Nathan Veldhoen

Almost the same medal as last year.

Last Sunday morning was another race, this time it was the Run for Water just down the street from my house.  This was the second time I have ran it and it looks like it keeps growing every year.   Its not the fastest course with a line up of rolling hills right in the middle of it all.   The general design of the course is nice though built of mainly a giant loop,   not too many twists and turns which makes for a good way to keep the leaders in view.

500 bucks for th winner which I wasn’t even close but did grab 9th and on the 12th I’ll find out what I won. Hopefully its not a donkey.  Actually if it was donkey that would be sweet.

Ended up with a 1:28.  Almost my split for the full, had some fun @ 8km with a 2-3 minute set back when a gel went down the wrong tube.   Was on  pace for a 38-39 10k, ended up with 42.00.   Whoops!  Feel pretty happy with the time, no tapper and was felling the 3 hours of riding and short run from Saturday.  Got my eyes on Oliver this week-end and the Vancouver Scotia half  on the 27th.  Thinking I might do a mini tapper to get my time down where I think it could be for the 27th.

Just packing up for Oliver half iron and heading out Friday night.

Took off friday night with the camper in tow, and headed for the Walmart in Penticton.  Got in @ 11 and crashed there for the night, even though they have signs everywhere with by-law crap on it.  Other then a few groups of drunken kids walking through, we had a good sleep, and hit the road.

We took off @ about 8am with the sun and course ready for us.  Goal is to ride the whole 180km ironman course,  and still have some energy for a run on the Sunday.  Slugged it out and finished up at about 2, and was so happy to get off my bike.  Felt really good til about 120km and then had to fight it from the Bear fruit stand back to Penny.  In the short time that I have been cycling, I am really starting enjoy it, the distances and  scenery you cover is awesome.

Two solid weeks of training before Oliver half Iron, looking forward to another race.   It will be a great learning and test for me.

Here is a great write up on the course.

Walmart morning

Traded straight up for this hog

First Fuel up stop @ the husky in Osoyoos

the old bip

Nice wet Sunday but wasn’t too bad with over 13, 000 in the race and close to 1,900 doing the full distance.  Once again the race was well put on, well marked and had more then enough water and gel stops.  Enjoyed most of it but I think the last mile was the best, coming in the 4 minutes to spare and my legs still working.

This was the third time I have done the Vancouver, and it still has to be the one I like the most.  There wasn’t as many people watching this year, but I think the weather had a very large part in that.  Finished up with a 3:06.28 and made the top 100.  Now I am thinking a sub 3 hour might be in the cards for the fall.

Went out at a crisp 41 minutes for the 10k mark and was wanting around the 43 range, so a bit fast, then clocked 1:29.11 for the half and was able to hold on for with a 1:37.2.  Felt good and could have maybe pushed the second half a bit more but overall was happy with the result.  Next up the run for water half marathon on the 30th, but not before a trip up to penny for a ride on the ironman bike course.

Today I’m heading off to Vegas to try and get me a spot for the Boston Marathon in April.  I’m needing a 3:10.99 or less to get my butt there.  Feeling a lot better then I did since I got back from Cuba and hope once I get to the desert things will come together.

Apparently on a site called competitor wireless you can track races in real time  here https://www.competitorwireless.com/ via your cell phone, pretty freakin crazy.  Its obviously not free but 5 bucks lets me add five peoples phone numbers plus one free.   I’ll test how the service works and see, if your interested in tracking, all you need is a last name and find the Vegas marathon and you will be able to get updates via text message.

You can also track via the net for free @  http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/ click on Las Vegas and then click on the LiveResults bug on the home page during the race and you will never be out of touch with 4 or 5 updates at different timing stops.    I love how creative technology gets.

a little screen grab....

Staying @ the Wyndham Resort just off the strip, fingers cross that the hot tubs with be working…Leave tonight and get back Monday night, hopefully with a happy hangover.

fall classic medal...pretty

Decided to head down to UBC for the Fall Classic for the second year in a row.  Was a pretty cool and crappy morning but still had a pretty good runner turn out.  Same route as last year but it seemed a little skinny on water stations.  Did the walk up sign up for 80 bucks for the 8:30 start.  Finished up with a 1:29.04 chipped time.  Kinda happy with it, since there was a decent wind in some sections.  One more run, and then I’ll be finished for the 2009 running season.

Had a weekend that didn’t have me booked up so I decided to kick myself into gear.  I needed to get a long run in (for Vegas) and also wanted to get a solid start on riding the old bike.  I picked a hell of a Saturday to do it, with hail and some good down pour sessions.  Some people might have heard me dropping f-bombs in the early afternoon after riding into a few hail storms.  All in all was a nice long day of training and felt pretty good.

