MEC # 2 Birds Hill Park Race

MEC # 2 Birds Hill Park Race
MEC #2 Birds Hill Park 2017 3rd Overall After A Sprint Finish!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Oceanside 10K Results

           Results are now up, and I was 1st of 7 in my age group, 9th overall out of 126, with a time of 43:30. Glenn was 1st in his AG, and 6th overall, with a time of 42:45. Women's winner Jane Campbell Arnold was 8th overall in a time of 43:11. John was 13th overall and 4th in his AG with a time of 45:51, and Steve of course won his age group, was 21st overall, and his time was 47:54. The warmer weather seemed to slow us all down a bit, but that's okay, we were all in the same boat! /raceday-results?display=oceanside10k2012

Congratulations also go out to my Semiahmoo Sunrunners clubmates for putting together 2 teams and finishing 353 & 360 overall https://register.skitosea.com/Results/teamresults.aspx?order=overall in the Ski To Sea race http://www.skitosea.com/,  and to Rick Woods for winning his 60-64 age group in the Shaughnessy 8K http://www.winningtime.ca/12/12shaughnessy/age8.txt . This race was also the B.C. 8K Championships for 2012, so Rick is now the provincial champion in his AG! We are not worthy!

Oceanside 10K

Today's race was the Oceanside 10K in beautiful Parksville on Vancouver Island. We started out from a cul de sac just up the street from the Parksville Curling Rink at 11 AM, and 3 fellows took off very quickly and ran ahead of everyone else. I stayed back in the second pack, but soon 2 guys slowly pulled away from me, and some others dropped off. We were running along the roads and crossed a small bridge just before the 2K mark, and then we hit a hill that wasn't too steep but was a bit long, about 500 meters. I remember last year one guy called it a mirage, saying it didn't look like much, but it sure slowed you down, and it had the same effect this year.

We reached the top and the volunteers sent us down a road on a downhill slope. I heard feet slapping behind me and then Glenn the barefoot runner from Victoria came flying past me. I yelled "Way to go!", and he said "Isn't this great?" I said that it sure was and his reply was a "Whoo hoo!" as he flew down the hill ahead of me. I picked up speed myself on the downhill as my legs recovered from the uphill, and as we turned a few hundred meters later and entered a park I was close behind him. We were hitting a gravel trail with some sharp stones on it, and Glenn stopped for just a second and slipped on some thin running sandals he was carrying, and he was off again in a flash.

I stayed behind him and every once in awhile he looked back and seemed surprised that I was still with him. We came to where a volunteer guided us through a space in a 2 foot high concrete barrier, and when I saw Glenn jump it I jumped it too. Luckily we both cleared it, looking like graceful deer instead of doing a face plant, it could have gone either way, at least with me. We were still running through the park, with some nice tree cover and a wide trail, but now the trail turned to asphalt. Glenn asked one volunteer if there was any more gravel and she didn't know. Another kilometer later another one told him that there were a couple more small patches, so he kept the sandals on.

As Glenn pulled away from me, the top woman runner in the race pulled even. She'd been on my tail for at least three kilometers, because every time we went past volunteers or spectators, they'd cheer the "first woman", so I knew she was right behind me. We ran side by side for a couple of hundred meters, and then she pulled in front of me and I tucked in behind her. We came out of the park and were directed up a small but steep hill, and she went up the hill a little faster than me. We went back across the bridge, and she started to pull away, and I tried my best to stay with her. There were two kilometers to go now, and we were heading down a straight road, with the sun beating down on us.

By the 9K mark she'd opened up about a fifty foot gap on me, and I sped up but so did she. Try as I might to close the gap I couldn't do it, but that was okay, it kept me going at a good pace. Soon I could hear the announcer and people cheering, and turned into the cul de sac and sprinted across the finish line. The announcer called out my name as I crossed, and a volunteer handed me a bottle of water and said "Good job!" One of the race directors told me I ran a good time, but I hadn't stopped my watch when I crossed the line so I wasn't sure what it was. I knew it was probably over 43 minutes, not a great time for me.

I'd been apprehensive before the race because my hamstrings had been in a bit of pain during the week, due to last week's heavy training and racing schedule, and I'd only run one 10K run the whole week, on Thursday, and they were still sore this morning when I got up. I didn't know how I'd do, or if I'd even finish the race, so I was quite happy with my result. One fellow came in who was in his 60's, and I told him he'd probably won his age group, and he said he wasn't happy with his time. I told him that these were a lot warmer conditions than we were used to, so that didn't help our performance today, and he nodded in the affirmative.

