Stage Race Season Opener
May 5-6 marked the first official stage of my race season, the Velocity Stage Race. I typically use this race as a good ol’ fashioned butt whippin’ for myself. To make it even tougher on myself, I jammed my weekend with activities in addition to my three races. The night before I was up until 1:30am, in my backyard, trying to build a cottage as it was Zach’s 3rd birthday on Saturday. I wasn’t too quick with the head lamp.
I got up at 7am to switch my race wheels over, but I struggled to get my free hub off. Training wheels it was for the 10km trial. I started at 9:20pm. I thought I was moving well. HR was up to 175 and clocked in at 13:53. Good enough for 10th out of 50 CAT 4 riders. According to my HR and my coach, I should have been 10bpm higher and was dogging it. The first kick in the pants.
I rushed home for a family BBQ at our place for Zach’s birthday. It was a great party. I stuck around until 1:30pm, then back to Josephburgh for the 90km road race.
Our team coach wanted us to work as a team and attack on the final lap. We were working for Clinton, 3rd in the GC after the TT. 68km into the race I sprinted off the front. I managed to stay away for 9km. As soon as I was caught, Tanner, my teammate, sprinted off the front. 3 minutes of reeling in and then I attacked again. We did this a few more times a few more times, until 3km to go – moved towards the front with Clinton on my wheel. With 1000m to go I started an all out sprint. I was DONE with 300m to the finish and moved aside for Clinton to work his magic. That he did, with a solid 2nd place finish and I rolled in 5th.
Sunday at 7am, I was helping Celine get out the door so she wouldn’t miss her race start. I got the kids going, dressed, and fed and then headed down to see Mom finish her half marathon around 9:15am. Then, packed everyone up and headed to the south side for Stage 3, the criterium.
30 minutes plus 3 laps with a 3, 2 and 1 second premium halfway through. Our plan was the same. Attack. Tanner exploded out the gate. More than a few riders were upset with this abrupt start before they could even warm their legs up! It took the peleton a good lap to catch Tanner, then I attacked. We did this each again to finish up lap two, then the first, second and fourth GC riders set out and no one tried to close down the gap for a half lap. Then I went. It took me a half lap to bridge the gap and one full lap to catch my breath before they started demanding I take a pill. I did 20 seconds on the front. HR at 183. No doggin’ it this time. I was able to recover down to 174 while the other 3 pulled. We were making some decent time on the peleton. We put 1:20 into the main pack by race finish. I mustered a 3rd place finish and ended rising up to 4th overall in the GC.
I’m hooked! Now, May long weekend, stage race #2. Bikes on Broadway in Saskatoon.
St. Albert 10 Miler
The first race of the year always feels like a swift kick in the rear end. The cold, slushy weather, the cob webs still holding my joints together, the hilly terrain of the course all make for a hard, Sunday morning run.
My training leading up to the race was good, until my taper. The week before the race I was putting in some double shifts at work. I planned for it, but I did not expect it to wear out that much. I modified my taper halfway through the week, adding 2 extra rest days. Wednesday night I awoke at 2am with calf cramping. I think it was a nervous dream, but the calf continued to bother me right up until race start.
I was busy checking the weather all week. It said low of 0 and a high of 11. Sunny. Saturday looked good too (early in the week). Well, the forecasted rain for Thursday/Friday became snow for Saturday and Sunday and it was -5C at race start, warming up to -1C by the finish of the race.
The weather kept some registered runners at home in their cozy beds, but there were still 600+ runners who braved the conditions. The first 3 miles were slushy, but after that it was just wet.
I started out running way too fast. 5:45 for the first mile. I was feeling it. I slowed down for mile 2 to 6:48, then got in to my rhythm. I made it to mile 5 by 32:05. Feeling good and ready for the downhill, I kept my pace and felt good. I was racing, but knew I was not as fit as I was last year when I tried to break 60 minutes (finishing in 60:42). I did feel more comfortable than last year and my muscles felt okay! Running mile 6-9 are on my stomping grounds, close to home. They are uphill miles, but I run them often. I felt strong and kept pace or better with the runners around me.
The final mile was fast, tough, downhill and slippery coming into the final turn. I still felt good, though my lungs were screaming. My heart rate was at 183 and I was soaked to the bone. I crossed the finish line, squeaking in with a time under 64:30. My muscles felt good at the finish; my lungs, not as much. I coughed and hacked, as I usually do. My calves and quads did start to tighten up and are sore today, the day after.
