Finishing Up 2024

2024 is coming to an end (or is over by the time you are probably reading this).  I would say that by my normal standards in the sporting world, I came into and left 2024 without really having goals I was working towards. That isn't to say I didn't enjoy getting out and working hard, but I just didn't feel the pull of anything specific. Instead I just allowed the year to come to me, occasionally finding mini goals along the way to chase.

Look over there! No goals!

I did want to make sure to get some running in away from home and with 2 other parkruns in the province, I made sure to get to them. The Butter Trail in Tatamagouche is a fun one that is dead flat and on crusher dust.  The bonus is when you are done you get pop into the farmer's market for some great local treats. 

The girls wanted some adventures as well, so we made sure to get them out of the house and into the wild. Even when they didn't know it was what they wanted.

I formed a relationship with New World Marketing and got to sample many of the products they represent, which includes On running gear, Darntough socks and Knock Around Sunglasses. All are carried by local companies. It is fun to try out products and give feedback to the reps as well as to local stores that are planning on carrying these products. Over the years I have become very fond of the On running shoes and was more than happy to oblige with the feedback. The On CloudSurfer Trail in this photo was probably my shoe of the year. A little road, a little trail, and amazing so far this winter for a little extra grip. It is easy to pick a supershoe, but I am more a fan of the every day workhorse shoes. 

Some days we had rain, some days it was a lot. 

The kids grow up fast, which ones are the parents? Who knows! Well I know, it is easy to tell when you pop into the heard. 

It was the second annual Cinnamon Bun Run hosted by the 5K Cafe. You coudl choose 3 or 5K run options. I came back to defend my 5K win from last year. While my time wasn't quite as fast, I did finish well under 18 mins and with a second win in a row. 

The end of September brought the Rum Runners Relay back. I opted to return to a Leg I ran very long ago. Leg 10! Though now Leg 10 was slightly different and mostly on crusher dust. At a little over 11 km long it was going to be hard and fast. It started with a crazy steep climb that was book ended with a sweeping downhill finish. I had a great initial battle with a Slow Ships runner, then with Kyle, and eventually came in third overall for the stage with a PB in the 10k distance in my 11km run (and yes, that included the uphill start). The 50 year old legs were still running.

Instead of racing (again I had few goals this year) I opted to pace bunny the half marathon at the Valley Harvest Marathon Weekend. Pacing is awesome and people get so happy to have someone get them to their finish in a PB time. I ran the 1:30 half marathon and had at least 10 people with me most of the time, most finishing under 1:30 (I ran a 1:29:58).

A quick stop at the finish line and I found Colin starting his second loop of the marathon. So I tagged along. And just like that I somehow ran an accidental marathon. We got Colin to the finish line in a great time so he could soak up all the accolades. I was happy to know my legs had some oomph left in them after that.

As the Fall weather cools, it becomes canicross season. I hosted the Long Lake Lap Dog event and it was a blast as we raised money towards the Disaster Animal Response Team of Nova Scotia.

Look at this cute dude

I didn't get to race this Fall, but I did get some time on feet with my best boy Kona. 

Movember came and so did my antics in raising funds for Men's Health. 

And my 13th annual Movember 6K Run in Point Pleasant Park. Between this event and friends and family, I raised almost $5000 and over $7000 for my and Mike's Team, Mo With the Flow. 

Another road trip lead to the 100th parkrun in Truro at Victoria Park. A huge group of BLT Runners made the trek up and the weather was great. I had one of my fastest 5Ks of the year! 

Winter hiking can be cold. 

Each Christmas the BLT Runners hosts the Christmas Marathon to stay active over the holidays. We tried to also host our Miracle Mile race but the weather kept preventing that. Regardless many runners achieved some great results staying active.  

My goal was to try and take advantage of the increased mileage I started doing as I prep my training for next year's 100 Mile effort. So I thought I would use this opportunity to try and get my first ever 100 mile week. I achieve it in 7 days, hitting 162 miles on feet with an avg pace of 5:33 min/km. I was happy to not only get that total done, but also feel pretty good at the end. I wasn't injured, hobbling or over tired. This bodes well for my upcoming training. 

In fact when counting my daily steps in addition to my running, I was at an all time high of 187.4 km travelled over the past 7 days. 

In terms of yearly mileage, it was my second biggest year of pure running at 3298.5 km (unless I go back outside) but also 1931.4 km of hiking / power walking. This is also looking good for the 100 miler as I know there will be lots of times were power hiking will be a key strategy. 

Boom Pow and welcome to 2025! 

