The TA has a history at this race; this marking our seventh appearance at the Moose run, the sixth with a number. As such we've run this race in snow and rain (in the same race), sun but screaming wind and cold, always cold. This year, the gloves were off, in a literal clothing sense.
Normally the pre-race chat is "what pace are you running" but on Sunday it was also "what are you wearing? Shorts? Really?". The warm-up settled it as all but one of us said 'no' to tights and 'yes' to shorts. One of our number decided "Shorts, definitely, these tights are way too warm. Oh my, I don't think I remembered to shave my legs"; thus highlighting one of the problems with early season races! You do need to remember to shave your legs the night before, just in case shorts end up being needed. How high is up to you as long as you remember which shorts you packed; the long baggy Premier League soccer shorts, running regular shorts or your trusty race-proven shorty-short tri-shorts. Nothing says "neo-Fred" like stubbly legs or a hairy line across your mid-thigh!
By our count triathletes only made up 8% of the field on Sunday. That's not to say that there were any fewer triathletes Moosing, rather than the good weather meant a record turnout of 150. Indeed, the race was slightly delayed as there was still a good queue to sign in with ten minutes to go. Rather than rely on our notoriously patchy memory, we came armed with a pad and pencil and came up with the following list (in no particular order); Kurt Stevenson, Ron MacDougall, Dan Thompson, Tina White, Steve Saunders, Laura Keefe, Ian Hayward, Brenda Topliss, Brigitte Sabourin, Lyn Vernon, Mike Kennedy and Steve Abbot. Furthermore Bev Richardson, Mike Pettipas and Shannon Read were there in support, backing up runners. Shannon and Mike were mobile on the course on their bikes, Shannon to cheer people on and Mike on official RNS business, topping his cycling togs off with a fetching fluorescent-green tabbard.
As predicted, Rami Bardessey won the overall, running within a minute or two of his course record. We mentioned in the preview that a ringer might turn up and put twenty minute into all of us, and we were nearly correct. A guy no-one had seen before, and whose name I can't remember despite being introduced several times (sorry!) signed on and ran a 1:30 for second place. He's aiming for a 2:35 at Ottawa this year and we wouldn't bet against it! The ladies also went as predicted, with Denise Robson winning with a two minute PB.
As the Duke of Wellington is reputed to have said "one may as well write the history of a ball as of a battle" and the same can be said of races, the perception of which can be quite different depending where, and when, you are. So what the TA saw of the race race might not be an accurate representation of the day. One thing common to us all was probably the perception of it being well supported. Not just by the race organisers though (which it was). In the preview we forgot to tell you about the relay; teams of three, each taking on ca. 8km. (after all, 25 km is a distance not to be taken on with alacrity) . The tag-zone was at the second/fourth water table at the corner of Cow Bay and Bissett Roads. This made for a little cheer-zone at what traditionally felt like the low-spot in the race and really made the event feel like a lot more fun.
One story we are familiar with is Laura Keefe's. She was locked in a battle for a good part of the race and came home second lady, or first regular person as we prefer to call it. She spent many of the 25 kms of it with Kurt Stevenson, who (for the record) ran a 2 minute PB. Remember how we said that the Moose wouldn't tell you if you were in shape for a spring marathon, but it would tell you if you weren't? Well, that huge result must have been good news for Kurt, who is preparing for his first marathon. Not that we think he's obsessing about it but he told us in days how long until the big day!
Knowing we had a date with a large plate of pork-based breakfast products we had to leave before the results were up, but when we find them, we'll post them. Big props by the way to the RD and RNS team who between them compiled a 150-strong results list armed with a stop-watch and clip-board.
We don't have any photographs yet either; the TA's overall visual impression of the race was something like this...
...but there were a goodly number of cameras pointed in the general direction of the race, so when we find any, we'll either post or link to them.
How did the TA do? Well, it wasn't our best Moose ever but it wasn't our worse either. As you might have guessed from the picture, was a hard day out. Of course, we probably shouldn't have gone out at our 5K pace (give or take a few seconds). We hung in there though, scoffed gels and played the mental game, concentrated on our form and tried to ignore that we weren't having "good sensations" in our legs (as a Euro-Pro cyclist would say). As a dress rehearsal for bigger, longer races in the depressingly near future it didn't bode too well, but Brenda Topliss has since convinced us that we made our mistakes in the dry-run and the main show will go fine!
A big chapeau to RD Tom Harmes, who as always puts on a great race and we were so happy that his event was finally blessed with great weather. Congrats to all for running great races; everyone was looking fit and seemed to be raring and ready for the season.
Our next date will be the Credit Union Atlantic Lung Run on Saturday April 10th; a pan-flat 5K around Pier 21 and possibly the fastest road-race in Nova Scotia. Then there's Stacy Juckett-Chestnutt's 5K and 4/28/4 duathlon double header on 8/9 May. Best go and sharpen up our fast-twitch muscles and lactic threshold then.
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