Public Speaking Engagement This Sat Night!

Quick update here, sorry been kinda lame lately but have had numerous friends visiting from outta town which is always nice and thankfully cuts down on my internet time! I'm getting back onto my skis on Tuesday which I can not wait for, especially since we've just broken all time snow records for November on the local ski hills!!

On another note, this Saturday, November 28th, I have the absolute pleasure of having been invited to give a presentation on my adventures over the last few years. Basically what I'll be conveying through speech and video is that it's really never too late to make a life shift and I consider myself a prime example of this. Prior to 2004 I'd only run more than 10k three times and could basically count on my fingers and toes how many times I'd ever run in my then 27 years on the planet. I was not a 'born athlete' and although like every Canadian kid I played hockey, I had absolutely zero background in any endurance activities. I had never trained for anything in my entire life and I was carrying around almost thirty additional pounds of body weight...and I'm not talking muscle here! Six years on, and I now find myself in the best shape of my life and living a lifestyle that I yearned for but feared for so many years. Decisions and sacrifices have to be made, but goals of any shape or form can always be attained when you dedicate yourself to them!

As nerve racking as public speaking can be I do thoroughly enjoy it once the butterflies subside a little...having some butterflies is of course a good thing as it lets you know your still alive and kicking!

If you're interested in coming out I'd love to see you there. It's only five bucks and all the info can be found here.

GR

Funny Fridays

Well, after a four-day weekend back home in Newfoundland (stories n pics to come), followed by a mid-week birthday (I'm old), this is the first time I've had a second to follow up on here. After a one week hiatus here's a link to one of my all time favorite funnies, MTV's Sextreme Clucking.

Unfortunately I have to precede this video with a Parental Rating and warning of funny sexual comedy with foul language (I.E. my niece probably shouldn't watch this one!)



GR

Tamsin Anstey, MTN MAS Race Report

Let me start off by stating that I’ve never written a race report in my life. Mainly because I never thought anyone, except maybe my parents, would actually be interested in reading it. But my wonderful boyfriend Gary Robbins has introduced me to a whole new network of blogging and, I have to admit, the concept is starting to intrigue me. Since I don’t have a blog of my own Gary has so graciously allowed me to post my race report on his blog. Here goes…. (editors note, I did not add those comments myself though I am tempted to spice them up even more! Hmmm, her incredibly attractive, sexy, and supportive boyfriend...not my words, hers! With his amazing prowess on trails, perfect physique, mesmerizing eyes...wow Tamsin I just didn't know...someone who 'I' can constantly turn to for advice, who understands me as a woman, who knows me better than I know myself and...Tamsin really, it should be more about the race, I know it's your first race report and all but c'mon, get to it here!)

MM was to be my first 50mile attempt. I’ve been running my whole life but this is my inaugural year of ultra running and had never run that far in one go to date. My background is in track and field and shorter distance trail races. The night before the race I got a bit anxious and didn’t sleep well, but not because I was nervous about where I would place in the field, I was genuinely concerned that I wouldn’t be able to run 50miles!

My doubt was in part due to the fact that I’ve been battling very frustrating chronic knee issues all year. I had half of the cartilage removed out of my right knee a decade ago as a result of a bad soccer injury and these longer distances are proving to be challenging for my “older than it should be” gammy leg. I can’t log in 100mile weeks like other ultra runners do because I have onset osteoarthritis in my knee so I always worry that I haven’t put in enough miles in training to go the distance.

Gary and I awoke at 2:45am. I would love to say that I brewed my usual strong cup of coffee but being that I was far away from home I instead settled for stirred instant coffee with powdered cream and ate a bagel with a banana and peanut butter for breakfast. At 4am all the athletes were herded onto 5 school buses and we were driven a 1/2hr to the start line.

It was a typical start to any race. All the competitors were anxious to start and you could feel the nervousness and tension in the air. It was freezing cold, everyone was under-dressed and there were massive line ups for the porta-potties which were getting more and more disgusting by the minute.

I love the start of any race. It’s the only time that you get to see and converse with all of the participants because everyone gets so spread out by the end of a race. I love the friendliness and camaraderie of the genuine exchange of wishing each other luck.


3, 2, 1 and we were off! We started running in the dark with headlamps which I’d never done before in a race. I enjoyed the first 10km on the road. I paced myself with Nicola Gildersleeve (fellow North Vancouver runner) and a local runner named Heather and we chatted, laughed a little and relaxed into cruise mode. I ditched my headlamp just before we hit the trailhead and started up our first little climb. The sun started to crest over the Blue Ridge Mountains and the view was spectacular. Although late in the season, the foliage was still vibrant, colourful and memorable.

I ran with Nicola for the first 3hours. Nicola and I have recently started training together sporadically and become friends. She has such a refreshing and positive personality and is the kind of person who is just pleasant to be around. Nicola had been battling a cold for a few days and starting coughing a bit and didn’t sound 100%. She stopped for a bathroom break and from then on we got separated.

Backing up a bit, about 2hours into the race I noticed that my quads were starting to cramp a bit which has never happened to me before. I popped a couple of electrolyte tablets hoping that would do the trick. My quads got progressively worse as time ticked on so I just accepted the fact that they were going to hurt all race. I just shrugged my shoulders and thought, “Oh well, at least I’m not noticing knee pain because my quads are hurting that much more.”


At the halfway point I felt good. Better than I had 2hours into the race. I knew that I was about to run up a big gradual climb on fire road which is my forte. The climb was hard but I felt strong. For the next couple of hours I really felt like I found my stride and ran well. Fluids were going in, GU was going down, the sun was out and it was the perfect temperature for a run through the mountains.


Gary told me that I’d probably hit the single track loop at around 6hrs so I was thrilled when I got to that trailhead way ahead of schedule. About halfway through the loop fatigue really started to hit me and I remembered what Nicola told me before the race and that was, “just keep moving forward.” So I put my head down, got into the zone and ran. I felt like I was slogging it and not maintaining a good pace but to my surprise I soon looked up and realized that I was gaining on another male competitor. Confidence boost!

Without going into boring play by play details of the last 2hours of my race I will sum it up in 4 words. I FELT LIKE CRAP! Fluids and GU were no longer going down, they were coming up, my legs felt like a combination of lead and jello and I got a nose bleed. Paints a really hot picture, eh?!

When I hit the last aid station and was told I had 3miles to go downhill I took a sigh of relief. I knew I was going to finish and finish well. I was running with 3 other gentlemen at that point and they all took off faster than me down the last decent. I kept looking back thinking that Nicola (who is a much superior downhill runner than me) would come charging around a switchback and I’d have to finish with a sprint to the line. As much as I love seeing Nicola I was really happy to not see her during those last 3miles.

Finishing is bitter sweet! I hit the road and knew I had only 1 mile to go. Yippee! I always find it so ironic that my favorite thing to do is run but that by the end of a race I can’t wait to stop running. I saw the finishers’ banner up ahead and a big smile broke across my face. I was going to win Mountain Masochist and qualify for Western States. Clark Zealand, the best race director ever, was at the finish line with his hands up welcoming me in. I crossed the line, Gary picked me up and gave me a big hug and kiss and told me that he was really proud of me.(cause he's like totally like the bestest ever!!)


I don’t say this very often but I was and am very proud of myself. This race was a great test of my own perseverance. I finished in 8hrs9min which is the 5th fastest female time ever on the course. I run because I love running and would do it regardless of the recognition I get but, I have to admit, it’s really nice to see that I am able to knock down times that are right up there with some of the top ultra runners in North America and it’s really nice to see my hard work pay off. I know that I have so much room for improvement and still feel really under experienced in the sport of ultra running and I am excited to see what I can accomplish in the years to come.


I don’t know where my running career will take me or if I am even talented to have one but this race opened many new gates of opportunity for me and I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to participate in it.


Thank you to all the volunteers, race director Clark Zealand, Dr.Horton, Nicola and Gary (you complete me) for making this such a great weekend for me!

MMTR Photo Tour

GR

Canadian's Invade Virginia!

I'll do my absolute best to keep this to a readable length here...

