Dawn on the Run

What a gorgeous day for a run! I wore thin pants, a tech shirt and a fleece vest. I ended up removing the arm warmers I had planned on wearing. My daughter and Nikayla both had long johns on which they removed before we headed off to the race start. Oh yeah after hearing the course might be a bit icy I opted to wear spikes and Carrie borrowed my YakTrax.

For this event, we register at the hall and then walk about 3/4 of a km to the race start/finish area. We even get to walk through a tunnel under 14th St. The start of the race is straight uphill for just shy of a km. The only nice thing about that is you get to run down it for the finish…lol.

I started okay, running a bit as we headed uphill but I fell back quickly as I slowed down to a crawl…lol. The hill seemed to take forever and by the time I made it to the top I was dead last. So what’s new! There was a short section of tricky snow – soft stuff that was full of footprints and hard to navigate. Then it was onto narrow hard packed trails which were easily navigated with the spikes, a very good choice today.

There were a few little downs and ups but the next bit for the most part was flat. It meandered through some wide open areas and then through a bushy area. I remembered sinking into a deep hole one year in the bushy area. I was stuck there for a long time trying to wedge my one leg out. Thankfully that did not happen today.

Somewhere before heading down the next hill the speedy runners caught up with me. Rather then stop I sprinted to find a spot where the trail allowed them to pass me as I kept running. I really didn’t want to stop today. I had a goal I wanted to beat and stopping to let others pass while it’s the nice thing to do, my race was important too.

Flat stuff done for now we headed downhill. I barrelled down the hill like there was no tomorrow. Cool, it didn’t hurt. My legs were stronger (another bonus from my swim training) and I was actually enjoying a little speed onthe downhill. A sharp turn at the bottom and we were heading back uphill. I slowed down again. It was a tough slog. I think I spent too much energy on the downhill. Ahead Nikayla had disappeared and the walker I had been trying to catch had made the gap between us longer. Dang I so wanted to catch her.

Finally at the top the next stretch was nice and flat. I could see Nikayla way ahead. Good for her. Danny went by and I yelled “haven’t seen Alan”. Him and Alan have an ongoing battle to beat each other at these things. Of course I’d no sooner said that and Alan went by. I laughed and yelled to Danny “better run, Alan is on your heals”. They both seemed to pick it up. I found out later that Alan did eventually pass and beat Danny.

As for me I picked up the pace in hopes of catching the speedy walker ahead of me. At the 4k mark I caught and passed her. Yeah! We only had the downhill stretch left and how way in you know what was I gonna let her pass me on that stretch. She did briefly pull up beside me and then I kicked it into high gear. My pace went from 13min/k to a 4:39/k by the time I finished at the bottom of the hill. Dang I wish I could run that pace all the time…lol. Either way I was pretty happy to finish with an unofficial time of 46:48 which was mere seconds away from my PB for this one. My PB was back in 2006 at 46:11. Looks like swimming has another added bonus, stronger legs for my running! It didn’t even hurt to sprint downhill today!

Last year I sucked and took 1:17:07, heck I think Karen even beat me doing twice the distance. Speaking of Karen, she ran her 50th XC in a row today. Yeah Karen. I’d be right there with her had I not snuck off to Vegas to run a half marathon two years ago. I missed the race in Okotoks that year. Oh well, it was my 24th in a row and for Carrie plus little Nikayla it was there 28th in a row. My daughter, Carrie has come a long way with her running, she took 1st place female for the 4k today.

I tried out my new video camera toy today but silly me I did not make sure the camera had a full charge on the battery and it died 20 minutes into the race. I’ll post the link once I find a way of uploading it. It’s a pretty big file.

Be sure to check out my link to Garmin Connect. It’s really cool how it shows the map, my pace, and so much more.

My Flickr Photos
Calgary Roadrunners Results
Garmin Connect.

It’s been 2 weeks since this race took place so I guess it’s time I got around to writing my race report. This is another race in the XC series put on by the Calgary Roadrunners. Now don’t let the name “12 Mile Coulee” fool you, we don’t run 12 miles in this race, it’s just the name of the location. It’s a beautiful area for a race but for some reason the weather never seems to cooperate. It’s always cold or windy or snowy and often all three together. So why would this year be any different.

