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Comments: The short version - After my usual 7 mile warm up, I had 10 strong miles, then hung on for the last 9. :) The long version- Without a doubt the hardest, and my slowest, mile was mile 3 on Chesterman Beach. My already tight calves were not happy at all about running on the not-so-hard-packed sand. So, I walked most of that mile and enjoyed the scenery. Just after the beach run, I saw a lady cheering the runners on from her wheelchair... the reminder to be grateful carried me through many miles. At one point I was being chaperoned by the sweeper 4-wheeler. I saw him, said "you must be the sweeper", and smiled. He told me to just go my pace and not to worry about him. He'd been doing this for 12 years. The great thing was I felt really OK about it and, even, proud that if I was the last one in I was still out there staying active and doing what I love to do. I Played leap frog a bit with one of the relay teams. They were young teens and would sprint strong and catch me at every exchange and then tire out at the end and I'd pass them back. It was cute because they'd keep looking over their shoulders to see if anyone was behind them and sprint again until they ran out of steam... all 5 exchanges until the last boy passed me and finished strong. Awesome! I also passed a local lady who was walking the marathon... in flip flops... not running sandals... cheap plastic flip flops. Awesome! The last 5 miles seemed to be continuous steep hills, every time I got to the top I'd look for the gas station at the edge of town, only to see another hill. This must have happened 6 times before I finally saw the gas station. It was pretty brutal. The last half mile was downhill and I saw a woman walking ahead of me. As I approached, I told her rumor had it that it was all downhill from here. She asked if she should run it in, and I said, "DEFINITELY!" and we did :) What would you do differently?: Nothing  Post race
Warm down: Walked around a bit and drank a mocha What limited your ability to perform faster: weight and I need to train more consistently Event comments: Beautiful area and super nice people! I would highly recommend this race to anyone who likes small scenic events. Profile Album Last updated: 2011-06-03 12:00 AM
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Canada
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Drove up to Canada and caught a ferry in Vancouver to Nanaimo. First time I'd been to Vancouver Island, BC, and it was absolutely beautiful. We spent Thursday night in Nanaimo and then drove to Mussel Beach Campground outside of Ucluelet.
We drove across the island on Highway 4 and after about 3 hours saw the sign for Mussel Beach Campground. As soon as we turned onto the dirt road leading to the campground we saw a tiny bear cub climb up a tree on the side of the road. I knew his mom must not be too far away, and sure enough she was lumbering across the road behind the car... cool. We watched them for a bit and then headed on down the road.
After driving 20 minutes down the potholed road, we finally got to Mussel Beach and it was absolutely gorgeous! Beachfront with views of the Broken Islands and miles of tide pools. Unfortunately, we decided this campground wasn't really going to work for us as we would need to go into town several times for packet pick up, race morning, etc, and our Camry isn't exactly pot hole friendly. I went to let the owners know we wouldn't be staying so they could give our spot to someone else, even though there was no one at the campground except for us. She was super sweet about it and recommended some other campgrounds near town. While we were talking, a wolf cautiously walked across the grounds and down to the beach. First time I've ever seen a wolf in the wild... very cool.
Anyway, the nature and beauty of the campground compelled us to stay for the night and find somewhere else the next day... ended up deciding it was worth the rough drive and stayed the entire time with the entire campground to ourselves. It was amazing! :)
Got up with the sun, rolled out of the tent and drove to Ucluelet to catch the shuttle up to Tofino. Enjoyed the bus ride up and noted the hills along the way, didn't look like anything too tough. Once we got to Tofino we had about 20 minutes to race start. Did the customary visit to the port-a-loo, chatted with other racers and enjoyed the energy of the crowd pre-race.