Wanna race ultras in BC next year?

Bruce Grant, the series director for the BCUTS (BC Ultra Trailrunning Series), has posted all the info on the extensive 2010 series onto the BCUTS facebook group.  He’s even gone as far as to create separate events for each race so you can mark your attendance and invite your friends along.

Included in the group, is elusive info on the Diez Vista 50k.  The race has changed race directors this year, and its almost impossible to find info on outside of the above group.  The old DV race website has been taken down and I’ve noticed increased traffic to my blog on the google search term “Diez Vista 50k”.  This in turn has prompted this re post, with the race info copy direct from Bruce.

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Diez Vista changes RD for 2010:

Paul Slaymaker and his wife Penny have decided to pass on the reigns of organizing the DV race after five years. They deserve huge credit for putting on such an excellent event while raising a child and running their own business. Thanks for all the sweat and dedication, Paul and Penny!

N ext time you drop by the Runner’s Den in Port Moody, please give Paul a huge thanks for all his work over the last five years.

I’d also like to welcome the new RD….actually he is the old RD! George Forshaw originated the DV race and he and his wife Gail ran it for years before passing it on to Paul and Penny. George can’t seem to stay retired, so will be back putting on DV in 2010. We’re lucky to have him organizing it once again.

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The race is scheduled for Saturday the 10th April 2010 and will be sure to make it onto my race calendar.

I have a confession.

Shhhh

While it may appear that I have been inactive and enjoying some time away from running, I have actually been slowly introducing it back into my schedule.  Last week I ran to work.  Then I ran home from my friends house a few days later.  I followed this up with 30 minutes barefoot on the treadmill yesterday.

Today, after being presented with the beauty of the snow capped mountains and brilliant sunshine, at lunch, I got up, turned to my workmates and announced “F#%k it,  I’m going for a run” and took off for a 13km sea wall loop.

Originally I had planned to try and get in some sort of race shape for the Gunner Shaw cross country coming up next weekend.  I remember it as fun race from last year as it was a club race, all the fellas were out for a run and the competition was fierce but friendly.  I’ve changed my tune on this one however after realizing that I will not be able to race at full strength and rather than risk further injury (to body and pride) I put the call in and will be helping set up the course and then race marshaling instead.

This way Ill still get to be a part of the race but get none of the pain.. or glory.  Ill have a good position to watch the LGRR crew battle it out with Prairie Inn Harriers (and each other) while I will also get to be witness to the final championship round between Tom and the Lazy Trail Runner in a 3 match series tied at 1 a piece.

As far as training goes, I’m not really interested in racing or any technical long runs at this point.  Basically I just want to maintain some level of fitness for the upcoming snow shoe season and work on getting the confidence back into my footing.  I wont be bombing 7th secret anytime soon, and will probably stick to the road and flat easy trails while I’m still going to physio.

So, now its not a secret, feel free to hit me up for something mellow…

Oscar Pistorius

An interesting story on  South African disabled track star, Oscar Pistorius, was published in today’s Globe and Mail.  There has long been a debate on the advantages of his artifical legs, or’ blades’ that he runs with.

It appears that the studys have proven, scientifically (who can argue with that?), that he has a 10 second advantage over 400m against an able bodied athlete.

Personally I find it amusing that there is even a study in the first place, which foccuses on a man with no legs being able to run faster than, say, a man with legs…?!

But with Olympic aspirations as real possibility for the young 22 year old, the necessary studies need to take place.  I’m not sure how the 10 second advantage would pan out if he did line up in London in 2012 but it sure would cause a stir if the able bodies are starting with a 10 second handicap over Oscar.

Full story on the Globe and Mail here.

My older sister Kelly has long been an inspiration for me.   The way she runs her life as a talented accountant, mother, wife and friend has always impressed me.  Even more so is the was she can juggle it all and still find the time for herself and her health amid a busy schedule.  Most people like to make excuses for lack of time, but Kelly clearly demonstrates how to live a balanced and fulfilling life.  Its a pity that she lives in New Zealand as we don’t nearly spend enough time together.

When I found out that she was running a local 10km in Napier, New Zealand, I asked her to do a guest post for me on my blog.  Partially as I’m getting lazy myself and seem to like to post other peoples material lately, but mostly as I’m interested in her story as she selflessly ran for the joy of running and the camaraderie of her friend and training partner.  Her story is what running is all about.

