The Yonge and the Restless

Yonge Street (pronounced 'young') is (debatably) the longest street in the world, running 1896km from Lake Simcoe (about an hour's drive north of Toronto) all the way south to Lake Ontario.

It's considered to be the centre of the city, quite literally, as it divides all the perpendicular streets in downtown Toronto into east and west (e.g. Queen Street West, King Street East etc). Yonge street is also seen as as a major cultural hub, containing famous landmarks such as the Eaton Centre, Yonge-Dundas Square, the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre, the Sony Centre and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Many large festivals and parades are held down Yonge street including Buskerfest, Pride Parade,  Celebrate Yonge, Live Green Toronto, Zombie Walk and the St Patrick's Day Parade. It's also home to the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line, which celebrates it's 60th birthday this year as Canada's first subway.

Yesterday (as well as last year), I had the pleasure of running down this famous street at the Toronto Yonge Street 10km run. It's a great event, as the gentle downhill slope and generally cooler temperatures in April make for a very fast race. I was happy to cross the finish line in 55:37, over a minute faster than last year! There was a fantastic atmosphere in the crowd, partly due to the thrill of running down the middle of what is usually a very busy street, but mainly because it feels so good to get outside again after such a long, cold winter!