Around the Bay Road Race 2011

Hamilton never looked so good! A clear sky for the 117th presentation of the Around the Bay Road Race meant that as we made out way down to Hamilton Beach and over the lift bridge at 15k, we could soak up stunning blue views of Lake Ontario. Then, on the infamous hilly section along the North Shore Boulevard in Burlington and the dreaded final hill at the Royal Botanical Gardens we were protected from the wind but walking in bright sunshine. Ah!

WoW Power Walkers performed in their usual awesome fashion. The results, now posted on our website, show just how awesome. When looking at the results, it's helpful to understand that there were several people wearing "walk" bibs, who clearly ran most of the race.



Check out Coach Vera coming in for her best finish ever at the event.



And here is the ghost of WoW laying out some inspirational chalk messages at the start area. (Photo credit: Helen Battersby)

Vernal equinox aka FIRST DAY of SPRING

Pictures hardly do justice to the first day of spring. The visuals heralding spring are less powerful than sensory perceptions of fragrance, sounds, and the general enthusiasm of all creatures. Still, here are my three contributions to visual capture that made my training walk today so wonderful.

From top to bottom. Sea-brick sculpture on the beach, divers braving a chilly Lake Ontario, and a robin.







My smile moment of the morning came from this exchange between a pedestrian and a diver.

Pedestrian: "How's the water today?"
Diver: " Wet, cold, and crappy. PERFECT."

Spring enthusiasm has been let loose.

Catalina Island Marathon

I estimate we climbed 4300 vertical feet in today's Catalina Island Marathon. Climbing was one thing, going downhill was another. This is the first race in many that I have suffered. And it was all on the downhill. I kicked a rock so badly (did I mention it is a trail race), I think I lost a toenail to it. I have my first race-induced blister ever on my left heel, It's about the size of a toonie if you put it on a rail track and let a train run over it (kind of how my legs feel right now). And I wrenched my right knee.

But, what a beautiful race. We left on a boat at 5am, in the dark, to follow the eastern coast of Catalina Island up to Two Harbours. It is called Two Harbours because there are literally two harbours, each on either side of an isthmus. We landed at one harbour and walked over to the other harbour for the start. (I look pretty happy before we started!)

After that it was all about uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill, more uphill, more downhill, one giant uphill until the final gruelling downhill that dropped almost 1600 feet over two miles.

The race went through the interior of the island making tracks on dirt road and trails to Avalon harbour from where the boat left in the early morning. I include a few photos to give you a sense of the incredible beauty.

P.S. they had a walkers start, but I was encouraged to start with the runners considering my expected finish time and because results for walkers were not "official". When a race has a walking start, I'd really like to see it offer a proper walking division.

Chilly Half Marathon 2011

If you woke up on race morning for the Chilly Half and groaned, imagine how the organizers felt! While it looked like a winter wonderland from the comfort of my kitchen, coffee in hand, it was not a walking wonderland on the roads.

The first challenge was getting to the race. The highways were snow and ice covered. As I carefully made my way along the rutted QEW, I was grateful that the other cars and trucks were behaving sensibly. Once I arrived at the race site, it made no sense to go up and down the roads warming up as I knew it would just be another hour with cold, wet feet.

Walkers were supposed to have a separate start after the runners. A few blue walking bibbed participants had to be pulled out from among the runners. Ultimately, we were set off rather unceremoniously while runners were still crossing the start line. This made it impossible to see if walkers were running.

While the start was somewhat frustrating, the organizers had a cyclist on the route who was monitoring the blue bibs to ensure they were walking. A few people were transferred to the running division. This attention to the walking division did make for much happier walking division participants!

HUGE kudos to the enthusiastic volunteers on the course - especially the WoW Power Walking water station gang at 18k. it can't have been easy to stand in that slush and ice for more than 4 hours - looking and acting so enthusiastic.

Class updates for March 4 & 5

Class for Friday March 4 is at RBG!

Class for Saturday, March 5 is NOT RBG, but at LaSalle Park. People who are entered in the CHilly Half on Sunday will be instructed to participate in half the class! Then, it's off for coffee and pick up race kits!

See you there.

Lee

Please note: I erroneously put the exit off 403 as Walker's Line. the Exit is Waterdown Road. Takes you south to Plains Road (and then turns into LaSalle park Road).