Soon John, who I'd met at the Sound & Silence run, came in, plus Steve, who I'd met before the race, and we stayed a little while at the finish cheering other runners in. Before long I decided to head to the curling rink for some apres race goodies. I walked into the curling rink and they had long rows of tables loaded with food just like last year. There were veggie platters with dip, oranges and bananas, homemade fudge brownies, 3 types of Oreos, chocolate chip cookies, cracker and cheese platters, Sweet & Salty peanut butter bars, bagels with cream cheese and peanut butter, puddings, chocolate milk, coffee, juice boxes, and later on, ice cream cones! I ate too much again, but it was all so good!

I chatted with the winner of the race, Royd Burkart, for awhile, he was a great guy. Soon he went and got his medal and trophy and had his picture taken, as he had to head out. I congratulated him again, and he told me I'd had a great run too, and I said thanks and I'd be seeing him again. I went outside and Steve was sitting there, and he told me how not that long ago he'd run a race and got a ribbon for third in his age group, he said he couldn't believe it! He was really excited about getting his first podium finish. I knew what that was like, and I told him it was really motivating, and he said it sure was!

Finally we got to the awards, plus some draw prizes, and Steve won a fifty dollar gift certificate for Forerunners running store. I thought I'd won my age group, but sometimes I've missed a fast guy who darted ahead at the beginning, so I wasn't sure. This time I was right, they called the third and second place guys' names, and then mine! Only first place earned you a medal, the others got ribbons, and these were Olympic size beauties, even better than last year. Next was Steve's group, and he won first place too. He was ecstatic, and now he really couldn't believe it, he'd been so happy to win a third place ribbon, and now this! Plus he won the gift certificate, quite a day!

Soon the awards were over and we headed out, and as I was preparing to drive out of the parking lot Steve drove by in his pickup. He saw me and held his medal up out the window and gave a war whoop, one happy camper! I told him congratulations again, and he told me the same, and we both yelled that we'd see each other next time.

No results on the net yet, but there is an article in the Parksville Qualicum Beach News:
http://www.pqbnews.com/sports/154820475.html As always, I'll post the results when they become available.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Peach City 10K

Today I ran the 10K race at the Peach City Half Marathon & 10K in beautiful Penticton, B.C. The weather was nicely cool and overcast as we set out at 8 AM from beside the beach in Skaha Lake Park, with the half marathoners following us at 8:15.

A teenaged girl, who I later found out was Emily Allin, blasted out into the lead. I was running in second about 10 feet behind her when Doug Wickware, who'd won the race last year, came up beside me and I said "She sure went out fast!" He said "Yeah, I'm just going to hang back a bit." I told him I'd run with him for awhile if I could keep up, maybe the first kilometer, but after about half a kilometer he sped up. Emily was now about 50 feet in front of us, and he caught up to her in no time. They ran together for about a minute and then I saw Doug take off ahead again.

We ran along Main Street and then turned off and ran along a winding road which was mostly flat. I managed to keep Emily in sight for most of the race, but she was still quite far ahead and gradually getting farther and farther away, and I couldn't hear anyone behind me. So unlike last year when I ran with Danny and Teane for most of the race, and we were constantly pushing each other to go faster, I was running this one alone. The odd time I'd find myself slowing down when I wasn't concentrating, and then I'd have to make myself speed up, and I think that probably cost me time-wise.

Near the 7K point there was a turnaround, and I was a couple of hundred meters from it when Doug came by on the other side of the road with the lead bike in front of him. We exchanged "Good job!"s, and the woman on the bike told me the turnaround was coming up and to just cross the road and head back, and I yelled thanks. I turned the corner and headed towards it just as Emily flew by me going the other way, and then I got there and was directed around it by the volunteers. I looked and still saw nobody coming towards me, I'd opened up a huge gap. Finally as I hit the corner where I'd seen Doug heading back, I saw a fellow from Penticton, Kevin, who I'd met before the race, passing me on the other side, and we yelled "Good job!" to each other. We had parked beside each other and were getting race ready at the same time, and discovered we were both running the 10K and so wished each other luck. A woman was right behind Kevin and then there was a constant flow of people going by me on the other side, so it was a constant exchange of "Good job!"s for a little while.

