February

I know February isn't quite over yet... but it's close, and I don't expect anything major to happen in the next 3 days.

So.... February. What happened? I "raced" a couple of times. Quotes because they were more workouts than races, but they were in a race environment, which I like to do in February, so that once March rolls around, I'm (hopefully) ready both physically and mentally for real races.

What races did I run, you ask? Well... let me tell you.

February Race #1: Dion Winter Goose Chase (snowshoe race)
It's a 7ish km race in the trails at Shade's Mills Conservation Area in Cambridge. This was the second year of the race, and as the name implies... there's chasing of a "goose" involved. The "Goose" and "Gander" are the male and female winners from the previous year. Last year was the inaugural year, so there were no previous winners. Lisa (the RD) asked me if I would run as Gander (although due to misprint, I was the Goose and the guy was the Gander). I finished 2nd female last year, but as of the week of the race, this year's Goose was injured and unable to make the race. Lisa emailed me and asked if I would again fill in as Gander. Of course, I would. So... I was once again running with a literal target on my back.

I started 2nd row, so that I'd be in front of all the other women, since they were supposed to chase me. At the gun, I ran hard... I ran hard for I don't know how long.... a km or two... and then I was passed by a woman and was happy to be passed. This was my first snowshoe run of the season and it was NOT feeling good! Note to self.... make sure to run AT LEAST one run in snowshoes before attempting to race in them. So.. I was passed. I was now in 2nd female position. Then I was passed again. I was also fine with this, but was not going to let anyone kick me out of top 3, so I kept on keeping on. The snowshoes started to feel normal about half way through the race. The final 3 km felt pretty good and I passed one guy. I finished the race in 3rd female in a time a little slower than last year, but the course was not the same... Actually, I'm not sure if the distance was, either.

After the race, there was a bonfire at the finish area, pancakes and coffee inside, and then awards.

I ended up leaving with a pint glass full of Clif products (this was the registration gift), and two mugs also filled with Clif products (one was my prize for 3rd and the other was a draw prize), and a pair of gloves (pre-registration draw prize). It was a great way to spend the morning and I'd recommend this race to anyone.

February Race #2: Re-Fridgee-Eighter 8 Mile
I'm pretty sure I've done this race each and every year since I started running.... now I need to check and confirm that "fact" to ensure that I'm not making shit up... but I don't recall ever missing a year. It wasn't always the same distance (there's an 8K and an 8 mile), but I believe I've always been at the event.

Alright. I've checked. 2007 & 2008, I ran the 8K, my very first race ever was in the fall of 2006, so... so far it looks like I am correct. I will continue to look. 2014 was also 8K, but 2009-2013 and 2015-2018 were all the 8 mile distance. I was not mistaken! Yay!!

OK... back to the event. This one, I generally run as a tempo around half marathon pace. It's a good test of fitness in generally less than ideal weather conditions. This year was no exception weather-wise. There was some snow-cover, some slush, and then freezing rain for at least half of the race. Singlets were frozen solid at the end of the race, watch faces were covered in a layer of bumpy ice. It's "character building" or something.

Anyway.... I felt zero pressure for this race, since I wasn't intending to truly race it and also since the weather forecast was crap. I lined up at the start near some people who I knew would be running around the same pace as me and off we went. I stuck with Jan for the first few km, but he started running slightly quicker than I wanted to, so off he went, then after the turn at 4ish km, Emily caught up to me and we ran together for the rest of the race. We ended up reeling in Jan and finishing just in front of him in a finish gun time of 56:08, and were surprised to find out we finished 4th and 5th female. We were chatting most of the time we were running. It was a great half marathon effort training run!

Next up... Chilly Half Marathon next weekend. I'll try to write something shortly after that... but no guarantees. We all know I suck at posting. ;)

October Races, part 1: 5K

Fall has arrived for real, it seems, but that wasn't the case for most of the month. We've had unseasonably warm weather in the second half of September and into October. Well, I guess it wasn't unseasonably warm every day, but certainly more days than usual.... and of course.... on race days.

First up, was the Fall Classic 5K on October 15th.

This was a big race for the club (Health and Performance), as we had 70 or so athletes in the race! You can see how well everyone in the club did by reading the H+P recap here. There were some fantastic performances by many of my teammates!

For myself, since I ran the 15K at ENDURrun in 1:02:00, I knew there was no reason I couldn't go sub-20 in this 5K. If I didn't... something either went horribly wrong or I really didn't race it... especially since the course is a net downhill. Enough of a downhill that I would want an * next to my result to indicate that the finish time was aided by the course and not a truly accurate reflection of fitness level/ability on that day. Due to the course, instead of sub-20 as my goal, I had a goal of sub-19:30, and 19:15 in the back of my mind as what I truly wanted to aim for.

So, after that disclaimer.... here's how it went.

I arrived at the shuttle bus location, got onto the bus, sat down, heard another runner talking about their race number.... crap. I forgot mine at home! So.... I got off the bus, back in my car, drove home, grabbed my number, back into the car, back to the shuttle bus, and to the start line location. Luckily, none of this took very long and I was still at the race start at least 45 minute before race start. I went for a warmup jog with Emily and Gillian, did some strides with Gill, then got into the start (I didn't miss it this year, like last year! haha).

The gun went off, and it was a bit of a frustrating start, someone went down, people were all over the place, it was crowded... but it happens. I started 3 or 4 rows from the front, so I can't even imagine what it was like behind us. The race started in the parking lot of a school. Once we got onto the street, it was a lot better, but there were still the usual people here and there that started closer to the front than they probably should have, which made me (and many others) have to dodge runners not to trip over them. Once that was done.... it was great.

I ran hard, but controlled... and I don't really remember a ton about the race itself. I know that I was keeping an eye on some runners that I'm not normally in sight of, which was kind of cool. I tried to not let them get too far away.


The kilometers passed, and I intended to hit lap as I saw each marker, but turns out I completely missed the first one. I hit lap for the first time at the 2km marker.

My splits per the markers were:

1 & 2

7:25 - quicker pace here, but also the most downhill part of the course.

3

3:52

4

4:00

5

3:56

As I was coming around the final corner and could see the finish line clock, and I saw that it still started with 18 (just barely, but still under 19). I  I actually hadn't been paying much attention to pace or time, just ran. I knew I was going to finish in 19-something, but didn't pay any more attention to time or pace than that. I focused on runners that I wanted to reel in, and worked hard to try to do so.

I crossed the finish line with 19:15 on the clock, and a chip time of 19:11. I had achieved my goal and it felt great. Hopefully, I can run around the same time in the spring on an honest course.

After a short cool-down with Sam and Jon, it was time to head to the food and awards area. It was great to see so many people I know place so well in this race. I ended up 8th female, 50th overall, which I was quite happy with.


I don't race a lot of 5Ks, but now that I've run this one well, I think I might do them a tiny bit more often. It's certainly not my race distance of choice, but they can be "fun" from time to time. 

