Thunder Road Marathon

There was quite a group of Barrie RoadRunner that travelled to Charlotte NC to take part in the Thunder Road Marathon on Dec 11.
Charlotte is a beautiful city with lots to see like the Nascar Hall of Fame and lots of nightlife, and is very clean and friendly.The group, well there was Dave Hope,Catherine Harding,Bill Lovett, and Keith Lascelles running the half, while Jim Tuttle, Erin Wilson-Barrie,Lisa Thurlow, Tracy MacLean, Oliver Owens, Roger Ison, and myself running the Full. The course was somewhat hilly from start to finish, including a bit of an uphill finish. The course was incredibly scenic with nice homes and very friendly course support. It was a cold start but great conditions for the event, no rain and how often do you get to wear shorts in December!
The medals were great, a couple of free beers as well at the finish.Everyone had a good race including Lisa and myself who had PB's
Congrats to all, it was a fun weekend despite some travel delays due to weather getting home!

Boston Tea Party, April 17th 2011

I received this messsage from a David Hiddleston. Those of you going to Boston in April please read on;

Hi Bill, hopefully I have the correct person but I saw your name on the Boston Marathon 2011 entrants list. Just wanted to make you aware of an event that might interest you - it's a brunch the day before the race aimed at Canadian runners; www.bostonteaparty.ca.
Thanks

David
 
Here is an excerpt from the website:
To register click the tab at the top of this page where you can either enter online or by mail.  Note - this price includes online processing fees.  We are having three sittings of 9am, 10am and 11am so decide quick which suits your schedule and register before that slot fills up.  Any questions?   Please don't hesitate to contact me, David at teamcanadabrunch@gmail.com

Thunder Road Marathon NC

This Saturday a number of Barrie Roadrunners are heading to Charlotte North Carolina for the Thunder Road Marathon. It looks to be a great event with some of us doing the Full and others the Half.There is plenty of entertainment to look forward to on the course from cheer groups from schools,bands, and a juggler.
Good luck and a great race to all.

Whitby Waterfront Races Nov 21/10

The Whitby Waterfront Races were held today and a number of Barrie Roadrunners participated in one or more of these events. Yes thats right,one or more as Chris Battaglia ran the 5K, the 10K, and the 10 miler. Not a bad day at all for Chris who basically did 31K of race pace and was 2nd in his age group for the 5K. The day was one windy cold one with a head wind that made you forget all about those 32 degree summer days as we ran along the shores of Lake Ontario out and back. Oliver Owens, Tracy, and myself ran the the 10 miler and all had a good race with Oliver 1:15, Tracy getting a 1:47 and 2 minute PB, I also had a PB of 3 minutes at 1:16. It was a good event with a long sleeve tech shirt (3 for some right Chris) medal, and hot soup served out of the Ontario Shores Center which is an amazing facility.

Marshall University Marathon WV

11 hours by car is how long it takes to get to Huntington West Virginia.
Kevo, Theo, and myself headed for this Sunday marathon on the Friday before with some snow through the Ohio Valley but descent weather for most of the drive.This event was well done with a full zip fleece top(if you registered early enough) or a long sleeve tech shirt, free pasta dinner,and a nice medal. Out on the course we figured we were the only Canadians but I ran with a guy from Toronto, and then Andrea(see pic) joined in the conversation and she was from London. Andrea runs out of Runners Choice in London and as we talked about races,she was telling me this Sunday race was the 2nd of her back to back marathon. The course was fast and looped a couple times through Ritter Park and along the Ohio River as well twice. I started to get tired around mile 22 but kept going with quick stops at water stations and wanted to have a strong finish. The finish is right into Marshall Stadium were you can take a football and run the 100 yds to to the goal line finsh, it was great.
I finished in 3:54. Kevo had strong run as usual and his 2:56 got him 2nd in his age group and Theo PB'D at 3:28.
Oh and the stuffed Giraffe....thats from Tracy's car and we wanted to make sure it got around, and it did.

4 Ways to Combat Off Season Blues

Well as I was trolling through Yahoo Canada I came across this little article that caught my eye. Now it's aimed towards triathletes *shudders* but we won't hold that against them; there's no accounting for taste.

Who knows it might help stave off the winter blues for those runners that are currently injured or sidelined for other reasons.

Enjoy.

And hug a tri-guy no one else will. *tee hee hee hee*

http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/4-Ways-to-Combat-Offseason-Blues.htm?cmp=282&memberid=100190871&lyrisid=21104504

Munich Marathon

After completing the Lochness Marathon in Inverness Scotland the week before (Oct 3rd, see write below). The Macleaniacs (Rick and Tracy)and the Lascelles (Keith and Joan) travelled on to Munich, Germany to take part in the Munich Marathon (Joan would take part in the 10k, her first running). The trip would take different paths, but once we met up in Newcastle, we took a ferry to Amsterdam from North Shields. Then flew to Munich.
Munich is a beautiful city and the marathon would hilight its beauty. The expo was larger than we expected and we picked up the required "bargains". Munich wasn't cheap though, the race as well, on top of your registration you have to purchase or actually rent your chip for 6 Euros and if you want a race shirt you have to prepurchase that too. But since we probably wouldn't be able to do this again...
T-shirts and "bargains" in hand we headed back to the hotel room and another day of site seeing before race day.

There are 9,000 runners in the marathon so this is a big event, but staging the start and finish in the Olympic park is great location with lots of room. The finish for all events is in the Olympic stadium (1972 Olympics) on the track, and a amazing stadium it is. Not dated at all.

Race morning we took the Metro to what was supposed to be the closest stop to the Olympic part (not sure about that, as we walked along way to get there).
But get there we did and walked to the stadium to the bag drop areas, which were very well organized (well they are germans!). Off to the start area we went, and by this time it was getting very crowded. Rick and myself had decided that we might as well start in the second coral as we weren't in any hurry and we knew this may be a struggle after last weeks race. Remember beer is plentiful in Munich! We said our goodbyes to Joan whose race would start about 40 minutes after ours at the same spot.

