Ah, the Cabot Trail Relay. It’s coming – and I’m gonna run it this year. Now, for those who’ve never heard of this crazy event, picture this: 280km, 24 hours, 17 legs (all between 12 and 21km long) through the Cape Breton Highlands, some of the most spectacular scenery in the world and certainly the hilliest terrain in the province. The event attracts 70 teams from all over the north east – NS, NB, PEI, NF, QE, ON, and even Maine. And around these parts, the race has achieved almost mythical status – each leg inevitably produces epic battles that get told and retold for years.
In fact, for the past six months, I’ve listened wide-eyed with wonder as my friend Alex (the son of a famous and very successful Cape Breton writer – and an emerging author himself), like some old-time Gaelic bard, has woven magical tales about the race. He ran it last year on a team named “Dennis Fairall’s Grey Hair” (the norm is to make up a silly name), a team consisting mainly of former varsity runners from the University of Windsor (Dennis Fairall was their coach, apparently). They won it. And no wonder – they were all national cross country champions back in the day. But the winning didn’t come easy – they had to wrest the title from the Maine-iacs, the team who’d won the Relay for the past 6 years. This year, the rivalry will be intense.
But from what I can tell from Alex’s stories – tales of grit, of competition, of strength, of daring, of humour – tales of runners suiting up and searching for the kind of suffering they were destined to endure – a sharp sort of suffering that cuts through the vague dullness of the everyday and makes life bleed thick and red again – at least for a weekend – anyway, from what I can tell, the point is less to win the thing than to go out there and take part in a strange and memorable event that has people running up and down mountains in the middle of the night and teams of runners huddling together in vans, laughing and cheering and letting it all hang out. So it was a hell of a lucky break when a space opened up on this year’s Grey Hairs team, and I was asked to join. I’m no former national champion – not by a long shot – but I know how to run hard and to have a good time, which is exactly what the event is all about (winning the thing and setting a course record are secondary goals!).
On the last weekend in May, then, I’m going to suit up and toe the line as a Grey Hair. And like the Grey Hairs of old, I’m gonna lay down whatever guts I have along some long lonely stretch of cold Cape Breton highway, chasing a kind of glory only a few obsessive people can comprehend. Because, hell, how many former smoking, drinking, pastry eating fatties like me get a shot at running immortality?
And when I cross the line at the end of my leg (leg 8 – the epic leg for slow guys), my chest heaving and my eyes rolled back in my head, I’m going to look back and smile at the legend I just took part in. And then I’m going to have a beer.
Several, actually.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The Low-Down on Greenwood
Here’s how Greenwood went down.
We all toed the line under wet grey skies. The temperature was just under 10, but there was little wind, so conditions were pretty good. When the gun went off, a bunch of guys surged forward, but I kept myself in check, trying to establish the pace with my first few strides. Normally I go out too fast and don’t realize it until a kilometre or more in – and by then it’s too late – I lose it all and more in the last couple of ks. But this time, I kept things comfortable. I fell in with Nick and Terry and counted the guys in front – 5.
The first k clicked by in 3:32. Perfect – exactly the range I was looking for (anything between 3:30 and 3:35). Much of the first k was uphill, but it felt easy, which restored my confidence after a week of bad workouts. The pace felt good. All I had to do was keep it.
We passed the guy reading out the mile splits in just under 5:40. Perfect. I chatted a bit with Nick as we were moving along. We took stock of the leaders. There were three guys out in front, but after their first mile (a too-fast 5:10), one of them fell back a bit. Between those three and our little group, there were two guys running together. Nick knew one of them from his Dal days, and he said I should think about reeling those guys in over the last 5 miles. He told me to have patience – he figured they would come back if I stuck to my race plan.
After the second k (3:34), I started to pull away a bit from Nick and Terry and occupied the lonely space between our group and the next two runners. Nick told me later that there was a guy who tried to go with me, but he fell back quickly, realizing it wasn’t there. I was still being cautious, but when the third k was a bit slow at 3:39, I injected some life back into the pace and picked it up on the fourth to 3:33. All the while, I was inching closer to the 4th and 5th guys. One and two were gone, and three looked pretty far, but I was reeling 4 and 5 in, which gave me something to focus on.
The fifth k is the hardest on the course: there’s a bit of a monster hill. But it was on this hill where I finally caught up to the 4th and 5th guys. Even so, my pace slackened because I was scared of red lining up the hill and flooding my system with lactic acid. I kept the effort the same, but could feel myself slowing – as a result, the 5th k was my slowest at 3:48. What was worse – my 5k time (according to my Garmin) was 18:07 – off pace for my goal of sub 36.
Normally that would have thrown me completely. I would have gotten frustrated and my mentals would have gone to hell. From there, I would have tensed up and run poorly. But it didn’t happen. I shrugged it off and kept wheeling. In fact, down the other side of the hill, I decided to up the ante and see if the other two would come with me. During a 3:31 6th k, I could hear their footsteps get quieter and quieter behind me. I was pleased.