A Summary of September

It appears that I've neglected the blog, once again. I tend to get a little lazy when ENDURrun is over. I slack. I've been slacking in the blogging and also slacking in the strength work that I was doing leading up to ENDURrun, and a bit in the rest of my training as well. Not too bad... but I've been lacking a bit of motivation to work as hard as I wanted and intended. Looking back at previous years, I tend to feel about the same at this point every fall. Then I generally look back and see that it hasn't actually been nearly as bad as I thought it was. I really haven't been focusing on 50 mile training, though.... we'll see how JFK goes next month.

But for now... here's how September went.

I'm going to ignore the first three days of September.. for no reason other than it was the end of a week and I feel like starting with a Monday.

Sept 4-10 - The week of.... nothing, really. I can't think of anything of interest. It started with Labour Day, but nothing else was different than a regular week.
Monday - 6.2 mile run.
Tuesday - Wee WO: 7.1 miles, including 4x Marshall Hill.
Wednesday - 7.1 miles, combo of road and trails.
Thursday - WO: 4x 1.5 miles at half marathon pace. 15.7 miles total.
Friday - no run
Saturday - Long run with H+P: 17 miles.
Sunday - 10 miles
** Total mileage for the week: 63.2 miles. Total elevation gain: 3,097 ft. 

Sept 11-17 - Another week of nothing special.
Monday - nada
Tuesday - WO: 6 miles at half marathon pace. Total run: 8.3 miles.
Wednesday - 8 miles combo road and trails.
Thursday - Wee WO: 8 miles, including 4x 2 min hard.
Friday - 3.5 miles
Saturday - 15 miles
Sunday -  20 miles: 16 miles road, then 4 miles trail.
** Total mileage for the week: 62.9 miles. Total elevation gain: 2,844 ft. 

Sept 18-24 - The week of the Harvest Half
Monday - 7.1 miles trail
Tuesday - 0
Wednesday - 1 mile x2 commute runs in the day, then 6.3 miles in the evening.
Thursday - WO: 5x 1km @ 5K pace. Total run: 11.7 miles.
Friday - 7.6 miles
Saturday - 18.1 miles, including a half marathon at around marathon pace. This was a last minute decision to hop into a race (Harvest Half) since it was a super hot and humid day and aid stations sounded like an amazing benefit. Gillian and I ran most of it together, talking pretty much the entire time, then Gill went ahead to run the last 3K as a fast finish. I maintained my same pace for the last 3. She invited me along for her fast finish... I declined. :) We ended up finishing 1-2 for the women (small race). I ran 1:37 for the half.


Sunday - 13.3 miles, mostly trail.
** Total mileage for the week: 66.4 miles  Total elevation gain: 3,196 ft.

Sept 25-Oct 1 - The week of The Toad and the Beer Run.
Monday - WO: 8 miles including 8 min 10K pace and 10x 1 min hard.
Tuesday - 4.4 miles
Wednesday - 5 miles
Thursday - Wee WO: 7.8 miles including 6x1 min hard.
Friday - 3 miles
Saturday - Run for the Toad 50K. I ran this as a training race for the 50 miler, so I guess I'm doing *some* 50 mile training..... just not much that's 50 mile specific. The race was fun. Well, mostly. The last loop got lonely.... but the first 3 loops were great! It's a 12.5 km course, so you run that 4 times if you're doing the 50, twice if you're running the 25K. I ran it at a comfortable pace, but didn't dilly dally. I didn't race it, but I didn't saunter. I ran a solid 50K, finishing in 4:22, 10th overall, 4th woman.

Sunday - Kitchener/Waterloo Beer Run: 10ish K route with beer sampling stops. This was a super fun day with some of my H+P teammates.

** Total mileage for the week: 67.7 miles. Total elevation gain: 3.907 ft.

So there you have it: September (and the first day of October). Next up, Fall 5K Classic tomorrow... More proof of how much I'm focusing on training for a 50 miler. ;)

Late 2016 & Early 2017: playing catch-up

I've been slacking in the blog department again. The fall races had come and gone, I wrote about them... then came winter... and I stopped.. writing, that is, not running.

Let's see if I can remember what's happened since the last post. It's a good thing that I have Strava to remind me.

December:
I did actually have a race in December, but it's one that I don't really think much about. It's a novelty race... but at least only in the fact that a Santa suit is worn. It's still a regular race if you disregard the outfits, which are made of felt, by he way. I hear felt is the new technical fabric for running clothes!

The race is called the Santa Pur-Suit and is put on the main running organization in the area, Run Waterloo.

Photo by Julie Schmidt

My mom has also run this race every year since it starts, which is the main reason that I also run it. It's become a family tradition. My parents were also nice enough to pick up the race kits before arriving at my house on the Friday evening: one less thing to do race morning!

We went out for dinner somewhere.... (I can't be expected to remember THAT much about that day... although now that I said that, I think we went to B. Hmm... I will consult Untappd to find out.... Yep.. we did!), then back to my house.

Saturday morning, we headed to the race, which starts and finishes at the YMCA in Waterloo. It has nice spacious indoor facilities where people can stay warm if it's a cold day. I don't believe it was overly cold that morning, but it had snowed the night before, just as it had each and every year of this race.

I ran started a warm-up solo, then joined some of my Health & Performance (H+P) teammates on theirs. The not-so-cold temperatures made some of the snow turn into slush, which wasn't fun, but hey.. everyone was going to be dealing with the same crap on the roads.

We headed back to the start area and got ready to race. My only real goal for this race was to run it quicker than I had in the past, and hopefully finally be under 22 minutes. I was not hoping for anything close to a real 5K PR, just a Santa Suit PR.

My past times in this race:
2012 - 24:21
2013 - 22:36
2014 - 22:15
2015 - 22:08

The race itself was fairly uneventful... some slippery and slushy spots, but overall, the course was in pretty decent shape. I finished in 21:56. Finally, I've run sub-22 in a Santa Suit. I finished 7th female, and my team, comprised of one guy and a bunch of women, won the team competition.

H+P Dashers minus Larry (L-R: Erin, Emily, myself, Anne) - photo taken at our club Christmas party

Speaking of the Christmas party (see caption above), H+P unveiled the Club Standards that night: new time goals to target, based on gender and age (open vs master). This goes hand-in-hand with our team rankings site, which has been in place for a while now (a year or two? I'm not sure anymore). It's fun to have some friendly rivalries within the club. It is so inspiring to see so many race times drop lower and lower within the club.

January:
I didn't have a single race in January, it was a month of training. I can't think of anything worth mentioning from that month... on to February!

February:
The return to racing happened in February, with interesting conditions. As I'm sure a lot of people had this year, February was warm this year. It was much warmer than usual, and there was no snow for the bulk of the month. This sounds like it would be a good thing for running, and it was for the most part... I got in great training runs with solid footing, but, I had registered for a snowshoe race. I was starting to think that it was going to turn into a trail race, but there was snow the week before the race and it was announced that the conditions were good for snowshoes on the course.

Race #1 - Snowshoes on little snow
The morning of February 4th, I drove to Shades Mills Conservation Area for the inaugural Dion Winter Goose Chase, which was also my very first snowshoe race.

