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.

http://www.zone4.com/results.asp?ID=4991&cat=all

They also have some photos up:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompsonrivers/sets/72157630826437556/

 

My next race was the next day, the 5K race in the Jog 4 The Bog at 9 AM.

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!

http://www.athleticsmanitoba.com/files/pdf/results/12_neepawa_results.pdf

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.

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.

http://www.athleticsmanitoba.com/files/pdf/results/12_grandbeach_10k_results.pdf

 

My next race was the Neepawa Chiropractic Lily Duster 10K, at 8 AM on July 22nd.

Trevor Craven Results & A Welcome!



Results are up for the Trevor Craven Memorial Track & Field Meet. In the 3000 meters everyone ran together and I finished 7th overall out of 13, 1 of 1 in my age group, with a time of 11:59.56. I was aiming for 12 minutes and smashed that by a whopping .44 of a second!

In our 800 meters race it was just us masters, and I was 3rd of 5 overall, and 2 of 2 in my AG, with a time of 2:51.38. Since those were my initial races in both distances, they're both PBs too!

http://www.norwesterstandf.com/english/documents/tc2012_results.pdf

Here's the team results, showing that some of the participants, and in particular the very oldest ones, did some amazing things in a number of events.

http://www.norwesterstandf.com/english/documents/tc2012_team-results.pdf

I participated in this meet on July 8, and on July 9 in Winnipeg, my brother Jerry and sister-in-law Larissa announced the arrival of their new son, Evan Adam Flett. This prompted me to take my gold medal from the 3000 meters and get it engraved and displayed to welcome young Evan.

 It says:

To my nephew

EVAN ADAM FLETT

Who arrived in Winnipeg MB on July 9, 2012

Love & Welcome from your Uncle Gord

I'll be arriving there on the 12th myself, so I'll be able to give it to him in person. For the record, Evan weighed in at 8 lbs., 1 oz., and is 21 inches long, with a cute round face and blue eyes. Mother and baby are doing well.

Trevor Craven Memorial Track & Field Meet

On Sunday, July 8th, I participated in the Trevor Craven Memorial Track & Field Meet at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby. My first race was the 3000 meters, and I haven't been in an actual track meet since I was in junior high, so when I spotted some runners I'd seen at other races in the stands, I went up there to ask them how things work. One fellow, Orlando, told me not to worry, they'd call us to the marshalling area and then take us down to the track and explain everything. I also asked him where we put on our track spikes, and he said he always just carries them down with him just wearing his socks and puts them on when we get on the track. This sounded good to me, so that's what we did and it worked out fine.

Ours was the first race of the day, and the meet announcer called us to go down to the marshalling area at one end of the stands, where they checked our names and numbers, and escorted us to the starting line. Mikhail Titov  was listed but hadn't shown up. Everything was done very professionally, with the marshal explaining everything and asking if we were all ready to run, while keeping things very relaxed and casual at the same time.

We were all ready to start the race, with the younger people running with us as they were combining the races because we didn't have a huge turnout for our distance. A fellow with a Russian accent appeared and said there was one more racer coming, he was down at the other end of the track, and we had to wait for him. The marshal said okay, but tell him to hurry up. It turned out to be Mikhail Titov, gotta be more prepared next time Mikhail!

We just started off in a line instead of staggered in lanes, so that made it easy, and after one false start when the starting pistol failed to fire, we were off! It was seven and a half laps around the track, and Titov and most of the young people took off ahead of me, and I stayed fairly close for the first half lap, but then backed off into a more suitable pace for me. They had a big clock at one end of the track past the finish line, and the marshal gave us our split times at the half lap point where we'd started, plus when you came around to the finish line they had a sign telling you how many laps were left to go, and all of this helped. What didn't help was that although still early it was already getting quite warm out, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky so we were totally exposed to the sun, plus there was some wind resistance, but c'est la vie!

I was kinda running by myself most of the time trying to keep up a good pace, but after a couple of laps I managed to pass one young woman, and then another one on the next lap. I also lapped Gwen, who is in her 70's, plus Lenore Montgomery twice. Lenore is 85 and just amazing, holding many national records in her age group. Coming around the last straightaway I even lapped Orlando, who again is a lot older than me, at 65, but to my surprise I never got lapped myself. Orlando had told me before the race that as older runners we always got great support from the crowd, and sure enough as I came down the final straightaway toward the finish line, all of a sudden there was great cheering and applause from the crowd, all for me! It was really cool, and inspired me to run in as fast as I possibly could!