Kelly, Ameila, Libby

Kelly runs……………

I have recently become interested in running and participating in running events over the past few years, since I had my two daughters (now aged 5 and 3). I started out by joining the gym after my eldest daughter was born, mainly motivated to lose baby weight. I grew to thoroughly love my “me-time” at the gym, and enjoyed watching the baby weight (and then some) come off. I went to the gym three times a week for cardio and weights, but I was fascinated by running and how it could tone and strengthen the body. I started off jogging around the block and grew to running  3-5 kms. It doesn’t sound much, but for somebody who has NEVER been very athletic, it was a big achievement. I also participated in 3 “blokes-free” triathlon series– where a 3km run was needed to complete. I did all 3 of the tri’s – not realizing I was pregnant with my second daughter during the last tri.

After my youngest daughter was born, I was back in the gym within 2 months, which was pretty good given I had a c-section. Again, my motivation was purely weight related but there was something about running that I needed to explore again. My goal was set pretty early on – a half marathon in Aug 2007. I trained for 3 months, and completed the half marathon in a very average time, but having managed to finish it was an achievement I will never ever forget.

With 2 small children, and a challenging part-time job, the luxury of having time to indulge in training was limited. I kept up 5kms runs probably 2 times a week, and started doing spin (RPM) classes at the gym twice I week. I love spin classes, and have watched my fitness, strength and toning come along in leaps and bounds. At one stage, I considered undertaking training to be a gym instructor (and this is something I am still interested in) but decided that I already had a very full plate at that point in time.

The Barrett Family

So, about 3 months ago, my good friend Nikki (who has 3 little girls – aged 6, 4 and 1) decided to take up running as she had finished feeding her baby, and wanted to get her fitness up and the all-important baby weight-loss completed. I was running my 5kms several times a week and doing spin classes so had a base fitness, and Nikki had been walking a lot. We started slowly, running in the dark at night (was winter), in the rain and cold after all our children were asleep, or early on Sunday mornings, while our husbands dozed and children watched TV in their pj’s.  I loved my running sessions, and I decided that the Napier half-marathon was coming up, and that I wanted to run the 10kms. I thought that this was a reasonably achievable goal in the time frame, and I wanted to do an event. Nikki  was non-committal from the start – she had never run that far, nor ever entered a running event. However, she trained with me, and slowly we increased our distance and pace.

A week before the event and I was wavering. I knew I could do the distance, but my husband was going out of town for the weekend (which necessitated a babysitter) and it was all falling into the too hard basket! Nikki was fabulous – I think running has sneaked its way into her blood – she decided that we were not quitters, and we would do the run and we would find a way. A babysitter was organized, the event entered and strategies determined. We did a practice run of the course, and we were determined to finish.

The day of the run dawned as perfect running conditions – overcast but mild with no wind. I had a very early start to sort out children etc and picked Nikki up from home.  We were both nervous – we both wanted to finish the distance in a respectable time, and being amateurs, we were unsure about our nutrition (we both had a light breakfast), our water intake (and the corresponding need for the toilet) and what we were wearing (neither of us had flash gear, but we didn’t want to be too hot, too cold etc ). The run started at 8.50am, and we were off. Our strategy was to start slowly, near the back, pace ourselves and pick up the pace as needed.

I felt strong throughout the race, and made sure I paced myself with Nikki. My goal was to stay with her, support her throughout the run and for us to cross the finish line together.  We made it to the halfway point just on half an hour, and we buoyed by seeing a car full of little girls (Nikki’s) waving and clapping us on. The second 5kms were tough, Nikki found it difficult as she is a night-time runner, and struggles a bit in the morning. I felt good, so made sure my pace was constant, slightly ahead of Nikki, and I encouraged her. Usually our runs consist of lots of girly gossip and laughs, but we both put heads down and went for it. The last km was tough, and the finish line was further that we thought it would be. However, we made it over, collapsed and were done. What an amazing achievement – Nikki had never run that far and we completed the run in 1 hour and six minutes, which was a little bit quicker that we had done earlier that week.

We weren’t last either – another achievement!!

