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. ;)

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!

April Part 2: Boston Marathon

Monday, April 17th. Race Day.
Val was in wave 1 and I was stating in wave 2, so she had to catch a bus before I did. This worked out quite well, since there was no getting in each other's way, etc. I got out when she was leaving.
As I was getting ready, I heard a noise... I thought it must be Val's phone... a backup alarm going off? I was looking around, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from, when I realized it was the hotel's alarm. There was then an announcement about an "emergency" in the hotel. My floor was not being evacuated yet, but I was to "stand by for further instructions."

This all happened shortly after 6am right when I was getting ready to leave the room to grab a coffee. My plan was to hang out in the hotel with my coffee for a few minutes, then leave for the buses. I had plenty of time before I was meeting Emily, so I thought I would relax and enjoy it. Not so much. With the alarms going off, I decided to get completely ready for the race, grab a coffee on my way out, and then drink it in Boston Common. I didn't want to run the risk of not being able to get back to my room if I attempted to get a coffee now!

10 minutes later, the emergency was called off.
I then had the fun of trying to go in the opposite direction of all of the people who had been evacuated trying to get back IN. It didn't take too long, though. I got my coffee. The building wasn't in danger. All was well.

Ready! Time to head to the buses.

When I stepped outside, it was already hot. Ugh. The weather forecast still seemed to think it was only going to be a high of low to mid 70s (still super warm for April, but yeah...). They were wrong.

I walked to the corner where Emily and I had planned to meet up, going through security on my way there. Smooth sailing coming from the side I entered from, as I approached the spot, the entrance by the corner was much busier. I waited there, drinking my coffee, when I saw Emily walking across the street. After she got through security, we wandered over to get onto a school bus for the ride to the start.

Once we arrived at Athlete's Village, our photo was taken, and Gill ran up to us to tell us where she and Sean were sitting. I was surprised that she saw us! It was great to have a little group to hang out with while we waited for our waves to be called to the starting corrals.

Emily and I

We lathered ourselves up with sunscreen while we sat on the grass, since the sun was out in full force and there weren't really any clouds in sight. We had throwaway clothes on when we arrived, but they soon just turned into something to sit on, since it was nowhere near cold or even cool outside. Shorts and singlets were more than enough.

It wasn't too long before we each started our journey to the start. I was happy that Vicky found me on my way there! It was nice to have someone to talk to on that walk over, once Emily and I were separated.

I entered my corral, Vicky kept walking to hers as it was closer to the front. And... I waited. After what felt like an eternity, yet super short at the same time, we started moving toward the line and we were off.

The crowds in Hopkinton were great! I enjoyed the first little stretch with so many people cheering the start of the race.  After this, though, I didn't find it nearly as amazing as people seem to think it is. There were lots of people out, yes, but... I don't know.... it didn't amaze me. Maybe I need a good weather year. One where I'm not already sweating buckets a mile in.

I managed to spot someone (Rhonda) I had met on the Friday evening at the shake out run and ran with her for a few miles since we had very similar goals for the day, but when we were just about to hit 6 miles, I made a pit stop and she hit the water station, so we parted ways and never saw each other again.

A couple miles later.... I noticed that I had stopped sweating. That's no good. So.... game plan for the day, which had already changed a bit due to the heat, changed again... to drink LOTS of water and electrolyte drinks. My new mission was to start sweating again and to not end up in a med tent. From that point on, I grabbed two cups at each and every water station and walked to ensue that I drank every last drop in those cups. I would also dump water on my head when I had the chance. Any freezie being handed out was also more than welcome. And the wonderful spectators who were handing out bottles of water.... you're the best!

So.... I guess in hindsight, the spectators were pretty spectacular. They were so helpful! They gave so much to us and really saved the day.

Since I was walking through aid stations, I actually had a walk break every single mile for more than half the course. This is certainly not something I would normally do. But... I still wasn't sweating.
I felt pretty good other than being super hot, but not sweating, and was running relatively well when I was actually running. I was looking at the big picture while I was out there as well. Taking precautions today meant that I'd feel fine tomorrow and could resume training for other races that would be coming up over the next few months. This was now just a long run, not a race.

Hooray for water.