I was shooting for a sub 7hr run time which would have been a near 23 minute improvement over my 08 run time. The 08 race was my first ever fifty miler as I'd only started to fully concentrate on running, verses multi-sport, four months prior. The 09 version ended up being my second ever 50 miler and a much better race for me.

I obviously had to go out harder off the start verses last year but I was definitely surprised to find myself alternating the lead with Montrail U.S. runner Geoff 'The Alaskan Assassin' Roes (if no one else has referred to him by this name yet then I get to claim it when it sticks!) through the first 20 miles of the race. Lon Freeman was never more than a few steps behind and Valmir Nunes was always visible when we hit an exposed switchback area.

(Goeff Roes leading, me in second, RD Clark Zealand poaching the course!)

At the half way point of the race I was nine minutes ahead of my 08 pace and right on target for a sub 7hr effort. Geoff had managed to distance himself from me over the previous climb and he hit the mid-way aid just three minutes up. As I departed I could see Lon coming in just a minute back.

After departed the mid-way aid you venture into the longest climb of the fifty miles. In 08 I had to walk most of the climbs, this year I'd trained myself to be better on the climbs and faster on the runnable terrain. The course is 90% fire roads so I actually did some road mileage and my first road race in over 5yrs while preparing for the course. Although I did manage to run the entire course, save one section of about 200 meters, both Geoff and Lon had proved to be better up-hill runners than myself. Knowing this I had prepared for Lon to catch and pass me, which he did within about ten minutes. He managed a larger gap than I anticipated though and eventually he gained five full minutes on me. Little did we then know, Geoff was on a constant acceleration and while the rest of us just struggled to hang on Geoff simply ran the second half of the course faster than anyone had ever dreamed was even possible.

At about the 33m mark (55km) you hit the first real singletrack terrain of the course. Last year I nearly died through here, so this year I made sure to have something left in the tank for it. Once you complete this 5m/8k loop the course is predominately downhill to the finish line...which has always been my strength. I wasn't even two miles into the loop when I heard a runner from behind. Valmir was still lingering and with foot speed the likes of which I will simply never possess, he scared me enough to push my through the undulations of this loop. Thankfully and surprisingly I would not see him again until he crossed the finish line.

I exited the loop and was told Lon was four minutes up on me. I was feeling way stronger than I thought I would this late in the race and I vocalized that I thought I might still be able to close that gap over the final 10m/16k of the race. The next few aid stations told a different story though as the splits coming my way were growing, not shrinking.

As I hit the final aid station of the day, and with but 3.5 miles to go to the finish line, I was given one more split,

"Lon left here...exactly...two minutes ago."

I chugged a cup of fluid and rocketed outta there. It was almost all down till the final 1m section of road to the line. In the end this information was not accurate, as Lon had a closer to 4min lead at that point, but it was the perfect fuel to allow me to go with an all or nothing approach to end the race. Whether I cramped up and had to walk didn't matter at that point, only top two went straight into Western States and that was my primary goal at the starting line. My final km split times, gravity assisted of course but none the less my legs still had to turn over and absorb the punishment, were:

-4m17s /6.54mile
-4m27s /7.10m
-4m12s /6.45m
-3m37s /5.49m
-3m42s /5.57m
-2m44s (700m of flat road to the line) (3m48s pace /6.07m)




I crossed the line in 7h00m28s...missed out on a sub seven by under thirty seconds and an auto WS entry by two minutes...both tough pills to swallow, but by far and away this was my best performance south of the border, and my first major race that I'm truly happy with the time I laid down. Clark Zealand, David Horton, and the hundreds of others who make this race possible and can somehow convert a 50m fire road run into an incredible trail racing experience, THANK YOU SO MUCH yet again!! I might just have to return again next year and claim those missing 29 seconds.


In the women's race, the girl I've been flattered to call my girlfriend, Tamsin Anstey, in her first EVER 50 miler and just third attempt at running an ultra, laid down the 5th fastest woman's time in the 27 year history of the event!! She has promised me that she'll do a race report that I'll proudly post on here for her...till we get her up and going on her own blog in the near future.


Fellow North Vancouver runner and close friend Nicola Gildersleeve was also there to represent the Red and White. Even though she'd been battling the flu and ended up with a bloody nose and even puking on herself a few times, she really toughed it out to cross the line as the second place female finisher and claim the coveted auto entry into Western States!! I'm super proud of both of the girls and as a group who all live within a very short distance of each other I feel we did ourselves and our North Vancouver running scene proud. It was a great thing to be a part of!

Other Canadian's in top ten men were Adam Hill and Glen Redpath tied for 7th/8th!

-Special thanks to my amazing friend Hays Poole who drove 2.5hr from Raleigh, North Carolina to help support me during the race. He was a ROCK STAR who I can't thank enough!!

GEAR:

-Montrail Mountain Masochist shoes, rocking out their name sake race!

-Princeton Tec Eos headlamp for the first five miles in the darkness

-Carbo-Pro 1200 and Thermolytes as my primary fuel source during the race

Full results here, oh yeah, and I forgot to mention, Geoff 'The Alaskan Assassin' Roes...well he kinda destroyed the course like no one thought possible and ended up with a new course record of 6h27m!!! That's over 21min faster than the legendary Dave Mackay's run time, and in my humble opinion, solidifies Geoff as the outright U.S. Ultra Runner Of The Year for 2009...congrats Geoff, it was a pleasure and an honor to meet you this weekend!



GR

Funny Fridays (Congrats Meb!)

Well as of this posting I'm already in Lynchburg, Virginia for tomorrow's Mountain Masochist 50 miler! (I time dated this post on Wed night) Not gonna say much right now outside of the fact that I know by Friday I'll be super nervous-excited and just hoping to be able to get a few hours sleep before the race start on Sat morn.

For this weeks funny vid I decided to go with a more relevant rather than downright funny posting. Congratulations to Meb Keflezighi on an outstanding win at this years NYC Marathon.



There's also a relevant article about Meb here if you are unaware of exactly who he is and the struggles he's faced while being an American citizen since he was twelve years old.

GR

Mountain Masochist (How To Follow Along)

K, it's Wed night and I'm still way behind on my actual packing! Tamsin Anstey, Nicola Gildersleeve, and myself depart North Vancouver at 5:30am tomorrow and fly out of Seattle at noon. I think this could be a very good weekend for all three of us, and our sights are unified and set upon making our way into Western States 2010. Wish us luck!

Here's how to hopefully gather as much live info as possible as the race unfolds:

-MMTR Blogsite Updates (currently has the RD's pre-race rankings)

-MMTR Twitter Feed

-My Twitter Feed (which will hopefully be updated regularly via my awesome friend and crew member Hays Poole)

And I leave you with this...Tamsin and I enjoyed Halloween as Dimitri and Nadia, the worlds top figure skating duo who just happened to be in town early for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games...





GR

It's Official, New 100 Mile & 100km Race In B.C. Next Summer!!

Let me be one of the first to officially welcome the 'Fat Dog 100' to the ultra racing calendar!

BRAND NEW FOR 2010 and guaranteed to be a must do!! I'll go on record right now and say that by the third year this race will be selling out in a hurry, and well on its way to epic status within the ultra running community! Located in B.C.'s gorgeous park systems and easily accessible to anyone in the Pacific North West. Almost all singletrack, point to point, stunning mountain vistas, and an ass kicker of a course, The Fat Dog 100 is sure to become an instant classic.


Thanks so much to the very experienced race director Heather Macdonald for putting in the leg work to ensure this thing got off the ground and rolling. Although I somehow got an official thank you on the website I honestly did very little outside of encouraging the efforts of those behind the wheel. Special thanks should also be extended to Peter Watson of North Shore Athletics, and his girlfriend Nicola Gildersleeve (pictured above) for stepping up and helping out in every way possible.

DETAILS:

When: Friday July 23 to Saturday July 24, 2010

Why: Stunning alpine views, very runnable trails, challenging profile, sumptuous aid stations, great organization, enthusiastic volunteers, and a lake at the end for soaking.

Distances: 100 miles, 100 km, and 6 relay legs that cover 100 mile route.

Where: 100 miler and relay start near Keremeos in Cathedral Provincial Park. 100 km starts in E.C. Manning Provincial Park.