I hit a hill with about one and a half kilometers to go, and it was a nice steep one. I just decided to relax and not kill myself going up it, but it slowed me up quite a bit and it took me awhile to get up to speed again. Soon I heard Steve King the race announcer and saw the park and people standing along the road cheering, so I knew the end was near. The spectators directed me into the park, and I booted it up to full speed, only to discover that I was still about 400 meters from the finish. I slowed up but then ran in as fast as I could with about 150 meters to go. There was such a big gap between myself and Emily in front of me, and Kevin coming in behind me, that Steve had time to rattle off a whole bunch of stuff about me. He said that I was from Vancouver, that I was third overall, second place male, first in my age group, finished 4th overall last year and set the record in my age group. That my time last year was 42:45 but I'd be finishing about 20 seconds slower this year, and then I crossed the line and gave my bib tag to the volunteer, as this was a hand timed race, with no timing chip.

I waited for Kevin to come in and we exchanged congratulations, and I told him I was second and he was third male overall and had won his age group. He was amazed as he hadn't expected to do that well. Now it was time to head over to the food table. To drink they had the big plastic dispensers filled with water, Power Ade, chocolate milk, Coke, and coffee, and to eat they had bananas, watermelon, plain ripple potato chips, chocolate eclairs, and chocolate chip cookies. I started off with water and then had some chocolate milk, and a coffee later on, and to replace my lost sodium and glycogen, some chips, eclairs and cookies did the trick!

I went over to the finish line and helped cheer in the rest of the 10Kers and then the half marathoners started coming in. At first it was slow going, as the winner, Stephen Ptucha, finished 6 minutes ahead of everyone else, and so Steve did an interview with him while we waited for the second place person to arrive, but gradually it picked up until there was a steady stream of people coming in.

Just as the first female half marathoner, Amanda Barlow, crossed the finish line, they called us over to do the 10K awards. First they did the women's, and there was a group of women in their 40's, 50's & 60's who'd come up from the Lower Mainland, and they were having the time of their lives winning medals and cheering wildly everytime they or anyone else did so. I'll never forget Emma Jean Chang winning 3rd in her age group. She was shocked that she'd podiumed, and was just yelling like crazy, and not like some Price Is Right contestant. It was more like one of those Maori war dances, and then she finished off her celebration with a double fist pump and arm flex combo as she walked up to receive her medal.

The men's awards were kind of anti-climactic after that, but luckily the women stayed to cheer for us as well. Doug went up and got his medal and it was announced he was first overall, and first Kevin and then myself ran up to get ours. Last year the medals were nice and solid but just a round disk that looked like someone had scratched Peach City 10K on the metal with a nail, you could barely read it. I think they look awesome this year, and I told that to the woman who was presenting them to us.

Our awards concluded and I had a long drive back to Vancouver, and even Kevin was heading out, and he lived 5 minutes away! We shook hands and said we'd see each other at a future race, and off we went! Results are up, I was 3rd of 80 overall, and 1st of 4 in my AG, with a time of 43:06. http://www.peachcityrunners.com/marathon/pc10k2012.htm
In case anyone's curious, here's the half results:
We had a great turnout for the Friday Night Mile this week. I was slower than last time, so I'll work on that for the next one: http://www.peninsularunners.com/events/mileseries.htm

Congratulations to Sandy Smith (Craig's wife, for those who work with us) for finishing her second race (her first was the Sun Run), the 5K Vistas Run, 30th overall out of 74, with a time of 37:02 on a hilly course. http://trytiming.ca/images/stories/results/2012%20vistas%20run.pdf
My next race is the Oceanside 10K in Parksville on Vancouver Island, this Sunday, May 27 at 11 AM.
This has been the 3rd edition of Gord's Running News for May 2012.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mother's Day 5K

Today's race was the Mother's Day 5K . It started and finished in the sports field behind the Port Moody Social Rec Centre. I met clubmate Rick Woods and his friend Frank who was visiting from Seattle, plus Rob Daniel, Teresa Nightingale, Bill Chang, Jo Astoria, Scott Stewart and his grandson Cameron Nelson before the race and we all exchanged pleasantries and wished each other luck. The race started at 9 AM sharp, and we took off and did one lap of the field, then it was out the gate, over the railroad tracks, and onto a concrete path in the woods. It was an out and back, fairly flat for the first kilometer, and then we hit some hills that slowed me down a bit. I was surprised that even after the 2nd kilometer I could still see Teresa and Rick about 50 meters in front of me, but they turned it up a notch and by the time we hit the turnaround they had at least 100 meters on me. The day was warming up but luckily we had some good tree cover so we were in the shade most of the time. At last we came to the 4K marker, and I sped up and passed a few people, but then I heard a couple of others on my tail, and as we reached the turnin to the field and the finish line, a young fellow whizzed past me, and then a guy who looked to be in my age group. I tried to catch up to him as we rounded the field and headed into the finish, but he sped up too and matched me step for step. I sprinted in and a volunteer removed my ankle chip, and I went to look for Rick.

