Back to Back Marathons, a Great Goal!

I wanted to go with the boys last year to do a "back to back" Marathon weekend ,but it wouldn't fit my already borderline insane schedule. This year I had thought of it again and was all ready to sign up for Illinois, and Cincinnati, when the plan for the National Marathon in Washington DC and the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach became the back to back set to do. So, it wasn't long and Keith,Kevin,Theo, Catherine, and myself were on the road to do it. Tracy was trying to make the trip with us but had to wait until the last week to bow out.Roger and Alan were going to do Washington and Brendan was doing the Shamrock as "only" single marathons! We piled into 2 vehicles Thursday night and made it to Bradford PA. Did you know the Zippo Lighter Museum is there? Theo does. We had to drive to the Expo first as it was only a one day affair and then the Hotel. The Washington DC race course was good, not fast and flat good, but lots of hills and tough inclines, lots of huge buildings, sights, and the cherry blossoms were in bloom. After the race we packed into Kevin's van, and Roger left with Alan for home in his car, part 1 of the double was done. Everyone was feeling good and there was no time to complain as we had to drive to Virginia Beach 4 hrs away, check in to the next Hotel in Norfolk, rest, eat, and get ready to run another marathon.Thanks to Marie and Sophie for picking up our kits for us, saved us the tight schedule we were facing to make the expo before it closed. The weather was beautiful for the race and after all it was Virginia Beach.I ran with Catherine for the first 10k or so before we separated on this flat course and seeing Marie and Sophine at the halfway point was inspirational because the second half was open and getting hot in the sun. There was little to no air movement until we looped back towards the finish at mile 22 and the cool Atlantic ocean breeze lifted my spirits and I knew it was almost over. As I passed mile 23 a spectator said "only 44 blocks to go" yeah thanks for that, but the blocks are quite small at the beach area and numbered as street names. As I turned onto the boardwalk I could see the finish line less than 800 meters away and I was aiming straight to it and nothing was stopping me. Marie was taking pictures and I saw her first standing near the already finished Theo, Kevin, Keith, and Brendan. Then just like that it was all over, back to back marathons. Awesome feeling! So what did I get from this? Well, 3 shirts, 2 medals, 1 hat, free beer at the finish line, and a great experience with great friends. I will do this again, its worth the time and training. It may not be for everyone, but dont ever think its impossible or crazy to do back to back marathons because you can do it. The best way is definatley with someone you train with or a group of friends who will be there for support. By the way, that makes 4 Marathons for me so far this year , and it's only March!

Back To Back Weekend

A very successful if not painful weekend for the Barrie RoadRunners who travelled to Washington DC and Virginia Beach to do back to back Marathons this past weekend.
On Saturday the five back to backers Kevin O'Neil (his 3rd B2B), Keith Lascelles (2nd), Rick MacLean, Theo Bosch and Catherine Harding started there first at the National Marathon along with Roger Ison and Alan Hewson "only" doing the one marathon this weekend. On a warm and sunny morning the results were as foillows:
Kevin O'Neil - 3:18
Keith Lascelles - 3:32
Roger Ison - 3:32
Theo Bosch - 3:32
Alan Hewson - 3:49
Rick Maclean - 4:32
Catherine Harding - 5:05

After a four hour drive to Virginia Beach. a little bit of sleep the 5 back to backers were joined by Brendan Kavanagh for the Shamrock Marathon.

Another sunny, warm and this time windy day greeted the runners as they tackled the second race. Results:
Kevin O'Neil - 3:14
Keith Lascelles - 3:38
Theo Bosch - 4:28
Brendan Kavanagh - 4:28
Rick Maclean - 4:44
Catherine Harding - 5:35

Great work everyone. What was harder was the drive home, leaving Norfolk, Virginia at 4pm Sunday and not getting home till 8 am Monday morning.

I think everyone was unanimous in saying that the Shamrock Marathon was more than worth the entry fee, with 2 shirts, a race hat and 4 free beers afterwards.

Nutbars at it Again

This weekend the Barrie RoadRunners subgroup the Nutbars are at it again. Led by chief nutbar Kevin O'Neil and his side kick Keith Lascelles they are leading a group of easily led, misguided, wanna be nutbars to the promised land of back to back marathon running. I'd say racing, but when run back to back marathons there's not much racing involved. With new nutbars Rick MacLean"iac", Catherine "Reno" Harding, Theo "wooden shoes" Bosch they will be traveling to Washington DC to run the National Marathon on Saturday and then on to Virginia Beach to run the Shamrock Marathon on Sunday. As the second race is the Shamrock Marathon, Brendan "look at me I'm Irish" Kavanagh figured he'd have to come down and at least do that one.
Also along for part of the ride are Roger Ison and Alan Hewson who going to do the National Marathon only, yeah "only".
Good luck to all you crazy fools.

Raw Revolution

Thanks Raw Revolution for sending up some bars for the Barrie Road Runners heading to the Chilly Half Marathon this past weekend. I believe you have made some new fans!!