As I crossed the finish line on Boylston (not even in a BQ time....), I was happy to be done and more happy to be handed a bottle of water. So happy, in fact, that I held up the water for my finish line photo, not the medal. :)

I made my way through the finish, just wanting to get out the other side, where I started to run, getting some looks from people as I had a medal around my neck, space blanket and bag of food in one hand, and a water bottle in the other. I ran to my hotel, walked in the door and was congratulated on my marathon and directed to a room where the hotel had put out snacks for the runners! That was a pleasant surprise. I grabbed some food there, and continued to my room, taking the stairs (it was only two floors up... but still fun to say I took the stairs).

I had finally started to sweat, by the time I got to my room. Yay! I was re-hydrated!

A couple minutes after I arrived in the room, Val showed up, escorted by hotel staff (she didn't have a room key with her). Good thing I wasn't naked! Anyway.. we got straight to our post-race beers from our previous night's shopping and chatted about our mornings, while also catching up on news over social media regarding the others from the club.

Happy to be done and happy to have cold beer.

Once we were cleaned up, sat around for a while, and enjoyed our beer, it was time to head out and meet up with the rest of the Health & Performance crew to share war stories over food and more beverages at FiRE+iCE.

Val, Gill, and Emily who was unable to make it.

I mentioned war stories earlier... all of us from H+P had a pretty rough day out there in that heat and humidity and sun, running pretty awful positive splits. But.... we lived to tell the story and we were all able to laugh about it.

H+P results can be found here: https://hpwr.scrw.ca/results/2017/boston/marathon/

We had a fun time out for food and drink, but I had one other thing I wanted to eat that day: a Boston cream pie.

Boston cream pie

A post shared by Vicki Zandbergen (@vickizandbergen) on Apr 17, 2017 at 7:42pm PDT

Race day was not the end of my trip, but the rest will have to come in the next post or two. :) Nothing like dividing stuff up to have something to write about on the ol' blog! There will be lots of photos in the next two posts. So, you'll have to come back soon to check those out.

Chilly Half Marathon

March 5th, 2017: The Chilly Half... I had never run it before, but I had heard only good thing. OK, maybe not only, but mostly. The only negative I ever heard was that if it's a windy day, it's a very windy course since there's nothing to block the wind coming off the lake. So, a minor negative, really. Everything else was positive.
I decided in the fall that this would be a good race to run leading up to Boston. Perfect timing, and a good, fast course to test out the fitness and (hopefully) build up some confidence for April.

I arrived in Burlington nice and early on race day. I wanted to make sure it was a stress-free morning, so I left my house not long after 7:30 and was parked about a block from the start/finish by 8:20am. Perfect! I had lots of time to wander around and check things out, talk with some friends, get a warmup in on a bit of the course, ditch some stuff at the car, and go back to the start to line up. It was great not feeling rushed for any of that. 

One thing I noticed when walking around and also when running, was how much colder it felt there than it did at home when I was leaving. The wind coming off the lake made a big difference. But... the sun was strong. When there was no wind it was comfortable, but when there was wind, it was a bit on the frigid side. The wind didn't seem too bad, so I didn't feel like I needed to cover my ears and was able to wear a regular hat (cap), capris, two thin shirts, and thin gloves.

For my warm-up, around I did a 2 mile run with an out and back on the course, then another half mile after stopping at my car to get my number on, etc. I finished up the second little warm-up run about 15 minutes to race start.

As the race started, and we turned the first corner, I noticed that I was just behind the 1:30 pace group. It was windy in this section, so I tucked into the group to get some shelter from the wind. This had me running a little quicker than I intended to run, but it was a bit of a downhill and it kept me out of the wind. I only stuck with them for maybe 5 minutes or so. I got back onto my own game plan at that point. Well.. sort of. My plan for this race was to keep my pace just under 7:15. Aside from the first mile at 6:51, I was running just over 7 mile pace and it was feeling great. So, I figured I'd roll with it. 10K marker... felt great, then reached 10 miles in 1:10:something... and... only 5K left! I was NOT going to slow down a single second. I was focused on a couple of runners in front of me and actually picked it up slightly to sub-7 pace for those last 5K.

I finished the race in 1:32:01. 01..... I couldn't find 2 seconds somewhere? ugh. but I didn't (and don't) care about that... it was my fastest half marathon so far (by several minutes) and a nice confidence boost.

Just before the final turn to the finish: ~12.9 miles

I was proud of myself, not for the finish time itself (I was happy with that as well, of course).. I was proud of how I ran the race. I was super happy with my splits, which I've included below. I'm becoming a smarter runner!