I've never run a 3000 meter race before and my goal time was 12 minutes, and I finished in 11 minutes, 59 seconds and a fraction of another second, so officially sub 12! One of the young women I'd passed finished after I did, and then immediately went down and lay on her back on the track, exhausted, and then the other one came in, followed by my fellow masters Lynette, Orlando, Gwen and Lenore. We all congratulated each other, and then headed back into the stands to watch further races and await the posting of our official results.

There were just a massive amount of competitions going on all day long, plus the day before. I'd come down on Saturday to get my race kit, pay for my registration, and just get the lay of the land, and watched young Fraser McKay from the Friday Night Mile compete in the high jump, while watching the races on the track. There was a huge contingent of Aussie athletes there, over 100 competitors plus team officials, family members, etc. who come every year. Every time one of them won a race we got to hear the loud chant "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oy! Oy! Oy!"

The races ranged in length from the 60 meter dash to the 5000 meter race (but only 3000 for us oldsters), plus they had hurdles, steeplechase and race walking. Field events ran the whole gamut: high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, hammer throw and javelin. And you could compete in as many events as you wanted to, for $10 a pop! Next time I might even do the long jump!

We watched the never ending races for awhile, marveling at the speed of some of the young competitors, and watching our own friends compete in the long jump just down below us in front of the stands. One of the women in Orlando's club even set a world record in her age group, and it was announced with great fanfare, but I forgot which event! I went off and watched another new friend Dave compete in the shot put, and soon it was time to run the 800 meters.

Orlando wasn't running this one as he's recovering from a thigh injury and it's a little too intense for him right now, but Lenore and Lynette did. They again just started us off in a line and said to just cut in when it was safe, so that was easy enough. It was getting pretty hot by now, as it was now past 11:30, and I was sweating pretty good. The 800 is quite intense, a cross between a speed and a distance race, and by the second lap my legs were feeling a bit sore from running the 3000 a couple of hours earlier. I just ran as fast as I could on that second lap, again getting applause as I came down the stretch, augmented by people I knew actually calling out my name as they cheered me in. I finished in 2:51.38, and since I haven't run an 800 meter race since junior high, when it was in yards and called the 880, and have no idea what my times were then, this is my PR for this event! Not bad for a first go at it, I'll try and do better next time.

There were so many medals given out they didn't have presentations, you lined up and got them at a desk. For the younger competitors they even had ribbons for the top 4 to 8 in each category, besides the usual gold, silver and bronze medals. I scored a gold for the 3000, and a silver for the 800.

There was a glitch where they had to shut down giving out the medals for an hour while they got everything organized, due to record participation this year, but on the whole it was a marvelous event, very well organized, and just a hell of a lot of fun! Unfortunately it's the last one of the year, but I look forward to competing in more of them in 2013.

No results on the website yet but I'll send them out when they're up.

My next race is the Grand Beach Sun Run 10K, at 8:30 AM, on Sunday, July 15, at Grand Beach on Lake Winnipeg.

The Rock 10K

Today's race was the Rock 10K in White Rock, with a simultaneous 5K race also being held for the first time this year.

 

 We started off from Semiahmoo Park at a little after 8 AM, running along Marine Drive, with only small parking lots and the railway tracks separating us from the ocean on our left. It was fairly flat with one short uphill plus a little downhill for the first half kilometer, and I was going at a good pace, but then we hit the first hill which lasted until we were past the 1K marker, by which time I was sufficiently slowed up and feeling a little depleted. Chris Barth and 2 other runners had taken off very quickly at the beginning and formed the lead pack, and I stayed back in our second pack, watching the leaders gradually fade into the distance.

 

After the first hill it didn't so much level out as become less steep, and we hit 3 or 4 more good hills (I lost count) before finally turning right at the 4K point. We ran along a residential street for a few blocks, again climbing a slight incline. Rick from my running club was waiting for me along here, and yelled encouragement and took my picture as I ran up, waved, yelled my thanks, and carried on.

 

Hitting the corner at the 5K marker, we were directed to turn right, and we headed down a wide street, going in the other direction for a few blocks, before turning right again and heading back toward Marine Drive. Rick had crossed over and was waiting for me here again, taking my picture once more and cheering me on as I went by. A few blocks later as we turned left onto Marine Drive and back toward the finish line, we were high up and headed downhill. The tide was out and the view of the vast tidal pools was quite spectacular. 

