Penticton - the first few days

We left Vancouver early Tuesday morning and headed to Penticton along the Hope-Princeton connector. Although traffic was heavier on the connector then I have seen it before, we still made good time. We stopped in Hedley (former gold mining town) for a picnic lunch we had picked up on the way out of town. After another stop to try and see mountain goats (I didn't see any - again), and for some local fruit, we made it to town and our motel early afternoon.

We had dinner reservations at Theo's the first night so we both headed out for a short run before getting ready for dinner. We had eaten at Theo's when we were here last year and I had been looking forward to eating there again. We decided to eat there early in the week as it gets really busy later on. Being that we had made a reservation and it wasn't very busy we were sat at the hostesses favourite table - the Juliet Balcony. It's a great table overlooking the courtyard which was enclosed a few years ago. We started with the seafood salata which was so good I could eat it everynight. Ceviche and salmon mousse. Yum. We both had the kalimarkia entree. I was glad I was hungry! It was all washed down with a bottle of Jackson Triggs Cab Sauv.

Wednesday started off with a swim in Okanagan Lake. I swam from right in front of our motel down to the Peach and back (about 1500m) with only a couple stops. I was a little perturbed at the number of people I was faster than. I hope they were taking it easy because there is a cutoff for the swim afterall.

We followed the swim up with breakfast/brunch at Dream Cafe and then picked up groceries and of course some local beer and wine. Then it was time to ride the run course. Just over 40km ride out to OK Falls and back. Beautiful day, but quite windy!


Thursday morning I did a 45 min run and eventually found the Kettle Valley Trail (KVR) which I had heard of last time we were here. I didn't have my camera and was really sorry and decided to do my long run there on Friday.

The lineup for registration was really long so we decided to try it again later in the day. I guess being that triathletes are generally Type A personalities, everyone wants to be there first thing and get it done. The problem being of course it just makes for longer lines! Instead we decided to head out for some wine tasting. Naramata Bench is literally a couple miles out of downtown Penticton and is home to numerous wineries.

The first stop of the morning was in Naramata after a wrong turn but we ended up finding a little coffee shop that serves our favourite coffee from Vancouver. From there it was on to Therapy Vineyards. Some very good and interesting white wines and we picked up a bottle of Chardonnay. On to Laughing Stock, and a bottle of their Blind Trust Red. The Blind Trust (red & whites) are blends and you don't get to find out the exact blend of that particular year until you open the bottle.










It was about time for lunch and I had read a few recommendations for the restaurant at Hillside Estate Winery. And the recommendations were good. I had a thin crust pizza with grilled pears, caramelized onions, bleu cheese spread (very light but still noticeable) and pine nuts. I also had the wine pairing which was their Old Vines blend. The wine was a little young tasting but the pizza was amazing. The bistro itself is very cute.




Graeme wanted to swim again but I decided I was too lazy so I spent some time relaxing on the beach while he swam. We then headed over to a club members rental house for a get together with people from the club for a BBQ. Over a dozen people showed up and it was a really nice evening. Plus it was nice to be done by 10 and walk the 2 blocks back to our motel.

Shoes that fit!

My feet have always been hard to fit. I have very clear memories of when I first moved to Canada. I was back to school shopping with my family we were looking for shoes for me. In Ireland I hasn’t had issues with shoes, likely due to European sizes being narrower, but after many shoe stores and some advice from a store owner, it was decided that custom shoes were the only way I was going to have shoes that fit.

I guess as I got older I just got used to having my feet float around in shoes. Dress shoes are not as bad, but running shoes have never fit me properly. Along with my feet being long and narrow, my heel is very narrow and my Achilles is straight up and down which has limited some shoe options. After trying many many different running shoe brands, I settled on Mizuno. I have been running in the Inspires for a few years now and have noticed the widening of the shoe through its last few model changes.

After trying on the current model in a local running store, I was not sure they were going to work. With the previous model the lace structure was almost touching across the top of the foot and the new model was even worse. I left without buying new shoes and wondering what I was going to do. A week or so later I was in another running/triathlon store and because I was really in need of shoes, I decided to give them another go. I put them on and knew it wasn’t going to work. It was then that the store employee mentioned that Mizuno had just added a AA width. I was a bit nervous that they would be too narrow as I haven’t had the width of my feet measured in years. He pulled out the measuring device and it turns out my right foot is actually AAAA – the same it was when I was younger.

