MEC # 2 Birds Hill Park Race

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

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

MEC Summer Classic 10K

On Sunday, August 26, I ran in the inaugural MEC Summer Classic 10K.

The race started out at 9 AM beside the Jericho Sailing Centre, and we headed out running on a choppy asphalt trail through a lightly wooded picnic area of the park. I often run through there when I'm training, and when we came to the end of the path after a couple of hundred meters, I couldn't resist jumping over the giant log crossing the path, rather than going around it.

A few runners had gone out fast into the lead, but I let them go and settled in behind a fellow who looked to be only a few years younger than myself, going at a pace more to my liking. It was sunny yet mild, but we soon warmed up, running on the gravel path alongside Locarno Beach and past a fieldhouse. Next was the same thing along the Spanish Banks Beach, before hitting a park space while still running beside the ocean.

I knew what was coming up next, because the race director had cautioned the 5Kers just before she sent us off not to make a mistake and run our race (they were starting at 9:15), as they would end up running up a hill that they didn't want to. Thus, shortly after we went past the 5K turnaround, we hit the Spanish Banks Hill, 1.7 kilometers of fairly steep ascent. We were directed out of the park and ran alongside a winding road heading up to UBC. I've run it countless times in training, but never uphill in a race, just downhill in the Scotiabank Half, and I knew we'd be slowing down considerably.

The fellow in front of me managed to keep a decent pace going, however, and I was able to stay right behind him. At the start of the hill I'd heard someone running behind me, but by the midway point all was quiet back there, any pursuers appearing to have dropped back. We kept slogging until we reached the top of the hill with the trails leading down to the clothing optional Wreck Beach on our right, but they directed us to go a bit further and turn onto a road on the university campus, instead of heading down to run amongst the nudies.

We headed up the road still going on a slight uphill, and it wasn't too long before a volunteer yelled "400 meters to the turnaround!" at us, just as the 3 race leaders passed us going back the other way. About 30 seconds later a man and woman went by, following them, and then nobody else, so when we reached the turnaround I knew I was in seventh place.

At the turnaround a volunteer opened bottles of water for us, and I took a gulp and handed it back to him as that was all I wanted. I thought "What a waste!", as I imagined they'd just be pouring out all the undrunk water, and since we'd stopped to drink I thought "Hey, we're in a race!", and took off back. The guy who I'd been following had still been drinking as I headed out, but soon he was right on my tail, our earlier roles now reversed.

People continually passed us still heading up to the turnaround, and some would say things like "Way to go Gordon!". At first I was wondering how these people knew my name, but the first time he answered one back I realized that my pursuer was named Gordon too!

We ran back to the nudie beach entrance location and began our descent back down the Hill, and Gordon continued to run right behind me. We chatted for a bit as we went down, but then got down to business, and I managed to speed up and put a little distance between us, but not much.

Near the bottom of the hill I heard someone closing fast on me, and thought it was Gordon, but a young fellow in his 20s ran by. He streaked past but then slowed up, and we were now running in a pack of 3. At the fieldhouse just before Locarno Beach the lead runner went a bit off course, but instead of backtracking I told him we should just jump the logs on our right and back onto the proper path, so that's what we all did!

We continued to run 1-2-3, and before too long we were approaching the park with the rickety asphalt path leading back to the finish line, and I didn't jump the log this time, as a volunteer was there and directed us to go around it. We all picked up our pace trying to catch one another, but when all was said and done we crossed the line in the same order we'd been in since the young guy had passed me.

We congratulated each other on a good race, and my friend Andy, who'd finished 2nd in the 5K race, was waiting for me. He wanted to talk about the National Cross Country Championships that would be in almost this same location in the fall, and possibly him joining our club and us putting a team together. We talked about this and other events we could possibly collaborate on, plus other races we'd run, etc. Ingo Jackish joined us for awhile, and then we went to refuel.

I got some water and then a coffee, and they had various types of tasty granola bars, plus bananas and oranges, so we had a little repast consisting mostly of the granola bars.

Andy didn't think they were going to have any medals or anything as it had been advertised as a "no frills" race, but they called us together for an awards ceremony. They had medals for the top 3 male & female overall finishers in each of the races, plus the top under-15 competitors of both genders in each as well. Andy was very pleased especially since he wasn't expecting it, and it was a very nice looking medal. He also received a nice water bottle and carrying pack, and the other winners scored additional prizes as well. I forgot my camera so no picture. Oh well, maybe next year!

We stayed awhile longer chatting with some of the other runners, but soon it was time to head out. Andy lives near me and had walked down to the race, so I gave him a ride home. I had been planning on walking there too, but when I woke up and my calf muscles were still screaming from the 5 Peaks race the day before, I decided it would be a good idea to drive there, instead of walking an extra 3.5K before and after a 10K race.

Results are up, and they now have Andy as being in 3rd out of the 51 finishers instead of 2nd, not sure what that's all about.
He finished in 20:05, which is a pretty good time considering the gravel trails it was run on, which always cost you timewise. The guy who finished 3 seconds behind Andy, John Tai, ran the whole race pushing a baby stroller, and his wife Allison finished next, 12 seconds behind him, to win the women's race! Andy said he had to outsprint John to beat him, and he couldn't believe it when he saw that he was pushing that stroller! Andy's 37 and the Tai's look to be in their early 20s, but very impressive nonetheless.

As for myself, I did indeed finish 7th overall out of 42, with a time of 44.33. Ingo is still on a long recovery from a bad injury, and is a few years my senior, but he still managed to finish 18th overall in the 5K with a time of 26:09. Well done!

My next race is on Sunday, September 2nd, the 18K race in the Walk in the Park Ultra event in Kenna Cartwright Park in Kamloops. The featured competitions are a 54K trail ultra marathon (3 course loops), a 36K jaunt (2 loops), as well as my race, which will be long enough for me! The ultra starts at 7 AM, the 36K at 9 AM, and the 18K at 11 AM, so there'll be no relief from the heat for those running the shorter races, and it'll be an experience! It'll also be an intimate gathering as it's limited to 100 racers in total for the entire event to preserve the environmental integrity of the park.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

5 Peaks Whistler Blackcomb 6.5K Sport Race

Yesterday I competed in the 5 Peaks Whistler Blackcomb 6.5K Sport Race. From Whistler Village we took a gondola up to the top of Whistler Mountain, and then from there, another gondola, the Peak2Peak, across to Blackcomb Mountain. The journey took about half an hour all told, and the views were spectacular! It had been warm down below, but at the top of the mountain it was still quite chilly.
 
