ENDURrun 2019: Stages 1 & 2

As you know from my previous post, I've been coming off of injury and was going into this week with no real goals or expectations. That being said, I wasn't planning on dilly-dallying. It is still a race, after all.

Stage 1: Half Marathon

Yesterday (Sunday) was the start of the event, a half marathon in Conestogo. The course is two loops, a ~13km loop, followed by a ~8km loop. I had the privilege of wearing my gold jersey from 2017 as a member of the "Golden Club" and started with a few others who were also wearing theirs.





The race was relatively uneventful (which was a good thing, seeing as I didn't know how the foot would feel). It didn't bother me at all, so I was happy with that, but I was a little slower than I would have liked to be. I was pretty much bang on what I thought I would reasonably run, given the spring and summer I had, but of course, there was always the glimmer of hope that I might pull off a minute or so faster. All was well, though. I finished the day in 4th female, 23 seconds behind 3rd. My finish time was 1:35:38.

Stage 1 Results

Stage 2: 15K Time Trial

This morning, we had a staggered start, each runner starting one minute apart, in reverse order of yesterday's finish order. Last place starts first, first place starts last.

I didn't have a great run today. It didn't feel "bad" per se, but my legs just didn't want to go. I didn't feel tired or sore, just didn't have anything to give today. The first tiny bit, I was running what I thought I might be able to maintain for the whole race, but the course wasn't exactly what I pictured (I thought it was a little flatter), so that changed pretty quick after the first few km, which included two short road sections.



My 5K splits today were (according to me hitting lap on my watch at the course markers):  22:24, 23:35, 23:17. Finish time of 1:09:16, 5th female today, no change in placing in cumulative, but 1-3 are further ahead and Rebecca is now actually tied with me to the second.

Cumulative results

ENDURrun 2018, Stage 1: Half Marathon

It's 6:05am: I'm drinking coffee and eating some apple & cinnamon bread type thing with a bit of peanut butter. The race starts in one hour and fifty five minutes. Am I ready? Who knows. As ready as I'll ever be, I guess. Time is up.

***

Well... the race happened. It did not go as planned. It started out fine, but that didn't last. And it didn't last for a very frustrating reason. The second loop (the course is a ~13K loop followed by an ~8K loop), my back started bothering me. I had slept on the GO train on Friday morning and when I woke up and moved, I had pain in my back, something that has never really happened to me before. For the most part, I wasn't really having any issues with this, but when I'd lean over, occasionally I'd feel it in the same spot. I felt this this morning when I leaned over to spit after brushing my teeth, so I knew it was still there, but didn't really expect it to bug me when running, because I was fine yesterday. Mind you, I only ran a few km yesterday. So... this back issue crept up and I did not have much fun. I slowed down somewhat... just wanting to get to the finish line where I knew I could be treated by either a massage therapist or a chiropractor who were offering their services for the week (KW Health Connection). Colin worked on me for a bit, so hopefully things will be better tomorrow.

Funny thing is, I actually had a lingering leg thing for a few months, which I thought would be the issue. I never expected a back thing! I guess it's not really funny... but yeah.

So... finish time today was 1:34:57. I am currently 4th female. 55 seconds back from 3rd.

Rob and Robyn were awarded the gold jerseys today and will have the privilege to wear them and start last in the time trial tomorrow. 

Leaderboards so far:

Men:

1 Rob Brouillette

2 Dave Harmsworth

3 Aidan Rutherford

4 Nick Burt

5 Conner Krofchick

Women:
1 Robyn Collins
2 Valery Hobson
3 Lisa Leskien
4 Vicki Zandbergen (me)
5 Rebecca Kruisselbrink

(Full results can be found here)

Tomorrow is the 15K time trial, where we start 1 minute apart. My scheduled start time is 8:48am, so I'm looking forward to sleeping slightly later tomorrow morning.

ENDURrun 2017 - Stage 1: Half Marathon

ENDURrun is now in full swing!

This morning, stage 1 happened: the half marathon.

My alarm went off at 6am after waking up numerous times in the night. I got out of bed, made coffee and toasted an English muffin, couldn't find the shoes that I wanted to wear (turns out they were in the trunk of my car the whole time), so I grabbed my slightly older pair of the same model of shoe. I drove to the race site and was super excited to get this event started! I said hi to people, signed in, ran a very short warm-up, did some last minute prep and got to the start line.

