cheerios and single-pot sample of Starbucks Blonde Roast coffee.

The only pre-race irony was when a well-known representative of one of the sponsors, who shall remain nameless, got up to speak.  I know the spirit in which it was intended, because he only has four or five things he says at races – but he probably should have picked something more appropriate than, “At the finish line there will be cameras, so be prepared to smile!  As everyone knows, it’s not how good your time is, it’s how good you look doing it!”

Anyway, the race itself was also very well executed.  The course was beautiful and well marshalled – big round of applause for the wonderful volunteers!  We started out heading south on Main Street in historic Unionville, before making a U-turn and heading into a park on a wide trail.  We emerged back onto Main Street several kilometres later, where the 5K headed for home, and the 10K turned off to head for another park.  Now it could be because it was a perfect, sunny day, but the parks just seemed breathtakingly beautiful – and that is saying something considering my complete lack of attention to detail when I am running a race.  There were a few hazards in this park, however – a woman a little ahead of me on the course was charged and nearly attacked by a Canada Goose protecting a gaggle of goslings – I veered wide here.

There were a few spots where the trail got quite narrow and it was difficult to pass, but the pack seemed strung out enough by then that it wasn’t an issue when I went through there.  There were two more turn-arounds, both leading to an eventual need for the course to make a left-turn across itself.  This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but again, when I was navigating those parts of the course, there were no issues.

Towards the end of the race we ran around a pond and over a bridge before we popped back out onto the road for the final stretch of less than 500m.  There were quite a few people around to watch and cheer so it was a lovely ending to a lovely race.  I was handed my bracelet by a young girl before heading over for a banana and Starbucks oatmeal and coffee.

I am happy to report that, while the day was pretty perfect for me right from the start, the whipped cream on it was a brand new 10K PB – which I rewarded with real whipped cream, on top of a Starbucks Frappuccino from the shop just down the street!

But I am getting ahead of myself – before the frapp, I did, indeed, ask if I could have my picture with “all the good looking firefighters,” to which the one on the far right said, “No, just us.”

Overall, I highly recommend the Starbucks Run for Women.  Consider signing up for Vancouver on June 9, where Jennifer Heil is the keynote, or Calgary on June 23, where Catriona Le May Doan is back.