I have been getting pretty board of the usual training routes and sessions, so I thought I would get a little more creative.  I headed to the pool  out in Walnut Grove for an 8:30 start , did a 40 minute swim.  Drove out to 232nd and the number 1 hwy and left my truck there.  Suited up for a 31km run back to my house.  Once I got to my house I hucked some food and water in me and headed out on a 32 k bike ride.  The whole thing took almost 5 hours but was a nice little saturday.  Oh and the sun came out right when I hoped off my bike.  Awesome….

On the way home just after jumping into the truck. Never found the gold.

The Finish to the day. Sun rolling in.

Clouds moving out

A few days after finishing in a disappointing fashion at Victoria, I started looking for  another run.   Seattle happens on the 28th of November, and then Las Vegas on the 6th of December.  I’ll be away in Cuba on the 28th, so Vegas is the next best thing.

Did some quick research on the run and this is the First Year the Rock’ n ‘ Roll style of Marathons has taken over for Vegas.  I know a few people who have ran this one before, and they didn’t have much good things say about it.  Hopefully with the switch over it will be better.  Its also is a Boston Qualifier.

One tip , entry fee is 120 dollars but look around the net for a coupon code to get some money off.  I used VEGASROCKS and got 10 bucks off…

As of yesterday I officially finished sign up for Ironman in Penticton.   (already paid in August but now have all my info)  I almost forgot to do it, September went by so quick, just remember during a long training run on the weekend…oops.

I did also manage to find myself a bike, indoor trainer and pedals,to get myself started.  I also picked up, the apparently super important, bike shorts,  can’t wait to find out how sore my ass will get. Getting pretty  pumped to get a few good rides before the ugly weather comes.

Did the old craigslist hunt and grabbed, everything for 800 bucks.  (bike, shoes,pedals and trainer)   I wasn’t too pumped about getting a super expensive bike without even riding before, so hopefully this one will get me started.  We will see if I will need to get a new bike by spring.

Kona Haole-- had a compter with it too.

Fairly new trainer for indoor riding.

Da Shoes

I’ve been stepping up my training in the last month for two runs that are coming up here in the next few weeks/month.  Going to go hit up the Innovative Fitness Half-Marathon on the 20th of this month in White Rock, BC.  Looking to go under 1:30,   I’ve been told the course is pretty up and down so we’ll see if that will do anything to my time.  Pretty pumped, I haven’t done a race in awhile.

Then in October I’ll be trying to better my time since Vancouver Full Marathon.   On the 11th of October the Royal Victoria Marathon will be going down.  I’m hoping if everything goes well to get  down around 3:10-3:12.  Boston qualifier for my age group is anything around 3:10 so that would be nice.  I have ran this race in the past when I first started running and found it to be a pretty fun run despite spilling beer on myself on the last few kms.  Scenic run with usually a pretty good turn out and a lot of people come out to watch.

Innovative Half in White Rock is 68 bucks race day  ::link::  September 20,th 2009 .  This run can also be done as a relay.

White Rock Route

Royal Victoria Marathon is 125 on race day  ::link:: Oct 11th 2009, 2009 .  This run is an official Boston Marathon qualifier as well.  The boost about having a very high number of qualifiers from their run.

Vic Running Route

Headed up to Penticton Once again this weekend, this time for the ironman.  Had a friend in it last year and watch him conquer that bitch.  He skipped this year but him and I and a few others went up to watch and sign up this year.  Great weather, good time, and pretty pumped up for next year.  Camped in the line up over night so we could make sure we would get our spot.

600 dollars for 3.8kms of swimmin, 180kms of bikin, and the old 42.2kms of runnin.  The worse 600 dollars I ever spent.  I plan on doing some fund raising with this stupid adventure and bloggin as much interesting info as possible.

Unfortunately this year one man die in the events 27 year history.  A 60 plus man died of a heart attack just after the swim.  I am seriously thinking about using the heart and lung foundation as my charity of choice, but I am  open to suggestions as well.

So while I was down in Oregon I was able to get a few training sessions in.  I always enjoy looking for new  places to run, but more importantly places to run with good scenery.  So on the Saturday afternoon I ended up running a good route that I scouted in the morning.  This run had everything, hills, beach, trail, and sketchy roads.

I strapped my backpack on with my camera and head out right from the camp site at Sandlake.  I headed East, back to the main road and then jumped on the 101 hwy.  This was a nice flat section which was about 2 miles.  Once I got to the 101 is was all up hill.  I’ve been doing a lot of hill training in the last two weeks but this was a lot more then what I wanted to do!.

The looped running route

So it was a straight up  hike to the top of Cape Lookout.  This area of the run was a welcome cool down.  Cape Lookout usually has a lot of cloud and moisture hanging around it,  Saturday was no different.  The camp site had hot sun while the top of cape lookout was cloudy and felt like it was raining.  I finally reached to top after about an hour and 40 mintues.  At the top of Cape Lookout there were three trails.  I want to explore them all but only one was able to make in a loop run and jet me back to the site.  South Point trail was a 1.8mile straight down hike back.  I think it took me about 20 minutes or so to get down.

about 3 qauters down

About Half way down, Cape Lookout to the right

Looking South...Sandlake is to the right

End of the trail. This sign was at the bottom of the trail.