They didn’t have the narrow model in stock but ordered them in for me and they arrived last week. When I tried them on I was so excited. I can’t even describe what its like to actually put on running shoes that fit when it has never happened before. So thank you to North Shore Athletics!

And they are pretty too!

Family Time

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of family. Mostly Graeme's with a bit of mine thrown in. In the space of 2 weeks both his brother and sister were married. So 2 weddings, 2 rehearsal dinners and a shower and stagette for his sister. His sister lives in Paris but was married here so it meant all of the wedding festivities were crammed into a few days, and is also why both brother and sisters weddings were so close, so there wouldn't have to be travel back to Vancouver twice in one summer. So not much time for anything else! But I get along well with both of Graeme's siblings and their now husband and wife and am very happy for both couples.

Happy couple number 1

Happy couple number 2 (and bridal party)


And another happy couple (with a very squinty me)

Awesome

This made me laugh.

Heatwave

One of the things I learned during the Ragnar Relay, is apparently I can run in the heat. This knowledge was going to prove useful over the next week as Vancouver had its longest and hottest heatwave ever. Many heat records were broken and the heat just kept coming.

While I would have liked to spend every night at the beach and floating around in the ocean, last week was a busy one for a number of reasons including strata meetings, a golf tournament I had organized (where it was 38/100 or 43/109 with the humidity!), a rehearsal dinner for my BILs wedding, and then the wedding itself. Thankfully the weather had cooled slightly for the Saturday evening wedding and its location on top of Grouse Mountain meant it was cooler then in the city.

Still, there was some beach time, and some early morning running when the temperatures were slightly cooler, but only slightly. My legs were definitely feeling the affects of the race. No specific soreness, just tired and heavy and lots of feelings that I wasn't in shape. I did a few short runs Tues/Wed & Fri mornings and a lovely 7am Kits Pool swim on Thursday morning where it was already 30/82 before I jumped in. It was like swimming in bath water. Salty bath water, but bath water nonetheless!

Saturday was a quick 2 hour ride and Sunday another Kits Pool swim. Monday was beachtime with some ocean swimming. Apparently the ocean temperature had been 24/75 a couple days earlier and if anything, it was warmer on Monday. A wetsuit was not needed at all. I could have floated around in the ocean all day.

Now I know a lot of people have been complaining about the heat and while 38 may be a bit too warm on a regular basis for somewhere that people don't have AC in their homes, I could do with the low 30s every day of summer. And I'll run in it too.

Ragnar Relay Race Report

Thursday after work I headed down to Bellingham to meet up with 12 women and 1 guy I’d never met before in order to run 189 miles from Blaine to Langley in Washington State for the Ragnar Relay’s Northwest Passage. The race/run is set up for 12 runners, each with 3 legs, however at the last minute, we had 2 of our runners drop out. Thanks to a facebook update saying we needed 2 more runners, and a runner with a lot of frequent flier miles, we have a runner fly in from North Carolina with only a couple hours notice. This left us one short, but that’s a lot better than 2 short!

After a nice dinner at Chukanut Brew Pub in Bellingham Thursday evening, where we got introduced to everyone, we had an early night for the 5:30 wake up call on Friday. Our team was scheduled to depart at 8am from Blaine and we needed to get checked in before that.

I was runner 3 and my legs went like this.

Leg 3 – 8.2mi very hard

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/northwestpassage/raceimages/maps/leg3.jpg

After Shannon’s first leg, she passed the slap bracelet to me. This leg started with a long hill running directly into the sun. And it was hot out. I tried to tell myself to stay light on my feet and did my best to ignore the sun beating down on the blacktop. I had a new pain in the back of my right knee (my popliteal tendon I think) but it wasn’t getting worse so I kept on moving. I had hoped the run would take me about 75 mins not really knowing what the hill was going to be like. I was pretty much right on and was happy with that. I finished strong, slapped the bracelet onto Elly and got into the van, pouring with sweat.

