After achieving my goal in the Sun Run, I turned to training for my first trail run of the year. I was so impressed with the organization and execution of the 5 peaks run I participated in last year that I signed up for all 5 races in 2008! Well, that and the offer of a ton of useful stuff as an incentive to book all races at once.
The first 5 Peaks event of 2008 in BC was held in Golden Ears Provincial Park. I had never been to this park before and some planning revealed that it would take the best part of 90 minutes to travel from downtown Vancouver to the race start, which in itself was a bit of a challenge early on a Saturday morning!
On race day, the missus (navigator and support crew) started out pretty much on time, but as we entered deep suburban Greater Vancouver it was clear that we had underestimated the time required to get through some of the bottlenecks and re-routing caused by new bridge construction along the route. We also learned that Google maps has a bit of an issue with distinguishing the variations of Dewdney Trunk Rd that exist in this area, which caused us to take a fairly roundabout route to get to the park entrance.
Once officially through the park entrance the journey continued for quite a while still as we made our way deep into the park towards the race start at Allouette Lake. Time was ticking down and we didn't seem to get any closer to the lake. When we finally did see the entrance, it was clear that parking was going to be an issue this close to the race start. I did manage to find a spot and said very hasty goodbyes to the missus as I combined my warmup run and my journey to the chip pickup area in one smooth move. With about 5 minutes to go, I had time for the mandatory pre-race pee and made me way to the race start.
Now, "just in time" is a great manufacturing concept in which parts and supplies arrive at a factory just in time to be used on the assembly line, saving the costs of inventory and storage. It is not a great concept for a race because:
- you are not as relaxed as you should be
- you don't get a good chance to chat with some folks you might know at the race
- you don't get to take advantage of a good supply of giveaways
and most importantly
- you don't get to hear the pre-race instructions about where the two course lengths diverge, because both the sport and enduro races start at the same place at the same time.
As the race started, we headed out south from the lake and made our way through a dark wooded area with a gentle rise up the the main road in the park. It seemed that the just in time arrival was having no ill effect so far.
Then I got to Mike Lake Road. By this time I was well into the race so I was relying mostly on following folks ahead of me, knowing that at one point I would be directed by a race marshall where to veer off for the split between the Sport and Enduro courses.
When I came up to the split point, I was SURE I was directed up the trail, not up the road.
As I made my way up the steep trail I recalled that there were two large ascents on the Enduro course and a smaller ascent near the end shared by both courses. I was assuming I was on the first of the large ascents, so after some time I was walking up the steep slopes. I noticed that a lot of the participants were wearing sport course bibs. I thought this was normal as I am a lot slower than the typical enduro runner but then I realized, hey, shouldn't this JUST be for the enduro participants.
Oh oh, I think I made a wrong turn. I immediately decided that turning around would be a very bad thing on this steep single track incline, as there were still lots of folks behind me and that would not be a very nice thing to do to them. So I decided I would continue on and inform the race organizers that I had made a booboo.
Both course routes eventually met up a few kilometres before the finish line. It was quite something to have the course marshalls tell me how great I was doing as they had assumed I had been running the full enduro course, so to them I was in the top 5 runners for that distance. Somehow, this just didn't feel right, even knowing that I would adjust my results after!
As I got nearer the finish line, this VERY FAST runner shot past me with a look of surprise on his face - no doubt because he was aiming to be in the top 5 of the enduro distance and had not remember me in the starting pack! Well there would be a surprise for him at the end for sure.
As I arrived at the finish line I saw my time, which was just over 58 minutes for 8.8 km, not bad! Unfortunately, the target distance was closer to 12 km. After I did a bit of post race walking and stretching, I went over to the results board which clearly showed me in 3rd place in the enduro! Woohoo, for a brief moment I was in the spotlight.
Then after asking a few volunteers, who kept directing me to other volunteers, I found the person who was preparing the race results and told here that I ran the shorter distance and that my results should be posted in that distance instead. She looked at me, taking in this information, looked at my "race result", then back at me and after a brief pause she said, "We would have figured it out eventually."
I suppose I do not look like a champion.
There was a side benefit to all this flubbing up of the race course. A colleague of mine, a very speedy chap indeed, was greeted by a relatively refreshed and cooled down me as he crossed the finish line. The look of shock on his face as he saw me stroll up to him and congratulate him on his good time was worth the embarrassment of screwing up the race -- he actually thought I had beat him by a good measure - for a few seconds. He figured it out pretty fast, though. And yes, I did tell him.
Race done and true confessions made, the missus and I headed back to Vancouver, stopping on the way for a great meal at Burgoo in North Vancouver.
I had some fun the following week telling folks how well I did in the race, revealing at the end of my tale that I actually ran the shorter distance by mistake.
Oh well, a valuable lesson was learned in orienteering that reinforced the need to arrive at a race in good time!
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