I arrived nice and early, picked up my number, chatted with a few other runners, and then headed out to do a warm-up on the course in my trail shoes. The course was supposed to be a 3 km loop, run twice, so I figured I would just run it once as well as the little bit from and back to the building for around a 4 km warm-up. I ran around a bit and found the start, went through, and started following the flags. After a while, I start to wonder why I don't feel like I'm heading back toward the start/finish area. I looked at my watch and saw that I had already been running more than 2 miles... and I have no idea where I am. I was still following the flags, so I was clearly on the course, but I had run a distance of more than a full loop... and couldn't see anything that I recognized. I looked around a bit, trying to figure out a way to take a shortcut back, but nothing looked familiar. I started running again and calling out "Hello?" hoping that marshals were out on the course and could direct me back. Time was passing and it was getting closer and closer to start time. I needed to get back to the building, take off a layer and get my snowshoes! I was stressing for a moment, but then just found it funny that I managed to get myself lost. I was only planning on running this race for fun anyway, no goals, just a first attempt at running hard in snowshoes. If I missed the start... I missed the start... not the end of the world.

I finally found my way out and got myself to the building with only 7 or 8 minutes until race start. Got myself to the start and got my SS on just in time, while they were making announcements. Turns out the course had been changed and was now a single 4 mile loop. No wonder I was confused on my warm-up!

I lined up, and the girl beside me took off with the gun, but slowed a little after a km or so. I passed her and she stuck on my heels, until she passed me back around 1.5 miles (yes, I realize I keep switching between km and miles... that's just how I roll). I didn't react to her passing me. I just didn't have my head in race mode and just kept plugging away and let her go. Unfortunately, this put me in no man's land. I ended up slowing down a bit and then had to remind myself that even though I wasn't that into it.. I was still in a race and needed to at least run somewhat hard! So... I picked it up and could see people through some of the trees ahead, so I had some sort of target, something to focus on to get myself to pick up the pace and try to close the gap at least a bit.  I was gaining on the girl a bit, but then a hill showed up.. one that I somehow managed to miss on the warm-up, so I had no idea it was there! I was not expecting this large climb just before the end of the race. I did not handle that climb well... so there was no further closing of any gap. I got myself to the top, ran down as quick as I could and finished the race 56 seconds back from her. Not close at all. But... still 2nd female (8th overall) in my first snowshoe race, so all in all, not a bad day.

Just before the unknown-to-me hill. Photo from Spafford Health and Adventure.

The conditions... there was not much snow at all, but it was still nice that the race remained a snowshoe race. I had registered for a SS race two years ago that had been cancelled due to too much snow! (the roads hadn't been plowed yet and nobody could make it to the park).
Race results and recap can be found here.

Race #2 - Trail shoes on snowy and slushy roads
On Sunday, February 12th, I woke up and looked out the window.... what the crap? Snow... and lots of it. It was completely clear out there the night before. In fact, it was really warm the day before! This was less than ideal.... but it's February... what can you really expect?

I arrived at RIM Park with lots of time to spare before the start of the Re-Fridgee-Eighter, the first Run Waterloo event of the year. I met up with teammates and the conditions were on everyone's minds... what shoes to wear? I brought three different pairs because I wanted to see what the roads were like around that part of town. As I drove in, they were just starting to plow, but first round plowing doesn't generally get down to the pavement, so it was iffy.. plus, that was the main road.. what would the smaller roads be like? The answer, as it turns out, would be very very snowy.

I ended up putting on trail shoes, went out for a warm-up with Val and decided that the trail shoes would stay on for the race. A road race in trail shoes..... didn't seem right.... but in the end, I was very glad I made this choice.

In the race itself, I don't think there was a single section of clear road. It was either a thin layer of slush and snow, thick slush, or thick snow. During the race, it snowed, and there was also some freezing rain. I guess it is supposed to be a winter race.... .and it certainly was!

I ran most of the race around what I considered to be half marathon pace, and that's because I couldn't go any faster in those conditions. I felt like I ran it well, that I raced well. I ran the 8 mile distance in 58:22, which I would not have been happy with on clear roads, but in this... I was quite happy with it, especially when compared to last year, when this race was the first indication that there was something wrong with me. It took 2 more races last year before I knew I was anemic, but this was the first race that felt crappy. OK... back to this year. I placed 6th for females.

The best footing on the course. Photo by Julie Schmidt.

After the race, which was the first of any of his races that Lloyd Schmidt has missed since becoming RD back in 1987, a group of runners brought the race to the hospital, where he was recovering from cancer surgery. Lloyd means a lot to everyone in the running community (as well as to many outside of the running community); he is constantly giving and is one of the most selfless people I know. A short video about Lloyd and the event can be found here.

I think that's a good place to end this post. I'll write about last weekend's race in a separate post.

ENDURrun Stage 7 - Marathon

The 2016 ENDURrun has come to an end. Sunday, August 14th, was the 7th and final stage: the marathon.

The race started and finished at the same park in Conestogo where it all began one week prior, but the course was not the same. The ENDURrun marathon course is a 21.1 km loop that takes you from Conestogo, through Bloomingdale, Kitchener and Waterloo, back to Conestogo, run twice.

I arrived at the park around 45 or so minutes before race start, stowed my bag under a picnic table, said hello to various runners and volunteers, signed in, got myself ready, and lined up at the start. I spoke with Mark McDonald about potentially running with him, Alexandra, and possibly a couple of other runners, who were looking to finish in around 3:30. My arbitrary A goal was 3:30, but I would be perfectly happy with 3:30-anything. I lined up near them, but when the race started, they seemed to shoot out from the line. I wanted to ease into this race, not crash and burn. I did not want to be pushing this early. I ran the first 4 km fairly easy and slowly got myself into the pace range that I wanted to be in for the bulk of the race. Around 10K into the race, I started passing a few people. From 13K on, I was on my own.

I crossed the half way point in 1:46:00. I was hoping to maintain the pace I was running as I crossed half for the second loop, but at around 24K I could feel painful blisters forming on a few of the toes on my right foot. I think my shoe had gotten wet from throwing water on myself at a couple of the water stops. These blisters were very difficult to ignore and I started playing mental games to get myself to the next water stop (they were placed every 3K) and then I would allow myself a very short break to grab a drink and to get a bit of relief from the blisters.

Around 30K, I felt like I was really slowing down and was thinking that this race was going to go downhill rather quickly, but by 34 or 35K, I no longer noticed the blisters and was back to running around or just under 5 min per km.

The final 3K of this marathon, I was feeling great and ran well under 5 min for each of them. As I ran up the final couple hills up Northfield and was about to turn the corner to the finish, I knew that I was going to be finishing under 3:35. My official time was 3:34:04. My second loop was 2:04 slower than my first, which isn't ideal, but is definitely not too shabby considering the giant puffy blisters I found on my feet when I removed my socks and shoes.

It was great to talk with everyone about their marathon, their week, their journey, to share a bit of pool time, socialize over eating much delicious food, and then to share in everyone's success at the awards ceremony. This year, there were 38 finishers of the Ultimate division of the ENDURrun. A group of 38 people who shared a journey of however many steps it takes to run 160km.