 

 
At 10:30 AM they started the 200 meter toddlers' race, which had about 15 participants, and after this they had the Children's Challenge 1K, which even had a climb and descent in it, and about 30 eager runners. We cheered on these young athletes who the announcer rightly said are the future of our sport. They clearly had a great time finishing the races and collecting their ribbons at the end, even though a few were understandably a little tired afterward.
 
 
                                  

 
We were up next, together with the people doing the 10.6K Enduro race, and they sent us off in waves to try and avoid congestion. I was in the first wave, and we hadn't gone 200 meters before we hit the first steep hill. This is when I experienced the worst start to a race that I can remember, as my legs immediately felt sore as I went up the hill, and my throat felt raw like I had a severe cold, so it wasn't much fun breathing. I think this was a result of the chilly, thinner mountain peak air, and it was something I'd never had happen to me before.
 
When we were on a little more level ground it was single track through brush and you were constantly running on and over rocks so your footing was precarious. Quite a few young runners passed me here, I kept hearing "On your left!", and then "Thank you!" as they went by. Finally I settled in behind a young woman running my pace. I followed her for awhile before she stopped to let me pass, but I told her to keep going, as I wasn't going any faster than she was at the time. After a few hundred more meters of running up and down on the rocky single track, some more runners signaled that they were going to pass me, and I now had a little more energy and decided to follow them when they passed my pace bunny. I said "I think I'll give it a whirl now!" as I went by her, and she laughed and said "Go for it!".
 
It wasn't too long after this that we hit the super steep uphills, and for the next couple of kilometers everyone mostly walked. The odd time we'd hit a less steep or level patch, but after about 10 meters it was back to tromping our way uphill as best we could. We had to pick our way over rocks of various sizes, and I still have a bit of a burn on my right wrist where I tripped once and braced myself with my hands to avoid a faceplant. A couple of racers behind me asked if I was okay, and I said that I was fine, but thanked them for their concern, and we plodded onward and upward.
 
There was one point where we were actually able ot run about 100 meters before hitting the steep climb again, but then all of a sudden after we climbed up a steep incline composed solely of gravel and huge rocks, there was a road with a volunteer to greet us.
 
He said "Way to go, all downhill from here!" I thought "Great, now I get to trash my quads!". It was down a wide gravel road, but the gravel was composed of fairly large sharp rocks, and it wasn't easy going. I had to watch every step and constantly brake myself to keep from wiping out, but I managed to keep ahead of the fellow who'd been with me as we hit the road. We hit the "1K to go!" sign, and I sped up as fast as I could. The footing was a little better as I went along, so I was able to increase my speed. There were more volunteers along the road now cheering us on, and I could still hear my pursuer behind me when the mountaintop buildings and gondolas came into sight.
 
We sprinted in and through the finisher's chute, and finally I was across the line, and never before so happy to be there! The other fellow was close behind me and we shook hands and exchanged congratulations with some of the other runners, and then went to get some refreshments.
 
They had water and energy drink for hydration, and bananas, oranges, watermelon, honeydew melon, cantalope, chocolate chip cookies, bagels with cream cheese, Nutella, peanut butter and jam to spread on them, plus some granola and sliced chocolate energy bars for refueling.  
 
They had results up fairly quickly, and I couldn't believe it, I'd won my age group, and finished 24th overall! I went back a few times to look as they updated them, to see if I'd get bumped by someone who finished faster in another wave, but my ranking stood. I told Willi Ribi, who'd finished 2nd in our AG and who I met while looking at the results, that I didn't think I'd done that well as I'd found it to be such a tough race. He reminded me that it was tough for everyone, we were all in the same boat.
 
The first 10.6Ker came in, he was a fellow from Boulder, Colorado, and Chris Barth came in 4th, 8 seconds behind another fellow, but results show him in 3rd, so he must have been in a different wave. 
 
The sun was out and it had warmed up, and I chatted with some of the other runners, while continuing to cheer the runners in as they finished the grueling races. When most of the runners were in they started the awards for our Sport race right past the finish line. This resulted in anyone still finishing getting the biggest cheers of the day as they came in. They came to our category, and myself and Willi went up to the podium, along with 3rd place finisher Tony Espeut, and Willi's son Marcus graciously took our picture. After the age group awards they had the overalls, and Marcus went up again, as not only had he won his age group, he won the whole race!
 
 


 
A reporter from the local paper did an interview with him, and I learned that he's been on a tear, winning a few of the 5 Peaks Sport races this year! His dad is no slouch either!
 
I was going to wait for the Enduro awards too, but there was some type of computer glitch delay. It was a bit of a journey back to Vancouver, so I said my goodbyes and headed home.
 
Results are posted, with Marcus winning it in a time of 34:23. Myself and Dad were a little slower at 46:23 and 47:58 respectively, with Tony rounding out our age group podium boys, stopping the clock at 52:27. Brenda Stratton won the women's race with a time of 43:21.
Here's the Enduro results for anyone who's interested:
 
My next race was today at 9 AM, the MEC Summer Classic 10K. at Jericho Beach Park.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Latest Results, Photos & Updates

At the Richmond Olympic Oval 10K, I finished 5th out of 10 in my age group
and 46th of 156 overall, with a time of 43:30
 
Results are also in for the Campbell Valley 10K Trail Run. I finished 8th overall out of 51, with a time of 45:40, and my clubmate Murray was 15th overall, with a time of 48:11.
 
Photos have been posted for the Richmond Oval race, and you can see them plus photos from other races by going here:
 
Also, a couple of my Masters compatriots broke a Canadian and couple of world records at the Trevor Craven meet way back at the beginning of July. http://canadianmasters.ca/?p=3155
 
Lastly, there have been a massive amount of additions since the original results were posted for the Warrior Dash! I was orginally 36th overall out of 2242, and now I'm 44th overall out of 2616, that's 374 more people added in, so no big surprise that I got bumped from 1st to 2nd in my AG. Still really happy with my results, not too shabby for an old guy!
 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Campbell Valley 10K Trail Run

Tuesday night's race, the Campbell Valley 10K Trail Run, was a rare weekday one, part of the Regional Parks Trail Running Series, presented by Metro Vancouver and sponsored by Peninsula Runners. It's a new series with races on the 3rd Tuesday of the month in July, August and September.

