By Greg Balchin and Marika Nagasaka
Greg’s story
Well, I thought that I had registered for the Gunner Shaw race, which was the week before Stewart Mountain! That's the last time I register for a race on my cell phone without using my glasses!
I really wasn’t ready for this run. I usually decrease training distances in the winter. But there I was, shivering alongside everyone else at the starting line, waiting for the proverbial gun to go off.
It wasn’t cold, cold – +5C, but the humidity was high and overcast, so it was a wet-cold. I must be getting old. 40 years ago, I wouldn’t have even noticed the weather!
The trails around Thetis Lake, all the way up to Gowlland Park in the Uplands, are perfect for trail runners. There are some exposed rough, rocky bits, swampy bits, rooty bits, and technically challenging bits, but lots of the trail sections just beg to be run hard and fast!
Many of the runners, having huffed and puffed their way up Stewart Mountain, found themselves with less than half a tank of gas at the top, with nothing but 8km of fast, undulating, hard left, hard right down hill trails ahead. Electric Light Trail, for instance, begged to be run hard (I had to walk a piece of it, just to get my breath back). Most of the trails were well marked, but some could have used a few more pink ribbons. Quite a number of people took a wrong turn, fortunately, most of these trails cross each other at some point, so they got back on course. (No, I didn't get lost on this run!).
I managed to trip twice, once in the snow on the way down from Stewart Mt, taking out three runners that I was trying to pass, and once on the Electric Light trail. I kicked a springy root, and did a face plant. Good thing the ground was spongy! That same piece of trail had no markers, so running alone, I thought I'd gone astray, but then I heard a cow bell in the distance. I stepped up my pace thinking woo-hoo! I'm on course, minutes later I caught up to a guy on a bicycle, who had tied a cow bell to his handlebars! Fortunately, an aid station appeared on the roadway ahead of me, and the volunteers cheered me on.
The rest of the run was uneventful, save for a back-and-forth duel with a friend of mine. I managed to keep ahead of him till the last 300 metres, then he pulled ahead of me, and beat me by about 50 metres at the end. He played me well. That's usually my signature move! I need to train harder. Revenge is best served, ice cold at the last second, at warp 9.
Pauline, Bruce, Marika and I all had a great run. It was a good race in almost perfect running weather.
Marika’s Story
Stewart Mountain 10 Mile race was yet another 2022 race with good weather, chilly but clear for the 11:30am start. There was some snow at the top, which made the steep part down even more difficult than usual (and I find this part hard even when it is clear and dry! But the snow did make it quite pretty although a bit hard on the eyes). Other than that, the course was in pretty darn good shape. There's a puddle close to the end that has a bypass which I took for the first time ever since the course was so dry (although there was a soggy creek crossing just before the big puddle). I was feeling very sluggish and had planned to take this run easy, no PB's for me today. At the end I had the back of Pauline in my sights and she thankfully got me to the finish line.
There was hot tomato soup and grilled cheese and other standard post race snacks at the end of the race. I wasn't feeling hungry or great in general so I did not have the stomach for any snacks.
Unofficial results:
10 Mile
Greg B 1:44:28
Pauline N 1:55:40
Marika N 1:55:43
5 Mile
Bruce Hawkes 1:27:17