The overall win for the week went to Rob and Angela. Mark Meyers and myself placed second, and Kyle and Hunter placed third. The Rookie awards (fastest time by a first time finisher) went to Patrick Voo and Hunter Kelly.

Full Cumulative Results.

For the sixth year in a row, I have truly enjoyed this week of racing, cheering, socializing, and comradery. It truly is an event like no other.

ENDURrun Stage 6 - 10K TT

Just like Monday, today's stage was a time trial, so the runners started a minute apart from slowest to fastest.

I was scheduled to start at 8:50 this morning, but wanted to get to Lloyd's around 7:30 to ensure I had a ride up to the start (it's a point to point race) and could leave my car at the finish. I was apparently excited and in a bit of a hurry to get there and I didn't realize it until I saw the police car sitting just off the side of the road and glanced down at my speedometer, that I was speeding (whoops!). I drove past the cop, and as expected... he pulled out.. on came the lights, and I pulled over. I got my very first speeding ticket ever. He asked me where I was headed and thought it was funny that I was on my way to a race... seemed appropriate.

So... after the interesting drive to Conestogo, I parked my car, put my bag in the backyard, and made my way into a car to get a ride to the start.

It was nice to watch people starting their race as I did a slight warm-up (it only totalled about a half mile, but I wanted to get the legs moving and a bit loosened up).

When it was my time to start, I headed over, waited until Lloyd counted me down, and I was off. Steve Schmidt was nice enough to come out this morning and ride his bike on the course. It worked out especially well when I no longer wanted to wear my hat. He took it from me and brought it to the finish. Thanks Steve!

I went into this race looking to finish around 45 minutes. My official finish time was 45:12. It was another super humid day today and I was absolutely drenched with sweat when I finished. At least I know I wasn't dehydrated!

This was BEFORE I went in the pool.

There were no changes today in the top three on either side. Now, with 117.8km down, we have one final stage to run tomorrow: the marathon. It's a two loop course, starting at the same park as last Sunday's half marathon, but I'll tell you more about that tomorrow!

ENDURrun Stage 5 - 16 Mile Alpine

Today's stage was what most consider the toughest stage of the ENDURrun: a sixteen mile (25.6km) race at Chicopee Ski Hill. The course consists of a 5.12km loop, each containing 3 long climbs, sections of single track trail, and some straight descents down the ski hill. This loop is run 5 times.

The weather was definitely less than ideal today. It was over 95% humidity and it was hot. Volunteers and spectators alike were kind enough to spray us down with water, hand us ice cubes, and dump water on our heads and backs. If it wasn't for all of these wonderful people, this could have been a pretty disastrous race.

Final stretch to the finish (Photo from H+P Twitter feed)

Times were slower for pretty much everyone this year (I'm not sure if anyone was quicker this year), due to the weather conditions.

My lap splits weren't great today, but ignoring the first lap, they weren't too horrible... I'm not sure what I was thinking on the first lap!
Lap 1: 30:08
Lap 2: 32:45
Lap 3: 33:04
Lap 4: 34:49
Lap 5: 34:56

Man that humidity made it a tough day.

I finished first female ultimate today, but only by 2:27. I have reduced the gap to an even 20:00 behind Angela.  On the men's side, Rob won the stage, and now has a 1:12:26 lead on Mark. Hunter and Kyle both remain in third. 

ENDURrun Stage 4 - Hilly 10 Miler

Last night, in whatever hot temperature it was, we ran the 10 mile stage of the ENDURrun. Even though it was not going to be overly fun due to the heat, I knew it would be better than last year.

With the heat and humidity, it was not the stage to try to hit the goal time that I had set for myself months ago. That was a good weather goal, not a heat and humidity goal. So, I ran it, walked through most of the aid stations, getting in lots of fluids, getting sprayed by volunteers, and getting water dumped on my head.

Photos by Jeff Wemp

In the end, I did actually come close to my best on this stage. I was only 9 seconds slower than my 2014 time on this course.

Nothing changed in the top three tonight on either side, either in the stage or the cumulative. Rob now has a lead of 52:01 over Mark, and Angela has a 22:27 lead over me.

Tomorrow, we take to the ski hills and trails. It's a tough, but fun, 16 miles of up down and around Chicopee Ski Park and I am most definitely looking forward to it.

ENDURrun Stage 3 - 30K XC

Yesterday morning, I woke up to the radio informing me that a heat warning had been issued for the region and would last until the end of the week. Great. Oh well, everyone is racing in the same conditions, we just need to be smart out there and hydrate hydrate hydrate!

When I arrived at Bechtel Park it was still quite pleasantly cool, but obviously that was not going to last. The sun was rising, and it was strong.

The race started out at a fairly conservative pace, which was exactly what I wanted to happen. Going out too fast on this long course is never a good idea. The first 4 laps, the temperature didn't seem too bad, but it REALLY heated up after that. Laps 5 and 6 were very hot when out in the sun, but the trail section gave some much needed relief.

My laps weren't as consistent as I would like, but they weren't atrocious. Here's how they went:

Lap 1, 26:06: started out with Catherine, who was running the first leg of the Schmidt Family Relay. She went ahead (of course) somewhere around the school yard section, I don't remember if it was before, after, or in. After that, I stuck just behind Val with Hunter just behind me for the remainder of the lap.

Lap 2, 25:37: Val picked up the pace and moved ahead, I picked it up slightly as well, but was well back from Val and ran solo for this lap.

Lap 3, 25:52: Solo until Jordan (Schmidt Relay) yelled at me while running around the soccer field that he was going to catch me, which he did about 1km or so later, just after entering the woods. I expected him to pass me and keep running, but was pleasantly surprised that he slowed down and ran with me. It was great to have company.

Jordan and I at the end of Lap 3: half way for me

Lap 4, 26:46: I ran this entire lap with Jordan as he was doing 2 loops for his relay. We ran this one a little slower than I probably should have, but that's OK. We were yapping the entire time that we ran together, which at the time I thought was a good idea, to keep the pace on the conservative side for the middle laps, but perhaps should have been more aggressive. But who knows.. that could have backfired with the heat in the final two laps.

Lap 5, 26:22: Lloyd started his relay lap and I thought maybe, just maybe, I'd have company again... but no... he wanted to run faster. :) This lap was run solo. The heat was rising, but I ran it quicker than the previous lap, so that was good.

Finishing

Lap 6, 27:07: This final lap was tough in the heat. I stopped at the aid station just after the start/finsh, grabbed two cups and actually walked to the first corner to drink them.. not because I wanted a break from running, but because I wanted to be sure to actually get the fluids into me instead of just spilling them all over the place. The sun was strong and it was hot.. I wanted to focus on hydration. After that severe slow-down, I got back to business. Running in the full sun for the first half of the lap made me feel like maybe my fitness wasn't where I thought it was... I was very happy that this was my last lap and was starting to do math of... even if I slow down to x pace, I will still finish under 2:40. I really thought I was going to suffer this entire lap. I walked through the aid station by the playground as well, drinking 2 cups, but then as I got going again and entered the woods, I felt so much better! It was amazing how much of a difference just getting out of the sun made. I felt strong again. I finished up my lap, and crossed the finish line in 2:37:49. I wasn't happy that my final lap was over 27 minutes, but when I thought about the fact that I walked through 2 aid stations, it made sense. I still would have rather run it quicker (obviously), but I'm glad that I was thinking about the conditions and making sure I was hydrating well.

