Penguin World Conference IV
Toronto, Canada
May 24 to 27, 2002The first international Penguin encounter and the first encounter outside of the United States
PWC IV Report from Julia Kim of Quincy, Mass...
Date: Tues May 28, 2002
Subject: PWC4-Part I: random meanderings, dedications, and acknowledgements
Well... I thought I would take a minute or two (before turning off the lights) to start my Toronto Gathering Mini-Novel. Before starting, I guess any mini-novel starts with acknowledgements and dedication pages. So, here it is.
My report mini-novel is dedicated to the people everyone else has so far mentioned, and whom everyone to report in will continue to mention: To Glenn and his wonderful team of Toronto Penguins... I say TEAM in the highest sense and order of the word. They would do Shackleton proud with their sense of teamwork... they would make anyone proud! Their organizational abilities, their lack of ego, their humility in success, their calm in chaos, their selfless attention and support of one another - and to all of us who were in attendance... all exemplified in the results of the best World Conference I have attended... Each was wonderful in their own way, but this one went off without a hitch and was the most perfect in almost every way.
To the race director and organizing committee of the Burlington Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon. For what I can remember of the race (slight omen of things to come), the race was terrific! The beer could have been cracked a little earlier but we know how little things like laws can get in the way.
To the weather goat and the fair-weather armadillo... for the most perfect running weather I have ever run in.
To the planets that aligned correctly and the gods that smiled upon us.
To the Penguins in attendance for making it what it was.
To the Penguins who couldn't be there but kept us all in their thoughts.
To Cher... who passed me.
To Carlene... for the pep talk.
To John and Karen... for grabbing me after I crossed the finished (and made the other people go away), and bunches of other reasons...The race report part of this mini-novel is dedicated to my Coach JoeBee.
Julia from Boston (now in NY)
Date: Tues May 28, 2002
Subject: PWC4-Part II, Friday arrival
Harriet and I flew from LaGuardia to Buffalo, picked up our rental car, and drove to Toronto. The ride from Buffalo was uneventful except that my directions had me driving from Niagara Falls - for some reason, Mapquest couldn't find Buffalo Niagara International Airport and had given me directions from Niagara Falls International Airport. Which added another hour onto our trip...
The trip to the border was uneventful. :o)
The trip through the border was a long one.
The border guard asked us what we were going to do and we told her that we were going to run a half marathon.
She asked us if we were crazy!
We laughed and said, no. Our friends who were going to be running the full marathon were the crazy ones.The trip from the border to Toronto was uneventful except for the traffic!
It was stop and go pretty much.
And Harriet and I decided that Canada was a great place to drive if it weren't for the Canadian drivers!!! HAHAHAHA!!!
Sorry. It's a JOKE! Sheesh.
Basically in the states, we can go from state to state and blame drivers from various states for bad driving habits. Not in Canada... Ontario is rather big so all the drivers were pretty much from Ontario! So we couldn't really blame anyone except for the people from Ontario! HAHAHA!!! :o)) That is, until we saw someone from new Jersey! :o)) (okay... sorry to the NJ
Penguins.. of course this doesn't include you! :o)) Okay. Whatever.Anyway, we got to the hotel. Having been to Toronto half a dozen times for work in the past two years, it felt familiar and it was nice to see that someone didn't change things on us just for the heck of it.
The Marriot Courtyard on Yonge is a VERY NICE hotel. It's the nicest Courtyard I have stayed at (except for the RUDE family that stayed in the three rooms across and near us who had children/teens that made noise at night like they owned the floor). We checked in and immediately ran into Carlene who was hanging in the lobby greeting people, and John and Karen who came over and said that he had just seen Cher and someone else (I forget -
Friday was a long time ago).We saw Daniel and he helped carry Harriet's stuff to the room - he was just down the hall.
We hung out for a while and settled in. We went to the lobby and met up with a BUNCHA people (Pam, Kecia, Cher, Lauren, Daniel, Todd, Tonya... I know I am forgetting someone) at the bar and had drinks and ate free food :o)) until it was time to go downstairs for the opening ceremonies.