At 10 minutes after 10 on the 10th of the 10th month in 2010 the second coral started, and we were off. It was a slow start as it was crowded and again we weren't in a hurry. Tracy was in front of us for a while. At about 4k in we went by a beer station (a little early for us, but we took note of the location because we knew we'd be coming back this way). Shortly after we turned onto the Ludwig Strasse,
a wide boulevardthat we would a couple of times. Majestic buildings and architecture to put north american races to shame. At about 8k in we entered the English Garten, a very large park, which we ran through for about 5k or more before exiting into a very nice residential area. The amzing scenery contiued on through out the race. My injuries started to wear on me and by 19k or so I knew this was going to be a tough go, but Rick said he wasn't at his best either and was willing to just plod along or walk or what ever was required. And so it went on like this for many k's. Back onto the Ludwig Strasse at about 30k and off again to follow some narrower roads to more sites.
Back to the Ludwig Strasse at 36k, counting down the k's to the finish and then there was the beer stand again. I said to Rick to pcik up 2 cups each as we deserved them. There was lots there! And they were big cups, but once we tried it we tossed them just as quick, yukkkk! That was the worst beer we'd ever tried. That last couple of k were extremely difficult, but only because of our condition. I was looking forward to finishing on the track where I watched my running hero's compete in the 72 Olympics (Viren, Foster...). We took a last walk break just before entering the stadium, through a tunnel we ran with strobe lights, dry ice fog and music blaring into the stadium (what a rush). We ran the fastest we had ran all day around that soft track, it felt good finally.
Rick and I finished in about 4:23 and looked for the beer tent, found it and would you believe its alcohol free beer, WTF! Oh well we drank it anyway, Rick waited for Tracy while went ot look for Joan. Joan had completed her 10k in a 1:00 PB, woohoo! and thought that she could hav edone much better, but ran cautiously for the first half. Tracy would finish in 5:44 in another great effort.

An awesome experience, in a big city marathon in part of the world I'd love to come back to. Definitly recomended.

Niagara Marathon 9th Place

An amazing result last week at the Niagara Marathon as our own Darren Collins placed 9th overall in 2:49. To place that high in any marathon is remarkable to place in a marathon as big as Niagara is extremely remarkable. Congratulations on a great race Darren, and judging by your remarks on facebook it was not easy. Lots of other RoadRunners took part in both the Marathon and half Marathon and a good job by all. to see the results go to Sportstats.

Slainte 10K Race Hamilton

Congratulations to Angie Tuttle,Liz Clubine,and Jenny Allan who raced the
Slainte 10K in Hamilton Oct 30th.
Liz and Jenny finished in 1:03 which I believe is a PB for Liz, and Angie
finished 1st in her age group at 58:39.
Way to go girls, well done.

Steamtown Marathon

Well since about February I was trying to figure out what I would do to celebrate 10/10/10 and I couldn't think of a better way then to run a marathon, but where?
So after some careful consideration & many questions to my Marathoning Brother in Law I decided on Steamtown Marathon in Scranton PA.

I managed to lasso Cindy Marcelli into going with me on this adventure. Poor Cindy - hang a marathon in front of her and she'll sign up. She has no self control. ahahah.

Jim Cummings is the Asst Race Director and would send out his monthly updates & I swear I have never laughed so much as I did to his newletters, so much so I would have to respond in like. Which he felt the need to respond back. Ohhh the fun we had emailing each other about killer bunnies, rickety old bridges, peeing on wood piles, All sport being Dutch for Can't get another type of drink. I had to take slight offense to the mis-use of Dutch. Everyone knows that's not what Allsport means. ssshheesh.

Cindy & I started our adventure around noon on Friday afternoon, we managed to get stuck in every bit of traffic misadventure that could have possibly taken place on a sunny Friday afternoon. FINALLY at the boarder around 4pm we declared our citizenship and our intent to run in Scranton PA. to which our border guard said " ahhh Dunder Mifflin, say hi to Michael Scott" to which I replied " Who?" He could tell I was a bright spark, so he waved us through. Quickly. Obviously we were not a threat to the security of the United States of America.

As I drove the Tribute down the interstate and Cindy and I were chatting away I looked to my left & what to my wondering eyes should appear but an OUTLET MALL. They had an Adidas store, Under Armour, Guess, Coach, Charlotte Russe, LINDT... *sighs* ohhh it was heaven. So we walked out of the shops four hours later ladened with the odd bag or two. We arrived at our hotel in Clarks Summit some twelve hours after we started our Journey (which should have taken only 6 hours). It was six miles from the start line from the bus pick up in Scranton but it was a wonderful little hotel that served a breakfast from 6-10am THEY HAD A WAFFLE MAKER... Cindy was not leaving this hotel. So after some worry that they, the hotel, couldn't find our reservation ( many calls back and forth to the hotel on our journey) We camped down in our own beds in a nice quiet room outside of the elevators.

We ate our waffles the next morning and headed to Scranton to find the Expo & Jim Cummings, the very funny Asst Race director. And there he was, I could tell immediately - upon introductions we laughed and laughed at each other, but I can honestly say I rhoroughly enjoyed reading his updates and looked forward to the next one. I mean who reads updates right? Well with Jim's I can guarentee most runners did.

The expo was held in the new state of the art high school - which had me a bit worried & yes when Cindy & I got there, it was as I thought, rather small. However; all your runners' needs were met. They had shoes, clothing, nutrition & accessories of all types for sale. The Steamtown line of tech wear was selling like hot cakes. I picked up a rather nifty tech T-shirt myself. I would have made one suggestion, they could have really played up the 10/10/10 date a bit more. I mean it is a BIG DEAL. It's never going to happen again for a thousand years. Whoop it up fellas. Work it Divas. Alas not so much. However; they are really nifty regardless.

We headed for lunch there after; more by accident then on purpose. I sorta got lost and we ended up on Washington Street Plaza so we sat at Alfredos and had our pre carbo lunch. Then found more shops to check out. My goodness I can't get over the bargains in the States. Woohoo.

Then back to the hotel to relax at the Starbucks we had to walk 2 km to. ahah. Then head over to Rite Aid for more retail therapy and then over to Charlies for dinner. Yummy... food. hmmm Carb load food.

Back to the hotel again - do some race prep. Pin bibs to our shirts ( the bibs had the timing chip attached to it in some fancy schmancy way) so no more throwing your right foot over the pads to get a better time. Now it's bellys' first.

The weather was going to be 32 degrees in the morning and a high of 66 degrees by afternoon.
And with the injuries and lack of training I had - I was sure I was going to enjoy the 66 degrees for quite some time.

We drove down to Scranton & hopped the bus for our Start in Forest Hill, PA. We hung around the gym for a while until the start was minutes away, I managed to grab a couple of unused sports socks to put over my hands/arms for the first few miles of the run as it was cold ( apparently 32 degrees F is 0 celcius. Who knew) That's chilly. The start of the race was not a starters pistol - nope it was a fully functional canon. There was no mistaking this start.

The first mile was marked by an uphill, then followed directly by a down hill then an other uphill and, you guessed it, down hill.

Cindy & I kept our pace to about 6-6:30 pace and managed nicely for a long time. I felt really good but knew that at some point this would not be the case & I had better enjoy this moment. We managed to pick up a hanger on by the name of Hank. Hank lived 38 miles from Scranton and hadn't trained "really" for the marathon, albiet his second year running it. He regaled us of stories about how his wife was the runner and he just "took it up" and beat her at the Disney Marathon a few years prior. He would sprint off to go pee then sprint to catch up with us. Not at all annoying. Then make calls in his cell phone at the 10 mile mark. Well at that point I needed to be shot of him. Nothing personal Hank - but your sprinting and talking while I'm struggling to not throw up from the pain in my leg is making me even more sick to my stomach.

