The Sudbury Chapter of the Heart and Stroke Foundation invites you to be a part of their      "Fit for Success. Finding answers. For life.”

event on Sunday, February 29th from 12:00 to 4:00 pm.

And Sudbury Rocks!! Running Club Will be There!

This first time event will offer our area residents the opportunity to spend an afternoon finding out about the many choices for fun, physical activities available in our community.This should be a fantastic event to wrap up Heart Month.

Come One - Come All. Your heart will thank you.

The Thrill of the Finish Line and the Agony of the DNF

True Confessions from Karen Beaulieu

Click above for Karen's Recent Results

Karen Fesses up!

Hey there everybody

I guess it's time to tell you guys about my adventures. I was not going
to admit this to anyone,other than Vince & Monique, but I'm fully
recuperated from my shame. I entered my first race of the season on Jan.
31, Calhouns 10 miler. It was unseasonably cold this year, or so I was
told, don't laugh but it was about 27F .... It was freezing that morning
and I knew I was in trouble when I was frostbitten at the start. They took
so long to start the race that my feet were freezing before I even took a
step. As usual I'm running not paying attention to my surroundings, you'll
find out the significance of the last five words later, freezing my butt
off and there is a huge hill in the first mile that I barely manage to
crawl up. I still haven't warmed up and I'm not happy because I know I have
to come back up that thing at the nine mile mark which I'm thinking is very
cruel. Did I mention there is a graveyard at the top of this hill? I
continue running but there is something stuck in my shoe and I think I
can't run 8 more miles like this so I stop to take shoe off but there is
nothing there... I put it back on and continue running but I still feel a
lump in my shoe that I can't figure out. I am freezing and have never been
this cold in any of my northern runs. When I got to the 3 mile mark I ran
around a truck parked there and turned around to do the unthinkable... DNF
The lump in my shoe was my frozen toes. So now I'm heading back to the
start on my own. My entire body was so cold but all I want to do is get
back and I know I only have 3 miles as opposed to 8 if I had continued.
Remember I'm running by myself as everyone else is going the other way. I
totally missed my turn off and was heading god knows where when I flagged
some local down and he had no idea where Calhouns was . I continue running
into oblivion when I come to my senses and admit I'm lost and turn around
to head back . I flagged down a lady and asked her where the restaurant was
and she told me I was way off course.. when she offered to drive me back I
happily jumped in.. Needless to say I was very embarrassed to be seen
dropped off at the finish area. As I was the first one back some lady came
to congratulate me on being the first, she didn't see me get out of the
car, and offered to take my chip off. I had to tell her I was a DNF and she
said " honey what's that?" I had to answer did not finish oh the shame
... the next week at track I took a lot of abuse as everyone was asking if
it was too cold for my Canadian blood.. honestly I have never been that
cold on any of my runs in Sudbury even Vince did not speak to me
spiritually

My next race was the Mercedes half in Alabama and am pleased to say that
even though it was very cold for them I managed to stay warm ,no cold feet,
and cross the finish line without the help of four wheels. I ran with
Beverly and Peter so I had company and we just kept Peter moving at a
comfortable pace. He's a bit slower so we had to wait for him a few times.
At about the 9 mile mark there was this loooong downhill and they were
behind me so I decided to leave them and just cruise down the hill on my
own. When I saw the clock at the 10 mile mark (1:26) I thought what a slug
we were and tried to figure out how I can possibly run the last 5K in
21:00 , after I've run 10 miles, to make up for lost time .. Now Vince
speaks to me " how do you think you are going to ...." but where was he for
Calhouns??? probably sitting in front of his fireplace. Anyway's I
finished so now I am redeemed in everyone's eyes
The Olympic marathon time trials were very exciting to watch. It was very
cold but great to see all those top runners at one race.

I ran the Strawberry Plains half marathon this past sat. It was a very
hilly course run out in the countryside. There were no spectators but
plenty of cows and horses. In fact it was a little like the running of the
bulls in Spain as a cow got loose and ran down the middle of the road
amongst the runners. He was heading the opposite way so maybe he wanted to
try the dnf stigma. I couldn't help but think that the horses were
probably picking off the winners as they went by just like we do at the
horse races.... The things you think when all there is are fields. The
weather was just right for running as a matter of fact I just ran in my jog
bra and shorts.
My time was 1:38:26 I decided I would run this one by myself and see how I
would do. I was pretty happy with that.. Go figure I don't put in the
mileage I did back home and I'm not getting in the speed work and yet I
have had two of my best times for distance , Toronto 3:34 and this half..
What is your theory on that Vince? Monique I think you should try my
approach and see how you do (ha ha ) you need to become a slug like me

I'll let you guys know how I do in the next race.. Till then I miss
everyone and look forward to seeing Ann, Steph and Monique in Boston.

