Birthdays come and go

Well I certainly have been busy over the last week so I will try and not bombard you with my usually level of mind numbing detail.

After much self congratulations on hearing I had finally completed my Open University degree last Thursday morning, I wandered up to Swanguard Stadium in Central Park to watch the final of the men's 5k race in the World Police and Fire Games. Not wishing to show any disrespect to the fireman of the world out there but it seemed to be they received a good drubbing from the police. But that is just my take on it, not sure who came out on top for the entire games. The racing was good and it gave me a chance to practise some sport action shots with my camera, as it turns out I still need more practise.

Thursday nights club run turned out to be a little harder than I had imagined. A large number of the club was taking part in a 80k (50 mile) trail race on Saturday so I had thought that most would be taking it easy on Thursday in preparation for this. I yet again underestimated these guys. Their idea of tapering for a race is very different from mine. In brief, after running up a hill ()I say hill but I think crampons would have been more suitable than running shoes) to what I can only guess/hope is the highest point in Metro-Vancouver, we had a brief respite in Queen Elizabeth Park (awesome views) before running (free falling) down the other side of the hill to the site of the 2010 Winter Olympic village. After reaching (hitting) the bottom I committed the cardinal running club sin of falling so far behind that I missed the pedestrian traffic light and the rest of the group had to wait for me to play frogger across the road to catch up to them. It didn't get much better from there, I managed to keep them in line of sight until the last kilometre then just meekly finished off.

I don't want you to get the wrong idea here. The rest of the runners in the club are fantastic, they have been really friendly and welcoming and have never once complained or even rolled there eyes (that I have seen) as I gasp for breath at the back of the pack. I also don't want you to think that I'm not enjoying it either. It is a great challenge every time I go and I feel even in the short time I have been going, my running has improved. So far each run has had a different route and I'm seeing parts of the city and surrounding area that I would not normally see. Running clubs are only as hard as you want to make them, give it a go, you don't have to be fast or take part in races, you get to meet some great people who encourage and help you achieve what you want.

Friday was my Birthday!!! Thank you to all those that sent messages, it was great. After a finishing work and speaking to my Mum I had a day of mooching around, and buying myself some presents. I have now got my wireless network up and running so watch out for the video guided tour of the apartment soon. I also got the Wii connected up so I could practise my tennis. In the evening I headed off downtown to try out another restaurant , this time The Keg won my business. The Keg seems to be a Canadian chain who specialises in steak, who am I to argue. I had a great meal here and while a little more expensive than else where, on special occasions worth the extra, nothing too fancy but nice. After steak, jacket potato and a range of deserts (best not to ask) I got home after having a good night out.

As mentioned a little earlier, PRR members were taking part in a race over the weekend called the Stormy Trail Race which wound it's way around the mountains of Squamish valley. This was meant to be a relay race which the club had entered 5 teams, but some thought that the idea of taking part in a 80k (50 mile) relay version of the race was a little to sissy for them so they attempted the whole race on there own! I had volunteered to help out at one of the aid stations along the course and to be a backup runner if anybody had to drop out. I could do a whole race report here on the days events but in the hope you are still reading this and I would like you to finish I will be concise.

The alarm went off at 3:30am and I was picked up at 4am, FYI, people were still coming home from a good night on the town. We got to the race start by 5am and the race got underway at 6am with a 12 hour cutoff for the race. I nearly got to run a couple of times but on both occasions the opportunity was wrenched from my grasp (sigh). I spent the day eating sweets and crisps that were meant for the runners and cheering as they went by. Meanwhile, our club runners put in an amazing effort. Every team finished and one team only missed a prize due to a course marshal mis-directing one of there runners. All of the solo runners finished under the 12 hour deadline and not only that but Elle beat the male and female course record from last year, winning the women's race and coming third overall having taken 57 minutes of the female course record (her own). These guys did an amazing job and I can't wait to give trail running ago myself. This will have to wait just a little bit though as the amount of lost skin and blood makes me think I will wait until after the marathon. An awesome BBQ followed the event and finally made it home at around 9:30pm. Long day and I didn't even run.

Up early again on Sunday at 5:30am. This time it was my turn to run. I was taking part in the Delta Half Marathon which was about 25 mins south of Vancouver and most importantly, flat as a pancake. Due to some interesting difficulties with my car here I was very grateful for the lift to and from the race. On arriving at the start the first thing I noticed was the three fire engines lined up out side the leisure centre where the run was starting from. I'm still not sure what the problem was but the result was there were no restroom facilities, thankfully a nearby tree did the trick for me but members of the female persuasion were getting a little antsy. A Porty-potty was found and after a 15 minute delay the race was started. Just before we got off a light rain started which kept me nice and cool, if a little damp, for the race. I set off well and after settling in everything went well until the course turned into the wind, in all fairness wind might be an exaggeration, draft would be more fair but at the 9 mile mark it was enough to slow me down a little. My target was to finish in between 1:30:00 and 1:35:00, I crossed the line in 1:32:27 so job done. They had a nice pancake breakfast for the finishers, a good medal and just as important for me, a good ribbon too.

For future reference, a steak dinner on a Friday night, an early morning the next day eating sweets, crisps and BBQ, followed by a late night, another early morning and a 13.1 mile race does not a happy stomach make!

I'm going to cut you off at this point as there is more to come from the day and I don't want to overload you. I'll post again soon.

Thanks for reading.