Oh yeah did I mention from about the 3 mile mark my leg was aching like a son of .... Yeah so Hank had to go.

Cindy & I both dove in to the nearest port o potties and when we emerged a minute later Hank was gone. phew.

I popped a couple of tylenol at this point and prayed that they would work sooner than later. At the half way mark I had a feeling that it could be a long race. For me at any rate. Really it was okay because the support through out the course is beyond belief. Everyone is out and cheering, they had their own water stations & cheering sections. It was unbelieveable. WOW. WELL DONE EVERYONE!!!

We ran across a couple of runners around the mid way point & she was crying her eyes out. Her husband running with her, trying to console her. Cindy & I were as well. She was just overwrought with emotions. I said not to worry I would be having my little breakdown by mile 15. And sure enough.... as we entered the trails I told Cindy to go on ahead & have her own race. I wasn't going to be long for this world. I mean the most I had done was Aug 22nd running 30 K at the Midsummer nights run. Then lots of swimming and spending a couple hours at a time on my elliptical. All really great cross training, but it doesn't prepare your body completely. So I had my little cry as I saw Cindy for the last time. And continued on - running with a lot more walking.
Then by mile 17 it became just walking.

Man is walking hard.

Really hard.

I tried to maintain a 9 min / km pace. In some instances it was more than easy enough. Other moments when I just felt like I couldn't walk another step it was the hardest pace to maintain. At 21 miles I had a brownie. It was the best brownie EVER. And I managed to pass a few people as well, so I started to feel a bit better about myself & my abilities. Then when I got passed by Poopypants I about lost it. This fellow ran like well... his name says it all. There was no way I was going to come in behind a Poopypants. NO WAY. So I started my own personal race, I really started to dislike him. Again no reason, it's just me folks, you know me by now. I'm slightly competitive at times.

When the 5 hour mark of the race hit - all I could think about is with any luck Cindy managed to finish yet and how much longer would it take me. I was having a few problems doing the conversion from miles into kilometres but figured I'd be done at 5:30 which would have worked if the miles were actually kilometres. ACK. Oh well. At mile 23 you enter into Scranton itself - through the friendly neighbhoods. They had sprinklers going, water tables, a huge street party the whole way through. That really lifted my spirits. I felt a bit of a spring in my step and I actually ran a bit here and there. Hurt, but I still ran. And there were some pretty significant up hillls happening as well, and well at that time of the race everything felt like Kilimanjaro.

I started to round the corner nearing the 25 mile mark I was greeted by a very friendly gentleman saying and I quote. " You may not have qualified for Boston but you qualify for a beer" and pointed me in the direction of the beer table some 300 metres down the road. I cried every step of those 300 metres. Thanks buddy cuz I didn't feel horrible enough. Sometimes it's just better to say nothing at all. You know?

I said no to the beer table and continued on to the next mile marker. I could hear someone behind me & thought I can NOT be passed by anyone else - so I started a conversation with the fellow. He was injured as well. started walking around the 16 mile mark, his hamstring was giving him grief. So we chatted away keeping each other company & me keeping an eye on his pace. I could hear my name, I thought I could hear my name. It was Cindy about 500 metres from the finish cheering me on. As soon as I could see her I told my walking buddy to try some running and we'd run it in. He was a no go. So off I went. As I run up Home Stretch Hill they were taking the sign for it down. Rather sad...

I could see the clock and it was edging near and nearer to 6 hours I sprinted as best as I could and made it in at 5:56. Not my best showing at all - but I made it.

I collected my medal and my pieces of pizza, the pizza was bigger than the medal. Now you all know I'm a bling ho ... so I thought the bling for 10/10/10 would be something awesome. However; the shirts at the Expo should have been a warning to me about the medal. It is something underwhelming to say the least. I'm not being ungrateful - honest. But 10/10/10 they could have done some much more.

I would highly recommend this race to everyone - it's a top 10 race if you want to do a BQ time.

It's extremely well organized & the support along the course is outstanding. This is definitely on my list of races to run again when I'm at 100%.

So until the next race... or adventure.... take care.

Lochness Marathon

Inverness, Scotland is the where the Lochness Marathon ends and wear we gathered ourselves on Sunday October 3rd to board the busses to the start line. Inverness is a beautiful town/city in the north east of Scotland at the north east end of Lochness. We had ventured here after talking about the possiblity of doing this race for a couple of years. Roger and his wife Esther and myself and my wife Joan had flown to London on the Friday before and then Saturday morning flew to Inverness.
The MacLeaniacs (Rick and Tracy) didn't have it quite as easy. Due to Tracy's work schedule they had to fly to London and arrive Saturday morning and then not arrive in Inverness till late Saturday night. We had picked up the race kits and they didn't miss much at the "expo".
We got up early to walk the 2k to the busses taking pictures of nessis on the way.
We (Rick, tracy, Roger and Keith) boarded the busses and waited and by 8 am the busses left for the long journey to... Just where were we going anyway? A stunning bus ride with beautiful views got us to the start line, actually about 1k away or more, in the middle of the scottish highlands with nary a building to be seen anywhere. Something has to be said about the logistics of this race and the great job in putting this together. Bussing 3000 marathoners to a hill in the middle of nowhere, on a road that barely fits a bus is no mean feet. We got off the busses in the cold, wet and windy conditions and there was a beeline for the heather on the hills and the few trees around to relieve ones selves. Followed by a long walk to the baggage drop off trucks and then the port-a-potties, in the middle of a field. Once that was taken care of we realized that it was not long to the start, so we made our way chasing after Roger who seemed more anxious than the rest of us to get near the start. Before we could say.. the gun went off and we were on our way. The first few miles were all down hill (more or less) and with the narrow road and masses of runners it was not possible to do the 10 and 1's we had planned on doing. Eventually at about 2 miles we figured we could walk and did. Roger suggested that 2 miles and 1 minute walks may work better so that's the way we decided to approach it. At 5 miles the first significant hill. . It was shortly after this that Rick dropped off the pace as we were going quicker than anticipated. Considering the journey to get here, it is surprising that any of us were running as well as we did, especially considering the injury problems Roger and myself had endured.
The views continued to be amazing and the light rain continued to fall, perfect conditions. My own injury issues were starting to slow me down a bit and at about 13 miles I told Roger to just go and not worry about me. He gradually pulled away. The 2 miles and 1's went off the rails for me at 15 miles as I took an extended walk break and just as I started to run again I hear Rick behind me. We ran (well almost ran) the rest of the race together. At 18 miles after going through the town of Dores to some unexpectedly racaus support from the town folks, we looked behind and there was Lochness behind us with a panoramic view and the hills on either side (photo op, also known as an excuse for a break).
Follwing this we turned to face the largest hill on the course about 2 miles long (at least it seemded like it). We'd get to the first curve on the hill and think it was almost done and see it go on forever!
We walked the entire hill, all 3, 4 or was it 5 miles? The race was becoming a struggle, but we made the most of it and just enjoyed talking to everyone. We had a laugh at everyone thinking both Rick and myself were called Barrie (hey look its the Barrie's, they would say). When we got to Inverness there was more crowd support and had to run to a bridge to cross the Ness river before doubling back to the finish line. Rick and myself finished in 4 hours and 12 minutes, Roger struggled the last few miles and finihsed in 3:58, not bad for someone who had been told not to even walk a few weeks before.
We then waited for Tracy, as we did so we listened to the announcer talking about the feats of some of the racers, and although admirable they would pale by comparison to what Tracy and Rick had accomplished over the past month or so. So we approached the announcer and let him know, so as Tracy finished he announced that she had completed 5 marathons and one half over the past 5 weeks.
Lochness was a great event in a beautiful location, a challenging course, but recommnded by all of us. Esther and Joan not to be out done, completed the 10k walk and enjoyed being apart of the event too, finishing in 1:25.

