Rogue Khahtsahlano

I forgot to update everybody about the Rogue Khahtsahlano that Sacha and her friend Mel ran on Sunday....  sheeesh, big backlog around the news desk here....

The Rogue Khahtsahlano came to be because the real Khahtsahlano is kaput - a shame because it had some history and a loyal following.  Local running czar, and owner of North Shore Athletics, Keith Nicoll,  has informed that it became a little unmanageable due to the course and City policies.  It doesn't surprise me at all given the sometimes persnickety attitude of the authorities here in West Van....

Undaunted (and unpoliced), Sacha and Mel struck out on the challenging route a little after eleven on Sunday morning.  I started them in the parking lot of the Gleneagles Community Centre (with a cap gun held high above my head).

Settling into a steady pace, the ladies marked each other's strides as they wound through the damp streets of West Van.  Spectators later commented that the brutally challenging course resulted in several tourettes-like rants from each competitor in the field.  Given that Sacha did not swear during childbirth, I surmise that the Khahtsahlano garnered a fair amount of respect from the ladies.

As I drove the course in advance of the racers I noted that there is at least one steep hill for every "h" in the word Khahtsahlano - by my count that is about 17 "h's".  

The "Aid Stations" were a welcome sight - staffed as they were by 5 children and two adults. (The Rogue Khahts runs with a strict 3.5 volunteers per runner ratio.)

The 17km odyssey eventually ended at Park Royal in a very respectable time of a little over 2 hours....  Despite the lack of police, both ladies finished safely and were pleased to add the Khahts to their race resumes.  

It seems that my clients would like this to be the first in a series of races....  I'll take that as a ringing endorsement of my Race Directorship.

By the way, I have encouraged Sacha to write guest Race Reports for this site before but she has yet to supply me with one...  bug her if you see her.

In any case, here are a few more photos:

 

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Haney 2 Harrison - Race Report

Everyone get out your 2009 Calendar....  (yes, you too.... "Mr. Idon'tliketorace").  Mark the second Saturday in November with the words - "Haney 2 Harrison".  Put together a team - friends, co-workers, couples, families... whatever.  Trust me, you will have a blast...

This event has so many things going for it....

1.  Teams - Simply put, it is more fun to compete as part of a team.  There were super serious teams and teams that ran with wigs and prosthetic asses attached to their shorts.

Click photos to enlarge.

2.  Epicality - I made that word up.  I bet while this race was being dreamt up someone said "Why don't we make it shorter, it will appeal to more people." or "It would be easier to put teams of 4 together so let's shorten it."  BAH!  100k - 7:31 (our time)....  That is the kind of challenge that bonds a team and makes everyone want to go out and party afterward.....  make it 50k and everyone goes home to weed the garden.  

3.  Saturday - To accommodate the partying mentioned above the race takes place on a Saturday....  Makes me question why a race would ever be held on a Sunday.  The after party was awesome - the Agassiz Agricultural Hall doesn't sound so cool, but throw together hundreds of people who just competed in teams of 8 all day, add some loud music and alcohol and the race becomes known for its after-party.  Team IF threw down just as hard post-race as it did during the race.

Click photos to enlarge.

4.  Country Bumpkin Locale - If the race was called Port Moody 2 Vancouver everyone would disperse and either go home or go to some irritating bar downtown and dress up and try to act cool.  End it in Harrison and people find a room or rent a house and make a night out of it without any attitude.

5.  History and Planning - This race has been a staple on the running calendar for years (not sure how many, but lots.)  So they have it all figured out - every team provides one volunteer = never short of volunteers.  Every team has one (or two) support vehicles = no need for aid stations.  Put the effort into making the event fun, organizing it well and people will return year after year.  Like we will.....  and you should too (re-read first sentence of this post.)

Team Result

We won our division (Corporate Mixed) - which was the goal after the other two IF locations failed to field teams.  Our time was 7:31:10 which was good for 22nd overall (out of 214 Teams.)  Check out the results HERE.

Our victory was the result of consistent performances from everybody despite often terrible weather.  We never placed worse than 5/16 on any leg and we won the 4th and 6th legs. 

