Monique Fournier Trounces her Arch Rival, Karen Beaulieu (Steve Archer, Please don't read this article)

Karen Beaulieu lives and races in Tennessee now and has been doing very well on the running circuit around Knoxville. So well in fact that she decided to come back north and try her hand at a 1/2 marathon here just to show up the local Rocks!!. North Bay was the chosen venue where she would handily run rings around her competition, namely Monique Fournier.

Vince's Story:

The race started promptly on time and all seemed normal with the world......until about 1:47:53 later when Monique Fournier, after pouring on the afterburners for the last kilometre, pulled out a convincing win over her somewhat exhausted and shaken partner. Actually 4 locals pulled in ahead of the Blonde Bee. John Tebaldi was heard wondering aloud whether her running career would ever recover from such a resounding defeat. Karen was last observed spouting Southern obscenities at anything that moved."HEE HAW you BLEEP BLEEPS!"

Karen's Retort:

First off they give me this race chip with velcro for the ankle that I just hated. So what's a gal to do. I put it around my wrist and away we go. I quickly pull out a kilometre or so lead on Monique and those pesky Rocks!! Then I think to myself, What am I doing here? I came to run with my buddies and here I've gone again and absolutely smoked them. Well, I'm feeling really guilty now so I slow down and commence waiting for them. They don't show up in the next few minutes (I really had a good lead) so I actually begin running backwards on the course which really confuses everybody except me. Some even thought I was the first overall runner, which I can understand, as they congratulated me profusely, which I liked very much. Finally I run into Monique and slowly pace her in for the rest of the run. Yes, it was slooow for me but good friends do make good sacrifices. We finally get to the finish line and I dutifully cross the mat at the same time as Monique so as not to unduly embarrass her. All was well until a finish line marshal runs after me in a great panic explaining my chip had not registered at the finish line. I then remembered it was on my wrist and I told him it was ok as I didn't need my official time registered anyway as I had come in at the exact same time as my good buddy, Monique. Well the marshal was on a mission and he grabbed my chip and immediately ran back the 20 metres we had walked and commenced SWIPING MY CHIP...........MANY SECONDS LATE!. I thought to myself at this point while Monique was gloating over her ELECTRONIC WIN! What's the COACH going to say about this? (vince says: Please Karen don't ever change your hair colour from blonde. You are way too much fun now)

Lorna Scoville writes:

Hi Vince:

Russ and I drove to North Bay for the Lung Association 5k. The course is new
and although not as scenic as the previous one-it's very good -ie
straight-no hills. The weather was great and because it was a fairly early
start, not too hot. It was good to see many of the Sudbury Rocks there. I
was a little worried at one point, though, when Tawny introduced me to her
grandfather and he immediately began pointing out the doctors in the crowd
to me. Russ did very well finishing first in his age category. But enough
about Russ. I managed to finish and did I mention I set a PR? All races
should be this good!!

Lorna

Catherine Frantz writes:

I ran in the Lung Association 5km yesterday and my goal was to break 30
minutes. I blew my Fit Friends time out of the park (31:10). My time ended
up being 27:47 and I came 2nd in my age category (not third like it says on
the results). Lise, Dr. Lawrie and I had a great time cheering each other
on. So, now I'm on a high and I want to be in the 24 minute range. If you
have the time, could you set me up with a program that will get me on the
road to achieving this goal. (DONE - vince)

Catherine

Lise Edwards writes:

Hi Vince,

As per our conversation today, I just wanted to send in a quick email about my weekend run. Aside from the CIBC Run for the Cure, I have never participated in a 5 km run. After I decided to register for this event I wanted to try and get a sub 25 minute time. Well I'm happy to say that I reached this personal goal, and as an added bonus to the whole event as we were preparing to leave we checked the time sheets and noticed that we had placed in our age categories. Lawrie Oliphant was first in his age category, Catherine Franz from the Running Room was 2nd in her age category and I placed 3rd in my age group. I know its not the greatest accomplishment ever, but I can't believe how much excitement I got from receiving the ribbon. Thank you for all the great advice you give on a daily basis to all of us at the Running Room and the Sudbury Rocks.

Take care,
Lise Edwards aka Darth Vader the heavy breather

Jennifer Galloway writes:

Hi Vince :) Here's a story from the North Bay event, if you want to use it.

108 people participated in the 5k walk/run event, including 10 from the Sudbury area. This is the second race I've run since I took up running, and my goal was to shave time off my Fitfriend's finish time of 27:12.

The weather was perfect-- blue skies, a slight breeze, and an early 8:20am start. The trail was a paved biking path, starting out from Lee Park, winding under an overpass and then around a sport's field, before entering a forested area. It was smooth and flat, and each km was marked. I passed the first water station feeling strong, and as I continued I knew I was getting close to the turnaround point because people were passing me going the opposite way. As I turned the next bend the turnaround point came into sight and I cheered on Tawnecia as she passed by me. After rounding around and starting back my steam started to run out and the mental part of the race began. "Go go go, keep going, you can do this!". I took a 15 sec walk break at this point to catch my breath, and then picked up the pace again. At the water station I slowed again for a bit, and then picked up the pace. Once I saw the underpass and knew I was getting close, it was easier to keep running. As I rounded into the park I headed towards the finish line, hearing cheers from my 2 1/2 year old daughter, my friends Sandie and Clancy, Tanwnecia (who finished 2nd in the same category as me with a time of 23:11-- wtg!) and Richard. I put in all of my energy and finished in a burst of speed and power.

My finish time was 25:37, putting me 4th in my category and 39th overall. I'm proud of my time, and I shaved off about 1 1/2 minutes from the last race. I'm planning to try the Try-a-Tri at the Northern Tri in August, just to get my feet wet and see what it's like. I'd like to do a full tri next summer, once I get in some more training.

-Jenn Galloway