Author: James McNally

Pride and Remembrance 5K 2007

I always seem to have trouble with this race. It might be because it’s just two weeks after the Toronto Challenge, or because the weather is generally warmer, or because it’s generally a very fast field. But I think it’s because the course involves running two loops of Queen’s Park, and I find that particularly demoralizing, for whatever reason. But despite all that, I had a good run this year, though not my fastest on this course.

Official Time (Gun): 24:50.4
Official Time (Chip): 24:28.5
Overall Place: 189/658
Gender Place: 161/368
Age Group (M26-49) Place: 134/298

My 2006 Time: 25:08
My 2005 Time: 26:06
My 2004 Time: 24:10
My 2003 Time: 28:45

So far, 2007 seems to be shaping up to be a good year, which is odd because I’m generally running less. Just one longer run a week on Sundays with Brooke. It seems to be working so far.

Official Results from the 2007 Pride and Remembrance 5K

270 Cassandra Boulevard

In August, Brooke and I will be moving. We’re not going far, just three streets west, but it brought up for me the impermanence of living arrangements. We’ve lived in our current apartment for six years, but that doesn’t seem that long to me anymore. When I was a child, we lived in the same apartment for more than two decades. From 1971 until 1992, I lived in apartment 310 at 270 Cassandra Boulevard, near the intersection of Victoria Park Avenue and York Mills Road in Toronto. That apartment building was the scene of all my life’s most important moments: my first kiss (1975, I think), my first beer (summer of 1978). My mother died at home there in 1987. So that place will always hold strong memories for me. I was six when we moved in (Dad, Mum and me), 13 or so when Dad moved away, 22 when Mum died, and 27 when I finally moved away. It was only a four-storey building, but it was unusual in that there were lots and lots of families with kids there, and I made more friends there than at school. Thanks to the recent success of Facebook, I’ve actually reconnected with a few of these long-lost friends. I’m going to list more of them in case they find their way here through Google. Maybe we can arrange a road-hockey game reunion!

Toronto Challenge 2007

Brooke and I ran this 5km race for the fifth year in a row this morning. This was the first race we ever did, and even though it’s crowded, it’s one that we’ll continue to enter. It doesn’t hurt that in my opinion it’s a little short of 5km, so I always post a good time. In fact, this year, I set a new PB (personal best).

Watch Time: 23:34.0

Kilometre 1: 4:18.3
Kilometre 2: 4:56.3
Kilometre 3: 4:18.1
Kilometre 4: 5:08.8
Kilometre 5: 4:52.5

Official Time: 23:34
Overall Place: 88/388
Gender Place: 73/194
Age Group (M40-49) Place: 14/37

My 2006 Time: 24:45
My 2005 Time: 25:12
My 2004 Time: 24:16
My 2003 Time: 29:03

As you can see, I went out really fast, and knew that I wouldn’t be able to maintain that pace. The temperature climbed above 20° Celsius pretty quickly, even though the race started at 9:30am. The fourth kilometre was slower because of a slight hill over a bridge, although I’m sure the markers weren’t quite evenly spaced, either.

In any case, I’m happy with my time, and looking forward to our next race in two weeks, the Pride and Remembrance Run, which takes place during Gay Pride Week.

Official Results from the 2007 Toronto Challenge

Still Here! And There! And There!

The lack of posts around here has been on my mind lately. I’ve just come through an incredibly busy time and can finally relax. A bit. My company’s annual huge wine tasting event was yesterday and I’m hungover in every conceivable way. It’s been a lot of work, and it’s finally finished. But in case you think I’ve been completely absent from the web lately, well, you’d be wrong. Evidence:

  • Podcast of the panel I moderated (Ghost In The Machine: Spirituality Online) at this year’s SXSW is now available.
  • I was featured along with my friends Philip and Ian on an episode of Livebait.tv about Hot Docs.
  • Related to the Livebait.tv story, my new film blog Toronto Screen Shots has been going like gangbusters, and I’ve got a huge stack of great DVDs to review.

So, although there hasn’t been a lot of text here lately, you can see and hear me in a few different places.