Race Report: Kyle's Run

Kyle's Run is a 5k/10k trail race in Whitby, Ontario to raise money for the Canadian Liver Foundation.  It takes place in Cullen Gardens and Heber Down, both full of trails and trees - perfect for a trail race!

I did the 10k, and my son Jack did his first ever race, the kid's 1k!

He totally rocked it... I was a bit anxious about how he'd handle running an entire kilometer, but he didn't slow down at all - just ran right through it.  I was shocked and delighted!  A natural?

You bet!

My Race

The 10k started late as someone had vandalized the signage overnight - grrr, who sabotages a charity race??? Punks.  By the time we got going it had heated up a fair bit, and with the humidity I knew it was going to be a tough one.

There were some super-quick looking younger runners, presumably cross-country kids, so I decided before we even started not to even try keep up with them... good call, as the winner beat me by a lot!  I settled into a pretty quick start across the grass and onto the opening trail.

The first 3km or so were flat and easy, and there was a fair bit of shade to keep cool.  I passed a few of the young guns, got passed by a couple who were behind me, but settled into a pretty good rhythm.

Soon after we turned on to another trail, which was more muddy and a bit slower... but still very easy compared to the hills.

Oh, the hills!  I run here all the time, so I knew they were coming, but they still smacked me around.  Very steep, I could barely run up them and found myself slowing to a walk up the biggest of them.  By now I was pouring sweat and my pace was dropping, but I kept pushing to try keep my position.

No dice - the guy that was chasing me for about the closing 4km or so finally caught me and I just didn't have anything to respond with.  I managed a finishing sprint just to keep my time under 50:00, finished in 49:55 or so.  There was no official timing or placing, but I think I was something like 7th or 8th of the 35 or so runners who braved the 10km (the 5km was the more popular option by a long shot!)

The Course

The 5km is flat and not technical at all, suitable for anyone who can put one foot in front of the other!  The 10km uses the 5km course but the middle 5km is very challenging, there are steep uphills, downhills, rock, sand, if it rains there'd be mud... lots of fun to some of us who are a bit more sadistic, your mileage may vary!