Legends and Heroes: Terry Fox

One of my heroes was a runner. Terry Fox, as many Canadians know, initiated the Marathon of Hope in 1980 to raise funds for cancer research and support for those dealing with this terrible disease. Terry had an audacious goal: to run across Canada, from sea to sea. This goal is all the more radical in light of the fact that Terry had lost a leg to cancer and had to accomplish his run across Canada on one leg and a prosthetic. The prosthetics in 1980 are not what they are today. Look closely at the video below to see what Terry used for his artificial leg.

Terry ran the equivalent of a marathon every day -- 42.2K/26.2 miles, day in and day out, on one good leg and one prosthetic, wearing running shoes circa 1980 (read: devoid of structural support and comfort). He did not complain. He did not cut corners. He ran with absolute integrity and encouraged every Canadian to participate in this Marathon of Hope. He said "if you've given a dollar, then you are part of the Marathon of Hope". This year, we mark the 30th anniversary of Terry's Marathon of Hope. We'll have more to say about Terry in future posts as we remember his extraordinary accomplishment. His courage, vision, and leadership set a standard for all Canadians and he is a true running legend and hero.

How Not to End a Race

Many of the Go Girls will be running the Sporting Life 10K on Sunday. We've trained. We've prepared. We're ready. At least, we think we are. You know, the one thing we don't really practice is the end of the race: how to cross the finish line. Well, I cannot give many tips on how to cross the finish line, but I do know how not to cross the finish line. Robert Cheruiyot give us all a lesson in how not to finish a race in Chicago in 2006...

Legends of Running: Pre

The Go Girls respect the legacy of the runners that have gone before us. In today's post, we remember Pre (Steve Prefontaine), perhaps America's best ever runner. Not only was Pre great, but he pushed others to be great, too. "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." And Pre made running cool. For that, we are deeply in his debt.

Little things amuse us...

Dressed for Success: The Go Girls Take on Harry's SRO

There are certain races that a person must do in order to participate fully in the Toronto running scene. Harry's Spring Run-Off is certainly one of those races. The SRO has been around for 32 years. It marks the kick-off of the Canada Running Series season in Ontario and is legendary for its hills and its weather. After this year's race, Harry's SRO is now also legendary for the participation of Toronto's favourite women's running club, the Go Girls (i.e. us).

The Go Girls were well represented at Harry's SRO. Mariana, Nana, and I (Theresa) ran the 8K, while Jacquie (JaJa) ran the 5K. Our DH (Designated Husband), Joanna, accompanied the gang to the race and did a fine job of cheering and holding our stuff.

The fabulous Go Girls: Mariana, JaJa, T & Nana

Now you might wonder why two of the runners in the above photo look like, well, runners and two other runners in the photo look like something out of vaudeville. (If you cannot figure out which group of runners is which, then you (a) are likely not a runner and/or (b) don't know what the word "vaudeville" means.) To put this matter in context, you must remember that the race's title sponsor is Harry Rosen, the elegant men's clothier in Toronto. Runners were encouraged to dress up. (To see some of the outfits worn by other runners, see the blog post "Behind the Scenes at a Go Girls Race".) Readers, you should be aware that there was an informal agreement among the Go Girls that they would dress up for the race. The photo should tell you who adhered to the agreement and who did not. More importantly, the photo should tell you who has style and who does not. But just in case you are wondering, the next photo should help you determine who are the leaders in style at the Go Girls. (I make no representations about the type of style, mind you.)

"We feel pretty, so pretty, so pretty and witty and fast..."

In any case, whether dressed as runners or something off of New York's fashion runways, each of the Go Girls had a splendid race. The 8K runners were called to the race corrals by the plaintive sounds of the official SRO bagpiper. That's right: the race had a bagpiper.



I believe the bagpiper was playing "Ode to the Hills of High Park", followed by "Amazing Grace" (the song you want to hear when you are about to feel like death as you trudge up the hills of High Park).

Having been properly chipped,

the 8K Go Girls reported to their race corral and prepared to do battle with the hills.

For the most part, the 8K race went well for the Go Girls. Mariana finished first, with a chip time of 48:48.9, a terrific time. Notably, Mariana finished the race very strong, sprinting up the last hill. Her strong finish made up for the small time lost during the race due to wardrobe malfunctions (see below). T finished close on the heels of Mariana, with a chip time of 49:04.9. Considering that T also had a wardrobe malfunction and spent a bit of time pandering to the "audience" (also known as spectators), T considers her time respectable. Nana achieved her goal of finishing the race in under one hour; her chip time was 59:26.4. Given the challenging course and the unexpectedly hot weather, the Go Girls consider these results to be stellar.

A most welcome sight: the Finish Line!