I know I can go faster, train harder and suck up the pain. This was a good start. I can do better. I have 3 weeks to get better for the first cycling stage race of the season: Velocity Stage Race. I may do the Fort Saskatchewan 5 peaks race in 2 weeks.
For more photos from the St. Albert 10 Miler, check out the clinic Facebook Page here.
OUCH!!!!!
Not just one, but two time to yell “ouch” today!
In trying to motivate our team, we all decided to go for our first Death Race team run at 7am this Saturday morning. After much debate and complaining, motivating, complaining, convincing, and yes, a little more complaining, we agreed to meet at d Capo at 7am. On friday night, my youngest brother, Matthew Dean, notified me that he had to work at 8am and had to jam out. No worries. He suggested we meet Sundays instead as it would be easier for him and my other younger bro, Peter. Next week it will be Sunday.
7:10am, I am still the lone runner, jogging back and forth along 109st, up and down the end of the High Level bridge. Graham Glennie shows up just after I text everyone. We jog for 5 more minutes and accept the fact that Peter and Arri McWatt are still cozy in their beds, opting to working on their me more on their recovery and mental training.
It was a good run, about 12.4km/7.75 miles in 1:07 with a 25min warm up, then 8×45 sec build to 80% with 30 sec rest, then 8x1min build to 80%, with no recovery, just reset for form, then cool down.
At 1:02 into the run, the second “ouch” hit hard and fast. There were icy patches on our entire run. I was slowing down for most of them, being extra cautious. This one, though, was just too much for me and both feet slid out in front, sending me flying and instantly on my tail bone. After a few near swear words, followed the real ones. Lightning bolt pain went up and down my spine for 3-4 seconds. It took me a full minute to return to the upright position. All that Graham could do was watch in disbelief (and probably chuckle secretly at such a hilarious and ridiculous flail). I was able to jog it off and finish the last 5 minutes. For 45 minutes afterwards my vision was a little hazy. Then the massive headache set in. I am convinced I have some mild whiplash with a concussion. Brutal. And all because I did not take my own advice that I give to patients every day: “This is the WORST weather to run in. The melt, freeze, melt, freeze makes it too slick out there to have a safe run.” How often does one follow their own advice? Not often enough!
Well, with the lengthy sits on my ice pack, here’s to hoping I have recovered and that our team has caught up on their sleep before next Sunday.
Death Race Training Begins
We were in Jasper this weekend and Graham Glennie and I had an opportunity to go for a run/bush wack. We are starting to get into training mode for the Death Race and have our legs pretty much figured out. it looks like Peter Dean (my little bro) will start us off with leg one. Graham Glennie, our team veteran, will get us through the most difficult leg 2. Arri will hammer the trails on leg 3 and hand off to me for leg #4 again. I am not looking forward to the up hill slog, but I’ll take it for the team. My youngest brother, Matthew Dean will anchor us in leg 5. We are aiming to take off at least 60 minutes from our time last year and hopefully even more. Who knows? If we are in the hunt, we may even challenge some of the front runners for a bit. We’ll see!! It should be fun.
CITY CHASE TOP 10
This is a Letterman type top 10 of my past City Chase points. Enjoy.
10. Building a soccer ball out of plastic bags and sea weed and in less than an hour, raising over $200 for Right To Play by selling our ball.
9. Spending 8 hours out at sea in the pouring rain, between 2 and 10am, off the coast of Halifax. We were shark fishing, in a very small vessel. We caught a 62” shark, but no one cared. Everyone except the captain and the first mate was lying on the deck in puddles of water and vomit. No one could handle the rough waters and we all just prayed for solid ground.
8. Bouldering and orienteering over Peggy’s Cove. What an amazing setting to race in.
7. 4 seconds into a National Championship during Chase Point #1 and I injury my hip. I thought it was just a minor groin pull, but it turned out to be a complete ligament tear that I am still battling back from. It taught me two things: I am getting older and I should stretch and warm up before every event, even mechanical bull riding.
6. Racing angry camels through the desert in Esourara, Morocco. Camels are much higher off the ground than I had anticipated. They are also not graceful animals and make for an unpleasant riding experience, but pretty cool at the same time.