As the name of the race and series indicates, the location was beautiful Campbell Valley Regional Park, in south Langley close to the U.S. border. We started off in a field a little ways from what looked like a farmstead, complete with a house, large barn, stable, and a few other buildings.

We took off at 6:30 PM, running on a bark mulch trail through the field for a few hundred meters before turning right and hitting a wide gravel trail. We ran along here for a couple of kilometers, through open fields and small wooded patches. Just before we hit some dense woods I passed a fellow who I'd been following since we got off the bark mulch, and he said "Good pace!" as I came up beside him, and I replied "I was gonna say the same to you!" I heard him behind me for a few hundred meters, but then all was quiet and he appeared to finally drop back.

At the 4K mark, just as promised by the race director before he sent us off, we hit THE HILL. He'd said it was about 700 meters long, but one of the other runners told me after the race it was closer to a kilometer all told. After about 400 meters of steep climbing I hit a flat point and thought "That wasn't as long he said it was going to be. Great!" My elation lasted for about 15 meters before I turned a corner and the hill continued! It was a little less steep, but still fairly grueling. It seemed like about 300 meters before I hit another flat patch, and I could see a guy who'd been far ahead of me about 10 meters in front of me. Then we hit the last incline of about 200 meters, and he pulled ahead of me some more. We hit the crest and we were now running along a field beside the woods.
I kept pace with him and after a short jaunt a volunteer directed us to take a sharp right into the woods again. Here we had some small ups and downs, snaking along a fairly wide trail, and just after I'd gained on him again, he sped up and disappeared around a bend, and by the time I rounded the corner he was out of sight. I hit a steep downhill just as I heard someone coming up quick behind me. I raced down the grade as fast as I could but he caught up to me at the bottom, and I saw it was a really fast guy in his 30s that I'd seen in other races. I was wondering where he was because I hadn't seen him in front of me at the start, but here he was now!
As also promised by the race director, we now hit a narrow snaking single track, with lots of roots, rocks, and logs to jump over. He was wearing a red shirt and I managed to keep him in sight as we dodged and weaved along the trail. After about another K we exited the single track, and hit a wide trail. He now found another gear, and when I reached a corner he'd gone around he had vanished. The other fellow who'd surged ahead of me soon came into sight. Red shirt had left him far behind too, and I tried to reel him in also, but he still had some gas in the tank.

Soon a volunteer directed us to turn sharply through a fence, and I ran down some wooden stairs and then onto a trail with a few low wooden bridges on it. I knew the end was near, and soon I could hear people cheering and I came out into the field again and saw the finish line. The fellow who I'd been chasing was just crossing it, and I sprinted towards it and in as fast as I could, with the volunteers, spectators, and runners who'd already finished cheering me on. I exchanged handshakes and mutual "Good race!" pronouncements with a few of them, and then got myself a glass of water.

The guy who I'd passed early in the race came in behind a few more runners, and we shook hands and he said "Good pace!" again. After cheering a few more runners in I went over to the Tim Horton's Community Cruiser and got a small bag of Timbits. The organizers had granola and fruit bars, bags of various flavors of Old Dutch potato chips, plus fruit juices to consume, and I grabbed a granola bar and bag of chips. And Tim Hortons also had coffee and hot chocolate, so all told quite a bargain for a $5 race fee!

I went back to the finish line and cheered the rest of the runners in, chatting with my clubmate Murray who'd also run the race, plus other racers and spectators, a very friendly crowd! Finally the last runners came in, 3 young women who beamed as we loudly applauded them, and they started the awards.

It was now getting dark, but they only gave awards consisting of a $50 Peninsula Runners gift certificate to the top male and female runners, so it didn't take very long. They finished things off with about 10 draw prizes, including a package of 4 tickets to Thursday's Vancouver Canadians game, and the racers, volunteers, sponsors and organizers were thanked, and it was time to head home.

It was a well run and very affordable event, with a really nice atmosphere about it, and I'm definitely planning on participating in next month's race at Derby Reach. No results yet but I'll post them when they're up.

My next race is the 5 Peaks Whistler Blackcomb Sport 6.5K trail race, this Saturday, August 25 at 11 AM.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Richmond Olympic Oval 10K

Today's race was the Richmond Oval 10K, the final event in the 2012 Lower Mainland Road Race Series. We started out at 8:30 AM on the dike beside the Oval, and as the fastest runners surged ahead, some of us settled into a pack behind them. 3 women runners were just ahead of me, and in front of them 2 older fellows, one of whom looked to be in my age group. I also knew that there were more racers behind me, as I could hear them breathing down my neck. We started off on pavement and then hit some gravel for about a kilometer, and then pavement again.
 
Everyone had been afraid that this was going to be a hot day, but to our surprise it was overcast and just mildly warm, so heat wasn't an issue. The wind turned out to be though. At the 5K marker we turned and headed back, but shortly after this we were turned down a gravel trail, and after less than a kilometer came out on the dike again. Here is where we encountered a strong wind from off the ocean blowing us back, so even though we were exerting the same effort, we were slowed considerably.
 
By this time 2 of the women had surged ahead and one dropped back, and the oldest looking fellow kept going strong, but suddenly the other guy stopped and started walking. I ran by him and about 20 seconds later heard someone behind me. I thought it was him running again and coming up to pass me, but it was a young fellow who went by, and I never did see him again.
 
At the 8K point I picked up the pace a bit, and by the time we hit the 9K marker I was right behind one of the women, and the older fellow was in sight. I ran as fast as I could going in, and managed to pass her, but couldn't make up the ground on him. I still had lots left in the tank after I crossed the line, so I should have started my kick earlier, but it's hard to judge. This is encouraging for future races though. My time was 43 minutes and change, slower than I'd hoped, and the woman who I passed said the same thing, but we agreed that there was nothing we could do about that wind resistance, so everything considered we did just fine.
 
I went and got some water first, and then headed to the food tables, where they had cinnamon buns, apple strudels, muffins, and raisin scones, plus sliced oranges, bananas, and cantalope, with more water and coffee to drink.
 
