“This race is the longest course in our series, so you guys are all bad-ass for finishing!”said Erin Dasher (I’m paraphrasing at best) during the awards presentation at the 5 Peaks Heart Lake Trail Run Race and she wasn’t kidding. When I put the Enduro race at this event on my race calendar, I was expecting a 14 km course. I didn’t sign up till the last minute, and we found out less than 24 hours before the race it was going to be… 16 km thanks to a detour. Oh boy. The pre-race bulletin said to get there early since there would be a line-up to pay the park entrance fee, but we were able to drive straight in. We were coming in from the parking lot when we ran into our friend Steve, who we last saw at the Lakeside Triathlon. We also ran into our friend Peter, and were glad to find out I might have some company at the Barrelman Triathlon in September. We grabbed our respective bibs (this would be Shark Boy’s first timed race) and posed for our obligatory pre-race pose.
The biggest prize in the pre-race swag was either a cool coffee mug that said “I eat mountains for breakfast” or this flexible cup good for insulating hot or cold beverages that is basically unbreakable. We have too many coffee cups at home, so I took it.
Shark Boy seemed cool with the idea of not only going long (3 km) but running on his own (the rule is for adults to stay off the course during the race, though some alongside running is expected), and I didn’t want to step on that with my own nervousness on his behalf, but I still thought it might be a good idea to scout out the first part of the course with him and show him the orange flags he’d have to follow as well as signs for direction. The timed kids’ races on the 5 Peaks series vary from 2 to 3 km, so at 3 km, Erin’s quote above applies to the kids too.
Shark Boy attentively listening to pre-race instructions.
Pre-race instructions were given (including a check to see if everyone knew their right from left, which is why he has his hand up in the picture). I positioned myself at a fence about 25 m from the starting line to cheer him on. Ready, set, go! He took off with the other kids at a good clip, and it didn’t seem to chaotic as all the racers gave each other safe space. I took a short-cut path down the shore of Heart Lake to see him go by.
The little guy toward the back is Shark Boy
Then there was nothing left but to go back to the starting line and wait nervously for a while. The Lightning Kid had been eagerly chanting “GO! GO! GO!… FASSSST!” for probably the last 24 hours, and was taking practice runs from the starting line. Of course, no 5 Peaks race is complete without saying hi to Buffy the Tiger.
When I saw the first of the 3 km racers cross the finish line, I figured I’d head back to the shore and see how Shark Boy was coming along. I had to wait a bit, but sure enough, I saw him, completely red-faced, huffing and puffing and giving it his all.
He’s nearly spent
I cheered him on, and got him to give what we call in German an Endspurt; that burst of energy and speed you get when you’re nearly finished. I ran ahead to let my wife know he was closing in for extra photo opportunities, and he finished the race strong – probably one of the youngest racers in the timed race.
In spite of all that effort, Shark Boy wanted to join in on the 1 km ‘Fun Run’ for younger ones that he’d done at the other 5 Peaks races; he said he wanted to help his younger brother. As much as I’m proud of Shark Boy’s grit, determination, athleticism and sense of adventure, his generous heart is his best quality. I’ve seen these Kids’ Fun Runs vary from 600 to 800 m; today, of course, it was going to be a whole kilometre. Again, every racer on that day was a bad-ass, even the little Lightning Kid. I managed to get this great video of him running in the beginning.
He did start to flag after a bit; I’ve found with both boys that they start to lose interest in going as fast as they can without a reward – keeping up the distance running is more of a question of mental focus than physical fitness. All it took though, was a reminder to “GO! GO! GO!… FASSSST!” and he’d break into a run again. It definitely helped having Shark Boy there for encouragement.
Toward the end, I had Shark Boy take the same short-cut that I had used in his race to get back to the finish line and warn his mother that we were on final approach. We crossed the finish line to loud cheers; in fact, they cheered loudly for Shark Boy on his finish too. It’s always a super-supportive vibe at the 5 Peaks races.
If the splash pad had been open, my wife might have kept the kids at the park while I raced, but we had made a last minute plan that would let Shark Boy attend his dance lesson (for those keeping score at home, that’s a 3 km race, a 1 km race and a dance lesson on those little 5 year-old legs!), and I could pace myself without worrying. To try to force myself to take it easy in the beginning, I seeded myself in the fourth wave, but I couldn’t help but try to get to the front.
The race starts downhill, and though I knew it was going to be a long run, I couldn’t contain my excitement and went a little fast; the first kilometre was my fastest. I tried to watch my heart rate the entire race and keep it in Zone 2 (with exceptions for some hills and stuff). As we went by the shoreline of Heart Lake, I noticed how chummy and chatty my little pack of runners was; we talked about how beautiful (yet hot) the weather was, and when the guy behind me saw me jump a log (rather than go around it) he joked it was “the scenic route”. I answered that you have to have some fun on these things.
Shark Boy had told me that his race involved a “forest tunnel”, and I chalked it up to his overactive imagination, but they did make a few features with logs and fallen trees that put a ceiling over your head. The “maze” he also mentioned did prove to be part of his imagination though. The nice part about an Enduro race is when I see things I want to take pictures of, but I’m not sure whether I want to sacrifice the time to stop, I know I’ll probably be begging for a rest on the second loop, so all I do is take a mental note on the first loop.
The 4 km mark had an aid station in a sunny clearing. I didn’t need water since I had it in my pack, but I sipped some (what they were calling) Gatorade for the calories, and prepared to be on my way. I saw a woman dump water on her head, and remembered that was something you could do. A relief, but not one that lasted.
After being in the shade for another 2 km, the 6 km mark came as we entered another stretch of sun-exposed terrain. I noticed my legs felt heavy; and promptly tried to un-notice that. 6 km is not long enough to have any real signs of fatigue yet; you are in better shape than that! I told myself. Despite being bad at meditation or any other kind of more passive mental activity, I did forget about my legs for a while. On the last kilometre of the first loop, I even picked up some speed for a bit and passed a slower runner. Before that loop was over, she passed me again while I took a walk break and encouraged me to pick up the pace as it was “almost over”. I didn’t correct her, but I did laugh about it with another Enduro course runner as we took the right-hand fork away from the finish line and onto the second loop.