I saw Rick but he was way over on the other side of the field and heading away from me, so I reversed direction and headed to the refreshment area. They had water, various juices and coffee to drink, plus massive amounts of delicious cookies, muffins and bagels, bananas, oranges and bags of potato chips, tortilla chips, and cheese puffs to eat. Tim Hortons also had a truck set up on another side of the field where you could get coffee, hot chocolate, and Tim Bits.

Since it took awhile for everything to finish and the start of the awards ceremony, I ended up eating way too many cookies, chips, etc. They had so much they were telling even hogs like myself to keep eating lots, and then at the end they even had a big box of little bags with Tim Bits in them that they told everyone to take.

Scott Stewart was telling me about some of the old time elite Olympic runners including one fellow named Carey Nelson, when up he walked. He's been "retired" for quite a few years now but recently started racing again, and finished 4th overall in today's race. He mentioned that in a couple of years he'll be in my age group, and he laughed when I said that this wouldn't be good for me. He's actually a very soft spoken, humble guy, and told both myself and Scott that we'd done very well today, and he'd be seeing us again.

Carey left us to go talk to some other people, and then they had the kids' races. First there was a hundred meter dash for the little tykes, and there looked to be about 50 in that one, and then there was an 800 yard race that looked to have at least 100 participants. In both of them some of the kids could really fly, and they all looked like they were having a great time just running it!

They finally got to the awards and many draw prizes. Mother's Day roses had already been given to all the women participants after they crossed the finish line. Teresa was 3rd in her age group and she and her son Alex were 3rd in the team awards. In the 60-64 male category I knew all the winners, Bruce Wark was 1st, Scott was 2nd, and Rick was 3rd.In the prize draws Cameron won a $50 gift certificate to a restaurant, and Rick won a Timex watch, so we had a pretty good group haul of stuff. Myself I finished 52nd overall out of 280 and 5 of 11 in my age group, with a time of 20:39. http://www.raceheadquarters.com/results/2012/run/MDSpringClassic2012OA.html
Rick wouldn't let me take a picture of them but he did take one of me.
We were all baking our white flesh in the sun, so it was time to go and say goodbye until our next competitions together. Cameron told me he'd definitely be out again competing at Scott's next race, he's really enjoying himself, and I told him that was great!

My next jaunt is the 10K race at the Peach City Half & 10K in Penticton at 8 AM this coming Sunday, May 20th.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Sound and Silence 10K

On Sunday, May 6th, I ran the Sound and Silence 10K in Saanichton on Vancouver Island. There was also a 5K run and 5 & 10K walk races, all to raise funds for the Island Deaf and Hard of Hearing Centre. The IDHHC'c mission statement says: To enable individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing or Deafened, to have full and active access, recognition and involvement in society.
 
The races started off from the Michell Bros. Farmers Market on Lochside Drive, a rural road just off the Patricia Bay Highway. It was already a bright sunny day as the 5 and 10K walkers started their race at 8:30 AM. Half an hour later it was our turn as the 5 and 10K runners took off.
 
We ran down the road alongside a farmer's field for about a kilometer, then there were trees alongside the road and buildings could be seen beyond them, and after a few hundred yards on our left was a pig farm. There was no fence and a huge hog that looked to be at least 400 lbs. was happily laying in the mud about 10 feet from the road, not paying any heed to all the strange creatures rushing by in such a hurry. I noticed while waiting for the race to start that many runners and cyclists were going up and down this road, so I guess we didn't look so strange to him after all, this was something he saw all the time, which explained why he looked so disinterested in us.
 
After this we hit a field with a gravel path for another few hundred yards, and then we were back out on the road. There were a few runners farther up ahead of the rest of us by now, but a couple of young guys and a fellow who looked to be about my age had been running in front of me, and I'd gradually gained ground on them, and now I passed them all.
 