The Frosty 5k – A runners attempt at walking

My gawsh does my cell phone have a very LOUD alarm for a very small phone. 5:00 a.m. Sunday March 7th 2010. Ack. Who in heaven’s name gets up at 5am on a Sunday? Easy answer: Runners!!! Whoa there doggy. I wasn’t a runner this morning I was a walker. I was going to be walking the Frosty 5K with my daughter Chelsea. The race bug bit her last year when I took her to the Run for the Cure in Toronto.

I had been prepping Chelsea, the night before about night before race day protocol. Get your race clothes ready – bra, undies, socks, tech shirts, jacket, gloves/mitts & bottoms & shoes. Then clothes to change in to after the race, did she have a race bag to put all of that in? I’d carry the water belt for her so she didn’t have to. I packed a gel for her as well, just in case. I also outlined our race strategy, for a 45 minute 5 K walk, which was her goal time; we’d need to do a 9min/k pace. Uhmmm everything was ticked off my list to explain and carry out. Phew.
So with all that laid out & discussed, I went to bed safe in the knowledge that things were ready for the A.M.

Both our alarms went off simultaneously – up I got, let the dogs our, boil the kettle for brekkie, feed the dogs, let the dogs out again, triple check the bags, pack the water bottle. Get dressed, brush my teeth, check in on Chelsea make sure she was up. Oh yes indeed, there she was straightening her hair and putting on her makeup. Ahhh to be 17 years old again…. Ack. “Chelsea it’s a race, not a beauty contest!!” “ Yeah Mum I know that’s why I’m just putting mascara and liner on”

*blank stare*

And we were out the door on time – that NEVER happens. She must have been excited.
Today was the day Chelsea would do her second 5K walk race at Burlington, The Frosty 5. Didn’t think it would be too frosty as the weather was going to be sunny and high of 9, but okay.
We got to the Spirit Catcher before the bus did so all good signs.
It was a lively trip down to the race. First a quick stop to pick up a last minute entry at Hwy 9, way to go Mike, nice of you to bring a coffee just for you, not the rest of the bus. Then our routine stop at the Tim’s off the 400 in Vaughan, back on the bus and next stop BURLINGTON.
We got there with plenty of time for Chelsea to get those annoying butterflies in her tummy. Oh boy was she nervous. Me… nahhh.. 5K walk? I can do that.

Off to the start line we went. Advised my girlie that since we were near the start line we’d have to keep to the right so the runners could get by us with little difficulty, it was after all the proper protocol.

10:05 we all, including the halfers, started our respective races. To the right we stayed. I was amazed how many runners were trying to fit between me and the railing. Dudes… TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT… argh.

I tell you that was the hardest race I’ve ever done. The urge to start running was almost uncontrollable, Chelsea’s cries of “you’re going too fast!!!” barely audible as I sallied forth. YIKES… no wonder she wasn’t keeping up. Whoops my bad. So I managed to slow it down to our goal pace of 9 min/ k. The first half was very difficult for both of us – for Chelsea to listen to me saying “Come on, come on” and for me to try not to be the drill sergeant & not to get too far ahead. Finally as I was turning around at the half way mark, it struck me how much I hated hearing people faster than I am when I’m running with them say “come on come on” it was like I was holding them back from something which increased my anxiety level and added unneeded pressure on me. Could my daughter be feeling this too? Undoubtedly yes. It was time to change tactics. So I slowed down a wee bit. Coached her biomechanics a bit more, got her focused on a couple of walkers/runners ahead of us. “See those two gals?”

“The honkytonkybadonkadonk girls?”

“yep, you want to catch up and pass them”

That was all the motivation she needed, she happily focused on her prey and diligently made her way by them. Several times, as they would start running for a short distance, pass us & Chelsea would have to pass them again.
More chatting about how well she was doing & how to deal with stitches, aches and pains and relaxing her mental state was paying off. We didn’t make the 45 minutes – but she came in 46:36 – an awesome time. She took 5 minutes off her 5K time from December, and was most disappointed with that. She truly is a chip off the old block.
And this is why I love the Barrie group.

Everyone congratulated her and helped her understand that 46 – was as good as 45. One minute off your goal time isn’t a crime. You just get to look forward to the next race!
Right now she’s aiming to do the Harry Rosen Spring Run Off 5K walk in April. We’ll have to do a bit of hill training. High Park is a wonderfully hilly course.

The only negative thing I would have to say about the 5K course is there is no bling. NONE! EGADS… 5Kers put as much effort into their runs & walks as anybody else out there. A bit of bling is a great motivator, I know I’m a bling ho!
This is something to think about all your race co-ordinators, nothing like a bit of bling to get runners/walkers to your event.

Chilly Half Marathon

It looks like it was a great day for the runners and walkers in Burlington for the Chilly Half Marathon. As usual a bus load of RoadRunners and then some, left for Burlington to complete the half Marathon or 5k. On another beautiful March morning all our athletes did us proud.
Some of the highlights include Darren Collins finishing 33rd overall in 1:22:30, Rick Ball 42nd overall in a time of 1:23:07.
Below are links to the reults, unfortunately due to the format of the website we get the results from, it was not possible to sort them by location. They only come as one large group. So here they are:

Half Marathon Run results

Half Marathon Walk

Frosty 5k Results

Chilly Half Weekend

This Sunday is the Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington and as usuall we have a whole bus load going down to do the half marathon run/walk or the 5k. Good luck to everyone.