Even though my competing is nowhere near in Chris’s league (I am alternatively amazed, proud and astounded by Chris’s efforts) running gives me time on my own, a strong and fit body, and allows me to become a role model for my daughters, to teach them that a fit and active life is the right choice, that competing is more important than winning and that you will get results if you stick with something.  All good life lessons I think!

Sunday afternoon bought our two families together for a celebratory bottle of bubbles and cheese and crackers in the sunshine (bliss!). After a glass of wine, conversation turned to… what is going to be our next event?

There is another 10km run coming up soon – will we do it and try for a better time?

Shall we try for a half-marathon?

Yes, we have been bitten by the running and event bug – so watch this space…

Crappy weather and doctors orders have driven me to spend way too much time in front of youtube this week.

This latest installment in my series of youtube postings is a recording of Christopher McDougall’s visit to Google’s Mountainview headquarters in California where he speaks as part of the Authors@Google series.

There is not much new to learn, as he recaps a lot on the stories from his best seller, Born to Run, but if you enjoyed the book then it is worth the time to give it a watch.

If your not really interested, or can’t read (which could explain why you are on this site in the first place…) then this is a good way to get introduced to some of the stories, characters and ideas in the book.

My favorite video on the internet right now is Matt Harts appropriately named UltraRunning.  It is a magical clip he put together for a presentation on ultra running  for Montrail earlier this year.

If your a runner, you’ll watch it on repeat like me and if your not a runner, it’ll help you understand why it is that we do what we do.

Had a disappointing little twist to my 2009 running season yesterday.

My right ankle to be precise.

2nd Cankle of 2009

Not to take anything away from the epic day I shared with friends on Chuckanut mountain running the middle 30 of the 50km race route.  It really was quite special, good company, fun terrain, magically clear day and a nice temperature,  it was a perfect day on the trails.

The Lazy Trail Runner has a very amusing  account of the day that really captures the spirit of the adventure over at his blog.  An enteraining read as with all his posts.

The twist itself was a non event.  Just crusing along, slight downhill, nothing technical then the roll and the pop I could hear quite clearly.  I managed to run it off for a few hundred meter’s but when we got to the bottom of little chinscraper, I pulled the pin and took the hike back down to the car.

As bummed as I am that ill be off my feet for at least 6 weeks, I’m going to remain positive.  I have no real race goals, and can probably use the rest if I plan on hitting up some of the long stuff again next year.

Time to get creative with my cross training.

My adventures in Palo Alto began with a google search term of ‘trail running san francisco’.  The 5th or 6th site returned was baytrailrunners.com and it was from here I found the email address for Robert Rhodes.

Rob was kind enough to answer my ‘where can I get a good 3 hour trail run in the bay area?’ query with a specific route mapped out on his well put together site.  The promise of spectacular city and ocean views sold me on the Svelte 13 miler.  All that was missing was some company and/or local knowledge.  I pushed back and asked Rob if he knew anyone that would be interested in running that route and got the response that I was looking for in that he would be happy to come out for a run.

After a few days of back and forth emails, I realized that I had my dates screwed up and after notifying Rob of my fault the following email was received:

hi chris.  turns out i can’t do either day now.  my screw up too.  if you want to come to woodside on saturday and run you are invited.  we will be running with the author of the book “born to run” and maybe even caballo blanco himself!  not to be missed.  let me know if you can make it.

Needless to say I was bouncing off the walls after reading this email, so stoked and excited that I had been presented this opportunity. It was to be the highlight of my trip to California.

Windy Hill

Not the everyday traveler, I wasnt overly interested in Alcatraz, the Golden Gate bridge or the Full House set in the opening credits.  On the top of my list of must see sights was the Zombie runner store in Palo Alto.  This is why I ditched my friends at the mall and spent 3 hours on the bus, through San Jose’s bail bonds district and suffered through a good hour listening to a cracked out bus driver trying to explain the concept of UFO’s and electromagentic engines.

I made it out to the store 30 minutes before close and purchased an additional Nathan handheld for the following days run along with some various other ultra knick knacks and then ordered a black coffee from Don and sat in the lounge to read over some of the material laid out for runners enjoyment.  Various publications informed me that Palo Alto was indeed the ultra running capitol of the universe and this served to get me even more excited about the following days run.