50 is Fabulous - We're Back (July 2024)

June 30, 2024 and I turned 50. While this blog has been a little quiet lately, a certain John needs to be kept up to date, so I thought I would fill everyone in on what's been up in the first month of Ian's 50th year.

With no specific goals set except for the Natal Day 2 Miler on Aug 5th coming up, I opted to see what my 50 year old legs coudl achieve. I wanted to increase my time on feet through both running and power hiking. I wanted to get my vert up as well because why not. 

The month started with a Parkrun in Truro on a humid and foggy July 1st. The Truro parkrun is always a welcoming crew and I love this course. It is tough, hilly, and with a rocky road as the bulk of the run, not technically fast. I have never been excited in general about flat courses. 

Since it was Canada Day, I also got to wear my red parkrun shirt which coincidentally is the 50th run short. So a great chance to show off my age. I managed to grab a nice tough sub 18 min 5K run to start the month. 

As I mentioned, hiking and hills were a key part of my "plans" this month. So I found trails and hills where I could. Like right next to my office, where I would head out for a quick morning 100m of vert. 

With my partnership with a local distribution company that deals in On running shoes, I was also out testing the On CloudSurfer Trail shoe. For me this is a great fun and heavily cushioned shoe that has a little road capability as well. So I feel super comfortable running from my house to our local trails. I tried to get out a few times this month. 

Training means eating. I also tried to make sure and increase my pickle and sandwich numbers this month. I think all 50 years old should consume m ore pickles. Thanks 5K Cafe. 

Though I normally have been just settled on hitting one sub 18 min 5K a month, I got back to our local parkrun and threw down a second one. Our parkrun is technically a faster course, though it can be daunting as the 2.5km constant slight uphill can be draining. You really need to fight  to keep on pace.

All of this of course was in addition to increased running milage, more hill work, more intervals, more hiking. And my efforts at hiking were fast as well, with an ideal hiking speed of close to a 9 min/km. 

I found some big stair cases! 

And some waterfalls.

A last minute sign up for a hilly trail race came mid month. Why not? Was all my training going to drain me or help me? This race was a 16km run up and down the "local" ski hill. 

It was a hot and humid day, like this whole month as been. As the course was a 2 loop one with the chance to grab water or electrolyte drink at the start of lap 2, I opted to just carry a small flask of highly caloried drink to sip on lap one with the goal in mind to get it all down. The course was 250m of vert in the first 2 km, so all my power hiking came in super handy. 

I quickly took to the lead of the run, making it to the top solo, then began the meandering run down the other side. I took care to power hike the steepest bits, not wanting to fall prey to killing myself "roadie" style on lap one. I also took it a little easy on the steepest descents as well. But by 7km in, second place Cameron had caught up to me. I let him threw and tagged along. He was pushing hard. 

Luckily my saving myself on lap 1 paid off. I was able to push the climb even harder on lap 2 to pass Cameron again (after refilling my bottle). This time I didn't take my lead for granted and pushed the next bit as hard as I could. I ended up holding the lead and taking home first place in a time of 1:38, better than my goal of 1:45 (trails are usually hard to judge pace on). I was happy almost hitting a 6 min/km pace on this run. 

Taking advantage of our trip up to the race, we had some drinks to celebrate, then headed off for some hiking and waterfalls!

It was great to have the pups with us as well. 

The month wasn't done though. More parkruns and more hills! More hikes! 

As learning is always fun I found a new book to keep myself motivated to hit my best self at 50. I am happy I am not slowing down with age, that my injuries are limited and minor and that I have a great community around me. 

And though it wasn't in July, I did have to mention that August started with a sub 18 min parkrun on Saturday then a 3rd place overall finish in the local Natal Day 2 Miler, averaging a 5:27 min mile and placing up in the top with all the 19 year olds. 

August is bringing a focus on strength. Again no specific goal races, just keeping things interesting. If something fun comes up, I'll be up for it. 

October Highlights 2023

Well October came and it was the big race month, the Valley Harvest 50km Road Ultra Marathon. I had been training specifically for the 50km race for almost 3 months. Taper time following the Rum Runners Event in September went well. I took the week fairly low key but could not resist a little 5K parkrun action the day before. I opted to see how I felt and not go too hard, though I did still manage to get an 18:30 on that day. I promptly had a snack and then retreated home to rest up. 

 

I got my flat Ian picture ready while I contemplated my options for clothing. Turns out the nice weather we had all week was quickly turning into an over night hurricane / tropical storm.  I had always been ready to use my On Cloudboom Echos and my favorite Darntough socks, but I decided to go with short tights rather than split shorts due to the wetness of the day. And copious amounts of Anchor Soap Chafe balm. Pre race snack was Nuun and Naak, which sounds like a crazy kids show, and Maurten gels during the race. 