At this point, I noticed that the 3rd guy was starting to come back to me. That first mile was eating away at his legs, and he had nobody near him to give him a push. Incredibly, I was still feeling good and kept an even pace over the rolling terrain with a 3:35 7th k. However, as I was gaining on the 3rd guy, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. One of the two guys had made a break and caught me up. Those damn teenagers – all legs and lungs. But the presence of this guy pushed me to a 3:31 8th k.
We ran together for awhile, but as we started in on the penultimate k, I remembered to relax – and found that I still had gas in the tank. I picked it up slightly and the guy faded again. Now I was going for the 3rd guy and could feel him coming back. My second last k was my fastest so far – 3:30.
With a k to go on a long flat stretch, I let loose, doing all I could to eat up the distance between me and the 3rd guy. But as I was giving it, I heard those damn footsteps from behind again. The kid had saved a bunch for the end – he had more than I did, and with 200m or so to go, he went by me, hungry for the 3rd guy. Turns out, though, that the 3rd guy had lots left and kept both of us off.
Coming down the last 50m or so, I finally saw the clock – and saw that I was going to go under 36. It was awesome. I cruised over that last k in 3:24 and crossed the line in 35:42, with a huge stupid grin on my face. Julie-Ann rushed over knowing exactly how happy I’d be. It was a great feeling. I congratulated the 4th guy on a great race. He ate me up at the end – probably had more in the tank than he thought. But I came away feeling that I also had more in the tank and that this wasn’t the limit of my 10k potential. Problem is there’s only one more 10k on the Timex schedule this year, so I’ve got to make it count in July!
In the end, I was 5th overall and 2nd in my age category (20-39), which netted me a silver medal – woo hoo. Three of the guys I lost to were 19 year-olds – but they don’t really count – a 34 year-old dude should lose to whippersnappers like that! What I was most happy about was that I ran a pretty big negative split, covering the second 5k in just under 17:40. Last year, that would have been a great 5k race time for me – this year, it’s the second half of my 10k!
Now it’s back to the training. There are no more Timex races until June, when there’s three – so the next month will be all about working on 5k and 5mile speed. I’ll be looking for that elusive sub-17 for 5 and maybe even a sub-28 for 5 miles. We’ll see.
We all toed the line under wet grey skies. The temperature was just under 10, but there was little wind, so conditions were pretty good. When the gun went off, a bunch of guys surged forward, but I kept myself in check, trying to establish the pace with my first few strides. Normally I go out too fast and don’t realize it until a kilometre or more in – and by then it’s too late – I lose it all and more in the last couple of ks. But this time, I kept things comfortable. I fell in with Nick and Terry and counted the guys in front – 5.
The first k clicked by in 3:32. Perfect – exactly the range I was looking for (anything between 3:30 and 3:35). Much of the first k was uphill, but it felt easy, which restored my confidence after a week of bad workouts. The pace felt good. All I had to do was keep it.
We passed the guy reading out the mile splits in just under 5:40. Perfect. I chatted a bit with Nick as we were moving along. We took stock of the leaders. There were three guys out in front, but after their first mile (a too-fast 5:10), one of them fell back a bit. Between those three and our little group, there were two guys running together. Nick knew one of them from his Dal days, and he said I should think about reeling those guys in over the last 5 miles. He told me to have patience – he figured they would come back if I stuck to my race plan.
After the second k (3:34), I started to pull away a bit from Nick and Terry and occupied the lonely space between our group and the next two runners. Nick told me later that there was a guy who tried to go with me, but he fell back quickly, realizing it wasn’t there. I was still being cautious, but when the third k was a bit slow at 3:39, I injected some life back into the pace and picked it up on the fourth to 3:33. All the while, I was inching closer to the 4th and 5th guys. One and two were gone, and three looked pretty far, but I was reeling 4 and 5 in, which gave me something to focus on.
The fifth k is the hardest on the course: there’s a bit of a monster hill. But it was on this hill where I finally caught up to the 4th and 5th guys. Even so, my pace slackened because I was scared of red lining up the hill and flooding my system with lactic acid. I kept the effort the same, but could feel myself slowing – as a result, the 5th k was my slowest at 3:48. What was worse – my 5k time (according to my Garmin) was 18:07 – off pace for my goal of sub 36.
Normally that would have thrown me completely. I would have gotten frustrated and my mentals would have gone to hell. From there, I would have tensed up and run poorly. But it didn’t happen. I shrugged it off and kept wheeling. In fact, down the other side of the hill, I decided to up the ante and see if the other two would come with me. During a 3:31 6th k, I could hear their footsteps get quieter and quieter behind me. I was pleased.
At this point, I noticed that the 3rd guy was starting to come back to me. That first mile was eating away at his legs, and he had nobody near him to give him a push. Incredibly, I was still feeling good and kept an even pace over the rolling terrain with a 3:35 7th k. However, as I was gaining on the 3rd guy, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. One of the two guys had made a break and caught me up. Those damn teenagers – all legs and lungs. But the presence of this guy pushed me to a 3:31 8th k.