My own result:

On Stage 8, the "glory leg", is HERE.

I placed 2/16 in our division and 37/214 overall...  numbers I would normally be pretty happy with, but the time was unusually slow:  36:28 (or 4:38/km pace).  

This pace is slower than recent 5 and 10km races I have done...  and slower than I had hoped for based on my current fitness so it is worthy of a little analysis.  To keep it brief I think I screwed myself by cutting my warm-up short....  I was way too paranoid about missing the hand-off from Justine.  The warm-up is key - particularly in a short race - it will allow you to lock down a faster pace early on and avoid a yo-yoing heart rate.  And I knew that....  but I still didn't really do a good job of it.

Thus it was irritatingly predictable that I sucked wind trying to find my groove for the first 10-15 minutes.... once I settled in I was able to pick it up and felt great but there were only a few kms to go - in a longer race there would have been plenty of time to make up for a slow start.  

Normally I start out feeling great and get progressively worse - like most people... this time was the exact opposite.  

Anyway, it was a great day, and a great night.  Awesome job everyone!  See you next year!

Team Credits

Stage 1:  Chelsea Raymond

Stage 2:  Rob Elliott

Stage 3:  Shauna Connaughton

Stage 4:  Ashley Perry

Stage 5:  Kate Perry

Stage 6:  Josip Maras

Stage 7:  Justine Boulin

Stage 8:  Meyrick Jones

I.F. Volunteer:  Steve Bell-Irving

AND special huge mention -  NICOLA GILDERSLEEVE (An IF trainer - and sponsored athlete) ran the WHOLE 100km herself.  She did it in 9:31:31 and took first place for women and 6th overall in the Ultra.

Click photos to enlarge.

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Thank You Cypress Mountain!

I would like to thank a new supporter.  Cypress Mountain will be supporting my efforts to compete in the Paralympics in 2010. 

Cypress Mountain was a favourite training ground of mine before I started cross country racing.  I have spent many hours toiling up the mountain on my bike over the last 4 or 5 years...  It has humbled me on more than one occasion.

I would say that Cypress, and especially its convenience and proximity to the city and to my home was one of the biggest factors I considered when I chose X-C racing as a sport to shoot for 2010.

I spent 3-4 days a week skiing on Cypress' nordic trails last season.  Learning the ins and outs of Nordic Skiing while experiencing unbelievable conditions just 15 minutes from my front door.  From my first time on cross country skis to my first race....  it all happened on Cypress.

And if that isn't enough, the downhill ski area is the city's best (by far), and now they have a brand new lodge.  There is even a tube park for kids!  

Last season, Mattias took several lessons at the ski school while I worked up a sweat on the nordic trails.  What a great way to spend a weekend morning or afternoon.

This summer I have been roller skiing up the access road and even down it.  Did I mention humbling?  I am looking forward to opening day which should be right around the corner!

If you haven't been recently, I highly recommend you escape the rain and enter the snow zone this winter.  Downhill, cross country, snowshoeing, tubing, fondue-eating, hot chocolate drinking.....  it's pretty hard to beat and it is right in our backyard.

Check here for all the details:  Cypress Mountain.    

And click HERE to see some awesome photos from Cypress.

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Higher Faster Stronger - 2010

                                         

Sacha and I just sat down and waded through the Vanoc website to order (or "request") Olympic tickets.  Tonight at midnight is the 'deadline' so we couldn't avoid it any longer.  This type of pre-purchasing doesn't sit well with my personality but I had to get over that.   

It wasn't quite as painful as I thought it would be - at least from an ease of navigation perspective.  The website made a fairly complicated process pretty simple.

Where the pain kicked in (and it kicked like a mule) was at the payment stage.  You have to request all the tickets you want - knowing that you won't get many of them....  so, naturally, you over request a little.  Then you are given a "maximum amount" which represents the price you pay if you get 100% of the tickets you request.  It also represents a heart attack (that's an exaggeration... "heavy palpitations" is more accurate.)

Let's put it this way - I better not get 100% of the tickets I requested.

