Tears of Joy at Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront 5K

Oh,my god. Oh.My.God. 

I got 1st place in the race for my age category. 6th place out of 3200 females. I beat my previous STWM 5K time by a whooping 2 minute and 30seconds. After quitting running last summer and not training for 1+ year due to injuries. After barely ANY training before this race (only started running again about a month ago), and head wind at both the start and finish line. And, most important of all, after following a VEGAN diet. Oh, my god. I was literally CRYING when I crossed the finish line after seeing my finishing time. 20 minutes flat. If I had that last push and didn't slow down at the end, I could break the 20 minute mark. Still, I am SO HAPPY right now. SO,SO, HAPPY. Usually when I cry after a race, its because I did poorly. Not this time. This time, its tears of JOY.

with my finisher's medal

1st place medal :D

Award redemption tent

The "after party"

1st place medal

Finisher's medal

One of the happiest days of my life! GO TEAM TVA!!!! 

I also posted this picture in Facebook, and wrote-

Meat eaters, I prove you wrong again. Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront 5K- 1st place my age category, 6th out of 3213 females. Only started running again one month ago after I quit running last summer due to injuries that never seem to heal. Then I became vegan in January this year. Shockingly, I improved 2min & 30sec even with head wind at the start and finish line, barely any training, and NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS. I also ran pain free. Plants, I love you. Animals, I love you too, that's why I will never eat you. As I was running all I thought about was "This is for TVA". GO TEAM TVA!

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STWM Run Expo, Free Lululemon yoga mat, and Hoops!

I'm running the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront 5K this Sunday!!!! Its my first race since last summer when I decided to forgo competitive running after countless injuries that never seem to heal. This time, its more for fun and to raise money for Toronto Vegetarian Association :D I raised $150 for them! So today I went to the pre-race run expo to pick up my race kit/goodie bag and man, was it a good day!

The entrance

I signed on their board.Go team TVA!!! 

Dream BIG

Some of the booths

More booths, mostly selling technical running gear

This is where it got exciting! Lululemon was there! They were also giving out yoga mats for doing yoga! I was sooo lucky because that was the last one! I told them I LOVE yoga so they asked me if I wanted to do a pose or a sequence, so I did! They were pretty impressed with my flexibility :D

I did Sun salutation

Forward fold

Updog

Downdog

Then a pigeon pose

The best part! I showed them my favorite pose :D

And this is how I finally got to own a Lululemon yoga mat :)

Stuff from the Expo. Goodie bag, 5K Technical T-shirt, Vancouver 2010 sunglasses for $5, and of course, The Mat!

This Sunday, I run for Toronto Vegetarian Association 

After the uber-exciting expo, I went to my beloved circus training class! Time to get some blood rushing to my head! Run-on my feet, Circus-on my hand, all balanced out :)

Attempting Splits under bar

There we go! Looks easy but its actually kinda hard to balance

Bird's Nest :D

Fun!