Oh yeah, one other thing, my birthday also falls on that weekend. I turned 55 the day after the race. But that’s the topic for a whole other post. Anyhow, I decided to be frisky and dress slightly different for this race. We have a few runners who often wear tights and shorts at these “cooler” races so I thought I would jump on the band wagon. You can see the results in the photo on the right. You know me, my outfits almost always include pink and heh, why be boring. Someone told me 55 is the new 25, so this is my new youthful look…lol.

Acutually the outfit was quite warm, comfortable and I just might wear it again to the next race. Okay back to writing about the race. I was excited and hoping for a good run. So much for that feeling, a few meters into it my foot found a soft spot, a sinkhole and I went down! Wipeout! Oh yeah this is best visualized by watching the video below.

Actually it was pretty laughable. Unfortunately I fell in the middle of everyone, way too many witnesses. A few offered to help me up but not being a lightweight I ushered them on and eventually made it back on my feet.

Nikayla was just ahead of me. We’ve been running (sort of) together for more of the races lately as her speed demon Mother is usually finished a good 10 minutes (or more) ahead of us…for now. I did turn the camera back on for some more video for a bit of the race. Warning, it is a bit choppy. The terrain was for the most part crunchy icy crap. I was wearing these spikey things you can slip over your runners. They worked pretty good for keeping me upright on the rest of the race.

Well if you watched that you get a pretty good idea of what the first bit of this race is like. After climbing the hill we do a bit more flat and then it’s down into what they call the “Coulee” area. This section is a series of rolling trails that in some areas are very narrow, barely wide enough for one person and seldom room for another runner to pass. So yes, I did a lot of tree hugging once the speedy runners caught up with me. You see the lucky 8k group gets to do the route twice and that’s usually when I’m about half way through this bit of the race route. If I had a dollar for every tree I hugged that day, I’d be rich…lol. Despite the tree hugging, it’s my favorite part of the race to run.

Once we make it through that area, we head up a steep and treed hill. It’s a bit of a slog and very little running for me in this area. So much for a sprint finish. Now there is a small flat bit at the top but the snow in that area prevents one, okay at least me, from again gaining any momentum. Despite all that I still managed to beat the clock and finish under 50 minutes. Woohoo, another good run and again a better time then last year.

My best time for that event was back in 2004,my time 43:22. Since then my times have been over the 50 minute mark and last year 1:03:13. So this years time of 49:38. As for Nikayla she finished at 48:01 and Carrie 31:47.

The next race is tomorrow – Nose Hill XC

Checkout another video of complete race. This one was done by the guy that came in first and another that oops wiped out halfway through the race. It’s about 35 minutes long but worth the watch if you want to know what running one of our races would be like. Watch and enjoy!

12 Mile Coulee XC Jan. 23rd 2010 from Nerd Williams on Vimeo.

My Flickr Photos
Calgary Roadrunner Photos
Calgary Roadrunner Race Results

Wow the first month is already over for 2010. And if all goes well then it will be an exciting year. I’m still not keeping up on my blog on a regular basis. Too many distractions with Facebook, Twitter and yes training.

Now I did start to plan my year. I’ve registered for a couple of races – a 10k in March and a half at the end of April. Of course as usual I will do all the trail races. I’ve penciled in a few other possible races but well they all hinge on something new and exciting.

So yes I’ve been doing some running this month, not a lot but getting there. I’ve added in some cycling and finally I started swim lesson last week. Ya know it’s weird, here I am 55 and I’m taking my first ever swim lessons. I’m pretty much self taught and always thought I was an okay swimmer. But I knew I had some bad habits. I had debated last year taking lessons but nothing ever panned out. However last week I called a race director for a triathlon I am considering and well he suggested I such get a swim coach. So I did the next best thing.

So far so good. It’s a small group so almost like private lessons. The first lesson was all drills. Sunday was a mix of drills and sprints. I can already see a big improvement in my form and my breathing. I’m excited. Classes are Tuesday, Thursday after work and Sunday morning. Heck the amount of time in the pool alone will be a big help.

