Hallow's Eve Half Marathon & 10km

Just a quick note to invite anyone reading to come down and take part in the Hallow's Eve Half Marathon and 10km.  These are trail races so dig out your trail shoes.

I will be opting for the 10km and running it with some of the folks from lululemon and/or some other folks from Innovative Fitness...  (I have cool sponsors!)  

The misleading part about the "Hallow's Eve" race is that it takes part in the morning...

Sunday October 26th @ 9am to be precise.  

Check HERE for other details.

Call:  604-990-6888 to register!

See you there!

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Trail Running for Amputees

Trail Running: I get asked OFTEN how it is to run on the trails with my prosthesis... So I'll tell you. This might help some (leg) amputees a little... I hope so.

- You have to concentrate! When I am placing the left 'foot' I really have to watch out for: big, loose rocks, wet roots, oddly angled anything. The concentration is actually exhausting but if my mind wanders even for a second I usually land awkwardly or duff the foot on something. There was a girl running beside me for a few kms at my last trail race who must have added about 10 beats to her heart rate because I kept scaring her by nearly wiping out! (I was getting tired and that's when the concentration fades...)

- Steep, loose downhills are a real challenge. With such a small surface area in contact with the ground you either need to lean forward and let 'er rip or REALLY SLOW DOWN. It is always better to lean in (for speed and less jarring on the legs) but sometimes the trail is too steep or winding.... There is a distinct lack of a middle gear because it is so difficult to control speed with such a miniature contact point on loose ground.

- The extra jarring and abnormal movements that come with a rough trail cause sweat to collect differently and in a less convenient way. For instance one odd step could move the leg in such a way that the whole liner (and thus prosthesis) slips a bit. This is uncomfortable and thus you really want to concentrate to avoid it happening.

- I find that I sweat more during a trail race... I think it is because my heart rate is generally higher and my speed (wind cooling) is lower + they are generally much harder than an equivalent distance road race. This increased sweating does bad things for the fit of my leg. I sometimes use Drysol to minimize sweating inside the liner. It's pretty harsh stuff, but good for race type situations when I don't want to have to stop.

It is interesting to note that the first two are pretty much the same for a runner with both legs - perhaps just comes a bit more naturally with less focus required.

Anyway, the extra concentration does have ONE HUGE PAYOFF.... the race seems to go a lot faster when your mind is consumed by remaining upright!

Have fun on the trails!

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5 Peaks Wrap-Up...

Took me a while to get to this... I've been run off my feet foot with Sacha out of town. She only left me one of the kids but man I have a new appreciation for moms. What's with the crazy schedule of pick-ups and drop-offs?!!!

Anyway, casting the mind back to the weekend:

(Mattias' 5 Peaks) : Mattias and his buddies came 1, 2, 3 in the kids 1km run. It was total domination! 1km is definitely a bit short for his age... "Daddy the run from the parking lot was longer than the race!"

(MJ's 5 Peaks): Maybe I was taking the race a bit too lightly... it was 11km (not too long), and the elevation looked "rolling" i.e. not too bad... As it turned out it was really tough.

The uphills were often too steep to run (more training on these kind of hills would help) and some of the downhills were super steep (the kind that forced me to have to be cautious). The flats were fine but there weren't many!

Myself and Guy Demong... I probably would have brought a backpack if I had known I'd be out there for so long!

I ran the first 4 or 5 km with Jayeson, part of the substantial Innovative Fitness crew in attendance, before he slowly pulled away... then it was a long, lonely, (painful) slog back to the finish line.

CHT (cold, hard truth): I couldn't really expect much given the lack of run training - I was mostly happy to come away without any leg issues - I am now ready to declare myself 100% after a summer that never really got into triple digits. Everything feels good now.

Overall: Buntzen Lake is awesome! Totally beautiful and the trail system is unbelievable. The weather started out wet but got sunny while we ran - no complaints. 5 Peaks does a great job and I even won a HUGE bag of coffee beans.

A few more shots:

Mattias and I watching the awards...

Mattias rounding the first corner in the kids' race...

Da boys: Sam, Nick and Mattias

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