Zombie Runner

I met Rob at the spot we had agreed on out of town, near Redwood City and I jumped into this truck for the short drive over the the base of Windy Hill in Woodside, CA.  Rob was super friendly, clearly a popular figure in the running community in the Bay area and a genuine good bloke.  We got to the car park and unloaded from his truck and noticed Caballo Blanco standing around with a few others, wearing a singlet and some ratty old sandals.

Rob introduced me to his good friend, ultra runner Mike Nutall, who had just the evening before hosted Caballo and 100 guests at his Woodside home for a Q&A about the copper canyon ultra marathon.  What struck me about Caballo initally was that he was tall and definitely had a presence, but his body language spoke of a humble man who wasn’t used to receiving ‘fan’ style attention.  I introduced myself, shook his hand and politely joined in the conversations where required.  Familiar with his character from Born to Run, I didn’t want to overwhelm him with my personality.

Caballo and Group

About 20 or so people turned up for the run, we posed for a group photo and then set off for our run.  Caballo unfortunately wasn’t to join us as he had cut his foot on some glass or rocks a few days prior.  I took the opportunity to insert some humor and joked that this is ‘probably the only time that a group of gringos will drop the white horse at the start of a run’.  Caballo was great, he laughed along, signed peoples books and handed out some info about his current project with ‘the running people’.

The group run itself turned out a different adventure all together.  Early on in the run, one of the girls I was running with complained loudly about a bite and no sooner had the words come out of her mouth I felt about 10 stabbing stings all on the right side of my body.  My first instinct was to run, which was what I was already doing, so I bolted up the switch backs madly swatting off the angry bees which were feverishly attacking my arms.  Those bees were pissed off at something, I have never seen such aggression or experienced a swarm of bees like that before. It was pretty scary.

What an angry bee attack looks like on GPS

Rob was ahead and he got attacked pretty bad as well, worse was that he dropped his handheld, which was now swarmed by bees and had his car keys in it.  Its a pretty somber feeling knowing that the only way you can get home today is to suffer at least 30 more stings.  We devised a plan that would see Rob run past his bottle, flick it away with a stick.  He would scoop it up, run to me where I was waiting in the safe zone to swat off any angry bees that were attacking him.  The plan didn’t quite like we envisioned, but Rob did manage to get his bottle, in the process almost dislocating his shoulder and acquiring a dozen more stings before we were out of there.

We settled down after a few K’s.  Most of the other runners soon departed and that left 5 of us to continue on for another few hours of running.  The trails we nice and rolling with nice views of the bay area, it was hot out and not long before we ran into some baby rattle snakes bathing in the warmth out on the dry dirt trails.  They were harmless enough and ran away when we got close, although I did manage a few photos.  The rest of the run was uneventful and I enjoyed the new trails, the Californian scenery and the company of Rob and Co as we shared ideas and trail tales.

Californian Trail Vista

After the run and farewells to new friends, I made my way back to Palo Alto, and Zombie Runner as I had another treat in store for the afternoon and that was an Advanced Barefoot running clinic with the infamous Barefoot Ted.  I ordered another dark roast from the Zombie Cafe, and enjoyed a Turkey Sandwich from the organic supermarket across the street before the clinic began.

I was pretty excited to meet Barefoot Ted as I have been following his blog and Natural Movement work long before he was made a common name in Born to Run.  He is a character larger than life and again very humble and passionate about what he believes in.  His ideas and passions are infectious.  I tired to poke a bit of fun at him, in particular the picture that Chris McDougall paints of him in the latter stages of the book.  Ted took it all in his stride but was clear to point out that McDougall is an author and has a way with his words.

Barefoot running school

All in there were about 20 of us in the class and the clinic saw us head to a nearby park where we would run on a variety of surfaces barefoot and work on technique that would best help avoid injury and build strength in the feet and legs.  I would attempt to give a full recap of the clinic here, but one of the other ’students’ has a very complete report over on his website runningquest.net and he does a much better job of documenting the clinic that I ever could.  Please give it a read.

In the end I had to leave the clinic early, and ran back to Zombie runner, bid farewell to Don and Gillian and was off back the the city to get an early night for the women’s marathon the next day.  My day  in Palo Alto still buzzing round my mind as I drifted off to sleep that night, an action packed day filled with vibrant characters and adventurous stories.