CIBC Run for the Cure Oct 3 2010

So this is the third year I've done the CIBC Run for the Cure in support of the CBCF with my work colleagues in Downtown Toronto.
This year they moved the venue from Nathan Phillips Square to the U of T campus. Not a bad spot really, however; being unfamiliar with the locale, our team didn't meet up ahead of time for a pre run/walk WHOOOAAAA BUNDY!

However; I headed from Barrie to Yorkdale Mall to catch the Red Rocket to Queen's Park. I know this well from going to Toronto General often for my check ups, but U of T - I was a little shaky on, however; as the sea of pink clad runners emerged from the underground, we were greeted by numerous University student Volunteers that took us to our run destination which started and finished at King's College Circle.
We ran along University, Bay, Bloor, Queen St W ... I ran right by the ROM and didn't even realize it. How could you miss that? I guess I was concentrating on not falling apart.

See I haven't run since the Midsummer Night's Run way back in August, mind you I have been using my eliptical and swimming heavy workouts to keep the cardio up and the legs in motion.

So as I lined up for the start, I kept thinking - okay your boss isn't here running with you, you have nothing to prove. RUN SMART - don't injure yourself.
The starters pistol went and off I trotted. I looked down at may Garmin - 1 km in 5:03 YIKES... that is SO not good! That's including running around folks, dodging slower participants (although they separated the walkers & runners) & as I got to 2k I checked again & my pace was a blistering 4:48 WHAAAAT? No NO NO NO!!!!!
By the time I hit 3 k my leg was protesting severely. This was NOT what I had decided to run after my daughter broke the news to me that she couldn't walk the run with me.
So the only way to stop running is to STOP RUNNING - so I did. I walked about a minute & let my calf muscle relax a bit.

I started off again and stayed at a steady 6 min / km pace & my calf was very pleased with that. So I maintained that with the strict vigilance of a Nun at a co-ed school. I also allowed myself to walk a number of times more to that end I finished in 29 minutes.


Once again the CBCF put together a wonderful post & pre race "expos". Our friends Revlon were there, once again, selling all sorts of glosses, mascaras, etc. at such bargain basement prices that Honest Ed would be proud. Purina Cat Chow was represented. CIBC had their tent there with all the CBCF merchandise on hand to purchase.
The food tent was totally OUT OF THIS WORLD. Probably the best food of any "small distance only" race I've been too.
Mind you the distance may be small but the size of the participants is not! Toronto has thousands upon thousands of participants. There were runners and walkers as far as the eye could see, in fact it was remincient of Sporting Life 10K. It was outstanding to be part of that.

And a huge big ENORMOUS thank you to all the kind and generous folks that sponsored me again this year! With out your support ... well... many tata's would be in jeopardy.

Thanks CBFC for hosting another spectacular event!

Thank YOU for giving your hard earned dollars to this worthy cause.

USAF Marathon & Rochester Marathon

Yes, its a 2 marathon report, both good ones.
Rochester Marathon was Sept 12 in Rochester NY. Tracy, Brendan Kavanaugh, Jim Tuttle, and myself were off to stay over Saturday night for the Sunday race. Small expo, cotton longsleeve shirt(nice) and a well organized event made this a definate one to consider as its not that far to drive.The course starts on a small bridge downtown, heads downhill for miles through some nice areas before turning onto bike trail for about 16 miles along the Erie Canal and Genesee River.The course is flatter than the profile on the website, and quite fast. Brendan was first in his age group, and we all had a great race.

The USAF Marathon takes place in Dayton Ohio. It starts and finishes on Wright Patterson Airforce base. Tracy, Oliver Owens, and myself all drove down. Cynthia Osborne and Brian were also there. The course is hilly and was hot with temps in the low 80's, but you soon forget all that when you expierience a B52 Bomber low fly over a few times at the start, and then a couple of F16' fighter jets. The patriotism is everywhere and you feel honoured to be able to run in some of the high security areas on the base. The finish line corrals you to an awaiting Senior Airforce Officer, one of many waiting, who presents your medal, congratulates you and shakes your hand.It is great, and the medal is one of the best ever. We all had a good, but tough at times run from the hot weather. I highly recommend this race and we plan on going back in 2011.

Run Club Shopping evening at Mountain Equipment Co-Op, Toronto

Can you send info on the following event to fellow runners at this week's run and/or copy and paste it into a club email? See you there but will see you at the expo first.

Michael Brennan

(he's in charge of the pace bunnies at Scotia Waterfront Marathon)

Run Club Shopping evening at Mountain Equipment Co-Op, Toronto

Monday, September 27th, 2010 from 7:30 - 9pm

10% discount on most products within the store, including already discounted products

Large selection of running apparel, shoes, accessories, base and mid layers, insulated clothing, trek and hiking clothing, etc. In case you didn't know, MEC carries it's own brand of excellent quality and well-priced clothing and gear, carries the Patagonia brand of clothing, and now carries bikes - city, road and mountain bikes and accessories.

When you arrive at the door just tell the staff you're there for Running Club Night (the store is open only to running club members from 7:30 - 9pm)...

Address - 400 King Street West (east of Spadina Ave.)
Parking - Underground off Charlotte Street (not associated with MEC), large lot at Wellington and Peter Street (a few minutes away), street parking, etc.

Montreal Marathon

The Montreal Marathon on Sept 5 was a well done event. Jim Tuttle had decided he was going to run it a couple of weeks ago and the next thing you know Tracy and I come up with a plan to go to. My sister lives in Kanata, which is about 2 hours from Montreal, so it was nice to go for a visit and then head to Montreal to run the Marathon, after all, it was a long weekend.We all stayed at the Delta Centre Ville which had some mixed reviews, but was good for us, you cant knock a 6pm late checkout.The expo was quite small but lots of friendly folks to help you get your nice tech shirt and basic goody bag. Race day was cool, cloudy, and windy,minus the wind would have been nice. The route was great and scenic with a couple of hills and inclines, the hardest was at 37k as you came to Olympic Stadium and had to run up a 1.5k long hill and go around it before entering and finishing the last 200m inside the stadium.It was kind of funny to hear all the supporters cheering saying "Bravo", but reminded you were in Quebec.One cool area we ran was on the Jacques Villeneuve F1race track for about 5k.We all posted good times and Jim's 3:38 PB was well earned.
So, Jim, Tracy, myself and a few other Road Runners are off to Rochester NY this weekend for another Marathon.
Stay tuned,Tracy and I are now into our 5 Marathons in 5 weeks streak.