The 8K went off almost without a hitch for the Go Girls. But there was one small hitch, a hiccup, really--we could call it a "hitchup". Or more accurately, we could call it a "wardrobe malfunction". No, not that kind of wardrobe malfunction! A running-type wardrobe malfunction...actually two malfunctions. The first malfunction was an untied shoe lace.

Memo to T: for crying out loud, double-knot your laces!!

The second malfunction was wardrobe and weather-related. Some runners refuse to believe that it is possible that they might become hot at some point during a run. We won't name names (Mariana) but we will let the following photos tell the story.



Outfit worn at the start of the race...















...and the outfit after the race. Notice the difference? That's right: someone shed a jacket midway through the race, conveniently right about the time that T had to retie her shoe lace. I guess wardrobe malfunctions happen in sets of two.












In any case, wardrobe malfunctions notwithstanding, the Go Girls were well-represented in the 8K. As the Go Girls were finishing the 8K, JaJa was making her way to the start of the 5K. JaJa did not have any wardrobe malfunctions...but she does get a 2 minute penalty for looking so good!

There wasn't a prettier runner out there! Then again, consider the competition...

There were regularly dressed runners (read: boring).

There were suits, but suits are not very glamourous.

There were bananas, but what's a banana without evening gloves? An incomplete outfit, that's what a banana without evening gloves is.

And there were guys running in underwear. But their outfit lack a certain je ne sais quoi...no, wait. Je le sais! Their outfit lack trousers! That's what they were missing!

Well, regardless of JaJa's competition, we think she was the prettiest runner out there. She was also pretty fast! JaJa finished fourth in her age group with a chip time of 28.14!! An excellent result, particularly in light of the fact that this was JaJa's first ever race. Plus, she ran it in a skirt! Just think how fast she could be if she wore running clothes and didn't stop to wave to the crowds! We're very proud of you, Jacquie!

JaJa, headed to the finish line.

Overall, Harry's SRO was a tremendous success for the Go Girls. To celebrate our accomplishments, we headed to the Monk's Table for an after-race brunch.

Breakfast of Champions.

See those smiles on our faces? I think that those smiles tell you everything you need to know about the Go Girls' Excellent Adventure at Harry's Spring Run-Off.

Coco Chanel and the Go Girls

I think that Coco Chanel would have been quite comfortable around the Go Girls.

No. Seriously. Stop laughing. Coco would have loved us, if not for our style, then for our stylish attitudes. Besides, no one does runners' fashion better than the Go Girls.

The Go Girls have recently been strutting their stuff all over town, or at least all over High Park, Yonge Street, the Annex, Rosedale, and Timothys. And when we strut, we strut.


Here I am strutting around in High Park during Harry's Spring-Run Off. Don't I look dapper? If this isn't style, I don't know what it is.

Here is Jacquie, bringing her own style and flair to Harry's SRO. Wow! Boy, did she turn heads. Not as many heads as she would have turned had she worn bubble-wrap and duct tape, but that's another story.

Of course, the Go Girls would never dream of appearing in public sans accoutrements! Here we are showing off (a) our legs and (b) what every stylish runner is wearing this year: timing chips.

Here are the Go Girls doing what the Go Girls do best: working it, baby! Stand back! I don't know how big this thing gets!

Of course, we know that that we could not be the fashion icons that we are without the help of all the little people who work behind the scenes. So we want to take a moment to acknowledge their contribution to our fashion success. Thanks for holding our stuff, Designated Husband!

Let's take a moment to get back to Coco Chanel. Coco had a certain je ne sais quoi that I believe would have made her a great Go Girl. Look at this photo of Coco and ask yourself: doesn't she belong with a running group composed of wild women?

For crying out loud, put a water belt on that woman and let her loose on the streets with us!

Now Coco had a wonderful way with words. Her wisdom lives on and is made manifest in some respects in the style and elegance (yes, elegance!) of the Go Girls.

A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.
Coco Chanel

Classy and Fabulous. I cannot think of two words that better describe the Go Girls. Recently, for example, the Go Girls helped me dress up to celebrate the completion of the revised draft of my dissertation. The Go Girls brought their unique stylings to my outfit...


Here I am, wearing my custom-designed, "you finished your dissertation" running outfit. Oh, I felt pretty!

Oddly enough, you'll notice that none of the other Go Girls dressed up for the occasion, which begs the questions: WTF?!?

Lest you think my outfit was ridiculous, I wish to point out that purple is a very "in" colour at present and bells on headwear are appropriate on every occasion.

Did I mention that I was forced, I mean, privileged to run in this outfit?!

One consolation was that everyone had to run with me. One surprising thing was how many Torontonians did not even notice or blink twice at my unique ensemble.

Here I am shaking my tail feathers at passing motorists on Yonge Street, with my Go Girls loyally standing by. My family would be so very proud.

