5 Peaks Buntzen Lake Enduro - September 19, 2009

I had a GREAT day at Buntzen Lake and really enjoyed this event.
The weather was quite cool and foggy on the drive in and visibility was quite low.  About 15 minutes before race start the sun began to burn through the fog so it looked like it would be bright for at least part of the run.  

Pace Bunny was able to arrange her schedule to be at the race too but instead of tackling the Enduro course with me she had signed up for the Sport course with a friend who had never done a trail race before so she was focused on getting her friend into the trail running vibe, so to speak.  That is what Pace Bunny does best!

I saw a few work colleagues too so these events are starting to feel more like social events, which is the best way to participate in a race of course.  I was yacking with Pace Bunny and her friend so much that I neglected to get into the earlier start waves so I started out in the 4th wave.  The first part of the route has about 100 m or so of gentle incline from the beach area to the start of the Energy Trail.  This trail has a more agressive elevation and some switchbacks, but after having done places like Whistler, I don't notice the climb that much anymore.  I even passed a few people, which isn't something I nornally do.

Soon after the route transitions off the Energy trail there is a flat bit, then a floating bridge over the extreme southern end of Buntzen Lake.  At this point the route splits.  Forget gentle at this point.  A very BCMC like climb ensues.  Now it was my turn to get passed but I was able to jockey back and forth with a few men and women up the incline.  This trail peaks after about 200m incline for a very short flat bit, then suddenly the trail becomes the Grouse Grind for another 200m or so.  This was the hardest bit of the trail by far, with certain parts feeling more like a scramble uphill than a trail run.  At this point I began exchanging "damn this is tough" comments with my fellow racers.  As we reached the summit of the trail and the highest point of the race, I discovered I was running with 6 men and women who were all going at more or less the same pace.  We warned each other of slippery bits and encouraged the more unfortunate runners who were wearing running shoes, not trail runners, to limit the use of their asses to test how hard the trail surface really was.

I got chatting with one woman who I learned had done the Knee Knacker this year and had been to Boston and Chicago in previous years and was signed up for New York this fall (for the marathons of course).  I was happy to keep running with this woman for a while as she kept me on a good pace and prevented me from taking it too easy (ha, as if one can take it too easy on a trail run).  Since this woman was having some difficulty with the down hill bits, I then caught up to and yacked with another woman who was wearing some really cool, bright trail running clothing.  She was telling me how she was looking forward to her big meal that evening based on a recipe from Julia Child as inspired by the recent movie about her.  We almost exchanged recipes while runnning!!    As I started the main descent of the course I found myself pulling ahead and even passing people.  That's a new thing for me.  But as the course flattened out and circled around Buntzen Lake to return to the race compound several of the people I chatted with passed by me.  Oh well.  I then continued on the rolling trail on the eastern side of Buntzen Lake through to the finish.

So I must have been so busy yacking and trying to keep up with some of the runners that I didn't realize that I was running faster than last year.  I ended up completing the race in 2:24:12, exactly 18 minutes faster than last year.  I'm pretty happy about that!  All in all in what a great day and I got to "hang out" with some interesting people.