So last year, Jodi tells me he has this 'great' idea of doing the entire 280km Cabot Trail Running Relay (CTRR) with a team of three. Only thing is, he had never done it or even watched it. Luckily, Dave Parkinson, the long-time race director for the relay, gave Jan, Jodi and I the opportunity and was humouring us again. With only two of us trying this time, he also helped scare the hell out of us with his, "
are you sure you want to do this?".
This CTRR idea had spawned from a few years ago, when we started running the 50k hiking trail at Cape Chignecto to set what Jodi calls "
world records". Although we have done some big events, we are much more accustomed to starting and finishing our adventures at a deserted trailhead, with maybe a few others and only our watches taking note. When we arrived at the event last year we really had no idea that anyone would take much notice, and we also feared we may be accused of taking something away from the relay event itself. We got just the opposite!
This year, with more to do, we were intimidated for sure, but if we were going to come back as a team of two, it had to have a purpose bigger than us. Brigadoon, a children’s camp for chronically ill kids being built in Aylesford Lake NS, we had known about for some time, and is a very easy project to get behind. With both of us fortunate enough to be healthy and able to play at our own favourite activities, the fact is, that many kids get a diagnosis that means they don’t get a normal chance to play and just be a kid. Brigadoon wants to change that and help kids to play, to mentor other kids, and have their own rewarding experiences despite any diagnosis. With a chance to help a little bit with such a great project, how could we not be motivated. All we had to do was run around the Cabot Trail and help spread awareness of the project.
Having not trained specifically for last years relay, Jodi laid out, and stuck diligently to, a training plan that he started in November peaking in the 120-130k/week range. After much prodding, he got me started running in March. So after a few weeks back running I ripped off a huge 45k week :} Of course the next week it jumped to a 105k week with a 50k run Monday, hill repeats Wednesday, and a 3 x 10k workout on Thursday! Somehow my body held together and the following week we upped it to 4 x 10k repeats with 30 min rest, and Jodi whipped off a 38 min 10k as his last one! He was ready, and I was secretly thinking he could take up my slack.
Just lying aroundThe nasty trick with the relay is that the leg times only allow us to run, at the very slowest, a 6min/km pace (9:30/mile), and still get to the end of the leg before the race moves on to the next one. Our best weapon to combat this were our GPS watches which allowed us to keep pace without going too fast and wasting energy. As much as we thought we could do it on paper, the unexpected was always there. Gut issues from a mobile diet, pulled muscles, a rolled ankle. Anything could derail it. The other thing about having to run approx 150k is it takes a lot of patience to go slower than you are capable of with all the energy and cheering surrounding you, and save enough to do the distance.
HTC pres Antar at the base of Smokey; only 200m of vertical ascent in the 2K to the top!Luckily we had a fantastic support crew consisting of Jodi’s dad, Leta, Jodi’s girlfriend Kim, and my wife Amy. They certainly took amazing care of us throughout the entire event and kept us on track with a very positive attitude. Their patience, willingness to help, and caring ways were a huge contribution to make this a successful weekend for us.
The support crew (still standing) in Baddeck
With an alternating strategy as the plan, it all began and seemed to be going as planned until Jodi had quad pain starting after running leg three. Can only guess that Jodi's legs were resenting not being abused the way they had been accustomed so we have concluded tapering is bad. Luckily for me I didn’t have time to taper.
Jodi continued to gut it out with shredded quads and made it through leg seven, his 4th, but while I was running leg 8, I heard my wife yell from the van "
you're doing the next one.". North Mountain! Given the quad busting downhill of North and down French, it was the best plan to preserve Jodi’s quads and also the chance of us making it. However, that did still leave him with leg #10, the all uphill Mackenzie - "
the toughest leg" (according to Jodi). After leg eight, I had about six minutes to get to the van, lace in a new timing chip, put on a safety vest, shoot down a bottle of Boost and head off. It was one of the toughest struggles I have had racing and barely made it in time to send Jodi and the next group of leg runners off.
