Carlene Paquette - Race Reports
This page was last changed: September 29, 2009
Race reports 2009:
Green Mountain Relay, June 21-22,
2009
Last week a few Ottawa runners headed to Vermont to run the Green Mountain Relay (http://www.greenmountainrelay.com/).
The race is a point to point relay
through the rolling hills of Vermont. The route is 200 miles long
and consists of 36 legs of varying length and difficulty. Teams
continue running through the night (wearing vests, blinking lights and
headlamps). The event has exceptionally good maps which were very
helpful as we made our way along the course. The map pages also
show the course profile which was great when we were trying to decide
who should sign up for each leg. Luckily for us, some of the
runners on our team were keen to run those extremely steep challenging
uphills.
Start times are staggered based on estimated team pace. Our team,
Masters of the Universe, was assigned the earliest start possible (6:30
am). I didn't see the start as the other half of our team elected
to sleep in. I'm not a morning person so I really appreciated the
extra sleep Saturday morning. (In return I got to run 3 legs
between midnight and 6 am Sunday. So I was up all night for the
race. It was a fair trade off.) Of course, even
though we had a plan, during the day things happen. Two of our
runners fell ill and so some adjustments were made. Despite the
added worry for their health and extra chaos, we retained good spirits
and made it all work.
Teams are expected to provide 2 volunteers to help man the checkpoints
along the route for 4-6 hours. If you cannot provide volunteers,
you can buy them when you register. Local charities provide the
people, and the race provides your cash donation back to the
organization. This year $11,070 was raised and will be distributed to
the following participating Vermont non-profit organizations: Barre
Tones, Inc., Bennington Cross Country Ski Team, Cambridge Greenway,
Center for Valley Youth, Fraternal Order of the Eagles, Habitat for
Humanity Bennington Chapter, Habitat for Humanity of Central Vermont -
Camel's Hump Chapter, Hartland Winter Trails, Health Connections of the
Upper Valley, Inc., Manchester Lions Club, Safeline, and Woodstock
Union High School Cross Country Team. I really like this
"Volunteers with a Purpose" idea and was impressed with how well it
worked out. Throughout the event we met the nicest people
volunteering. Although we tried to thank them for their time and
hard work, it was also nice to think that in many cases they were
earning cash for their charity too.
Summer in Vermont is the off season. This meant that hotel rooms
were very affordable and the roads and stores were not very busy.
In some locations, this also meant that many of the restaurants
were closed. But we still found plenty of great places to eat.
The trip brought us through some very scenic places. This
is definitely a trip to bring your camera. Runners are
self-supported, so our team van was stocked with water, food, etc.
Many of the teams shared resources at the various exchanges.
Some of the returning teams were really organized and very
innovative. One particularly noteworthy team was making (and
sharing) hot breakfast at one of the exchanges using a camping stove.
The weather for the race was overcast and humid. Occasionally it
would rain for a couple of minutes, but it never seemed to rain where
the runners were. During the last 1-1.5 hours of the race the sun
came out. Then it was steamy. (I felt very sorry for our
last runner as he was slogging it out through those difficult
conditions.) At the
finish the team gets to run in together for a group finish. Then
medals are given to the team and there was a terrific BBQ.
Masters of the Universe was one of the last teams to finish.
(The fastest team MAD GAS finished in 22:51, while we took
31:55.) The finish line volunteers had saved food to make sure
that we had plenty to eat. They were out of drinks at first, but
went out and bought more so that we'd have ice cold drinks too.
That was terrific service. We had a great time at the BBQ
and just as we were leaving, the skies opened up and it POURED rain.
So we were very pleased to have avoided that all weekend.
It didn't take long for the group to start talking about next
year. What we'd do the same, and which things we'd change.
The whole weekend was so much fun. And all of us are eager
to do the relay again next year.
On a personal note, before the relay I was
very worried about being the weakest runner on the team. Before
we left my teammates kept telling me not to worry, we were only going
to have fun, etc. But sometimes a competitive environment brings
out a competitive spirit and things change. I was thrilled to see
that our group dynamic continued to focus on the fun aspect. And
with the two ill runners on our team I was asked to take on additional
legs and managed to run them with reasonable speed. I finished
the weekend with 37.8K on my legs and with an average pace better than
my PR marathon pace. And this while running on the hills of
Vermont. This experience has convinced me that perhaps I am
capable of more than I imagined. I guess I need to figure out how
to train a bit harder and see where that leads me.
My stats:
Run 1 = Start time 5:38 pm, distance 9.4K, pace 6:34 min/K, course
description Moderate, Leg #12
Run 2 = Start time 11:05 pm, distance 10.6K, pace 6:32 min/K, course
description Moderate, Leg #19
Run 3 = Start time 1:54 am, distance 10.9K, pace 7:26 min/K, course
description Moderate, Leg #22
Run 4 = Start time 4:25 am, distance 6.9K, pace 7:16 min/K, course
description Hard, Leg #23
Total run distance 37.8K, total run time 4:09, average pace 6:35 min/K.
