Fan Boy

Anyone who knows me, knows that I not only enjoy participating in endurance events, but I am also the ultimate fan. I have a tremendous amount of respect for anyone that challenges their limits, whether that means completing their first event, or, for a lucky few, winning major races.

This past weekend I was riveted by a long drawn out battle at the Western Sates 100 mile Endurance Run. I have gotten to know a few of the top level athletes recently and have followed some other online via their blogs, so it was fun to follow along online via twitter (thanks irunfar.com), the WS100 webcasts and Facebook (thanks Salomon) updates.

The race was as good as expected. I can't/won't recap 15 hours plus of racing, since I wouldn't do it justice and enough people that were there will be commenting. All you need to know is that it involved head to head racing for 80 miles, a come from behind victory, course record performances and some solid Canuck presence.

I would strongly suggest checking out the below interviews from irunfar.com. Bryon Powell from the site has really helped connect me to the sport. I am always amazed at how big a part of the culture and lifestyle of sport the internet has become. I feel like I have learned a lot from seeking out and picking out bits and pieces from what the best in the world do. It is also always interesting how much time they spend evaluating their performances, what they did well, what they could improve on, proving that sport is a lifelong learning process, no matter what level athlete you are. When you lose the hunger to learn and improve, it is probably time to move on.

So here are some lessons from the weekend:

Geoff Roes-the "Alaskan Assassin"


(part 2)


Anton Krupicka-ultra minimalist


Kilian Jornet-ultimate mountain athlete


Tracy Garneau-Canadian ultra champ


Congrats also to the top Canuck finishers-Gary Robbins and Glen Redpath (top Masters) who duked it out for 6th and 7th respectively and of course Tracy Garneau of Vernon who has been killing it and Nicola Gildersleeve + Pete Watson and all others who raced...serious respect to all of you!!!!!

Despite what Lauren may think, I can categorically say that I will be at the starting line of a 100 mile race before 2011 is done :)

In other news, congrats to Salomon teammate Phil V for rocking the Ultimate XC race and to Arc'teryx teammate Amy Golumbia for winning her first ultra at the Scorched Sole race.

I had a great weekend of running. My legs came around quite well from the marathon last weekend and I had a good hard session on Saturday, with 3*20 min at a strong effort with 10 min steady between them during a 2 hour run. On Sunday I met up with the Nordic crew and ran in West Vancouver up Cypress, via Eagle Bluffs-Black Mountain, a fun scramble of a run that just goes straight up and into the clouds. There was no view and it was cold at the top, but well worth the scramble. So all in all, I am definitely stoked on running at the moment, not that that is ever an issue...

Just saw another video clip on Rob Mackay's site The video answers that question that I am always curious about-how fast do they run in the death parts of the run? The answer is, not surprisingly, faster than you would think...