I had too many cinnamon buns, but they were just too tasty, and then went and cheered in the finishing runners. They posted results, and I was 5th in my age group, and then got the awards going. They started with the older runners first, with Rob Daniel placing 3rd in his age group, and then zipped through the medals fairly quickly.
 
Then it was time to go inside for the Series awards. They started these out by giving awards for the people who ran all 11 races. There were 3 of these and Rob Daniel was one of them, but he wasn't in the room when they called out his name, and the other 2 people did the photo op. He walked in right after they sat down, and he was called up, and the other 2 were recalled so the photo op was done all over again, which got a few laughs. I believe they got $25 Running Room gift cards as prizes.
 
Then they did the overall awards, and top 3 in each age group. Bill Chang ran 10 races and I ran 8, and they use your points from your top 5 races to compute your score. Even though I beat him in every race we ran against each other, in the 2 I missed he got the big 3rd place points, and so finished just ahead of me in the series, taking 3rd spot in our age group. My injured clubmate Rick Woods asked me to pick up his award for him, and he's in the 60-64 category. He ended up in first place, and I went up and got his Timex watch, and then headed back to my seat. People were yelling at me to get my picture taken, but I yelled "I'm not Rick!", followed by "I ain't that old!".
 
Ist place finishers get a Timex Ironman watch, 2nd place got a $25 Running Room gift card, and 3rd place got a water bottle containing GU energy gel mix to make your own gels. I, however, hauled off the big prize, the giant 16 x 34 inch mounted Series poster with my picture on it. They had 2 of them so I asked clubmate Dan Cumming, who was chairing the series, if it was possible for me to get one. We then talked to Maurice from B.C. Athletics, and he said as long as the fellow who made them, Frank, said it was okay, it was fine with him. Frank told me no problem, and gave it to me right after the awards were done, and I took a picture of it beside our Cross Country Series trophy for context.
 
 
 
 
For the first time they also had an award for the top club in the series, and VFAC won hands down. They received a $200 gift certificate for White Spot, as there's a location right by where they train, and hopefully it'll fatten them up a bit so they don't run as fast.
 
I congratulated Bill and told him I'd see him at his next race, the 14K Coho Run in 2 weeks, and then we all headed out, another series finished for 2012! Nothing on the net yet but I'll post results and photos when they're up.
 
My next race is on Tuesday, August 21st, the 10K Campbell Valley Regional Park Trail Run, at 6:30 PM.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Four Lakes 10K

Yesterday's event was the Four Lakes 10K, which started and ended at Katherine Lake Park on the beautiful Sunshine Coast of B.C. There are 4 lakes that we run alongside: Katherine, Garden Bay, Hotel, and Mixal, hence the name of the race. There was also a 3K run starting 5 minutes after ours.
 
We began the race at 9 AM from a campground beside Katherine Lake, and I took off fast and was in the lead from the start. I was making good time running on the gravel road heading out of the campground, but then I hit a hill that took the spring out of my steps. I heard someone behind me so I went up it as fast as I was able, and after I was once more on flat ground my legs recovered and I got into a good pace again. Soon we were out of the campground and onto the road. Not long after the 1K marker we were directed left up another road, running alongside a different lake.
 
We hit another nice hill that I topped as quick as I could, as my pursuer was right on my tail now. There was a turnaround and as we headed back the other way I saw the young fellow who was dogging me. We went another half kilometer before turning right and running beside a 3rd lake, and he came up beside me.
 
We weren't running together for too long when another guy who looked to be a few years older than myself joined us, going at a nice steady pace. I remarked that we looked like the lead pack in the Olympic Marathon that had been run earlier in the morning, and the young guy said I was being too generous to us. I replied that they'd showed it in slow motion, so it looked like they were travelling at our pace.
 
The older fellow said he lived right nearby and ran this route often, but had skipped the race last year because he was training for the Victoria Marathon and it didn't fit into his plans. I told them I'd run it last year, and the young guy said it was his first time. We stopped yapping and resumed racing, and I felt a burst of energy and surged ahead, but they were never far behind.
 
We hit one hill and I managed to go up it fairly fast, but the next one took the starch out of my shorts, and after we crested it they both passed me. We were now beyond the 6K mark and they sent us down another road.
 
Someone new was on my tail now, and eventually she came up beside me. I guessed that this was Meghan, heavily favoured to be the top female finisher, who I'd heard about as we milled around before the race started. We ran side by side for awhile and then I took the lead again. We hit another turnaround and she was hot on my tail, with the 2 leaders about 20 meters ahead of us. We got back to where we'd turned in and headed back towards Katherine Lake. Meghan's identity was soon confirmed by people running towards us on the other side of the road calling out her name and yelling encouragement.
 
She passed me with 2 kilometers to go, and race director Teresa Nightingale was waiting on the side of the road taking pictures of us. Not long after this she drove by me in her van and said "Good job, stay with her!" as she passed, heading back to the finish line.
 
Looking ahead I could see that the older fellow had found another gear and had opened up a 40 meter lead on the other guy, who now had about 50 yards on us. The sun had been beating down on us but we hit some nice shade as there were trees on both sides of the road now for a bit. Unfortunately, we also hit a hill, which slowed us up, but we picked up speed again on the ensuing downhill.
 
The race leader was out of sight as we hit the 9K marker, but we were reeling the young guy in. Soon we turned into the campground, heading down the gravel road toward the finish line, with about 500 meters to go. I was about 10 meters behind Meghan, but gained some ground on her as we hit a hill and then a downhill. Either she heard me coming up on her own, or the lead cyclist who was with her told her I was closing on her, because she picked up the pace and was now matching mine. The young guy was just ahead of Meghan now, but he too found some reserve energy and went into a sprint, and we sped into the finish chute and crossed the line with our positions unchanged.
 
Teresa took my picture and told me that food and drink was up above the finish area, so I thanked her and went to get some. To drink they had good old fashioned H20, and to eat sliced watermelon and bananas, plus delicious home baked peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and banana bread.
 
I shook hands with the race winner Ian, who said he was happy myself and Paul, who finished second, were in the race, as we'd pushed him to go fast for much of it. We turned out to be in the same age group, and so was Chuck Steemers, who I'd met here last year and was on our team for this year's Fool's Run. Chuck didn't think he'd medaled this year, but I told him that I thought he may have grabbed the third podium spot, and I hoped he had, but we'd have to wait for the results.
 
