MEC # 2 Birds Hill Park Race

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

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Fort-2-Fort 30K

On Sunday, February 24th I ran the Fort-2-Fort 30K trail race from Derby Reach Park in Langley. A couple of family members, Bill and Merilyn (the parents of my cousin Rob's wife, Mary Ann), came there to see me off, and said they'd go for breakfast and be back to see me finish.
 
Our race was scheduled for 8 AM, but we started off a few minutes late after the race marshall filled us in on the course directions. We headed down a path to a road, and then ran along it, passing barns with the strong smell of cow manure emanating from them. As we passed the 1K mark a fellow went by me, and I glanced at my watch and it said "lap 1: 4:26. I told that to the guy running in front of me, and he said he had about the same thing on his. I ran with him for awhile, and he told me he was hoping to keep up this pace and finish in 2 hrs., 15 mins., as he was training for a 50K race in a couple of weeks. I told him I'd be ecstatic if I could finish in 2 and a half hours, but right now I was cruising along with no trouble at his pace. Like I told him, so far so good, but we'd run less than 2 Ks, a long way to go yet!
 
We were directed to run across a path through a large field, and then headed into the woods, where some of the runners were already coming back by us, having hit the turnaround up ahead. One of these was Marc Fontaine from my club, and we exchanged greetings as we passed each other. A bunch of us came up to the turnaround at once, and the fellow in front slipped in the mud going around the orange cone and almost wiped out. The next guy yelled out "Dangerous turn!", and the rest of us went around it gingerly and headed back down the path and into the field again.
 
I'd actually gone ahead of the guy I'd been talking to earlier, but now he and a couple of other guys passed me, chatting away as they did so. After we hit the road and approached the barns again, there was a sign facing us with a picture of a cartoon cow's head on it, and it said "COW MANURE CAFE" on it. I assume this meant that there was actually a coffee shop somewhere amongst the barns, although I didn't see it.
 
Soon we left the road and headed back past the starting point. The 5Kers were starting their race at 9 so most of them were already there cheering us on as we went by. I saw Murray, Kevin and Rob Daniel among the spectators, and they all yelled encouragement at me as I ran by them, still in pretty good form this early in the race.
 
We were directed into the woods and onto the Houston Trail, where I soon encountered THE HILL, which being very steep slowed me considerably, and for the first time today I felt some soreness in my legs. This was the worst of them, but there were quite a few more ups and downs before we exited the trail to run along a road. We hit the town of Fort Langley and went over a bridge, and then into the woods again, running along on a wide path. My legs had started to ache and feel heavy at about the 15K mark, and as we passed the 20K mark here they felt like lead.
 
I'm currently reading a book by Jeff Galloway called Running Until You're 100, and he advocates a run/walk approach for older runners, so I thought I'd try it out. So I walked for a minute, but the only problem was I now had trouble running for more than half a kilometer before I had to walk again.
 
I'd had 2 GU gel packs in my shorts pocket, and I'd ingested one of these earlier, but when I went to get the other one I discovered my pocket was open and it was gone. Thankfully my car keys hadn't fallen out with it, that would have sucked! Luckily we went by an aid station that had food at it, and I grabbed a small chocolate chip cookie and a few gummy bears. We did a loop through a field and along a road, and ended up going by the aid station again, and I grabbed the same thing as the first time, and was sent on my way, heading home!
 
I reached the bridge again and went over it, and then past the Fort Langley buildings, having to walk again here for a bit. So I ran/walked the last 10Ks of the race, the most I ran being 3/4s of a kilometer, and sometimes only 300 meters or so. People occasionally passed me, but there was still the odd person coming at me going the other way too!
 
With just over a kilometer to go another fellow passed me, and I wanted to make it the last one if I could. We hit the woods, and I actually was able to keep running for most of the way in, albeit very slowly. Finally I hit the open and the volunteers were waiting, hollering "Almost there!", and there was Marilyn who yelled "Great run Gord!", and Bill too, and I managed to weakly wave to them. There would be no finish line sprint today, even with all the people cheering me on as I came in, but I did manage to keep running until I was over the line, and I heard the timer yell out 2:47:11!
 
