Banff WinterStart 5mile Night Race…

… wins hands down for the best use of an underground parking garage. and a canoe.

Results here.

Before the race:

After the race, it was like a rave in there! SOOO much fun!

 

Big Rock Beer sponsored the event. They were giving away copious amounts of ‘Gopher’ Beer.

The Canoe.

The race was an incredible adventure. It is freaking BLACK out once you leave the townsite of Banff (about 600meters into the race and then it’s all by feel. I had a headlamp so for me it was ok, but most didn’t. Mind you, they weren’t barefoot. It was snowing at the top of the Tunnel Mountain hill, but only raining at the bottom.

My Data speaks volumes about how I felt during the race (Incredible). The 4th K was straight up the hill, the 5th was straight down. Look at my avg heart rate tho. I was PERFECT in my plan. Same cadence, same effort, let the pace be whatever it needs to be. Over a minute per km difference. But look at the heart rate! No wonder I was able to put my fastest km in on the last km! I am pretty sure I used 98% of my effort this race, and it felt perfect. I even had a sprint finish to avoid getting chicked. (No one wants to be beat by the barefoot Guy). I ran every step, even sprinting some, I Roctane Gu’d in the start corral, which probably kicked in at the 6k mark. I used to save myself for the final 100m, as any more kicking then that and I’d be done. Now I am starting to kick at the 2k left mark, as I know I can keep up the cadence. That is an amazing feeling, to know I can hold a faster pace at the end of a race… I am really looking forward to see what I can accomplish next year. Time to start training. Oh, yeah. I have another half marathon next weekend first. Gonna rock that one too!!!

The conditions were just fine for barefoot, temp about 40f, wet pavement, feet feel as good as they have felt in months! I am going to miss barefooting. I say that because we are supposed to get a serious shot of winter starting Monday. Bout Time. (we plow snow in the winter, so there's that)

Here are the official results. 350 out of over 1000, I like that.

Here are the rest of the photo Highlights. I have a FUN start line video of me gaggling on about how exciting the race is (and it hadn’t started yet) but I am on a mobile Internet stick, so I will post that video tomorrow when I get back home.

Barrie is Kelly’s Husband, this was supposed to be his first race ever, but he ended up with a calf injury… sucko. He posed like Captain Morgan instead.

 

Kelly still hasn’t gotten the hang of smiling wildly at all times when I am around, as the camera is always shooting. And thanks for bringing me a Roctane GU.  I have about 250 GU’s at home, but forgot to bring 1. Kelly rescued me.

It’s getting Crazy outside!

I wasn’t the only bear runner.

 

A good picture of my Mom and I before the race.

 

Ally! See Kelly!? she gets it!

Heading toward the start

 

Looking toward the start, *WooT*

 

Looking back. There were almost 1100 finishers in this race!

 

Gratuitous foot shot.

Startline giddy me, and wildly smiling Kelly. See, isn’t that better!

 

This was pretty much my view the entire race.

And at times it was like this.

and also this.

My Mom got me just before the finish line on her blackberry. Or we think it might be the Loch Ness monster. I have translated the photo for you, based on what she told me was there. I have no reason to think she would just take a random picture and tell me it was me, do I?

Kelly finishing (she is the blur on the left side)

Dave is in the Black vest crossing the line on the left side. Thanks for the use of your hotel room as a bag drop!

Here is Jen (who will see this blog for the first time after, Joanne, emails her the Link. Also, Daren!

 

I have to include Marco too! At every race he sees me, I have a shot like this of him!

See, here at the Harvest Half as well!

See you at the next one Marco! And I’ll see all of you LATER!

Gawd I love to run. Oh the Race Camera Dude took some shots of me before the race, so we’ll see what comes of that.

• Don’t forget my contest
• Don’t forget we have lots of run stuff for sale (we ordered more Gingerbread GU, as well as Mint Chocolate)

Barefoot mileage since June 29th : 243.3km

VFF mileage since July 7th : 78.7km (12 on trails)

Shoe mileage since SOBF (start of barefoot): 5km (25:30 5k race PR on July 1st)

And here is just another picture of our mountain paradise. See DW and DS down by the river there?