“That’s the nice part about the Enduro,” he said, “On the second loop you can run your own race and not have anybody nipping at your heels.” He’s not wrong, but by the time I had cleared 9 km, I couldn’t help but notice how lonely and quiet things got. My mind wandered in the worst way, and I lost track of how long my walk breaks got, or what kind of pace I was really keeping. After neither catching anybody for a while nor being passed, I began to wonder if I was in last place, and all kinds of other negative self-talk. My entire lower body began to complain, checking in one muscle group at a time: hamstrings, glutes, calves, quads, even hips and lower back. The complaints went from screams to whines to whimpers as they competed for my attention and drowned each other out. Also, my hydration pack was empty; the first time that had ever happened, in fact, I used to wonder if I was wasting effort carrying so much on my back.
A few showers came and went which was a nice way to cool off, but they didn’t put any real fuel back in the engine, so the trudging continued.
When I reached the 4 km aid station from before (for a total of 12 km), the volunteer told me that the finish line could be reached just a few hundred meters away if I wanted. I hope he was just trying to light a fire under me (which he kind of did) because I’d hate to think anyone in my position would take him up on the offer and quit. I told him I knew, because I could hear the music and P.A. system, but I wasn’t ready to stop yet. I told myself I could simply watch the kilometers tick off as I went along… 13, 14, 15 and done. Of course, I also reminded myself that same distance had seemingly taken forever on the second loop already. Still, I saw my Garmin distance numbers go up (by half-kilometres in intervals that felt like they should be whole integer kilometres) all the same. I even picked up the pace to real running for the last 2 kilometres, and crossed the finish line to loud cheering (some of that might have been for the awards ceremony which had already started).
I had barely crossed the finish line when I saw my family, returned from the dance lesson and a trip to Tim Horton’s. With the kids crowding me, I barely got a chance to get any post-race treats. Not that I minded, I didn’t have that big an appetite somehow, I even turned down a cookie Shark Boy offered me. I found a shady spot on an embankment near the parking lot and collapse; they had to come find me because I hadn’t even said where I was going – I wasn’t feeling too talkative. I think everyone suffered in that heat, but Peter managed to come in at 1:43 (to my 1:54) and Steve killed it at 1:36 or so. I didn’t know then, but my friend Paul had an even worse race.
I tried to look at it as a net positive from a training perspective. I had put some real strength and staying power into my legs that day, and even more importantly, I got to visit the dark places where I’m sure I’ll be during the Half-Iron race, and learned a little bit about how to get myself out of them. And before I could wallow in it too much, I got an ambush hug from the Lightning Kid.
Shortly after that, the thunder rolled in, and we had a good laugh at our hurried retreat back to the car. I secretly suspect the Lightning Kid had something to do with it by living up to his namesake – he even took the time for one of his trademark wild hairstyles!
Though the race was a visit to the pain cave for me, the 5 Peaks events are always a great experience for the whole family, and I’ll always come back.
The C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel Triathlon took place on Sunday, May 24th, and in a refreshing change from so many endurance events, it didn’t start first thing in the morning, leaving us time to get organized (or even get a couple of hours on the bike trainer before breakfast, in my case). Thanks to steady stream of emails from Barrie Shepley, we knew exactly when Shark Boy’s race would start, and how much time we should leave ourselves for race kit pick-up and transition set-up.
We pulled into the parking lot of Mayfield Secondary School which is right on the border of Brampton and Caledon and unloaded. There was a nice volunteer who offered to give us a ride to the race site in his golf cart. It really wasn’t far, but the kids were thrilled to take a ride, and it made getting the bike there easier, since I didn’t want Shark Boy riding in the parking lot and walking a bike is always tedious.
We arrived at the main race site to see festivities in full swing. Shark Boy’s favourite song ‘Paradise’ by Coldplay (also a fave of my wife and I) was playing, and the Bouncy Castle/Wall/Slide drew the boys attention right away.
First things first though, we found the transition area and got his bike and helmet in the proper place. I was already in a swimsuit, anticipating that I’d be getting in the water with Shark Boy. I let him keep his shoes on for safety, and brought them to transition a few minutes before the race start, and we opted to go sockless for the sake of speed. I had a last minute dilemma about putting him in the 6-7 age category; he’s 5 now, but triathlon rules (and body marking) goes by what age you’ll be at the end of the calendar year. I knew he could handle it physically, but I worried a little about putting him in a higher pressure situation, and that race started a whole hour later. The fact was that we had registered for the 3-5 year-old race, which is non-timed, so that’s where we stayed.
Then, with some time to spare before opening ceremonies and the race start, off we went to the inflatable slide. Shark Boy knew what to do, and so did the Lightning Kid, except the whole, ‘wait your turn’ thing. What nobody expected him to do, is climb the thing unassisted! I think he made a few sets of teeth sweat, but he always made it to the top where a volunteer assisted kids in getting over making sure they all stayed safe and didn’t land on one another.
Either the heat or pre-race nerves started to get to Shark Boy, because he couldn’t wait to get into the pool, and was not happy with waiting for any process or procedure that might keep a race like this organized and free of chaos. He was even less enthused about sitting through speeches for the opening ceremonies, but luckily, his mood improved once we entered the rec complex – the swim portion took place in an indoor pool.
Each wave had only a few athletes, and it was generally one or two athletes (plus their parent/guardian) per lane, so everything was comfortable. They had us inch up to an imaginary line where a lifeguard chair was, and wait for the start. Hilariously, the kids’ nervousness and uncertainty seemed to spread to the parents, as several people started to ask if there would be a signal to start; as if there might not be and we could just go whenever! That signal came, and off we went.
Thanks to a waterproof case for my phone, I got a few snaps in the pool as he was swimming. As far as I could tell, he was the only one swimming without a life preserver (I had to turn down several offers). I think we were first or second to the end of the pool, and some volunteers helped him out while I hoisted myself onto the deck.
We headed outside, and although I had reminded him of where his bike was in the transition area, he still hesitated and had trouble finding it. Still, once he did, we got shoes on and helmet (of course) before he picked up his bike and we headed to the mounting area, but not before another wrong turn (this time it was my fault).
I’ve experienced how fast Shark Boy is on the bike so I made sure I sprinted ahead. I tried to get pictures, but wet fingers don’t work well on touch screens, so I missed out and figured there would be some official race photos (more on that in a bit). The bike course was very short, once around the parking lot, and the volunteers took our bike at the dismount point.
I later heard from my wife, who was struggling (along with the Lightning Kid) to keep up with the race progression visually, that Shark Boy’s name kept being announced over the speakers, as he busted through each leg of the triathlon; out of the water, out of the pool, out of transition 1, into transition 2, across the finish line.
