
Canada has a new running magazine. It’s called iRun, and you can’t go anywhere in the Ottawa running community these days without seeing its new logo on hats, shirts and probably other cool swag. Because I’ve lately become obsessed with all things running, it was inevitable that the first issue would eventually find its way into my house.
Here’s what iThink. It’s definitely an idea whose time has come. In Ottawa, and I’m sure this is true of many other cities, running has caught on in a big way. Our National Capital Race Weekend has become one of the biggest events of the year. I hardly know anyone who isn’t running, walking, volunteering or spectating (I am now declaring that a verb) sometime over the weekend of May 24 and 25.
It’s neat to read a magazine that features Canadian runners, races and heroes and suppliers. I also really liked their feature on yoga poses for runners, and not just because I know the yoga instructor who is pictured in the article.
Minor quibble: the kinda cutesy over-use of the iRun name. The magazine is peppered with quotes from real runners completing the sentence, “iRun because…”. How about we officially declare an end to the use of a lowercase letter followed by an uppercase letter to indicate cutting edge, technology-oriented cool?
Another small irritant (probably stemming as much from my own insecurities as anything else) is a light-hearted feature at the beginning of the magazine about celebrity marathoners. It clocks their times and makes snarky comments about runners who took longer than four hours to finish. It’s not that celebrities need my pity – I’m sure they have staff for that – it’s just that, as a runner who expects to finish just a little faster than Katie Holmes, I take that kind of pettiness personally. On the whole, though, I think it’s a fun and info-packed magazine, with a content-rich accompanying web-site. I’m looking forward to the next issue.
As long as we’re on the topic of speed, though, I’m officially declaring the Reluctant Runner Finish Time Pool open. There are no prizes for winning but you can’t beat the cost of entry. Let me give you a few guiding facts:
My fastest 5K: 28 minutes
Fastest 10K: 57 minutes and change
Fastest Half: 2 hrs, 12 minutes
My outside goal is to finish in less than five hours. Honestly, unless something goes terribly wrong, I think I will meet that goal (and may I take a moment to implore Athletica, goddess of runners, not to punish me for my hubris). My fantasy goal is to finish in 4 hours and 30 minutes. But my back-of-the-napkin calculations around my current running pace are telling me that might be a mathematical impossibility. Bottom line: this Reluctant Runner is amazed just to be out there at all.
Want to guess when I’ll finish? Just post a time below. I will take every entry personally, read all kinds of messages into your guess, and probably end up mad at you. But don’t let that stop you.
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