Now I just have to squeeze in some more running and cycling. Yes there will be a triathlon on my schedule this summer. Just not sure yet which one or which distance. A few more lessons and I will decide, then commit to the event of my choice. Wish me luck as I will definitely need it..lol.

Okay I guess I’ve stalled enough, I really should get this over. Now if you’ve had a chance to look at the videos I posted earlier you already have a pretty good idea of how the race went. For me it was an early start to the day. Thankfully not as early as it could have been had I not had a chance to flag the route the day before.

Instead I was able to sleep in til like 7:30…lol. First order of the day was to load the car with my soup pots, a stool for my daughter who had injured herself and was now going to marshal rather then prerun the route so she could help in the kitchen. Once the car was loaded with everything I needed it was then time to pick up my little helper, Nikayla. I had hoped to drop the soup off at the hall after that but was running behind so I opted to transfer it to Karen’s car as she was heading to the hall after we did our prerun. She would be one of my kitchen helpers for the day.

Karen was already waiting for me when I arrived. We headed out for our prerun shortly after I arrived. Karen, Nikayla and I were prerunning it so we would have times for the race. We took a handful of flags with us just in case some had gone missing or blown away in the wind.

As it was icy I wore my spikes not that I would be moving that fast. We made our way through the course, Karen loved it – challenging yet fun. Nikayla had fun leading the way but took a couple of wrong turns as she didn’t know I had slightly changed it from when she ran me last time. Thankfully the prerun didn’t take as long as flagging the day before.

Of course being done the run was only the start of the day for all of us. Next I waited for my other volunteers to arrive. Karen headed off to help Jeri in the kitchen and well Nikayla hung out with me until I sent her off to her next duties. We both changed into dryer footwear and prepared ourselves for standing around as marshals. Runners arrived and the parking lot quickly filled. My daughter Carrie sat in the car helping with registrations.

Oh yeah, I mentioned earlier that Carrie was injured. Poor kid (yes 31yr old is still a kid, my kid) had fallen at work the day before and had to have 6 stitches in her knee. After helping with registrations she was going to help with the finish line by recording the runners as they crossed the finish. My other finish line person, Derek had arrived and was off running the course so that he too had a time. He’s speedy so didn’t need to start as early as the rest of us had.

Les helped me and others set up the finish line. Then I headed off with my volunteer marshals to point them to their spots and gave them some general rules/tips. It’s a pretty easy job and the weather was great except for the wind. Nikayla wondered off to her marshal spot where she would send runners round the rock. Next Les lead the handful of kids off on their short route. While they were off running I gave the runners some final instructions about the route – “spikes will come in handy, the route is a slushy, icy mess, watch for dog walkers (and poop), don’t take the bridge, cross the frozen creek and follow the flags”. As soon as the little ones returned it was “Ready, Set, Go” and they were off running into the wild blue yonder. Woohoo!

I ran behind shooting pictures and heading for my marshaling spot along the route. I relieved Nikayla from her spot at the rock and moved her to the spot down the hill from me. I stood by the snow fence where I would direct the 8k runners to do it all over again. As I stood there I was wishing I had brought my hubby’s camera. Mine his good but with his I could have zoomed over to the other side where I could see the lead runners already snaking past the 2k point. Man they were moving! Before I knew it I could see there heads on the downhill below me and I was finally yelling “to your right and do it again”. This was fun!

I got some great photos so make sure you head over to Flickr and check them out. The link is at the bottom of this post. I started my timer when the race started. It would help me tell how things were going. By how quickly some had finished the first loop I thought maybe I had made it too easy but judging by the faces on some as they climbed the hill below me, nah, it was just right. Hills, flat bits and sloppy snow conditions make for a fun trail race!

I’d be guessing but I’m pretty sure the last runner was done in an hour. It had taken me that long earlier but then I walked lots. Eli, one of my younger marshals walked up towards me carrying the flags from his section of the race and headed down hill below me to help 8 year old Nikayla collect her flags. Each marshal was responsible for collecting the flags from their section of the route and I had one marshal that was to sweep the course making sure everyone got back safely with all their flags. It’s a pretty good system that way. After the kids got back up the hill we headed to the finish flags in hand.