Smug

Just because it’s been a tough week and I am now feeling very smug about my current location in the mountains and my current relaxed state of mind. I chose to share these photos that I took outside the condo while walking the dogs.

Just to prove it’s not a stock photo from somewhere…

And one more… just because I’m like that… it’s how I roll.

9 hours to the race (7pm Start). Nervous energy starting. We are having Hamburgers for Lunch this aft for my Dad’s B-day Celebration. Thumbs up for pre-race meal? or will it be a colossal fail?

Funny Photo… just happens to be on a Friday.

Ever seen anybody take their birds for a walk? I have. now. sorry about blurry. It’s the best I could do as I turned around in the truck to get the picture. I ended up driving a couple miles out of my way to get this photo. I had seen her as we drove by to go get my Dad this aft, then was hoping I’d still see her when we came out. She was there, but I had to turn the opposite way that I was planning. See what I do for you, internet?

A fully modified jogging stroller, redesigned to carry 2 bird cages on nice neighbourhood walks. The lady is even tricked out in full technical apparel and birding running shoes!

Right now it is early still on Friday Night. Tomorrow by this time I will have just finished my first 5 miler. I am really looking forward to hammering out a great effort. 42-43 minutes would be a solid goal for me. There is a significant hill for a half mile at the 2 mile mark but my plan is to maintain cadence and effort and let the pace lie where it may. Good news is the turnaround is at the top of the hill, and you get to come back down it! The plan will remain intact, maintain cadence and effort! hopefully that means I’ll be flying down the hill!

It’s pretty funny. ever since I’ve left the running room (can I say left?) I have found the most amazing races. Ones that mean an incredible amount to the RD’s as well as the racers. The RR races never felt like that. They seemed forced. These independent races are always hard to get into, selling out WAY before race day, and for good reason.

Case in point. I went to the package pickup yesterday at the North location of the Tech Shop and, well…, picked up my race pack. I chatted with the people there and obviously the topic came up about the amazing weather we are having. I told the one guy that I was really stoked because I am going to run it barefoot. Without so much of a ‘hmmm, interesting’, he tells me that I should try to get onto the new path that was just built next to the road, as it’s smooth, AND they made sure to sweep the entire length of it for us racers. That was pretty cool. (I did hear other people mumbling barefoot-crazy-nutjob comments), but this guy (turns out to be the RD) is just being helpful, no matter what kind of shoes I’m going to run in!

That’s it for tonight. I am going to sleep. We are at my Sisters Condo in Canmore. Here is a picture out the balcony door… uhuh… yep. Canmore is just 15 minutes from Banff. So it’ll be easy peasy getting to the race tomorrow night.

And, just to make you even MORE jealous. Here is some mountains in the Banff area.

Thot some of you may like this one, so if you click it, it will bebiggen. This was taken just this Sept. (any guesses what lake this is? Its a very famous lake.)

Work work work work…

… it sucks when suck-ass work gets in the way of life.

Very big challenges at work are affecting my:

• sleep
• diet
• running
• family
• fun times
• general well being
• attitude
• sphincter
• heart-rate
• digestion
• and just about everything else.

BUT… I am racing on Saturday night in Banff, so how bad can it be, really. PLUS we are staying at my sisters condo in Canmore, that has a large pool and hot tub. AND it’s my Dad’s birthday celebration on Saturday.

Life is good. I am blessed.

Just flipping through some more pics. Here is another Great Horned we saw in the Alberta Badlands near Drumheller. Do you see him?

How bout now? he’s just a baby!

Reader Mail… and DW’s store! Shop now!

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Jamoosh said...

Shouldn't that be Barefoot Kilometage and VFF Kilometage?

A: Probably.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Tommy Tutone, "867-5309/ Jenny" to be all completist about it. Don't know why you left off the "artist" for that one.