He really got the idea of going as fast as possible, because he didn’t bother to take off his helmet, much to the amusement of the race announcer. I asked, and he said he was OK running with it on. We did a loop around the grass, and through the finish gate. First place for Shark Boy!
He wasn’t interested in bananas or oranges (he’s a bit of a picky eater), so we came round and found my wife and the Lightning Kid who hadn’t been able to see much after the swim because it went by so fast!
The finisher’s picture we took makes it look like triathlon is something we force him into against his will, but I promise you he’s all smiles during the race; he just doesn’t like having his picture taken and it didn’t help that the race took place during the lunch hour.
I wish we had more pictures to show, and I acknowledge that this is a nit-pick, but the race photographers seemed to manage to get several shots of almost every kid (especially our nearest neighbours in the race), but none of the one who completed the race without physical aid from his parent, nor a life preserver, nor training wheels. And again, he came in first place. I’d feel bad for dwelling on the win, but really, how often do you get first place in life (assuming you aren’t Chrissie Wellington)? We even noticed a drone taking either aerial photos or video, but I don’t know when or where they’ll be available.
We celebrated the win with a free toy that Shark Boy picked out of a box (a giant bubble wand), balloons, and hot dogs. The C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel Triathlon is a welcoming, inclusive event, because every one asked if the Lightning Kid was racing this year, or if he would next year (it’ll be soon, with a little improvement on the bike). When we floated the idea of him being the first athlete with Down syndrome in the race next year, we found out there was a girl with Down syndrome doing this year’s race. Like I said, being the first is a rare opportunity in this world!
This was our second time running in the Spring Into Action 10 km run. After last time, I knew we weren’t going to run with both boys in the Chariot; they’re getting bigger and packed like sardines in there, and they seem to be struggling with the behavioural skill of “keep your hands to yourself” (to say nothing of feet). So this year we brought along my mother-in-law to watch Shark Boy near the starting area while my wife and I pushed the Lightning Kid (who still seems to like this sort of thing) on the run.
Spring Into Action had a convenient ‘Family’ registration package that saved me time and money. Getting extra bibs for everyone took a little extra time and effort so that I missed the yoga warm-up, but luckily, the rest of the family got to participate.
I got Shark Boy a tag and bib, because I could imagine what the outcome would be if he was excluded from the bling, even if he was happy to not run the race.
I got a chance to say hi to Barry Samuel (the organizer of the race), beforehand, and he asked a few of the families in attendance to come on stage and kick the event up with the National Anthem. If my off-key singing hurt anyone’s ears, I apologize!
We got Shark Boy to start the race with us for kicks, but as soon as he touched the starting line archway, he headed back to go play. I hope you don’t mind me skipping to the end to tell you he had a great time playing in the surrounding woods, engaging in the kind of old fashioned outdoor play that you think kids don’t know how to do anymore.
It was a beautiful day for a run and the spring colours were in full effect in Sunnybrook park.
At the 2.5 km mark the volunteers had the 5k runners turn around to complete their out and back. Last year there had been some trouble with people getting lost or off of the 10k course, and Barry had mentioned to me that they were going to do better this year. Just after the 2.5 km mark we veered up one of the biggest, steepest hills I can imagine on a run. At the top was the 3 km mark, where they had us turn around again. I was a little puzzled since I knew heading back to the start wasn’t going to add up to 10 km, and if getting 10 km was simply a matter of doing the 5 km course twice, why did we have to go up that big hill to 3 km?
All would become clear to me soon enough, because at the 1 km mark on the way back, we turned back again. At that point we had run 5 km, running another 2 back to the top of the hill and 3 till the starting point gives us a total of 10 km. A little confusing, but I have to say it was much easier to stay on the course and not get lost. This run has to compete with the Mississauga Marathon and the Toronto Goodlife Marathon for participants and volunteers so you have to appreciate that it’s a little smaller. What the volunteers lacked in numbers, they made up for in cheer and enthusiasm. With 2 km left to run, the Lightning Kid was eager to get out of the Chariot, going to the point of trying to bluff a bathroom break. 2 km is a little far for his little legs, but once the finish line was within sight, we took him out and he ran his heart out. I can tell you he wore the medal he earned for it the rest of the day. There was a post race barbecue with hamburgers (and veggie burgers and hotdogs. The buns were provided by Cobb’s Bread, who also gave out vouchers and various buns and scones (like delicious cinnamon scones which Shark Boy and I stuffed ourselves with). There was also lemonade for sale (basically for a voluntary donation to a Diabetes cause); lemonade cannot taste better than on a hot day after a run.
There was a DJ playing some nice remixes of older tunes and a clown doing face painting. Shark Boy asked for a cheetah (his favourite animal – no, I’m not changing his nickname), and the results are below.
Before leaving, we grabbed a group shot with Barry and thanked him for a day of fun, run in the sun!
Having skipped out on the Yonge Street 10K in favour of watching the kids and cheering on the runners, this last weekend was my chance to get a bib on and race. It’s the first race of the 5 Peaks Ontario Trail Racing season and I was pumped – pumped to try my legs out (especially while carrying less weight) on a new trail and push them as fast as they could go, pumped to get the kids running around their fun run, pumped to see friends.
We arrived at Terra Cotta Conservation area around 9:30 AM with plenty of time to park, pick up and our race bibs. I was pleasantly surprised to see we got some swag before the race, because I’ve missed out in the past when they’ve handed it out well afterwards, and I’ve already long since gone home.
I got to see Janice from Fitness Cheerleader finish the competitive 3 km kids race with her eldest daughter. I found Krysten from The Misadventures of a Darwinian Fail (and her husband) as well as Paul from Paul’s Inane Ramblings Then it was time for the 1 km (or 600 m in this case) fun run for kids of any age. My wife wasn’t feeling too well that morning, so we opted to encourage Shark Boy to run it on his own, while I stuck with the Lightning Kid. Shark Boy seemed a little upset at not being near the front of the starting crowd, but knowing how he dislikes standing around waiting, there was nothing for it except to encourage him to nudge his way forward before the official “1,2,3 GO!”
The Lightning Kid has been getting faster and faster and I’d already noticed in the past few months, so I was glad to see him put that to use now. I’d experienced this phenomena with Shark Boy a few years ago, but when racing with a 3 year-old, the limit isn’t so much their fitness, but their attention span. He’d stop to see who was coming up behind him, glad-hand with new-found fans (a repeat of last year at Albion Hills), and generally smell the roses. I’d be cheering and chanting “Come on! Go, Go, Go! Faster” the entire way.
