Saturday, December 12, 2009

Gunner Shaw – Vancouver

December 5, 2009 - Gunner Shaw – Vancouver

As I mentioned in my last report, I headed over to Vancouver last weekend to race in the Gunner Shaw cross-country race in Vancouver.  The Lion’s Gate Road Runners host this race every year, and there is an inter-club challenge between my club (the Prairie Inn Harriers) and the LGRRs. Each year the LGRR send a contingent of runners to the Gunner Shaw Race in Victoria, and PIH sends runners to the race in Vancouver.

As the race starts at 11:00am, it’s an early start from Victoria.  This year a group of about 20 PIHers met at 6:00am, to catch the 7am ferry to Vancouver.  This means waking up much earlier than I would like to, but as it’s a once-a-year event, I can’t complain too much!  We headed over in two vans, the ‘Harrier-carrier’ and a rented van that was able to accommodate all of us.

This is the only ‘pure’ cross-country race that I have ever done, and it’s a fun race, as it takes you over various terrain.  There are two small hills, some grass, sand, mud, pathways and lots of twists and turns.  It is two loops and is 9-10 km in total distance. 

We arrived at Jericho Beach, where the race is held, 1.5 hours before the start of the race.  This gave ample time for all pre-race preparations, as well as lots of milling about.  It was a beautiful sunny, yet cool day.  The temperature was close to 5 degrees, but with the sun shining, it felt much warmer.  The race usually goes through a shallow puddle that is a couple of hundred meters long, but it was completely frozen over this year.  For safety reasons, we would be diverted around the puddle, as the ice sheet produced skating-like conditions, and going over it would produce many falls. 

About 30 minutes before the start of the race, I got changed into my race attire (it was warm enough for a t-shirt, and many others even donned singlets), and went for a short warm-up run.  Then, it was a quick group photo, and the race began. 




The beginning of the race is always a gong-show.  It’s very crowded at the start, as everyone jumps to get ahead.  I tried to get into a comfortable rhythm, and enjoy the race, as much as I could.  The race starts on the grass, and loops around a treed area before it makes its way towards the beach and the first few sand patches.  The sand is always a pain to run over, as it sucks you right in – slowing down your movements.  There’s a rise over a small hill, and then onto the main sand section, which this year was extended to about 300-400 meters.  This might not sound like much, but when you are running on soft sand, it definitely feels long.  When I finally emerged from the sand, my legs felt like jello, and it was a struggle to get them moving again.  Then it was on to more grass, through a small ravine, and over, up and around, as we ran on grass, over bridges and on various trails. 

There are two steep-ish short hills, and on both loops, these hills totally took it out of me.  I would reach the top of the hill and just be totally out of breath and wheezing. It really caused me to slow down, which was frustrating.  I felt like the hills shouldn’t affect me that much.  However, there are also some really nice downhill and flat sections that are on trail, where I was able to get my legs going well, and I enjoyed striding out and feeling strong.

On the first loop of the course, I passed a few people, was passed by a few others and tucked in behind a woman from the LGRRs.  I tried to stay on her tail, but the hills hurt me, and she was able to pull away enough to get a sizeable gap on me.  After the first loop, I came past the finishing line, and my legs felt heavy- I wondered how the next loop would go.

The second loop was slower than the first loop by about 80 seconds or so.  This time, I ran on the lower part of the sand, near the water, and it was much easier, as the sand was more hard-packed, than in the higher section.  The terrain was more forgiving this year than last year, as the cold weather had frozen the ground.  This made the grassy sections easier to run on, as they weren’t muddy, wet or slippery.  There were still a few sections that were a bit dicey – as there were icy patches.   There’s a small, yet steep down hill, that almost led me to fall, as I slipped on some ice.  But I was able to keep my feet moving fast, and I was able to avoid a slip and fall.  Near the end of the loop, there’s also a section that winds through blackberry bushes, and it had some small puddles that had frozen over, and caused some swift footwork to avoid a slip or cold feet. Other than these few sections, it was a faster and easier race than the previous year.

Overall, the second loop went fine, although I felt that I had more in me to push, and was held back by my wheeziness.  It felt easier to take deeper breaths during this race, but I was still wheezing a lot, especially after any climbs.   My favourite sections were where I could stride out.  In these parts, I felt strong and as though I actually had some speed in me.  As I neared the finish line after the second loop, many of my fellow PIHers had already finished and were standing near the finish line cheering the rest of us on.  It was great to hear so many people cheering for me, and gave me some extra energy to push to the line.  My legs allowed me to push a bit more than during the first lap, as I headed towards the trail that led to the finish line.  Ahh – my body sighed in relief, as I finished another hard race.  My finishing time was 45:40.