It had been the most difficult race I'd ever run. I'd run well over 30 Ks on my training runs leading up to the race, plus many times before that, but when I was supposed to be tapering for this race I was running the Bagel Chase, and it all caught up to me! Still, I'd finished, and ironically still pretty close to what I thought I might run today worst case anyway. 30 Ks is a long way to travel by foot, and I'd kept going until I was finished, my longest race so far! Next time I have the opportunity to brag about how much I've improved. It was a good learning experience, and in spite of everything also a rewarding and memorable experience overall, so it's all good. Bill and Merilyn came and congratulated me on my run, which made me feel great. Thanks you two! They headed home to warm up and dry off and let me refuel, and I did just that.
 
They had whole grain and sourdough buns, with Nutella, peanut butter, marmalade and jam to spread on them, and I ended up eating 4 of them before I was done, and the coffee tasted great. Marc and Elsie Fontaine came up, he'd finished quite awhile ago but waited for me to come in. I told them what happened, and Elsie told me I'd done very well finishing, which was the important thing, with Marc agreeing. Elsie had been standing out in the cold and rain for hours, so it time for them to leave too, but it was great of them to wait for me. Murray had finished the 5K about an hour and a half ago and he too stayed until I came in.
 
Mark Hyder had passed me with a couple of kilometers to go, and noticed I was struggling. I told them about my ordeal, and asked Murray how he did in the 5K. He'd run well but his shoelace had come untied and he had to stop and tie it, so that cost him some time.
 
The weather was still crappy, and we were all a bit tired and had a ways to drive home, so we said our goodbyes and headed for home. I'd brought my camera, especially to get a photo with Merilyn and Bill, but had forgotten all about it, so no pictures this time.
 
Results are up, and Marc won our age group handily in a time of 2:19:58, and was 10th of 43 overall. I did my part by "anchoring" our age group (hey, somebody's gotta do it, and it was my turn!), 7 of 7 and 30th overall, with the aforementioned time of 2:47:11. Murray was 2nd of 8 in his AG in the 5K, and 13 of 107 overall, stopping the clock at 20:53.
 
 
Here's the race director's report for some additional context:
 
 
My next race, if I'm recovered enough, is the Dave Reed Classic 5K, this Saturday, March 2nd at 9 AM. It's put on by Drew's club, VFAC, and starts and finishes at Lumberman's Arch in Stanley Park.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Trophies & Links

I finally got my Warrior Dash trophy from the 2012 race in August, but I had to hound them for over 6 months before receiving it. Glad to get it though, I suspect that others not as persistent received nothing.




I went into Landmark Recognition by my place to pick up a couple of medals I had engraved on the same day I picked up my Cactus Club gift card for the Bagel Chase. I told Aleigh there about the Chase, and she asked if I got a trophy for winning it. I told her no because all the funds went to the charity, but she thought I should have one anyway, so we got one made up. It even kind of looks like me! I felt pretty sheepish afterward about making my own trophy, but she was pretty excited about it, and I'd already ordered it, so it was going to get done. It is something I've never done before, a pretty big accomplishment, plus my birthday's in a couple of weeks, so what the hell! With my ego, I might even make it the picture at the top of my blog's home page for a little while! Anyway, here it is.




And here it is head on.



Here's ultra runner Ellie Greenwood's blog and the charity she's running for when she does the Comrades Ultramarathon in South Africa this year:

http://elliegreenwood.blogspot.ca/2013/02/running-for-books-buildings-and.html

Another super ultra runner Mel Bos, who won the Walk In The Park 54K in Kamloops last year, has a great blog too. http://dirtbunny1.blogspot.ca/?spref=fb

Very good movie about the Raggae Marathon in December, 2012 in Jamaica: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLk6kI_fH0c&feature=share

And finally a couple of inspiring videos from people who turned their lives around through running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2PzbjBHbN4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Ja9BFx5Mhqo&feature=endscreen



Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Trinity Western University Historic Half 10K

On February 17 I ran the Trinity Western University Historic Half 10K, which started and ended in Fort Langley.
 