Those are actually snow pants. The morning was not warm.
We were well on our way to the turn-around point (a small loop around a pond) when we saw Shark Boy already on his way back. He was smiling and really moving, so I knew he was managing the course fine, and having a good time doing it.
Then, a few minutes later, we saw him again! He had done an extra loop, and I don’t think it was exactly by accident, because I saw him try and avoid the final stretch back to the finish line only to be corrected by some marshals. Apparently he asked “Is that all?” when he crossed the finish line, so I think it might be time to enrol him in the competitive Kids’ 3k next time. I got the Lightning Kid to run the final stretch with the promise of seeing Mama and there were smiles and high-fives aplenty.
After that nice little warm-up it was time for the main event. I seeded myself at the back of the third wave and listened to the final instructions. The course was going to be a muddy one thanks to the rain and cold temperatures we’ve been having, and they asked everyone to stick to the trail and not try to go around which would widen the existing trail and erode the very forest that the area is trying to conserve. It was generally pitched as, “don’t be afraid to get dirty” and you shouldn’t if you’re trail running, but the thing is that deep mud can actually suck the shoes right off your feet (as nearly happened to a woman right behind me) and your shoes start to get really heavy as they get clogged up with mud. I still stuck to the trail, as instructed, but I found myself doing the Remo Williams run (see this video around 3:13, then watch what happens to the guy following Remo) whenever I encountered deeper mud.
Terra Cotta seems like it’s going to be a flat course, but there are definitely some hills, enough of them were wide enough to allow me to pass when other runners wanted to walk up the hills (and I didn’t, which wasn’t necessarily every time). There were a few boardwalks which the more clever runners used to scuff off the soles of their shoes as they went along and lose some of the mud weight (not to mention regain the traction provided by their treads that had been hidden by a layer of mud).
I finished the first lap of approximately 5 km feeling strong with a smile on my face. I took a gel and was determined to negative split the race. As it turns out, I did the second lap all of 3 seconds slower, and I know I really pushed myself on the last kilometre, so I’m not entirely sure what happened.
Shark Boy wouldn’t let me rest until I had seen the play area he’d discovered (which amounted to a dug out area of clay/earth), then I helped myself to snacks like Clif bars, chocolate chip cookies, potato chips and bananas. I also managed to catch up a little with Jessica from Laces and Lattes (who not only pulled a 3:15 Boston Marathon the Monday before this race, and did the Enduro course, but also did Paris to Ancaster the next day!) as well as my friend Mark Sawh, a great Toronto community runner. My official finish time was 1:09:52 with an average pace of 6:29, which I think I’m happy with. The other runners seem to set the bar pretty high, as I was the 101st man to finish and ranked 34/47 in my age category.
As always, 5 Peaks put on a fun day of running for the whole family, and though I thought we wouldn’t necessarily be able to make it to another race, we are currently pushing things around our schedule to be able to make it to the Heart Lake race on May 30th. Hope to see you there!
The trail running season starts on Saturday April 25th, at Terra Cotta Conservation Area, and the entire Iron Rogue clan will be there. Unless you’re new around here, you should be no stranger to the 5 Peaks Race series (recaps: here, here, here, here, here and here). They’re a fun event, and super family friendly. Let me break it down for you…
They are friendly to beginners. There are two course lengths, Enduro and Sport which are 10.8 and 5.4 km respectively. If you feel you’re a slower runner, or are intimidated, you can simply seed yourself in one of the last waves, and then you don’t have to worry about being passed.
They have Clif Bars and Kicking Horse coffee on site.
Terra Cotta is a beautiful conservation area, but not as well known as some in the Greater Toronto Area. Running this race affords all kinds of ‘Terra Cotta Warrior’ puns/jokes.
Kids can run the competitive 3km race or the fun 1km race.
You will get a free high-five from the Lightning Kid
Trail running is the purest form of running; you’re closer to nature than when you’re on a sidewalk or road, and ditching the headphones means tuning into the experience of finding out what your body can do.
Thanks to me, you get a discount on your registration! Use the code AxelsTrailPals when registering online.
Not good enough? What about a free entry? One random winner will receive a discount code. You can put several entries in and the winner will be announced on Monday April 20th.
So… do you want to give trail running a try with me?
I was inspired to write this post after a crazy weekend in Collingwood full of skiing (downhill and cross-country), and swimming too. It took some time for me to crystalize the most important things I’ve learned into a list of 5 lessons, but here goes.
Leave it to the last minute.
This one sounds counter-intuitive, as planning and organization are the keys to stress-free living, right? And when it comes to races (and booking travel, etc.) earlier means cheaper. Still, nothing is more expensive than paying for an event you can’t attend at all. I once DNS’ed (did not start) the Bracebridge Triathlon because the Lightning Kid got sick. This year, we wanted to go to Collingwood for a weekend, and I wanted to do the Tubbs Romp 2 Stomp snowshoe race, but with it being a brutal winter (that might make the drive difficult, or be too cold for outdoor fun), with a brutal cold/flu season to go with it, we knew it might not happen, so we waited till a couple of days before where it seemed like it was going to be OK to leave home, then we booked the hotel and I registered at the race site (online registration was already closed) and hoped for the best (see #4).
Be Flexible (WYCWYC*)
Why are you out there? Fresh air, fun, and exercise. Those are the reasons, those are the goals, and the actual activity/sport you are trying to do are just the means to an end. When we put the Lightning Kid on skis, we only hope he’ll try to move his feet a little, or if we’re at the hill, one single run (him riding between my legs) is a victory. (WYCWYC=What You Can, When You Can)
My wife and I used to volunteer with the Ontario Track 3 Ski program for children with special needs (everything from cognitive/developmental delays like autism to physical impairments like cerebral palsy), and the motto was always “first safety, then fun, then learning.” While we ostensibly there to teach the kids to ski, sometimes you couldn’t really get that far with them, and if rolling down a snowbank was what they wanted to do, then that’s what would take place that day. You would be connecting with them, and they with physical activity in the outdoors, and sometimes that would lead to better chances at learning the actual sport later on. It’s not really different for any children, especially when they’re very young. You have to take what you can get today, and hope it pays off tomorrow, which brings me to point #3…
Consider the Long Game
I’ve taken the Lightning Kid out in the Kayak, and traversed a total distance of about 200m. It was still worth it, because he got exposed to boating, and I got a little, tiny bit of exercise.
