Duncan in Duncan

Spent the weekend on the Island and decided to try out some new terrain and a new race (for me): The Gutbuster is a series of trail races on the island much like the mainland's 5Peaks series.

Headed down to my namesake town for the Tzouhalem Gutbuster -- a 13k loop that started at the lovely Providence Farm and proceeded to kick our teeth in with a relentless, 6k wheezefest ascent of Mt Tzouhalem (roughly 30-35 minutes non-stop up for me... and pretty steep in places.. as in time to lick the ground with your tongue steep). The route follows the near ridge from left to farthest right on the hill in the picture and returns along the top (right to left) and back down through some nice, swooping singletrack to the farm.

Race was dominated by the Prairie Inn Harriers who cleaned up many of the top spots. However, I managed to eek out a 12th overall and 2nd in my age group.

Pippi managed a 2nd in hers too so there was cause for celebration all round with a visit to McDonald's for milkshakes on the fast food strip in Duncan!

Thanks to Frontrunners Victoria (Mark and Care) for putting on a great event ... even if Care did chick me :( .... i'm getting closer!

Results www.racedaytiming.ca

Runnin' with Chickens

Who can't laugh at chickens/roosters? Especially ones that are on island time. These ones waited til late afternoon before they started crowing! :-D Guess they had a few late nights..

Me n Pippi spent a couple of nights down on Orcas island. Stayed at a nice B&B that doubles as a farm so there were sheep, chickens, highland cows etc doodling around the property.

The great thing about off season is not many people. We had an entire converted farmhouse to ourselves the whole time! A lady would show up in the morning to make us breakfast and that was it!! Great place too ..highly recommend it ... the Turtleback Inn.

If you haven't run or mountain biked over there you should make the trip. The trails are challenging but smooth. We lucked out with a sunny day and ran a 25k or so loop up and over Mt. Constitution. The pics speak for themselves about the trails and scenery in this area. Enjoy.

Off-the-couch potato chip eatin' lazy ass

I had a good chuckle at that tongue-in-cheek comment made by the master of funnies, and my friendly rival, mr craik prior to Dirty Duo race day. It's about time he started some smack talk since I'm usually throwing it around to amuse myself and get people riled up. :p

Found this picture of me that seems to fit the title too!

Dirty Duo is probably one of the hardest 25k runs in the area and it's early season and usually not so nice weather. Just once i'd like to race this thing in the sun!! You know ... spring .. in Vancouver! C'mon!

Anyway... i rolled my fat lazy chip eating ass to the start line for 11 and waddled off at the sound of the gun ...or was that someone popping the cap off a tube of Pringles... mmmm!

What is it with these races? You look at the registered list and not too many names and then race day you find yourself in a pack of greyhounds careening across the fields! Where the hell did you people come from?! I hate having to work for a good placing! C'mon!!

About 8 of us went up lynn canyon at a dumbass pace. Mr unpronounceable, no vowels in my name, 1:13ish half marathoner from victoria, took off never to be seen again and killed the course in 2:03 ... course record i think. 2nd place dude was 2:12 but i never saw him after lower section of lynn canyon. That left about 5 of us idiots burning our legs up to the gazebo in 28 minutes. Heading down twin bridges i was already wondering if i'd blown it and gone out way too fast ... wasn't sure i could sustain it as i tried to catch Ross i-sprint-downhills Greenwood. Jesus! Is this guy related to Ellie Greenwood?!

Anyway ... i yodelled back and forth between 4th and 5th spot all the way across bridle path with another guy ...Simon I think, as we tried to chase down Ross the rolling stone. No moss on this guy! In some ways the bikes that were also on bridle path helped because if i passed some on a little uphill section i knew they would be bearing down on my chip eating ass on the other side of the hill so i sprinted those parts. Needless to say, i chewed up bridle path nicely, dropping Simon and spat myself out onto old buck... right on top of Ross who took off when he saw me. He was a slippery son of a kipper but i saw him start to walk every minute or so. Aha! Gotcha! Slowly reeled the oily weasel in and caught him at BP and passed him but the sucker stayed right on my heels like a ....well, like a sucker... and then passed me just before mushroom.