I chatted some more with the other runners, and we cheered in the remaining finishers. The last one to come in was a young woman who'd run the whole 10K pushing 2 infants in a huge stroller, and she received quite an ovation for her accomplishment!
 
Soon after this they began giving out the awards. The top 3 overall male and female finishers were acknowledged, but there were only medals presented to the top 3 in each age group. When Teresa got to our age group, she announced third place first, and Chuck was the winner! He joined Ian and myself on the podium, where we received the same really cool wooden medals as last year.
 
 


 
They finished things off with a bunch of draw prizes, and then we were done for another year. Some stayed to spend some time at the beach, and the rest of us headed out, with myself, Ian and Chuck wishing each other good fortune until we saw each other again.
 
Results are up, and I finished 4th overall out of 43, and 2 of 8 in my age group, with a time of 43:02. http://www.foolsrun.com/4lakes/results12.htm#overall
 
My next race is the Richmond Oval 10K, August 19 at 8:30 AM.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Squamish Days 10K

On Sunday, August 5, I ran the Squamish Days 10K, the 10th race out of 11 in the Lower Mainland Road Race Series. I wasn't planning on running this race because it was the day after the Warrior Dash, and last year my quads were so sore from the downhills in that race that I didn't run for 4 days afterward. 
 
However, as much as I like Bill Chang, he's now ahead of me in the series standings, and has been taking medals I would normally have won, so I couldn't let that happen anymore, enough was enough. That's what I told Bill when I saw him before the race. Actually he's been running slower than he usually does, so I think he hasn't had time to get the proper training in. No matter, I only had two races left to try and catch him, so I was going to give it a shot anyway. Plus I'd never run this race before and wanted to try it, and this year the downhills at the Dash were a little less hard on the quads than last year.
 
When I arrived at the school where the race was starting Drew Nicholson and his dad Bruce were just getting out of their car. It was good to see them, as I hadn't seen Drew for a couple of months, and Bruce for about 6. Drew was very happy about his performances lately and was looking forward to running this one, and his enthusiasm was infectious as I started getting excited about running it myself.
 
Soon it was time to head to the start line on a road beside the school, where they sent the wheelchair athletes off at 8:25 AM, followed by the rest of us at 8:30. I saw Bill, Arnold Sikhakhane and Rob Daniel and we all wished each other a good race, and then we had a 10 second countdown, the airhorn was blasted, and we were off!
 
Drew and the other speedsters ran off ahead of us, and I settled in with a pack of runners going at a good clip as we ran along the road. After about a kilometer we turned right, and soon I heard "Hi Gord!", and there was Teresa Nightingale coming up alongside me. She's usually ahead of me so she explained that she hadn't wanted to run the first part of the race too fast like she did last year. I mentioned that the Four Lakes 10K (Teresa's the race director) was coming up this week, and what a great course it was, and Teresa said that the Four Lakes area was one of her favourite places to run. Then I think we both remembered we were in a race and decided to just run instead of chatting.
 
Teresa joined our pack for awhile, but it was slowly spreading out, and it wasn't long before she and some others slowly pulled away from me, while others fell back. We ran along the road with the sun beating down on us, which I was used to by now as it's been that way in my last few races. A couple of kilometers down the road a fellow passed me who looked to be in my age group, but I wasn't sure. I was hoping he was still in his forties as I tried to keep up to him, but he sped up and pulled away, even though I could still see him in the distance for most of the rest of the race.
 
We neared the turnaround and the top two runners raced by going the other way. Then I saw Drew coming up all by himself about 150 meters behind them, and I yelled "Go Drew!" as we passed each other. It wasn't long before I was at the turnaround myself and then headed back the other way. I just concentrated on trying to keep my pace up, and I came up on some mostly younger runners who were tiring and passed them. With 2 kilometers to go I felt good and decided to pick up my pace, telling myself that I was now all warmed up and ready to really start running, like I'd done in the Jog 4 The Bog a week before.
 
After another kilometer I heard someone behind me, so I picked it up some more, and then soon I saw the guy who'd passed me early in the race, and I was now reeling him in. I sped up until I couldn't hear my pursuer anymore, and then a volunteer yelled out "400 meters to go!", and as we hit the road to turn in toward the finish with 150 meters to go I blew by the guy in front. He gave me a cursory glance but he had nothing left, and I didn't have to worry if he was in my age group anymore as I legged it in and crossed the finish line. Bruce had me high five him just before I crossed the line, and I told Drew to tell his dad to maybe do that to people after they've crossed the line next time, not just before.
 
We walked over to the school gym and they had tons of food in there: date squares, Nanaimo bars, various cookies, fruit bars and muffins and bagels, plus other baked goods, and the usual bananas and oranges. They had water and fruit juice and coffee to drink, and even after we'd all had our fill they were actually begging people to eat more, because they still had lots left over!
 
Drew was super happy because he'd finished in second place, running down one of the guys who'd been way ahead of him at the halfway point and beating him by almost a minute. I went back out to the finish area to cheer the runners in, and noticed Bruce doing the same closer to the finish line so I went to join him. We saw Rob Daniel and then after about 10 minutes it seemed like everyone had finished, so we headed back into the gym. Results were up and I looked and saw that I'd finished 3rd in my age group, with Bill 4th. Teresa, Drew, and Dave Frilund won theirs, Drew's clubmate Kristen Smart won the women's race, and Rob was second in his AG.
 
They gave away a bunch of draw prizes and then got the awards going. First they did the ones for the kid's mile race, and then the wheelchair awards, followed by the male and female overall ones. They also had a stroller division, and it was announced that the woman who won this would be submitting her time to Guiness to try and get it acknowledged as the world record. In the age groups they started with the oldest runners this time, so Rob Daniels was up first, and I didn't have to wait long to get mine either. They're nice medals and different from anything else I have.
 
 
 
Before we knew it the awards were done and all the volunteers were thanked, and we headed out. I saw Bruce and Drew at their car and said "I'm wearing it all the way home!", meaning the medal around my neck, and I did!
 
Results are up and I finished 35 overall out of 168, and 3rd of 12 in my age group, with a time of 42:59.
 