After the race, I ran a cool down with Graham and then went out for chilly and beer at one of the local establishments. The nice thing about this race's post-race festivities, is the spread it out. There are several bars near the finish line that all serve the beer and chilly to the runners instead of just having it in some gym or community center or whatever.

After the beer and chilly, I went back out to watch more friends finishing and then out for lunch on the way home. All in all, it was an enjoyable race day. I think this race might find it's way into my race schedule again in the future.

Two Marathons and a 5K

I was going to write a post for each race, but I don't feel like it, so..... here's three weeks of running all in one post.

Fall Colours Marathon - Sunday, October 9th, 2016.
I had no plans to run this one and didn't even have the thought of running it until maybe 3 days before the race. I had a 25ish mile run on the schedule, so it just seemed to make sense to jump into a marathon and have other people to run with and also have aid stations. I decided not to register until the morning of, though, in case I changed my mind or woke up not feeling well, etc.

Let's backtrack and give a little breakdown of the week. I'll do this for the other races in this post as well.

M - 7.5 miles easy pace.
T - 15x 1 min 5K effort w/ 1 min recovery jog. Total including warmup and cool-down: 8.5 miles.
W- 6.4 miles easy pace.
T - Workout with Steve. 3.5 mile tempo at 7:16/mi pace, which was right where I wanted to be, pace wise. It felt really good, smooth, almost easy. Total including warmup and cool-down 8.7 miles.
F - No run. Rest/driving day.
S - I ran from my sister's cottage to the nearest small town and back. 13.5 miles

Sunday - Fall Colours Marathon. 26.2 miles. As I mentioned, this was a last minute decision to run a marathon in Ottawa, while I was in the area for Thanksgiving (Canadian Thanksgiving). I decided that I should run it in a finish time of around 3:30 to 3:45. I started out nice and easy, feeling good. I looked down at my watch after a bit and was very surprised to see that the average pace so far was around 7:40/mi. It felt quite comfortable, so I didn't adjust and just kept running. I kept the effort feeling good, not pushing, and I surprised myself by finishing the marathon in a time of 3:24:04. It was a very small race, so I actually finished 2nd female and 4th overall. The course was a double out-and-back with several turns and was moderately hilly (nothing crazy, but not a "flat and fast" type course). My finish time is actually a new PR/PB for me, which I was not planning on, nor expecting, especially since I was going into this as a long run with aid stations, not a race. Needless to say, I was satisfied with the result. :)

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon - Sunday, October 16th, 2016.
This one, I WAS planning on running. :)

The week leading up to this planned marathon was a little different than the week leading up to the above marathon. I needed to recover and be ready to roll again... but I didn't want to slack off TOO much either... I decided no workouts.. just easy runs.

M -  5.6 flat miles around my parents' house. Felt a little stiff at first, but loosened up quickly and felt pretty good.
T - Super slow (ridiculously slow, really) 3.6 miles. Took this as a sign to take Wednesday off.
W - No run.
T - 5.4 miles with Steve and Payton, 8:47 ave pace. Felt normal. Phew. I was a little concerned after Tuesday, but all appeared to be well.
F - No run. I took the train into Toronto, worked, went to the race expo at lunch, worked some more, hung out with coworkers, then walked to my hotel, checked in, then walked again to go out for food.
S - Ran to the race start location just to get an idea for the next morning, then continued on to MEC where I did a bit of shopping. Walked around after that, went for breakfast, did more walking, etc. Turns out, I walked over 20K that day. I really have good marathon prep. :) (and I also apparently flip flop between miles and km)

Sunday - Toronto Waterfront Marathon. I ran to the start area, checked my bag, went to the hotel across the street to use the washroom, then headed toward the start area and did some more warming up inside my corral. I ran into some people that I know, which is always nice, so I had people to chat with before the start.

I was initially planning to run this one fairly hard, but then I randomly ran that other marathon last Sunday and unintentionally ran a PR, so I dialed back for this one and ran it more as a long run than a race. I walked through aid stations if I felt like it (and I did feel like it a lot because I was SO THIRSTY and wanted to actually drink, not just get a sip.. it was warm and humid and humidity seems to do that to me). I decided that taking it easy would end at by 35K and I would pick up the pace and run strong to the finish. Unfortunately, there was no 35km split in my results (I guess the mat/my chip didn't work when I passed over), so I don't know exactly how the 35-40K stretch went, but I do know that from 30km to the finish, I passed 199 runners, and in the last 2.2 km, 62. I don't take any joy in seeing others struggle, so I did offer words of encouragement as I could and as I felt appropriate, but it was definitely a confidence boost to run that last section at a quicker pace and feel strong. My official finish time was 3:35:31.

