Team Running Free Athlete Profile: Esther Tam
Home Store: Team RF Markham
Team: Multisport
Age: 2010
Occupation:
Home: Toronto
About me: I've always loved sports and being active but training for marathons and triathlons gives me real concrete goals to strive for. If someone asked me to run a marathon in 2003 I would've probabaly replied "what's a marathon?" and when they told me it was a 42.2km running race I probably would have answered "No, only crazy people would do that". Now I'm of those crazies and I have Running Free to thank for that.
Sports: RUNNING - trails or road. Anything up to 50km; TRIATHLONS - road. Sprints, Long Course, Half-Ironman, and Ironman.
Athletic Accomplishments: Completing IMNZ in 12:30:05 March 2010. Ironman 70.3 Florida in 5:45 in May 2009. Escaping from Alcatraz triathlon on June 8/08 and making it through the swim portion. Racing for Team Canada in France July 2007 in the World's Long Course Tri (3K/80K/20K).
Athletic goals: Staying injury free and completing my first Ironman on March 6, 2010 in Taupo, New Zealand.
My most catastrophic racing experience was: Being late....this is a daily occurrence for me but it's a REALLY bad idea to drive into the race venue AFTER the gun goes off. This was the case at the CFB Borden Duathlon in September 2006 when I got lost getting there. I was the girl running all by myself and asking the cops for directions because I couldn't see a single runner in site! I managed to catch up to other runners at 3 of 4K but then had a terrible bike ride because I didn't have time to pump up my bike tires (oops). At least I didn't have to stop and ask for directions on the last run leg of the race :) I still finished with a smile so it really wasn't a catastrophy but I almost turned around and went home instead of starting the race late. I'm glad I didn't give up and it's true - getting to the start line is often harder than getting to the finish line.
My most memorable racing experience was: Every race has a special place in my heart but Chicago was really special because this is where I qualified for Boston shaving 28 mins off my first marathon in Ottawa. The 40,000 runners and the million spectators is something else altogether!
Favourite footwear, clothing, or equipment: Footwear - anything that doesn't make my toenails disappear. Clothing - CWX sports bra and compression tights.
Favourite race: Around the Bay
Favourite race food: PRE-RACE: Smoothie with lots of fresh & frozen fruit. Espresso GU 15 mins before the race. DURING eLoad & GU blocks in Pomegranate/Blueberry flavour. I'm one of those rare creatures that can and will eat just about anything during a race: fruit, chocolates, cookies, candies, chips, etc. Trail races are the best for dishing out the goodies. POST RACE: regular chips and a Protein Smoothie