Ten minutes before the start, we took a "class photo" so to speak. A photo of all of the Ultimate contenders before the race begins. A second photo will be taken next Sunday, after the marathon, of all of the Ultimate finishers.

The race began at 8am, and I found myself running next to Vicky S. We soon realized that we were hoping/planning to run right around the same time today, so we stuck together. Vicky was running Stage 1 for the H+P relay team that I am also part of, so it was nice to share the stage today.

Awesome Ultimate @vickizandbergen and former yellow jersey @vicsie10 cruising thru 16K with Amazing Masters @valhobs69 not far back @health_perform #hpendur @endurrun

A post shared by Dave W Rutherford (@enduredave) on Aug 13, 2017 at 6:23am PDT

For the first 10ish K, we had company, with Catherine D just behind us, but for the remainder of the stage, we were mostly on our own. We crossed the start/finish at the end of the first loop (~13 km) in just over 56 minutes, and finished the race in 1:32:02. We were the first females across the line.

@VicZanRan and @vicksie10  come in together. #HPEndur # teamwork #cantwontstop pic.twitter.com/PZjWm4Cn7h

— Health & Performance (@Health_Perform) August 13, 2017

One stage down.... six to go.

After eating a bunch of delicious food, the results were read and gold jerseys were awarded. Today, for the first time in my life, I was awarded with the gold! I have the privilege of wearing it tomorrow for the 15K time trial. Rob B. is in the gold for the men.

The gold is worn by the male and female who are in the lead cumulatively. As of right now, I have a 1:32 lead over 2nd place, 1:35 over 3rd. It's close right now.. and it's a long week. Anything can happen.

Cumulative results can be found here: Ultimate 2017

After the race today, I headed over to the Schmidt house (race director) to hang out with a few other runners in the pool. It was great to catch up, share stories, enjoy a beverage, and soak the legs in the cool water.

Once I was back at home, I got my stuff ready for tomorrow, did a few other little things around the house, and then made my way to the hammock for some lounging.

Life is rough. @endurrun week.  #recovery #raceweek #ENDURrun #runcation #ENDURrun2017

A post shared by Vicki Zandbergen (@vickizandbergen) on Aug 13, 2017 at 3:52pm PDT

Tomorrow's stage is a staggered start, with runners starting one minute apart, based on today's finish times. The final finisher from today starts first tomorrow, and the first finisher from today starts last. My estimated start time tomorrow is 8:47am. But... I'm not going to think about that right now. Right now I'm recovering and soon I will go to bed.

Good night everyone, and for those who are here... see you in the morning!

ENDURrun Stage 1 - Half Marathon

This morning, at 8am, the 2016 ENDURrun began.

Today was the half marathon, the first of seven stages, which will total 160 km between today and next Sunday.

The start to the day was cooler than it has been lately, which was absolutely fantastic. The sun was strong, so it did warm up pretty quickly on the course, but overall, I really can't complain about the weather today. If only it was going to stay that way

This year, a couple of new traditions started before the race start.

• Past Gold Jersey holders are now allowed (and encouraged) to wear their gold proudly for stage one.
• A pre-start group photo is taken (and a separate gold jersey wearers photo).

The official photos aren't available yet, but here is Dave Rutherford's photo that I've "borrowed" from Facebook.

I went out a little too quick today; I pointed out that fact to Patrick Voo, who was running near me at the time. I attempted to back off (or at least I thought I did), but apparently that didn't really happen and a few K later I was wondering what the crap I was doing. I felt good... but it was only a few km into the race. I kept going along, trying to slowly ease off as I went, until I was closer to the pace that I had planned to run. It sort of worked, but not really. There were some slower and some quicker miles here and there, not overly consistent. The effort, however, didn't seem to fluctuate a whole lot. I definitely ran a positive split today, but I'm happy with the overall result. My average place ended up being what I hoped, and I ran a 26 second PR, so I'll take it. Maybe some day I'll learn to run this course a little more evenly.  

Results:

Top three on the men's side were as follows:
1. Rob Brouillette: 1:14:01

2. Mark Meyers: 1:25:43

3. Kyle Den Bak: 1:30:24

And the women:

1. Angela Batsford-Mermans: 1:30:28

2. Me: 1:38:58

3. Hunter Kelly: 1:41:34

After the race, it was time for socializing and time to enjoy some of the marvelous food. I couldn't tell you what I all ate, but I know there was a burger, some hummus, sweet potatoes, some salads, jambalaya, and a smoothie.

