Don't stop pushing now

After racing the Blaze, I jetted back to the west coast for 6 days of orienteering racing in the Cascades of Washington. The Blaze was an amazing week, but I was left pretty tired after not much sleep and 150km of trail racing in 92h!

One day off, one travel day and it was back into orienteering mode. The week started off well as I won the first two sprint races and a mass start 20km race. Fast and hot, it was my kind of racing. Great fun and awesome preparation for the Worlds! I started to go a bit downhill after that and the weekend wasn't too stellar. I took it as good training and a good mental test.

Now back in Van, it's time for a bit of rest before the final 7 weeks before the World Champs! Now is when details matter. Every day counts. Onto the razor's edge!

Thanks to the Blaze Crew

Mike's photo of the ceremonial final 10k. Felt a little short ;)

I am in serious post-race withdrawal right now. The racing bubble has burst and I think we're all left tired and wiped from the week, but still wishing we were back in the middle of it all! Tobermory feels like a long way away now, but it was less than a week ago that we started the epic run.

Our volunteers and support crew were amazing. They stayed up to all hours of the day or night to drive, make food, massage, listen to stories and help us along.

For my fellow racers, it was definitely my pleasure to run with you. It is unusual to meet such a great group of inspirational people. I'll remember this week as one of the best!

Day 4

The Blaze is over! We arrived in Queenston today at 1230pm.

Yesterday, after the fast 22km leg in the morning, I had another 25km evening run into Hamilton. It was a wonderful way to end up the day on old, familiar trails. I had pretty much run every trail there before in various races and training with a lot of my team mates , so it was a nice memory trip to keep my mind off my tired legs!

A Hamilton Spectator journalist was waiting at the top of Sydenham Rd in Hamilton and caught us in transition. Paul is blazing off with me sporting the stylish (and effective) compression socks in the background!

Today's run was a tired 20km, followed by a ceremonial group run of the last 10km. Now I'm tired, sleep deprived, and wiped. More updates, photos and a recap of the event over the next few days!

Oh yea, we officially broke the old record of 8 days, coming in an hour shy of 4 days for the 894km!

The race heats up!

We are scheduled to finish tomorrow at 1pm EST. After nearly 75 hours of racing, we are almost bang on schedule. The race is heating up and after a long time trailing, our team, Mitochondria has taken the lead! We are up by 14 minutes, 1/2 way through the 34th of 45 legs. I am getting ready to head out the door for a big 25km leg leading into Hamilton. It will be a great run on some old familiar trails. Jack is also running for Muscles, so it should be another solid fight! I am hoping to take a few more minutes for the team, but the night will likely prove to be decisive!

Be sure to follow the drama unfold on Attackpoint and on Adventure Science.

Friday Morning

The last 14 hours have seen a bit of controversy and panic. Our team missed the 830 dark zone cutoff last night by 5 minutes, so we were forced to send out extra runners on the first night leg. But, what was supposed to be our 4th night leg ended up being a morning leg, so Mike rolled off a great leg to keep the gap to 48minutes.

Gary and I headed out for our early 20km leg into Port Credit hills. The fast leg took 1:25 and we cut the gap another 12 minutes to 36. After about 10km into the leg, I realized I'd be really early for the transition, so I called back to base to let Paul know he had to hurry up! There was no way they could get there in time, so I ket on going for a bit and sent Paul off looking strong.

The teams are scrambling to make last minute alterations to the line-up for a strong last day as we lead into the last decisive evening. For our team, Martin, Al, Tarno, David and I lead into the night!

There is a bit of play-by-play on Attackpoint about the morning!

Photos!

We arrived in Caledon last night and Barb took some photos! A few action, a few lounging.

Day 3 ending

It was another awesome run this evening, a beautiful 15.5km run starting at the Pretty River. Jack rolled off a very fast previous leg for the Muscles team, so I was eager to get some time back. The leg started with a long climb and had a 200m net gain, 400m total ascent. I was gunning for sub-1h, but went 1:05 with the grass and rock slowing it down. Still, a great run and I'm happy how well I recovered from the morning!

The big goal of the evening was to get David finished before 830pm so that we didn't have to send two runners out in the 'dark zone.' If you start betweeen 830pm and 430am, two runners from each team have to run for safety reasons. David scorched his 20km leg in 95 minutes, but missed the cutoff by 5 minutes leaving us scrambling a bit and having to fill 4 night legs. That means 8 of our 10 runners at night and I lead off the morning with a 20km leg. To grab back a little more time, I'll be running another 25km leg in the evening, so hopefully we can bridge the gap!

Mid-day 3

Day 3 is well underway and we've passed the 1/2 way point and the highest point. It's all downhill.