5. Swimming in Lake Michigan Halloween weekend, nude. Had to use a key that we dug in the sand for 2 hours to find, then unlock a lock 5 ft under water, 100m from shore. It was snowing and the lifeguard was wearing a parka and a full facemask and toque!
4. White water kayaking down the Atlas mountains in Morocco, barrelling past team Spain and all four of us fall out of our boats. I get back in and cannot grip my paddle. Not sure why until I see that I have dislocated and fracture one of my fingers – it was still out of joint and 90 degrees bent to the side. I had to relocate it before being able to grab the paddles and still keep in front of team Spain.
3. Eating a goats head, in its entirety – and keeping it down. Yes, hairy cheeks, tongue, eye balls, ears, nose, brain. We were fortunate to be given a side of bread, one litre of water and a tiny dish of spice to dip the flesh in. Chase point # 2 in a 3 day event!
2. After 3 days of racing, sprinting to the finish, only steps in front of the Aussies. We ran up the steps waving our Canadian flag with the Coliseum in the back ground to be crowned the World Champions in Rome, Italy, 2007.
1. Jumping…NO…being pushed out of an airplane at 14000ft above Chicago and free falling for 60 seconds. Our parachutes then opened with 2000 feet left to the ground. It felt like my cheeks had wrapped behind my head.
Tour de Palm Springs
2012 has begun. I kicked my race season off this past Saturday with a century ride. The 100 mile Tour de Palm Springs. It was a perfect day, except for the first 15 miles of brutal wind and blowing sand. After we got through the alley of windmills, it was a clear and sunny day, but not too hot. High of 23C. There were close to 10,000 riders. Excellent support stations, loaded with Glukose, water, sandwiches, M&Ms, trail mix, Cliff bars, shots and gels, nuts & bolts, and mechanics if you required. I took it fairly easy. I rode the whole 100 miles with my wife, Celine. It took some patience and lots of encouraging conversation, but we made it to the finish. I would do it again for sure. I highly recommend this event to any rider.
Death Race Registration
This past Wednesday was Death Race registration. Last year, St. Albert Physical Therapy & Sports Injury Clinic entered one team of 3 runners (Graham Glennie, Arri McWatt and myself). We made some costly mistakes, but finished in just under 13 hours. We managed to finish in 5th place overall.
This year we have entered 2 teams. My two younger brothers will join our team: Matthew and Peter. It looks like Matthew will start us off, Graham will run leg 2, Arri leg 3, and Peter and I will run leg 4 and 5, not yet determined who will run what, but it may depend on how fit we each are.
We have also entered a second team consisting of Beverly Kaine, Cory Howard, Katelyn Howard, and Celine Gannon, my wife. It is yet to be determined who will run what leg and who will run 2 legs.
With my leg yet to be determined, it is good motivation for me to get my running fitness in order.
Only 2 months left until the 10 miler. I better get going!
New York City Marathon
New York Marathon, November 6, 2011-11-06
5 weeks ago I had a rough time in the National City Chase Championships. I injured my right hip very early on in that race, which made the 5 weeks before this race tough to train. There were a few times where I really thought I would even drop out before the race started due to my hip pain. I managed a few long runs, but could not generate any speed. 2 weeks before the race I did manage to complete 10x800m on 3:09 with 30 sec rest, which felt awesome. The next 3 days, however, were awful.
The last few days before the race I decided I would still do it, but take it easy and just enjoy the experience. On race day, I felt awesome! I figured I would try and run at race pace and see what my hip could handle.
The experience of race morning was interesting and unique. My race wave was set for 9:40am, the first of three waves and my gate was 3 of the first 22. I had a great starting position with only a few hundred runners out of the 47,438 ahead of me. I was up at 4:45am and left my Manhattan hotel by 5:15am. On the subway at the central park south station by 5:30am and to Whitehall station by 5:55am to catch the 6am ferry to Statin Island. Runners were taking the ferry every 15 minutes starting at 5am with the last runners taking it at 815am. The ferry was a great way to see Manhattan from the water and we sailed right past the Statue of Liberty. The ferry took about 20 minutes, then there was about a half mile walk to the buses outside the station. The New York Road Runners kept everyone moving and there was no waiting. The bus ride took us through the streets of Statin Island to the marshalling area. The bus ride was about 15 minutes. We had another 400m walk after the bus to get to our marshalling area, where we waited for about 2.5 hours until our start time. In the marshalling area we just hung out with a book to read. I had my sleeping bag to keep warm. They provided Dunkin Donuts coffee, bagels, bananas, Gatorade and power bars.
