Greg White's 5th Knee Knacker Report
(which only a few of my training partners will understand)
When God made runners he divided the talent allocation into road runners and trail runners. In one curious move he allowed the trail runners to also be good on roads. But he did not do the same for the Road Runners. If they were to venture onto the trails they were on their own and would have to suffer the consequences of their decision to stray from their calling. The Baden Powell Trail designed as an extreme hiking trail was never designed for running but a few crazy North Shore adventurers have pushed the envelope of sanity. The reality is that they really do not know any better so I will not fault them for their devotion to this trail. Only the elite of God's trail runners ever attempt the Knee Knacker but only to justify the many hours each week that they run on the Baden Powell Trail. In one of the great mysteries of theology God shows some mercy on a few lost road runners that attempt the Kneeknacker. Few will even succeed. Most will never return. This is the story of one of those road runners that keeps coming back......
Knee Knacker is my favourite race. I have run 36 marathons but nothing is closer to my heart than Knee Knacker. I love the enthusiasm of the volunteers and the amazing work of the race committee. I have worked on the race committees on 20 marathon and Ironman race events which are all "for profit" businesses and none of them comes close to the incredible organization of Knee Knacker. My only challenge is the last 4/4 of the Baden Powell trail which is way too tough and too long.
I was so happy to have gotten to the starting line of my 5th Knee Knacker injury free. I had the comfort of having more race experience at Knee Knacker than 70% of the field but knew that 90% of the field would arrive in Deep Cove ahead of me. I am even more proud of my 4th finish. I did the 1/2 Ironman 3 weeks ago with Godfrey and was sad to hear from the Mountain Rescue staff at Mountain Hwy that they had just taken Godfrey away with some broken bones. I did take a tough fall 3 hours into the race coming down a bed of boulders on the Hollyburn Chute just between Kelsy passing me again and Francine passing me....there was more bruising and blood than any real damage to my right knee but it was a reality check.
Having dropped out in 2001 at Mountain Hwy and withdrawing just a few days before the 2002 race, my primary goal was to stay ahead of the major cut-off times. My first challenge was Cypress by 3 hours and I worked hard going up Black Mountain (1:57). Kelsy passed me going down Cypress and I knew that Francine was right behind me. I made the near fatal mistake to run hard down Cypress to the aid station and register a good 1/4 time of 2:22. By the time I reached the aid station my legs were shot for the day but I was happy. I suffered a lot on the downhills into Cleveland Dam especially after I fell and had a very slow 1:59 on the 2/4. But I was at the 1/2 in 4:20 which left me 5:40 on the second half to finish. (interesting stat, no one passed me in the 2nd half even though I was 48 minutes slower and only 2 people that got to Cleveland after me, finished the race)
The climb up Nancy Greene Way in the heat dodging all the Grouse Mountain Bike Race traffic and spectators and then the continued climb up Grouse was demoralizing. I was about 70% certain that I would have to drop out of the race until I got to St Georges in 1 hour 5 minutes from the Grouse Parking lot and realized that it normally took about an hour to get there. All hope was not lost. But again it took me a slow 27 minutes on the downhill to Mountain Hwy where it normally took 20 minutes. The good news is that I hit Mountain Hwy at 6:18 which was more than an hour faster than in 2001 when I dropped out at that point in the race. The driving factor to train hard this year was to correct that blemish on my racing resume.
Going up the Seymour Grind (mile 24 - 26) , I feel asleep and could not get my heart rate above 130 (most of the first 24 miles it was 140 - 150). As I reached the top of the Seymour Grind, two runners in pursuit mode had almost tracked me down and were just just 30 meters behind. I had talked to one of the runners before the race, and he told he me did not train on the trail and did all of his training on a treadmill. If he passed me I would have to change my training mode to the treadmill. My quads were now totally gone and there was a lot of downhill ahead. I was 8:30 into the race and I knew I there was still a tough hour of work ahead. I picked up the tempo on the rocky downhill section going to the 27.5 mile aid station. As I did my version of an Indy style pit-stop of 8.4 seconds at my favourite aid station on the course, I asked my long time Knee Knacker friend "Ed" at the aid station to be very kind to the next 2 runners and offer them all of the benefits his wonderful aid station and food buffet since they might still be in pursuit mode right behind me. I don't know how long they stopped at the aid station but as I crossed the 7 bridges in the last mile I kept a close look to see if they might stage a "Tour de France" type attack in the sprint to the finish. I did finish 6 minutes ahead of them.
It was seven years since I had seen the finish line banner of Knee Knacker and that year I recorded the slowest ever finishing time for the history of the race. As I was 100 meters from the finish I saw Francine at the outdoor shower, I knew she had finished. Just past the finish line, I saw Kelsy sitting on the ground with ice on her foot. She had finished an hour ago with an 8 second PR and told me that Jeff had finished in under 7 hours. Only 5 more runners finished after me. Moments after I finished the race in 9:27, the skies went black, the wind picked up and a tropical style heavy rainstorm hit Deep Cove. I realized that God had looked after one of his lost road runners on the Baden Powell trail and allowed me to finish.
1993 - withdrew before the race
1994 - 9:24
1995 - 8:24
1996 - 9:59
1997 - volunteer at Cypress
1998 - missed, very sad to miss it
1999 - missed, did Comrades in June, volunteer at Cleveland & Seymour
2000 - missed, did WS 100 (DNF) in June
2001 - DNF at Mountain Hwy
2002 - withdrew before race & volunteer as Sweep on 2nd half
2003 - 9:27
2004 - ?? are you kidding...I will be there racing or volunteering