P.S. Trevor that was a very quick and short message you left awhile
back
hope you are running good and maybe you should contemplate me coaching you
..... hope to hear from all soon Happy trails , K

Was that the coach doing double time on the track at lunch last Thursday?...

Certainly not, there's only one coach! That imposter was Trevor, dressed up to imitate the coach -

Trevor Shamas explains all...

Hey, Vince...

Thanks, again, for lending me the running suit last week. I don't think I got to tell you the whole story, so here you go...

I flew up to Sudbury Thursday with a 6:45am departure from the Island Airport. That meant I had to leave Aurora at 5:30am. I'm not very good with mornings, so I'm careful to follow a fairly set routine as I enter the first hour or so of any weekday until I'm really awake. The initial relevant segments include: pick up bag as I leave my room and head to the front door, drop bag at front door, pull on shoes, pick up bag and head out door. Note that at 5:30am it's a little dark while I'm doing this.

I followed this routine on the day in question to a "t". I hopped in the truck and threw the bag on the seat beside me. When I got downtown I grabbed the bag, threw it over my shoulder, and headed out of the building where I park every day (again, part of the routine).

As I was flying out I had to grab a cab to the airport. I flagged one down on Spadina, threw the bag in the back and jumped in. At this point I noticed one of the shoulder straps was a little loose so I tightened it up.

I jumped out of the cab at the ferry terminal to the Island, grabbed the bag, and again threw it over my shoulder.

It stayed there until I got into the airport terminal where I began to speak to one of the other guys on the flight. After a few minutes I set the bag down on the floor. It was at this point that I noticed this wasn't my bag.

Since I'm staying with some friends in Aurora right now (I'm still homeless until next month) I figured I'd picked up Patrick's school bag in the darkness. I thought it would make a great excuse for him as to why he didn't have his homework done that day, and that it would be interesting to see how a grade 8 teacher would handle this one. I could get another computer at work and the other materials I was bringing weren't entirely critical, but, geez, now I didn't have my running gear!

I called Aurora and spoke to Fran, Pat's mom. She went to the door, had a look, and informed me that in fact I did not have Pat's bag, but her bag. It contained her computer and some presentation material she needed for work that day. No wonder it felt so familiar! I turned around and looked out the window of the airport as the crew put the final bit of luggage onto the plane.

Fortunately, our flights to Sudbury are now provided by a small charter company that operates out of the Buttonville airport. I called them and they said they had a van but it was in Buttonville. It was only to come downtown later and they needed it to stay there, but they'd see what they could do. As everyone piled onto the plane a few minutes later I made one last call to the charter outfit. They had managed to juggle the van's schedule and said it was now en route. Fran's bag would be picked up and delivered to her at IBM in Markham by 9am.

I arrived in Sudbury an hour later. I called Fran and she said the bag hadn't arrived yet. I've really got to commend her sense of humour about this whole thing as she was still chuckling over the whole set of proceedings to this point.

After another nervous hour passed I called Fran back. She said the bag had arrived! Whahoo... I was off the hook!

Lessons learned from this little adventure:

1. FlightExec should be providing customer service classes to Air Canada;
2. Fran could be a very successful instructor of stress management courses;
3. Never grope around in the dark as you exit your house in the morning. There's no telling what you might grab by mistake;

4. It pays to have a coach who is roughly the same size as I am (but if you could stretch your feet out by another inch or so that would be great).

Thanks, again, for sponsoring my Thursday pace run. Ron nearly killed me but it was worth it.

Trev.

A Moose Makes the Running News on its Way to France

Our Cobourg Correspondent, Ken Stubbings, is not only a good distance runner but an excellent wood carver as well. Ken made the marvelous carving of the above moose for his nephew Alex who has gone to France for a few months on an exchange program. Alex took the moose with him and presented it to his delighted sponsors. While out of its normal northern environment, it is reported the moose has fit in well in his new surroundings and is presently learning French.

First a sub 3 hour marathon - now an award caliber moose. What's next? A sub 3 hour Boston performance - or a full size Sudbury Rocks!! Logo done in the finest of Northern woods. You pick Ken.

Maureen and Louis Moustgaard Run the Festival of Lights 5k

You are never to old to run or compete. That's what Louis and Maureen found out when they participated in the Festival of Light 5k last weekend in Fort Meyers, Florida. Maureen reports the oldest male runner was 87 and the oldest female runner was 79. The Organizers had age groups up to the 90 bracket and there were lots of people to fill those older Divisions.

The temperature was a balmy 80 deg. F. when Maureen and Louis commenced the event. Their times you ask?

Maureen:  36:23 and 13/21 in her age group (SMOKIN)

Louis:        26:42 and 19/41 in his age group (AWESOME)