Sat Oct 9th Beat Beethoven 8k
Run (224 participants)
Congratulations to James F (7:30am
Earlybirds) who finished 9th overall, 8th man and 2nd in men's
20-29 in 30:01.
Sun Oct 10th Ottawa
Marathon (99 participants)
Congratulations to Vincent (7:30am
Earlybirds, x-Whitecaps "B") who finished 7th overall and 4th
in men's 40-44 in 3:16:22 -- fast enough to qualify for Boston! Vincent
also sent a report to the TriRudy e-mail list that is included
below.
Louise's Race Report:
A few notes from the Toronto Waterfront Marathon [Sept
26th]...I ran it because it was my 9th marathon, and I wanted to do the big 1-0
at the National Capital Race Weekend in May. I promise, I’ll train properly for
that one!
At his Toronto Race Expo booth, I spoke to Jim Robinson from
the National Capital Race Weekend. He said the demand for Ottawa brochures was
so great he had run out by Saturday noon.
The slogan for the Toronto
Lakeshore Marathon could be - more portapotties than medals.
For most of
the event, I had thought the race organization near perfect. Well marked, well
organized, beautiful course, huge row of portapotties at the start/finish, and
several at every water station, every three kilometres.
As I headed to
the finish line, I thought “four stars”. Then, as I crossed the timing mat, a
volunteer handed me a card. It said, “We’re out of medals and we’ll mail you one
in four to six weeks.”
She added “call us if you don’t get
it.”
Anyway, the white race shirts were the latest style with no sponsor
logos and just a subtle little race symbol.
Speaker at the pasta dinner
was Runner’s World columnist John the “the Penguin” Bingham. Are there any
penguins in Meech Lake? Anyway, I share some of his comments with
you:
John “the Penguin” Bingham is a late to fitness convert who said he
has no “ghost of fitness past” to haunt him. There was no epiphany as he
discovered the joy of running.
His running strategy is “finish the day
you start.”
He started running at 43, 240 pounds and a smoker and
drinker. As he began his quest, someone sent his e-mails about the subject to
the Runner’s World editor and he agreed to write eight columns. He kept on doing
it, and now at 55, he has written more than 100 and is still “waddling on”.
“It’s a great time to be in a great sport.”
When he first decided to get
fit, he tried cycling. Too complicated, he thought, and went for something
simpler - running.
He discovered there are basically four kinds of
runners - ‘really fast’ runners, ‘pretty fast’ runners, ‘kinda fast’ runners,
and ‘penguins’. The really fast runners wear singlets, shorts, and if it’s
really cold, gloves. The ‘pretty fast’ are always running as a ‘tune-up’ for
another race - “I didn’t go flat out, because I’m training for....” The ‘kinda
fast’ are “trophy sniffers” or age groupers. They check out the cars in the
parking lot - “Bobby’s here, I’ve got second.”
Then, there’s the back of
the packers. “Crossing the start line is like going to a theme park. I want to
stay out there as long as I can.”
He says that long distance running for
adults is “what sex is to high school students. You think of doing it because
your friends are doing it.”
You want to find a date? “All the single
people are between the four and a half and five and a half hour mark of the
marathon...If you want to have a good time, the back of the pack is the place to
be.”
Vincent's Race Report:
Well, at one point one moves from being a TriRudy reader to a
TriRudy poster, and from a hack to an more experienced athlete… ok, maybe still
a hack… but with good intentions, doing my first Boston Marathon and Lake Placid
IM this year…
I wanted to post a bit of a race report from the Ottawa
Marathon in Cumberland this weekend. Definitely beautiful countryside and a
great time of the year for an event like this. Still seems to be a well kept
secret, with only about 100 participants for the Marathon (lots more for the ˝,
10k and 5k), despite being an obvious justification for a big thanksgiving
dinner.
In terms of background, I went into the race with a goal of
qualifying for Boston, which I had done with seconds to spare last year… Boston,
with 30+ degree Celsius weather, did not give out many qualifying times, nor did
the National Capital Marathon, which followed Boston a bit too closely for me to
do it justice, missing it by two minutes. So despite best efforts, I was in need
of a good marathon time with time north of the border running out.
Cumberland was ideal. The race started in the Heritage Village Museum...
a quaint start with lots of history and a good crowd around. The run started
strong, and then there were the hills (about 65m elevation) to struggle through.
The first quarter was a reasonable run – started a bit too quickly, but slowed
down to the right pace after the first 5 or 10 minutes. Second quarter was still
a good pace, appreciating the cool weather, but not the wind. The third quarter
still managed to stay roughly on track... the consistency was a bit of a
surprise. For the fourth quarter, where I thought I might have the problems,
still had lots of energy, and the people along the route were great. I was
feeling like I was going faster (with my watch arguing the point to some
extent), but none the less, feeling strong. It was a good race to finish, with
minutes to spare on my qualifying time this year… so it’s back to Boston next
year.
Special thanks to Gilles Lamenoise, coach at the Ottawa Lions,
Nancee and the girls. Without giving Gilles much time to work with, the hills,
exercises and speed work over the past weeks definitely contributed to being
able to finish that fourth quarter strong, and the consistency during the race.
Having the support of Gilles and Nancee at the event itself was also a real
perk. It’s great that this event also supports the Lions.
A gentleman
from Ljubljana set the course record at 2:47, and at 3:16, I was 7th overall
(another advantage of these races that do not get a lot of attendees). Also, an
honorable mention to EpicDrinky… with the guts to start, and the intelligence to
know when to stop…
Of course, having signed up for Boston and Lake
Placid again, I’m thinking maybe it’s time to consider a Rudy award… anyone know
where I can get some good cross country ski equipment/lessons cheap, or what a
Keskinada is? (just kidding, about the Keskinada at
least).