I don't have any photos from this race, but a guy from KW who introduced himself to me on the course did.... so, here's his tweet (with link to photo).

.@VicZanRan nice meeting you on the race course today. Congrats on your second marathon in 2 weeks! pic.twitter.com/UNio6Ks2ev

— TomG (@FlynnRoad) October 17, 2016

Fall Classic 5K - Sunday, October 23, 2016.
I registered for this one back in January. I do it every year because it was my first race back in 2006. The other reason I registered in January, was the series discount. :)

M - very short and slow run. I ran a whopping 1.83 miles and it took me 20 minutes.
T - Rest day. No time to run and a rest day made sense.
W - 4 miles easy pace.
T - a little under 7 miles with Steve, easy pace. It was raining, so it got super dark early and we didn't have headlamps, so we had to tread carefully in the trails on the way back.
F - 5 miles easy pace.
S - Not a fun run. I ran with Andrea (that part was good) and I was hoping to run 20-25 miles, but I needed to cut it short. I was feeling overall just not great... one of those days where your body just doesn't particularly want to run. I could deal with that, but then my right hip started tightening up around 7 miles. I stopped for a moment, did some stretching, etc, but it was still there.... it continued to bother me, so just before 9 miles, I decided that I needed to cut the run short and start heading home. After a bit I thought... I wonder if it's actually feeling like this because of running a long run slower than usual. I know I've had some other days where the body just gets angry if it's going at a not so normal pace... so I quickened my pace for a bit and the tightness/pain went away. But... at this point I was just a mile or two from my house and I still didn't feel great, so I was still quitting. I got in 16 miles.

Sunday - Fall Classic 5K.
I had very low expectations today.
When I started my warmup my legs felt like lead. I was running VERY slowly and could not seem to get the legs to go any quicker.. I hopped onto the track (the race started at a high school) and tried to stride the straights... I was getting down to half marathon pace... then closer to 5K pace, so things were feeling a bit better, but still slow since I was only maintaining those paces for 100m or less. I went back out onto the roads, and by the time I was finished my warmup, I was comfortably running a little over 8 min pace. Good... the legs seem to be working again. I ditched my extra clothes in my car, then headed back to the start area. I went inside for a bit, since it was still a little early.. then when I went back out, I was talking with a runner and just about to get into the starting area when the horn blew! Whoops! I thought I still had a few minutes! So... I jumped in, and got through the start, successfully and surprisingly not tripping over anyone or causing anyone else to trip. The race happened and was pretty uneventful, which I guess is a good thing. My km splits were the most even I have ever run in a 5K and I came out of it with a new PB! My finish time was 20:46, which is 30 seconds better than this race last year.

I really needed this today, after yesterday's run.

If you would have asked me before the race what I was expecting to run.... I honestly would have said 23+. I did NOT think my legs had sub-21 in them today, but I guess they did!
Total mileage for the day: 12.1.

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 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.

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 2: The 15K Time Trial

Today was so much better (for me) than yesterday!

I slept more (still not as much as I wanted to, but more), I woke up looking forward to running today's stage, I was well organized, and I felt ready to roll. This was a much better start to the day than yesterday... aka scatterbrain day.

The stage 2 format has a staggered start and I was scheduled to start at 8:32 am, so arriving at the Schmidt house just before 7:30 gave me plenty of time to put my post race stuff in the back yard, talk to other runners, do a very short warmup, watch some of the others start their races, and be ready to go when my time came.

A description of the stage can be found on my blog post from last year, but I'll give a super brief overview here. The 15 km course is an out and back, is quite flat, and has long straight stretches along only three roads. The bulk of the course is on paved roads, with the middle section on a gravel road.

Starting the race, I felt good; I felt happy and excited. My head was in it today, and that was definitely what I needed to happen. If my head's in the game, that's where the focus will be, not over-analyzing the little things that might not feel "quite right" with the body. Whether it was my head or whether my foot was actually significantly better today, I didn't have any foot pain aside from a bit of mild discomfort for a brief couple moments around 10K. 

Most of the race was relatively uneventful as far as how I was running (a good thing!). I had a great time out there today, the high fives were flying and the hellos and good jobs were plentiful. It is so nice to be able to see absolutely everyone on this stage! That is definitely a highlight for me.