When we went cross-country skiing last year, we had some outings where the time spent on skis was all of 30 minutes, and that’s with about 90 minutes of driving each way; I don’t even want to get into the time spent packing the car, unpacking at the trail-head, re-packing at the trail-head, and unpacking at home. This year, though, we’re lasting longer (especially Shark Boy who’s gotten faster and stronger, completing some 2 km trails himself).
At very young ages, it’s hard to know how much they remember, but somehow the routine of getting out of the regular routine pays dividends and sticks into their character makeup later on.
It goes for more than just the kids, it goes for you too. It takes a second to lose your patience; how long does it take to find your patience. Fairly long, I’ll bet. Being patient has never been a strong suit of mine, and when I found out one of my children was going to have special needs, it became a real fear that my lack of patience would keep me from being a good father to him. I honestly think I’m getting better at waiting for the kids to learn what I’m trying to teach (manners, reading, physical education). You just have to believe that it will pay off; you have to…
Use Your Optimism Muscle
This past weekend, I had to take care of both boys myself. Well, like any red-blooded adult who is in control of their life, I ran to my mother for help. We went to her place on Saturday afternoon and spent the night as well as all day Sunday there. There are two ways I can relate the events of the weekend.
Both boys were sick with nasty colds, and I had one too, feeling feverish and being nearly unable to swallow on Friday night, meaning…
I barely slept between taking care of their various discomforts and my own
We didn’t get outside much
The kids demonstrated that they still don’t listen no matter how many times they’re told, to the point that their doting grandmother even noticed that their behaviour was lousy
OR
I got the Lightning Kid to his soccer program and Shark Boy to his dance lesson on time.
The kids and their grandmother got to spend time together/I got to see my mother.
The kids and Shark Boy’s Godfather got to spend time together
We got to enjoy my mother’s wonderful cooking
I got to do a favour for my wife, who totally deserved the weekend away from the kids
I got more bonding time with the kids, especially cuddling up with the Lightning Kid during his nap (while I read a few chapters on my e-reader)
It honestly gave me a sense of achievement to have gotten through it all (parenting is the ultimate endurance sport)
While the weekend doesn’t typify one of our family outdoor adventures (we only got outside long enough to shovel her driveway), it’s a good demonstration of how your attitude re-frames the experience.
Sacrifice
There have been many times we’ve come back from an outing, tuckered out, and the day waning, and I’ve thought: “I guess I’m not going to clean the garage again”, or whatever random task I’ve equated with being a real adult who is in control of their life. On balance, though, those tasks are unlikely to cause me any deathbed regrets. Taking care of yourself, getting outside and spending time with your family are the things you’ll regret not doing. And again, this is a two way street – your kids might not make it to that classmate’s birthday party that they were invited to, because they were out with you. It might not have been their first choice to go out biking/skiing/spelunking with you, but as parents, we make healthier choices for their diets, activities (both mental and physical), and everything else; what are they going to remember more fondly on their deathbed (sorry to be morbid… let’s just say they live to be 999), fun times in the great outdoors, moving their young, healthy bodies with loved ones, or a bunch of cake and wrapping paper to spoil a classmate whose name they won’t remember anyway.
Between increases in youth obesity, and wanting to limit ‘screen time’, many families are looking to make fitness a family affair, as Victoria Freile writes. As I discussed the topic of this post with my wife, she pointed out how much more we have to learn; smart cookie. Forging an active family life is an on-going, iterative process. Some, like Katie Arnold of Outside Magazine’s column Raising Rippers are at the more extreme end of the spectrum, while some families would probably be happy to take regular family walks. When you start early with your children, they absorb it easily and fitness becomes part of their lifestyle; inactive adults need to learn this like a new skill. While how well my pants fit has fluctuated, I’m lucky in that I never had to figure out how to get active. I was raised in such a way that exercise was as natural a habit as washing. It’s a gift I hope to pass on to my kids, and hopefully the generations that come after I’m long gone.
Hopefully, some of you reading this will be able to use it to make your family life more active, and then I’ll have passed on the gift even further.
How does your family get active together today? Are you looking to do better?
I typed the first part of this post on a Saturday night in a hotel business centre in Collingwood, Ontario. I was intending to finish writing about the entirety of the Saturday, but the slow net connection and my own exhaustion made it impossible. As I type this now with borderline frostbitten fingertips, I know I have to break the tale of our crazy Collingwood weekend up into more than one post. For now, you’ll have to settle for my contribution to the Lakeshore Runner Tri-ed It Tuesday linkup: a recap of our first snowshoe race.
I’ve wanted to take part in a snowshoe race for some time now. I’ve owned my own snowshoes for over a year, but I haven’t gotten many chances to get proficient with them. This year I missed two chances to take part in snowshoeing events run by Personal Best at Albion Hills. Not only was the venue close, but vendors were allowing you to try on snowshoes for demonstration purposes, and they had children’s sizes, so I ended up getting Shark Boy all psyched up to, only for us to miss our shot by a few minutes each time. As a family, we made cross-country skiing the top priority weekend outdoor activity, and snowshoeing kept getting punted.
Before we were married, my wife and I used to love coming up to Collingwood for both cross-country and downhill skiing, and even with two kids, we still try to make the effort. Knowing that we wanted to make such a weekend happen, and since I found the Romp To Stomp Snowshoe Race (benefitting the fight against Breast Cancer), I had a way to kill two birds with one stone. All I had to do was pack cross-country ski gear for four people, downhill gear for four people, the Chariot, my snowshoes, plus swimsuits and clothes for an overnight stay into my car…
We’ve had to deal with enough chaos in our life (e.g. the Lightning Kid getting sick in the last minute) that I was unwilling to pre-register; I just have to live with having every plan be tentative. I had packed the car the night before, but when I got outside on Saturday morning to pull the car out of the garage, I saw it was snowing. Heavily. This was going to impact the ideal schedule… not catastrophic, but chaotic as the norm. After a 2 hour drive, we were passing through Collingwood on the way to Scenic Caves, where the event was being held, and we saw that there was parking for the event in town with shuttles to Scenic Caves. This didn’t bode well, since we knew we wanted to park there so we’d have access to both the snowshoe event and cross-country ski trails afterwards. Luckily, the staff let us park in their lot, even though it was off-limits to race participants.
