Sunday 12 May 2013

5 Peaks Golden Ears

Wooohoooo!!!! It's 5 Peaks season again!! 5 Peaks trail running series hosted the first trail race I ever ran last year and introduced me to this amazing running experience!!! Fun, fast races! Well organized! Cool swag and most importantly tons of amazing people!! This and the beautiful courses in the forest!!! What could be better?! A whole new season to boot!!


Photo courtesy of Rob Shaer
Golden Ears took place on May 11th, just the weekend after my first BMO half marathon(hello roads!). I was beyond excited to get to race it as I had heard from other runners that I missed out not doing it last year! And sure enough, it was incredible!! On the way there it really hit me how much I love trail racing!! I felt more and more excitement building in me as I drove through the park and then literally squealed and clapped like a kid on Christmas as I saw the first "5 Peaks race in progress sign!!" O-M-G (as the kids these days would say :p) after registering I headed down to the lake and was blown away by the beautiful scenery!! It was hard to stop taking pictures long enough to warm up!!! Somehow I managed though and ran into Nicola Gildersleeve at the MEC tent! So nice to see such a lovely girl before the race!! As Chris Colpitts lined us up to start I came up next to Mike Murphy and knew it was going to be a fast race!! I was lucky enough to enter a few of the Peninsula Runners races with him earlier this year and amazing with his speed!! The count down started and we were flying through the Solomon arch faster than I knew!!

The course was really great!! A very interesting mix of some single track technical trail with steep uphills and downhills to run willy nilly down! There was also wide gravel road! A well marked route and amazing volunteers made it easy to navigate!

 Some of my favourite quotes from the volunteers as I ran by them:

-"You're the first person smiling to pass by!!"
-"You're waaaay too chipper!!"

Lol! Okay maybe I run with a giant smile on my face but I can't help it!! I just love love love the amazing feeling running gives me! I feel like I'm at one with the world and everything is how it should be. 

Photo courtesy of Rob Shaer

Anyways on with the race! A brutal climb in the middle of it left a few of us power hiking... I met up with Karl Woll, who had also just raced the last weekend at the BMO.. But he killed the full marathon! Wow! Talk about amazing! Racing so well just a few 6 days after a full marathon! Anyways, we struggled up the hill with burning legs and bingo! There was a photographer mid climb so I made sure to let him know I'd start running when I got into range and asked if he could put a caption under my picture that said, "She ran the whole way!" Let me know if its there or not! Lol! The race was fast and challenging! I could feel some weakness from the half marathon still but overall not bad!!! I got to get a lil mud on the new Pure Grits who made their debut appearance and rock my hot pink compression socks!! Weeee colours!! I was able to "finish strong" (words of encouragement from my fellow racer, Karl. And pulled in a time of 1:07:57 ranking me 1st in my age category, 2nd female and 11th overall!! Wow!!! Amazing!! 

The new medals look great and I won a sweet neon green running backpack from MEC!! I also got to connect with Rob Shaer, the amazing photographer of the series!! He takes incredible pictures and I can't wait to see them all! He truly captures the esscense of the race! The Sneak Peek of the photos from the race are on the 5 Peaks trail running Facebook site!! There's some amazing shots plus two of me!! Eeeep!!! So cool!! 
Photo Courtesy of Rob Shaer

Alas my allotted time on the elliptical has run out and I'm dripping in sweat so I think it's time for me to say toodles!!

Love and hugs to you all! Keep those smiles on and thanks for everything!!

Shanny

2 comments:

  1. Was an awesome weekend, thanks for the photo love!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for all the great shots, Rob! Been loving sharing them with everyone!

    ReplyDelete