Since everyone started at different times today, according to their expected finish times or placing from yesterday, the finish is a rapid succession of runners coming down the final stretch. It was a lot of fun to watch everyone coming in and it was interesting to see the actual results being updated and posted as we watched. Since the fastest runners stated at the end, the rankings of today's stage were constantly changing as more people finished.

In the results, Rob (53:41) and Victoria (1:01:03) won for the ultimates again, increasing their leads over second place; they will wear the gold jerseys again tomorrow. The H+P Men's A team won the relay again today, with Adam Hortian running 48:49!

From the race website: Stage 2 Recap and Results

I've never had a finish time so close to other runners at this stage. 5th (Joanne), 6th (Leigh Anne), and 7th (myself) finished with with very close times of 1:09:40, 1:09:46, and 1:09:47. This made me super excited (and perhaps a little hyper... sorry if I was a little on the giddy side, Leigh Anne! I'll be more calm tomorrow, I swear.) to think that perhaps I won't be running all by myself in some of the longer stages, especially the marathon. It would be great to have some company.

One other thing:
I don't recall if I mentioned the dead skunk on yesterday's course, but today has now marked the second day in a row with a dead skunk. If there's another one at Bechtel tomorrow...........

And on that amazingly appetizing note, I will leave you with the usual post-race food photo. :)

ENDURrun Stage 4: Hilly 10 Miler

Last night's stage was tough. My legs were starting to feel the previous 3 stages and the headwind after the turnaround certainly didn't help anything.

Here's a description of the course from the race website:

The first of two hill runs, this course is for the fast, strong runner. This 10 miler is on paved and packed gravel roads and is characterized as demanding and hilly. The start and finish are both up hill, mainly along Wilmot Line west of Waterloo. The gathering point is at Camp Heidelberg at 6pm – the only stage to start at the end of the day. After the short hill start, runners run through a low forested region then join Wilmot Line. There are a series of large hills to slow you up, but the descents are long and fast. Approximately half way out the course doubles back straight towards the finish. The rapid succession of hills during the last third of the course draws on all the strengths of the runner. The final 300m finish usually sees the competitors battle to the finish line and a well deserved leg massage!

Although stage 4 didn't feel great for me, I was perfectly happy with the end result. I wanted to finish in under 1:20 and I did. My finish time was 1:19:47, a 10 mile PB for me (mind you, I've never run a non-ENDURrun 10 mile race) and was another 5th place finish.

My Post-Stage 4 Food

It was incredibly great to see the crowd of Health & Performance members cheering on the final hill to the finish, and some runners who were on the other side just up a bit further (Matt, Mindy, I don't remember who else was there... sorry.. your regular shirts didn't stand out as much as the gold!). It is always fantastic to have people cheering on that final uphill stretch. Thank you to all who stood and cheered!

As with every stage of this event, there is plenty of time to socialize with other runners, family, and friends while enjoying an amazing assortment of food and a nice casual setting. A highlight this year was the unexpected ENDURrun reunion! Several former ENDURrun Ultimates were out as guests, including Jessica and Brian, who I haven't seen in 3 years! It was great to see you!

Since it's Thursday today... here's a throwback to Jess and I running stage 4 in 2011!

After today's "rest day" (probably the busiest day of the week with the eating stages 4.5 and 4.75 and a massage appointment), it is time to prepare for tomorrow's tough stage: Chicopee. I hope the legs are happy tomorrow because they need to carry me up and down a ski hill many times.

ENDURrun Stage 2: 15K Time Trial

I'm going to be a bit lazy today and quote the race website's stage description instead of describing it myself. Actually, I will call it efficient. Yes... efficient sounds better.

This flat out-and-back course on paved (70%) and gravel roads runs through Woolwich Township and takes you through countryside dotted with Mennonite farms. The peaceful and relaxing surroundings are among broad open field spaces where the land is still worked by horses. You’re sure to encounter the local horse-and-buggy traffic on this scenic run. The course starts and finishes in the quaint village of Conestogo at the Schmidt residence, and runs on some of the 10 km Time Trial course. Flat and wide open, you won’t be able to hide from your competition in this exciting time trial Stage.

Being a Time Trial, runners start at separate and consistent intervals, in reverse order of current standings.

Today, each runner started one minute after the last, with the first runner starting his race at 8am. At 8:39, and it was my turn to start the game of catch (or attempt to catch) the runners who started ahead of me while trying not to be caught by anyone who started after me. I passed a few runners today (4?) and I am happy to report that I was not passed by anyone in today's stage. 