I love my friends and I love booze.

This is what happens when you combine the two.

Stace and Shona – I love you guys!

This run started when my buddy stumbled across the race website (a google search of ‘girls running’ perhaps?) and forwarded it to my email with the subject of: ‘Dude, we have got to do this race!’

The Nike Women’s marathon has been running since 2002 and is a massive fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  So far it has raised more than $78 million for cancer research.  This year there were 19,000 women running and 1,000 men.  I was lucky enough to be one of the men.

We put the call out to our fellow Flight Centre employees and got a great group of keeners together.  I put together a 12 week training program, organized some group runs and before we knew it we were lining up at Union Square in San Francisco, nervously dancing to Beyonce with 20,000 others.

Now, other than my ridiculous notion to run this race barefoot, my single race goal was to run with my friends and have fun.  In particular I wanted to pace my good friend Maggie in to whatever time she felt capable of on the day.  The course was challenging and I was stoked when we slipped over the finish with a time in the 1:59 range.

Our journey is documented in the video below:

Canadian Thanksgiving weekend saw a great group of us head up to Whistler on the holiday Monday to tackle the Rubble Creek 25km race course.  The run is a point to point that begins at Cheakamus Lake, climbs to ~7000ft around the rear of Black Tusk then descends quickly down, finishing in the Rubble Creek parking lot.

With an early start and car drop logistics behind us we set off around 9:30am into an epic adventure and a fun filled day of running.  A great day was had by all, with the exception of Holly, who managed a twisted ankle just 5km from the end, but she still came out smiling.

For me, its days like these that signify exactly what running is all about.  A sense of adventure, challenging terrain, beautiful scenery, low expectations, good company and a ton of laughs.

Thanks to everyone who came out and contributed to an awesome day in the alpine and on the trails!

Check out the footage below.

I think I have become one of those weirdos that my Mum always warned me to stay away from.

And I think this as I notice the stares and snickers of onlookers as I quietly go about my way of logging in some barefoot miles on the sea wall.

“You’ll get hurt”…

“What about glass and stones”…

“Oi, idiot, you forgot your shoes”…

“Look, weirdo in barefeet”…

All comments that have been falling on my deaf ears of late.

I’m not sure when the idea dawned on me.  Perhaps it is my strange obsession with oddball characters like Barefoot Ted or the likes of Tellman on his barefoot journey across America or perhaps it is the need for a new greater challenge, boredom of running on the road or maybe I really am a bit weird or just like the attention of doing something a bit different and a bit daring.

In any case regardless of the why, there is a what and that is my decision to run the Nike Women’s half marathon next weekend in my bare feet.

I’m not new to the concept of barefooting and have been following its recent rise in popularity closely.  Like most new out of the box concepts the best literature on the topic generally weighs up the pros and cons accurately and presents the facts in a non biased manner.  So rather than recite what has already been said so eloquently I will supply links for further reading on the subject from sources that are, in my opinion, reputable.

New York Times – Wiggling Their Toes at the Shoe Giants

Wired Science – To Run Better Start by Ditching Your Nikes

Mark Sisson – How to Strengthen Your (Bare, Flat) Feet – Must read

Also a must read is Christopher McDougalls recent best seller, which has been making waves across the running community, Born to Run.

Like most things in life, I try not to comment or pass judgment until I have experience first hand on the subject and this is the approach I am taking with my intrigue into the barefoot craze.

I can only talk about my experiences so far with running barefoot, and while I am a believer in all things primal, I also believe that we no longer live in a primal world.  Running barefoot on pavement is not a primal activity and there is an added element of risk and should be approached with caution.  Mileage should be built gradually with plenty of time for rest and recovery.

That being said the feeling I get when running barefoot is quite unique.  Running is no longer about speed or distance, it becomes more of an exercise in form.  I feel the strength in my feet rise up through my whole body, legs, hips, core, chest and shoulders and up to the crown of my head.  I stand tall and engage my core as I shorten my stride, and dance on the balls of my feet as my body glides across the ground.  Shoulders back and chest forward I am aware of my gait and posture and run with confidence and power. I enjoy the way my legs and feet interact with the surface below it and instantly understand what all the hype is about.  I feel connected to the ground below me in a whole different way and running becomes more about running and less about pace and speed, and this is the attraction for me.

