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A few members of the Sudbury Rocks!! Running Club started their
racing year out at the 8th Annual Chilly 1/2 marathon and Frosty
5k in Burlington On. This is a quality race that stays good as
it gets bigger. The courses are excellent and the volunteer, police
and marshaling have always been beyond reproach. I've already
congratulated the Arnott's for putting on a quality event. I would
have told Refton Blair, Regional Area Manager of the Running Room,
the same thing when I saw him as I shuffled through the finish
line chutes but my brain was too addled at that time.
We had nine members line up for the 1/2 and 2 toe the line in
the 5k.+ a few other friends of Rocks!! also competing.
Stephanie Koett led our assault with a cruising marathon pace
run netting her a 1:38. She considered this a high speed training
run to help prepare her for the upcoming Boston marathon. Brent
Walker followed her in with a 1:39. This was his fastest 1/2 to
date and he even had extra fuel left in the tank. Paul Washchuk
aspired to run around an 8 minute mile pace and he did just that
coming in at 1:45. It looks like he caught up to his son, Sean,
during the event but did the proper fatherly thing and did not
pass him. Sheila Yaw-Maclean and I came up next at 1:49 and 1:50
respectively. I would have been somewhat slower had she not paced
me from the 7k mark. Some days just don't go well. The good news
is Sheila finished very strong and even tried to get air for the
finish line photo.This was Tawny Sauve's second 1/2 and the first
time she ran on her own and she ended up almost matching her previous
time with a 1:53. Jan Weeres was next to break the tape in 2:03.
Both her and Sheila are training for the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon
and used this run to practice heart rate pacing and carrying and
taking in nutrition. Suzanne Dionne has had nagging injuries as
of late and a good week for her has been 20 miles. Her 2:06 pace
reflected her lack of good training but she finished very satisfied
with her run - except for one thing. Both she and her sister,
Lise Perdue, were lined up at the port a potties 5 minutes before
gun time...and the line was not moving fast. At that point Suzanne
made an executive decision to go to the nearby hotel's bathroom.
All was well until they exited the hotel only to find the race
already in progress. Oh the embarrassment of it all!. They meekly
but quickly made it to the start line. The good news was no one
blocked their way across the mats. The slow start somewhat affected
both their finish times but Lise still finished in a strong 2:16.
In the Frosty 5k , Giary Riley trounced Steve Dhanani's butt
by 3 minutes. Steve had no good excuse for this travesty. Dave
Henderson ran a 32:00 and was very pleased with the time as he's
just starting to think about how to run faster. Henriette Washchuk
came in about a minute later in 33:42. Henriette is fairly new
to running but now has a few 5ks under her belt.
Weather conditions were good with a starting temperature of about
1deg C with little wind and the sun almost peaking out. It started
to rain at the 2 hour mark and snow soon followed at 2:10. Fortunately
most people were done by then.
Below are a couple of "Tales from
the Chilly"
Sheila Yaw-MacLean writes:
Hi Vince and Sudbury Rocks!!
Just wanted to tell you and the group about
my experience at the Chilly Half
Marathon this past Sunday. Wait, you were there, right along side
of me
from about the 7km mark (I think) to the end. If you look at the
results it
shows that we came in at the exact same time 1:50:21 but if you
look further
across at our chip time it shows yours at 1:50:06 and mine at
1:49:51.
Coach, what does that mean?( Sheila,
please note the overall finishing placing - Vince 439, Sheila
440)
My memory is foggy but I think I was on
about 1:30 half marathon pace,
that's a 6:51 minute mile, when on the horizon I see a fellow
that kinda
looks like Coach Vince. Same gait, same outfit, can't be I'm thinking
to
myself, he had plans to do this in 1:25. What's going on??? I
caught up
to him, very quickly I might add, and discovered it was Vince.