My next race is the Four Lakes 10K in Garden Bay this Sunday, August 12, at 9 AM.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The Warrior Dash

On Saturday, August 4th, I competed in the Warrior Dash 5.3K obstacle race. Last year it was held for the first time in B.C. at Whistler, but they switched it to Mt. Seymour for 2012.

I took a shuttle bus from the Parkgate Community Centre in North Vancouver up to the resort. They sent the competitors off in waves every half hour starting at 9 AM, with the last one, which I was in, starting at 2 PM. With about half an hour or so to go before my race, I was walking through the crowd toward the finish line when I ran into Steve Drew from work. He was with his wife Helen and their friend Chris, and they had just finished the race. They gave me some very valuable info about it, telling me to get up front because the course narrows to single track pretty quickly, and they had gotten stuck behind a bunch of people and it took forever to get through the bottleneck. Helen said not many of these people knew how to run downhill, and so they were just all lined up behind each other going at a crawl, very frustrating for the faster runners.

We talked for a bit more, it was very nice to see Steve and meet Helen, and then I went to warm up a bit (like I needed to with the unrelenting sun beating down on us). With about 10 minutes to go I went to the starting line, as Steve yelled to me that they'd probably be jockeying for position already as I ran by him. I managed to get up to the front, actually one row back, but there was a great big buy right in front of me with tree trunk legs, and another guy openly bragging about how slow he was going to run beside him. No runner's etiquette in this event! There was a young fast looking guy standing off to the right side of the line, so I joined him for the start, and we managed to blast off ahead of everyone else when the race got going.

He ran ahead of me and I was in second place for awhile, going downhill through scrub bushes on a single track, and then we came to some wet mud. I stepped in the wrong place and sank into it halfway to my knees and had to get my hands out quickly to stop myself from doing a faceplant, but I sprang up right away and began chasing the 2 guys who passed me when I went down.  

Steve had told me that he'd run up the entire first uphill, but then walked the next one that was soon after, and I ended up doing the same. It was just too steep and long to bother trying to run it, and even walking I was going faster than most of the other competitors. We came to the first obstacle, which consisted of going over boards 3 feet high, and alternating this with going under ones a couple of feet from the ground. After a few of these we were off and running again, but not for long. As Steve and Helen had told me, there were a lot of ups and downs on the course, and we were soon on another uphill. Again I managed to run up this first one, but walked the next one.

I reached the next obstacle, which was an up and over about a dozen feet high with spaced boards that you climb by hauling yourself up by a rope. As a ran up to it a young buff guy with no shirt on was trying to climb up it but kept falling back down, and a volunteer guy was yelling encouragement at him. When he saw me he yelled at the guy that he'd better not let this old guy beat him, and I laughed as I was up to the top in a few seconds, and yelled that I'd already beaten him. I straddled the top and climbed down gingerly, you had to be very careful because a slip could mean a serious injury!

After a little downhill through the uneven scrub, which created a few jolts when I hit the ground wrong, there was yet another uphill before hitting an obstacle that consisted of a sheer wooden wall about 8 feet high. As Helen had told me, and a helpful young woman climbing down the other side pointed out, there was a foothold halfway up on the side that represented your best chance of getting over. It was only about an inch wide but I managed to get my foot planted on it and hauled myself up and over.

Between all the ups and downs there were several more obstacles, a pyramid with spaced boards and no rope this time, then a cargo net that you climbed up and had to go about 10 feet overtop of before going down the other side. There was also another spaced boards climb about 12 feet high, and you really had to be careful because at the top you had to climb over more spaced boards about a foot apart for about 8 feet before climbing down the other side, and a slip could mean a very dangerous fall.

After that I we ran downhill into a little valley, where we had to go low along the ground under barbed wire for about 30 feet, but the ground was dry instead of pure wet mud like last year. After I snagged my shorts on the wire a couple of times I learned to stay low, and soon we were out and running uphill again. Myself and a couple of other guys went up it slowly, but the hill wasn't that high and we were on flat ground in no time.

No sooner had we started to run again when we hit a sheer drop of about 10 feet. One guy reached it ahead of me and jumped down into the trench and I followed him. It was a soft landing in the mud and I ran across the trench and up the other side, grabbing scrub brush to haul myself up, and we were off and running again. Next we hit some sideways triangular walls that you had to climb over by bracing yourself by grabbing boards along the side. A little farther ahead we jumped over the line of fire, and finally we had to go low underneath a barrier through some muddy water. A guy volunteer was urging people to go faster to "Get a good time!", and as someone was who was trying to do this I sped up at the end and got a little more wet as a result.

This was the last obstacle and I raced through a parking lot and around the corner to the finisher's chute. There were plenty of people cheering you in, and after I crossed the line I got my finisher's medal and congratulations from a volunteer, and water from another one, and shook hands with some of the people I'd been running the race with.



In our race kits we also got the same Warrior helmet as last year, plus a cool tech shirt.


 
Next I went and got sprayed by the guy wielding the power hose to get some of the mud off of me. I got my bag from bag check and then went into the washrooms where myself and some of the other guys tried to cleaned up a little more. Everyone in there was much younger than me, and as we talked about the race I got some compliments for doing something like this at my age.

It was quite a festive atmosphere up there, with music blasting from the stage and hundreds of people in warrior dress still milling about. Your timing chip was also good for one free beer, and I took mine off and gave it to grateful thirsty big guy who looked like he'd appreciate another quaff.

There was a tent where we could watch the results scroll down a screen, from age group to age group, and they were slow to update them, so by the time they started the awards my time still wasn't up there. I'd just been hoping to repeat my third place finish in my age group from last year, but from the results up so far I saw I actually had a chance of winning it!

Myself and one of the few guys close to my own age stood in front of the stage, and the announcer said they were going to mail us our awards. We introduced ourselves, his name was Graham Dunne and just out of my age group at 49, and found out we knew a lot of the same people. Graham was second in his age group, and sure enough I won mine, and we congratulated each other with a high five. I told him that last year we won trophies and got to hold them up onstage and get our picture taken, and he said it was too bad they weren't doing the same thing this year, but c'est la vie.