 

 

 

At the bottom of the hill we were level with the beach again but soon hit another one. Our pack had long ago spread itself out, and as I crested the hill and passed the 7K marker, I headed downhill, following a fellow wearing a bright red shirt, with FLEET FEET written across it. He'd opened up quite a gap on me earlier in the race, but now I was closing it. We hit a short hill and he went up it well, but then on the ensuing steep downhill he didn't speed up very much, and I took the opportunity to race past him. 2 kilometers to go, and we were speeding down Marine Drive, with people standing alongside it cheering us on! There was one more fairly long hill, and I just tried to stay relaxed as I went up it. I managed this and then sped up on the downhill, and before I knew it I hit the 9K post!

 

It was finally flat for a bit and I ran along here just trying to keep my pace up. This was when a good headwind blew in off the ocean. All I could do was keep running my best into it, and at least it cooled me off a bit! I hit the last short hill and actually managed to power up it, as I knew the end was near. Now I could see the finisher's chute and banner up ahead, and ran in as fast as I could, crossing the line and thanking the volunteer as she placed a finisher's medal around my neck.

 

I went into Semiahmoo Park and found Chris, who'd won the race and told me the other 2 guys had kept up with him for a couple of kilometers but then fell back. We talked for awhile and then went to get some food. They had bananas, oranges, brownies, 5 types of little Clif bars, and a couple of people making us pancakes. I ended up eating a few brownies and a few Clif bars, and I had 2 pancakes with syrup. There was a computer glitch that delayed the results, and we ended up having to wait longer than usual for the awards, so I ended up having a couple more flapjacks!

 

I ran into Edwin, whose wife Cindy had spotted me, and we all talked for a bit. They'd brought their 2 young children to run the Kids Race and then they were going to spend some time in White Rock taking in the festivities. Edwin has a lower back injury and it was too painful for him to run today, but here's hoping he's back in action not too far down the road!

 

Christina from the racing crew walked up and told me they had some results posted on the stage. I excused myself and went to look. Chris had finished in 34 something, with 3rd place Ben and another fellow well behind him in 38 and change. I was a few seconds slower than last year at 43:52, but the course was a lot tougher this time around, so no real disappointment there. I was also hoping to crack the top ten overall, and I just made it, finishing 10th, plus I won my age group, so mission accomplished.   

 

I talked to Ben, who'd come in 3rd overall in the 10K, for quite awhile. He's a very upbeat young runner and we swapped tales of our racing adventures.

 

At 10 AM they had the Kids Race, with dozens of young tykes running a loop course they had set up in the park, all wearing bibs with the number "1" on them. They were super enthusiastic and cute, and like last year, some just kept running around and around the loop before finally calling it quits. They all got finisher's medals, and Edwin said the kids were quite happy, and he then got Cindy to take a few pictures of him and myself, after which they were off to enjoy the day.

 

They got the awards going, and for winning the 10K Chris received a white gold & diamond race pendant from sponsor Jose & Company. Ben went up and got his medal for 3rd overall, and then they did the age group medals. As with the overalls, they did the 5K ones first, but zipped through them at a good clip. This was followed by myself and all the other happy recipients going up and getting our 10K hardware, with a smiling Jose doing the presentations, and it was time to head off to enjoy the rest of the day.

 

Results are now up, and I ended up finishing 10th overall out of 165, and 1st of 13 in my age group, with a time of 43:52 http://www.tryevents.ca/images/results/preliminaryrock.pdf

 

My next races are at the Trevor Craven Memorial Meet, Sunday, July 8th. It's an actual track meet and I'm running the 3000 meters at 9 AM, and the 800 meters at 11:15 AM.

Barriere Medal, photos & video, Friday Night Mile

Finally got my medal from the Barriere Fun Run. Wes was good enough to send me a copy of the North Thompson Star Journal with my hardware. They had 3 whole pages of coverage plus a photo and blurb on the front page.

 

 

Here's the race photo page from the newspaper:

 

They have some pictures on the internet too:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80127650@N03/page2/

 

In the Friday Night Mile I ran my fastest mile ever, finally breaking the 6 minute barrier with a time of 5:56.37. http://www.peninsularunners.com/events/mileseries.htm

 

First place finisher Chris Barth, who beat me by just over a minute, is also running the Rock 10K with me tomorrow. We're both a good bet to win our age groups, but we'll have to see who else shows up and how the race goes.

 

They sent me a page of my photos from the Scotiabank Half:

http://canadarunningseries.smugmug.com/keyword/1258#!i=1931713557&k=98b7GNM

 

Here's a page with links to all the race photos so far:

http://www.canadarunningseries.smugmug.com/

 

And the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/user/CanadaRunningSeries

 

And lastly, here's a page with photos from various races in the Lower Mainland Road Race Series. http://www.lmrrs.com/photos.htm