We went down to the opening ceremonies and it was an event in itself. We saw, hugged, talked, laughed, signed t-shirts, signed the quilt, signed up for the raffle, grabbed our bags, grabbed a seat, and Glenn kicked off the meeting with John speaking and we all introduced ourselves and said a few words and that was awesome! :o) Met a LOT of new people which was quite a bit overwhelming and saw some people I had met briefly before, and got to
hang with some really good friends. I didn't appreciate it, however, when it was my turn and I stood up and people kept telling me to stand. I am NOT THAT SHORT! Ugh. :o| Anyway...After the talk and introductions and stuff, we all separated into different groups to go to ethnic dinner. Toronto Penguin Richard Braeken (okay, girls... tall, handsome, wonderful accent, very nice, and SINGLE!!) led us (me, Harriet, Cher, Lauren, Pam, Patti, Kecia, Daniel) to Koreatown and Korea House. Then we went to the Hodo Kwaja for Korean Red Bean Ice Sherbet for desert.
Back to the hotel to rest and sleep. Of course the family from hell arrived from their hauntings around 11:30pm and didn't settle down for about 45 minutes... But Harriet had turned the fan on for white noise so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
What did I miss for Friday night?? Maybe Harriet will fill in anything I missed (if she manages to read her email in the next two months maybe. Maybe.)
Julia from Boston in NY
Date: Sun Jun 2, 2002
Subject: PWC Half, Track, Freihofers, People's Forest (long)
Hi all.
Well, I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to post about anything of much substance since PWC4. Not that I do in regularly times, but we won't got there right now. :o)Instead of 4 very long drawn out reports, I decided to combine somewhat shorter versions into a single (long) report.
PWC4 Race Report:
Basically, I don't remember much. I had printed out two pace bands in kilometers before going: 2:10 and 2:05. The 2:10 was what I was shooting for. I started in line with Cher and I remember leaning over and waving at Carlene across the way. Then the race started. I remember the sharp downhill at the beginning because it reminded me of how Boston starts. My splits were all over the place throughout. I didn't see the botanical gardens. I didn't see the house that looked like a castle. I didn't see the lake. All I saw was asphalt. And the kilometer markers. I remember the Penguin water stop at 18k vaguely, I can hear the cowbell and Glen's voice shouting out my name as I approached, grabbed a water and ran by. Cher had passed me early on and I kept her in my sights. I sort of died in the middle and then got a second wind when I figured out that I was on a sub-2:10 pace! I didn't know where Carlene was but about 200 meters after passing the Penguin water station, I heard them shout out Carlene's name. I expected her to pass me but it didn't happen. I saw MaryD. She raised up
her arms and said, "JULIA!" and all I could do was just hold up my hand and said, "I can't stop now" and kept going. All I could think about was how I didn't even ask her how her father was! I hoped she knew me well enough to understand. Training for Boston has helped my speed - 25 mpw, a little speedwork, JoeB kicking my a$$, all helped. I could feel Joe on my shoulder for the second half telling me that it's not that much further. As I approached the finish, I could him telling me "now. Kick it in NOW." I think I could have done a little better but I'll take it. :o))Anyway, I sprinted in the last 200 meters as they announced my name. 2:04:02 watch time - this is a 9:11 PR over my last PR in Tucson, December, 2001!!!!! This is a 9:28 pace. I can't believe it! I never thought I would. And this is after gaining about 15 pounds over the last 12 months! Imagine what might happen if I lost this weight? Something to think about!
And yes, as I crossed the finish line, someone came over and GRABBED ME AGAIN!!! I am fine! Then another person came over and I tried to tell them not to touch me (germs). Anyway, I was doubled over and trying to breathe. Don't they know when someone is trying to suck in oxygen?? Anyway, JOHN and KAREN SAVED ME!!! :o) John came over, grabbed me and gave me a big hug!!! Karen came up right behind him and congratulated me. He didn't seem to care that I was dripping sweat all over him. I think John was happy that I was in pain. He's always asking if I am hurting and seems pleased when I say, "yes." I am beginning to suspect that he thinks I am lazy or something. :o| But I am not going to complain too much since he and Karen did save me from strangers who may have had GERMS! :o)
We hung around and watched everyone finish. We watched Satch get his BQ!!! :o) YEAH!
On the way back to the hotel, people were remarking about how we had run past this part, that part, etc. I looked around and said, "We did???"
I didn't take regular walk breaks. I am experimenting with slow running when I am tired. Toward the end I did take 2 1:00 walk breaks and I lost some time at 3K tying to get my long sleeve shirt off and tired around my waist. I was a little dehydrated didn't drink like I usually drink, but again, I was experimenting between what to eat/drink versus what I could bear without losing speed. I am exceedingly pleased with this run.
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