I was in the first wave, in gate 3 of 22, starting at 9:40am. What I did not know was that I had to be in my gate before 8:25am! I got to my gate at 8:45am. I figured almost an hour before the race start would suffice. It did not. I now had to start in gate 22 of wave 2 at 10:10am, at the very back! If I would have been 5 minutes later, I would have even missed wave 2! I would have been put in gate 22 of wave 3!
In the starting gate I did some warm up jogging, some As, Bs and Cs and went the washroom a few times. They had one porto potty for every 3 runners. Again, we never had to wait to use the washroom or anything!
At 9:15 I watched the pro men walk to the starting line, very cool. We watched them also take off at 9:40am. 30 minutes later, wave 2 started. I was at the very back and waited 90 seconds after everyone had passed the start line (with 4.5 minutes everyone but me was over it). I crossed the start line at 10:16am on the nose and very quickly hit the road block of people. I tried weaving in and out of people, running on the sides of the road, on the cement barriers, the grass, etc. My first mile was 8min. My second mile was about the same. I was trying to run a 6:50 with little luck. By mile 4, I realized I could do nothing, but enjoy the race at this current pace. In fact, I had to run at this pace, still weaving, until hitting Manhattan at mile 16. There, the race opened up and I could run faster.
So I enjoyed the race, the day, the crowds, the tour of NYC. It was really amazing and I loved it. What a great way to see New York. We crossed through all 5 boroughs and over 5 bridges. Always running with masses of people, there was no escape. After leaving Statin Island, we ran 13 miles through Brooklyn, 3 miles through Queens, then over the Queensborough Bridge into Manhattan. Ran north up 1st ave for 3 miles, then into the Bronx for 1 mile. Then back through Harlem, along 5th ave south to the southern edge of Central Park, where we entered the Park and ran for the final 1.5 miles to the finish. Only in Harlem, I saw a man pushing a shopping cart with his possessions, weaving through the street full of runners and at the top of his cart - a brand new 47” LCD TV. Only in Harlem! At the finish we had another mile to walk as they moved us through the walkway to get our silver blanket, our food bag, our picture, our medal and finally our dry clothes bag from the start of the race. I made it to the finish without my hip bothering me at all!
You could then hop on a bus or walk the 3.5km back to the hotel. I chose to walk, which was surprising since I just finished a marathon. But I was enjoying seeing everything. I would recommend this race to anyone.
CITY CHASE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, DAY 3
Day 3
2011 City Chase National Championships, Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 29-October 1
Chris and I quickly got down to business right at the Oasis Bar. We shot video of 5 strangers to do a shot at the same time and yell, “I love City Chase” – 10 points. A quick pic of a gal with a tattoo below the waist: 5 points. All of the teams were down at the bar so we figured we may have more luck on our own. We headed to a bus stop and asked a city bus driver if we could drive his bus. To our surprise, he let us, but had to take us down 4 stops to the end of his route first. I got Chris in the driver’s seat: 15 points. We were on the edge of downtown and on Hollis Street. We ran into a hotel and found an elderly group of six eating a midnight snack with their grandchildren (in their 20s). They all seemed to be interested in helping us. There was only one other man, in their 40s, sitting at the bar. They sang an Anne Murray song on video while another did a City Chase rap and Chris convinced the bartender to allow them to mix a drink behind the bar – all 5 points each on video. We told them what else we had on our list, but none of them were up for a photo of them and us all in the same bed in our pajamas, nor did they care to streak or have their head shaved, so we were on our way. Just before leaving, the man at the bar creepily pulled Chris to the side and whispered that he could help us. I thought, “wow, this guy might streak for us?” He turned out to be a business owner and said his business was, “Legitimate – it is on the internet.” Okay, he took us upstairs where 8 guys were in room 136 and having a bachelor party. We still had our wig on from the show so Chris put that on and got in a shot with 3 inebriated individuals and one of the gals wearing only high heels – 15 points. We got a video of the same gal running up and down the hallway. To our surprise, she was more than happy to do it and the guys were more than happy to help us out – 35 points! The guys wanted to give us a ride but we could not take private transportation (thank goodness). He handed us two business cards and told us to call him if we needed anything else. 12:50am and 95 points. We were on pace, but needed some more big ones. We were on the hunt for a hospital gurney or someone willing to have their head shaved. We found a bar with about 50 people lined up outside. 