My finish time was 1:10:44 (PB). I was 5th female today and I have maintained my 5th place position. There was no change in the overall leaders today, so the gold jerseys will continue to be worn by Mindy and Matt at the 30K stage tomorrow.

After writing this incredibly short post, it is time for me to get back to resting up in preparation for tomorrow's stage, which some call the real first stage of this race. But first... the obligatory food photo.

 

 

My platter of food that took me approximately an hour and a half to finish.

Great job out there again today, everyone! See you at Bechtel Park in the morning!

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!

Buffalo Marathon

Last weekend was the Buffalo Marathon... my sixth marathon, my third stand alone marathon (the other three were the final (7th) stage of the ENDURrun), and my second marathon for which I had actually trained (the 2nd of the 3 stand alones was a training run pre-ENDURrun in 2012). I had set my self an ambitious, yet not outside the realm of possibility goal this year and I was flip flopping between being confident and doubting myself. My goal was 3:30.

To give a bit of background, my first marathon in 2011 was the Mississauga Marathon. I had signed up for it because I had registered for the ENDURrun and figured that I should probably run a marathon before jumping into a race where, after running all week, the final stage is a marathon. I started a training plan on my own in early January of that year and had set myself an ambitious goal of 3:50 with a secondary goal of sub 4:00 for that one. I had run several half marathons, but this being my first full, I had no idea what to expect. I finished it in 3:51:28 (and sprained my ankle in the process.... whoops! Good thing adrenaline kicks in.. no real pain until after I was done!).

 OK... back to the present.

As I have mentioned in some recent posts, my races had been going well so far this year, I'd been training with Health and Performance twice a week, and I was logging more miles than ever before. For the first time in my life, my weekly mileage was over 100 km per week for multiple weeks in a row. I felt good. I felt strong. I felt confident in my abilities as a runner (most of the time). I was definitely looking forward to this race.  

As the weekend approached, the plans were becoming finalized. Myself, Doug, Erika, and Alice were going to be heading down to Buffalo in one car and staying in two different hotels, but both only about a block away from the start/finish area.  

Doug picked me up Saturday morning, then we stopped to get the others and we were on our way. The drive went smoothly with no traffic delays and, more importantly, no delay at the border. We crossed, found our hotels, and got settled. 

The Expo:

Getting our numbers at the expo was a very smooth and quick process. Although the expo was quite small, I did manage to find a good deal on two pairs of shorts and a shirt. New purchases, race number, race shirt, pasta party ticket, and other random samples, etc in hand,  I happily exited the convention centre.

Beer Shopping:

An important part of a race weekend... especially a race weekend across the border... beer!

I had checked around online a few days before the race to be sure that I knew where I could find a store with a good selection. When I came across The Village Beer Merchant, I stopped my search. It was close to the hotel (1.2 miles away) and had good reviews. I must say... I wanted to purchase many more beers, but had to think about the fact that there were 4 people and their bags in the car and also the fact that we're crossing the border which means limits and actually.. we were less than 48 hours, so we weren't really supposed to have anything. I ended up doing a 'mix a six' and then grabbing some larger singles as well.

The Pasta Party:

The pre-race pasta dinner was included in the entry fee for the race and occurred at a nearby church. This year, runners were to choose the time that they would go to the dinner so that they would avoid having too many people show up at once. It appeared to work well, as there was no wait to get food or drinks, and while the venue had quite a number of people in it, there was plenty of space to sit. 

The food itself was basic, but did the trick. Penne with marinara sauce and 3 meatballs. They didn't ask  if I did or did not want the meat, but I'm sure if I had said something, they would have just handed me a different plate without the meatballs. As you can see from the photo below, there was also plain white bread and beer (which unfortunately was Molson Canadian... I had a couple of sips, discovered what it was, and then I did not consume the rest). There was also pop, water, and maybe some juice and there were salads. For dessert. Oreo-like cookies. 

 

Free Pasta

After dinner, it was just time to hang out for a bit, then get some sleep. The race start was scheduled for 7am, so I set my alarm for 4:45 am (ugh) to allow some time to have a coffee, eat some oatmeal, digest.... and then heat out to the race.

Race Day:

After the above noted coffee and oatmeal, I got myself ready for the race... ran around the halls for a few minutes (I ran softly and quietly.. I wasn't waking up the whole hotel or anything), and then headed outside. It was a cool morning, but not cold. I was in shorts and a singlet and I was just fine. I think the temp was around 48-50 F.

