Sunday, October 17
(Continued from October 19)
The Toronto Marathon:
Five members of the Sudbury Rocks!! Running Club
and three members of the Running Room Marathon Clinic, hosted
by Donna Smrek and Frank Lesk, competed in and successfully
completed the 42.2 event. Rocks!! members were Steve Matusch
(3:13:04), Trevor Shamas (3:34:24), Paul McNeil (3:34:53) Paul
Graham (3:49:53) and Doug Way (4:13:38). Running Club participants
were Bernd Wittke (3:14:59), James Lung (4:33:48) and Robert
Masih (4:43:45). It is noteworthy that both Steve Matusch and
Bernd Wittke qualified for Boston with their very fast runs.
Trevor Shamas writes:
Coach....
A few words on the T.O Marathon I ran on the weekend.
Let's start with the word "cold". I could add a few
adjectives before that word but this is a family website, so
I'll refrain. Can't believe it but for once I actually under-dressed.
Getting to the finish line to discover they'd run out of foil
wraps didn't help. I sealed my own fate by not putting a bag
of dry, warm clothes on the baggage truck for retrieval at the
finish.
Quite frankly, I'd like to thank Steve Matusch
100 times over for saving my frozen butt at the end of this
thing. Although I was a little out of it and walked right by
him at the finish, he followed me to the food tent (or lack
thereof). My hands were frozen enough that I couldn't peel a
banana. Steve to the rescue. We hastily walked to the subway
to get back to our vehicles. Steve gave me his coat to wear.
When we got to the subway Steve bought me a chocolate bar and
a coke to jump start my ailing system. We wound up sitting with
a couple of other runners, one of whom gave me his foil wrap.
I managed to get us off the subway one stop too soon so we got
to walk an extra (big) block that neither of us needed - me
shaking uncontrollably from the cold, and Steve hobbling on
one foot given the blisters on the other. When we got to Steve's
car he gave me a ride to my truck. I started it immediately
and turned the heat on full. THANK YOU, STEVE!!!
Suffice it to say I learned a few lessons on this
run, but I won't embarrass myself further by itemizing them
here.
Other notable race comments:
Complaining drivers were prevalent, as usual.
(Do these guys really expect the cops to let them barge through
the course?)
I just won't get into the finishing area or I
might have to use a few of those adjectives I bypassed above
(oranges, bananas, plain bagels, and that's it??!!... running
out of foil??!!.... need I say more?)
On the plus side, and there certainly were some
good things:
Best water station was at Davisville and Yonge,
manned by the XSNRG group I've been running with. Got a few
words of encouragement from them as I came through which were
very much appreciated.
Crowd support and enthusiasm was the best I've
seen in Toronto. Honking cars, screaming spectators... good
to see for a change on this course and offset some of the complainers
I mentioned above.
One thing I saw here that I haven't seen on other
courses that I give the organizers top marks for were the guys
in yellow coats. They were on bicycles and on foot from about
30k onwards, looking for, encouraging, and keeping watch on
runners who were faltering. "Keep those legs turning, you
can do way more than you think.... I'll be back to check on
you..." Great job by this crew. First class.
Hope you are all doing well over in Venice. I'll
look forward to the international race reports.
Trev.
Paul McNeil writes:
Hi Vince and fellow rocks runners!
Well, Toronto was an experience! My goal was 3:10 which would
put me at
Boston qualifying. I went in with a personal best of 3:32 but
I had trained
hard and felt confident going into this race that I could attain
this goal.
The first half was pretty quiet. People were all over the place
as far as
pace was concerned but I settled into a comfortable 4:15/km
pace. I was
feeling very cold (I think Trevor and I were the only brave
souls in shorts
and a singlet) and I knew this could pose a problem.
Once past the half way point my troubles began. My shoes came
untied about
ten times and the stopping and starting played havoc with my
pace and my
legs. At about 30km I could feel my body cooling down to an
uncomfortable
level. At 33 km I was running a little hot with my time at 2:24
so I slowed
a little but I could feel the tell tale signs of some cramps
in my calves.
