First 3/4's - Horseshoe Bay to Lynn Canyon
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Welcome to my second to last pre-Knee Knacker run report. The time is drawing near and we saw a good crowd of well prepared runners today; almost 40 turned up to do either the first 1/2 or first 3/4's. I met with a large group at Lynn Canyon and discovered there were a few people planning on the full distance today but most of us made our way to Cleveland Dam and then off to Horseshoe Bay (Eagleridge) to do just the first 1/2. We saw Curb at the Dam and then eventually hooked up with the whole group at the starting point on what turned out to be a warm and fairly muggy day. There were many first timers to this section of the run, perhaps as much as 1/2 the group. I pointed out a couple of important things that you can keep in mind for race day. Black Mountain is long and steep. No that wasn't it. But it is long, and, um, very steep. Actually, I made mention of the expected times to the bluff and the peak of Black Mountain (45 minutes to 2 hours or so) and also that we need to follow the trail markers carefully. On race day, we'll have extra markers but at the top there are several possible routes and even the experienced racers have been known to take a detour. The group got spread out quickly as usual. Patricia was in her usual hurry and was the first to hit the slopes leaving the rest of us in the dust. I rediscovered that no matter how good of a day I might think I'm going to have, Black Mountain is a challenge. If I can just make it to the top, I feel like I can get all the way to the finish line. I made it to the top today and, with my group, had spectacular views along the way as always. The trail was quite dry today compared with the past couple of weeks and it looks like the drying trend will be continuing, at least for this coming week. As I mentioned in a previous report, there is already lots of green stuff growing but today I also ran into more than the usual dead branches hanging down from trees. And this is the first time in the last 3 weeks I haven't seen one speck of snow on Black or Hollyburn Mountains. I got the feeling everyone was pretty much enjoying their run today. I heard lots of mention about keeping things in perspective for training and I must say that I've seen fewer injuries this year than in past during training runs. I could be dreaming but hopefully we're all getting the message that you can run the Knee Knacker without killing yourself and have lots of fun as well. Next week we are meeting at Deep Cove for a 7:00 am start. From that point people are certainly welcome to do as they wish. I'm planning on an out and back for a total of about 1.5 to 2 hours at most. You could also carpool back to either Lynn Canyon or Grouse Mountain for a 1/4 or almost 1/2. But whatever you do, be sure it is slow, relaxing, and enjoyable. We've all come a long way through our training and not only can we not improve from here on, we must also focus on relaxing and relishing our accomplishments. This will help during our taper and make race day even better. If you have any questions about anything, send me an e-mail or save them for the Thursday and especially Friday night race package pick up at North Shore Athletics on July 10 and 11. Friday night, July 11, is the mandatory night for first-timers and there will be lots of explanations by our fearless race director, Mike Wardas, and also a chance to ask questions. good luck with tapering and happy trails, |
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