Warning: I was a moron and forgot to charge my phone from the night before. Booo! This means no pictures of PubRuns! This is sad because brunch was especially gorgeous (as well as delicious). But it is happy because I used my art app on my iPad to recreate key moments for you! Picasso quality, I tell you.
Last summer, a few friends and I started a running group that masqueraded as a networking group for publishing people. It is fun. If you like books and running, this is the group for you. (You are welcome to join, just email me!) About once a month, someone in the group “takes the lead” and picks a route in a new part of the city. We run it, then (the most important part!) we eat. A lot! Hurrah!
On Sunday, January 9, we decided to meet up at Broadview and Danforth to run an 8k loop through Rosedale. It had been cold and snowy all week, which meant our run wasn’t going to be pleasant, but at least we’d suffer through it together. I had a long run on my schedule, so I decided to run 6k beforehand, do the 8k loop with the girls (yes, this group is primarily female), then run 4k home. I survived this, barely.
Me, running alone. I didn't wear a lot of pink that day. That's an anomaly.
The day before I had done some Joga (and we all know how that went), ran 7k and then went out to a concert. (At the concert, I was hit on by a baseball scout and asked him a lot of questions about Moneyball. It was awesome.) This meant I wasn’t in the best shape for a long run. Thank god for PubRuns. After a painful and exhausting 6k, we took it easy through Rosedale. Well, Karen. Sarah and I took it easy. Kendal and Kate blazed a trail waaaaaaaay up ahead. But that’s the beauty of PubRuns. There will always be someone who will run your pace. And that day, our pace was slow.
My artistic representations of Kate (left) and Kendal (right). A+ work, I say. For a primary student.
Rosedale is beautiful and low-traffic: a perfect place for a run. Karen, Sarah and I chose our future houses, contemplated how expensive having every meal delivered to your door would be (we saw a delivery on our route) and got lost twice. This, actually, worked to our advantage. The first wrong turn made our route shorter than planned. The second one made it longer, putting us exactly on track for the 8k we thought we were doing. Little did we know that Kendal had a trick up her sleeve…
The 8k loop ended at Broadview and Danforth, right where we began. But it was 0.9k to our destination: Three’s Company. While I bitched mercilessly about this (sorry, Kendal!) I was secretly glad, because it meant the final trek of my long run could be a full km shorter than planned.
Then, we brunched.
I had the tomato soup and grilled cheese. It was delicious. I have tried to replicate this tomato soup in the two weeks since. I have failed. It is sad.
Delicious.
The final 3k home was slow. I was stiff, cold, sore and full of food. But I ran them. Then went home and died a little.
I can’t wait for the next PubRuns.