But he stopped at the aid station for some fish food and i took off down neds. He came after me and wasn't far behind, but i managed to hold him off to twin bridges. As we started up Fisherman's trail that good fer nuthin Pete Watson shouts out to Ross ..."Go get him! That guy's almost 50!" I laughed at first thinking he was talkin to both of us about maybe 2nd place dude.... but then i was like ...."wait a minute... was he talkin about me?!" Anyway... i think it spurred the young Ross to action because he took off again! I caught him half way up Homestead and passed him and held him off to the Suspension Bridge but then he passed me and it stayed that way til the end ... by about 25 seconds! Doh!

I got 4th ... but i'm ok with it. This off-the-couch potato chip eatin pushin 50 lazy ass ran 2:16:27 .... 3.5 minutes faster than my best time 4 years ago I think it was. I might start selling my training system ... remember... I called it the Spike Training System way back when I first started this blog! :p

[Nah ...wouldn't be right... I've been off the couch quite a bit and even ...shock! ...yes... the gym!! Thanks to Mr Ivanic and his own training advice ..I seem to be a little leaner... but I still eat chips and frequent the couch! ; )

Huggy Bear, Starsky and Hutch

Looked all over the streets of San Francisco for Huggy Bear but couldn't find him.

Fun zooming around on the trams though, checking out the different districts and food. Great being able to take a bottle of wine into any restaurant and having them uncork for you for $10. Great little Thai restaurant on Market street .... mmmmmm!!!

Warm and sunny since I got here Friday morning!

Spent too much time in hotel lobby, conference rooms and hotel rooms today but managed to get out early for a run when the fog was just starting to lift. Nice little trails a few blocks from the hotel...hilly!

Whoa! These aren't running clothes! =D

Battle of Fort Langley

Quick trip out to Fort Langley this morning for one of the Fraser Valley trail series xc runs put on by Peninsula Road Runners.

This one was at Derby Reach park....photo at left except gray and rainy'ish and a bit chilly.

We were a little close to the start arriving in a packed parking lot with 10 minutes to spare ...luckily a lot of other non-punctual types like me so we were good for about another 10 minutes ... enough to register and then run to the start about a km away ... weird..

I ran with DK ... think a really fast Pippy Longstocking (she even had pink knee-highs) and you've got it .... pic isn't real but pretty close! Nearly got my ass kicked by her ... only 1 minute behind and first girl overall.

The course was mostly flat and fast (not great for hill runners like me) but nice trails. Guy at the start mentioned a hill we were to run up twice, called the "Big Nasty." Every little rise we came to i'd blurt out to the runners around me ... "is this it? is this Big Nasty?!" No takers ... very serious runners... Anyway, Big Nasty was a bit nasty but i was glad to have it so i could stay up ahead of some of the flatlander runners.

Last 2k was just holding on and hoping not to get passed by anyone ...especially Pippi. 10k is far for an xc and i'd put an hour twenty on my legs the day before... (nice... snuck in my sandbagging comment...). Ended up 5th though i think .... overall! :) ..Correction....3rd!!!! see results!

Although I'm not so sure about the current shake-out on the list because they have Pippi as being 75th in the 5k race =D ... when i'm sure she was about a minute back of me in 4th or 5th place in the 10k and 1st chick overall =D ...hmmm...

Barely had my breath back before Pippi crossed the line. We got our massive, crinkly, shiny scotiabank space blankets, a couple of miniature peanut butter ritzes and then made a dash for great little coffee shop/bakery in Fort Langley for the really important part of why we were out there.

Nice that i get to be one up on mr Tom for a race effort since he was away skiing, sitting on chairlifts, gorging himself on fatty resort food and generally loafing about ;)

Not secret training though! It's out in the open. Thanks for the push Pippi ... I only beat you because I was trying to get away from those shocking shoes!

Nice out..

So nice to step off the plane this morning into this gorgeous day. After the brown/white treeless sprawl of Calgary's suburban nightmare, I felt like I had been granted a pass from Erebus (the not so nice part of Hades) to the Elysian fields. Frosty air, the colour green and clear, white peaks. I sat on the Canada line and just took it all in.