How to Get There: From Vancouver, take Highway 1 to Hope, then Highway 3 to Manning Park. Follow the signs to Lightning Lake "DAY" parking.

Here is the official thank you mention off the website. My hat goes off to each and every one of these people. Depending upon my own schedule I'll either be racing the inaugural edition of The Fat Dog, or heading up a full blown party all night aid station...where costumes will be mandatory! Either way you'll see me there in 2010.

This race could not have happened without the encouragement of three stellar individuals: Peter Watson, Gary Robbins and Glenn Pace. Some other fabulous people who helped with GPS and 'trail discovery' included: Laura Woodward, Cheryl Johnson, Mike Heiliger, Judy Sullivan, Nicola Gildersleeve, Lara Taylor, Amber Ringers and Tamsin Anstey. That great photo of Nicola on Heather Trail above was taken by Peter Watson. Another amazing person that must be included is Kelley Cook of the Ministry of Tourism, Sports and the Arts who was instrumental in helping us navigate Trapper Lake Trail

And finally, a few more teaser pics...






SWEET!!!
GR

Funny Fridays

This is just downright hilarious! Not laugh out loud hahaha, but funny in that mocumentary movie kinda way. I first saw this about three weeks back and just remembered it a few days ago. Number one piece of advice, having now tried it out for myself...

"Don't get SKOOTCH leg!!"



I figured I'd add this one on as well. You may have already seen it...apparently 3.385 million others have! It's a quick three minute recap of the top 100 YouTube vids...funny, amazing, shocking...



Have a great weekend!!

GR

MMTR Ramblings

Since I just realized that I'm about to post back to back Funny Friday clips I figured I should throw something else up here in between. Trouble is I can't say a hell of a lot of interest has been going down lately, yet life is really good and I find myself in a very positive place right now! That is not to say that life is boring, far from it, there's just more of a routine to things these days. Oh yeah, worth mentioning is that I just completed my schooling towards becoming a Can-Fit-Pro certified Personal Trainer! Less than a month till my written exam and just over a month till my practical...which means I should be in those books and not presently stuck on here!! I'll be looking to roll out some running specific circuit training courses and run analysis programs by about mid-Jan if all goes well!

The last few weeks were trying as I experienced a calf injury after my half marathon road run. I was stressed over if I'd recover in time for Mountain Masochist next weekend, and I lost out on the final week of mileage I was hoping to log.

After coming away from the running and focusing on the biking and active recovery my calf slowly came around. I had my second sports massage today and am happy and relieved to report that I am/will be 100% for next weekends race...and lucky that with the field of runners who will be showing up! It's top two or nothing this time round and with four established speedsters toeing the line, along with last years third place overall and local runner Jeremy Ramsey, which means it's going to be INTENSE!!

The advantage I have going into the race is that I now know the course and I have an actual game plan around it this year. My prediction is that at least one of the top three favorites (Nunes, Krupicka, Roes) will blow up...and I'll just have to be faster than one other man...which isn't entirely fair since I've just passed over Freeman and Ramsey without mention. Lon dropped last year at the mid-way point due to injuries, and I have not followed Lon enough this year to even know if he's on top of his game right now or not?

I know what I'm shooting for and that's a sub 7hr run time. There have only been seven guys in the 26 year history of the event who have accomplished this, and not once has someone run a sub seven and not finished top two...who knows, maybe that won't even be enough this time around!!

What I do know however is that I have that in me. I'm good to go, I'm prepared for this race, and right now I just can't wait for it to be here already!!

Oh yeah, and watch out for the two local North Shore girls I'll be accompanied by along the way. I think they could both be sitting on their big breakout U.S. race in just eight days time!!

GR

Funny Fridays

Thank GOD I found this clip this morning cause the funniest thing I'd seen in the last seven days prior to this was just slightly disturbing and I wasn't really sure about posting it on here...instead...MONKEYS!!



Have a GREAT WEEKEND!
GR

NEW Montrail Shoes + Mtn Mas 50m Field Update

AHH, I LOVE new gear!!

Just got my brand new Montrail Rockridge and 2010 Mountain Masochist (no changes from 09 version), and CAN'T WAIT TO TEST DRIVE EM!!

Unfortunately I have to stay smart and rest my calf. It feels much better today with the tightness not setting in until mid-day. I'm out the door shortly to test it on the road bike, which I haven't touched in over a month...Stanley Park here I come!

Oh yeah, and just got word from the Race Director for Mountain Masochist 50 Miler in under three weeks time...the race where you have to finish top two to go directly into the 2010 version of Western States...Last Minute Additions To The Field:

-Anton Krupicka, if ya don't know ya ain't into the sport!

-Geoff Roes, currently up for U.S. ultra runner of the year after some spectacular performances!

-Valmir Nunes, from Brazil. Short bio, 3rd fastest EVER 100k at 6h16m, winner of Badwater, Spartathlon, and Sunmart 50 miler in 5h30m!!

-Lon Freeman, former C.R. holder for Miwok 100k

OUCH, it's gonna be a BARN BURNER!! All I know is that outside of my recent injury I've never felt better or fitter and I'm ready to go up against the best of the best. I'd rather finish 5th in this field than 1st in a weak field. Bring it on!!

GR

Running Barefoot Across US (not me)

Had to post this real quick, check out these links, and here's the info off his site:

Marathon running is not easy at the best of times. Running a marathon every day for 99 days is mindblowing. Throw in running barefoot and you have a distance running challenge of epic proportions. This video is about Tellman Knudson, a novice ultra marathon runner who is 33 days into a 99 day barefoot run across continental america. Hats off to the man. I really hope he makes it. He is raising money for homeless youth so please support him.

Video

Website

Twitter

Video with Sir Richard Branson

Best of luck Tellman, keep on keepin on!!

GR

Funny Fridays

Although I'm sure funny clips are better served on a Monday, the alliteration just isn't the same!

I'm gonna try to post a quick clip each Friday that has made me laugh throughout the week. I love the creativity and spontaneity of this one. Never worked in an office but I would have guessed most days started off like this!



Have a great weekend! I'm actually back in school tomorrow as I'm taking the 'Can-Fit-Pro' personal training certification courses throughout Oct and Nov, hopefully I still know how to actually read and write...on paper!

GR

New 1/2 Marathon P.B. 1:13:59!

I realized a few days back that I've started running under the assumption that most of my Twitter posts are getting viewed in lieu of my blogging. I thought about this a bit and came to the conclusion that this is probably not the case so I'll try to do a better job of linking it all together on here.

I put in a solid week of running following 'The Toad' which included slogging my way through a 50k run on Thursday. It was a tough day and I thought about turning around numerous times but in the end I stuck with it. I kinda regretted it in the days following though as I'd definitely gone pretty deep into my reserves and was paying the price for it with a few lethargic runs and days of feeling tired. In the end I think it worked to my benefit for the Half Marathon though as it prevented me from hitting my goal mileage of 130km. In the end I logged just 100k and didn't run at all on Sunday.

The North Shore Half Marathon is in just its third year and is hosted by North Shore Athletics. The numbers have increased steadily and we saw registration of just under 300 for the 09 edition! Not bad considering The Royal Victoria Marathon and 1/2 happened yesterday with record numbers of 2,300 in the 42.2 and 4,600 in the 21.1!

Personally I had absolutely no idea what to expect in this race and I decided upon running it kinda last minute. I'm feeling good these days and figured at worst it would be a great tempo training run. Since I'm keying for the Mountain Masochist 50 miler on November 7th in Virginia I figured a bit of speed work couldn't hurt either...well not literally of course as I knew it'd hurt like hell!

I've run four 1/2 Marathons in my life. My first was over 2hr and was basically done on a beer bet and a beer gut. My 2nd, 3rd, and 4th were all between 1h33m and 1h36m. Two were in back to back weekends. I hadn't run a road race in over five years, since early in my first official running season, and at worst I knew I'd manage a significant personal best.

The race started at 8am and although the course record from last year was 1h21m the field this year was by far the strongest yet. It was a bitterly cold morning but with blue skies here and snow in many other parts of Canada no one was complaining!

