We started maybe 2 years ago, and since then, we've entered several road races here in Toronto. We started with a 5K, then when we realized they don't give out medals for 5K finishers, only for those who finish the 10K races, we knew we had to train for that.

Within a year, we had completed two 10K races, the famous one down Yonge Street and one along the waterfront on Canada Day. For our efforts, we got beautiful medals and, perhaps even better, PBs (personal best times). Well, I did anyway. Andy was good enough to pace me and didn't go all out for a personal best. He was rabbit to my greyhound and I was very grateful to be running with someone so supportive and encouraging.

Now that we have two medals apiece, I'm beginning to yearn for more. Not willing to commit to the extra training that anything longer than a 5K race would entail (it's hard to book more than half an hour at a time on a treadmill in a condo gym), I searched high and low for 5K races that gave out medals to all finishers and actually found two! One's coming up this May in Mississauga and the other will be in Ottawa in the fall. You can bet we'll be there.

Thing is, running in the Great Canadian Outdoors is nothing like running on the treadmill in the gym. With the weather and the traffic where we live (mid-town in a big city), there's no question of running in the streets. We tend to search out local schools with tracks, though we got short-changed when an elementary school track turned out to be quite a bit less than 400m. Good thing we had those pedometers.

Worse, when we were in Vancouver for Christmas, it rained practically every one of the ten days we were there. We took advantage of a few hours of sunshine on two days and just headed off to the track at a nearby community centre. Didn't reckon on how cold Vancouver could be in December though. They've had a rough year weather-wise and it was so cold we barely warmed up halfway into our 5K (12 and a half laps) run.

Lesson learned: in Canada, always have gloves and long sleeves ready for outdoor running. But don't let the weather confine you to the gym. The treadmill belt is so giving that if you train exclusively on a treadmill, you will find road running a rude shock to your feet and knees. If you're training for road races, you must train on the road some of the time. Wear the best running shoes you can afford (Aasics is very good), layer a hoody (great for protecting your vulnerable ears) or at least a long-sleeved top over a T-shirt, wear long pants and don't forget your running gloves. Then run to your heart's content