Coco once commented that "elegance does not consist in putting on a new dress." No, it does not. Elegance transcends what you wear and is most evident in how you wear it. The Go Girls wear their gear with attitude and elegance. Coco would be pleased, or at least intrigued...or most likely, mildly amused.

The lighter side of exercise

We at the Go Girls believe that exercise should have a lighter side, and we don't just mean our weight. We like to laugh. In fact, laughter is a form of cross-training for us. The best part is that we can integrate it into our runs. In the spirit of keeping in tune with the lighter side of exercise, here is a clip from one of my favourite stand-up comedians, John Pinette. John describes his experience at the gym.

Behind the Scenes at a Go Girls Race

As loyal followers of our blog will know, a number of Go Girls recently participated in Harry's Spring Run-off. We had a great showing at the race, and I promise to post details soon. But first I thought it would be appropriate to salute all the people behind the scenes at races and in our own club. To the volunteers at all races: thank you! Without you, we could not participate in races. Thank you for getting to the race site early and staying late. Thank you for pouring water and removing our timing chips and handing out race kits. We appreciate all that you do and the Go Girls hope to return the favour by volunteering at a race soon.

Volunteers, we salute you!

Now, what you may not know is that the Go Girls has its own "behind the scenes" support crew. We refer to our support crew as the Designated Husband or "DH". Normally, the role of the DH is to save tables for us at whatever coffee shop or restaurant or bar we happen to be frequenting after a training run or race. For example, on Saturday mornings, Alain saves tables for us at Timothys. At races, the DH does a little bit of everything. I thought I would show you all the ways that our DH supports us at our races. At the end of this post, you will understand why we are so grateful to our DH.

At Harry's SRO, our DH was Joanna. That's right: when the Toronto Go Girls race, even our DH is a Girl...er, woman. So meet Joanna...





Joanna came to Harry's SRO with the sole intention of cheering us on and holding our stuff. She could have stayed home, in bed. But she didn't. For that, we are very grateful. Thanks, Joanna!!









So what exactly does a DH (like Joanna here) do before, during, and after the race? Read on to find out.

One of the things that our DH does is take photos for us. Here is an example of our DH's photographic skills:

As you can see, the DH has great photographic subjects to work with. (Not!). So the DH must be content with taking photos of feet with timing chips and before and after race shots. (Stay tuned for the before and after shots: coming soon to a blog near you!)

Photography is just the beginning of the DH's duties, however. A far more important duty is the official "stuff holder". There are moments before or after a race when we runners need someone to hold our stuff. Like when we all head to the bathrooms...everyone, that is, except for the DH, who must wait with us in the line for the Port-o-Loos (close to the icky, chemical smell of portable potties)...

The Canada Running Series slogan should be: "Race with an empty bladder and clean hands! We bring portable hand washing stations with our johns!"

While we use the johnny-on-the-spots, our DH holds our stuff. It's not an easy task. How much stuff can four runners have? You'd be surprised.










The DH accompanies the runners to the start of the race, where the DH makes sure we enter the right corral and wishes us good luck.

Our DH is on the left, wearing the blue back pack (only one of many things she will carry on race day). She is drinking coffee (or maybe vodka), trying desperately to stay awake (or amused, as the case may be).

The DH sees us off at the start of the race. She even tolerates the piping in of the runners. (Yes, that is a real live bagpiper and no, we do not know what he wore under his kilt.)

And because the DH is lucky, she also gets to see Toronto's favourite metrosexual, Jack Layton following the bag piper. Ah, politician sightings: the morning was not a total loss!

After all this excitement, what does the DH do? Well, she waits.

The race begins. The DH watches the runners go by. First, there are just a few runners.

But soon, there are a lot of runners. And in this mass of runners, the DH is expected to pick out the Go Girls and cheer them on. It's not an easy task. The runners stream by.

There are runners in green shirts.

And there are runners in Hawaiian shirts....and in green shirts underneath Hawaiian shirts.










There are runners in suits.















And then there are some runners who look like they could use some money to buy a suit.















There are runners wearing fur...















There are even bananas. BANANAS!

And as all of these runners pass the DH, she waits...

And she waits...

And she waits. Until she cannot wait any longer. All she can do is dream about her runners...and running Bananas. Ah, to sleep and perchance to dream...

But soon enough, it is time to head to the finish line, where the DH will cheer us in and then later meet us to celebrate our victory.

Yes, this group of runners -- this motley crew of runners, with medals proudly hanging from our necks -- this group is the group that our DH supported. But by now you must surely know the truth: we're not the ones who should be given a medal.

Our DH deserves the medal.

A very special thanks to our DH for taking photos, holding onto stuff, waiting, cheering, then waiting again, then cheering, then waiting and waiting and waiting, and then finally taking more photos. We couldn't have had such a great race without you.

THANK YOU.