The weekend of September 6-8 is going to be a busy one for me. Let me explain.
Yesterday... or Monday, I can't remember.. I signed up for the ElectroDash. It's a 5k race being held at Canada's Wonderland and it's at night! My heat is at 8:30 p.m.... and basically you get decked out in glow sticks and glow paint, and there's loud music thumping and lights flashing everywhere and you run the 5km course. It's similar to The Colour Run, but with lights and glowing jewelry! I think my friend Jenny is running it with me, although she hasn't confirmed for sure. I hope, or else I'm running this bad boy alone! If you want to sign up to run (with me!) you can click here to go to the registration page directly!
On the Saturday of that weekend.. well, who knows what I'll be getting up to. Visiting a market or walking aimlessly around downtown most likely.
On the Sunday though, it's going to be a touch nutso.
In the morning I'm running the B&O Yorkville 5km race with Michelle! I'm super excited about this race for multiple reasons. It's a charity event to help raise money for the YWCA here in Toronto which is always a good thing, but it also has a super cool medal and tons of awesome fundraising prizes. For those of you who know Toronto, Yorkville is one of the more "swankier" areas in the city. The race takes place during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as well which means possible celebrity sightings!! You know I love that.
Some of the fundraising prizes include a bag by Louis Vuitton, Hermes, B&O Sound Techy Stuff, jewelry and travel/hotel vouchers. SWANK!
Not only that, but it's labelled as the fastest 5k race in North America, attracting runners from across the globe to take place. I think last year the guy who won the race finished in like 15 minutes. Death, he's like more than twice as fast as I am. Lol!! I was also given the opportunity to interview the founder of B&O (Bang & Olfusen) Jordan Korenzvit, who started the race as well! I only asked a few questions because I know he is a busy man... but here it goes!
S: What made you decide you wanted to raise money via a road race?
J: Most other high-end charitable events are cocktail parties. I wanted to do something more active and create the first high-end race. In 2009 and 10 I had been participating in a lot of road races. All of them were mass-market, low end events and most of them were outside of the city - Hamilton, Burlington, Niagara, etc. and none of them were in Yorkville. I had just moved the B&O store from a small shop on Bloor Street to it's current high visibility location on the corner of Avenue Road and Davenport - 120,000 people drive by this building every day! I figured I could leverage the exposure of the building and strength of the B&O brand to kick start a high-end, boutique charitable run.
S: Does the YWCA mean something special to you? Why did you choose to support this charity versus others?
J: I met YWCA through the local city councillor when I was talking to him about organizing this race. I've gotten to know YWCA Toronto's staff, board and clients over the years and they are a fantastic group of people. Smart, dedicated, efficient and hard working. It's been nice to see some women who started off as clients of YWCA years ago, join this event and fundraise and give back.
S: What's your favorite race distance to run yourself?
J: Marathon - though it'd be touch to pull off in Yorkville!
S: What's your favorite food?
J: Pasta - perfect for carb loading the night before a race.
S: In your opinion, what will be the most fun part of running the Yorkville 5k? What should myself and others look forward to the most?
J: Awards ceremony after the race. You'll see and meet some of the fastest runners in Canada and on the planet, meet some great people who are the top fundraisers this year, all while being served organic fruit, espresso, cheesecake and more by our volunteers in tuxedo t-shirts and white gloves.
UMM DID SOMEONE SAY ESPRESSO? I'm there! Thanks so much to Jordan for letting me interview him, how cool of him to do that! It's always nice to see how a race sort of "evolved" and why it came to be - so thank you!
Photo of the race from 2011 - I think these two won it!
Also, today when I was planning this post... I decided to do a little research. After Jordan and I connected on LinkedIn, I decided to Google Images him. Ladies - I think you might enjoy what I found....
Not only is he a business owner, philanthropist, but he's very fashionable, and not hard on the eyes. HI Jordan! :) If you want to register to run the Yorkville 5k, you can click here to be taken to the page directly!!
These races will put me at...... race number 4 and 5 of the year I think? Out of 5 races I think 3 of them will have been "fun runs" lol. I need to plan my race schedule for the rest of the year. I think Michelle and I are planning on doing the Women's 8km run in October this year (hopefully the weather is better than the constant raining we had last year) but I don't have much else planned other than that. The 5k of the Scotiabank races perhaps? Any suggestions in the Toronto area??
Anyways, after the race I'm catching a plane to Ottawa for the night for a work meeting on Monday!! Eeee! I've never flown alone, so this should be interesting for sure! I'm super excited about it. I'm heading there early afternoon so I can get there and have some of the day to spend in Ottawa! I'm hoping to get some 1 on 1 time with Lauren from A 5'3 Perspective who is also a fellow fashion/fitness enthusiast! We've been messaging for a while and have some serious blog ideas that we need to go over together, so needless to say, even though she's short (lol) I'm super pumped to finally meet her in person!!
Q: How many races do you have planned for the end of summer/fall?
Q: What is your favorite charity event to attend?
