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October 17, 2008

Hey Folks... if you were at Bow Cycle on Tuesday you heard some of these stories.  If you weren't it could be new news!  So... what happened with Team Tri Life in Victoria!

1. Doug Barker:  WHAT A DAY!  Doug is over... um.... er... 50!  I won't say how many over 50, we'll just say "over"!  He's been running for a number of years, been to Boston, and took on the triathlon this year racing GWN Half Ironman and the Kelowna Apple Olympic Distance Tri.  Doug is new to swimming and needless to say, the non-wetsuit swim in Kelowna was a challenge!  So... what happened in Victoria?  Doug got up in the morning and was scared.  (This report is from Paddy.  She said she'd never seen him so nervous before a race!)  Truth be told, he had trained hard and was in a position to PR, but he knew it wouldn't be easy.  His goal was 1:35, and with his previous best half mary standing at around 1:38 that seemed reasonable.  The chip time would say otherwise however.  Doug... are you ready for this... Doug had a 6+ min PR to finish in 1:32: 28!!!!  Who says you can't get better at the ripe old age of $50 plus!  Congrats Doug!
2. Joanne Zawada:  JoZ worked hard for this marathon. She trained largely alone and did all the long runs and speed work required!  She lost weight through the training program, and at the end of the day she finished what she set out to finish!   Her legs felt good and her lungs felt good but her hip flexor, which had been a niggly in training, acted up early in the race.   JoZ is a marathoner, and I could not be more proud of her!!!!  She sent me an email today with her finishing pictures, and she is basking in the absolute joy of a goal accomplished and a job well done!!!  Congrats JoZ!!!! It was wonderful being there to cheer you on.  Once again, I just missed you at the finish line!!!  I guess I'm consistent but I'd really like to change that habit!!!!
3. Phil Buote:  Phil took a learn to run clinic in April 2007.  Yup... he was "forced" against his will to run 1 / walk 4!  I stuck to my guns and didn't let him increase the run segments.  "Stick to the plan" I said... and he did! As most of you know, Phil had a pretty phenomenal start to his 10k career, with his 4th 10k bringing a sub 40 min finish time on the very tough Footstock course.  Impressive.  What's more impressive... or at least equally so... is that he ran a 3:13 first marathon!  Can you believe it!  He said it was hard, but he exceeded his dream goal of 3:15 which is what he needed to qualify for Boston.   What a great day! I believe he has more in him too... this is only the beginning.
4. Daniela... most of you don't know DW as I call her. (Her last name starts with "W")  Daniela took the summer to "play" with rock climbing, cycling for fun... some touring and camping thrown in. She decided to do the Victoria half marathon at a fairly late point in the year... about 6 weeks prior to race day. We had our work cut out for us!  DW did the training.  She was tired at times from her job (an ER nurse in Vancouver), but she got the training in. She missed her Half Mary PR by seconds, she had a course record for the Victoria Half on only about 6 weeks of focused training!  Way to go DW!!!!!
5. Ken.... what can I say about Ken.  Let's start with the "after" the marathon.  We had to walk to the car.  He didn't limp, cringe or wine.  I needed to put my Mother in Laws 60 lb mountain bike in the back of our little go cart car. He did it without a whimper!  We walked down a steep hill to the car.... he pushed the bike and didn't miss a step.  (I'm not liking him very much at this point by the way!)  The next day he was fine! He showed not one ounce of soreness, and on the ferry he beat me up about 4 flights of steep stairs.  (I really wasn't liking him at all by this point!)  So... how did his race go?  Ken and Phil ran together for the first 38k of the marathon.  I saw them at the 27k mark and they looked amazing.  The were moving well, smiling, and just a teensy bit ahead of goal pace for a 3:15 mary.  With 3k to go Ken picked up the pace to try to drop Phil. He was successful and he made it to the finish line in 3:11!  A 6 min PR and considerable faster than his 3:15 goal!  The funny thing is that after the race, Ken admitted he was scared to come to the finish line with Phil! He was fearful that Phil would out sprint him if it came to that, and he very well could be right on that point.  For this one, we didn't find out who had the biggest finishing kick. 

The thing that I'm most proud of the speedsters for is that they executed what I consider to be a brilliant marathon.  They were at 1:37 at the half way point of the race, putting them in good shape for a 3:15.  They were patient, and let people take off from the start line, and they stuck to their plan.  They both negative split... Phil by about a minute, and Ken by over 2 minutes, which is amazing in a marathon.  I watched people in front of them at the 27k mark where I was standing. It was so easy to peg the folks who started too fast. You knew they were going to run out of gas. Phil and Ken built pace and finished so strong. 

So, a HUGE congratulations to our marathoners (JoZ, Ken and Phil) and our half marathoners (Daniela and  Doug!)  It was an amazing day to run, and you made this coach very proud!