Jodi beat it up Mackenzie for leg 10 and I got to go down French mtn for leg 11. We sent Jodi off shuffling to start leg 12, his 6th, and by this point Jodi’s quads were wrecked. As we drove by he was barely shuffling and yelled that the “
cutoff’s not goin’ happen”. No worries I figured . He would still get the distance and it was relatively flat for his last two legs. Two minutes before leg 13 start, I was unfolding my own body like an old lawn chair, trying to get ready for my run, and I heard Jodi’s girlfriend Kim say, “
look who I found”. I looked to where I heard her voice and was dumbfounded. It was Jodi. He made it! All I could say was “
holy sh..!”. It really pumped me up.
Jodi icing those awesome quads
On leg 14 we needed Jodi again, 19.8km, and he set off at the back of the group moving like someone who could not bend at the knee. He would attempt to run; he looked to be in a shuffling rhythm and there were others behind him. This time he did not arrive before the next leg started, but missed it by only a few minutes. After seeing him on the previous leg I had thoughts that we were so close, I may have to do the last three legs. When I finished leg 15, I went looking for Jodi right away. He was right there and looking better, fueled by the closeness of the end and that it was really going to happen. He would rip off leg 16, his 8th, as one of his quickest of the relay. It was an emotional finish as he had dug deeper than ever before and we had a good team crydown before sending me off for the final leg.
I chatted and joked with a few other runners and crested Hunter Mountain well under 6 min/k. pace The 18.7k felt long and finally the top of the final hill came into view. I realized that it was all downhill to the finish in Baddeck and that we had done it!
Now, suddenly I wanted to slow it all down. It had taken so much more out of us than we thought, but the support we got from our own crew and all the teams, had helped keep it together and fueled us to somehow make it. Jodi met me up the street and we ran in together overflowing with emotion as we were cheered into the finish.
Running it home together at the end of Leg 17
This event is challenging and fun no matter how you do it and we absolutely never want to take anything away from the spirit of it. We were lucky to be allowed to harness that energy, enjoy it, and were very fortunate to be considered part of it.
Sincere thanks also to the generous folks at the awards dinner stuffing over $400 into our can, which means our run has raised $2000 so far for Brigadoon.
As Yoda says, ‘
there is only do, there is no try’. Which I guess means there is still tonnes of work to do to make Brigadoon a reality, but, we have realized that there is not much that can't be accomplished with the will to attempt it so we will keep up our efforts, continue to challenge ourselves and turn what we may thought to be impossible, into an amazing experience.
Gudhealth2all,
Brigadoon Honey Badgers (aka Mark and Jodi)
We have to admit that the TA office was surprised to see that the majority of you (50%) had , at some point in their lives, knocked off a run between 32.2 and 49 kms, in other words between 20 and 30 miles. And that's a freaking long way. Your average person would think twice before driving 30 miles, much less run it! Perhaps it is the lure of the marathon, maybe you were tricked into it (never, ever, go running with Rami is all we can say on the matter. Just don't say we didn't warn you) or perhaps it's just that a vast majority of us got lost once and what should have been an easy trot around the block turned into an epic! The TA would be lying if we said that had never happened to us. Of course, it probably shouldn't have happened that second time on the same route, but that speaks more of the TA's defunct internal compass and inability to ask directions than it does a desire to run a long, long way!
This was the first time we've run a poll with numbers (as opposed to yes/no type answers) and we saw that the data was roughly normal, but somewhat skewed (and this wouldn't be the first time the TA, or indeed many triathletes, will have been accused of being "normal but skewed"). Some 20% of you got out for less than 20 km, 13% each between 40-60 km and 60-80 km and 4% (or one answer) in the Mark Campbell category (>80 km); we wonder if it was the man himself (or maybe Ron MacDougal). Just under half of you reported running between 20 and 40 kms that week.
Just lying around
HTC pres Antar at the base of Smokey; only 200m of vertical ascent in the 2K to the top!
The support crew (still standing) in Baddeck
Jodi icing those awesome quads
Running it home together at the end of Leg 17
It seems that there wasn't as much as a pull-buoy or a pair of deck-slippers to be found in anyone's stocking, whilst 33% of you found a bike-related gift. The TA did and we'll be wielding our lock-ring spanner and chain-whip in TZ with pride this summer (I don't care what you think, that cassette's coming off whether you want it or not!). We wonder if any of you actually scored an actual bike? Let us know!