This morning's run was a classic Ontario trail, nice and rolly with some rocky hills and a couple waterfalls. Some wildlife and fog made it a great way to start the day. I lost a chunk of time on my leg by following an old detour complete with white flagging and posts. Must have been at least 10 minutes down an old trail. But we bridged the gap and cut the 52 minute lead to 7 minutes. Al looked great going out on the next leg and cut another 5 minutes our of the lead! Now it is afternoon and I'm napped, fed and coffeed up for the afternoon's 15km leg!

Updates on the AS site! Injury reports and colour commentary.
http://adventurescience.ca/category/blaze/

Day 3 beginning

My run yesterday was a quick 17.3km along the escarpment and took 1:14. It feels like a long time ago now, the last 20h filled by napping, eating, traveling and shuttling runners. We are now stationed in Collingwood and the night runners are coming and going. Now, up at 3am and excited for my Leg 19 run! Over 20km near Lake Eugeneia with some good hills.

Yesterday, we pulled back the lead to to 15minutes going tonight's running. Unfortunately, it stretched back to 51minutes, so we have some time to make up today.

The night has been fairly eventful with runners starting to get tired! The course is wet with fog and rain and the hills are here. Ankles are rolling, knees are sore, but we are nearing the 1/2 way point!

Discovery Channel was here yesterday getting some footage and Robyn has taken thousands of photos. Still to be uploaded, so here are Mike's photos for now!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/waddsquad/

Day 2 breaking, off to leg 9

Base camp last night was our good friend Jake's house in Wiarton. Wakeup call 345am. The house is very quiet with only a few snores and the sound of the coffee pot going. When I went to bed last night, the first few night runners had pulled in a lot of time, so my morning leg could be earlier than expected. The headlamp batteries are charged just in case!

Wiarton to Colpoy's Range Road. Local boy and my old Hamilton training buddy, Jake, is on this leg for Team Muscles and is super fast. Should be a good one!

Blaze Day 1, Leg 2

My first run of the Blaze is done! 23km of racing under my belt, a massage and some dinner and now it's almost time for bed.

Simon Donato and Paul Trebilcock kicked off Leg 1 of the exciting day in Tobermory at 1pm with cameras and film crews documenting the big run. Simon of Team Muscles rolled into CP2 on the beach 5 minutes ahead of Paul to send off Scott Ford ahead of me. The first 10km were very technical and took 70 minutes! I took it easy since it's still the first day, but that is a slow run! The next 13km took 50!

There was a story in the WFP this morning about the run too. If you don't have the paper, you can check it out here!

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/amateur/winnipegs-goeres-runs-the-gamut-48144352.html

My next run starts around 630am ON time, leaving from the Wiarton Willie statue!

The SPOT is on and off, but you can check for updates below. BLUE = Mito, ORANGE = Muscles
http://adventurescience.ca/blaze/follow-the-team.html

Blaze the Bruce

On Monday, I will be jetting off to Ontario to Blaze the Bruce Trail. I'll be running on one of two 10 person teams to complete the fastest ever run of Canada's longest footpath (894km) through the Niagara Escarpment UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

The Blaze the Bruce race will be an enormous opportunity for us to raise awareness for conservation and recreation issues and participate in an innovative physiological study, organized by Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky of McMaster University.

The race will be documented by Parkland Media for the film festival circuit and Discovery Channel will be filming for a Daily Planet episode. Many local paper and radio stations will be following closely too!

Check out the race website adventurescience.ca/blaze

I am also excited to announce a new equipment sponsor! Salomon Canada is going to help me stay fast, cool and stylish as we break records and cruise through some of Canada's most spectacular wilderness. Help me thank my sponsors by supporting their great gear! I only partner up with a company if I truly think their stuff is 1st class. Salomon is no exception and I am looking forward to working with them over the next year!

W*A*R

One of the many reasons for my visit to the Yukon was for the Whitehorse Adventure Run. The races usually have slightly easier than normal nav, but around 25km, so it ends up being in the 3h range. My good friend, Chris Piller and I teamed up for the race, and we pulled off a narrow victory over the local Junior National team boys, Colin and Lee.

In the evening, Brent was at the meat station on the grill when the local paper called. "I happen to have the winners right here" might have been a bit unusual in some places...but I have the feeling our reporter didn't find it so surprising. Ah Whitehorse.

Brent's writeup of the race is an exciting account of the day.
Here's the article in the local paper.
Map and our route on RouteGadget

Above Lake Kushawa

It's been a busy few weeks with training camps and racing. My quick visit to Whitehorse for some work and training is almost over. We enjoyed a spectacular run to the alpine yesterday! Not much trail, almost 3h, 1200m up and down.
A little meltwater lake awaited us at the top. Perfect for a little chilling before the trip home!