I finished in 2nd Ultimate Female again today, 3rd female overall (Val of the H+P Women's Team was 1st woman across the line).

Post-race photos:

Lloyd reading the results

Listening to Lloyd

Platter o' food

Cumulative Results after Stage 3 (top 3):
Male:

Rob 4:04:27

Mark 4:45:44

Kyle 4:56:41

Female:
Angela 5:07:28
Me 5:24:19
Hunter 5:39:40

After the race, I saw emergency vehicles entering the park and I learned that a runner had gone down about 2K from the finish. We were informed in the post-race announcements that he had been taken to the hospital, but that he will be OK. Wishing you a speedy recovery, Justin!

ENDURrun Stage 2 - 15K Time Trial

Although today's stage started at 8am, only one runner was to start at that time. The runners each started one minute apart, from slowest to fastest based on yesterday's half marathon results (or seed times provided by relay and guest runners). I was slotted to start at 8:41, but due to some no-shows and some people who have had to drop out of the ultimate competition, I started a few minutes earlier.

Starting a race alone is very different than starting with a pack. It worked much better for me today, as I could head out at a reasonable pace and not get carried away and go out too fast with others around me. In this stage, since I started after some, but before others, the name of the game was to catch as many runners as possible and to try not to be caught. I almost thought I was going to make it to the finish without being passed by a single runner, but Rob passed me in the final stretch.

I ran a lot smarter today than yesterday, with fairly even splits. I finished the stage in 1:07:32, which was my fastest time on Stage 2 by two minutes and 15 seconds. I am very happy with that result.

Since the race started and finished across the street from the Race Director's house, we were able to take a dip in the pool immediately after the race, which was very welcome. There was some more delicious food today, as usual, which was enjoyed poolside.

There were no changes in the cumulative top 3 today. Rob has increased his lead over Mark to 19:30 and Angela has increase her lead over me to 12:31.

Although it's been fairly warm already, tomorrow, we will really start to battle the heat. The weather forecast is currently showing a high of 32 for tomorrow, 35 Wednesday, and 35 again on Friday. Hopefully they are wrong. One can hope, right? Hydration will definitely be top of mind for the remainder of this week.

Great work today, everyone! It's now time to rest up and get a good night's sleep before running around and around and around Bechtel Park tomorrow morning.

Training, "racing", and health.

It's been an interesting few months since I last posted...

I got a coach.

After a month of attempting to figure out some sort of training plan, getting nowhere other than to the land of frustration, I decided that I needed someone else to do that for me. So... I started looking into coaches online. I was looking for someone with ultramarathon experience, since I plan to continue running at least one ultra per year most years. I found someone that looked like they could be a decent option, and asked my friend Adam, who is a coach, for his opinion... which ended up turning into him becoming my coach! It was something that neither of us really considered because of the above noted ultra criteria, but after some discussion, figured this could actually work. So, I am now training with Fastisfun Personal Running Coaching.

I attempted to race a few times.
The key word is definitely "attempted."
I had my worst races in 3 or 4 years.

My first race of the year was the Re-Fridgee-Eighter 8 mile on February 21st.
It did not go well. I had difficulty trying to even stay below marathon pace.

Here's what I wrote in my log after the race...

That sucked. I'm not sure why, but I didn't want to race; there was no adrenaline, no excitement, etc. I think I kind of went into it with a negative frame of mind... thinking about how I was more fit last year, etc... essentially setting myself up for failure.
Mile splits: 7:08, 7:32, 7:41, 7:38, 8:05, 8:12, 7:53, 7:29

On the plus side, it was a fun pre- and post- race with lots of great performances by friends and teammates. Also, I had some fun with being a double agent of sorts. Fastisfun had put in a couple of teams, so we took some photos with the singlets, etc, but I was racing on a team with Health and Performance (I'm still a member), so that was the shirt that I was actually wearing during the race. Terry, from H+P took the following photo:

On April 3rd, it was time to run Around the Bay 30K, which is generally one of my favourite races of the year.

Log notes from that day...

Pre-Race:
I felt so rushed this morning.... things were not going right on my way to the race, so it took longer than it should have.. I jogged from the car to the stadium, threw my stuff inside (after it took forever to get to the section where I was supposed to be meeting some people and where I was going to leave my bag), hit the washroom, then back out for a km more and 4 strides. Then got into my packed corral.

The Race:
Cramp in my side around 12K, took a while to go away.. when it did, I felt nauseous.... and the nausea kept recurring for the rest of the 30K. I kept taking walk breaks to try and make it resolve.. I would start to feel better, get back to running again.... re-pass a bunch of people... then it would come back. This was the cycle for over half the race.

(Something I didn't mention above was my ring finger on my right hand.. it went numb before half way through the race and did not return to normal until after I finished)

Wee Cool down of sorts:
I was cold... so I went back in after slightly more than a km.

I finished ATB 15 minutes slower than last year.

And then the following Saturday was my Aha race.... ENDURrace 5K.

Log notes:
First bit of the race was good. I felt good. But... before 2K I was already feeling drained and starting to slow down. I was asked right after I finished by a runner that I'm usually pretty evenly matched with if I've had bloodwork done recently because she's noticed that I'm not running like myself. So yeah... today was the day that I now really do think there might be something wonky going on. I have my doctor's appointment on Monday, so I'll get him to give me a requisition for a whole whack of stuff and see what (if anything) is going on with my blood. I kind of hope there is something... 'cause then there would be an explanation and hopefully an easy fix so that I can get back to running well.

There was a bit more to it than what I wrote above. Around 2.5K, I had a bit of numbness in my legs. Just before 3K I tried to get back to a normal 5K pace... I got there ever so briefly. I felt like I was running hard... the effort was there... but I glanced at my watch and thought "really?" I was only going approximately half marathon pace. I kept trying to push but the pace would not improve. In fact, it got slower and I was down to marathon pace and slightly slower by 4K. After the final turn, about half way to the finish line I tried to kick. Everything from 3K on had been a test at this point, trying to see what my body would allow me to do. So.. I pushed HARD... the end result? Not even what I would normally average on a 5K. I at least got just under 7 min pace in that final short stretch, but barely.

My finish time was 23:48, which was my slowest 5K since 2012.

I saw a doctor.
Two days after my "aha moment" of ENDURrace 5K, I had an appointment with my doctor. I rambled off all of the random symptoms I had been having, some of which I had for 3+ years (see photo to the right for a post-run hand for me), but never thought a whole lot about them until they became more and more frequent,

I had Raynaud's symptoms for over three years. They started in 2012, but were infrequent. White fingers only occurred maybe once every couple of months and resolved fairly quickly with some warm/hot water. They also used only affect maybe half of each finger until this past year, when (as you can see in the photo) the full fingers started to be affected and symptoms became more and more frequent, occurring after almost every run.