In the end we have requested a variety of stuff....  lots of speed skating and cross country skiing, a figure skating event for Aia and Sacha, and a freestyle skiing event that we could all go to.  Hopefully our kids will enjoy soaking up the Olympic vibe...

I also got a little speculative with the ice hockey...  trust me, if I get Gold Medal tickets I'll be on my couch at home with a beer in hand, several thousand dollars richer.

If you need to order tickets go HERE.  If you, like me, need to win the lottery go HERE.

                                           

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Weekend Preview

I don't normally like to get ahead of myself by previewing things in this blog....  but I am excited about this weekend.

On Saturday Team IF West Vancouver is going to toe the line (8 different lines as it turns out) in the Haney 2 Harrison 100km Relay.  This little relay could easily swoop in late and collect the prize for most fun event of 2008.  

We have a house rented 2 blocks from the finish line.  The house ought to be pretty awesome given that it has a name - Naismith House.  Houses with names tend not to be dumps.  Also, correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Naismith (a Canadian) invent basketball?  So, without doing any research (because I don't want to disprove this theory), we will race our hearts out, hopefully win, and then proceed to party in a cool house that is pretty much the birthplace of basketball.

That all sets up quite nicely....

Sunday will see Sacha and her running buddy Mel take on the Khatsahlano 15km race at the reasonable time of 11am.  Now, some of you may be thinking "Hey that race was cancelled!".... sure, the real race was cancelled, but our Rogue Khatsahlano will start as scheduled.  The Rogue version is put on by MJ Racing - staff of 4 (though three are under age 7).  I will be starting the ladies, with a pistol no less.  I will be providing detailed maps of the course, manning aid stations, and providing on course support from my Race Vehicle (van).  There will be no chip timing as I thought that would be excessive for two runners (and difficult for me)....  These ladies had a goal, and I will not see their dreams (of running and eating great food afterward) dashed by the mysterious cancellation of the "Old" Khahts race.  It should be lots of fun....

If you would like to compete in this rogue Khatsalano please forward your application to me directly.  Please note the Khatsalano 15km race is actually 17km as you can see by the route below.

Oh, and if you were considering the Rogue Khahtsahlano, you ought to know that running it is almost as difficult as spelling it, as the profile map below shows:

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The Change We Seek

There are more skilled political commentators than I, and there will be far more insightful articles than this one.  There are, however, a few things that I know for sure:

I like a leader that inspires with the spoken word

I like a leader that is gracious in victory

Tonight was a key moment in history

Truer words were never spoken than:

"This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change." 

- B. Obama November 4th, 2008.

I feel a profound sense of hope.

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Followers/Subscribers/Readers

Firstly, I'd like to thank all of you for stopping by to read the things I publish on Meyrick Jones Racing.  

Hopefully you enjoy the topics, the writing and the photos.  I certainly enjoy publishing them here and really value the many great friendships and opportunities that have sprouted from this blog.  Lately more people are using the 'comments' area after each post to communicate with me and with others - I really value the feedback and enjoy the interactions that take place this way.

I want to introduce a couple of ways to "Follow" or "Subscribe" to this blog....  these are designed by Google (and Feedburner) to make it easier to keep track of the blogs you enjoy.

Here they are:

1.  Become a "Follower" - Don't worry I am sure you are more of a "Leader" in life...  I just added the "Followers" chart on the right and have been pleasantly surprised to find a few people signing up.  It is really nice for me to "see" some of my readers and for them to get my posts!

2.  Subscribe by Email - This is a service that Feedburner provides.  If you find checking the site for updates laborious (and unsatisfying when there is nothing new) maybe you would rather receive updates automatically in your e-mail.  You will never miss another post and you will only need to come to the site to see the slideshow or make a comment!  E-mail addresses are kept private of course.

3.  Subscribe in a Reader - If you use a "reader" like Google Reader to keep track of your favourite blogs you can add mine by clicking the logo near the top of the right hand column.  This is another great way to keep track of more than one blog without having to search for new posts.

These tools will make your blog reading more efficient and enjoyable.  They are easy to figure out and can be found at the top of the right-hand column of my blog.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

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