The half marathoners were sent off in 3 waves, at 8 AM, 8:05, and 8:10, and next up were all the 10Kers at 8:15, with the 5Kers following us at 8:20. We took off from inside the fort, exiting the compound after about 100 meters and hitting the residential streets. After a block we turned right, 2 blocks later to the left, and then headed straight out of town, with the scenery becoming more rural.
 
A few of the guys had run out ahead, with Ryan Boulter and Kevin Heinze leading the way. While Kevin remained in sight until well after the halfway point of the race, helped by the fact that he was wearing a fluorescent orange shirt, I just focused on keeping pace with Tilman running a few meters in front of me. By the time we reached the 5K turnaround and were directed to turn left down another road, he'd opened up about a 20 meter gap on me, and I was thinking maybe today he'd finish first in our age group, with me hopefully holding onto second.
 
The Bagel Chase took a lot out of me, and I hadn't run since it ended over 8 days prior, so I had no idea how well I'd do today. We'd been overtaking the slowest half marathoners since before the turnaround, and now as they became even more numerous I redoubled my efforts and started feeling more energy, partly from going past so many people so quickly.
 
By about the 4K mark I'd caught up to Tilman, and as I went by him he said "See you at the finish line." I replied that maybe I'd see him sooner, it all depended on whether I could keep my pace up or not. Soon someone came up to pass me, and I thought it was Tilman, but it was a young guy. I managed one surge to hold him off and run ahead, but it wasn't long before he caught me again and went by. He turned around and said "I've been trying to catch you the whole race!", and I just laughed as he pulled away.
 
We hit a steep hill that the young fellow bounded up fairly fast, but myself and a 10Ker in front of me were slowed up considerably. The half marathoners at this point were a faster bunch, but as they hit the hill almost all of them stopped running and walked up it, so even at our much slower pace we passed quite a few of them. The 10K turnaround was about 40 meters from the top of the hill, and as I headed back and hit the decline I managed to pick up some speed and went by the guy in front of me.
 
Now there were hoards of runners heading toward us, and I concentrated on the next guy ahead of me, but he had about a 30 meter lead and was picking up the pace. There was another fellow in front of him, and far up ahead I caught my last glimpse of Kevin's bright orange shirt before he disappeared, with the young guy chasing after him.
 
I reached the 5K turnaround again and turned right, onto the road heading back to the fort. I hadn't gone 50 meters before I saw Drew Nicholson standing on the side of the road cheering the runners on. He yelled "Way to go Gord!" and high fived me as I went by and hollered my thanks.
 
I was passing a group of 5Kers heading back when I heard someone coming up behind me. Then the person went to pass me, and I was relieved as it was the lead woman, and not a guy possibly in my age group. I tried to keep up nonetheless, but she pulled away as we made our final turns heading in. There were more and more spectators lining the route and cheering as we got closer to the end, and finally I was running into the fort and racing the final 100 meters to the chute and over the line!
 
A volunteer cut the zap straps holding my timing chip to my shoe and put the chip in a bucket full of them, and then another volunteer congratulated me and put a finisher's medal around my neck, and I thanked them both. I had just walked out of the finish area toward the food tents when I heard Tilman's name being called by the announcer, so I turned around and there he was, running in and across the finish mat. He went over to talk to Kevin so I headed to the tents.
 
 
 
 I grabbed a Muscle Milk and one each of the oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies and went to chat with Kevin and Tilman about the race. Soon after this I went back and got a couple more cookies, plus a Clif protein bar and a granola bar, and ran into Drew.
 
 
 
He told me that he'd had a 26K training run scheduled for today, so he decided to run from his place in Surrey to see the races. It was only 21K here, so he found his buddy and clubmate Jeremy leading the half marathon, and paced him for 5 Ks to get the rest of his run done.
 
They announced that they were going to have the 5K awards by the campfire.
 
 
 
 We watched these, and then I went to my car. I put on my jacket and warmups, grabbed my camera, and then headed back to the finish line to watch the incoming racers for a bit.
 