After a very brief warm-up up and down the street between the hotel and the start, it was time to line up at the start. I was quite impressed that people seemed to actually pay attention to the pace signs posted at the sides and lined up properly according to their anticipated pace. It makes the race start so much nicer when people are lined up they way they should be. I settled in with the other 8:00/mile people and waited for the race to start. 

The start itself was pretty uneventful (which is good). We moved up slowly toward the start, walking until we pretty much got to the line. I crossed the start line after 24 seconds, but if felt like much longer.

The Race:

I started out running 8:00 pace as planned. My first mile was almost perfect.. 8:00:xx, but I was feeling crowded. I was right behind the 3:30 paces and the people who were trying to run with them were sticking right to them. I was kicked in the shins 3 times... I needed to get out of there. When I had an opportunity, I went around and settled in just in front of that group. It was great. It was myself and another girl (her name was Tracy) and nobody around us. We had a nice space in front, behind, and to each side of us. It felt so good to run like this and we started chatting. I got distracted from keeping my 8:00 pace... I looked down at my watch and.... mile 2 was 7:43... uh oh... it's WAY too early for that to happen. I needed to adjust. I thought I had, but then mile 3 went by... 7:45. Crap. I did get back to high 7:50s by mile 4, so that was good. I needed to stay there or the second half was going to be messy. 

As the miles went by, I was feeling good. The temp was still good. The sun was quite warm, but a lot of the first half of the course was in the shade, which was very nice. I passed the half point at 1:44:xx, which sounds just about perfect for what I wanted to do, but the race was far from over. 

The first half of this course is run completely with the half marathon, which then veers off to the left and marathon to the right, to complete the second (different) loop. I did not enjoy the second half of the course as much as the first (and not just because it was the second half). There just wasn't as much to look at, and although it appeared that running around a park might be enjoyable, I actually found that it felt like the longest mile in the whole race. It didn't help that I thought I was actually a mile further than I actually was. I was running along and saw mile 18. I could have SWORN I was at mile 19. Mind you, my watch agreed with the sign. So, mentally, that did not help. Pace wise, I was still OK at this point. 

The rough patch for me mostly happened from mile 20/21 to 24. At this point, my thoughts turned to doing the math to tell myself that I could slow down and as long as I kept it under 9:00, that I'd still have a good finish time. I started walking through a few water stops. This was something I did not need to do, but for some reason told myself it was OK to take these breaks... breaks which caused my pace to slow (I had one mile right at 9:00). It took until mile 24 before I told myself to snap out of it and started picking it up, and by the start of mile 25, I was back at 8:00 pace. I stayed there until I crossed the finish.

I crossed the line at 3:32:43. It wasn't quite what I was aiming for, but I was definitely happy with it. 

Official Results (splits). Chip time was 3:32:19 (not shown on here).

My finish time was just over a 19 minute PR. That was something to celebrate. There were lessons to be learned in this race (I definitely need to not let myself get distracted while running early in the race... those quick early miles were not supposed to happen!) and hopefully that 3:30 (or less) will come soon. 

3:32:18, post race beer (from my purchases), and finisher's medal

Overall, I enjoyed this race. It's a good sized race (not tiny, but not huge either) and it is well organized. 

My only real complaint was the placement of the small out and back to add on the necessary distance on the marathon course. It was a tenth of a mile from the finish. I feel that this little add-on could have been anywhere in the second half of the race, preferably at the beginning of the second loop. I know that the course had been changed this year from previous years, so perhaps they were still working out some of the kinks. 

The short drive and fairly low entry fee (compared to races in Southwestern Ontario) makes this race a good option for a spring marathon. I may be back. We will see.

Running on my Ottawa mini-vacation

It’s Monday afternoon and I have just returned from my extended weekend in Ottawa.
This isn’t going to be much of a blog post, but I took some photos with my phone while running that I thought I would share on here.

Friday morning – Ran to Mud Lake, then in the trails at Mud Lake, and then back to my sister’s house. Total distance: just under 9.5 miles (just over 15 km)

Mud Lake

Saturday morning – I rode my nephew’s bike to some cross country ski trails in Nepean. The ride was 5.6 miles there, then a 5 mile run, then 6.1 mile ride back (took a couple wrong turns :P)

Ottawa River
 

 

Sunday morning – I ran from my sister’s house to the local Running Room where I had asked the day before how far their groups would be going. I was told 19km, so I thought this would be okay with a bit of a run before and after.

