Jarhead’s Running Myths & Misadventures

 “You Ain’t Tracks - You Ain’t Shit”

 Today is the Marine Corps’ 233rd birthday and tomorrow is Remembrance Day.  I will be celebrating/remembering both tomorrow during the 12th Annual Harriers Thetis Lake 20K Relay.

In August 1990 I was running training operations at the Pohakuloa Training Area on the island of Hawaii when my unit, Alpha Company, 3rd Assault Amphibian Detachment, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, received orders to prepare for an overseas deployment to Southwest Asia as a response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. In the following weeks we went from Hawaii to Guam to the Phillipines where we met up with and boarded our Maritime Prepositioning Ship squadron.  We floated from the Phillipines to Saudi Arabia and then offloaded all the equipment, supplies and ammunition from our boat.

We trained and patrolled the Saudi frontier with Kuwait for many months until the start of the ground war in February 1991.  In preparation for the assault into Kuwait, the battalion divided into two main mechanized infantry task forces, along with 1st and 3rd Tank Battalions, to form Task Force Ripper and Task Force Papa Bear respectively.  I was assigned to Task Force Ripper, the primary maneuver element in the attack to penetrate Iraqi defensive positions located between the Al Wafrali and Umm Gudair Oil fields.

After five days of combat we, along with the other Marine task forces, British and Pan-Arab units, captured Kuwait International Airport and a cease-fire was announced. During the march to Kuwait City, the mechanized infantry task forces were responsible for the defeat of numerous Iraqi regiments, the capture of tens of thousands of Iraqi prisoners, and the capture or destruction of thousands of enemy armored vehicles.

I’ve discovered the next Ultra Feather Weight Champion…

T “The Gecko” Peterson

Friday - Halloween night I went out to dinner with a few friends to celebrate Wagg’s Birthday.

Saturday - After the Relay I spent part of the evening at Il Greco with PanPan, Lindsaylator, and Joyce enjoying some great food and incredible company!  Later that evening I met up with St.J, Beddall and Jim for a laugh filled evening at the Atomic Vaudeville.

Sunday - It started with an early morning Packman pickup, a drive out to Thetis Lake and a couple of very enjoyable hours on the trails.  I spent Sunday afternoon with Stinky and Maestro enjoying a wonderful brunch and some wandering downtown - I was stoked to get caught up with them, it had been awhile!  I made Sunday night a lazy night, watched a movie, ate some popcorn and laid on the couch.

Once again I’m behind on my blog posts, this race happened on Saturday…

I was very happy that the race didn’t start until 1pm, I was able to sleep in a little, had time to get a few chores done in the morning and then was able to leisurely drive up to Nanaimo and make a couple of stops on the way.

I made it to Westwood Lake just after 12, arriving to some very light drizzle and a little bit of wind, I checked in and then went back to the car to get my kit on.  Even with the drizzle and rain it was still quite mild so I opted for a short sleeve shirt, gloves, shorts, and a toque.  As I wasn’t planning on hammering I didn’t bother with much of a warmup, I did a few short jogs and a couple activation drills and then lined up at the start area.

My plan was to run steady, try to keep my pace at or just under 5′/km and try to stay there comfortably and easily.  I was told that a lap of the Lake was approx 5.5km so I was hoping to keep my lap times under 27′30″ including any stops or breaks I took.  The course was primarily on flat wide groomed trail with a few short bits of mildly undulating single track, one small creek crossing inbetween 2km and 3km and one large hill that was around 500-600m before the exchange point/finish line - all very runnable!

My race went well, my first two laps were both under 27′, I had run the ‘large hill’ on both of those laps, so for laps three and four I decided to walk the hill and see if I could still keep the 5′/km pace going - it was not a problem I ran both laps three and four just under 27′30″.  My finishing time was 1:47:28, an average pace of 4′53″/km, and since I was the only official solo runner I took first in my category.

For it’s first year the Westwood Lake Relay was definitely a well organized and very fun race, hopefully the turn out and positive participant response will be enough to keep it going for next year!

I’m pumped!  Tomorrow is the inaugural Westwood Lake Relay…

It’s been awhile since I’ve run in an organized race, the last couple of races I participated in were the Fletcher’s Challenge 12km in March and then the 24 Hour Relay in June.

I toned this weeks training down some hoping that I’ll go into tomorrow with fresher legs and have a strong run:
Monday was a really easy clean out run.
Tuesday I hit the  stairs for some hard steady climbs.
Wednesday and Thursday were easier days.

Today I will run a little easier as well but will toss in a few short and quick surges to wake up the legs for tomorrow.