Terry Fox Run

The 30th running of the Terry Fox Run will take place along Barrie's waterfront on Sunday, September 19th. This event, held in communities across Canada, has generated awareness and funding for cancer research. Join us at Centennial Beach to run, jog, walk, or wheel from 8am - 1pm. The official start is at 9am, but the event is otherwise a drop-in format. The route is marked for 5km, and the untimed event is great for families who can do any combination of that distance. If you would like to dedicate your regular Sunday run to the cause, please drop by the registration table any time that morning to make a donation and have yourself counted as part of the Marathon of Hope.

Midsummer Night's Run Aug 21 2010

Oh I know ... late again, but I didn't want to steal the thunder of the SS240 write ups. That was some amazing running there wasn't it? Holy Hannah! Well done to all the Barrie teams that signed up! And a hearty congratulations to all the Barrie teams that placed in the top three of their divisions. WOOT WOOT!!!

On the same day the Simcoe Shores relay race was held another race was being run that evening, A Midsummer Night's Run in support of the Dept of Rheumatology at Sick Kids Hospital. I had a heavy decision to make regarding the relay vs. MNR and after weighing all the pros and cons up - I chose to run the MNR. I had a lot of fun running it last year with my fairy wings and tutu, this year had no reason not to be the same.

After some discussion in the back of the Running Room with fellow runner Jen Remazki & Cindy Marcelli I decided to join Team Abby, named after Jen's 7 year old neice Abby who has been suffering from Juvenile Arthritis since she was 2. We put out the call to our running friends for donations and once again the runners in Barrie answered the call. Donations started coming in. Jen was incredible with her fundraising abilities.
Then one night on the way home it hit me like a solid gold brick. RAFFLES ... the idea was to put together two baskets of donated items to raffle off: a runners basket & a pamper yourself basket. So again I threw my net out and once again the response was tremendous, donations were happily given by one and all. Tickets were FLYING out the door & by the time race day dawned we had raised $2500 for Sick Kids! WE WERE THE # 1 FUND RAISING TEAM!!!

Then off to the race we went - with, what we thought, was plenty of time. Yeah .. erhm... not so much. Traffic was manical on the 400 getting to the 401 East - So I said to Cindy well it shouldn't take that long to get the the 404 DVP .
Oh, said Cindy, we're taking Dufferin.
Are you sure? I think the DVP would be quicker.
Nope the Garmin says we are 9 minutes away. It'll take longer to get on the DVP.
Are you sure?

So for an hour the Garmin told us we were 9 minutes away. Stupid Garmin. So we sent a calm call to Alan Hewson to see if he could grab out race kits as we were ever so delayed. What a hero!!!
Along the 401 we got separated from Jen & her Mum so we agreed to meet up at the race. They took the low road & we took the slow road. *groans* Ackkk. Oh well.

*sighs*

We got there with time to spare. Found Alan, the portopotties & a wonderful tech hoodie rather than long sleeve Tech shirt in our race kits. I had my 60K button as well... life was good. Now back to the race-mobile and get kitted out for the race. We donned on our blue boas, sparkly blue bear metallic gift wrap decorations, our blue & green ribbons for our hair & we were ready for the next 3 + hours.
Abby & her older sister Marly were there to help us get ready & cheer us on. We'd meet them at the last 200 metres and they would run in with us. Mark Trenton the race director even agreed to allowing them to recieve a medal. What a guy! They even provided us with a free entry into the 2011 MNR for our raffle basket. Amazing support from the race directors office!! A big shout out to them.

I had little idea what or how I would be able to run seeing as the longest I managed to run was 14 k the Sunday before. This was going to be interesting. Very interesting indeed. My foot no longer bothered me & my calf musle was behaving as well. Fingers crossed.
After some discussion along the way we agreed upon running 15 & 2's. As Jen's mantra was "15 & 2's will see you thru! "
And it really did.

They changed the beginning of the run - Runners went south on Cherry St - to Cherry Beach and then along the Martin Goodman Trail, turn around at Urwin Bridge back out to Cherry St N and along Commissioners Drive. Then out to Tommy Thompson Park - around the light house and then through Ashbridge Bay Park then back on Commissioners to Bouchette where the finish (and start) is located.

I didn't have my Garmin with me & Cindy's wasn't functioning it was up to Jen to be the time keeper & pacer for that matter. Though I would make comments about how fast we were going & where did they think the race was?
As we headed towards Tommy Thompson Park we were over taken by herds of 15K runners and amongst them was the Rock Star himself Rick Ball! We must have sounded like crazy folks screaming out his name & cheering him on. Then on the way back more Rick. I did challenge him to a race earlier that week on Facebook, but well, I didn't want to embarass him in front of all his really incredibly fast running buddies. It just wasn't the right time. There will be other races. *ahahah*

Man those 15 & 2's were wonderful. I was puffing abit by the 13 minute mark and couldn't wait for the last 120 seconds to pass, but I wasn't about to fall over from exhaustion. This was the way to go!
Cindy was having difficulty with her hip and would need to ease the pain out now and again. Jen was just a task master which was amazing!!! Otherwise I'd have shaved off a few extra seconds here and there on our runs.

And as we came out of Tommy Thompson Park and headed towards Ashbridge Bay Park the rain was seriously coming down, it has been spitting earlier but now finally made the decision to release constant drops of warm water on our heads. Our boa's would be ruined.. oh well. Many a compliments we wee receiving on our "costumes" . We had dressed in the same blue shirts, black compression tights & boa's. We had it going ON!

As we were turning into the Park Cindy's spirits were seriously lagging. Funny as it was to listen to, I felt for her. It had been a long 22k to that point & it was getting darker and darker with no water stations and not that many more lights on the course. Having watched one too many episodes of Criminal Minds - every corner had a potential Reaper behind it. Every noise from the woods was a cry for help. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Were those 15 & 2's getting longer? What the heck? You want us to go around where? How much further? WHAT? ack. Poor Cindy. She wasn't loving the Park. I was happy when we were heading towards the exit, or is that the entrance? hmm.

We hit the 27K mark and I seriously needed a walk & a walk I was granted. I think all of us needed that break, we walked almost to the 28K marker. The rain was very steady by this point but it was a relief from the heat.
We hit the 29 K mark and were still running well. Granted we weren't the fastest things on two legs, but it was all about finishing - I wasn't about posting a PB. I hadn't run any long distances since March really. I was pretty darn proud of myself.
We could hear the crowds & music of the finish line and knew it was only a matter of moments before we'd meet up with Abby & Marly and sure enough 200 metres before the finish there were the girls cheering for us. We all grabbed hands and headed towards the finish line arms in the air!! Alan came and joined us for the last km or so, which was fantastic - it perked us up as well.
Jen, Cindy & I crossed the finish line in 3:45 - I had given myself a finish time of 4 hrs so I was more than pleased with my time. In fact I was over the moon!