Other symptoms I had recently were: cold hands and feet, headaches, needing to sleep 9+ hours per night, fatiguing more quickly when running (workouts had gotten more and more difficult... I kept feeling like stopping in the middle of workouts and runs... it was frustrating and was very difficult on the mind), and some numbness in a finger and also in my legs. The fatigue and the numbness were what brought me to the doctor. By the time I attempted the 5K, I figured it was quite likely iron related.

I was given a requisition for blood work including a CBC and ferritin and I was on my way. I promptly stopped by a lab that same morning to have my blood drawn.

Results:

I actually laughed when I saw the results the next morning (I love being able to get my results online!). I expected them to be off... I expected low ferritin, but I didn't expect the ferritin to be THAT low and I also didn't expect full blown anemia.

I called my doctor's office to book an appointment to go over the results, but they stated they would review the results and call back with recommendations. So... I waited.... and waited... I got a call back at the end of the day requesting for me to come back in. So, I booked an appointment and wandered over to Shoppers to talk to a pharmacist. I wasn't going to wait until I went back to the doctor to start supplementing. The results were clearly showing iron deficiency anemia and I was going to get started on treatment ASAP. (as a side note, I read and assess lab results daily as part of my job, so I do have knowledge in this sort of thing). I discussed my lab results with the pharmacist, who recommended ferrous fumarate 300mg tablets. He mentioned that these particular pills have a tendency to cause more side effects than some others, but that it has the highest amount of elemental iron, so due to my super low ferritin, this would be ideal. So.. starting the same day that my lab results became available, I was on iron supplements three times a day.

A couple of days later, I saw the doctor again, went over the results, answered a bunch of questions to ensure there was no other cause for anemia suspected, and was informed that I was doing exactly what would be recommended to me. Excellent!

I left with another requisition, which I will use mid-May to see how things are progressing and to make an educated decision on whether or not to run the marathon that I'm registered for at the end of May.

I'm on my way back.

As of today, I've been on iron supplements for three weeks. I'm amazed at how much better running feels already. I am definitely not 100% yet (and won't be for another couple of months, most likely), but seeing as I was likely anemic or at a bare minimum iron deficient for a really long time, feeling part way to normal is amazing! Workouts are no longer something I dread. I don't feel like I need to drag myself to complete a longer run. I am enjoying running again... and I absolutely cannot wait to have normal blood with enough hemoglobin to deliver all of the required oxygen to my muscles!

I am actually glad that things got as bad as they did because otherwise I might not have seen the doctor, I might not have had bloodwork done, and I might not be on this road to becoming a person with healthy, normal blood.

It's been a while...

My last post was back in August... ENDURrun time... and I had an injured foot.
Since that time, my foot got better, training resumed, and racing happened. I was going to write a post about the time from then until now, but it turns out that's 10 weeks! So... I will break up this update post into two or three posts. Today's post will cover the weeks between ENDURrun and The County Marathon.

August 17 - 23
Total distance: 15 miles
The foot needed to get better and I needed to let it. This became very clear when I attempted to run on the Monday. I started running, it started hurting, I headed home. I ran one mile that day and I didn't run again until Friday. Those rest days were very good to my foot; I ran a pain free 7+ miles with Craig and Val on the Friday morning! Saturday and Sunday, I was camping with my family at Silver Lake Provincial Park so I kept the runs short (3.1 & 3.5 miles), but also did some paddling on both Silver Lake and Black Lake.

View from my SUP: Silver Lake

View from my SUP: Black Lake

August 24 - 30
Total distance: 61.3 miles
This week, I got back into training. I did a couple of workouts with Health and Performance, had some solid longer runs at decent paces, and was back to running every day. It felt great to be able to get back into training and not have pain.
M: 7.7 miles total including 3x (5 min half marathon effort, 5 min 10K effort, 3 min recovery) and some strides
T: 5.1 miles solo
W: Track Workout - 9.2 miles total including 2x (1 mile at half marathon pace, 400m recovery), 1 mile 10K pace, 400m recovery, 1 mile 5K pac
T: 7.7 miles with Craig
F: 4.2 miles solo
S: 10 miles with H+P
S: 17.3 miles with Lumi from Runners' Choice

August 31 - September 6
Total distance: 54.3 miles
I did one track workout (Yasso 800s) on the Thursday and it went quite well. On the Saturday, I had to drag myself through my 18 mile long run on a hot day. The rest of the week was relatively uneventful: just regular runs. I took one day off this week.

September 7 - 13
Total distance: 73.1 miles
Solid week with a midweek workout alternating marathon and half marathon pace and a Saturday long run of a little over 20 miles.

September 14 - 20
Total distance: 59.2 miles
M: 7.5 miles including 20 min half marathon effort, 4 min recovery, 6x 1 min on/off.
T: 8 miles
W: 6 miles including 10x 1 min on/off
T: 3.5 miles
F: 5 miles
S: 20.4 miles including 13.1 miles at slightly over marathon pace at Harvest Half
S: 8.6 miles

Finishing the Harvest Half - photo by Kailey Haddock

September 21 -27
Total distance: 46.4 miles
Taper time. Runs were a bit shorter, but included two H+P workouts a progression run on the weekend at the Laurier Loop 10k.

September 28 - October 4
Total distance: 49.9 miles
Marathon week! Shorter runs, a wee workout of 1 mile marathon pace into 1/2 mile (ish) half marathon pace, then 5x 1 min on/off, a day off on the Friday and a super short run on Saturday morning before hopping in my car and sitting in it for way longer than expected due to a highway closure... but I still arrived in Picton in time to grab my race number and to meet up with friends for lunch. I will go into this weekend in more detail in my post about The County Marathon, which I will write in the next few days.

So there you have it... somewhat of an update. Really, just a boring list of runs... but at least there were a couple of photos! 

ENDURrun Stage 7: The Marathon

On the way to stage 7 yesterday morning, someone on the radio mentioned a heat advisory. What perfect weather for a marathon!

I already knew this was a "no pressure" marathon for me, which felt great.

I was going into the final stage in 6th place for the week, so top three was not a possibility unless something bad happened to those ahead of me, which I'm happy to report did not happen.

Earlier in the week, it looked as though I had a chance to beat my time from last year, but the slip 'n' slide that was Chicopee made that disappear. The only way I could get a personal best ENDURrun week would be to run a 3:22 marathon, a PR by 10 minutes. That would be an extremely tall order on a perfect weather day after a nice taper, let alone on a day with a heat advisory after already running 120km in the week leading up to the race. So since that was out of the question, I knew I could run a nice comfortable marathon, enjoy the day, and survive.

The start of the race was more conservative than I have ever seen it. I was happy that people looked like they were going to be smart out there. It was not the day to be reckless. Not that recklessness usually gets you anywhere... but a fast start often happens.

I was initially in a bit of a pack, which started to thin out after the first couple of kilometers. I then ran with Lumi for a while, up to maybe 5 or 6 k, and then ran the rest of the marathon with Joanne. It was great to have someone to run with. I truly enjoyed having company the whole time.