A group shot to the front and I just tried to hang on to the back of the front six. By the third km three people had broken away and I was sitting in fourth, as always, running alone.

I was knocking down consistent splits and although my calves were absolutely killing me I was happy with how the race was transpiring. Given that I haven't run a road race in over five years I wasn't sure what to make of a new 10km P.B. when I hit the mark in just under 35min. My 'Best Case Scenario' for the day had me finishing around 1:15:30 and I was thinking I might be closer to 1:17:30 in the end. I hadn't figured out actual split times to hit my goal finish at 10k I was thinking to myself,

"Hmm, this could be a long second half! Oh well, too late to change anything now might as well stick with it and see if you can hold on!"

Since I work at NSA I knew most of the volleys out on course and even though I was faking a smile with each person I recognized it helped to disguise the pain my legs were suffering through. By the time I'd reached 15km I knew I had a shot at a 'better that my best case scenario'. I kept referencing my pace counter on my GPS to ensure I wasn't slacking off at all and I managed to knock down consistent 3m36s kms.By the time I rounded the final corner I could see the clock quickly counting up towards 1:14:00. I put in a final stretch kick that brought me very near my puking point and I heard the timing chip beep right as the timer hit 1:13:59! I was ecstatic! Obviously a new P.B., a better than expected run time, and a fourth overall finish against some solid local roadies.

Tamsin was also out for the race, given that I registered her, picked up her timing chip and bib number, and told her she had no say in the matter, she wasn't allowed not to run it. Having logged 130km of running herself last week she wasn't super stoked to take home 2nd place in the women's field, her first 2nd place finish since a snowshoe race way back in January! She's also keying for Mountain Masochist in November, her finish time of 1:24:43 however was very impressive given her mileage, and it only took her a few minutes to realize this herself.

In the end a great day was had by all with impressive run times and a number personal bests even upon the same course from last year.

Well, if you've made it this far you can check out the final results and see that my official time was 1:14:00...dammit I know I crossed the line in 1:13:59!! I was told that in chip timing it automatically rounds up, so there you have it, I am offically a 1h14m 1/2 marathon guy...although I'm sure I can make up that lost second next time round!

Pics to follow.

GR

Running For Toads, V2.0

For the second consecutive year three members of The Canadian Montrail Running Team were on hand to represent the brand, and The West Coast, at the 9th Annual Run For The Toad 25/50k in Paris, Ontario. (Just outside of Kitchener)

As with 2008 I’d be running in the event just seven days after racing The Cumberland Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race. In 08 Ryne Melcher took the win in 3h44m and I snagged second in 3h50m. The course is most certainly a true ‘runners’ course, even though it contains about 2000 feet of total climbing over the four 12.5km loops. I mentioned to Ryne after last years race that I thought a true marathon speedster would ‘run away’ with it. That theory was about to be put to the test as one of this country’s elite roadies was in attendance. Taylor Murphy would be trying his hand at his first ever ultra race, and we were well aware of the fact that he’d probably need to blow up for either of us to have any shot at being close to him.

Ellie Greenwood was also returning after winning the women’s 25km event last season and we were confident that she’d become the first ever woman to crack the 4hr barrier in the 50k.

Ryne and Ellie decided to fly out on Thursday but I’d chosen a Friday flight due to work restrictions. My supposedly mundane and basic 5hr fly time would somehow manifest itself into one of the most painfully drawn out flying experiences of my life!

The Flight From Hell...

A 9am departure put me in Calgary just a few hours later and with a minimal stop over I was back in the air in no time. My flight plan had me arriving in Kitchener at 5:30pm, at which time a few friends were to pick me up. I figured we’d grab a casual dinner, hit up the groc store for some breaky foods, chill for the evening and grab a proper nights rest.

As we approached for landing we could see the lights of civilization sprawled out below us, but as the landscape grew larger so too did the cloud cover. There was pretty much only one singular patch of fog over the entire region and it had firmly embedded itself into the confines of the Kitchener Airports tiny landing strip.

We descended towards the runway and right about the time we all thought we were about to touch down the pilot accelerated at full throttle and we shot back up to 12,000 feet. They made an announcement, said we’d circle for twenty minutes and try again. Attempt numero dos – same result. Then the news…

“We’re going to land in Ottawa.”

“Ottawa!” The cabin bellowed with moans and groans. I turned to the passenger next to me,

“What’s the drive time from Ottawa to Kitchener?”

“Oh about six hours!”

Twenty minutes later and I was standing in the Ottawa airport, frustrated and starving. I started asking for food options and before I could act upon them we were being re-boarded. I thought this a good thing and that we’d ideally be on the ground in our expected destination within the hour, delayed but otherwise fine. Apparently the fueling crew were on lunch themselves because we simply sat on the plane for an additional 45min before they even started the engines.

Finally we were again in the air, and shortly thereafter attempting a further landing in Kitchener. As we lost elevation the cloud cover actually seemed worse and for the third time the pilot accelerated up and away from our intended arrival point. They announced we’d circle an additional 20min and try again. Due to all of our ‘bouncing around’ they claimed there was no time to offer food or drinks and we simply received a glass of water. I was actually finding my stomach uneasy and the frustrations were mounting with each completed aerial maneuver!

Welcome To... Drum Roll Please...Toronto!

A fourth attempt, same result, followed by a tube full of swearing passengers. We were now off to Toronto. By the time we finally touched down at 11:30pm we were 6hr behind schedule, and nowhere near our intended destination. To make matters worse my luggage didn’t hit the carosel! I was so livid by this point that I was completely calm and laughing out loud. To no one in particular,

“That’s about right for how this day has gone!”

The irony was that for the first time in my life I’d decided to carry my basic running gear with me as carry on, so at least I’d still be able to run the race. As I was filling out the paper work regarding my luggage it miraculously and thankfully appeared from the depths of the airport. They had arranged a few buses to transport us to Kitchener and as I was rushing to load I managed to purchase a single gluten free energy bar as they were closing shop.

The bus ride itself was a painless and fluid experience however by this point in time I’d been sitting in a prone position for over 14hr…I could have flown to EUROPE dammit!!

At 1:15am I was finally standing in the Kitchener airport, almost eight hours behind schedule. Ryne Melcher was kind enough to stay awake and pick me up, and he presented me with my pre-ordered dinner from earlier in the evening. I scarfed down some chicken and asparagus, which were the only G.F. options available at 'The Keg', and we called it a night at 2am.

6am start to be at The Montrail Booth by 7:15am to help out. As with last year Montrail held a solid presence at the event and helped to educate swarms of new trail runners as to what a well constructed trail shoe is all about. Out of the 1500 registered runners I'd guess 90% of them had never even tried on a trail shoe before!

Opening ceremonies including National Anthems and bagpipers at 9am with the gun firing at 9.30am

Lap 1, Ow My Hamstrings Hurt

Ryne shot to the front and I followed suite shortly thereafter, in fact I can now say that I officially lead The Toad for almost one full km! Ryne lead tape to tape in 08. We bantered a bit about what Taylors strategy might be, of which he wasted no time in revealing it to us. He was going to run light years faster than the rest of us...end of story!



I ran with him for about a mile and could not believe how little effort he was exerting while I matched his pace. I could see early on that to preserve my own race I'd have to ease off. Ryne managed to hang with him for the entire first lap, then Taylor set off to blaze a new course record!

For me, the first lap was actually full of self doubt about even finishing the race. I had a slight hamstring pull earlier in the week and the extended travel time and lack of sleep had done me no favors.

Lap 2, Ow My Calves Hurt

By the time I hit the second loop however, and was feeling pain in my calves instead, I knew the hammy's couldn't have been too too bad so I sucked it up and continued onward.

Lap 3, Ow My Stomach Hurts

The third lap was all about the thorns in my side...literally. On the first lap, because we were all near the front of the pack, while running alongside the 25k field as well, we were leading through most corners. While cutting them as close as possible you would make contact with the bushes from time to time. The bushes just happened to be laced with little balled up thorns that attached themselves to you like high tack velcro. No matter how I struggled I could not remove them from my body, I just ended up making matters worse. By lap three the burrs stuck to the front of my shirt were chafing up a storm. I took it all in stride and told myself that something had to hurt so it might as well be this and not my hamstrings or calves.