Projected marathon time with that pace 4 hours, 38 minutes. (My
marathon PR is 4:59:XX)
Carlene
PS - If anyone wants to join our team for next year, we'd be happy to
have a few more members. Or to enter 2 teams. It was that
much fun.
Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence Run,
Sept 26-27, 2009
Over the weekend I ran my first full 24 hour ultra event. My
goals going into the event were to reach 100K and to keep moving
through the whole event. I didn't exactly meet either of those
goals. But I am still very pleased with my result of 97.2K in 24
hours. (Pretty much dead last but that's OK, I was expecting
that.)
My journey to the start line of this race began years ago. Pretty
much since I started running in 1998 I have been part of an amazing
running club - the Kanata Motionware Running Club which has now morphed
(with the closure of the Kanata Motionware Running store) into
the Kanata
SportChek Running Club. In 2003 Sue Armstrong, one of the
regular members of the club, signed up for the Sri Chinmoy event
planning to do 12 hours and give ultra running a try. She ran an
amazing 102 K and got hooked on ultra running in the process. In
2004 I dropped by her next Sri Chinmoy race in the middle of the night
to cheer her on. I was amazed by the race setting and the
distances that people were churning out. At that point in my
running I had never run further than 30K. I found the big tallies
on the score board and the strong running that was still happening at
the track to be very inspiring. In 2005 I had the idea that I'd
like to run a marathon, but I was concerned about hitting the wall and
being stuck miles from the finish with no ability to get back
there. So I followed Sue's great example and asked the Sri
Chinmoy race director if he'd be OK with me registering for the race
but only planning on doing 12 hours. I trained like mad and
completed the 2005
race with 64K, having done lots of walking. Spring 2006
saw me run my first marathon (Ottawa National Capital Marathon) and I
ran my second marathon in spring 2007 (Ottawa National Capital
Marathon).
Every year I had the idea I'd get lots of training in and run the Sri
Chinmoy race again. Every year something interfered and I
wouldn't feel ready, so I wouldn't register. But I'd drop by in
the middle of the night and cheer for Sue and experience some regret
that I wasn't out there giving it my best. This year I was again
dithering about registering. I had an amazing run with the gang
at the Green Mountain Relay in Vermont and Sue was encouraging me to do
the 24 hour race. But I hadn't been training enough. On the
other hand, I wasn't injured either. So I took the leap and
registered. I also managed to convince my friend Ingrid to
register for the new 6 hour event at the Sri Chinmoy race so I knew I
wouldn't be completely alone at the track. Sue very graciously
sent along tons of advice (what to pack, etc) and offered to crew for
me at the event. I can tell you now, without her support I never
would have achieved the distance I managed. I owe her a huge debt
of gratitude. My husband was my other crew member and his
patience and hard work are also very much appreciated. Throughout
the day I was also extremely lucky to have various members of the
running club and other friends stop by to cheer me on and help
out. I was also gifted with a cute stuffed Penguin toy named
Forest by Julia's boys Tyler, Devon and Andrew (my god sons). He
was a great source of cheer during the night.
Usually this race is held at the Terry Fox track at Mooney's Bay.
This year the event was held at the Louis-Riel Dome which is an indoor
track. This simplified packing tremendously since we would be
inside the entire time and not at the mercy of Mother Nature. I
was able to run in summer clothes (running skirt, sports bra and
singlet) for the entire event. Though I did layer on a long
sleeve shirt when I dropped to mostly walking or when I was sitting
resting beside the track. Luckily for me, many of the folks in
the running club have been training for a fall marathon and we have
been going to the track for many of our weekly runs all summer.
So I was quite used to running around in circles endlessly and getting
lapped by the faster runners.
Note: I loved the indoor venue. This was much nicer than having
to deal with the potential of day time heat and night time cold.
Or rain. (It rained heavily during the event apparently.)
The only down side of the indoor venue was that it was tough to take
good pictures in the gloomy conditions. I have some pictures of
the event posted online my Flickr account in the Sri
Chinmoy 2009 set.
The race started at 8 am on Saturday morning. I lined up at the
back of the pack since that is where I expected to stay. We set
off and I tried to keep my pace slow, steady and reasonable. I
planned to aim for 3 minute laps (a 7:30 km pace) and see how that
felt. I ended up running a bit faster than that with very little
walking but taking the occasional break. One of the pluses of
running around the track is that it is easy to try and keep a steady
pace as you can time the laps on your watch. However, one of the
negatives is that it is very easy to lose track of how far you've
actually traveled. I usually run with a Garmin Forerunner 205 GPS
so I know my distance and pace pretty much all the time.