 
 
Next I went back to the food tent where they had most of the 5K and the top 8 10K finishers posted. The young guy who'd passed me was there, and he showed me that he'd finished 3rd overall behind Ryan and Kevin. I said "Nice!" and he asked if I was up there. I said "Yep! 7th overall, won my age group!", and we congratulated each other and shook hands.
 
I went back over to the campfire and hung around with Drew, Tilman, Kevin and Ryan. I'd talked to Larry Doan before the race, and he was running the half, but I didn't see him again, so he must have went right home afterward. Soon they had our 10K awards, and Drew took a picture of me when I went up and got my medal for winning our age group.
 
 
 
 Drew handed off the camera to me, and I got a picture of Tilman who was second.
 
 
 
TRY EVENTS has new individual medals and I think they look pretty cool, especially on the reverse side.
 
 



 
I was giving Drew a lift back home to Surrey, but he wanted to stay for the half awards as Jeremy had won it, so we did. We didn't have to wait long, and I got a picture of Jeremy, the first one called as the winner of the race.
 
 
 
We cheered for him and everyone else, but the person who got the most applause was the last one called up, 74 year old Liz Borret, who looked at least 10 years younger than that. She finished 181 overall out of 532 runners, with a time of 1:55:59!
 
With that we all said our goodbyes, I told Tilman I'd see him at the Fool's Run in April, and myself and Drew headed out. 
 
The results are up for all the races, with me finishing 7th of 281 overall, and 1st of 23 in my AG, with a slower than usual time of 44:37, but quite happy with that considering the Bagel Chase competition I did followed by a week of no running.
 
 
Race photos are up on the TRY EVENTS facebook page, in 3 separate albums that can be accessed on the righthand side of the page by scrolling down just a bit.
 
 
My next race is the Fort-2-Fort 30K trail race, at 8 AM on Sunday, February 24, at Derby Reach Park.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

The Bagel Chase

The Semiahmoo Sunrunners had our annual banquet on February 2nd. I won Male Endurance Athlete of the Year again, and Dee Makepeace was my Female counterpart.
 
 
 
 Dee told us about an endurance event called the Bagel Chase http://bagelchase.com/  that she and her husband John (who was sitting beside her) had participated in that day, running a couple of laps each of the course.
 
It was a weeklong event, starting that day and ending on Friday, February 8th, to raise funds and awareness for charity CISV http://www.cisvvancouver.com/ .
 
The way it worked was you registered, preferably online, and then went down to Siegel's Bagels near the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge, where they gave you a bracelet with your bib number on it.
 
 
 
They had 2 laptops set up, and you simply had to enter your bib number and start your lap off. Next you ran over the bridge and then down to the Cactus Club near the seawall on the other side. When you got to the club you broke off a raffle ticket from a roll of tickets hanging from a dispenser outside, and then ran back to Siegel's. The lap distance was advertised as 5K and a bit, actually close to 5.2Ks. On arriving back you would again punch your bib number in, then your raffle ticket number, enter them and throw your ticket in the fishbowl, and your lap was done. For each lap the whole thing was simply repeated.
 
I ran the 8K Aldergrove trail race the next morning, and since Siegel's is only a few blocks from my place, I decided to run down there and put in a lap to get things started. I figured it sounded like such a unique event that it would be fun to do to put in some training kilometers for the week. A young woman named Laurel who said that John Makepeace is actually her boss helped me sign in, and then when I returned assisted me in signing out for my lap. She asked me if I wanted to do another one, but since I had to work that night I said that was enough for today and she laughed.
 
The next day I went down and ran 3 more laps, but I had my resistance workout to do and then work again that night, so I called it a day at that. I was supposed to do hill training in White Rock with my clubmates on Tuesday night, but I emailed them that I was now addicted to the Bagel Chase and would be doing that instead.
 
On Tuesday I ran 4 laps of the Chase in the early afternoon, went home and ate and even had a nap, and then ran 4 more later on that night, what I called a "cheat marathon". I was off work Wednesday night too, and ran 4 laps late in the morning, and then went back in the evening. On my 2nd lap, at 6 PM, I ran with The Bagel (a regular nightly event happening at the same time for the entire week) and a whole bunch of other people, which was a lot of fun and also helped by blocking the wind for me as there was a good headwind heading up the bridge that night.
 