Everyone was pretty much gone. I thanked all the volunteers and sent them off to the hall for soup & goodies. The finish line stuff was carried off to the parking lot along with the flags. I handed the flags off to the next race director and headed to the hall myself. Still not done I did get to take a break and enjoy some soup myself. I had some of the pasta beef soup that I had made. It was yummy. There was tons of soup so I’ve been eating leftovers all week…lol.

Once there placement results were tabulated I got to do my little spiel telling who placed when for each age group. I hate doing that part as I always mess it up, especially the strange names. All done except the cleanup and well that was easier today as the group using the hall after us wanted the chairs/tables left out.

I was pretty tired after that but it had been a fun day. I’m always happy that it went well and that while challenging everyone loved the race. I got lots of compliments. However despite being happy about how it went I’m always sad it’s over. Oh well there’s always next year. Although one of these days I will have to hand the reigns over to someone else as hubby wants to eventually move back to Victoria.

Race Results – not available yet
Race Info
Photos on CRR Website
Race Photos on Flickr

Yes it was time for a change. But I’m not done with the changes so bare with me while I “Pinkify” this new blog template.

Okay so I got the header done and some stuff but I still can’t figure out how to fix the boxes in my sidebar or the background behind it. I’ve scoured all the file in my template but no sign of what I need to change. I’m not giving up but think I will take a break.

Oh yeah, I also have to figure out how to load photos for the “Randomizer” in the upper left corner. Other then that I think I like this new layout. It give me more room in the body of my blog.

I’ll keep working on it and add in some of the old features I used to have in my side menu as I go along. Still more to tweak but I’ve spent enough time on it today. Let me know what you think so far.

UPDATED
Okay so I figured out just before I went to sleep how to fix the sidebar background and had to wait til this morning to see if my idea would work. It did. I got the header to line up with no gab in IE but had to tweak it again to get it to look good in Mozilla/Firefox. Looks good in both now. I fixed the font size for posts as it was a tad too small.

Still left to do:

• Fix the photo randomizer in the upper left
• Fix the beige toppers in the sidebar, can’t find the code anywhere but it’s there…grrrr
• Clean up the LINKS section in the sidebar. They are all jumbled together and I’d like to separate the types of links into Categories.

Enough of this for now. Got other things to do today…lol.

So a week ago I got Friday afternoon off to flag the finalized route of the Nose Creek race. I had loaded the flags into my car the night before. I had tried a few different totes to see if they would make it easier to carry some 200 flags or so around the route but none were quite deep enough. I took a quick look through my house and found a bright neon pink laundry sack that had backpack straps on it. A lightbulb in my brain turned on. This could work! It was perfect, just the right depth that the flags fit in nicely. At the parking lot I packed a majority of the bundled flags into the laundry sack and left out a few to mark the start of the route.

With the sack on my back I headed off to mark the route. I had my Garmin with me but was frustrated as well I couldn’t remember how to change the mode back to running from the swim setting I had set it at earlier in the week. Oh yeah, I did manage earlier in the week to get in a swim. I checked out a different pool. The one at the Y offers all lane swimming and is much better for training. They also have great workout facilities for adding in other workouts and are near a great place to run for when I start doing “Brick” workouts. I think I might be joining there rather then renewing my current membership.

Okay back to chatting about Nose Creek. I go the Garmin sort of set so it was tracking distances, I would deal with figuring out the rest later when I had a chance to reread the manual. Because the weather had warmed up the snow that had been powder was now a slick slushy slippery mess. I meandered through the route dropping flags as need be to mark the route. I only had a handful of marshals for Saturday so anywhere I thought there would be confusion I added several flags to ensure the runners would know whether to go left, right or whatever. I made a mental note of where I thought it would be a good place to put a marshal and continued on.

By the way while it is a trail race there are few bushes or trees in this park leaving no place to hide for a pit stop and about half way through marking the route I had to go real real bad. Thankfully the park isn’t busy on a Friday afternoon so I hid in a raveen and made yellow snow…lol.

It took me just over 2 hours to get the route marked. The 4k route was pretty dang close to 4k. The 8k route would be a tad short as it was not a complete double loop. The second loop would only cover about 3k of the course. Funny it took me 2 hours to mark the short loop and I bet the fast runners would finish the longer distance in under 30 minutes. Oh to run like that.