The young folk were still partying but we decided to head out, and we'd see each other at another race. I couldn't believe it when I saw the results online, I was 36th overall out of 2242, and Graham was 16th, not bad for a couple of "old guys"! http://www.warriordash.com/results/2012_British_Columbia_Sat_OA.htm
I was 1st of 50 in my age group with a time of 32:27, and Graham was 2nd of 187 in his, with a time of 30:17.
Helen was 29 of 247 in her age group with a time of 48:54. Steve was 21st in our AG, with a time of 48:53, not bad considering he ran it with Helen, who wasn't exactly racing it. He had no choice in this matter, as Helen put it, he had to stay with her, "If he wants to stay married to me." That's pretty clear!

My next race was the next morning, the Squamish 10K at 8:30 AM.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Jog 4 The Bog 5K

On Sunday, July 29, I ran the 5K race in the Jog 4 The Bog, which also featured a 10K to raise funds for the Burns Bog Society. The race finished and ended at Planet Ice in Delta, and was part of the Burns Bog Days festival.
 
I saw Chris Barth before the race, he was running the 10K, and then met injured clubmate Louie Maione, who was helping with the organizing and running of the races. Louie told me that they would be starting the 10K at 9 AM and then the 5K would go off 15 minutes later, to help avoid congestion and have the finishing of the races more in sync with each other. I thanked Louie and went to warm up.
 
The 10K took off on schedule, and we lined up to wait for the start of our race. It was confirmed that we would be starting at 9:15, and Craig Asselstine and myself went off to the side to stand in the shade as the sun was beating down on us relentlessly already. Craig had said he was aiming for about the same time as myself, 20 minutes or so, but Ian Bruce told us he would be happy with anything under 25 minutes today. That was why I was surprised that as we got underway and I went out in second place following Craig, I could still hear Ian behind me for about a kilometer before he dropped off.
 
We ran along a straight path through the woods, and it was fairly flat with some nice shade from the trees. Craig was running at a good clip, and by the time I was coming up to the turnaround, and Craig was heading back and we did a low five passing each other, he had about a 200 meter lead on me. I just concentrated on keeping up my pace, and after awhile I noticed that Craig seemed to be slowing up. I'd thought I would have to settle for 2nd today, that would have been awesome enough, but now I wondered if I could possibly catch up to Craig. I'd certainly give it a try!
 
I focused on speeding up, telling myself I was all warmed up and ready to really run now. Sure enough I was reeling Craig in, and just as we turned down the path to head back to the finish line, I passed him. He was clearly exhausted and said "You're a real pro." as I went by him. Not really, but a nice compliment. I turned again and the volunteers were screaming now, guiding me around the corner to the finisher's chute. There were a large group of high school cheerleaders and others cheering as I cruised in, and Mitchell Hudson from Try Events yelled "Way to go Gordon, you won another one!" as I crossed the line. I'd also won the 2011 Boundary Bay 10K, one of his races, so that's why he said that.
 
Craig came in right after me and we congratulated each other, and then he had his wife take a picture of us together. Louie also came up and congratulated me, another victory for our club! They had an incredible amount of food for us, bananas, oranges, cantelope, nutrition bars and sherberts, a pancake breakfast, and coffee and Timbits from Tim Hortons; plus spinach, ham & cheese, and chocolate mini croissants from Cob's Bread (I took one of each).
 
Mitchell took a picture of me with the Cob's Bread guy, and then I went to cheer for the incoming finishers. What was fantastic was the high school cheerleaders wearing their Seaquam Athletics tshirts, cheering everyone in as they came in to finish. They were just awesome, and I got some pictures of them performing a routine.
 


 
 
They got the awards going and I got a certificate for winning my race, plus one for being the top male master, and a $50 New Balance gift certificate! 
 
 
 
There were 70 people in my race and my time was 20:48, and Chris lost out to a young runner who wore a floppy farmer's hat. He said he'd expected the young guy to slow up, but he never did, just increased his lead throughout. Chris exchanged emails with him as they're going to do some training together, and hopefully get him hooked up with a good coach.
 
 
My next race was the Warrior Dash 5K obstacle race on Mt. Seymour, in the 2 PM wave on Saturday, August 4.

Kamloops Marathon 5K

On Saturday, July 28th I ran the 5K in the inaugural Kamloops Marathon. There was also a 10K race with ours, while the half and full marathons were run on Sunday.
 
The races began on the outdoor stadium track at Thompson Rivers University, which is a world class facility whose adjacent building houses an Olympic size swimming pool and indoor track, plus many other amenities.
 
Before the race I met Larry Doan, who I'd seen at the Peach City Half & 10K in Penticton earlier in the year. We thought it was funny that we both live in Vancouver but only saw each other at out of town events. Larry was running the half marathon the next day but was also doing the 10K today, running with his sister-in-law Laura and her sister Elizabeth, who were competing in their first ever race. We all chatted for awhile but then it was time to go warm up and get ready for our races.
 
We took off at 8 AM on the track and then ran out of the stadium and onto the roads. Like the Lily Duster, this was a 5K loop that we'd have to do once, and the 10Kers would do twice. As usual, the young fast runners bolted ahead, and I managed to settle into a decent pace and watched them gradually move farther and farther away. Even at this early hour it was getting hot, and the sun was already beating down on us. It was fairly flat for the first kilometer as we ran along the streets around the university, and then we turned a corner and hit a hill a couple of blocks long. I managed to power up it not losing too much speed, but we only had a block of flatland before going up the next one, and here I slowed up considerably.
 
We went downhill after this, picking up speed, and I managed to pass some of the younger runners who'd blasted out ahead at the beginning, but were now running out of steam. After a zigzag along some more flats I had a repeat of my first experience. Different hills but same situation, a shorter hill that I powered up, followed by longer one that made my legs feel like lead. After cresting it though, it didn't take long before I recovered and picked up the pace again. I knew we were on the home stretch to the stadium, and a volunteer said "400 meters to go", but I looked at my GPS and knew it was twice that, so I didn't break into a sprint just yet.
 
Finally I rounded the corner into the stadium for the final 200 meters, and people cheered me in as I crossed the line and got my finisher's medal from a volunteer. About 20 seconds later a couple of guys I'd passed earlier came in and we congratulated each other on a good race, and then went to get some water. They had cookies, bananas, cantalope, and bagels to eat, plus Subway had a table set up with six inch turkey and cheese and veggie sandwiches. I had a turkey and cheese, and then later I noticed there were still a lot of veggie ones left, so I tried one of those too.
 