Took my shoes off and ran the 3.11 miles  along the beach.  Great run.  More shots here.

Some surfering going down at the bottom of the trail

Half way down the beach.

Tide was out-lots of room to run.

3 hours round trip-with photo stops.

No huge on getting up early on Sundays, but since there was a half marathon race right down the road from me, I thought I better get my ass in gear.  Kept outa trouble Saturday night so I could walk over at 7:15 in the morning and pick up my race package, since I forgot to get it Saturday.  It was a 8am start, and man was it hot out, had to be almost 20.

Had a pretty good run, course was a bit tough with a lot of hills.  It looked like the heat caught the best of a few, but spending the last week working in the sun, it did really phase me.  I would say the overall race was put on very well.  Had a large group of volunteers, as well as a lot of police  blocking roads with perfect signage.  The race had a 5km, 10km, and the half marathon on the 2nd annual of the event which I would think will have a 3rd.

201 people did the half marathon,  close to 500 did 5k, and over 600 did the 10km.  I posted a 1:30 and came 5th overall, pretty happy with the time but under 1:30 would have been nice.  Overall great event and good cause.

“By competing in the Run For Water you are helping villages in Ethiopia aquire the clean drinking water they need.”

The few days in Banff managed to be a pretty successful with a mix of good luck with the weather.  Had a lot of snow every day I was there but did manage to get some good shots from the top of Sulphur Mountain when it finally broke for a bit.  It climbs to 2,281m at peak and then a few more meters after you walk up their skywalk.  Pretty cool set up, I’m not sure that its worth 30 bucks for an 8 minute gondola ride.  I ended up riding for free since I stole my buddies drivers license, apparently if you live in Banff or Canmore you can ride for free.  After that did some spa clubbing up at the Rimrock resort with their pretty insane pool and hot tub combo since we knew someone saying there.

Rimrock Pool ---

After my few days in Banff I managed to ram into Calgary yesterday afternoon.  Did some walking around later in the evening and picked up a new backpack to go running with so I can carry my camera on my back while I’m out pounding the pavement.  Ended up getting the mec Drangonfly 17 litre daypack, ran with it today and was pretty happy with it and also got some pretty good shots at the same time.  Weather is nice and warm, nice change from the snow storm in banff that was going on a few days ago.

Later on the night turned to drunkered party with a stop a new pub then a trip to the saddledom to watch the Roughreck lacrosse team win the league championship.  Pretty crazy game, good time and looked like it was close to being a sell out. Here  an article about the game…  After the game we ended up a some bar, was pretty fun til they blew the fuse on the sound system and took them for ever to get it up again.  After that not sure what happened but my head hurt when I got up.

Check out my flickr for the updates on my shots of the week.  Took some nice shot while running today, we’ll see if I get around to adding them today.

Shot close to COP

This weekend was a hard weekend to be good. It was my 29th birthday, but it was also Vancouver Marathon on the same day. There was a pretty large group of friends running the full, as well as my mom and another group of friends doing the half marathon. The weather was awesome, sunny but not too hot. We all trainned for about 4 months and all of us dropped large amounts of time, ranging from 18 minutes to 15 minutes.

The course was different from when I ran it in 2006. We didn’t have to run up that ugly hill to prospect point. (halfers did though) 2006 was the first marathon that I did, and doing my research, did it in 3:33.15. This last weekend 3:15.56, getting closer to a Boston time, but still pretty far away. The qualifying time for that for my age group is 3:10.59, or I can wait til I am 35 and squeak in at a 3:15.59. Here is the list.

I really enjoy doing this marathon, a lot of people turn up to cheer and it takes you through many great parts of the city. 2006 had a more scenic route taking you right through Gastown, but also had alot more hills. This year you went through small parts of Gastown, Grandville Island, and most notable , Stanley park. I think Stanley Park had to be my favorite part with a lot of peeks of the water.

Here is a cool little article from Kelly Grant from the Vancouver Sun about their experience.

Here is a video of some crazy dude huckin the thing with no shoes…

I was lucky enough to stay with a friend that lived 2 blcoks away so I could sleep in, as well as get a hot tub afterward. I took a few shots of the halfers running by, they started at 7:00, while we had a 7:30 start.

Spent my Sunday morning running the Fort Langley historic Half marathon.  A pretty good run, nice course and great weather.  This would b rated in one of my top three half marathon courses after the UBC and the Vancouver halfers.  Its a pretty basic set up with 5 water stations and its well marked.  My finish time I think was around 1:35 ish not sure what my chipped time was.  Here is a link to there events website.