Being cold and wet did not help my moral so when I hit the wall
at about
37km and felt the urge to walk I didn't argue. My right calf
severely
cramped, and my spirits dwindled away and my goal became just
to finish this
very cold, wet windy race. I ran/walked for the last few kilometres
but had
nothing left and I could feel some hypothermia setting in as
I shivered down
University avenue. I crossed the line and promptly gave in to
my cramps and
fell on my knees, not very graceful. I was glad to be done with
a
respectable time of 3:34:53.
I felt good with my hydration and cliff bars so I knew I had
lots of energy
and fluid during the run. I think that I was severely underdressed
and that
was my major problem. Well...lessons learned and I now have
7 marathons
under my belt and Boston doesn't seem so far away, besides...Ottawa
is
beautiful in May...
Paul
Click
Here for Marathon Results
The Toronto
1/2 Marathon
Seven members of the Sudbury Rocks!! Running Club
took part in the 1/2 marathon this year. Paul de la Riva led
the way with an excellent 1:26:05 effort. Ron Henderson, Ron
Poirier, Bob Jeffery, Klaus Ehrhardt and Carol and Mike Carriere
followed him across the Queen's Park finish line a little bit
later to a bit more later.
Bob Jeffery writes:
Hi Vince
Hope your trip to Venice was good.
Here is my race story,
After an enjoyable season which included two sprint triathlon's,
a 10k run, a 50k criterium and a couple of 5 kruns, a chance
came up to run the Toronto Half Marathon and I decided to rise
to the opportunity. While my training plan called for two or
three runs a week through September and up to the race week,
it was not possible to get more than one or two runs a week
in, so I set a comfortable goal. Finish!!
Saturday morning I drove down to Toronto on highway 11 to see
the last of the fall colours then in the afternoon I picked
up the race kit and walked around the displays to soak up the
excitement then went to have a relaxing evening and a good nights
sleep.
Sunday I arrived early and parked just behind Mel Lastman square
to join the thousands who had gathered to rise to a personal
challenge. Mine was to finish the half marathon and complete
it under 2hours, though Vince had said I should be able to do
it in 1:45.
The wind was blowing and it looked like rain but I opted to
wear a light wind breaker, a cap and no gloves. It was hard
to gauge as some runners were wearing gloves, a sweatshirt even
a jacket at the same time others were wearing shorts and light
shirts. At 8:30 am after the warm up exercise and O Canada we
were off down Younge St.
People had said the course was down hill, and while it definitely
has an overall downward grade there were some hills. I picked
a comfortable pace and managed to get into a rhythm. At about
the 5 km mark I took off the wind breaker and hat and others
were throwing discarded sweat shirts, jackets and long sleeved
shirts a to the road.
I managed a steady pace and felt fairly comfortable down Younge
street. The course took a pleasant turn onto Rosedale Valley
Road down to Bayview. If you have not been down that street,
it is worth the trip with the canopy of trees and winding road.
Somewhere along Bayview Road, Ron Poirier, fellow Sudbury Rocks
member, caught me and then proceeded ahead.
While keeping my pace I passed the various entertainment stations
along the way including Rock Bands, Bag Pipers, Japanese Drummers,
DJ's, Buskers, Cheerleaders, School Bands, Cadet Bands, and
Boom Boxes. Despite the cool winds there were lots of people
along the way, cheering. One fellow, who must have been cheering
on someone just behind me, was at the start line, and then showed
up along the way at least 5 or 6 times including at the finish
line with a bouquet of flowers.
I sprinted across the finish line and managed to post a 1:44:06
time. The silver blankets were amazingly helpful in keeping
me warm. I caught up with some other Rocks Ron, Mike and Carol
Carriere then put on warm cloths, munched on the free race food
and drink and returned to watch the marathoners cross the finish
line including Steve Matusch, and Paul Graham.
While it might sound like I was out for a regular Saturday morning
run with the Rocks, but it was actually a challenge with me
wondering if I was going to make it all the way up University
Avenue and around the legislature. By the time I left the race
area I was really looking forward to the afternoon nap, hot
tub and major feast I had planned. Overall it was a great first
half marathon.
Bob
Check
their Results Here
