Thursday, January 12, 2012

12 for 12!

12 days, 12 runs in a row. Yeah I know, incredibly exciting. Maybe I'll go for one of those streak things people rave about. Well, except actually counting a mile as a run. No offence but that's pretty lamer mclamerton. Especially if you run ultras. I mean I teach beginner run clinics and for the first run of their lives typically with a combination of running and walking they cover 1.25-1.5 miles pending their pace. Seems sacraligous (I've tried spelling this word right for 30 seconds now and the stupid red line indicating a spelling error keeps coming up - I don't care if it's wrong, I'm leaving it).

Anyway, short and sweet it's been 12 straight days of running (shortest day is 4 miles - once) and the rest are all 6 miles or longer. I feel less fat but the stretch marks in my sweater still point towards me being more bulbous than I should be.

Happy trails!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Canadian UROY Results & Recap

Adam Campbell Wins! Adam Campbell Wins!

Bogus claims the leftists...how can one win with less than 50% of the popular vote??!! Um, he got more votes than anyone else so just zip it and deal with it for the year!

Anyways, got a little sidetracked there! It sure was an interesting 3 days of voting. Jason jumped out to a brief lead. Then votes started coming in for Adam left, right and center. Glen mounted a massive comeback tying things up with a few hours left before another barrage of votes for Adam sealed the deal and knocked Glen off his two time UROY pearch.

All four nominees had VERY worthy performances to be on that list. I was going to get in to who I voted for and why but I'll leave that in my head. When you look at what those 4 accomplished you have podiums in major international competition including a Silver Medal at a World Championship, age group records being shattered, podiums at major 100 milers and National Championships, National Records being lowered. All in all a fantastic year for Ultra Running north of the 49th (sorry Southern Ontario...)

There certainly is a lot to be excited for in 2012 as well. Each of the four finalists have big plans for the year and no doubt other folks that didn't make the list have plans to make a splash in the upcoming 12 months as well. Gary Robbins will certainly be looking to make up for lost time in 2011. Aaron Heidt is always dangerous when he toes the line of an ultra. Wayne Gaudet made an impressive debut at the Commonwealth Championships in Wales in the 24 hour going over 200km. The list goes on and on.

Some of the memorable performances by Canadians that weren't on the list for UROY include:

- Taylor Murphy a 3:20 at Blackfoot 50k and 3:25 at Run for the Toad (50k Nationals) both for victories
- Aaron Heidt a 3:50 at Chuckanut for 4th place in a stacked field and 8:36 at the Miwok 100k for 5th place in an equally loaded field. Also snagged a win with a 4:53 at the Knee Knacker 50km
- Ryan Day in his 50 mile debut going 7:04 at the North Face in San Fran
- David Papineau and Mike Palichuk with great WS100 debuts (20:37 and 20:42 respectively)
- Grant Guise who missed the Canadian Death Race record for fastest Canadian male by 22 seconds (13:48:46)

And for those curious on the final breakdown of votes it was:

Adam Campbell - 89 votes (46%)
Glen Redpath - 76 votes (40%)
Jason Loutitt - 22 votes (11%)
Chris Downie - 3 votes (1%)

Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season and wish you all the best for a healthy and happy 2012. Hopefully we'll cross paths on the trails!

Ryne