As we assumed, race morning was wet, and windy. It was still the tail end of the storm as we drove up, which didn't let me get the easy going relaxation type of prerace I wanted. Oh well.  We all kind of stayed inside and I didn't bother doing anything warm up like. I slipped a garbage bag over myself as I went to the start line. I do like to stay warm and dry for as long as possible, and this certainly helped. 

I already knew that the idea of a PB on this race was gone. Conditions were just not going to allow for it. So instead I opted to just see where things went. And soon we were off (without the garbage bag). 

I quickly tucked in with the top marathon runners (the 42.2km and 50km race start together) to help stay clear of the wind. While the rain was annoying, the wind was actually pretty fierce and would stay that way for the whole race.  We went out a bit fast for my liking, but I knew that I could step back from that after we split apart roughly 10km into the run. A couple of runners leapt off the front, but I stayed with my guys. We zipped off for the first km in 3:56min/km then "eased" back to a quaint 4:05. 

I left the pack, picked up the lead bike for the Ultra and was on my way solo. Now I had to fight the wind alone. The pace felt good, though I knew it was too fast for the whole race. Still, I opted to just kind of feel the pacing at this point.

The first 25km was soon done, I had consumed a couple of gels, and headed into lap 2. By now it was much lighter, and I even saw some friendly faces on course. At about 30km in, I had run my fastest 30km ever. I knew I had to start to ease things back. The rain was on and off by this point, but the wind was as strong as ever. 

I opted now, to start to slow right down during aid stations and drink a good cup of electrolyte. I found after 3 gels that my stomach was not bad but also not wanting another gel. So I held off consuming more of those. Always be aware of where your body will be before things get bad. 

As I approached the far turn around for the last time, my hat blew off and I had to go chase it. I had finally managed to get my pace down to where I had wanted it to be on a good day, let alone on this horrid day, to around a 4:12 pace. I crossed the marathon mark at 2:57, tying my fastest marathon time. Only 8km to go!     

At this point in the course you get a little downhill, then a solid climb for a couple of kilometers before a decent descent. With about 5km to go, my lead was pretty good, but my calves were starting to get angry from going out hard. I could feel a few little mini cramps come and go, then occasionally one would seize up. That did not feel good. 

I made it to the last 2km of the race and this was on a very muddy trail. The lead bike had been encouraging me on. My upper body felt fine but my calves were certainly not happy.  With no chance of a PB and a reasonable lead on second place, I eased back a lot, equally enjoying the end of the run and hating the end of the run. 

I finally saw the final turn approaching, and as I entered the last 100m on the track, was cheered on by my friends and wife. I pushed hard because that is what one does regardless of pain at this point. For the first time ever, I got to break the tape at a finish line and I was not going to pass up making it count.  

That was a tough day, and as I cross the line and stopped, my calves no longer had a reason to keep me going. I basically had to sit down, then finally ease my self over to the side to cheer on the other runners as I let it sink in that I won the 50km. Yes, it was almost 7 minutes slower, but I'll take it based on how that day went. 

A nice massage and some food and then I got my prizes. While the bottle of wine was nice, my Peter Eastwood mug was nicer. I still use it almost daily. 

The rest of the month still had to happen. I definitely took some down time though to rest up. Though overall I felt pretty good, better than I did following my first try at the 50km distance. 

Next for me though was hosting a canicross race in Long Lake Park. Fellow marathoner Rachel (se ran the Chicago Marathon the same day) popped over to help me, as I suspect her legs did not wat a fast dog to tow her around.  we had decent weather for once, raised some money for charity and kicked off the Fall canicross season in style. 

I took the opportunity to hit the bike for some recovery and chats. The Shake Out at 6 crew was always good for that. 

Though I was not in top notch fast shape, I did want to see if I had the ability to keep the sub 18 min 5K streak alive. We opted to check out the Tatamagouche parkrun. They are just as welcoming as our other parkruns, and the drive up was worth it, as I managed to squeak in a 17:55 effort on the crusher dust trail on the second last day of the month. 

My last October bit of fun was a trail run on MacIntosh Run. The weather was cool but nice and I just took it easy as I soaked up the goodness that was October. 

September 2023 Highlights

 

More catch up from the year we call 2023. This time September. So I certainly hit the ground running on day 1 of September with a trip to the new Tatamagouche parkrun. It was only 3 weeks old, so I (and as it turns out some other Chain of Lakes parkrunners) popped up for a look see of this new 5K run. It did not disappoint. A nice smooth flat crusher dust trail with good tree coverage but also a nice look at a tidal flat. This was a good chance for me to hit the month early for a sub 18 minute 5K. I achieved that with a 17:35.  We then hit the famer's market for coffee and treats before headed out for a day of adventure.