For now, Ill keep at it, slowly building my miles over the next 10 days with the goal of 21km in San Fran, barefoot.

I sure do hope the chicks dig it..

It was back when I was training for stormy that the Momar seed was first planted.  We were at the tail end of a 2.5 hour training run and my friend Katie mentioned that her and a friend we going to do the race in Cumberland.  I was excited for her and expressed that I had always been interested in adventure racing and was hoping to start with Momar one of these days.  About a week later I got the call up via a facebook message, Katie’s partner couldn’t race and was I interested?  Sure.

A week later we were into full time training, alternating nightly workouts between running, mountain biking and kayaking, trying to get comfortable with all the disciplines that would be required come race day.  We took on a Momar specific orienteering course that saw us booting it around the Nth shore on a Saturday, compass in hand, fighting the urge to bushwhack our way to each checkpoint.  We tested our Kayak skills in a MEC sponsored Big Chop Kayak race and finished respectably, washed up our kayak and then finished it off with a 10km tempo run.  It is pretty safe to say that leading up to the Momar, even without having raced it, I had had a pretty good Momar experience just in training for the event.

Roll around race weekend, and I’m excited and nervous all at the same time.  I love that feeling, excited of the unknown day of adventure ahead.  We had talked about our expectations for the race and knowing Katie and myself to be both quite competitive personalities it was important to manage our expectations accordingly and the emphasis was placed on racing hard, but more importantly having fun.  Also, I wanted to take some of the pressure off me as a navigator, knowing that if I screwed up then I could totally be accountable for lost time.  Fun was the key for a good day.

Riding Fools

We traveled over to the island on Friday and made our way to the Riding Fool hostel for check in, were a little bit early so stopped by Seeds to pick up some food for the weekend. We got a nice selection of fresh veggies, some eggs and yogurt and then went about the check in process.  There was a keg at the package pick up so I grabbed an ale downed it and then downed Katie’s and actually got a nice little beer buzz while we passed thought registration and picked up our race kits.  Then it was off to find our hotel, get an early night and prep for race day. 

This is where things got interesting. Katie was prepared enough to have printed maps out detailing the routes to our intended destinations.  Small problem was the Google maps didn’t actually know where our hotel destination was and within 30 minutes we were lost.  The worst part about this was that we were in my truck and had access to GPS enabled Google maps and we still couldn’t find our hotel.  Eventually we found a main road, and a sign for Mt Washington and ended up following the sign, stopping at every intersection, squinting at street signs until we finally found our way to the winding incline that would take us to Bear Lodge, our home for the next 2 nights.

Needless to say, I hardly slept that night.  I was a bit worried that if we couldn’t even navigate a simple signed road system, with a GPS, then how the hell were we going to pull off a Momar..?  5:30am rolled around and I robbed Katie of an extra 15 minutes sleep by flicking on and off the light switch in excitement.  We both ate a really descent breakfast and headed into Cumberland to the bike drop.  We chatted with a few racers, then made our way to the camp ground and start area.. after a small detour again in the wrong direction..

There were a few formalities here, like signing a waiver for the Kayak rental, finding the Kayak, loading our packs, and getting the map, which honestly didn’t really mean that much to me at first glance.  The hour between 8am and 9am was supposed to be the time where everyone gets the map, studies it and plans the race.  All I really paid attention to was how to get from checkpoint 1 to checkpoint 2.  The rest could happen on the fly, as long as we could confidently get from the first to the second I was sure we would be ok.  As 9am got closer we start to launch our Kayak when Katie made probably the best game time decision of the day and decided that we should go barefoot in the kayak and keep our shoes dry for the rest of that day.  Good call Katie, because of this we were comfortable for the rest of the day and blister free.

Kayak

Paddle Paddle

We lined up near the front of the Kayaks had a bit of a chat and a few jokes with the other racers.  It was such a beautiful day everyone was in great spirits, and just excited to be out on the water.  I wasn’t nervous at all, I knew our kayak leg would suck a bit, but like everyone else, I was just happy to be out there on the water participating in the event.  We got going after a group photo and after some initial splashing we just got down to work.  I matched Katie’s strokes, and we paddled for a bit over an hour.  Not too much exciting happens out on the water in a Kayak, except our first buoy of the day.  I managed to pick a pretty aggressive line leading up to the corner and we hit it at speed, did about 6 or 7 hard strokes on the left and snuck inside about 5 other kayaks.  We tried to power out strongly and did a good job of it, then we paddled again.  The remainder of the buoys were uneventful and soon enough we were on the beach carrying our kayak and putting on our shoes.