By 11:30 I was on the trails in Lynn Valley. Amazing what a few days away will do for your appreciation of this place. I forgot to take my gloves so my fingers were a little numb trying to snap pics of things I wouldn't normally bother with. I just felt so invigorated! I snap my fingers at the cold! ...er..ok well I would if I could feel them that is..

Perfect trail running weather. You can't beat it. I was running with a smile much of the way and a nod from the old man with white beard and red flannel shirt, hiking in the opposite direction, told me he was having the same experience. Yah, you know what I'm talkin' about Santa! Come to think of it, he did have a bit of a twinkle in his eye...

Good to be back. Looking forward to more of this weather for the Crescent Park xc run on New Year's day. Hope to see some of you out there. Since you're up in the Arm of the Salmon, Tom, can I have your post race pizza slice?

Not expecting miracles against the trackies and a little sore anyway from following Curb's gym program he put together for me. Thankfully it gets me in and out of there pretty quick. Pretty soon I'll just need a hat and a pipe and I'll be lookin' like Popeye! :p

On a side note... I often get asked what I looked like with hair. So, since I was visiting family, I dug up some photos. Had to go a loooong way back to the days of film! Here I am circa 20 years ago. Oh, to have back our youth, non?! ; )

Hare and Hounds #2

Date: Saturday, December 11th
Time: 9:15am
Place: Starts by John Henry Bike store on East 5th Ave, North Van. Turn north onto Brooksbank Avenue and go to E 5th St and turn right. You're there. (It's basically opposite to the Park and Tilford shopping area. You can park your car in there or try on E 5th if there's room). See map.

Distance of the Chase: just over 11.5km
Course: See maps below in the description section
To Bring: 3 quarters (I'll explain at the start. No, it isn't coffee money for me)

This will be a fast out and back course with a little loop at the top. Most of the trail follows Lynn Canyon from John Henry to the Gazebo at the top of Lilloet Rd and back. Start/Finish is also a short walk to JJ Bean for coffee after!

The mostly out and back means there is less risk of people going off course and the opportunity to perhaps see your pursuers/quarry to keep the excitement level up. (Thanks to Tom for that idea.)

For a description of what a Hare and Hounds run is look at the posting on my blog about the first Hare and Hounds (basically below this one).

Course Description:
There is a gravel path by the river just east of John Henry Bike store. The start and finish is there.

Starting out you run north along this gravel path following the river underneath Hwy 1 and continue for another kilometre up to a footbridge over the river. Turning right, you cross this bridge and turn immediately left after crossing, onto a broad gravel path.

You continue north on this along the river bank. After about 800m the path narrows into a dirt trail that takes you into the forest and the start of a long steady climb through the canyon. Just stay on the trail. There is nowhere to go wrong ... (Princess...!).

About 3.5km out from the start this trail then meets the Baden Powell trail at a junction. Stay left and descend down a steep, technical hill (Girl Hill) to a boardwalk at the bottom. It's flat for a bit then climbs some stairs again and goes to a bridge (not suspension bridge). Stay right and follow the trail on the East side of the Canyon (which you have been on since crossing the footbridge near the start). The trail goes up more stairs and little climbs and takes you to the junction for the Suspension Bridge. Turn left and go towards the Suspension bridge but don't cross it (....Princess!..). Stay right at the Suspension Bridge and this will take you down to the Ten Foot pool and the start of a big stair climb. At the top of the stairs stay left and follow the gravel trail out to the pipe bridge. Don't cross this bridge. Instead turn right and go up the gravel path until you can see the Gazebo structure. Turn hard right again though before you get to it, onto another gravel trail that loops you back to the Suspension Bridge junction.

Once there you now just return by the same route you came out on. Easy! Then it's coffee time! :)

So far (Wed night) I have 7 or 8 other people and myself ready to go. Feel free to join us. You can indicate on the comment section on this blog posting if you want to come or have some questions, or just show up.

The important thing to do now is to try to guess as close as you can the time you think it will take you to cover the course. This determines the order people set off, who the hares are, who the hounds are and also a couple of other things. If you want to post your estimate on this blog you can, or just hold on to it until start time.

I'll start things off and say It's going to take me an hour.