Abby & Marly got there medals, Sick Kids got our donation of $2500, we got the priviledge of running for a cause! It was a stellar run!

Thanks to everyone who helped us become the top fund raising team!
Alan, Jayme, Stephen, 5 Peaks, Chatherine, MNR, the Barrie Running Room, Sandra, Trish, Samantha, Jen, James.
Thanks EVERYONE that supported us by donations & raffle tickets!

And the best part of it all, little Abby thought everyone doing the Midsummer Night's Run was running for her on Team Abby! And in a way they all were!
Thanks Mark & team for putting such a great run together for such a worthy cause.

After we headed back to the race-mobile changed out of our wet running gear, threw on some dry clothes and our nifty new black hoodie from the run and headed over to the SS240 relay race to start our shift as race crew for the Barrie Backpackers! Now that's a story for another day.

Until til the next race, which is Steamtown, take care of yourselves.
See you around.

Montreal Marathon

A couple of RoadRunners took off to Montreal to run the Marathon there this weekend. The Macleaniacs (Rick & Tracy) and Jim Tuttle had a good day with Jim's time of 3:38 I believe is a PB, by at least 10 minutes (??). While Rick finished in 3:58 and Tracy 5:17. Great job guys!!

RoadRunners SS240k Relay Team Pictures

5 Peaks Trail Running Series - Terra Cotta

Okay so August 7th was another exciting installment of the 5 Peaks Trail Running Series & I was going to be Cindy Marcelli for the run! I was some excited! It was a 12.4 k trail race & the most I had done was the 10k at Muskoka rocks the Sunday before.

I had my daughter Chelsea volunteer at the race as well so we could go together and share the day. It was slightly over cast - but it was going to be a brilliant day. As I followed Terry from Barrie down the highway then over hill and dale, through a wrong turn we finally ended up at the race 10 minutes before it was due to start. We got our bibs & chips with 6 minutes to spare. ACK! Under pressure.
Again Barrie was representing! I can't get over the amount of Barrie runners that seem to go to every race in the area & then further a field as well.
Rickymac, Trixiemac, Cynthia Osbourne, Chris Batagglia, Terry from Barrie, Sandra, Kelly H, Greg, Stephen, Kellie M & myself. Plus a few familiar faces from races gone by.

The race goes off in waves. I let the first wave go, then the second wave and I decided to go on the 3rd wave - just cuz. And off I went. Around the field, through the stone path and down towards the wooded trails. Man they weren't kidding when they said it was tough. There were more exposed roots then on a bleached blonde! Rocks, roots, rough patches ... it was abound with challenges. I kept telling myself it wasn't a race, it was a run. Just a Saturday morning trail run for fun, no need to get my knickers in a knot about "finishing" in a certain spot, finishing was enough. Though I would feel horrible if I made Cindy come in last or worse yet not at all. I so didn't want to DNF.

So I over took gingerly, shouted out " on your left " and moved by several runners, down a nice hill, across a gravel path & then heading towards the pavillion where you turn back on yourself for about 200 metres and then into the woods again. I had spied Tracy and hoped I could catch up to her. I did around the 4 k mark. She was right in front of me about 50 metres so I passed a few more folks to siddle up right behind her, we chatted for a while, but Tracy was suffering from her boat race nights. So I toddled on ahead & up up up the big hill, popped out of the woods around to field and over to the start / finish line to the left of the inflatable and on to the next loop. I grabbed a cup of water from my daughter that was manning the water station, her cheering me on was awesome! I really needed that. Off again toward the woods & to finish the race, I mean technically I was over half way by that point.
I was still feeling okay. I was pushing it slightly when I could. I was following a couple of runners but as hard as I tried to catch up to them, I just didn't have the legs for it. I rounded the 8 k mark and felt a bit of fatigue starting to settle on me. So I slowed my pace down - there was no need to get tired on a trail run and then fall over, down or on something. I am at best, an accident waiting to happen, so I took extreme caution here.
By the 10 k mark I was talking myself into a good finish, there was the big uphill, I could do that. But instead of walking it like I should have done, I ran it. I believe that's were I tore my calf muscle slightly again. *sighs*
I couldn't believe how silly I was! It's not a bad one, but I can feel it now just the same. As the last kilometre was looming ahead I kept telling myself that I didn't want fall over the finish line. So I'd better smarten up and get my poop on a scoop! I crossed with a time of 1:34. All things considering, not too bad. I didn't let Cindy down & she wasn't the last one across the finish line.
Woohoo!

One of our runners Greg McKinnon got a podium place in the sport race - 6K. Well done Greg! Congrats on the excellent showing!

Then TfB, Sandra, Kelly H, Chelsea & I headed out of town after the awards and door prizes for a nibble to eat. We ended up at a lovely little eating establishment called Cheeks in Bolton. That was a tastey treat! Especially when my daughter bought it for me. WOOHOO!!

Then some how I managed to miss the turning towards King City and ended having to get on the 400 from Finch Ave. Don't ask. I have NO idea.

And lastly just a shout out to 5 Peaks for their contribution towards the Runners Gift Basket we sold raffle tickets for. They provided us with a 5 peaks running series hat & steel water bottle as well as a Powerade reuseable bag. Thanks!!! We really appreciate it.

Muskoka Rocks 10 K

Well fellow runners, I'm a tad bit behind in my blogging! I know ! I know! Who knew there were OTHER things in my life to take up my blogging time!

As you know, when we last left our heroine she was suffering from tendonitis which, according to all reports, would leave her sidelined for 6 weeks. No running for her! None. Zero, zip, zilch, nada, buttkiss! It was a dark time for our heroine: a dark time indeed, filled with doubt, pain, depression & anxiety. However salvation came in the form of her bicycle. And so our story begins again...

Having promised Tracymac that I would be a group leader for her 10k clinic it was a bit of a bummer to be side lined with this friggin tendonitis. ( I say that with all the respect in the world cuz it really HURT !!) Being very staunch about my commitments, I had to figure out a way to keep on helping. Then it dawned on me: I have a bicycle, I can ride my bike with my runners and work with them that way! WOW~~~ I loved that idea. Until the first night of hill training. I was determined not to ride in granny gear for the Wednesday night hill training & what a work out! And my bike is a mountain bike - about 27 pounds - huge tires. *sighs* so it was great for the quads & glutes. Yikes!