Trek/Run

Trekin'

The next leg was going to be our strongest and a good chance for us to make up some places that we lost on the Kayak.  We are both strong runners, and there was about 10-15km of good hard trail running ahead, I was pretty excited.  We took off down the road, forced ourselves to eat some solid food, gave each other a high five and settled into our run.  I was studying the map pretty hard and using the ‘thumbing’ technique we made the next checkpoint easily and confidently.  there was a ton of climbing ahead and we made really good ground, but there were a few too many people on the trail and whoever was leading took a wrong turn and like the sheep we all are everyone followed, I didn’t even look at my map on this climb until it was too late and like everyone else we were scrambling for checkpoint 3.  After a few failed missions down various trails when were fortunate enough to find our orienteering coach who roughly pointed a group of us in the right direction.  Pretty quickly we could here the cry’s of ‘here it is’ and we were back on track.

Some nice fast downhill and then some winding single track saw us easily thought checkpoint 4 and 5 and we were making good time and having a ton of fun.  We were approaching the bike transition when I made my first good nav call of the day.  We were following a confident looking (read: matching team jerseys) team of 4 who ran right past the right hand turn I had mapped out for us.  They passed the gate which was clearly mapped and took the next right. As much as I wanted to follow, I made the call to take the earlier right, and Katie followed without question.  We ended up making the right call and the checkpoint was up a slight incline and around the corner.  Another high five, and some fast downhill saw us speeding Into the bike transition.  Bryan Tasaka was there and gladly told us we were running in second coed double team.  WOOT!  Another high five and a very fast transition on the bikes thanks to Katie’s sense of urgency and drive in the transitions, we were off..

Bike 1

Bike Transition

The first bike leg started off on old fire roads and there was a bit of climbing.  I was fiddling with the map, which I had removed for the zip lock that Katie had supplied and stuffed into my damp jersey pocket.  The bike course was all marked so i decided to put the map away, but not in my pocket as it was wet, I would put it into Katie’s pack so I could access it easily.  The first part of the bike leg was mostly fire roads, a bit of climbing and some flat single track.  We hit up another checkpoint and entered some of the more technical single track where we had to let a fair few riders past.  Quite simply we are runners, who can ride a bit.  There were a tone of guys out on the Momar course who can’t run or paddle but are simply awesome on the bike.  We got to see the backs of a fair few of them that day.  That’s not to say we didn’t have an absolute ball out there on the bike, I loved every minute of it, and worked hard to keep a good pace going, it was too much fun and I lost count of the number of times I couldn’t hold back and went at the trails full blast hollering all the way.

As the bike miles ticked off I was conscious of what was next, I grabbed the map from Katie’s pack, studied it while she collected another checkpoint, downed a gel and then stuffed it back in my damp jersey pocket.  We took off on some more climbing at soon saw us at the hike a bike section which I can honestly say I enjoyed.  It was nice to get a rest from the pedaling and to be back on my feet and I was strong on the hike pushing my bike up from both the seat and handle bars, we made good time up the hike.

Where’s the map?

Map

So I decided that while we hiked our bikes I needed to examine our map and re orientate ourselves on the course.  I was curious as to how much riding was left so I hit up Katie’s pack for the map.  Panic strikes when I realize the map wasn’t in the pocket where I had left it.  So I dump my bike, and start frantically rummaging thought her pack desperately looking for the map, as without it our day was over.  No map, and I start freaking out.. ‘umm where’s the map?  this cant be happening’  100% my responsibility and I have no idea where it is.. Katie was rad and kept her cool, I think she asked me if it was in my pocket, which of course I would have dismissed that ridiculous notion, however I was desperate and as I reached around to my back pocket I could feel the now damp ratty screwed up ball of paper that was our map.  Sweet! Why are we standing around? lets get movin’.