The poor boy
was white as a ghost and not feeling too well, it definitely was
not his day
to run. Dilemma I thought, what should I do??? Blast past him
yelling at
the top of my lungs his ever so famous AH HA!!! or slow down and
try to keep
him going. I decided to slow down and run with him because, after
all,
we've all been there before where Coach Vince ran along side of
us helping
us to achieve our goals, encouraging us to go faster, telling
us if we can
talk we're not going fast enough and the ever so famous, if you
have enough
energy left at the end of the race to wave at the cameras you
didn't run
hard enough. During those long remaining 14 kms Vince surprised
me more
than once by asking to have some of my "witch potion"
as he calls it. Now I
know he's in trouble and may not make the finish line. For those
of you
that don't know, Jan Weeres, Leslie McCloskey and I are training
for an
Ironman and as part of the training we usually carry a buffet
of food and
drinks on our long runs to determine what we'll be able to take
on race day.
Most other runners make fun of our buffet but Vince was sure glad
to see
that I had come fully equipped with food and beverages to help
him along the
way. I still think he should have tried the potato. Anyway, I
kept
encouraging him by telling him that all the signs that people
were waving as
we ran by said "Go Vince Go", and "Oh No Vince,
you don't look like you're
going to throw up, YOU LOOK GREAT". He did have enough energy
however, to
comment on how good looking some of the female Police Officers
on the race
course were, tarts I think he called them, so I knew his condition
wasn't
fatal. Anyway, we ran together for the rest of the race and finished
with
me trying to get air for the finish line picture and him just
trying to stay
upright. It's not too often that Vince and I get to run together
on our
long runs these days. I'm running much slower due to the IM training
and
usually Vince is running much faster. Hope you feel better soon
Coach Vince
and I promise I won't tell anyone that I could have maybe, possibly
Whooped
your Butt in Burlington. Okay, okay truth be told I probably would
not have
been much faster than we were. Brent Walker blew past me at the
3km mark
never to been seen again until the finish line where he came in
under 1:40,
another PB for him, way to go Brent. And Paul "Washtub"
passed us at the
half way mark looking very good.(Thank you
for the pacing Sheila. It was much appreciated)
It was a very enjoyable weekend all in
all. What makes the weekend great
are the people you share it with. Vince, Lise Jan and I drove
down together
and stayed at Steve and Suzanne's place in Burlington. Thanks
again Steve,
Suzanne and Elle for putting Jan and I up for the weekend. You
always make
us feel so welcome in your home. Looking forward to seeing you
again at
Around the Bay.
Sheila
Suzanne Dionne Writes:
Guess what? I have a story to tell. First
off I had my private alarm clock
go off this morning. No. Then I realize it sounded more like a
horn but
again after I was more awake. It was Vince blowing his nose. Getting
ready
and fueling up was quite the busy morning for the whole house
whole with
Elle keeping everyone on their toes and her making sure we gave
her all the
attention she deserved and by the way thank you to Lise Jan Sheila
and Vince
for doing all that and more. So
off to the race we go. But it is cold and no one has a room to
warm up
in. Guess what? Next year we are going splits on a room for before
and after
stuff and meet and greet. (We usually
have someone conveniently staying at the Travelodge but not this
year)
The port a potties were busy so I run back
and forth to take Lise and Tawny
to the bathroom. On my third attempt to go line up at the start
line Lise
and I notice that there is no one left "the race had started
5 minutes
early.
That is not fair. Oh my gosh I feel stupid
and then anger. But it kept us
running and determined to pass as many people as possible. Now
I don't know
how many that was but I lost count at about 155. I guess I felt
better at
about 8km and then I had to concentrate on my balance and posture
and
stride and footing and eyes up and arms down and so many other
things. As
some of you know I have been fighting with the demons of running
pains since
about 2weeks after the Toronto marathon. On the average I have
been only
running about 20miles a week with as much cross training as possible
but my
best exercise is running and Steve will vouch for that he has
to live with
someone who needs to run. I stay a much more content person.
I know this time was short and sweet but
I guess we will see everyone at the
Around the Bay. By the way that was my 5th Chilly in a row and
I have the
medals to prove it. Thanks everyone Love Suzanne Steve et Elle
Click
Here For Race Results
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