Many Prairie Inn Harriers had fantastic races, and our club was on the podium for almost every age group, with our men and women topping the podium in many age groups.  Members of PIH also had 5 of the top 6 spots overall.  I ended up being 4th in my age group, just out of the ribbons.  I was 97th overall, which coincidentally is exactly the same placing that I was last year.  However, my time was about 2.5 minutes faster this year.  Shane ended up 6th overall, and first in his age category, as all those ahead of him were young guys in their 20s. Here are the final results.

After the race, there was a nice spread of pizza, bagels, soup, mandarin oranges, bananas, and tasty juice.  I also enjoyed a lovely warm shower, to wash off all of the dirt from the race.  Then, shortly after the awards, we headed off to catch the 3pm ferry back to Victoria, after a satisfying morning in Vancouver.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Gunner Shaw - Thetis Lake

November 28, 2009

This will be a relatively short write-up, as I'm heading over to Vancouver to run the 'other' Gunner Shaw race tomorrow morning. Bruce 'Gunner' Shaw was one of the founding members of the Prairie Inn Harriers running club, and was an inspirational runner and individual.  He also lived and raced in Vancouver, and for that reason has races named after him in both locations.

The Victoria Gunner Shaw race takes place around Thetis Lake, which was one of 'Gunner's' favorite places to run in Victoria.  Bob Reid established the run to honour his friend, and it has become one of the most popular cross-country races in Canada.  This year it attracted around 430 runners, all ready to get wet and muddy - an unavoidable part of the race.

The race course was tons of fun this year.  The race started under a cloudy sky, with light rain falling.  We started off the race up a road, and then soon headed on to the trails.  It had been extremely wet and rainy the past few weeks leading up to the race, so I knew there would be lots of puddles and streams everywhere- and there certainly was.  While, I had fun tromping through the water, not even trying to keep my feet dry - my lungs certainly did not.

I had a difficult time getting enough air into my lungs, and I was wheezing the entire race.  I generally work hard in a race, but this felt different than simply pushing yourself.  I felt that I was breathing harder than I should have been based on my effort, and I was not able to take a deep breath -- all of my breaths felt shallow.  So, I think I may have EIA - exercise induced asthma.  Either that, or something is going on - because this definitely did not feel 'normal'.  I will be getting this checked soon, so hopefully I'll have a definite answer for the cause of the wheezing, and maybe even get a solution that would allow me to push even harder.

Other than my breathing difficulties, I enjoyed the race.  The course was a mixture of wider, easy trails, single-track more technical trails, a few hills, lots of water, two puddles and a finish in the lake.  Bob had added a second puddle to the race this year, since the previous puddle had been partially filled in.  In order to get us wetter - Bob went looking for a larger puddle, that would ensure we would get wet.  This puddle was about thigh height and even had a log in the middle that required you to climb over.  The puddles weren't too bad to tromp through, except for their smell and the feet that burned with cold for some moments after you got through.

There was also a new single-track section, which was TONS of fun.  Many of the runners who participate in this race don't run trails much, so some are more tentative on the more technical sections.  For myself, this was the most fun part of the course and I was able to pick up the speed on the windy trail, as I bounded over roots, logs and rocks.

Then end of the race featured the three ' bugger' hills again.  Although short, they are steep and definitely a challenge at the end of a race.  But, I was happy to see them in a way, as it meant the finish line was nearby.  After the three hills were over, there was a short downhill section, and I let my legs fly - allowing me to pass a few people.  I love the downhill sections in a race, as I usually tend to pass people on these parts.  It was great to have it at the end of the race, as it allowed me to pick up a few placings. :-)  The race ended in Thetis Lake, as we ran through the lake near the shoreline.  The water was frigid, but by that point I really wanted to finish the race, so I ran as much as I could through the water.  My finishing time was 47.05, and I was 6th woman out of 49 in my category of 30-39.

While the race wasn't a disaster, it was somewhat frustrating and disappointing, as I felt I could have performed better.  Either way, it was a really fun course and extremely well organized with great volunteers.  Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen!  Hopefully I'll have better luck with my lungs at tomorrow's race!


 Running through Thetis Lake at the end of the race. 
Photo: Tony Austin