Lap 4, Ow My Everything Hurts

By the bell lap Taylor had enough of a lead that he very literally could have ran it in backwards for the win. I was getting splits from our Montrail crew as to where Melcher sat in front of me though and I'd closed the gap from 2min down to 1.5 minutes. My goal heading into the race was to run a sub 3h40m, even a 3h39m59s would suffice! I was still on pace right up till the 44th km, but then my body just started to shut down on me. My km splits escalated towards 5min and I could feel my goal time slipping away. I caught sight of Ryne but had nothing left in the tank to do anything about it. I just held on till the line.



My finish time was officially 3h41m11s, so I missed by 1m12s, which all things considered I'm pretty happy with. When directly compared to my splits from 08 I was 9m23s faster, and I managed each lap at a sub 1hr pace this time. All in all it was again an absolute treat to be a small part of Canada's largest trail race. As expected Ellie smoked the women's course record by over 20min to finish up in an amazing 3h54m07s. Oh yeah, and Mr. Murphy...he laid down an apparently untouchable 3h23m31s!! Unconfirmed word on the street about Taylor's experience: (The guy has ran something like 28:30 for 10k on the track. He was one of Canada's best distance runners a few years ago. He's gone to World Cross Country Champs!)


My 2009 vs 2008 splits:

Finish: 3:41:11 / 3:50:34

Lap 1: 51:41 / 55:27

Lap 2: 53:51 / 55:52

Lap 3: 56:02 / 58:34

Lap 4: 59:38 / 1:00:43
-------------------------------------------------------------

My Gear:

Montrail Mountain Masochists, best shoes EVER!

Carbo-Pro 1200 x600 calories

Thermolytes x12

Gel x1
------------------------------------------------------------

Full Results

GR

Elfin Lakes Sunset Run

Tamsin, Roxy and I headed up to Squamish last night after work, and we managed to land ourselves a perfect evening for a mountain run. Check out the sunset pics. I was quite impressed as it made the journey well worthwhile. The 22km route takes you back to the Elfin Lakes area which is complete with a 23 person backcountry hut!

I Heart Mountains!



(Run For The Toad Race Report Up Next)
GR

MOMAR Cumberland 2009

(I could have used Roxy's nav skills on the O stage!)

I was surprised in the days and then hours leading up to The MOMAR at how calm I was. Whenever I raced with Todd and even during my solo venture in Squamish back in May, I got pretty uptight and stressed about things until the race actually began. This time, nothing. It took me a bit to realize that this was the first MOMAR race I'd attended in years where I felt there was zero expectations on me, mostly placed there by myself of course! After proving in Squamish that I can't navigate my way out of a paper bag I knew it would be a long shot to grab the overall win, sans Todd, that I'd been dreaming of and hoping for. Damn you Nowack...I need you...please take me back!!

It's been just over a year now since I sold my mtn bike and started pursuing ultra running with 100% of my training time. I most certainly miss the bike from time to time, but the running is going so good that I'm not sure I'll throw down the cash again anytime soon. Thankfully Bryan Tasaka was generous enough to spot me his custom built Berg Bike for the race. The bike was sweet...but Bryan and I possess different geometries. After the smooth check in process, in which I love catching up with all the great people I've met through the MOMAR over the years, I took his bike for a test spin. It was my third time on a mountain bike in the last thirteen months, and outside of my daily bike commute to work, which is a 3min 600meter uphill ride, I really hadn't spun the legs lately either. Outside of the fact that I had to pull the seat post out by about 24 inches the bike felt great. Maybe I just hadn't ridden enough lately to know any different. From there it was off to the campground for a night under the stars.

Race morning and again no nerves. Todd would be shocked. One year prior I'd stressed him out and we ended up flipping our outrigger off the start of the race!

Maps were handed out and overall I liked the course. The bike leg was completely flagged which was great news. The urban nav is always a cake walk, so I was really looking at some nav on the first trek, slight nav on the second bike, and then an Orienteering course to finish it all off. I knew then and there that heading into the O stage I'd need a sizable lead over the field to have a shot at anything.

A Beautiful Day For A Paddle

With almost 300 racers sitting on the water for the enduro course it was like a wave pool when the horn sounded. Initially I was surprised at how I was handling my Current Designs Nomad kayak and I fell into a good draft behind Norm and Graham in a double surf ski. I quickly learned however that as soon as your hull escapes the initial pull of that draft it's like a handbrake has been pulled. I grabbed a second draft before being thrown out ten minutes later. My pedals seemed to be sticky and occasionally I'd zig zag while messing with them. That was just enough for me to loose contact and get dropped like I was sitting still. This continued for most of the stage until with about 1/3 left a double passed me with such a broad hull that you could have tucked two kayaks into its draft. I took it down a notch and glided behind, knowing the extra effort would be wasted energy at that point.


(The entire course in Google Earth)

I managed to be 13th off the water, first solo kayak, and I found myself exactly eight minutes back of Markez who was in the overall lead while paddling a surf ski. Bart, the Squamish victor, was second off the water and five minutes up, also in a ski, while the main pack was just sixty seconds ahead of me. I was quite pleased with where I found myself, for as I'd learned in Squamish, if ya can't nav, ya aint' doing yourself any favors by being the first person onto the course!

Onto The Run, Here Comes Grasby!

I had a quick transition and started hammered down the short road section that would lead us into a massive trail climb. I passed a few people, stalled on the first CP, but was paying attention which was an improvement for me, and then ventured into the biggest climb of the day. Things went well up most of the climb but at most intersections I'd end up referring to my map again, not wanting to get lost, and then the smooth navigators would catch up to me, point the way, and I'd set off running again. This repeated itself all the way to the top of the climb at which point the map did not correspond in my mind...which means it was probably perfectly set of course! I ended up waiting a few minutes for the pack to catch up again and as a group we started searching. Out of nowhere Jeremy Grasby blasts through, glances at his map and is gone again! We all followed suit, finding the CP shortly thereafter, but Grasby had already vanished like a ghost!

The road headed down from here so I opened up a bit and distanced myself from the pack again. After a few minutes I spotted Jeremy, about 400 meters ahead, running strong and confident. Internally I said to myself,

"There's your race right there! Catch him now or spend the afternoon out here running in circles!"

I pushed hard and caught up to Grasby in about two minutes.

"Hey dude how's it going! Mind if I tag along for a little bit here?"

"Naw, more the merrier!"

Ten seconds after that we flew past Norm, Graham, Jay, Jeff and John, who all finished in the top seven overall, and were all looking quite confused. Grasby didn't flinch,

"I think I know a short cut, this may or may not work out for us."

"Either way it's already faster than I woulda been!"

Sure enough just thirty seconds later he nailed it. Local knowledge goes a long ways in adventure racing! Grasby knocked off the next two cps like clockwork and while running along side him, with about a mile till the bike transition, he told me to get going. It didn't quite feel right, but he reiterated and I didn't hesitate. We passed Bart shortly thereafter and I managed to hit the bikes in 1st overall...thanks to Jeremy of course!

(Grasby out on Bike, John in off trek)

My First Mountain Bike Ride Since Squamish MOMAR!

The bike course was completely flagged. I knew it would be my only true shot on the day at having a direct comparison to the field. I hopped onto Bryan's Berg and was out in seconds. I passed Jeremy, Bart and John as we initially doubled back the way we came. My lead was under sixty seconds to these guys...the race had officially begun!

The first few kms of the ride were on fire road and I wasn't sold on the fact that I'd be able to ride Bryan's bike efficiently. Questions within my head flourished around how I'd handle the technical stuff once I got there...and there's never any shortage of technical terrain in a MOMAR and especially one in Cumberland!

Sure enough I did manage to find a groove and with each section of trail that I 'cleared' my confidence in myself and my ride escalated. I knew Grasby was the fastest rider, even on his single speed he consistently puts in the fastest bike splits at the MOMARs he attends. So it was with some surprise that I found myself about 30min and 30% into the ride having yet to be caught by him. At that point I knew I must be riding strong and again this only buoyed my confidence, which is a big part of mountain biking.