3 of them were game to have their head shaved. What? We did not have a razor. We quickly ran to the nearest hotel lobby and the concierge, very willing to help, grabbed us some shampoo, a razor and some shaving cream. We ran back to the line-up, but all had entered the bar and the bouncers would not let us in. Quickly we found some tourists from Collingwood, ON and the gentlemen was willing to have us lather up and wash his hair for 5 points and then shave it on video for 25 points. Nice! We then headed for a football field where I tossed Chris a touchdown pass for 5 points. Then, at the Commons, he climbed over the fountain fence and (while breaking his toe) made a splash and I got him swimming in the fountain for 10 points. We spent 20 minutes at the hospital with no luck. We had to rely on our charm elsewhere. We ran back downtown with only 30 mins left. We found a Subway and Chris got in to uniform and I taped him serving a sub to a customer. 5 points. I then got pictures of Chris sitting in underwear on the edge of a dock and of a stranger fishing a rod we had made out of string and a stick. 10 points. One more picture of Chris in a window with 3 mankinis for 5 points. Ahh, we still needed 40 points! We ran to another bar and managed to convince the bartender to take down one of his hanging jerseys and don a mascot mask for a picture worth 15 points. Chris videoed me pole dancing on their stage for another 10 points. We luckily found Chris McQuinn from Team Ottawa and snapped a shot of his drivers license for 5 points (same first names as someone on our team). Still needed 10 points and only 7 minutes to go. Stupid us, we still had the wig and a picture of both of us wearing it was worth 10 points!
We checked in as the 2nd team in, but all the others were right there after us, all before 2am. Though Team Vancouver and Edmonton were both washing a gals hair in the lobby washroom. Team Toronto had their 150 points just 10 minutes earlier. We were safe as Tyler and Shane from Calgary only amassed 175 points and was knocked out. All teams that had been knocked out to this point (Toronto 2, Right to Play, Calgary and Montreal, plus one more still to be knocked out after our second Chase Point) were given a second chance to get back into the race by racing the regional race in Halifax on Saturday at 10am. The knocked out team with the most Chase Points in the regional race by noon would re-enter the National Championships in last place.
Off to our next Chase Point. I must clarify that at this Chase Point, what we were about to experience was insane! It was probably the most punishing Chase Point that affected everyone more than anything I have experienced before in City Chase. Rob and Martin (volunteers) brought us down in Surburbans with smiles on their faces. We stopped at a gas station and were each allowed to spend $10 worth of food. We were going out to to sea. Shark fishing. We were brought onto a boat and would be out on the ocean, for 7 hours. It was 3am by the time we pulled up to harbour on the Eastern Passage. We were given our backpacks with our waterproof clothing and set up on the small fishing boat, about 22ft long. Within 2 hours, 3 people (Derek from Vancouver, Chris from Ottawa and Martin – volunteer) were officially sea sick. It was raining hard and the outside deck rails were covered in vomit (mainly because Derek was unable to make it to the edge soon enough). We anchored and had 3 rods in the ocean to try and snag some sharks. Meanwhile, every other person on the boat became sea sick with the exception of the captain, the first mate, Chris (my teammate) and Kim from Edmonton. By 8am, as the sun came up the deck looked like it had been hit by the Plague. Phil managed to reel in a 63 inch shark, but no one cared or even got up to acknowledge the great feat. We were laying on the deck in heaps, heads in puddles of water, all ghostly white. I had lost every ounce (or should I say pound) of donair meat that I had eaten only 8 hours earlier. It was now shark bait. The two hours back were no better. In fact, we could now make out sky then sea, then sky, then sea, the severe nausea continued. The only reprieve was that this did not matter for anything and we would be back on solid ground in 2 hours. I stayed horizontal on the wet deck, in the pouring rain with my eyes closed the whole way back.
