🇨🇦 My Canada D'eh Virtual Run 🇨🇦

[SaskAlliecat]

Every year a group out of Ontario does a Canada D'eh 5k run where they showcase a great Canadian, as voted on by their participants from the previous year. This year, the great Canadian celebrated and featured on the medal was the lead singer of the Tragically Hip, Gord Downie, who passed away last year due to a brain tumour. I have many fond memories of listening to the Tragically Hip during my University days and couldn't pass up the opportunity to sign up for the virtual race they also offered for those not in the area. A friend of mine and her daughter also signed up and we planned to run it on June 29 since they were going to be away for Canada Day (July 1). The medals and tshirt were supposed to be received by the weekend, but unfortunately they were not. We were a little let down that we didn't have our shirts to wear and wouldn't get the requisite sweaty post-run medal pic 😅🏅 but we still got out for a great run and have a great excuse to do it all over again. We're all training for a trail race in the fall so we hit the trails and got 5.3k in, nice and early before they had to get ready for work. Although I've been a solitary runner for most of my training, I really enjoyed the company and the push they gave me and can't wait to do it all again! Perhaps we'll don our very Canadian tech shirts, make a Tragically Hip Playlist, and get that sweaty post run medal pic yet 😎

[Tbae]

Lovely post and good luck with all your plans in the fall.

Many fond memories of two weeks at Kingston University back in the 80’s.1000 islands,Toronto ,Nigara, etc.Stunning and lovely pics.Certain parts very like Sweden, particularly the islands.🤔

Take good care of you.

Run as in our childhood.💥🏃‍♀️💥

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to Tbae]

Thanks Tbae. I really feel quite childlike as we bound down the hills but feel quite old as we trudge up the steep parts of the trails 🤣😅

[Irishprincess Graduate10]

That looks absolutely fabulous! Although not a lot of places to hide if you need a pee 😮 And that bling looks the bees knees, hope it arrives soon. Well done to all of you.

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

Thanks IP. The bling arrived last night with my tshirt so I'm very pleased.

I love the terrain but there definitely isn't many places to hide and a lot of cacti you have to watch for if you need to pee. The trails are getting busier so you just don't know if someone might hop along 😆. I've been good so far, but it's only a matter of time.....

[Irishprincess Graduate10 in reply to SaskAlliecat]

Cacti?!!!! That's a no-no when you need to pee 😩😮😩

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

Last year I kicked a cacti on a couple of my runs which was excruciating and had to stop, peel off my shoes and socks to pick out the spines. Icouldn’t imagine squatting on one 😳

[Hidden]

Great post, and now I’m off to search YouTube for tragically hip xx

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

During my Uni days, Blow at High Dough and New Orleans is sinking were huge hits. Other popular tunes are Courage, Bobcaygeon, Ahead by a Century.........

[Hidden in reply to SaskAlliecat]

I found them on YouTube. Lots of messages of condolence too. Unusual sound. Ive never heard of them, don’t know if they just never made it over here.

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

His voice was pretty unique - you definitely know it's a Hip song when you hear it, even if you don't know the song. It sounds like they were huge in Canada, but didn't make the international scene. Many of our neighbours to the South don't know the group either. Iconically Canadian, I guess 😉

[Hidden in reply to SaskAlliecat]

Well, I’m really glad you mentioned them because I’m always looking out for new music - though not for,running.

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

And I'm always looking out for new music as well, but for running 😆. I have a running playlist addiction on Spotify that might just rival your online shopping 😉

[Hidden in reply to SaskAlliecat]

Haha, I don’t run to music, maybe I should load my ebay purchase list instead 😂

[Goforitmama Graduate10]

Thanks for your lovely post and great photos. What a great way to celebrate Canada Day and to honour Gord Downie. I had not heard of this run before, but I will bear it in kind for next year for sure. I love the shirts and the medals are worth collecting.

Wow, your trail running looks so challenging, I truly admire you for doing it. Its not within my current range of ability, maybe it never will be, but maybe....in the future...?

Thanks again, stay cool and happy running.

Goforitmama

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to Goforitmama]

The friend I was running it with saw it on Facebook. Previous medal honourees were John A McDonald, Chris Hadfield, Wayne Gretzky, and Terry Fox. The actual race looks pretty huge, in Amherstburg, but I love that they've included a virtual run with it for those of us in other parts of the Country. I'm loving the shirt and was hoping to wear it on Canada Day, but at least I'll have it for next year.

Trail running definitely provides another set of challenges, but is possible for for any level of runner. On this terrain, it is more of a run/hike and I'm just working on trying to run more, hike less although on those hills there is more hiking up than running. I definitely feel it in my quads the next day.

[Goforitmama Graduate10 in reply to SaskAlliecat]

I saw that this year you could vote for Don Cherry, David Suzuki or Gord Downie. I am glad that they chose to honour Gord.

Thanks for explaining the run hike run thing. It puts it into perspective. i could do a run hike run. Now, that's getting me thinking.

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to Goforitmama]

I was glad it was Gord Downie as well. When you register for the run, you have to name a nominee for next year's medal. They take the top 3 that then get voted on (I think). It is a really neat idea. Seeing who they had already honoured in previous years, I nominated Rick Hansen for next year.

You should give Trail running a try. It's a nice change of pace. The focus is not on speed given the terrain is more challenging. We get so focussed on speed, it is nice to focus on just doing and the scenery/challenge makes a great distraction. I always run to music, but don't tend to on the trails so I'm definitely more in tuned to nature on those runs.

[Bluebirdrunner Graduate10]

Great fun for you running with your friend and her daughter and lovely pic of you all be-medalled or not!😀

Wow, that terrain is so challenging Allie, but just beautiful to look at... Hope you get to appreciate how stunning it is as you run it!😊xx

Enjoy your hard earned bling...

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to Bluebirdrunner]

Thanks Jan. The great part of running this type of terrain is I stop for pictures and enjoy my surrounding while I'm huffing and puffing trying to catch my breath. It is very different running with others but I enjoyed it and hope we can make our schedules jive better so we can get some more group runs in. My friend lives out there so runs a lot of her runs on these trails and hikes them all the time so she's like a mountain goat. On the flat I've ran further and quicker so she was hesitant to run together initially but she is quick on those trails. I think we'll do great running together, challenging each other in different ways. Plus she really hates snakes and I really hate ticks so we're watching out for different hazards on the trails 🤣

[Bluebirdrunner Graduate10 in reply to SaskAlliecat]

Great teamwork!🏃🏃😊x

[ToniCR]

I love this!! Awesome!!

[Decker]

Love the Hip. One of my all time faves. They almost have to be if you are Canadian 😁. I saw that medal and almost signed up for it too. Looks like you had a great run. Too bad the shirts were not in on time, but it just means you get to go out and try it again!

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10 in reply to Decker]

Exactly! Any reason to get out for another run. I woke up at a stupid early time this morning and thought I'd get a run in before getting ready to leave on holidays but then realized if I honour the day of rest between each run, it'll reduce my trail runs over my holiday by 1..... can't have that. Will get up bright and early tomorrow for a trail run. Would consider a run tonight at the lake but we're just going into our heatwave; 35C today. Think I'll pass. There are no splash pads to frolic through, but I might have to run into the lake afterwards. It'll be a hot week ☀️😓.

I was surprised to learn that the Tragically Hip isn't really known outside of Canada. They were such a huge part of my early adulthood. Just makes them that much more Canadian, I guess.