So my RMT said no running until August & I had agreed to that & I meant it. Muskoka Rocks which was out goal race was August 1st. That's August to me. Right? So I kept up my long bike rides & hill training and tempo rides with the group & all the while said a little uhmna to the universe to help me be ready.
I tried a small run the week before and got 560 meters under my belt. I had to turn around less than 300 meters into the run, I could feel my foot flaring up. This did not bode well for August 1st & Muskoka Rocks. But I kept a positive attitude as best as I could and kept saying my little uhmna.

So the morning of arrived & off I went with my partner in many crimes of late, Cindy Marcelli. We packed in our racing bags & our golf bags, I mean if the weather's good why not get 9 in? Right?! So off we headed for Minett, Ontario, punched in the rough address to my Magellan & headed off in a northerly direction. With a little bit of difficulty I located the Peninsula Rec Centr, the start/finish line , then found parking and found Rickiemac & our race kits. Our tech shirts were marvellous - the back of it had written on it THE HARDEST 10K in CANADA - (or something like that... ) I just about fainted. Awesome!! Can't wait!

Found the rest of the 10K clinic folks & got some pre race pictures & got ready for the start. Found one Mr Jim Tuttle wandering about the grounds & beckoned him over. The facility we were at didn't allow the runners to use any of the amenities so off to the portopotties we went. I think there were 6 of them, so by the time everyone had arrived the line up was stretched down the road. Race Directors: how about a few extra next year?

So the race plan was to stick with Cindy who was coaching first timer Britney through the race. Nice and slow. No heroics! No running hell bent for leather. Just a slow and steady plod after all it was going to be hilly. So I was going to walk what hills I had to as to not aggravate my calf issue either. It was going to be a SMART run.

After some shuffling of the runners we were all ready to begin the race - PART WAY UP A FRIGGING HILL!! Really? Seriously? Fine, fine, fine. It can't get much worse that that. Can it. Well they were right, it was a hilly run. I started the race with Cindy & Britney - we were at a very comfy 7:22 pace. I was confident in the fact I would manage just jimdandy with that pace. As we headed for the first water station, which was advertised to be at the 2k mark, but really closer to 2.75 k (but who's taking note of things such as that) I felt a bit of a hop to my step & headed off to test my "wings" so to speak. There were some incredibly large hills. The one at 3k that was going down was nice, but the fact you know you are running up it at the 6k mark made it a bit daunting.
The rest were rolling hills and I could talk my way through them. I walked when I felt I had to. I kept to my 10 & 1's. Steady. Steady. Steady. I got to the BIG HILL and although I had passed one runner only, I had another one in my sights. He wasn't that far ahead of me & I dislike him with all my might, but the hill was bigger. I had to walk it, there was no way I was willing to throw 6 weeks of recovery down the drain for 300 meters. I would gain on him then he'd take off running. Ohhh... that was soooooooo annoying! ACK!! Then I passed another runner who was struggling as well, but it wasn't THE fellow. It wasn't the same feeling. By this point I was running 300 meters and walking about 100 meters. I was TOAST! So much for the cardio fitness on the bike rides. BLECH.
I came up the final hill and started passing the 5k walkers that were still out on the course. By now all of the other 10 k clinic members had finished. I passed them on the way to the turn around. Heckled Aiden McGee as he came speeding by me on his return leg and by the way he came in 1st in his age group. I like to think my positive remarks to him helped spur him on to his amazing finish. AHAH.

I tried to finish strong. I still have Kevin O's voice in my head from time to time. " finish strong" aackk.. ALRIGHT!! ALRIGHT!!. And I picked it up. I was looking at the finishing time and saw 59:xx on the digital timer & I went faster & faster. I couldn't believe the time! Could it be true? could I be under one hour for a 10k? Yeah, not so much! I was looking at the 5k clock. My time was 1:10. Not bad for a first run back on the most difficult course in Canada!
I'd take that for sure.

Afterwards we stayed to watch Aiden be presented with his award, he's a terrific runner for all of his 14 years. Darren Collins was there as well & placed 6th over all and 2nd in his age group. Well done gentlemen! Well done.

I would definitely go back again! It's a great course, definitely tough, but definitely worth the drive to Minett.

CHOCOLATE RACE Volunteers Needed!!!

Hi Everyone,

We could still use some volunteers at the upcoming Chocolate Race in Port Dalhousie (near St. Catharine's) on August 29th. Those of you that are running the race may know of someone - perhaps a family member or friend - that would like to come and cheer you on from the best seat in the house..right on the course! If you are injured and are not running anyway c'mon down and be a part of a great event! Also a great opportunity for students to get their volunteer time for school so bring them out! They'll have a great time and get some hours signed off too!

Please reply by email as soon as possible to let me know if you can help out or if you know of someone that could (spouse, friend, family, teen aged kids). The race is actually THIS SUNDAY so I need my numbers firmed up ASAP.
Time Commitment - Sunday August 29th 8:30am to 12:30pm (only 4 hours!!)

Where - Port Dalhousie ON (next to St. Catharine's ON...it is GORGEOUS there!)

Why - to be a part of one of the BEST races on the circuit. RD is Diane of Dirty Girls fame..if you ran her race this month then you know she puts on a great one!

Accommodations - if you don't want to drive down from Barrie on Sunday morning we have FREE accommodations at my friends place 15 mins from the start. There is enough sleeping room for close to 20 inside and tons of acreage to pitch a tent if you prefer.

What's in it for YOU? - Free entrance to the chocolate after party (free chocolate !! ) and a Free beverage at a local establishment (think beer, wine or chocolate martini, chocolate milk for those under 19 :) ) These items are only being offered to Barrie volunteers to say a HUGE thanks for coming down to help out.

What's in it for ME? - having the confidence that the volunteers I have on course are doing an awesome job and knowing that we have a great and supportive running community!

Many have said they will assist, NOW is the time to commit...pretty please! This involves directing the runners on the course, cheering (we do it best in Barrie) and supporting those that you know participating in the event.

I am in need of a minimum of 16 bodies for the course marshaling. If I get more than I need (how awesome would THAT be), we can look at pairing people together...

If you can respond by email today it would be sooo appreciated! Hoping to count on your support. It is going to be a GREAT day!