We made it. I was shivering, pale, and depleted of all sustenance. But I was on land and that made me happy and hopeful. I was ready for anything, except another boat ride. Our task: we had 20 minutes to prepare a cod with vegetables and 20 minutes to cook it. We would be judged on presentation and taste and the lowest scoring team would be relegated to the regional City Chase to fight their way back.
We struggled. I have very little experience with filleting a fish and I am not a good cook. Chris carried the team on this one and I volunteered to be his sous chef and clean and chop. We made a flour batter with an egg, some salt and pepper. We chopped some veggies and mixed them with lemon and butter and steamed them. We used parsley and spearmint on top of our pan fried our fish. We were scored an 87%. Vancouver was given an 88% and Toronto was given 95% for their breadcrumb and curry battered fish. Edmonton squeaked by with an 86% and Team Ottawa were an unlucky 85%. Ottawa would race with the other 5 teams in the regional race and we were down to four.
Our next task was to go to Core Training Systems. We had no clue. Toronto left first and each team followed at 5 minute intervals. When we left, we found Team Vancouver just outside the parking lot. We asked someone and started heading in the general direction towards Dartmouth. We knocked on the door of the first house we came across. It happened to be a guy who ran a radio station from inside. He let Chris google as he interviewed me live! We got a few callers tell us the address and we headed out towards 50A Hope Mission Avenue. Team Vancouver was speaking to a guy in a truck when they heard me on the radio and we were given the address by the DJ. We had about 12km to run. 20 minutes in, a bus came by with Edmonton and Vancouver on it. We hopped on and rode it the rest of the way. The buses came every 30 minutes. Toronto must have caught the bus ahead of us and their 10 minute lead turned into 30 minutes. Unlucky for us. It was confirmed that when we got off the bus and they running back from Core. They had completed that point and were onto the next. We had a 500m run up the hill and into the Core warehouse. It was a storm simulator where the Coast Guard trained. It was also a testing facility. Inside it was thundering, dark, raining and very windy. There was a 13ft deep dive tank with huge waves. Our task was to accumulate 75 points. 5 points for jumping from 5m and 10 points for jumping from 10m in to the wavy water. The catch was we were only awarded the points if you came up with a golf ball in hand. They had 6 scattered on the bottom that were continuously moving around. They could only be seen when you were about 2 feet from them. Another catch: you had to climb out of the tank via a 5m rope net. I only managed to come up with a ball on one of three jumps. I did, however, find Jeremy Crane’s band aid from his nipple ring on one of my jumps (it was while and looked like a golf ball from 2 feet away). I thought that might have been worth 20 points, but it was zero. After about 15 jumps each from the 10m platform, we reached 75 points. Phil from Vancouver was right with us doing all of the jumps for his team. Poor Derek had popped an ear drum while cliff diving 2 years ago and did not want to risk it again. Kim and Darla from Edmonton had a really tough time on this challenge, mainly because their sports bras would fly up when they hit the water. They opted to complete the challenge after we had left.
We were now on our way back towards the Eastern Passage to the Canadian Forces Base, Shearwater. We caught a bus, but still had 5km to run to the landing strip. There we had to push a Mitsubishi RVR 2.6km while one of us steered. We took 100m pushes each. It took us about 25 minutes.
They had mercy on us and allowed us to keep the car. We drove back to Halifax to the Citadel where we had to print each other’s faces and complete boot camp 3 times, then stand at attention with no facial expressions for 3 minutes while being screamed at. It was physical (nets, climbs, squats, cannon ball carries, running through tires). It was pouring rain and we were messy. It was pretty cool doing it in the Citadel.
From the Citadel, we ran 1km to Sackville Landing and had to find three strangers to each spin on the stationary bikes for 5 minutes. To our surprise, the first 3 people we asked said yes and we were spinning in 30 seconds. We gave our riders neck and shoulder massages while they waited their turns and 15 minutes later were given our neck clue, in Morse code.