For the first time in years there was a mandatory gear check on course. I hit it, was asked for pump and whistle, and while struggling to locate my air cartridge I heard a noise behind me. I showed the gear and was cleared to go, but Grasby nearly touched my rear wheel as he pulled in behind me.

"SHIT! He caught me!" I should also add that I dropped AT LEAST four seconds while rifling around trying to find my gear...I'll explain that a bit later...

As mentioned this animal that is Jeremy Grasby rides a single speed bike...as in the same kind you had when you were a kid...no gears...no gears...no gears?! Yet he consistently out performs the rest of us on our 27 speed bikes!! And the MOMAR has no shortage of very talented riders.

I dove into the next section of technical trail just hoping to hold him off. Eventually that spit me out onto a flatter section of terrain. As I shifted one by one into harder and harder gears,

"HA HA, take that single speed man!!!"

Shortly thereafter we hit the major intersection before the long, arduous climb up to 'Bucket Of Blood'. As I pulled into the CP,

"Nice work Gary, you're in first!"

"Yeah but Grasby is about three seconds behind me!!"

I then put my head down and got to work on the ascent that would eventually lead to one of my favorite descents from any MOMAR. I was working hard but all I could think to myself was,

'Wow, I can't believe how good I feel right now. I'm not even struggling with cramping like I normally do!'

I was in the middle of my best solo MOMAR race to date. I felt strong and once we reached the hike a bike section I actually started running it with my bike in tow. Of course this was fueled by not wanting to be caught by Grasby!

WHOOP WHOOP! I Love This Stuff!

The descent was AMAZING. I was locked into an rhythm like I hadn't experienced in years. Everything clicked, and I felt at one with the bike. I didn't hesitate an ounce and I attacked the trail at every turn. By the time I hit the main intersection once more I had apparently opened up a few minutes on Jeremy...of which he would promptly gain right back!

On the final trails back into Cumberland I was quietly pleased with myself for staying out front and holding off the pack. As I came around a turn in the trail there was a log ride of about 200 meters and maybe a foot wide. To fall off either side was but a two foot drop, but the time lost would be decent while getting back onto the trail itself. There was a clear cut alternate route around this log ride...I didn't even flinch, I just rode right up onto and smoothly across the log ride. It felt awesome!

ARE YOU SURE IT'S HERE?!!

I hit transition still in the lead and quickly headed out on the urban nav.

First CP, hidden in a tree...with no 'hints' as to where things might be hidden I ran into the Info Centre three times to bother the lady behind the counter...

"But there's nothing out there! Are YOU SURE they hung something??"

I was on the verge of assuming it was a mistake and continuing on without having found it when I forced myself into one final search.

"DAMMIT! It's buried in a tree!"

The following three CP's were smooth sailing but upon my return to the bike I could see Grasby, Markez, and Bart all on the same stage...this was going to be the tightest finish I'd ever been a part of!

Onto the bike for the final ride to the start-finish area and the dreaded Orienteering stage! There was one CP to locate on the bike. I remember at the MOMAR in 07 myself and Mark Fearman hit this exact location on our bikes with Jeremy Grasby. He showed us a short cut. I thought I could locate it but didn't want to take any chances this late in the race so I settled on taking the longer yet safer approach. Upon arrival at the CP,

"How many ahead of me?"

"You're the first!"

Then a rustling to my left,

"Grasby, I thought I might see you here!"

We both grabbed punched our passports and flew through the descent which spit us out onto the paved road that would lead us back to the lake where it all began just under 4hr prior. It exactly mimicked 2007 as I turned to Grasby and apologized for having gears,

"See ya in a few minutes I'm sure!"

Still In First, But Not For Long...

I hit the transition into the final stage still in first. It was all I could have hoped for. I'd given myself at least a shot at winning this thing, but it was all summed up with the next words I heard,

O course designer Carl Cogger to me,

"It's Gary...without Todd!"

"Yes Carl, I know I'm screwed now!"

He laughed, assured me I'd be fine, then handed me my map. I was dumbfounded, I mean truly flabbergasted at what I was starting at. I had held a true O map like this just once in the previous three years. All I kept thinking was,

"Shit...shit...shit...this has to make some kinda sense...shit! That was followed up with, just chill, stay calm, don't move till it starts to make sense, you'll be fine, just give yourself some time."

It was like staring into one of those old holographic type pics we all had back in the late 90's. You stare and stare and stare until a dolphin kissing a whale appears before you...but there was no dolphin yet and Grasby had already come and gone with his map!

"Ok, just pick an easy CP, find it, then you'll work your way into the map."

I walked through the start-finish area, got made fun of by Dave Norona on the mic, and was then convinced I could finally make out what was going on. I took a small trail up to a parking lot, took a secondary trail to a higher parking area, turned the map a few times here and there, confirmed some stuff...yup, trees there, bushes there, this must be the trail...I took a slight side trail up to what should have been a CP in a small depression...BOOYA!! Right there in front of me was the CP, I'd found one! I was doing alright, the map was starting to make sense to me! What happened next was astonishing, I mean truly downright amazing, in fact I'd even suggest that to get hit by lightning might be more likely...I'd found the WRONG CP. I mean we could gather them in any order, so it still counted, but I had just spent five minutes of very precise movements based upon what I saw upon my map. I orientated it all, took a slue of trails and eventually chose a tiny side trail that lead me to my current location. I had found CP H while I thought I was looking for CP G...they were about 400 meters apart. CP G was on the other side of my map all together, in fact I had to open up my folded down version to actually locate where the hell I currently was.

"OK, not quite sure how that just happened? Not really needing answers now either, just more CPs. At least I know now where I am on this damn thing!!"

Then I heard some rustling and Grasby appeared out of nowhere, now searching for his third control on the orienteering course. He to me,

"Hey, you looking for H?"

"Umm, yeah, yeah totally, like I just totally found it right up there...and it was intentional too I'll have ya know..."

We then set off in the same direction for the next two controls before I ran slightly ahead for my now fourth passport stamp. I already knew that Jeremy would now stand atop the MOMAR podium, and he rightly deserved to do so. I was concentrating on just staying on that podium myself. As I found the next control and was working my way towards it Jeremy trailed just behind. I grabbed and punched, then looked up in shock,

Grasby, Markez, Jarmula, Thibault, and Cockshedge were all approaching the same control from different directions!! Internally I started to freak out, then talked myself back down.

My next decision was intentional but most likely ill thought out. Most headed in the same direction, I knew at that point that they were all ahead of me how many controls they had found and to surpass them I'd have to go solo and hope that as a group they struggled to find one or more before the finish. This was the end of my race. I set off to find what ended up being one of the harder punches and after spending minutes in and around the right area Grasby came up from behind me, located it, helped me do the same, and then took off to claim his race.

I located my next without issue and had but two remaining. We were all in the forest just up from the finishing area and could hear M.C. Dave Norona loud and clear,

And The Winner Is...

"Jeremy Grasby is looking like he's about to claim the overall title at The Cumberland MOMAR!!"

That was fine, I knew he'd do so, I had two controls left to go, just gotta...

"Norm Thibault and Graeme Cockshedge are in as the first double and second across the line!"

"Ok, not a problem, I..."

"Bart Jarmula is gonna be the second solo!"

"Ok if I can just locate these in a hurry..."

"John Markez snags third place solo male!"

"DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!" I believe I actually let out a shriek, a tear or two, and then started stomping my feet through the forest...stupid nav, stupid AR, stupid teammate moving to Norway for a year and making me look...stupid!!

As I struggled to find the second to last CP Bryan Tasaka actually grabbed the mic,

"Gary Robbins! Where are you?!"

I laughed, it was funny. Norona had a go at me too, but I deserved what I was getting at that point. I grabbed my final two controls and ran across the line for 4th solo male, 5th overall. It was the closest MOMAR I've ever seen. Top four were separated by just 2m28s! Then there was me in 5th, having taken ten minutes longer than the rest ahead of me to find my way through the O course. I would finish 8m30s behind the winner. Todd, come home, I'll pay for your flight!!

(The irony of having Todd with his hands in the air behind me as I stand in defeat in front of my own celebratory pic!!)