About 1km from the finish, telling the photographer (Jeff Wemp) that I was glad to see that he was still in the shade.. apparently I talk with my hands.

After we finished the seventh and final stage, I ran to my car to get the beverages for Joanne and myself that I had mentioned and promised earlier in the run, and then hung out with all of the other ultimates, guests, relay team members, family members, friends, volunteers, and the race director. What a great group of people to spend time with on a sunny Sunday morning and afternoon!

The week went by quickly, as it always does, and now it's unfortunately time to get back to regular life. I know many people are already planning for next year's ENDURrun. For me... I first need to focus on making sure my toe/foot heals properly, then get back at it and hopefully run a strong fall marathon.

Thanks to everyone in the ENDURrun community, both near and far. Although each year it is a little different and some years have more positive aspects than others, the positives ALWAYS outweigh any negatives that there might be. This week truly is a highlight of each year for me; I love summer camp for runners!

ENDURrun Stage 0 - Pre-Race Meeting

It's that time of year again... ENDURrun time!

This year seems to have absolutely flown by! I can't believe it's already August 8th and I have already been to the 2015 ENDURrun Pre-Race meeting at the Schmidt house.

Pre-Race Meeting at the Schmidt House

As you can see from the above photo, there is a large field this year. Now, that group of people also includes some spouses and friends, some Sport Contenders, relay team members, guest runners, as well as the Ultimate Contenders, so it is a little inflated, but there are also people who were unable to make it to the meeting tonight. We will not truly know the total number of athletes competing in the event until the stat of the race tomorrow morning at 8:00am.

There were 67 people registered to compete in the Ultimate, however, it is already known that 8 are unable to start for various reasons. This brings us to 59 ultimate contenders expected to compete in this event.

Last year was the biggest year so far, with 46 Ultimates toeing the line at Stage 1 and 42 completing the entire event. Unless an additional 13 people do not show up tomorrow morning, it looks like this will be a record setting year!

As usual, I will be blogging daily, providing some brief updates, some photos (they tend to be of the food...), maybe some links to various sources of info, etc.

For today, I will leave it at this... I look forward to seeing all of the happy/excited/nervous/anxious/terrified faces tomorrow morning morning in Conestogo!

The Swag. You gotta love the swag.

ENDURrun Stage 7: Marathon

On Sunday, August 17th at 7:30am, the final stage of the ENDURrun had begun. When asked by Sean (H+P coach) just before the start what I wanted to do, I said 3:40 or under. My fastest marathon so far is 3:32, so I was planning on something a fair bit slower than my PB, but with six races in the seven days leading up to this marathon, I figured that this was still a reasonable, yet reasonably hard goal.

I was quite happy with how I started the race this year. I kept it controlled, didn't go out too fast, and settled into a pace a little over 8 min/mile. After a few km, the pack thinned out and I was running with Mark McDonald, who was hoping to run around 3:40. Mark and I stuck together for 10ish km (but I could be wrong... I know it was more than 6, but less than 13), but then I ended up a little ahead of him, on my own.

I started to pass a few people once I got to University Ave, and a couple more on Northfield and I could see Catherine ahead, noticing that the gap was closing. As I ran through the start/finish at the half way point, I was just behind Catherine, who was one spot ahead of me in the cumulative results. Until this point, I wasn't even considering the possibility of moving ahead in the overall standings on this final stage of the ENDURrun. I was in 4th, over 18 minutes behind 3rd place heading into the marathon, so it would be a tall order to overcome that deficit.

I ended up passing Catherine around the 22km mark. As I went past, I asked if she was ok; she was having some muscle tightness in her leg. I wished her the best, and she offered some encouragement to me as well. From that point on, the race is a bit of a blur, with the exception of the final 10km of a painful stomach. I think I had too much Gatorade and I was paying for it. It was tough to run through that, but I was determined. I did slow down a bit, but looking at my splits, I can see that I would slow for a bit and then probably tell myself to suck it up and I'd speed up again. That happened a couple of times until it was less than 5K to the finish. At that point, I was able to maintain a decent pace. It wasn't quite the pace I was running at the start of the race, but it wasn't too far off. My first mile was 8:13, my 26th mile was 8:36 (and was uphill). I rounded the final corner, and ran across the finish line, with a finish time of 3:39:43.

I had finished the marathon in 3rd place for the ultimate females, but wouldn't know how I placed overall for the week until Catherine crossed the line. I hung out near the finish, drank my recovery drink, chatted with other runners, teammates, etc, and kept an eye on the time. When the clocked passed into mid 3:58, I knew that I had finished the ENDURrun in 3rd place, something that I did not expect at all going into this week.

My final time for ENDURrun 2014 was 14:06:52, just under 54 minutes faster than last year, and over 2 hours faster than the year before. I am very happy with how I ran all week and I look forward to continuing my training and hopefully improving even more for next year!

I had a fantastic week with everyone again this year. The race organizers, runners, the volunteers, family members, friends, and teammates were/are all so very supportive and were/are such a fantastic group of people to be around day in and day out. Thank you to everyone for making ENDURrun the summer camp for runners that I (and many others) want to attend year after year.

I'm sure all see you all again next year for my 5th year, but for now.... for the 4th time.... after 8 days, 7 stages, and 160km, I am still one tough runner.

ENDURrun Stage 5: 25.6K (16 mile) Alpine Run

Yesterday morning was the stage that is dreaded by many: Chicopee.

It's a tough stage, which takes place at a ski hill, but I do enjoy the course. Well, most of the course.

Here's a rambly course description for you:

Start, run to the first uphill, a long gradual gravel service road that winds up the side of the hill, turning twice, with a fair bit of loose gravel this year and a lot of erosion, so it was a little tricky to find good spots to run near the top of the hill. Once arriving at the top, run straight ahead, then turn right into the first trail section, which starts with a fairly steep sandy downhill. Run across the bottom, then windy your way back up through the trails, pop out the top and head back the way you came, but before reaching the service road, turn right and run straight down a ski hill (something I love to do), across the bottom and over to the bottom of another ski hill, turn and run (or "run") straight up this ski hill. Once reaching the top, run across and down some cinder block steps into another trail section (my favourite part), for some windy single track down, and then back up the hill. Hang a right out of this section and run to another ski hill to run straight down. At the bottom, nip into another trail section. This section is flat, but includes a lot of mountain bike boardwalks, which were missing some boards, some were bouncy, and some were breaking under our feet (I broke one, but luckily it happened when pushing off, not when stepping on the board). After the flat section, it's back up the hill via Goat Trail, out the top, over the top of the hill, and straight down. Hang a left at the bottom of this hill, and run through the start/finish line. That is one loop, so do that another 4 times.

The race went well for me. I ran the first lap quicker than I intended to, but I had been ahead of Angela for about half of the lap and didn't want to give that up too quickly. After the start of the second lap, ran my own race. The quick first lap didn't seem to affect my overall race, so that was good. I still felt strong and was relatively consistent for the remaining 4 laps. My splits were as follows:  31:13, 32:47, 33:24, 33:02, 33:03.

My finish time was 2:43:29, which was over 14 minutes faster than last year! I'm definitely happy about how it went.