We decoded the next Chase Point to be Point Pleasant Park, Black Beard’s Beach. 3km away. We ran there to find a speed boat who took us 3km across to McNabs Island. We had to find 9 orienteering points which gave us each a puzzle piece. The puzzle showed us our next point, Urban Beach. We climbed a kayak and paddled the 3km stretch and ran the final 3km of the race to the finish. We lost by about 10 minutes to Team Toronto. The Crane brothers, Jeremy and David. They were so good at every task and we could just not catch them in the final 7 hours of racing. After 28 Chase Points and 48 hours of racing, we finished second place. Chris and Scott from Ottawa tied with Montreal in the regional City Chase, but Montreal bowed out and allowed Chris and Scott to join Team Edmonton at the car push. There, they pulled ahead of Edmonton and on McNabs Island, they passed Vancouver to hold onto third place. Vancouver finished a strong 4th. Edmonton battled through 48 hours to finish a very impressive 5th. Then Team Toronto 2, Montreal, Calgary and Right to Play. We were ready for a hot shower, and a soft, warm bed. But Chase Point 29 was awaiting us… the after party.
CITY CHASE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, DAY 2
Day 2
2011 City Chase National Championships, Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 29-October 1
We got zero sleep and it was uncomfortable to even lie there, with the bags and my hip. We were woken at 4am and given 5 minutes to get dressed and prepare our bags for the race. We ranked based on our YouTube viral video views. Chris and I had over 6000 views by that point and we got to leave first. Each team left in 5 minute intervals after that based on their view ranking. Shane and Tyler from Calgary left 40 minutes after us. Jay and Kylie from Montreal were a distant second with 4000 views and followed us through out first 3 tasks. Our first challenge was to stack 300 logs, then run 1km and put hay bails up into a barn loft.
My hip was killing me on the run. Chris carried the back pack which helped, but I cringed to think how this was going to affect us. We took a large rubber bin full of approximately 8 cups of oatmeal and 2 apples into the pen where Chris and Scott had spent the night (also with no sleep). The animals had still not been fed so we had to fight them off as we ate our breakfast.
We then rode bikes 25km to the Dartmouth Coast Guard site, put on survival suits, and swim to a buoy where we blew up a raft with our own breath and then paddled back in it with one paddle. Chris paddled as I swam. He probably did 20×360 rotations with all the waves in the Atlantic.
We were leading up to this point until we received our next clue: 5 points on a scavenger hunt:
1) The view is fair from this Titanic burial ground
2) TFRO DAEHMNE
3) Under our National flag at Halifax’s third oldest University
4) This common place
5) The start of the regional Halifax City Chase on Saturday
We spoke with a lady just getting to work with the Coast Guard and she said we could use her computer. We gathered the help of two of her co-workers and quickly printed off some Google maps and had our destinations. We ran downstairs and found that in 10 minutes, Phil and Derek from Team Vancouver had taken the lead. We were given one bike and one of us had to run. We quickly caught them and ran with them for 1km until they opted for the ferry to Halifax. We saw that it was a 10 minute wait and decided it was better to run. We crossed the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge and headed to Fairview Cemetery where we had to find grave #227 which was the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. We received 2 bottles of water. Then off to Fort Needham where we had to sing a non Christmas song with “bell” in it for one minute. I sang, “Ding dong bell, Sammy’s in the well. Who threw him in? The big, bad Mom. Who pulled him out, the great, great Dad.” And repeated each verse for Zachary and Zoe to get us to one minute (a side note, a song that Celine’s parents sing to our kids). We received 2 emergency blankets. Then we headed for the Commons, where Chris had to hit a ball out of the infield, He hit every ball out of the infield. He hit every ball and on his fourth hit, hit a home run, sweet. We received a first aid kit. Then to Dalhousie (1818, after Kings and St. Mary’s). We found the Canadian flag and had to pass one level of Brick Breaker to keep a Blackberry. We then ran to the Urban Beach where we had to build a sand castle 24″ high with a bridge and a moat. We were given a $10 Subway gift card. Then we had to wait for the next team to arrive as were sharing Mitsubishi RVRs to get to Peggy’s cove. Chris and I took the opportunity to grab some maps and rehydrate. I also re-wrapped my hip. We spent an hour waiting for Team Vancouver to arrive!
Off to Peggy’s Cove. Beautiful! Our first task was to answer 10 questions based on 10 post cards we were given showing small portions of buildings. That had us running throughout the small community.
We then had to boulder and orienteer to find rocks with numbers and letters on them to solve the code where the black box from Swiss Flight 111 was and also how to open it.