A: I just copied them as they were commented. I’m lazy. Sue me.

Quinton J said...

Vanilla Gingerbread GU? What the? How much? I need that stuff.

A: Thanks for the Questions Quinton. They are $2.35 each +gst. Free shipping on orders over $50.00, we also have Mandarin Orange and Tri-berry, among other GU’s. Orders will be processed through my DW’s company www.gettagift.ca. Let me know what you need and we’ll put the order together and send you an invoice Via PayPal. nzeller@shaw.ca for your requests.

 

Vanilla Gingerbread GU Gel	$2.35
Mandarin Orange GU Gel	$2.35
Tri-Berry Gu Gel	$2.35
Strawberry Gu Chomps	$3.35
Blueberry/Pom GU Brew	$2.25
LemonLime GU Brew	$2.25
Orange Pineapple Recovery Brew	$4.00
SpiBelt Original with Race # toggles	$22.00
Ryders Sunglasses with soft case	$39.99
BondiBand Headband	$8.00
Athlete Christmas  Gift Pak, includes: - Ryders Eyewear - SpiBelt with race toggles - BondiBand - Vanilla Gingerbread GU Gel - Mandarin Orange GU Gel - All Things Jill Sore Muscle Rub - Decorative Xmas packaging - Shipping inc	$90.00
All Things Jill Outdoor Trek Pak - 130ml Bug Joose! - 130ml After Sunny Spray - 40g Green Thumb Hand Salve - 40g Ouch Balm - Ulitmate Lip Balm - Bug Tea Light Candle	$40.00

   

SpiBelts!

 

The SpiBelt is amazing. See all the stuff that fits? And being it expands and doesn’t have any extra space, means it doesn’t bounce around on the run. I know I use it on all my runs now.

 

Ryders ROCK, we have a couple styles in stock, email for availability.

Here is our BondiBand Selection.

Seriously, who wouldn’t want this for a Xmas gift. AND it’s not just for the runner in your family. It’s an ALL sports pak!

  

I have been using these products, and LOVE them. They are a local company

Ewa said...

I am looking forward to your new photo 'assignment'. I was beginning to worry you might run our of photos.

A: I have almost 30,000 photos, probably of which 10,000 are of high quality status, usable for this here blog. Plus I am constantly shooting new material, such as this photo from this afternoon. What is so great about this photo you ask? Well I’ll tell you. There was a squirrel and a cat that were playing tag around a telephone pole down the block as I was pumping gas. Dad was sitting in the truck and alerted me to the fun game. The squirrel was having it’s way with the cat, by hiding on the opposite side of the post, and peeking out at the cat. The cat would sort of lunge forward, and the squirrel would hide again. For a little bit they just sat on each side of their post, waiting. 3 feet away was a raven, just sitting and watching everything.

I wasn’t in time to catch the game, but I was able to snap a picture of the squirrel darting past the cat and presumably to safety across the alley.

 

Can you see it? right in the middle. Here, I’ll blow it up for you.

The cat got played…

I also snapped this shot today as we were leaving a trade show downtown. I just liked the composition with the very clear blue sky and the striking buildings.

AND, just to show you one of a ‘cool’ series I took last winter. Do you like it? You can’t see it, but just across the river is part of our summer Wednesday running path loop we do our technical runs on! This is the real color of the day… no effects except a bit of brightening and sharpening.

Catch up Tuesday…

We now have Spi-belts, Ryders Eyewear, Bondi Bands and GU in stock and for sale. We even have the popular Vanilla Gingerbread GU… yum. Let me know what you need and we’ll set you up! I will follow up with photos of our stock as well as a price list in the next couple days. We have a Gift pack that contains all of the above and costs $90.00, it’s a really good, ‘all sports’ gift for the athlete in your family.

We  are finally getting summer. I ran a very comfortable 5k barefoot yesterday evening, and will most likely be running the Banff Winterstart 5mile race on Saturday night in my barefeet. I love every step that I can, until I can’t. Then I’ll deal with it.

