Scallop Days and Zombies

Digby 5k Preview


The 2011 edition of the Digby Scallop Days 5k goes down this Saturday. I love this race. For one, the course is good – two loops of downtown Digby, with no really bad hills and more downhill than uphill. Also, the vibe of the race is really fun – everyone’s relaxed and having a good time – and the Scallop Queen and her entourage lend a unique quality to the event. Besides, Digby is in such a beautiful area.

Because the race is happening while my parents and my brother, sister-in-law, and nephews are visiting Nova Scotia, we are making a weekend of it. This year, we’ll tour different spots near Digby on Friday – then do the race Sat morning – and then take the kids to Upper Clements Park (an amusement park) for the rest of the day.

The race should be extra special because I’m not the only one running! J-A is running. She’s been training really well and hopes to put the boots to her PB from last year. My bro is also running. And M-R is considering making this her first 5k. Should be awesome!

The only not-so-awesome thing is that my training since the NS Half has tanked. I came away from the half with a hip flexor strain that has been persistent. It’s sore and it’s reducing my range of motion a little bit. I can run with it, but I’m not sure how fast I’ll be able to run. I was able to do 4 sets of 4min on, 2min recovery on Tuesday, but it didn’t feel fantastic.

I haven’t had the greatest race luck this season, but I’m still going to give it everything I’ve got on Sat. I won the last two runnings of this race, but it’s quite possible that my streak will end – but I’m not going to let it go without a fight.


Run for Your Lives 5k


Picture this. A 5k course through the woods with 12 obstacles to overcome. You run through mud, across streams, crawl through tunnels, climb fences – and the whole time, you’re being chased by brain-eating zombies.

Sounds pretty awesome.

Well, this is exactly what they do in Baltimore in a 5k called Run for Your Lives. The race website describes it this way: “Run For Your Lives is an apocalyptic 5K obstacle race. But you’re not just running against the clock — you’re running from brain-hungry, virus-spreading, bloody zombies.”

Bascially, runners get a set of “health flags” that they wear around their waists – this is what the chase zombies try to steal. Runners have to get through all obstacles and make route choices (there are multiple ways through the course) and get over the finish line fence with at least one health flag left. Hilarious.

The whole point, besides fun, seems to be to train people what to do when the Zombie Apocalypse strikes. Fun and educational... with lots of beer drinking at the after party. Sounds like a blast!

The Antiques Roll

Lots of my friends from Cliff’s Antiques were racing on the weekend in either the Bridge Mile or the Natal Day races. I want to give a shout out to the ones I saw.

On Sunday, Leah ran in the open female bridge race and turned in an excellent performance. She was 3rd overall, and when I saw her at about the halfway point, there was nobody even close behind her. Too bad she couldn’t catch the leaders – but given that she’s a marathon specialist, I’d say she did awesome.

On Monday, the husband and wife team of Nick and Meg braved the 2-miler despite a late night on Saturday at the U2 concert in Moncton. Nick’s result wasn’t even close to where he’s been and where he’ll be again (he ran the 6-miler last year at a faster pace), but he’s had a very tough year with injury, illness, and work/school. He did, however, get my vote for best dressed Antique for his cocky sport sunglasses and his compression socks. Rock on!

Meg turned in a solid performance after running the 5k in Windsor last weekend. She wisely left the compression socks at home. With any luck, she’ll run with the Outliers in the Rum Runners Relay again this year.

In the 6-miler, Rayleen (see the photo from the Chronicle Herald above) turned in the best performance – she won the women’s race by a wide margin. With Denise out, she’s been the fastest woman in the province from 5-10k this year. I was hoping for a season of battles between her and Erin, but Erin got unlucky with appendicitis, so it’s just been Rayleen eating up the awards. Nevertheless, Rayleen will not be racing on the Timex team this year – in fact, a lot of fast runners are making it a point to avoid the event this year – but more on that in another post.

Kenny also turned in a solid performance, considering he’s been splitting his energies between running and triathlons. It wasn’t his fastest 6 mile ever, but it was good enough for top 10 and a spot on the Timex team. He’ll be the only Antique on the team this year. There’s a story about that – but I’ll save it.