The bag idea had worked awesome. As the flags in my hand ran out I would remove more from the bag. By the time I was done flagging I had used all but a handful of the flags I had with me. Time to head home and make another pot of soup for the race.

Saturday is RACE DAY and I will tell you more about in my next post.

Planning Photos on Flickr

Okay so I”m totally borrowing this idea from someone I follow on Twitter, Buzz Bizhop

As anyone who’s been following me for a bit knows, every year one of the events I participate in is The Underwear Affair. This year to raise funds I’ve decided to try a different angle in honour of ack my 55th birthday. Yup by some standards on Jan 24th I will become a senior and entitled to discounts at some stores…lol.

Anyhow my idea is to try and find 55 friends, enemies, family members, heck anybody that will sponser me $55 to raise funds for cancers below the waist, hence 55 with $55 for 55

For those who don’t know, my Mom is a colon cancer survivor. I run this 10k event in her honor and in the honor of other friends I have that are cancer survivors. As long as cancer exists I will keep running.

Anyhow if you’re interested in sponsoring me be it for $55 or any amount, head on over to this link to do so online. Thanks!!!!

Okay until I get around to posting my last few posts about Nose Creek and my race report here’s a little video to entertain you. Two of yesterday’s runners filmed the race as they ran. Trev finished in roughly 30 minutes & Alan 37. It’s long but worth the watch.

Nose_Creek_XC_2010_Dual from Nerd Williams on Vimeo.

Got a late start today. Was gonna go running at 10am but when I turned on the TV to check the weather I got sidetracked watching the movie “Chariots of Fire”. Missed the first hour or so but enjoyed what I did see. After that I checked the temperature and decided I would wait til after lunch to run which would hopefully give the sun time enough to warm things up a bit.

To kill time I headed back to the Tech Shopl. The registration form for the race was now available and it’s official, I’m registered for the Police Half in April. Let the training begin. Okay so in a way my training has already started with yesterday’s run and the one I was about to head out on.

I called my daughter, Carrie. She didn’t want to join me but 8 yr old Nikayla did. I picked her up about 2ish but it might of been a tad later. Once at the park we decided to check out a slightly different route then the day before. I was concerned about the amount of distance that ran on main trails. I wanted to keep the runners away from areas where people walking dogs in the park might be. The first option we checked out will work out great. It makes for a nice easy start to the race which some will like. Don’t worry I add in lots of hills and hard stuff later…lol.

From there we ran what will end up being the “double loop” piece for those who opt to run the longer event. We found a couple of spots where instead of using the bridge we will run across the icy river. Nikayla really liked that idea.

I made some videos and the first is Nikayla running down the first hill of the race.

This one is Nikayla running across the frozen river.

Next we have Nikayla heading down one hill and up the other side. She started out strong but bailed with about a third of the uphill still to do.

Finally this one starts out as her but then I passed her so it’s just me running the field. Sorry bout the heavy breathing, but heh at least you know I’m not dead.

From the field we continued the route I’d run the last few times. Well sort of, at the top of the long tough hill I thought I would once again try to find a way of avoiding the main path. The route I took proved not to be a good choice. We ended up in snow up to my hips and I wiped out on some weeds that were buried under the snow. Me thinks that bit will be too trecherous so it will be back to the original plan for that section. It was getting late by the time we got to the easy home stretch. It had been a long but fun workout and Nikayla had really enjoyed herself. I also enjoyed her company.

Be sure to check out the links below for more details and the great photos of the race.
Garmin Connect – maps, stats, etc
Flickr Photos (Sat & Sun) – my wipeout, scenery and more.

Woohoo first run of the year done and it’s only Jan 2nd. Oh yeah also registered for my first race, well sort of. In person registrations for the Police Half were to open today and the form was supposed to be available online at 8am. I set my alarm for 8am, no form. I hung out on my PC for about an hour and still no form. Finally when the Tech Shop opened I gave them a call to see if they knew what the scoop was. They had no forms either but agreed to allow runners to put their names on a list to hold a spot. Hubby and I made a trip to the store to do that. Then we took a detour through Kensington where we after lunch at Jugo Juice we both got our hair cut.