Thanks so much!
Catherine

cath.harding@gmail.com

Simcoe Shores, an Old Guys Perspective

Well what a weekend. While it is a little early to know all the results and lack of sleep makes, at least myself a little sleepy. It seems that the Barrie RoadRunners were very successful at the first annual Simcoe Shores 240k relay. With I believe 8 teams out of the total of 41 teams that showed up we were well represented. BKB, Barrie Dashers, Faster than a 93 Civic, RoadRunners 2, The Heat waves, Barrie Packers, the Sole Sisters and us the RoadRunners Oldguys.
The festivities or race start began at 7:30 am on Saturday morning with the first wave heading out from the waterfront in downtown Barrie, the second wave including the Oldguys started at 9 am. The fast third wave started at 10:30. Our team included Darren Collins, Bill Lovett, Oliver Owens, Brendan Kavanagh, Theo Bosch, Roger Ison and Keith Lascelles. Our first runner was the speedy Darren Collins who started tucked in behind the leader for the first 6 or 7k before passing him on the rail trail at the 5th/6th side road. Darren came in comfortably in first place for wave 2, in our first leg, handing off to Theo. Theo had been battling a few injuries and other than a short run on the previous wednesday hadn't run for a couple of weeks, so this would be interesting. Theo ran strong and steady on his leg to the fifth line of Oro and up towards Bass lake Road at the Hand off Theo was in second place and let Brendan take over. Despite telling him to take it nice and easy, Brendan tore up what was a very difficult hilly leg and left a large gap between himself and second. Bill took over next and kept a strong a steady pace on rollign hills passing first wave runners who had started 90 minutes ahead of us. Bill passed on to Keith who immediatley had a couple of huge climbs to tackle, which would be a test for his injuries that had turned the year of running into a challenge. Keith tackled the hills and forced himself to do 10 and 1's to lessen the impact on the sore achilles and hamstrings issues. As Keith finished his left achilles twinged a bit and after finishing thought that, that might be it for the weekend, with only one leg done. Oliver took over from here to the end of the first stage and brought us in tied for first in our wave. 4 hours and 41 minutes. It turns out that only 3 teams from the final wave beat our time too, so we were fourth overall at this point. A 2 hour break took place in Orillia at this point.
The second stage from Orillia to Midland would round out the daylight hours and Started with Roger, who found the humidity tough on a very hilly leg. Darren took over next and chased a very fast runner from the Velocity team from Orillia, keeping us with in 5 minutes. One of the performances of the weekend for our team was next to come with Brendan taking over 5 minutes behind the front runners in our wave, on a very scenic and flat trail leg he caught the lead team with in 5k and built a sizable lead as he came into Coldwater and passed off to Bill again. Bill contiued at a steady pace as he passed many first wave teams, but try as he might he couldn't catch James Rooney at the leg end. James showed some true grit to fend him off at the finish, good job James! Theo had, like Keith decided to miss a leg to see how the injuries were fairing and Oliver had stepped up to run to Victoria Harbour. The humidity at this point was very thick and dusk was approaching. Another good run from Oliver borught into the exchange and Roger ran to finish our 2nd stage in Midland in the twilight hours. We were the third team in overall. but still had changed positions overall or in our age category. At this time both Theo and Keith withdrew due to injury. Another break ensued for about an hour and a half, before the next waves got started at 9:30, 10:00 and 10:30pm. We started at 10 and Brendan ran hard against another tough runner in the dark. This would be a test for a lot of runners as most had never run trails in the dark, lights were a must and some found out cheaper lights just don't cut it. The trails were pitch black and very hard to see the footing, regardless Brendan ran well and passed over to Darren who quickly took over first place again running into Wyevale. Another leg by Oliver followed which would take us into Wasaga Beach into the early hours of Sunday morning. While supporting Oliver along the route on Floss Rd 11 just coming into the Beach we noticed a electric moped being driven eratically in Olivers direction so we tunred round to warn Oliver and another support vehicle down the road. The moped then tried to run oliver off the road turned around and came back, we then confronted and stopped the moped. Some very "stoned" individual with no helmet either. A text from Theo revealed that they ahd talked to the OPP at another turn who had actually stopped the moped earlier and let him go on home???? Olivers run continued rather uneventfully, althought the humidity seemed to be talking its toll. Roger followed on to due battle with drunks downtown in Wasaga as the bars were letting out. No problems but somewhat entertaining. Meanwhile the rest of the team headed to the next stage end to set up up a tent and try and get some sleep (not very successfully). More to come...

Part Two
While some of the team were making an attempt to sleep, Roger, finished his leg into the Sportspark with support from Theo and Brendan. A couple of hours laying around or walking around chatting to some of the other teams. A four o'clock wake up call and we were shuffling around getting ready and packing back up for Stage 4. Darren started the first leg off and to the west end of Wasaga Beach, up against a couple of formidable runners. Darren ran comfortably hard and finished the leg in 2nd place right behind the first place runner still in the dark. Oliver would take over for the 2nd leg and he blew out of the exchange zone with a sense of purpose. "Oliver, slow down, you've got a long way to go", Oliver was chasing a much faster runner and soon could only see a red flashing light in the distance. But Oliver is a strong and steady runner and maintained his steady pace. About halfway throught the leg, he was starting to get a little disillusioned and even offered to drop for the good of the team, but we would here nothing of it. We are a team and unless he was injured he was going to finish as a team. At one point Oliver asked if there was anyone behind him that we ccould see, we lied and said there was no one in sight. Actually we could see a light in the distance. We told him afterwards! Daylight was starting to show throught the clouds at this point and after a much longer leg than he thought, rounding a corner he saw the exchange zone and almost wet himself with delight. He was almost done for the race.
Bill would take over for what would be advertised as the toughest leg of the whole race up the mountain, or the escarpment. After he took off we followed, but had to make a pit stop for Brendan when we came upon an portable toilet about 1k from the exchange zone, WTF. After a long time waiting we took off after Bill, but couldn't follow to support as the road was closed to vehicles. At least it was supposed to be as some went through anyway. We found the alternate route and met up with Theo and Roger at the next exchange zone. At the top of a large hill we waited and thought we would be a long while. Some of the fast wave runners came through as we waited, but then we saw Dawn Hamel from the Velocity Team powering up the hill in first place for our wave. 55 years old and she was running up the hill like it was flat, amazing run. But shortly after Dawn came in, we saw Bill. He finished making up 5 minutes on the leaders in only 9k. Another amazing performance. Before Bill arrived we had a team discussion about Roger doing the next leg as apparently it was tougher than the level 5 leg that Bill was doing. But the following legs would be all downhill and Roger doesn't like downhill running, so off he went. And wow, Roger stormed up the hills, one after the next and passed the lead runner. The hills kept coming and Roger kept attakcing them, with a few walks thrown in. The rain had settled in and Roger was in heaven, loving the wet conditions. It also got very foggy as we finally pulled in to the second last exchange. Brendan was itching to go and off he went and the leg was definitly downhill and Brendan was loving it (he would pay for it on Monday). The Irish Flash was flying down the hills, but with about 2k to go he started to feel it and you could see his form break down a bit. He ran on galantly and came into the exchnage zone he looked relieved to pass on to Darren to run the last 5.2k. We soon realized that with only 5.2k, to run and Darren running it, we better get moving to the finish or Darren would be there before us. Darren finished the 5.2k in only 19 minutes. At about 9:30 Sunday morning we finshed, third place overall and second in our age group. We knew we were doing well, but we didn't think we could oull that off. After brekkie, we met up with some of the other Barrie teams finishing. A good day/night was had by all and Barrie teams did extremely well most placing in the various awards. Congrats to all. Thanks to all the volunteers, and support crews out there. hopefully we'll get some pictures up soon. And I'm sure we'll all be back next year, some of us may even be healthy enough to actually run.