 
 
There was also a team of 5 people, 4 men and 1 woman, who ran in formation and high fived everyone while yelling "Whoo-hoo!" as we went by them, creating a huge amount of energy on the course!  For an extremely short but excellent video and the story of this team go here: http://connormeaks.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/running-a-5k-18-times-per-week/ . After my 4th lap I again went home, but after some rest returned after 9:30 and got in 2 more, making it 10 laps for the day.
 
Organizer Sarah-Kate Skinner, a delightful young woman, was staffing the event and closing up things that night. Though there were a lot of volunteers she seemed to be there most of the time, and told me that I was probably the male leader now. A woman named Bonnie had been steadily piling up the laps since the beginning and was the current all around leader. Linda Wong, the former director of the James Cunningham Seawall Race and an exceptional runner, was now closing in her though. I'd seen Linda on both of my earlier 4 lap tours that day, and as it turned out she completed 8 laps on Wednesday. Here's Linda as the race director at the 2010 Seawall Race: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronsombilongallery/5153051122/in/set-72157625204814079
 
Knowing that I had to work that night and wouldn't be back that day, I did 5 laps on Thursday, struggling on my last one as I was used to only doing 4 at a time. At the end of the day I was now in the overall lead with 27 laps, Bonnie had done 26, and Linda 25.
 
I was booked off Saturday night at work to run the Starting Block 10K on Sunday, but knowing there was no way I was doing that now, I asked and was able to switch my bookoff to Friday night instead. I'd now be able to put in as many laps as I was able to on the last day of the Chase.
 
In the morning at Siegel's I looked at the results and discovered that the next closest guy only had 20 laps in so I had a substantial lead. I didn't know how many he or anyone else was going to run that day, and was plenty sore and had no idea how long I'd be able to hold out, but I managed to do 4 more before going for a break, and saw Linda out there again. When I went back later and did my next 4 laps, Linda was out too, along with the great high five team. I met Sarah-Kate's co-organizer Chuck Cosman at Siegel's after my 3rd lap, a great guy, and he said I'd probably won the men's race. On my 4th lap I was going by Linda who was now walking and she told me she was just finishing up for the day, on her 10th lap! I told her that was impressive and said "Good job!" when I saw her again heading back.
 
After I got back to Siegel's I punched in and talked to an energetic young guy who had been running that day. He said how a guy had come in to get bagels and asked what was going on. When they explained it to him, he said derisively that he only ran half marathons and gave them a condescending smile of superiority, which made everyone laugh after he left. Linda showed up and said she was heading home. She asked if I was going to keep going, and I said that I'd be taking a break for now, and I bid goodbye to everyone and headed home.
 
After about an hour at home, approaching 9 PM, I decided to head back and run my last 2 laps. Running over the bridge and seeing that it was 9:15, I briefly contemplated doing 3, but decided against torturing myself trying to squeak out one extra unpleasant lap, and potentially tarnishing an otherwise awesome experience. It also looked like I might be the only one still running, so they could pack up a little earlier if they wanted to if that was the case. When I got back to Siegel's Sarah-Kate was there and said I was the last man standing, and I told her I was going to do one last lap but would be back as fast as I could. She said no worries, they had some logistical stuff to do anyway, and to have a safe run.
 
I reached the Cactus Club, grabbed my final lottery ticket and was running back below the street along the seawall when I looked up and saw a guy running on the sidewalk above who looked like he might be a Bagel Chaser, heading in the Club's direction, but then quickly forgot about him as I headed back up to the street and concentrated on getting back to Siegel's.
 
It was my 37th and final time running this route in the last few days, and although I wanted to get it done, I also wanted to enjoy it. This wasn't tough as I could only run so fast anyway, even though I did manage one last sprint to make the light at Pacific & Thurlow. When I reached Siegel's there were quite a few people there, and they surprised me by bursting into applause when I entered. Sarah-Kate came up and told me that a guy had come in after I left and was now running his first and last lap of the Chase. A couple of minutes later he came in, the fellow I'd seen coming back, and we gave him the same ovation I got, and he looked as shocked as I must have looked.
 