Miche was very brave to run after a big night at U2 on Sat. More than that, she had to make it back to town early Sunday morning to supervise the kids’ bridge races. But she’s tough as nails and still managed to turn in a solid performance over the challenging Natal Day course.

I may be missing Antiques who competed over the weekend – my apologies. These are just the folks I ran into or saw.

I saw Denise at both the Bridge Mile and the Natal Day races. She got to be one of the starters of the Natal Day race, but that’s little consolation considering how hungry she was to compete. It broke my heart to chat with her and to see her on the sidelines when she should’ve been making her comeback and challenging Rayleen for the title. Natal Day was Denise’s race. But despite all the crazy setbacks, Denise’s fire still burns – and I still wouldn’t be surprised to see her back on the roads running in top form. She’s been dealt a crappy hand for the moment – but those darn blood clots have to thin out eventually! I do think of her often when I’m training – I learned so much just from training with her – and my thoughts are with her as she recovers.

The body is so fragile. All the more reason to run hard... with gratitude.

Proud of My Nephews... Again!

Last year, two of my nephews – Patrick and Daniel – ran the Bridge Mile over the Halifax Harbour. This year, they were back again – one year older and wiser and hungrier for glory!

It was all heat and blue skies as we lined up for the kids’ run. The plan was that Patrick was going to run alone this year (with daddy trailing 10m back to make sure all was well) while mommy and I were going to run with Daniel. J-A, nana, and grampy would be waiting on the Dartmouth side with little Micah (a future bridge runner).

Like last year, both boys were a little shy of the starting gun – Patrick has a particular aversion to guns (and later in the day, he loudly let any folks in the Natal Day parade carrying guns know that he disapproved!) – but once the crowd started moving, Patrick sprinted away, looking for the win. Daniel decided to pace things more wisely.

Half a minute in, Daniel decided he wanted to hold daddy’s hand. That effectively destroyed the original plan – time for plan B. Meanwhile, despite his very fast start, we saw Patrick not far ahead, struggling up the hill. Plan B involved me catching up to Patrick and encouraging him the rest of the way. Although he seemed to be flagging when I caught up to him, with just a little encouragement, he found some pace again and powered up the hill. We ran together all the way to the finish, and he even put on a burst of extra speed as he entered the long finishing chute – and he finished faster than last year! It was a great effort.

After we collected his hard-earned and much-prized medal, we went to watch Daniel. Not too long after, we saw him cruising along to the finish holding both mommy’s and daddy’s hands – you can see it in the picture above. It turns out that he ran the entire way without stopping! This was a huge improvement on last year when he was a bit sick and refused to run a single step. As you can imagine, he crossed the line way faster than last year – an amazing effort!!

Both boys did amazingly – and as a reward, we went to the Mother Goose Festival at Alderney, where they got to pan for gold, discover treasure, do some crafts, and jump around like hooligans in a bouncy castle.

After watching me in the Natal Day 6 miler last year, Patrick had decided he wanted to run the 2 miler like some other kids were doing. So this year, Patrick, daddy, and I laced up for the big event. I warned all the runners I knew that Patrick was on the scene and to watch out! We got all the way around the challenging 2-mile loop, and we only stopped to walk at the water table. Patrick did incredibly well – it’s a long way for a 6 year old! And he did 2 races in 2 days – the Natal Day double! And he got two medals to show for it.

I’m sad I don’t have more pictures to share, but my dad was taking the photos at the bridge and if there’s any from the 2-miler, then M-R has them – and everyone’s in Hubbards, while I’m here in Dartmouth. If I can snag a few later in the week, I’ll post them.

All in all, though, the Natal Day weekend was awesome – 2 races for the boys, the Mother Goose Festival, an incredible fireworks display on Sunday night, the parade, and the Pirate event on Monday. Halifax-Dartmouth really does it right for Natal Day weekend.

And – like last year – I was really proud of my nephews. I can’t wait until all 3 can run the bridge!