This past fall I finally completed my long-time goal of running 5km. This goal has taken me an incredibly long time but it’s one of the things I’m most proud of accomplishing this fall. It all started back in 2016 when I was working the spring season at Ottawa’s old local Girl Guide camp of Camp Woolsey. One of my friends was training for a 5k race using the app C25K (Couch to 5 k) and being the codependent team we were back in those days, we decided to do it together. What I found out is that I liked running but since I was still very new at it, it was hard. We ran pretty often for the first three weeks of camp but once the kids got there we ran out of time and stopped. We started each summer and each summer only made it to around week four of the eight-week program.
Over the past year, I’ve gotten very into exercising, so when my Mom asked if I wanted to sign up for the ‘The Great Big Cookie Run’ hosted by Run Ottawa I said yes and my brother joined us too. Run Ottawa has been hosting this fun 5k race for over 20 years and it acts as a fundraiser for the Girl Guides of Canada. You can run or walk the race and participants are rewarded with a Girl Guide cookie when they cross the finish line. Having a race date gave me the motivation to really get into training this fall and finish the 8 week training program.
The 2021 race was held at Lansdowne Park on November 7th and followed a really beautiful route along the Rideau Canal towards Dows Lake. Weather wise, we lucked out and it was a warm sunny day. There were a number of Covid procedures in place to keep everyone safe. Masks had to be worn at the start and finish areas and we were divided by the times we thought we would be able to run the race. My brother was in the 17-25 minute group and I ran with my mom in the 40-60 minute group and they staggered the start times for each group. While running we were able to spread out and keep a fair distance from other participants.
Running with my mom was a lot of fun. She wore her ‘Cookie Run’ shirt that was available to buy before the race, I wore some of my GGC gear and we saw a couple runners in their GGC uniform too! The Race T-shirt has a cute drawing of a GGC cooking with legs running and the GCC logo is on the pinnie. This race did not come with a medal but we got a box of cookies when we crossed the finish line and another in our race swag bag.
Our final time was around 38 minutes and I am so incredibly proud of not only finishing the race but being able to run the whole time. It was a huge milestone and it felt right to finally finish a goal that started at a Girl Guide Camp at an event that acted as a fundraiser for GGC. My race pinnie is proudly sitting in my Girl Guide display case and I’m hoping to keep working on my running and improve my time for next year.
For those who want to check out the Run Ottawa's Webpage on the Cookie Run
Thanks for Reading! - Em