Finally with all the errands done I headed over to Nose Creek to see how much damage the snow had done to my race route and to also try to find some extra distance to bring the route up to 4k for the shorter distance and 8k for the longer distance. I had hoped to run the longer distance myself today but as I was late getting there decided I would likely only make it out for one loop.

I decided maybe adding a short loop around the rock formation would add in some extra distance for me. There are two rock formations so I went to the one furthest away and can always shorten the loop if it’s too much. The loop took me back to where I plan to start the race adding about 1km which is perhaps just a tad too long. This first loop will serve to stretch the pack out so that it’s not too crowded on the main pathways. Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention, I was wearing my spikes for the first time ever. I bought them off a friend like 3 or 4 seasons ago but had been afraid to use them. While there really wasn’t any ice it did give me a little more confidence to challenge some of the hilly slopes. I made my way down the first hill and then rounded the corner to my right up the trail and across a bridge to the left.

From there the route heads up a sort of roadway until I take the runners off to the left along a cliff like ridge. The ridge was okay for about halfway and then I had to make a new path through a small snow drift. At the end of the fence line it’s back on the roadway until almost the end at which point it’s a slight jaunt left before turning and heading south again almost parallel to the roadway. By staying parallel I managed to find a few more meters to add in. When finally back almost to a point just below where the runners would head onto the roadway it’s a quick right turn to head down a hill and then straight back up on the other side. The uphill was drifted over but thankfully the snow was only lightly crusted and easy to break the path in again.

At the top of the hill the path through the flat field from Monday was no longer visible. The new snow was still powdery and for the first half km or so it was no more then maybe shoe deep. It made it easy for me to break in a new path. Well for most of it anyhow. I continued along the fence line adding in a little further distance then we had mapped out on Monday. It got a little deeper in some parts, almost knee deep in a couple of spots but still seemed reasonable to head that way. Finally back on the main path I headed left (east) and down a slight hill until I found my southbound trail. Still heading downhill along a short trail.

Again onto a main path for just a few steps then it was into an off the beaten path rolling ridge that runs just above the very frozen creek. Others had used the path so while narrow it was very usable.

Oh yeah as I ran I took photos of my Garmin to help me know where maybe I should add or subtract distance. There are a few places where I can tighten/shorten it up a bit if need be. Funny how the first few days I was worried it was too short, today the route was a tad long…lol. Once down the ridge it’s a quick jog across the frozen river rather then taking the bridge. Why make it easy.

From the river crossing the run heads a across a short flat spot then it’s up the steepest hill I dare send the runners up. After all I don’t want to them to hate me when done. But heh, what’s a trail race without hills. You want flat??? Go run a road race…lol.

At the top of the hill I headed right and downhill along the main trail. At the start of the fence post on the left I exited the main trail for my next uphill jaunt. This uphill is not all that steep and fairly easy. It ends at the orange fencing that thankfully somebody had made a gap in. That’s the last of the hills up or down. From there it’s a jaunt across an open flat area to a rock at which I took a sharp left and once again headed east to the next rock pile. From there its a flat wide open area to the finish!

As I guessed might happen, the race for those doing only one loop was now a tad long at 4.40km. Oh yeah it took me over an hour to run/walk it so I will likely need about an hour & a half to flag it next week. Now the loop at the beginning is only done once for the longer event so 4.4 + 3.4 is gonna make the longer race about 7.8Km. The events are supposed to be as close to 4Km & 8Km as one can make it. If the weather is nasty it is common practice to shorten things. However the extended forcast says it should be rather nice around -5C for race day. If that ends up being true I may leave the route as I ran it today, if not there are a couple of spots I can shorten it. For example there’s a spot in the middle I could only send the 8Km runners off on.

Oh well enough race planning for today. I need to find some dinner and wow it’s 8:30 already. I may rerun it again tomorrow as my plan for this month called for a 7 or 8km run today or tomorrow and well I’ve only done a little over half that. Can’t start the year by not sticking to the plan can we!

Have you started your training yet? What are your plans, goals, races you’ll be doing etc. I’ll talk more about mine in another post and oh yeah I guess I should review last year’s successes. Welcome to 2010

Garmin Connect – Nose Creek Planning
Photos over at Flickr