We ran together for awhile, but as we started in on the penultimate k, I remembered to relax – and found that I still had gas in the tank. I picked it up slightly and the guy faded again. Now I was going for the 3rd guy and could feel him coming back. My second last k was my fastest so far – 3:30.
With a k to go on a long flat stretch, I let loose, doing all I could to eat up the distance between me and the 3rd guy. But as I was giving it, I heard those damn footsteps from behind again. The kid had saved a bunch for the end – he had more than I did, and with 200m or so to go, he went by me, hungry for the 3rd guy. Turns out, though, that the 3rd guy had lots left and kept both of us off.
Coming down the last 50m or so, I finally saw the clock – and saw that I was going to go under 36. It was awesome. I cruised over that last k in 3:24 and crossed the line in 35:42, with a huge stupid grin on my face. Julie-Ann rushed over knowing exactly how happy I’d be. It was a great feeling. I congratulated the 4th guy on a great race. He ate me up at the end – probably had more in the tank than he thought. But I came away feeling that I also had more in the tank and that this wasn’t the limit of my 10k potential. Problem is there’s only one more 10k on the Timex schedule this year, so I’ve got to make it count in July!
In the end, I was 5th overall and 2nd in my age category (20-39), which netted me a silver medal – woo hoo. Three of the guys I lost to were 19 year-olds – but they don’t really count – a 34 year-old dude should lose to whippersnappers like that! What I was most happy about was that I ran a pretty big negative split, covering the second 5k in just under 17:40. Last year, that would have been a great 5k race time for me – this year, it’s the second half of my 10k!
Now it’s back to the training. There are no more Timex races until June, when there’s three – so the next month will be all about working on 5k and 5mile speed. I’ll be looking for that elusive sub-17 for 5 and maybe even a sub-28 for 5 miles. We’ll see.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Boston and Greenwood
Nova Scotia had a huge day on Marathon Monday. Huge. Actually, to be more specific, Cliff’s training group (tentatively called Cliff’s Antiques) had a huge day at Boston. How’s this for huge:
Denise Robson (2:43:16) – 1st Masters (40+) woman, which carries a purse of $10,000; 24th woman overall; first Canadian woman; 8th Canadian overall.
Rami Bardeesy (2:27:22) – 3rd Masters men, which carries a purse of $2,500; 47th overall; 45th male overall; first Canadian overall.
Leah Jabbour (2:59:48) – 76th woman overall; 5th Canadian woman.
Rami and Leah ran PB times, while Denise ran her fastest Boston. It was amazing to witness their journeys all through the winter and spring. I can’t wait to hear all their stories.
But just as Boston ends, another RNS race gears up. This Sunday is the Greenwood 10k, the first Timex series race on the calendar. My own training has kind of stunk over the past few weeks. The long hours of editing, the poor eating, and the lack of full sleeps has taken some of the jump out of my legs. On Saturday, we were doing 5x1mile @ 5:30/mile (3:25/km), and I just couldn’t keep up. By the end of each interval, I was (as they say) “going to face” – you know, when you’re working so hard that your face gets all screwed up – that’s going to face, and it means you’re in trouble.
But I’m not going to worry too much about it. My goal for the race is “simply” to run under 36min, so I “only” need to average 3:35/km (about 5:45/mile). Not too long ago that was a solid 5k race pace for me, so we’ll see if I can actually pull it off. From what I hear, the course only has one real hill, but the conditions will have to be good if I’m going to knock 30s off my PB.
Happy trails – hope to have some stories to share soon that aren’t about me!
Denise Robson (2:43:16) – 1st Masters (40+) woman, which carries a purse of $10,000; 24th woman overall; first Canadian woman; 8th Canadian overall.
Rami Bardeesy (2:27:22) – 3rd Masters men, which carries a purse of $2,500; 47th overall; 45th male overall; first Canadian overall.
Leah Jabbour (2:59:48) – 76th woman overall; 5th Canadian woman.
Rami and Leah ran PB times, while Denise ran her fastest Boston. It was amazing to witness their journeys all through the winter and spring. I can’t wait to hear all their stories.
But just as Boston ends, another RNS race gears up. This Sunday is the Greenwood 10k, the first Timex series race on the calendar. My own training has kind of stunk over the past few weeks. The long hours of editing, the poor eating, and the lack of full sleeps has taken some of the jump out of my legs. On Saturday, we were doing 5x1mile @ 5:30/mile (3:25/km), and I just couldn’t keep up. By the end of each interval, I was (as they say) “going to face” – you know, when you’re working so hard that your face gets all screwed up – that’s going to face, and it means you’re in trouble.
But I’m not going to worry too much about it. My goal for the race is “simply” to run under 36min, so I “only” need to average 3:35/km (about 5:45/mile). Not too long ago that was a solid 5k race pace for me, so we’ll see if I can actually pull it off. From what I hear, the course only has one real hill, but the conditions will have to be good if I’m going to knock 30s off my PB.
Happy trails – hope to have some stories to share soon that aren’t about me!
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