The building housing the registration desk was far from just about everything else, but luckily (again) Shark Boy and I made it in time. It was a bit of an ordeal filling out at least 3 different forms, and the network connection was too spotty to make a credit card authorization for my $42 (plus tax) registration fee. Somehow, we still got out with our race bibs pinned to our jackets and I got a demo pair of Tubbs (the main sponsor) snowshoes for Shark Boy, and I still had time to change into my Salomon trail runners and grab my own snowshoes.
The ‘Lil Rompers’ race took place first. It was a very short out and back of only a few hundred meters; a nice little sprint for the little ones to get their energy out and try out what it was like to run in snowshoes. Shark Boy did great, and took to snowshoes like a Shark to water (where do you think we get that nickname from?). He was actually last to cross the finish line, but he was one of the smallest/youngest kids, and there were several who gave up crying. He always puts on a brave face, but I found out later that he was actually a little upset at coming in ‘last’ and when I spoke to him about it on Sunday night, he also complained of getting snow kicked into his face (which I would also experience at the start of my own race). I explained about how his not giving up and crossing the finish line made him a hero to me, and it’s one of the things I love about him most. I hope that’s worth a gold medal to him…
Starting Line
Shark Boy is in the green jacket back there…
Look at the snow fly!
If you see a lot of pink in these pictures it’s because the Romp To Stomp Snowshoe series benefits the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. So in addition to being a lot of fun, they’re also helping out a great cause.
As I lined up for my own race, of course a few nerves kicked in. I asked some of my fellow participants if they knew what colour our trail (3 km race, there was also a 5 km race and 3 km walk available) was blazed. Someone pointed out to me that I was wearing a Walk bib as opposed to a race bib. I needn’t have worried, as there were pink and blue arrows spray painted into the snowbanks and marshals at every possible fork to keep anyone from getting lost. As we took off, I had only 3 people running in front of me, but their intensity was enough to kick up a good cloud of powder. As I settled into a pace I thought I could maintain, we got a little spaced out on the trail and I stayed firmly in fourth place. Scenic Caves is on the Niagara Escarpment, and as such the trails are made to start with a lot of climbing (which is better than ending with a lot of climbing). I’m familiar with the terrain from cross-country skiing here over the years, but I’m not as competent at pacing myself on snowshoes, and try as I might to climb slowly while still ‘running’ I found myself taking it back to a walk. I blame peer-pressure, as the other front runners were doing it too, so it only seemed sensible. The snowshoes have little teeth that make traction a non issue, so every step was efficient and meaningful.
What I noticed about the snowshoe trails (when they deviated from the ski trails) is that they can go into much denser vegetation since there’s less chance of quickly careening off trail into a tree.
Whoever was in first had left the rest behind, but I kept seeing racers 2 and 3 a little ahead, and some of the volunteers even egged me on to try and catch them. On uphills I felt like I was gaining ground, but on every descent they’d seem to disappear. I eventually learned that I can lean into a downhill on snowshoes much like when I run normally.
Another way I might have been losing ground was that I stopped to take pictures. When it came to crossing the big suspension bridge, I simply had to. It has a great view, and luckily I’m not afraid of heights…
The bridge is 25m above a stream below…
…and 300m above Georgian Bay.
On the final kilometre of the race, I finally began to gain ground on racers 2 and 3 who seemed to be sticking together, with one always a little ahead of the other. There was one last big climb that I managed to maintain enough intensity on to pass them both. I still needed to drop back into a walk before the top, but I figure my longer legs kept me ahead on a stride by stride basis. My only regret about this race was not wearing my heart rate monitor strap; I think it would have been interesting to know exactly how hard I was going.
Once I crossed the finish line, they let me know I came in second place! Not bad for someone racing in snowshoes for the first time! I think I heard them announcing some of the podium places for both 3km and 5km racers later on, but I was busy with the family at the time. We might have been chowing down on Maple Lodge Chicken Dogs which were available for nothing but a donation to Breast Cancer awareness. They were tasty! If it wasn’t the chicken dogs, then we were out continuing our adventures on the cross-country ski trails, which will be the first part of Chapter 2 of our Collingwood Adventure. So I’m leaving you with a bit of a cliff hanger… see you next time!
The blog went on a bit of a hiatus for the last month and a half, but I finally got a chance to wrap up my review of the Samsung Gear Fit Smartwatch earlier this week. There were tons of topics I wanted to post on during that hiatus, and the truth is, I’m still really swamped with work while the holiday madness is on the horizon, so I guess it could happen again. Still, I want to move forward, so rather than try to write all those posts that were timely weeks ago, I’m going to use a Friday Five to get caught up on the big ticket items and move forward from there, OK? These are the posts I woulda-coulda-shoulda posted:
Featured Blogger at Fitfluential – Running Apps: Did you guys see my guest post on the Fitfluential Blog? In October, I covered Running Apps, what’s available, what’s important, etc.. Here’s the link to the article.
Levac Attack – This year’s Levac Attack came and went, and I wish I’d been able to do more to promote it. We were in a new location (Port Credit) and it was a fun course, with a 15 km option this year in addition to the usual 5 km, 10 km and half-marathon courses. While we enjoyed it, I think it marks the close of our stroller running career as Shark Boy rode his bike for a lap then chose to hang out near the finish line and gorge himself of Timbits. The Lightning Kid started to cry after a lap, so my wife and I had to split up our running and did the last 5 km of our 10 km runs separately – each taking turns to watch the Lightning Kid. It was another big success raising money for Mount Sinai hospital, and I’ll keep hoping to get some more of my local bloggers involved next year!
Angus Glen 10k/Half-Marathon – This is my wife’s favourite race as it has an awesome post race meal inside the Angus Glen country club. Due to an organizational/scheduling snafu, we scrapped our childcare plans for the day, which was just as well as I had a splitting headache and didn’t feel like running, so I watched the kids while she ran it. We also met my friend John and his wife there – she scolded me for not recruiting her to watch the boys, but once she saw how they tore it up running around the inside of the country club, she might have had second thoughts! My wife was really happy with her time, as it wasn’t a personal best overall, it was certainly faster than she’s run all year, and that’s especially impressive considering how hilly the Angus Glen course is. John PR’ed his half-marathon, which I thought would be impossible considering how hilly it was, but he had done the Scotiabank Marathon weeks earlier; being in marathon shape makes a half-marathon no big deal, I guess.
New Phone – In spite of a protective cover, I cracked the screen of my Samsung Galaxy S3. One crack wasn’t so bad, but then this happened:
And here’s how:
Anyway, we were due for an upgrade at work soon enough anyway, so all I had to do was stick it out for a couple of weeks, and ta-daaa! Samsung Galaxy S5. So far, I really like it, and though the S5 comes in an Active version that is waterproof and shock-proof, which I didn’t get. I still like this model, especially now that I have a Lifeproof case on it to make it waterproof.