I forgot to take my usual photo of my platter of food until I had already eaten my burger and probably some of the other food on my plate... but I did take one eventually!

Tomorrow, at the 15K Time Trial, starting in Conestogo, Angela and Rob will be the only runners allowed to wear gold (or yellow). The starting list has already been posted, so we have our approximate start times and I am slotted at 8:41.

Now it's time to rest up, and be ready to race again in the morning. Great work today, everyone!

ENDURrun Stage 1: Half Marathon

Good morning (although it will be afternoon by the time I publish this blog post). It's 6:58am and I have a few minutes before my ride gets here, so I thought it was a good opportunity to quickly start today's blog post.

I am excited to get to the start line this morning and I'm looking forward to everything this week has in store. I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

........

It is now 3:27pm. I ran, I ate, I got a massage, I swam, had a beer, and now I'm home, sitting on the couch, drinking smoothie #2 of the day. Time to actually write this blog post.


The Race:

Stage 1 of the ENDURrun is a half marathon, starting at a park in Conestogo, running one ~13km loop on roads and paved trail through a golf course, then a smaller ~8km loop following a similar, but shorter route (obviously).

The race started at 8am with a record number of people this year. Although the registration numbers were not the highest (there were over 50 registered in 2012), it was the year with the most starters. Each and every one of the 46 registered Ultimate Competitors was able to run (and finish) today's stage! Already, this was shaping up to be a great week.

It was fairly cool (for August) at the start, which was fantastic for running. The sun was definitely out in full force and it did warm up in the second loop, but it didn't get overly hot. In fact, I finished much less sweaty than I normally am at the end of an easy summer training run!

My plan today was to keep each mile below 8 minutes. I had my watch set to only display the laps and not total, so if I looked at my watch (which I didn't do much) I actually didn't know what my pace over the whole distance was or how many minutes I was into the race, just the time and pace for the mile that I was currently running. I came very close to successfully implementing this plan.... one mile (mile 13) was 8:01. So close!

I finished the stage in 1:42:00, which was 6:59 faster than last year and 4 seconds slower than my fastest half marathon, but more importantly, it felt good.

Looking at the results, I see that there were a lot of great times today! It's going to be interesting to see how the week plays out and how the standings change (or stay the same... you never know!) throughout the remaining 6 stages.

The gold jerseys, which represent the top male and female contenders based on cumulative time, have now been awarded and will be worn by two newcomers tomorrow: Mindy Fleming and Matt Leduc.

Great job out there today, everyone! See you tomorrow in Conestogo for Stage 2!

I almost forgot to take a photo of my post-race food today.... as you can see, my watermelon was already consumed.

ENDURrun Stage 1: The Half Marathon

As usual, I didn’t get to bed as early as I should have last night. I did some running around the house, locating items, gathering items, and packing items to bring to the race. I will make sure to be ready earlier for the remaining stages. At least now that my running stuff is more organized, it’ll be easier to be ready for the rest of the week.

Since stage 1 went better for me in 2011 than it did in 2012, I decided to have the same breakfast today as I did two years ago: a toasted English muffin with peanut butter and a banana as well as a cup of coffee. 

Ed and I pre-race in our ENDURrun swag from 2012 and 2011

I tried to run smart today. It didn’t quite go as planned, as I started quicker than I should have, but I felt like I did regain a fair bit of control and was able to finish strong. I feel as though I ran better than I normally do and had more “left in the tank” at the end of the race than usual. As a bonus, I even ended up with a new half marathon PB of 1:49:59! So far, I do not feel like I overdid it or anything today, but I guess the following stages will reveal whether or not that is true.

First place Ultimate finishers for today were Mark and Catherine, who will have the honour of wearing the gold jerseys tomorrow for the 15K time trial. I sit in 4th place of the ultimate females after stage 1, but anything can happen over the remaining 6 stages.

Now to rest, fuel, recover, and get ready to race in the 15K time trial tomorrow

But first… here are some photos from today’s stage.

New to 2013 – Menu board to specify which items are vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, etc.

Susan, Dave, and Kyle post-race

Thanks for a great morning, everyone. Let’s do it again tomorrow!