Leg 7 – 4.4 mi hard
http://www.ragnarrelay.com/northwestpassage/raceimages/maps/leg7.jpg

As we were down a runner, I volunteered to take on an extra leg. It would end up that all extra legs would be run by Van 1, meaning we were out on the course a lot longer then Van 2. But we were having fun, if not exhausted.

I had finished my first leg around 11:30 and then started leg 7 just before 1:00. The first half mile was through the streets of Bellingham and I lost at least 5 minutes waiting at stoplights. Once I was through the city portion, the hill started. And it didn’t stop. 3.9 miles of unshaded uphill on an unseasonably hot Washington day. My van mates pulled over part way though and threw water on me. I think I would have overheated without that little shower. I was thrilled when I got to the exchange and was able to pass on the bracelet to Becky. Of course that also meant climbing into the van again, even sweatier than the first time. I didn’t stop my watch at the lights, so averaged about 11 min miles including all the stopping.

After leg 7, we had a break while Van 2 ran. We ate at a cute restaurant in Bellingham before making our way down to the major exchange at exchange 12. We lay around in the shade for a couple hours waiting for the second van to arrive. By this time it was starting to get darker and so the reflective vests and flashing lights had to be brought out.

Leg 15 – 3.5mi easy

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/northwestpassage/raceimages/maps/leg15.jpg

The sun had set when I started running. I twisted my way through Ferndale, going as fast as I could. It was still hot and humid, but now the sweat wasn’t evaporating. Not only that, but a lightning storm had started. Nothing like running towards lightning in the dark! It was far enough away that we were safe, but it was still an interesting experience. I passed a fish cannery which made me feel extremely nauseous but tried to not think about it and instead focused on catching the runners in front of me who’s flashing lights I could see. I ended up passing 4 runners on this segment. I also have to say thank you to a very nice Skagit County policeman who stopped traffic for me when I hit a red light. I could have used some of that in Bellingham! Overall time was just about 29 mins for this leg, Getting faster as I go along!

After this leg I napped a little in the van. After our legs, and picking up the vacant leg 7, our van headed to a hotel in Oak Harbor. We managed to get about 2 hours sleep before the wake up call came at 5:15am. Of course it turned out there was a miscommunication and we arrived at the exchange an hour earlier then we needed to be there. Our driver (Shannon’s husband – who was awesome) was in need of coffee as much, if not more than, the rest of us and we detoured out of the way to the closest Starbucks we could find. That iced latte was really good!

Leg 27 - 2.8 mi easy

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/northwestpassage/raceimages/maps/leg27.jpg

As this was my last leg, I decided to go as hard as I could. My legs were a bit tired unsurprisingly, as was the rest of me. The downhill start was nice and I passed 2 girls on this stretch. As I passed the first, she said nice running. I told her I didn’t know if I could keep it up, but once I passed her, I knew I couldn’t let her catch me. At the start of the hill, I thought I might fall over. I wanted to lay down in the ditch in some shade, or at least walk. But I didn’t. I pushed through though the second mile was almost a minute slower than the first. Total time was just under 22 mins for a pace of about 7:45. I have never run that fast for that distance before, and after having run over 16 miles in the previous 24 hours plus having little sleep, I was more than pleased.

That was the end of my race. More piling into the van and when our van finished its legs (plus of course the unassigned leg which Marian ran less than an hour after running her own leg!) we headed on to the finish line. After a shower (which felt awesome), we grabbed lunch at a diner and then headed back to the finish line to wait for our teammates. It was blazing hot and the beer I drank (stealthily hiding it from the police officer) was really good. Over the course of the weekend I had 6 new beers (I had a sampler at the brew pub which made up most of them).

Graeme drove down to Langley to meet me and then we were heading to Seattle for the night. The ferry line up was long, so we turned around and went back to Langley for dinner at a cute restaurant. I don’t think I’ve ever been so underdressed for a restaurant, but at least there were other people there who had obviously been running that day too!

Saturday was some shopping in Seattle before heading home.

Overall I had a fantastic time and I would definitely do another relay. My legs are a bit tired, but fine. I had some quad soreness on Sunday, but it’s gone already. And now I need a new goal!

Technical Difficulties

We're having some technical difficulties with our computers, or well, our single one now and so I haven't been able to post. I will be back online soon. I know you are all 4 of my readers are dying for an update. Ha.