Then 2 days later I was back out racing again. This was the Cinnamon Bun 5K run to raise money for the BLT Trail repairs. I didn't know if the old legs could hold in for another tough run, but I thought I would at least give it a hard run. I tucked in behind a youngster who was running really strong. As this was on my regular parkrun route, I knew it well, so paced myself as best as I could. I saw him give some early surges in the last kilometer but I held tight, then with less than 200m to go I unleashed a pretty hard sprint finish. It was great to do this as I have not had the chance to race to the finish line in a  long time. I ended up running 17:38 and triumphing by almost 2 seconds. Two sub 18s in 3 days was tough but fun, and we got cinnamon buns at the finish line! 

A little time with the pups was in order so we spent a few days this month doing some adventures. Lexie, as always, was unsure of this adventuring, but hopefully she enjoyed the view at Peggy's Cove. 

Our local and favorite cafe, the 5K Cafe started hosting a weekly bike ride followed by snacks and chats. The Shake Out at 6, was a lot of fun for a more casual midweek fun ride.

We were getting closer to race day. I officially signed up for the Valley Harvest Ultra 50K Road Marathon. So I was all in. My biggest training run took place the week after those 5K races and was a 39km run with a fast finish. I chose the safe option of running straight to the 5K cafe to get food into me as quick as I could. The crew were nice and made the Silly Dilly pickle sandwich. It was perfect.  

Following the long long run, I wanted to get in a race prep run. So half distance (25km) and using my race kit (including shoes, the amazing On Cloud Boom Echo) and race fuel. Things went sort of well. I wanted to run on the trail to minimize extra damage on hills, but it was closed due to a storm the night before. So I had to run on the road, which I guess was good as I got more hills in! I also ended up running faster than I wanted. More on that next month. A sign of things to come! All in all I was happy with my training up to this point. No injuries, and I hit my goal training sessions really well.

The month ended with the Rum Runner Relay. This is a 110km 10 leg relay road race. Well Leg 1 was cancelled due to some road issues, so it was a 95 km race instead. I had 1 Leg of this event left to achieve after many years of running it. Leg 5 was both super short and crazy hard with an insane hill parkway through this 4.6km run.  My goal was to give it a hard push and place high. With such a tough course, it is silly to worry about specific paces and instead go by effort. So far in Rum Runners, I had achieved a top 7 finish in all 9 Legs I had run, included a previous year's win on Leg 2. 

We went out hard, and I opted to just push as much as I coudl up the climb to start the race, then hold on to what I had left. I was able to it the top of the hill a few steps ahead of my nearest competition, but all props to him, as he was willing to put an extra push into the downhill that I was not at that point. With the ultra coming up, I just had to hold a little back and not trash my quads. Still I managed to come in second, with a good lead over third place and not too far behind 1st. All in all a good run I think. 

Our BLT Runner teams both did really well, with us finish neck and neck in the standings. A great bit of running by all members. 

August 2023

Well as we continue to catch up on how 2023 has been going we hit August. The month kicked off with the Natal Day Race in Dartmouth. Once again I chose the 6 Mile option, which is a three lap event. A perfect weather day was ours for the start. I had been lucky enough to secure an elite start Bib which allowed me to start up front. Ultimately my goal was to pace myself well and not really race others, but being able to run with the fast group for as long as possible certainly would be a benefit. 

From the start we took off at a decent pace. The course has a slight downhill start, then a climb, log downhill run, and finally a big up hill finish. I held back a bit on Lap 1, got up to pace buy the end and held through Lap 2, which brought me right on the tail of some other 6 Mile runners for Lap 3. I passed 4 others on that lap, and held on for a fourth in Age Group finish and the same avg pace as the previous year of 3:37 min/km. That was good in that last year they shortened the lap length due to some road construction. 

The Natal Day race was the only official race I did in August, focusing instead on a Provincial Tour of parkruns on my way to reach the 100 run milestone before the end of the year. From the Truro Victoria Park parkrun's 50th event:

To the brand new Tatamagouche Butter Trail parkrun  (with some fellow Chain of Lakes parkrunners):

To our favourite Halifax Chain of Lakes parkrun:

Outside of parkrunning this month, I started to really ramp up the long runs as I started to aim for a Fall long race. I really wanted to push my limits this month and see how the body would hold up. Turns out, not too bad.