I'd actually go as far as to say that this was my best ever solo MOMAR race, it also just happened to be my worst result in about four years. My only solace...I had the second fastest bike split, just three seconds slower than Mr. Single Speed himself. Berg Bikes, big thumbs up!

MOMAR, Bryan Tasaka, it's love-hate at this point...mostly love though. Thanks for another incredible race course and party weekend...I actually body surfed on the dance floor at the after party...which would explain why it took me three full days to recover from the weekend!

Till Squamish, have a great winter MOMAR racers-organizers-volunteers you've topped yourselves yet again and it was an incredible way to cap off the 10th Anniversary of the best Adventure Races in Canada (Sorry Geoff, I'm biased!)

FULL RESULTS

GR

Stage 6, The Grand Finale!

I was out kayak racing last night and thinking about my race report while trying not to puke on myself in the boat. I realized a few things, mainly that I have probably made this all sound a bit too easy so far. Yes we instituted and followed a great race plan, which I believe left us to suffer less than most, but we weren't without our own daily struggles, both mentally and physically.

Each days routine focused solely on what would allow us to recover faster and race stronger than our competitors on the following stage. As soon as we finished the daily grind we jammed our mouths full of as much food and fluids as we could handle. We kept up a steady stream of Thermolyte electrolyte tablets before, during, and especially after each days running. We were always adamant about getting our recovery drinks in as quickly as possible and consuming amino acids such as Recover like they were candy. After the first few stages we realized the benefits of a daily massage to help 'flush' the legs. We'd follow up later in the evening with self massage via 'the stick' or a myo ball, and before bed each night we'd take ten minutes to stretch each others legs out. We'd then wear compression socks n shorts as pj's and call it a night!

By the third stage the snooze button was getting slammed regularly, and by day six we just decided to set the alarm as late as we possibly could while still making the race start on time! I most certainly thoroughly enjoyed every single stage of The Trans Rockies Run, but by the final day I found myself more than ready to take a few days off of running...and to sleep in an actual bed...in a hotel...with heat!!


Stage 6: Vail - Beaver Creek
Distance: 21 miles / 34 km
Climbing: 4623 feet
Descending: 4718 feet
Low/High Elevation: 7420/10512

It was another beautiful morning to cap off an incredible week. It was not lost on me what a different experience it would have been had the weather turned bad for any stretch of time. As the gun went off to start us on our final steps towards the overall finish line in Beaver Creek I felt incredibly fortunate to be standing in that exact place, at that exact moment in time, and for so many different reasons that they will all have to remain implied for now. Life was good (it's still pretty damn great since returning from TRR mind you!) but as I tried to stay in the moment and appreciate where we were and what we were about to accomplish, the pains within my body seemed insignificant. I had earned every single one of them, even the stomach issues I had mentioned, which I had figured out the night before to be caused by our tow rope set up putting constant pressure on my lower abdomen. Of course I didn't share that piece of info with Tamsin until the sixth and final stage was complete.

We began with a run through Vail Village and then out along a footpath that skirted the highway. My body was taking a bit to get rolling but once we hit the singletrack, just a few miles in, it was game on!


Because there were still numerous divisional battles to be determined in the overall G.C. (general classification) the field went out hard from the start. People were going to leave it all out there on the final day, and we were no different. Those masochistic bastards at TRR had saved the biggest day of climbing for the final stage!

Thankfully, as seemed to be the case for most of the week this favored us and as the terrain grew steeper we passed and distanced ourselves from numerous teams. Nikki and Kami still had ten minutes to try to make up on Devon and Caitlin and they disappeared early as they knew they only had 21 miiles to do this in. Devon and Caitlin were running strong and just a step ahead of us as we topped out on our first and largest climb of the day. However I think they got a time split from the aid station regarding The North Face girls because they managed to dig a little deeper and find another gear from there to the finish line. (In the end the NF girls made up seven minutes on the final stage, but they needed 9 1/2min. It was a fun battle to watch unfold all week long!)

The day was glorious and as we were running through the town of Avon, which basically split our two mountain climbs for the stage, I felt like I was melting down into the ground. As usual Tamsin did not feel the heat, but we were running at our max capacity as a team and Taz was well into the biggest week of running she'd ever undertaken.

As we began our second climb of the day, and last of the entire race, there was but five miles of running left in the 2009 edition of Trans Rockies Run...and we counted down every damn step. The second climb wasn't even comparable to the initial one we'd already conquered, but with our minds already firmly planted into a finish line that did not yet exist it made every step up the mountain side complete and utter torture. At one point you are forced into a power hike as you zig zagged up a ski run. We could see Devon and Caitlin cresting up ahead of us, and by the time we'd done the same we were able to confirm that not another team was within sight of us.

From here it was pretty much a 1.5 mile cruise to the finish line. We slowed our pace so as to fully take it all in. This was the first moment since we'd learned of our open mixed lead, towards the end of stage three, that we'd allowed ourselves to admit and discuss what was about to occur...

"WE'RE ABOUT TO WIN TRANS ROCKIES TAMSIN!!!"

"HOLY CRAP WE'RE ABOUT TO WIN TRANS ROCKIES!!!"


We floated across that finish line in Beaver Creek, hand in hand, as teammates who'd set out with a clear cut goal over eight months prior, to try to win Trans Rockies. We had no idea at the time if that was even a realistic goal to set for ourselves and yet here we were, victorious on so many levels.

(Photo Credit Dan Hudson)

Tamsin and I then took great pleasure in sitting in the sunshine and cheering in the rest of the finishers of the 2009 TRR. To our surprise and delight the next open mixed team across the line were our own friends from N.V. Nicola Gildersleeve and Peter Watson! I should also mention that Aaron Heidt and Adam Campbell laid the hammer down on this stage and outright won it by almost six full minutes!

Two by two the rest of the competitors trickled in throughout the afternoon. Being that I consider myself a fairly competitive runner and that I train pretty hard I was well conditioned for what the Colorado terrain had thrown my way. What I witnessed thereafter was truly the definition of guts and glory. The pure elation upon people's faces as many completed the most grueling physical endeavor of their entire lives. The determination and unrelenting attitudes that many of these competitors displayed was one of the most inspiring things I have yet to witness. I would happily have sat there all afternoon watching this all unfold had I not smelled so damn bad and been so bloody hungry (yes I used the word bloody to create one more mental image of Tamsin's incredible nosebleeds, of which she has corrected me in saying they lasted over half an hour!). After a quick shower and some eats I returned to the finishing area once again to cheer the remaining people across the line.

(Jenn and Carolyn celebrating their open-women 80+ win! {combined age!} Photo Credit Dan Hudson)

My hat goes off to so many participants of The Trans Rockies Run, so many in fact that I won't even attempt to mention them all here right now. What I do feel the need to do however is to properly congratulate my fellow BC runners who fought so hard, through blisters, battered bodies and even a broken toe, yet not a single complaint did I hear throughout the week long run. My own personal experience down at TR was enhanced greatly by each and every one of you. Thanks so much for all the incredible memories!


(Sandra 'broken toe' Sander and Liz 'powerhouse' Collings)

In No Particular Order:

-Sandra Sander & Liz Collings
-Nina Parente & Shelly Hoodspith
-Aaron Heidt & Adam Campbell
-Jennifer Heffel & Carolyn Hutchins
-Bitsy Delany & Megan Wheatley
-Julie Flynn & Glenn Cameron
-Nicola Gildersleeve & Peter Watson
-Chantal Hilbert & Heather Hamilton
-Meredith Cale & Adam Way
-Valerie Henderson & Nancy Gilmore
-SPECIAL THANKS to Jeff Delany for being such an incredible support crew for all of us and transporting some of our gear. I loved having an actual pillow each night!

Ahh hell, I might as well finish this thing off right or I'll regret not doing so later. The people who I'd never met before, or had gotten to know a hell of a lot better than I already did, and each of whom I will never forget:

(the four Newfoundlanders down at Trans Rockies!)