The new contest is off to a flying start, thanks to Keith. Don’t worry about him, I’m going to make him pick the 5 he really wants to enter, to go in the poll at the end. Feel free to enter this one. It’s a pretty awesome prize, a one of a kind art print!

Past Virtual Race Cool Kid Prize winners, have you received your prizes yet? Let me know that your stuff got there ok, ok?.

Now the BIG news. My Running Losers Challenge. I am doing great. I lost 6 lbs last week. Partly to do with my food poisoning, but mostly to do with:

• the fact I counted my calories all week, and I’ll tell you. that REALLY works. I use an app called LoseIt, and if I am in a restaurant, I can go into the app and look at the calories of stuff on the menu, and make my decisions that way… S-M-R-T, Smart!
• The fact that I did a couple extra workouts that I wouldn’t have done, had I not been in a challenge.
• The fact that that I give a shit.
• The fact that it was the first week of watching what I was eating, and the first week is usually good for a nice initial loss.

The results of this good week include: I took in a belt notch to hold up my jeans. I feel better. Not bloated. *wOoT*, in the spirit of full disclosure, I ate too much Halloween candy. 5 reese’s peanut butter cups. yum. I don’t regret it. shut up.

My week ahead looks like:

• Tough, TOUGH work week. Things are not rosy at the ranch, but we are fighting and working to achieve what we need to achieve.
• We are heading out to Canmore for the weekend, as the run is in Banff on Saturday Night. It is my Dad’s B-day celebration too and there is a lot of eating opportunities planned. I will make good choices at the buffet table.
• I will Run one more day this week, Thursday most likely, and will run an easy 10k.

I am 234lbs. I will be 232 next week at this time.

Barefoot mileage since June 29th : 235.1km

VFF mileage since July 7th : 78.7km (12 on trails)

Shoe mileage since SOBF (start of barefoot): 5km (25:30 5k race PR on July 1st)

For the Contest (part 2), here are a couple new photos too choose from, should you be the winner.

  

Poster contest… this is a good one!

Part 1 of contest: Make up your own slogan for this photo. I will post all the slogans in a poll on this blog. The winner gets a 13x19 canvas printed copy of this photo, with their own slogan. This is a real art item, suitable for framing.

To Enter part 1: In comments write “Part 1 - (your original slogan) Ps. you can have multiple original slogans!

Part 2 of contest: A Random draw will determine a winner, who gets to choose a photo from this here blog, to be printed onto a 13x19 canvas as well. You can have a slogan of your choice included, or not. AND there will be a runner up drawing for a Cool Kids Run Club shirt, as seen in blogs all over South Africa and North Carolina!

South Africa North Cackalacky

Enter Part 2 by following me AND following Chris K over at BQorDie (leave a comment to thank him for his part in this contest!), then commenting here that you did, or do both already. +1 Entry. (mandatory)

Chris has kindly donated the paper and printing for this contest, as well as the shipping. I am donating the bandwidth and the photos. (and contest direction of course)

Other entries for part 2:

• Go back through this blog and let me know what your favourite photo is (post title, count the photos down, or describe. If you hover your mouse cursor over the picture it will tell you what # it is), and leave a comment, +1 Entry
• What is you favourite running slogan by others? +1 Entry
• Pearl Jam, Kenny Chesney or Beastie Boys? +1 Entry
• What is the coolest prize you have seen up for grabs in a Blog Contest (not including this one), +1 Entry
• Facebook, Twitter or blog about this contest, +1 Entry

That’s it folks! What do you think? Contest will run until Nov 15th when we will  make a drawing for the Part 2 prize. We will then have a 5 day poll for the winner of Part 1! The poll will allow you to rank, any or all of the submissions. The winner will have the highest average score.

These prints will be very cool. You want to enter this contest! Put your creative writing hats on and I can’t wait to see the results of this awesome contest!