I’m still getting used to the phone, having to make little changes to make the user experience more like what I’m used to, and I have yet to use all the new bells and whistles it offers (HR sensor like on the Gear Fit Smartwatch, ANT connectivity – hopefully to connect to my Garmin accessories). I can post a review of the phone and the case in the near future hopefully.
Weight lifting – The general, haphazard approach I’ve taken with my off-season is to lose weight, or more accurately, get leaner. I’m using the principles from Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat – Feed The Muscle; but not only am I not adhering to his prescription very closely, I haven’t even finished the book cover to cover. Still, it’s gotten me re-engaged with strength training and considering macro-nutrients a little closer. I’ve known that protein is supposed to make you feel full, but I usually felt just as hungry for a mid-morning snack when I ate egg whites as when I ate cereal, and unfortunately, healthy snacks like veggies or nuts never seemed to satisfy. I’ve been playing around with making a smoothie with hemp protein (from Manitoba Harvest) alongside my breakfast (which is starting to include more protein sources too). While I’m wary of simply adding too many calories to my day, it’s better to have them earlier than later, and feeling full right through till lunch has kept me away from the Tim Horton’s more and more often. On the exercise front, the idea has been to schedule in strength workouts as first priority, with the idea that cardio is easier to come by – I could run or even bike outside my lunchtime workout slots more easily. While work and family chaos, high-priority items and emergencies have kept me from being on point and regular with workouts and nutrition too often during the last month and a half, when I have been good, I’ve seen results. Pounds come off the scale and go on the barbell. Some of the strength gains might be actual muscular strength and some might be more me getting more confident with the lifting technique and willing to push it more. If I keep up some endurance work, I shouldn’t really bulk up, and generally when I’ve gotten too swamped to fit in the endurance work, I’ve been too swamped to weight lift too, so it kind of works out. I’ll be posting a time-space efficiency hack of my workout routine in the near future so stay tuned for that.
Is your off-season regime radically different from your on-season? Is there a phone upgrade you’re craving? Do you know of a hidden gem race like Levac Attack or Angus Glen?
I woke up to rain. Not good. I could also feel sore muscles from a Boot Camp two days before; either the glute bridges or hamstring curls on the Swiss ball had taken their toll. I wanted a good breakfast – a protein shake with Zico coconut milk water, hazelnut milk, real milk, Manitoba Harvest hemp powder and almond butter beside oatmeal with Greek yogurt and wild blueberries.
I had packed the night before and even pumped up my tires and the race didn’t start till 10:00…. I had plenty of time, right?
I’m not quite sure how it happened, but my 7:45 planned departure became an 8:00 one, and the 90 minute drive ran into 100 thanks to a bathroom break on the way.
My wife was with me; I figured there wouldn’t be much for spectators to do and everyone but me should stay home, but she wanted to cheer me on and my mom had come over to watch the kids – so I had my favourite roadie/cheerleader along.
By the time we parked the car and I had my race kit picked up, they were calling for athletes to clear the transition area, and I had somehow lost my timing chip, much like I had the week before at the Kortright Centre (though I left that part out of the recap). Luckily in both cases it was short-term loss and the chip was found.
And yet I still hadn’t found my way into transition. For security, they were giving everyone bracelets that would be keyed by bib number to each bike so that athletes taking bikes out after the event could be verified. I figured I’d cross that bridge when I got to it, and snuck under one of the fences. I racked my bike, grabbed my goggles, swim-cap and wet-suit (leaving my earplugs behind) and exited the transition area without having done any organization or setup, though apparently my transition bag (which I’ve used in at least half a dozen races) was a violation that they let slide in the interest of time. At least I wasn’t the last one out, or the one to hold up the whole race…
I got to the swim start and nearly literally ran into my friend Steve and his wife Andrea. They wanted to see me put on my wet-suit while wading into the water; challenge accepted. According to them, Lakeside is quite the nice venue for families when the weather is nice; I’ll have to make a note of that for next year. They were doing the relay and swimming in a later wave, so they helped me zip up (and get the sleeves high on my shoulders) seconds before my wave took off. Being at the back of my wave didn’t seem so bad considering I had no idea where I was going; I’d need to follow the crowd as best as possible.
Once my face hit the water, I settled in mentally – I was at the start of the race on time, and here to enjoy myself. Being insecure about the navigation and everything else made me pop my head up to sight too much, but I think there was a little extra adrenaline for keeping a good pace. I think I had managed to get to the front of my wave of yellow swim caps by the time we could put our feet down. (Swim Time: 16:12)
I exited the water and the run to transition was really short. I think my legs felt somehow, I could almost describe myself as feeling woozy. I even lost my balance taking my legs out of the wet-suit and fell on my butt; which is exactly what I was trying to avoid given the wet grass and mud around. The T1 transition was going to be extra-long, I had made my piece with that. Getting my Garmin sorted out, finding my shoes, etc. gave me lots of time to get my bearings, catch my breath and start confidently. Except for how cold it was and the fact that I don’t own arm warmers or anything like that. I’d have to ride myself warm. (T1 Time: 5:20)
I’d been worried about the rain not only for the sake of being cold and wet, but also for safety. I’d heard a co-worker had broken his collarbone entering transition at a race a few weeks before and couldn’t even lie down to sleep for all the pain he was in. The rain had stopped fortunately, and though we had to exercise caution, the ride never felt precarious, especially given that there weren’t many turns involved and it was a relatively flat course for long stretches (though not entirely free of hills – what fun would that be?).
I heard my name being called by someone about to pass me – it was Phaedra of Blisters and Blacktoenails! If you don’t know her from her blog, just check the podium at a given Ontario race, she’ll be there. Needless to say I expected to be passed by her, I’m just glad that it was on the bike course where we could spot each other and say hi instead of the swim where there would be no recognizing each other. She’s not just fast, but she must be perceptive to recognize me (we’ve met all of twice) – I wasn’t wearing my race bib. Still thinking of the wet roads, I told her to stay safe and watched her pull further and further ahead. I toyed with the idea of trying to catch her once, just for kicks, but it proved hard with some of the blocking and drafting that was going on in the pack I found myself in. I’m tempted to name and shame since I still remember the bib numbers of the worst offenders, but instead I will just say, that it’s very romantic that you two want to ride as a couple, but this is a race that actually has rules against riding side by side like that. I kept Phaedra in sight longer than I expected to, which still wasn’t that long. After the turnaround I took a gel, and but my concentration wavered on the latter half, which may be why I averaged less than the elusive 30 km/h on the race. Averaging 28.7 km/h isn’t too bad given the general state of my conditioning, though (Bike Time: 46:48)
Coming into T2
T2 is always simpler than T1, even when you’re completely disorganized. I had my Zoots along, so it was easy to slip off the bike shoes and into the run shoes (no socks) once my helmet was off.