-Thomas & Monica Miller
-Phil Villeneuve & Gavin Hamilton
-Ted Russell & Greg Kotzbauer
-Hal Koerner & Andy Martin
-Blaine Penny & Trevor Baine
-Julie Leasure & Peter Courogen
-Deb Russell & Steve Russell
-Tim Watson & Doone Watson
-Keith Brodsky & Leslie Gerein-brodsky
-Caitlin Smith & Devon Crosby-helms
-Kami Semick & Nikki Kimball
-Toby Radcliffe & Will Kelsay
-The names I've overlooked in my quick scan of the stage six results, you know who you are, it's 1am, I'm sorry my eyes were closed and I missed you!

Last but certainly not least, my wonderful sponsors:

-Montrail: I rocked the Mountain Masochists all week long and loved every step I took in them!

-Mountain Hardwear: My 'Monkey Man Jacket' was my choice piece of the week!

-Carbo-Pro / 1200 / Thermolytes / Recover: I overlooked mentioning that I was able to carry a half bottle full of 1200 throughout the entire race and would simply use it for my single handheld refills at aid stations approx every ten km. I basically fueled my entire run on 1200, a few gels, and a shit load of thermolytes!

-Princeton Tec: Although none of our racing was done at night we spent the entire time camping. I love my new 'Remix' and it's become my fav all rounder. Packs down to nothing too so I always carry it along on my evening runs just in case.

-North Shore Athletics: Quite simply we would not have been there without them...and they sign my paycheques so I'd better stay in the good books here!

FULL RESULTS

That's it! I think I've managed to do a decent job of recreating our experiences down in Colorado, although words can't fully express what an incredible journey we had and what a phenomenal organization TRR really is. The countdown is on to 2010, rego opens next week! WHOA, HOLD YOUR HORSES, if you can hold out till early 2010 and you register through North Shore Athletics we'll be able to provide a discounted entry fee...more info to follow in the coming months...here's few pics to leave you with,

(Just a glimpse at what/who it takes to pull off such a grand event such as TRR!)

(Thomas and Monica Miller in all their glory!)

(Keith and Leslie showing us what team work is all about!)

C'est Fini

GR

ONE LAST ADDITION, for people who were there...

TRR Stage 5, My Favorite Day

If you didn't take the time to look at the entire six day race profile in advance of day one, and strategize around what you saw, then day five would surely be about the time when your body started dropping incessant f-bombs on you. The final two days just happened to have the largest climbs of the entire race, both at over 50% bigger than anything we'd tackled in the first four stages. In fact in the final 48 hrs you would end up covering approx 40% of the entire races mileage, and 40% the entire six days worth of climbing. The real race was about to begin!


Stage 5: Red Cliff - Vail
Distance: 23 miles / 38 km
Climbing: 4407 feet
Descending: 4868 feet
Low/High Elevation: 8191/11787

We'd instituted and followed a great race plan up until this point in the week. Anytime I started getting carried away and trying to chase down people in other categories Tamsin would be quick to respond,

"Gary, it doesn't matter if such and such is ahead of us, we're not racing against them. Nothing to gain, everything to loose. Chill out, stay smart, we're ahead of everyone we need to be ahead of right now!"

Although Julie and Peter of team Nike/Gore-Tex, who we'd gotten to know and really liked, were over 20min back of us, they'd run every edition of TRR and finished second each year. I knew they'd put in a big push on stage five to try to change that fate. Taz and I however were feeling really good and I felt it was our time to shine.

The race started with a bitterly cold morning and most were wearing their mandatory jackets rather than stuffing them into a waist belt or backpack. Again we started smart but this time we made a push earlier than the prior stages and within fifteen minutes we were the lead open mixed team and running strong with Nikki and Kami.

The terrain on this day was a mix of fire road and single track, as it had been for most of the race, but as we climbed higher the trails became steeper and more technical until we basically crested the Vail Ski Resort. The views were the best we'd had all week with panoramic exposed alpine mountain tops as far as the eye could see. The singletrack narrowed to more of a goat path up high and I was constantly struggling between checking my footing and trying to take in as much of the scenery as possible.

(Dan Hudson Photo Credit)

Due to the grade of the climb, which was entirely runnable, it greatly favored us again. The only hiccups we faced on the way up were of my own internal workings. Not to go into too much detail here but although Tamsin had dealt with her nose bleeding issues I had blood coming out the other end. It started late on day three and after checking with the med staff after stage four I was told there was little that could be done. The most likely cause seemed to be simple stomach distress from all the new (and delicious) foods I was consuming throughout the week. Maybe my food allergies were just flaring up a bit on me? At least that's what I convinced myself of initially. Half way up the climb on day five however it had only gotten worse, and painful. Tamsin was worried about me and like any good teammate I totally played it down and pretended all was good. In my own head though I was left wondering if I was doing any serious harm to myself.

By the time we'd crested the huge climb up Vail mountain the vistas had erased any short term memories I'd had of my somewhat serious stomach pains. We even paused for an entire four seconds and asked one of the photographers up top to snap a shot of us!

(Dan Hudson Photo Credit)

What lay ahead was 9.5 miles of entirely downhill running. I knew Tamsin's knee would be bothering her and simply hoped that the grade of the descent would favor us. Yet again it was a lengthy fire road towards the end of the stage and after about thirty minutes of torturous downhill she started vocalizing how slow she thought she was moving. I knew otherwise and my response consisted of,

"Taz, how many people have caught us in the last half hour?"

"None."

"How many people do you see behind us?"

"None."

At that exact moment we spotted Nikki and Kami just a switchback ahead. They'd topped out on the climb just in front of us but we hadn't seen them in over 45min. They were still locked in battle with Devon and Caitlin and were pushing hard to try to close their time gap before they ran out of race course. Shortly after this I pulled off the trail for the fourth time on the stage, and when I glanced back I spotted Devon and Caitlin charging hard down the fire road. Although they still possessed a lead of close to ten minutes over Nikki and Kami they were awarded zero breathing room or downtime.

"Go get em girls, they're just up ahead!"

Within two miles of the stage finish we hit some wonderful, flowing, technical, singletrack which lead us home. It was the perfect end to another beautiful day of running through the Colorado Rockies! As was becoming the norm, the four women doing battle finished just a minute or two ahead. As was evidenced over the last few days, we collectively got faster as a group and the teams behind us faltered ever so slightly. Our lead over second grew by another twelve minutes. We had accomplished what we'd set out to do at the start of the day and there was now but one final stage standing between us and an overall victory at one of the most prestigious running races in North America!




The most exciting news, for me at least, was watching who finished second on the day. Deb and Steve Russell of team Pipeline crossed the line just ahead of Peter and Julie from Nike/Gore-Tex. Why was this exciting for me exactly? Especially given that I'd just officially met them five days prior? Because they are a brother-sister combo originally from Newfoundland as well! If this means nothing to you, and chances are that's exactly the case right now, bare with me for thirty seconds. I was born and raised in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland Canada, in a town of <30,000 peeps. I/we come from the second smallest province in Canada with a total population of just over 500,000...for a Province, equivalent to a State...not a city, not a section of a province but the entire thing, and it's not like there's a huge running scene there either. That night at Trans Rockies exactly half of the podium in the open mixed category would hail from Newfoundland! Chances are this still means zilch to you, but to me it was something special. I gave them a huge hug when we were up there together and I was proud of all of us. Especially given that Deb is a complete newbie this year and I'm only into my sixth season of endurance sport (adventure racing), first as a runner specifically.

(Julie, Peter, Tamsin, Me, Steve, Deb)

I have to quickly add that randomly enough there also happened to be a fourth Newfoundlander down at TR this year. I'm hard pressed to think that anyone from Nfld had ever even run TR before? Blaine Penny was 1/2 of the 9th place open men's team 'Evan Can Run' and someone we shared quite a bit of 'trail time' with during the event. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do me/him a favor and briefly hit up this link. He was running in honor of his son and it's a truly tragic and unbelievable story. I was getting regular nightly massage after each stage to help loosen up the body and flush out the lactic acid. Once I heard his story I took my massage money for the evening and stuffed it in his pocket. It was a quick reminder that although all of us Trans Rockies runners were locked into an epic battle against nature, each other, and our own (perceived) limitations...it simply paled in comparison to what real life can sometimes throw at you.

GR