In the box was our next clue: #Hailchase. Vancouver hopped on Twitter with the Blackberry and got an address on Quinpool Road, back in Halifax. On the way we had to get a picture with 5 props and 2 strangers depicting the month of October. Vancouver had the month of September. Chris spent 35 of the next 45 minutes trying to figure out the Blackberry and how to tweet. Good thing we had that opportunity on the drive back. We stopped at the first Subway we saw and got some sandwiches and then made it to our address on Quinpool. Team Vancouver ran into the Canadian Tire to get a hockey shot and were lucky enough to have Halifax Halloween Distributors right there for a quick and easy picture. They were so pumped to help us out – which would come in very useful later in the race.
Our next Chase Point at the Quinpool Road address was to get a piercing. Chris was so excited. He was telling me that whole race how he hoped for a tattoo or piercing. Because we were first we had the fortune of getting only one ear pierced. Teams showing up later received increasingly difficult places to have pierced.
We were then told to run to 376 Purcell’s Cove Road. It was 3 miles away with lots of hills. It’s a Yacht Club. We had to take a 20 minute instruction class, then sail a boat 4km out of the mouth of the Northwest Arm, around a buoy and back. We were brutal and almost capsized 3 times. Chris managed to hit his head on the boom about six times, but we made it through. We had a 10 minute lead built up, that vanished by the end of our 8km sail.
We were now tied with Vancouver and Toronto 1 (the Crane brothers, Daniel and Jeremy). We were driven to the Garrison Brewery at Pier 21. We each carried a keg around Pier 21. Then we had to count inventory. 10,330L of beer worth as we worked with the other two teams. Then we had to pour a draught beer with less than a finger width of foam. Chris and I apparently had never bartended and were quickly in third place, only to gain back the lead with 5 quick strikes of bowling down 10 pins with an empty keg. We were still basically tied as we ran to Sackville landing, only 750km away. There we had to make a soccer ball and sell it for $200 to raise funds for RIGHT to PLAY. It took Chris and I 36 minutes to raise the funds, while the Crane brothers took under an hour and longer and longer for every team after that. It was 6pm now and we were starving! Good thing that our next chase point was dinner! We were given a map of Italy with a pizza pointing towards Sicily. We looked up Sicilian Pizza in the Yellow Pages and headed for Pizza Corner. Apparently they make the best donairs in Halifax! I would agree. They had their standard donair for $4.95 and it goes all the way up to $13.95 for their super jumbo donair. We had to eat 6 of those between the two of us. Yes, the super jumbo donairs. The first 2 were fantastic, then the pain slowly increased. We were finished 5/6 when the Crane brothers arrived. It took us 20 minutes to eat our final donair. By 7:30pm we were the first team out of the restaurant and only Team Toronto was there.
We had a comfortable lead, which meant only a cushion of time to prepare for the next challenge, which everyone would compete at 10:30pm at the Orchard Pub. We had to come up with a duet, a song, costumes and sing it to only to our own voices in front of everyone. We would have 5 minutes for our performance and be judged on stage presence, costumes, singing and creativity. The lowest scoring team would be eliminated. Team Right to Play (Justin and Liz from Ottawa) were eliminated by being the last team to raise the $200. Chris and I walked by the Halloween shop as we surfed for lyrics. We debated between “Cecilia” by Simon & Garfunkel or “I Got You Babe,” by Sonny and Cher. When we hit the costume shop, we knew instantly that I would look fantastic in 4 inch boots and a silver skin suit. We got some props and outfits as the staff there were really pumped to help us out again. We walked back as we rehearsed.
We were last up and had some pretty good acts to follow: Chris and Scott from Ottawa did a rendition of “A Whole New World,” followed by their own version. Team Calgary sang “Dick in a Box” (from Saturday Night Live fame), Team Montreal sang “I’m Going to Jackson,” Team Edmonton sang “I Had the Time of My Life,” Team Vancouver did their version of Theodore Tugboat and the Crane brothers did “JUMP” as Kris Kross.
We were up for our act. ”I Got You Babe.”
I tried to put a little DIVA in to it.
We ended up finishing 2nd behind Toronto. Montreal was knocked out and we were down to 6 teams (Toronto, Kelowna, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa). It was now midnight. We had been racing non-stop since 4am! No sign of letting up. Our next Chase Point was to score 200 points on a scavenger hunt and meet in the Mariott lobby before 2am. For winning the talent show, Team Toronto was given a break and only needed 150 points.