I ran out of the transition area, and promptly stopped, snuck back under the fence, and went back, because while I had ridden the bike without my bib, I knew I wanted it for the run. The timing mats counted my first exit, not my second, but I started my Garmin according to the second attempt; more on that later. (T2 Time: 1:59)
So fast the camera couldn’t catch me… except in those pics above where it did.
The dirt road was pitted and there were times you had to avoid deeper mud, so nobody seemed sure exactly what part of the road we were supposed to run on, luckily we had it all to ourselves. There was a young girl who must have twisted her ankle and was crying pretty badly around 2 km in; luckily she was about 50m away from an aid station so help arrived quickly. I took water or whatever carb-electrolyte drink they were serving (they said Gatorade, but I don’t think so) every time, but I used the little breaks to make sure I had a good aggressive pace, especially on the last 2 km. My Garmin said I got a time of 27:10 for the 5km which is not a personal best (within a triathlon), but pretty close (I did 24:31 at the Muskoka Sprint of 2011). (Run Time: 28:54)
I was happy and proud to be done. The post-race food was pizza, but I really love the chocolate milk the most. I got cold fairly quickly, so we opted not to hang around, though it would have been nice to socialize a little more. I managed to talk my way back out of transition with my bike by showing my bib and body marking (by then I was wearing a hoodie and track pants to stave off hypothermia) and I made the long drive home with a smile on my face.
I owe another thank-you to my lovely wife, who’s support not only makes racing triathlon possible, but her photography is what makes this recap possible! Thanks, my love!
To ultra-runners, the distance of the Enduro courses at 5 Peaks events are laughable. But to me, it’s the longest I’ve gone on a trail (with all the hills) and longer than most training runs to do 10 km.
And then I found out that it would be more like 13km. I was still looking forward to the race until I heard thunder rolling in as I was trying to get the Lightning Kid to sleep.
That should read “… don’t *want* a thunderstorm..”
With rain forecasted for the day, we decided to keep the kids home. I was already nervous about how they’d behave for their mom when I was out running for twice as long as I usually do, and I didn’t think the Kortright Centre had as much to offer as Heart Lake or Albion Hills (like splash pads). In the end, the weather ended up not being so bad, but hindsight is twenty-twenty.
I picked out the absolute worst pair of running shorts I could for the day, but I think they were the only clean ones I had available.
I worried that they’d soak water like a sponge
It turns out the elastic is worn out and I had to pull them up continuously while running (sorry about the plumber-butt anyone running behind me!)
They chafe the insides of my thighs.
I got to the race, picked up my bib and timing chip, then lost the latter while standing in line for the porta-potty. Luckily, it was recovered and announced so I got it back. Before the race I found Jessica of Laces and Lattes, as well as Robyn Baldwin and her friend Allegra. Robyn is a big fan of Shark Boy and the Lightning Kid, but she took it well when she found out they wouldn’t be there. She and Allegra were in the wave ahead of me, but I managed to get a shot of them doing Robyn’s patented “The Face”.
The rain from the night before made the course wet and slippery, so we were warned to take it easy on hills, bridges, boardwalks, whatever. I was determined to take the pace easy, to make sure I was able to finish strong anyway. Taking it easy also meant I had the opportunity to take nice pictures, and with a 2 loop Enduro course, I had 2 chances to get pictures of notable sights.
I wouldn’t have predicted that the Kortright Centre (to which we’ve been for Maple Syrup festivals before) would have some of the nicest sights of the 5 Peaks series, but have a look.
There were some hills on this course, and I’m pretty proud of how I handled all of them. Early on, of course, I was feeling strong and passed people who chose to walk. Then I encountered what the hilarious Erin Dasher (race director and announcer) described as a “water feature”. There’s a saying (or rather more of an excuse/rationalizaiton) in Engineering Development: “It’s not a bug! It’s a feature!” That’s what this reminds me of…
I think I could have balanced on those railings to get across dry, but that honestly felt like cheating, so I got wet feet like everybody else. Between the wet shoes and fatigue (especially on the second loop) some of the hills gave me a very heavy feeling in my legs, which reminded me of a hard brick workout… which is a good thing, I suppose.
If you look closely you can see some of the network of tubing to bring the sap from the trees on the right side of the picture.
I not only saw the Kortright Centre’s maple syrup facilities, but also learned of their Raptor Centre (for the Canadian Peregrine Foundation). I couldn’t get too close to the cages (sorry about the poor photos), but in addition to peregrine falcons they had a bald eagle and a great horned owl that actually went: “HOO… HOO”. We’ll have to bring the kids once.
HOO
I mentioned I wanted to finish strong, but in spite of taking a Clif gel on the second lap and Gatorade being available on the course, my pace simply had to slack on the second lap. Still, on the last kilometer I started getting aggressive. I passed 2 runners on the final, biggest hill. There was a contest to name the hill and someone came up with “S.O.B” which stands for Shortness of Breath (not that other thing). I never submitted my suggestion which was “Hill-o, I hate you won’t you tell me your name” (sung to the tune of the old song by The Doors, with option second verse Hill-o, I hate you, you drive me insane). As I crested the hill I saw two younger ladies who seemed to be easily prancing like pixies through the forest. I must stress that this was a false impression that was brought on by pain and exhaustion, but I sprinted to the finish to catch them both (tying the faster of them at the finish line). You know, like the spiteful jerk that I am. I’d like to think Robyn and Allegra’s cheers helped me achieve that final sprint.
For once I didn’t have to dash away from the race, and I managed to snag a cup of coffee (well after eating my post-race bagel, banana and cookie). I forgot to add my bib number to the draw, and my finish time put me in 3rd last of my age category, so sticking around for the awards ceremony didn’t have much point, but at least I got to witness the shoe toss challenge (for the prize of a Suunto GPS watch).
It never did rain, so it was really a magnificent day and an appropriate end to my trail running season.