Chuck said I'd almost certainly won the men's race, and they were all going somewhere to celebrate. It was supposed to be the Cactus Club but they found out it closed at midnight, so they'd be heading somewhere else. I was going home as I was too tired for anything else, and they got Laurel to take our pictures. Sarah-Kate gave me some Vega coupons and a free bagel card, Chuck gave me some Bounce energy balls, I got some Siegel's food, including a bagel stuffed with Montreal smoked meat, said goodbye to everyone, and ran home for the final time for this year's Chase.
 
Chuck posted the results the next day. I didn't want to celebrate until I knew for sure, but as it turned out I won the men's race by a long shot, but with only 2 more laps than Linda. who won her category by a good margin too.
 
http://www.facebook.com/events/180566118753673/permalink/213958822081069/ We both will be getting a $50 Cactus Club gift certificate for our troubles, and the top team, which just happens to be Linda's, gets a $300 one. Sarah-Kate posted today that she will have the final total results and draw winners all prepared by tomorrow and will put them up then. $6,000 was also raised for CISV.
 
My next race will hopefully be the 10K race at the Langley Historic Half on February 17 at 8:15 AM, but after running 220 K total last week I'll see how it goes. I'm pretty sore and swollen right now, might end up volunteering instead, but I'll have to just work on recovery and see how things pan out.
 
Meanwhile, I ran the most I ever have in a week, the most I've ever run in a single day a couple of times, accomplishing what I never knew I could do before this, but like Sarah-Kate said to me, now I know that I can. I'm grateful that I was given the opportunity to do it, and hope they decide to run the event again next year! And I won the 2013 Bagel Chase! Whoo-hoo!!!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Aldergrove Mud Run

On Sunday, February 3rd, I ran the Aldergrove Mud Run. We started off at 9 AM from the parking lot beside the picnic area at Aldergrove Lake Regional Park, running through the fairly narrow opening into the woods that created a bottleneck for a bit with the dense pack of runners. Fairly quickly though, we began to spread out and there was room for the faster runners caught back to pass us, and I even had to pass some people, including Ingo and Mark.
 
Murray passed me about a kilometer into the race, and I kept him in sight for a kilometer or so afterward, but then he was gone! Not long after he passed me we hit a steep looping incline that really zapped my energy. After this it leveled off, and a young fellow wearing a green shirt passed me, but I kept him in sight for most of the race. There were many more hills, and some steep downhills with loose dirt to challenge us too, as we mostly ran along the mud path through the woods.
 
With about a kilometer to go I came up behind the guy in the green shirt, and he was slowing down so I passed him. You could already hear the announcer calling people in at the finish, and soon I was racing over the little bridge and into the open for the last hundred meters or so dash in to the finish line!
 
Murray was waiting for me, and with a combination of me running slower than last year, plus him ramping it up, he beat me by over 2 minutes! It was a great workout though on the challenging course, and a lot of fun hanging around with all the other runners afterward, as everyone was in good spirits now that it was over.
 
They had water and coffee, plus various types of sliced Cobb's bread with Nutella, peanut butter, and 2 types of jam to spread on them. I had a few slices spread with Nutella, it was so good, plus a banana piece, which they also had along with oranges and apples, while we gabbed and waited for the awards.
 
They had plenty of draw prizes, and then announced the overall and category winners. Murray got his $50 Peninsula Runners gift certificate for winning our age group in the 5K at the last series race, the Campbell Valley Stomp. However, they didn't have the ones for this race, so people will have to get them at the next one on February 24th, the Fort-2-Fort 30K & 5K!
 
With the awards done it was time to head home after another invigorating jaunt through the park.
 
 Murray finished 20th overall out of 141 and 3rd of 17 in our age group, with a time of 34:35. I finished 31st overall, and 7th of 17 in our AG, with a time of 36:47.
 
 
For another race report that people might like go here:
 
 
My next race was supposed to be the Starting Block 10K in Lavington near Vernon tomorrow, but I unexpectedly got caught up in a weeklong endurance event here in Vancouver called the Bagel Chase that just ended yesterday, so I'm in no shape to run another race right now.