My crew were helpful as they would check
occasionally and let me know how far I'd managed to travel. And
of course I'd ask the lap counters to let me know occasionally
too. I was aiming for a break at 35K when at 34 K, as I was
running by my little support area, a blister on my toe exploded into
pain. This caught me by surprise as I had no idea I was even
developing a blister. So I hobbled over to my chair, pulled off
my shoes and socks and took stock. A bit more blister popping,
some more lube on my toes, fresh socks, a different pair of shoes and I
was back on the track plugging away towards the marathon
distance. It seemed to take forever to get to the marathon mark
and finally get to carry that little flag marking my marathon lap
around the track. At the 8 hour mark I took a longer break and
went for a shower and fresh set of clothes. HEAVENLY! My
next goal was reaching 50K and then 50 miles where again I'd get to
carry the flag around the track. Somewhere in the late evening my
crew and friends convinced me to try a 10 minute nap. I lay down,
but can't say I felt any more rested after. But I got back up and
out on the track, mostly walking, but still moving foward. I
finally reached 50 miles around midnight. WOO HOO!
Emotionally I was elated. But physically by this point I was
seriously losing steam. My legs were tired, I was experiencing
episodes of nausea and I was running out of energy. The next 8
hours seemed to stretch endlessly. I tried another nap (20
minutes this time). After that nap I headed into the bathroom for
yet another pitstop and then brushed my teeth. On the way back to
the track I started feeling very dizzy. My vision started
blackening from the edges and I knew I was in danger of passing
out. Luckily there are windows between the hallway and the
track. I waved madly and managed to get Sue's
attention. Since I knew she was on her way, I sat down on the
floor and then moved to laying down on the floor. Sue stayed with
me till the dizziness passed and then I got back up and went back into
the track for a longer nap. This time I slept about 2
hours. After getting up I shuffled back to the bathroom. I
was contemplating another shower because I thought it might make me
feel a bit better. But when I came walking back to the track in
my slippers I was moving much better and I decided to give the track a
try in my slippers. (I could not bear the thought of putting my
blistered feet into running shoes again.) I walked a lap and felt
OK. So back on went the iPod and I was back to moving
forward. When the music picked up I started running (OK,
shuffling along) in my slippers. I was making some forward
progress and feeling pretty good about how things were going. If
I found a good song I listened to it multiple times (as many times as I
could stomach) before slipping on to the next song. Somewhere
after 4 am the battery on my iPod finally died. I was now forced
to start using my new iPod which is not as friendly for organizing
songs and repeating tracks. I can definitely tell you, when the
music was good (heavier stuff) I moved much faster than when the songs
were softer/slower. If I do this again I definitely need to have
better tracks to get me through the early morning hours.
Throughout the next few hours I walked, ran a bit and took occasional
breaks. I was pretty nauseated and gradually wearing down.
Finally around 7:15 my stomach turned sideways and became very
hungry. I took a break to eat and really could not motivate
myself to get back out of my chair and onto the track again.
After that break the only thing I did was finish that partial lap so I
would be logged as 97.2K (not 96.8). The lap counting table was
probably less than 100 m from my chair and it felt very hard to drag my
cold and tired body down that tiny piece of track. Sue very
nicely brought my chair around to the counting table area and I plunked
myself back down, wrapped myself up in a blanket and watched the rest
of the racers finish the event. Many of them pulled strong
finishes out of somewhere and it was very impressive.
We were all extremely tired. Andre loaded up the car. We
thanked Sue profusely and we went home. We did not stay for the
breakfast and awards. Doing so would have made the long drive
home that much more dangerous to our foggy minds. I feel a bit
guilty that I wasn't there to help salute the winners and to watch them
bask in their awesome achievements. However, sleep was required
and asking even more patience from my husband (the driver) was not fair
either. After a quick shower I climbed into bed and promptly fell
asleep.
The first day I was pretty stiff. The stairs were a bit
challenging and chairs seemed far too low. It is now
Tuesday. My legs are feeling pretty good. My right knee was
a bit swollen at first, probably from running around without my
orthotics for several hours. But icing the knee off and on has
done the trick. The thing that hurts the most on my whole body
are my feet. Specifically my big toes. I wonder if I will
lose at least one of the nails. I hope not. For now I can
tell you those toes are sore and the thought of putting my feet back
into running shoes is definitely not appealing. I think I'll give
them a few more days of recovery before trying to run on them. On
the other hand, I've been walking at lunch and taking the stairs at
work (my desk is on the third floor) with no real problems. So
I'm considering this a success.
While it is true that I didn't meet my goals of 100K or of moving
forward through the whole event, I am pretty sure I pushed myself to
the edge of my current fitness level (and possibly beyond). I
worked well past when I wanted to quit and feel a deep sense of
satisfaction for what I have achieved. I also count myself
extremely lucky to have so many supportive friends to help push me
along the path to personal growth.
Some lessons to store away for next time:
- bring more of your favourite socks so you can change socks more
frequently
- eat more the day before the race because eating during the race is
not appealing
- try to sleep more in the week preceding the race
- consider getting a pair of slightly bigger shoes for later in the race
- slippers rock and should definitely be on the packing list
- load up an iPod for late night running with heavier music designed to
keep me moving
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