I stayed at the finish line cheering runners in, and then went and got my camera from my car and went back, in time to take a picture of Laura and Larry as they crossed the line. I asked where Elizabeth was, and Larry said she was still out on the course. She had been struggling and he said he was going to go bring her home, so I followed him. We'd just gotten out of the stadium and onto the road when we spotted her, and we accompanied her in and then I ran across the field and got a picture of her and Larry coming over the finish line.
 
 


 
The women were very happy to finish their first race, and thrilled with their medals.
 
 
 
We stood around talking for quite awhile, chatting with a few more runners, and then we got results. I ended up in 8th place out of 88 but there were no age group awards, and the others were leaving so we exchanged emails so I could send them some pics. I was running another race the next day so it was time to head back to Vancouver to rest up for that.
 
Here's the results, my time was 21:37, which I figured wasn't bad considering the heat and the hills.
They also have some photos up:
 
My next race was the next day, the 5K race in the Jog 4 The Bog at 9 AM.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Neepawa Chiropractic Lily Duster

On July 22nd I ran the Neepawa Chiropractic 10K. Barb Sousa and I made our way out to the lovely Manitoba town of Neepawa for the event, about a 2 hour drive from Winnipeg. Last week Barb was out in support but today she was running the 5K so I drove this time.

I'm falling way behind on my reports so I'm going to try and be relatively brief. They gave us a course map with our race kits and here's a copy of it (people will have to click on it and enlarge it to see it). The map covers 5 kilometers, so we 10Kers had to run it twice. Both races started at 8 AM, but it was already getting hot out.
Young Daniel Heschuk, last year's winner, took off quickly and never looked back, and I was running in 3rd place until just before the cemetary, when I passed the young fellow ahead of me. I didn't know it at the time, but he was in the 5K, and ended up winning it. As I was coming out of the cemetary the first time Barb came around the corner going towards it, and she said I was in first place, but I said "Second!" Barb hadn't seen Daniel because he was so fast he'd already turned off to run down the residential sidestreet loop before she could see him. As I turned down it myself I saw the police car escorting the leader coming back down towards me, and as I ran past I saw Daniel behind it and yelled "Go!"

Basically the rest of the race I ran by myself, and exchanged pleasantries with runners going the other way as I raced my two loops. After we finished our races they had nutrition bars, bananas, oranges, bagels with two types of cream cheese, water and Tim Horton's coffee for us to partake of while we waited for the results and awards.

They also had several draw prizes. Barb said she's never won a draw prize, and if I stayed near her I wouldn't win one either, and darned if she wasn't right! The good news was that I was 2nd overall and won my age group, and Barb was 3rd in hers, so we both got those great keychain medals! I also got an additional medal for being first. Barb's run the Comrades Ultramarathon in South Africa twice, and these don't have quite the cache of a medal from that race, but they're still pretty cool. We got a guy to take our picture with us showing off our bling.

Here's the results, quite a bit of family participation in this one!

Thanks to Barb for coming out and running with me, it was a blast! We made some new friends and hopefully we'll both be back next year.

My next race was the 5K at the inaugural Kamloops Marathon on July 28 at 8 AM.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Grand Beach Sun Run 10K

On July 15 I ran the 10K race in the Grand Beach Sun Run. My friend Barb drove us out to beautiful Grand Beach on the southeast shore of Lake Winnipeg. Thanks Barb! The race started out about 10 minutes late at 8:40 AM, and it was already starting to heat up, but luckily it stayed cloudy so we weren't baking. For the first 7 kilometers we ran along a road. For most of the race I ran with another runner, who turned out to be another Gord, from Regina. I passed him a couple of times on the road but both times it wasn't long before he got ahead of me again, so my plan was to stay behind him and try and outkick him at the end. The fun part was every once in awhile passing some younger runners, first they'd look and see one old guy passing them, then a few seconds later another one would go by, how humiliating! Once we passed them we never saw them again either.
 
After the 7K mark we were directed off the road and hit sand, which we ran through for the rest of the race. It wasn't too bad at first but then we had to run through some dunes, which really slowed us down, but I actually managed to gain some ground on Gord. Once through the dunes we ran along the water for about a kilometer, where the sand was packed down better and we picked up speed. Gord widened the gap between us here, and we passed a runner who looked to be in our age group. Then we were directed to cross over the sand again, and we had to run through the deep loose sand of the dunes once more. Again I gained on Gord, but when we were running along the lakeside again he pulled away a bit. Soon we could see the finish line and hear the cheering up ahead. I tried to catch Gord, but he sped up when I did, and beat me by a couple of seconds.
 
We shook hands and that's when we found out we were both Gords, and unfortunately for me, in the same age group. We talked for awhile, and then Aldo, who I'd met before the race, joined us for a bit. We decided to go get some food, which was bagels, oranges and bananas, and then I went to find Barb, who was talking to a couple that she knew.
 
They never did post results so we headed down to where the community centre was where they were giving out the awards. It was a bit of a hike but we made it there, and staked out a spot in the grass. We had to wait awhile for them to start the awards. They had 3K and 5K races too, and besides the overall awards, plus masters (40+) for top 3 male and female in the 10K, they had age group awards for all 3 races. So they certainly weren't stingy with the medals, and they were nice looking medals too!  They also had many draw prizes, so I think it took them about an hour or so to get to my category, almost the last one. They called one guy's name for 1st, and then another that wasn't a Gord for 2nd, so I knew I hadn't podiumed, and then they called out Gord Bell, so I'd just missed out.
 
Gord looked over at me after he got his medal, and I gave him the thumbs up, at least one of us won! I told him not to worry, I'd get one next week in the Neepawa Lily Duster. I congratulated Aldo, who was 2nd in his age group, and then Gord walked with Barb and myself to where his car was. We said our goodbyes, found Barb's car, and headed back to Winnipeg.
 
Grand Beach is a great place with beautiful white sand beaches, and Lake Winnipeg is so huge that it's just like being at the ocean. It was a fun day, and thanks again to Barb for driving me out and being such great company!  I definitely want to do this again next year!
 
I finished 20th overall out of 122, and 1 of 14 in my age group, with a time of 45:31.
 
My next race was the Neepawa Chiropractic Lily Duster 10K, at 8 AM on July 22nd.