NEWS - Performance Printing

ClassifiedsKanata Kourier-StandardSe c o n d Se c t i o nArnprior Th u Chronicle-Guider s d ay, May 30, 2013Bu s i n e s sDi r e c to ryFont_PalatinoLinotype_BoldLocation_MyriadPro_BoldALL TYPE OUTLINEDWest Carleton ReviewStisville NewsStisville NewsOrléans NewsManotick NewsOawa East NewsOawa South NewsOawa West NewsNepean-Barrhaven NewsThe Renfrew MercuryEmma Jackson/MetrolandNearly 5,000 runners made their way down Fairmont Ave. in Hintonburg as part of the Ottawa marathon,which wound through 42 kilometres of Ottawa and Gatineau streets on Sunday, May 26.Race weekend sees record turnout39th annual eventruns smoothlyEmma Jacksonemma.jackson@metroland.comEMC sports - More than 40,000people crossed the finish line as partof Ottawa Race Weekend.This was the 39th annual editionof the event on May 25 and 26,which included seven races rangingfrom a two-kilometre family race toa full 42-km marathon.The races began downtown at thecorner of Elgin Street and LaurierAvenue at 4 p.m. on Saturday, May26 with the 2K event.At 5 p.m., more than 8,000 runnershit the streets for the 5K event,and at 6:30 p.m. the streets wereagain pummeled by the feet of9,000 runners aiming for a finishline 10K away.On Sunday, the marathon startedbright and early at 7 a.m. with thehalf-marathon following at 9 a.m.The marathon winner’s circle wasdominated by runners from Ethiopiaand Kenya, with Tariku Jufartaking the top spot with a time of2:08:04.The lead Canadian Rob Watsonsnuck into 10th place with 2:18:33.Ottawa resident Josh Karanjawon the half marathon in 1:07:47.Three of the top five half-marathonwinners were from Ottawa, and allfive were Canadian.With so many people cominginto the city for the weekend,spokeswoman Annie Boucher saidorganizers have the system downpat after 39 years.“There are always little tweaksI’m sure, a fencing thing or something,but as far as big tweaks orchanges I didn’t hear of anything,”she said. “I think things went prettysmoothly.”The event was also a fundraiser,partnering with 28 different charitiesto give people more reason torun. The Ottawa Hospital Foundationraised more than $405,000.Boucher said it is difficult to knowexactly how much money wasraised, but in 2012 runners collectedclose to $1 million for charitableorganizations.Cowbells offernoisy life lessonsEmma Jacksonemma.jackson@metroland.comEMC sports - I am not a runner.I’m just generally not an athlete,and my gym phobia – marked withmore than a few panic attacks, tearsand tantrums – is well established.My good friend Courtney caughtme on a particularly optimistic dayin January when she convinced meto register for the five kilometre runon Ottawa Race Weekend.Why not, I thought. It was fivemonths away and I wouldn’t haveto think about it for four of them.But then I didstart thinkingabout it. And Ipanicked. Whatif I can’t finish?What if I trip inthe final moments,sploshing over thefinish line like awet teabag?What aboutall those peoplewatching: whatwill they thinkwhen my facegoes the colour oftomato soup andthey see my crappyold runners,We’ve all heard thata positive attitudebrings positiveresults. I’d be lyingif I said thosemantras don’t usuallymake me roll my eyesand pour anotherglass of wine.the same ones Ibought 12 yearsago for Grade 9gym class?When the weather warmed up Ibegan jogging around my neighbourhood.I was doing pretty well: onlyonce did I don my entire runningoutfit, complete the necessary pacing,hand shaking and tear swallowingthat is my running ritual, thenstrip it all off to take a guilt-ladennap instead.A week before the race, I managedto run 4.9 kilometres with onlya few brief walk breaks. I was encouraged,but that didn’t stop mygrowing anxiety as Saturday tickedcloser.We’ve all heard that a positive attitudebrings positive results. I’d belying if I said those mantras don’tusually make me roll my eyes andpour another glass of wine.It’s just easier to be negative. Tobe hopeful would set me up for failure;if I was too optimistic, I riskedmissing the bar I had raised for myself.To seem negative, disinterestedor indifferent about the race’s outcomemeant I wouldn’t disappointanyone if my pessimistic predictionscame true.Race day arrived. I went earlyto grab my kit at the race expo inthe Ottawa Convention Centre – anincredibly well-oiled operation, Imust say – and immediately beganto feel the panic in my chest.I blinked hard to keep the tearsfrom falling as I rode the escalatorto the T-shirt station. I held it togetheruntil I was back in the car.And then I looked at my bib:29028. It was real; it was happeningin less than five hours.I felt a stirring behind the panic,and it simmered there for an hourbefore I could nameit for what it was:excitement.Could it be?Could I actually belooking forward tothis torment I hadbeen dreading forthe better part of2013? I began tocalm down.Courtney pickedme up and wefought traffic intothe downtowncore. We parked farenough away thatwe were nice andlimber by the timewe found our otherrunning friends,Sam and Kait, andsqueezed into the yellow corral towait behind the Elgin Street startline.When the run finally started, atangible feeling of communal supportbegan to swirl through the8,000-strong horde of runners workingtheir way up Elgin.It reminded us that everyone wasin this together: everyone was goingto sweat, feel some pain and thinkabout giving up.Not surprisingly, that helped. Italso helped that there was no way togo any faster than the crowd in frontof us, not at least until we spreadout a bit down Colonel By Drive.It forced me to pace myself– something I had failed to do inmy own running regime – and Iwas surprised how good I felt at thefour-kilometre mark. That’s usuallywhen I have to picture a bottle ofwine in front of me and hordes ofzombies behind in order to keeprunning.But more than anything the communalsupport came from the sidelines.See MORE, page 31