The group run was similar to what I was planning to run on my own, except they had a loop planned and I had an out and back. My route would have been Ottawa River to Rideau Canal to Dows lake and back, but what we did was ran over to Dows Lake, then along the canal to the river, and followed the river back to Westboro.

The total distance I covered that morning was 16.5 miles (26.5 km) and I also got a 20ish minute swim in. I love swimming after running. In this case it was a swim between runs… it was a bit difficult to get going again after being in the water, but I managed to get back to my sister’s house. :)

Inukshuks on the Ottawa River
 

Westboro Beach (where I swam) – It was actually sunnyish when I was in the water, but then clouded over soon after.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these photos.

Update and Late Photos

I realized that I have not posted anything in a LONG time, so I figured I should throw something together. Actually, I had started a post after Easter, but didn’t finish it and therefore, never published it. So… I know this is super late, but better late than never, right?

First, the update:

I see that my last post was after the Re-Fridgee-Eighter. Well, I’ve run a few races since the last time I posted, so I let you my my results for those races and compare them with my times from last year.

March 24, 2013 - Around the Bay 30K – gun time: 2:44:23, chip time: 2:42:16 (PB)
2012 chip time: 2:42:44. Actually, I just noticed something right now when looking up the results. My gun time for 2012 and 2013 was exactly the same… to the second. Both were 2:44:23.

April 13, 2013 - ENDURrace 5K – gun time: 23:00, chip time: 22:55 (PB and first time I’ve ever broken 23 min for a 5K)
2012 chip time: 23:22

April 20, 2013 - ENDURrace 8K – gun time: 38:18, chip time: 38:14 (PB)
2012 chip time: 38:50 (that was my previous best 8K)

May 5, 2013 - Mudpuppy Chase 10K – gun time: 48:47, chip time: 48:38
2012 chip time: 47:57.
My 2013 PB streak (every race so far in 2013 was a PB) ended on the day of the Mudpuppy, but I still ended up with my 2nd fastest 10K time, so I’m happy with that.

And now… the Easter Run.

When I was at my parents’ house for Easter, I headed out to one of my favourite places to run in Eastern Ontario, the Long Sault Parkway. That probably doesn’t sound like the best place to run, but the road is technically closed from fall until May, so it’s virtually traffic free and offers wonderful views along the St Lawrence River.

The road/causeway itself is 10km from end to end and I decided to run a half marathon that day I started at the West end of the section of road, parked the car by the entrance, and ran along the road to the East end, where I turned around and headed back to my starting location.

I took some photos with my phone along the way. Here are a few. I hope you enjoy them.

As you can see from the photos, there was still some ice and snow, but it was also a very nice and warm spring day. I had a great run and got to enjoy the wonderful views of 2 countries as I ran, with water on both sides of me.

The group run that didn’t happen

This morning I got up shortly before 7, had some coffee, ate some toast with peanut butter and banana, and got ready to meet up with the folks from meetup.com at the Saturday Trail Run that I had organized.

The first challenge of the day was actually getting out of the little lane beside the house. Luckily, Ryan got the car out for me while I finished up getting my stuff together. I hopped in the car and headed toward the trail. The roads were mediocre at best. I arrived just 2 minutes after the time I said I would be there, so I didn’t do too badly time wise, but I was disappointed to see that the parking lot where we were to meet was completely inaccessible.

I drove past the lot and looked for a place to park nearby, but did not have any luck. I drove around to another street and parked near Chicopee. After parking, I ran back to the meet up location to see if anyone else had shown up, but there were no signs of other runners. I trudged through the snow and discovered that there was no way we could run on this trail today. I waited a few minutes to be sure nobody was coming and then headed back out to do a short run on my own.

I discovered later that another runner had been driving around the area looking for me (and others), but unfortunately, we did not cross paths.

My tracks in the deep snow

Not the deepest spot, but still shows the type of ground cover today :)

The trail under the bridge was full of large chunks of ice from the river.

I ran back to where the car was parked and then found some short trails that had been travelled by somebody, so I could actually get through them. I ran around this area briefly and then crossed the road to have some fun running through some deep snow in a playground.

I took some photos while out on my own to share.

Snow covered trees next to where I parked.

I could get through this trail :)

And it connected to this one.

Hi

Total distance covered today was only 5 km, but with the amount of snow, I’d say it counts for more. I could’ve definitely used some snowshoes today.