As we reached the next checkpoint, and mandatory gear check (yeah! I get to blow my whistle!) I spied Bryan again out on the course.  I think I yelled something like “dude, this is rad” at him as I blew by and we hit up the gnarliest of trails that day which was named ‘Bucket of Blood’  I’ve never had so much fun on a mountain bike, both Katie and I blew down this section of advanced mountain bike trail like pros, and even more impressively was that Katie handled it all on her hard tail Norco, while almost every other rider had the comfort of dual suspension.  Another checkpoint down, another fire road and we were back at the bike transition.

Urban Nav.

Urban Nav

The next stage was urban Nav where we were handed a new map and were quick to blast to all 3 locations on the main street in Cumberland and pick up the 3 checkpoints. We both stuffed a chocolate bar down the hatch as we moved along and were quick back to the bike and off to some of the unmarked bike Nav.

Bike 2

Sweet Ride

This was a tough one, as my carelessness with the map had left the route to the next checkpoint nothing more than white space on the map.  I didn’t disclose all the details to Katie, and just said that ‘we  cant loose the guys ahead of us otherwise we would be screwed.’ So we were lucky enough to tag along to the first bike Nav checkpoint, but then I made my second best Nav call of the day and with out waiting for anyone to lead, took the trail to the left, bolted down the downhill and weaved our way perfectly back to the main road and to the final checkpoints.

We then had a couple of km on the road to ride back to the final checkpoint and after Another high five we decided to nail it as I was sure that this was the final run home.  So nail it we did, we found the last checkpoint and dumped our bikes and went to get the final stamp.. Only to be rewarded for our efforts with a brand new map.. Complete with 8 new required checkpoints..

Orienteering

Shhh.. Over here..

This was the O section and honestly I had no idea what I was looking at when I tried to make sense of the map. There was no big red ‘you are here’ arrow and I was totally overwhelmed at the number of checkpoints remaining when I was mentally prepared to be running in over the finish line.  Katie was quick to note that the 2 blokes who came in behind us on the bikes looked like they knew where they were going so we just took off after them.  We worked together (read followed them) to the first checkpoint and then decided to take off after another couple scrambling up the side of a hill.  We got to the top, I checked the map and the senses kicked in.  Another good decision to make the left at the top of the trail and head back and successfully found checkpoint B.  The rest of the O was completed in much the same fashion, successfully using the map to navigate to an area that was heavily populated with other racers doing exactly the same thing.  If you were quiet you could hear some of them whispering ‘over here’ or ‘found it’  it was almost like hunting.. hunting for others whispered elation.  In all fairness to our team here, we did actually have a pretty good read of the map and we were pretty quick through the O section.

Once we collected our last O checkpoint we were quick down to the beach and then before we knew it running under the big blue blow up banner and we were done.  Pose for a photo, hit up the buffet and Momar #1 was under our belts.  High fives and hugs were had as we soaked up the massive accomplishment and went about hitting up the awesome selection of post race food.

Yes, she beat me..

We ended up finishing the grueling 50km course in 6:04:27 and were 4th Coed double team and only 3 minutes off the podium!.  Needless to say we are both super happy with the result and I still cant wipe the smile off my face as it truly was an amazing experience.

Huge thanks to Katie, who is an AWESOME team mate.  She never stops, is totally motivating and gives it everything she has.  Thank you for not second guessing my Nav choices and having the confidence to follow at times and then lead and keep pushing at others.

The post race party was a lot of fun and it was good to relax with a few drinks, although I do owe Katie a Chimay after getting ours confiscated just before dinner.. who knew it wasn’t a BYO..

mmm Chimay

One of my favorite weekends of the summer 09. We will be back next year for sure!

Well I can confidently say that I fell in love with Adventure racing this weekend over @ Cumberland on Vancouver Island.

The 10th Anniversary Mind over Mountain Adventure Race, was truly an amazing experience that I will not soon forget. I don’t think Ive ever had as much fun racing before.

The weather was perfect, the course was challenging and rewarding.  My team mate Katie was awesome and the racers all friendly, smiling and loving life. It was just an amazing all round race experience.

I just checked the race results and we killed it out there and finished 4th in the coed doubles category!  WOOT!

Ill post a full race report when I can gather all the amazing memories and compose them in a way to do this race justice.