Soon we came to a road where we were directed to turn right by the volunteers, and I was running on a slight downhill into the wind and heard someone right behind me. I thought my pursuer might be using me as a windblock so I sped up, and gained a little space between us. I heard volunteers and spectators start yelling "Go Mark!" as we ran down the road to the 5K point and the turnaround, and as we rounded the halfway point cone I saw that it was one of the young guys that I'd passed by the pig farm who was tailing me.
 
When we got back to the other road we were told to turn right, and I turned to the guy behind me and said "I thought it looked different on the course map.", and he said "Me too." I ran ahead for awhile longer, and then at about the 7K point he pulled up alongside and asked how long we'd been running, and I told him. Plus our split time just came up, 2:09 for the last halk K, so we'd slowed down a bit at the last water station. He thanked me and ran ahead, and I stayed behind him for a bit and then passed him going around a turn in the road.
 
There were a few young woman walkers just ahead of us, and as we passed them they all yelled "Go Mark, you can beat him!"
 
This caused him to speed up and pass me, and I decided not to go with him and just run my pace and see how it panned out. With a couple of kilometers to go we were directed to turn left now, and found ourselves running downhill for a bit, so we both sped up. The whole race had been run mostly alongside farmers' fields, and when we came to any houses there were usually people out to cheer us on, and most of them seemed to know Mark! Now we came to the final turn towards the finish, with one kilometer to go. Mark was about 150 meters ahead of me, and I tried to close the gap, but he sped up too so I never gained very much ground on him. At last we hit the short finisher's chute and I heard my name announced as I crossed the line.
 
I went up to Mark who was with his Mom, and said "Good race!", and he thanked me for pacing him, telling his mother he knew nothing about pacing. There were only a few of us in so far and I grabbed some water, and then followed a couple of young guys up to the food tables. They had a huge variety of cookies and muffins, plus brownies, bagels and cream cheese, watermelon, and bananas to eat, and coffee, Gatorade and water to drink. We had to wait awhile for the rest of the runners to come in, so I ended up eating quite a few cookies and muffins, as they weren't exactly running out!
 
I chatted with a few runners and one guy told me they had age group awards in our race. I had no idea about the awards because it hadn't really said anything about it in the brochure, so this was good news. Finally they got the awards going, and they did the walkers first, and they only had overall top 3 male and female for them, but they didn't have a lot of walkers, and it was pretty cool that they gave them a separate race of their own. The walkers seemed pretty happy with it anyway.
 
Then they got to ours, and it turned out that Mark was in the 0-19 category, no surprise he outsprinted me! They came to my 50-59 age group and I took second place, behind Gary Duncan, who's a really fast Island runner, and ahead of Roger White. We shook hands and our photo was taken, and then I talked to Roger for awhile. He'd been ahead of me at the beginning of the race and was the guy I'd passed right after the pig farm. The reason he'd slowed down was because he's still recovering from an injury and couldn't keep up his usual pace. I told him I'd come over from Vancouver to run this race, and he said he travels around quite a bit too and it turned out we'd run many of the same races, which is why we looked so familiar to each other. Roger's also an Ironman triathlete, hoping to do the Penticton one this summer, so I hope he's totally healed up by then. Even if he isn't, I imagine he'll finish it anyway, just not as fast as usual, like today. It was great talking to him, but I told him I was hoping to catch the noon ferry as I had to work that night, and he said I'd better get going, so we bid each other farewell until next time.
 
They gave us nice ribbons instead of medals, and I've attached a picture of mine. Results are up http://racedaytiming.ca/raceday-results?display=soundandsilence2012 and I finished 2nd of 7 in my age group, and 5th overall out of 47, with a time of 42:34.
 
 
 
The last 2 years I've run the 8K race at the Vancouver Marathon, but this year they had new courses and only the marathon and half marathon, which didn't fit into my schedule right now, so I ran this race instead. Congratulations go out to Don Domae's daughter Laura for finishing her first marathon, Gary Wong's wife Terry for finishing the half, plus Stuart McNabb, Alan Benson, Evan Zaleschuk, Antonio Cerullo, Glenn Gerow,  and Roger Roufosse from my club for conquering the marathon. Kudos also to Tom Webster, Dan Cumming, and Chris Boulton, who was 99th overall, for doing the half.
 
 
My next race is the Mother's Day 5K in Port Moody this Sunday at 9 AM.