Whoops.

Time got away from me. In my last post, I said I would backtrack and write about June. That obviously didn't happen yet. Since it is now just a couple hours away from the pre-race meeting for the 2014 ENDURrun, I guess I should write something! This is going to be short. Very short.

I ran two races in June, one road race and one trail race.  Here's how they went.

June 15th - Road Race - Waterloo 10K Classic (Waterloo Running Series)

•  At the 5K mark, I was below my 5K PB
• Finished in a new 10K PR of 45:37, which was 1 second shy of 2 minutes off my previous best 10K

June 21st - 14ish km Trail Race - Heart Lake (5 Peaks Series)

• Tripped on nothing (or something small... who knows?), sliding shoulder first down an ever so slight decline in the second loop, leaving a fair bit of skin on the course
• Finished 10th female, in a time of 1:14:40
• H+P took the top team award!
  
  

So there you have it. June in a nutshell.
Now, bring on the ENDURrun!

The Start to July... a week of races.

I realize that I've missed posting any sort of updates for June (I ran a couple of races.. I will backtrack and post about them soon), but now it's July and I already have a few races to mention! It's been a busy, but fun week and this has the potential to be a long rambly post.

Race #1 - Great Canadian Trail Run 10K (mix of dirt, grass, asphalt, and crushed gravel trails)

On Tuesday, July 1st (Canada Day), I headed down to Brantford with a van full of runners (Deb, Dave, Heather, Lynn, and I) to run the Great Canadian Trail Run. There were 5K and 10K race options; Deb and Lynn were doing the 5K, while Dave, Heather, and I did the 10. 

We Arrived at the site about 45 minutes before race start. Obtaining our numbers, t-shirts, etc was quick and painless, so I had plenty of time to get in a short warm-up run and stash my bag under the stands at the track near the race start/finish. 

The race itself was well organized and there were no course issues this year (last year there were a couple of unmarked turns and one spot where the trail came to a T and the marshals had their backs to the course, causing me to actually have to call out for directions). The weather was far from ideal as it was quite hot, very humid, and windy. This combination did not make me want to race. I lost motivation by 6K, but at 8K when a woman passed me, motivation quickly returned. I decided that I would not drop back a place and I got back in the game. 

I finished the race in 3rd place female, running almost 2 minutes slower than my fastest road 10K, but over a minute and a half faster than the same race last year. 

Great Canadian Trail Run 10K Results

Race #2 - Creemore Springs Vertical Challenge 25K (hilly, hence the name)

I had been on the fence about signing up for this race and I actually didn't decide to do it until I finally registered on Wednesday evening. I figured it would be a good training run for Stage 5 of the ENDURrun, which is coming up next month, and that's the type of mentality I took to the race. This was going to be a training run. A hard effort training run, but a training run nonetheless. 

Greg, Craig, and I arrived at 8:05, so we just missed seeing the start of the 50K, but still had plenty of time to get ourselves organized, warm up, etc before our 9am start for the 25K. Having never run this race before, I was surprised to see how beautiful the location was (the race director's property). I had heard great things, but you still never truly know until you see it. I was already glad that I had decided to do this. 

After some socializing and then stashing my stuff next to some trees on the lawn, I did a very short warm up run and hung out near the start line. A couple of very quick announcements were made, and a shot gun was fired to signal the start of the race. 

Going into this race with 'training run' mentality worked well for me to ensure that I started at a relatively conservative pace. I was running comfortably (or comfortably hardish) and it felt good. 

A race volunteer told me very early in the race (*maybe* 1 km into the race) that I was the second female at this point... I made a mental note, but I didn't let it get to me. The woman ahead of me was Jessica from my running club, and I could see her blue singlet ahead. A few km later, when I had not been passed by anyone, but I had passed a couple of runners, I decided that I would continue running at my current level of effort, but if a woman was to catch me, that I may have to kick it up a notch to not lose my position. Luckily, this didn't happen. 

As the race went on, there was climb after climb after climb, some were country roads, some were rocky trail, some may have been other types of terrain as well.. I'm not really sure... I didn't pay too much attention to the hills... I just got up them and then eventually down. There were two hills that I had to walk part of, but other than that, I was pretty consistent (effort wise... pace goes out the window on this course). 

I ran a good chunk of the race with Rick (someone I had met on the course around 7 or 8 km into the race), we had a brief chat and realized that we were of very similar running ability based on past races, so we ran together from that point until just after the final BIG climb. He had told me earlier on that after the last big climb, the final 5 or 6 km of race is mostly downhill. So, as it started to level off at the top, I said "It's run time" and I picked up the pace. The long downhill country road was incredibly fun to just open up and run down. Also at this point the 50K leaders were heading up on their 2nd loop, so it was great to be able to see them, to offer some encouragement, and even just to say 'hi' to some friends along the way. 

After the long down, there was a farmer's field, then some trail with some steep downhills that were a little tricky in spots. When I saw the rope to pull yourself up a short and steep muddy hill, I knew the end was close. I got up that hill and I was having a lot of fun running through the twisty single track in the last mile of the race. I came out from the woods, saw the wet and dry options (bouncy bridge vs water crossing - I took dry since there was nobody around me and also since I was told by some other people that it really doesn't make much of a difference time wise), turned to the right, and ran across the finish line. I had finished in 2nd place of the women. I congratulated Jessica on her first place finish, got myself a beverage, and chatted with other runners and the race director for a bit before I took a look at the results... which confirmed that I was 2nd female by 40 seconds. I had no idea that I was that close. I thought I was at least 2 minutes back. I felt great at the finish. I definitely felt like I could have kept running, which made me very happy.

Post race beer, pizza, sitting in the Mad River, and hanging out on the grass was fantastic. I stuck around for 5 or so hours after I was done my race, so I had lots of time to chat with 50K runners and to just enjoy the wonderful weather outdoors. All in all, it was a great day.
Creemore 25K Results

Race #3 - Dirty Dash 8K (wee bit of road, meadow, trail, water crossings, muddy hill, and finally bales of hay and a mud pit in the finishing chute)

Since I already talked so much about the other two races, I'll keep this one shorter. This morning was the Dirty Dash. There is an 8K, a 4K, and a 1K kids run. I did the 8K. One of the main reasons I like this race is the fact that the course is almost exactly the same as Stage 3 of the ENDURrun (just 1 km shorter on the loop, and ER doesn't have water crossings or a mud pit). I guess that makes this weekend ENDURrun simulation training... I did Creemore for a Stage 5 type race and then Dirty Dash for a much shorter version of Stage 3. Ok.. back to the race. At the first turn I could see that there were 3 women ahead of me, 2 turns later, I was in 2nd place female, where I stayed for the remainder of the race. I felt strong today and did not feel like I had run all those hills the day before. I enjoyed this race and enjoyed catching up with some people I hadn't seen in a while. Placing well was an added bonus.  

Dirty Dash 8K Results

Race swag and prizes. The maple syrup, coffee, and bowl were all prizes from Creemore.

And now, I sit here finishing up this post, having just come home from running.... at Chicopee.