(video) 215km East Coast Trail Speed Record

On Friday, August 20th, 2010, I set out to run the 215km long East Coast Trail from Cappahaden to St. John's in a non-stop speed record fashion. Exactly two weeks prior I had run the 75km (80km) West Coast Trail and messed up my hip (glute med) in the process. This would be the pain and injury I keep referencing in the film below, and why I was unable to run for so long following the completion of the ECT. I distinctly remember saying to my Mother the day before the ECT attempt that I needed another day or two to recover/prepare/sleep, to which she responded,

"You have to do this now. The extended forecast is turning nasty within hours of your anticipated completion. It's now or never. This is your day to do this."

Why do Mom's always have to be so damn right all the time?



I flew across Canada on the red-eye flight from Tuesday the 17th till Wednesday the 18th, departing Vancouver at 10pm and arriving in St. John's at 12:30pm the following day. I managed one full night of rest on the 18-19th, and then stayed at The Midnight Hill Manor in Renews the night before the attempt (I never got a chance to properly thank them for their incredible hospitality and support of Right To Play. THANK YOU Carol Ann and Bob)

Late on the night of the 19th, after finally feeling confident enough in my preparation, I managed less than four hours of rest before the 4am alarm went off. It was then or never. It did have to happen on that day. I remember thinking to myself that I would have DNS'ed (did not start) any other race with how I was feeling, right down to a 50k distance, yet I showed up and gave it everything I had in me. It was yet another amazing lesson in the power of the human mind and the ability to truly block out pain. I am incredibly proud of this run, and even if I had shown up that day 100% healthy and rested I doubt I would have been much faster anyways. I may just have enjoyed some of it a bit more...what am I saying? It was 35hours on my feet, how much can you ever really enjoy something like that anyways? (I loved every second of it)

The above is my official video, thanks to Erik Nachtrieb over at 1iOpen Productions for tirelessly working on this piece and trimming down my very rough, approximately eight hours of footage into what you see above.

I hope you enjoy it.

These are the people that made this run possible.
My Ma and Pa, my niece Kayla, brother Bryan, and his wonderful partner Heather

GR

(Video) Taking The Stage At FEAT Canada

Back in October Sean Verret asked me if I'd like to join the line up of featured speakers for the first ever Canadian version of a FEAT night (Fascinating Expedition and Adventure Talks). The premise both scared and excited me and I said yes when everything inside of me was screaming no. I only have a handful of previous public speaking experience, and though I know I can banter and joke without question behind a mic, my last presentation left me feeling embarrassed for myself. I say this because at the time (two years ago) I simply did not know what it took to produce an engaging talk. I showed up to that one woefully under prepared, as I had left far too much for the last minute.

Fast forward to November 2011 and having learned from previous mistakes, I finally realized how much time something like this would take in advance of the night to get it right. Add to that the fact that the FEAT nights are very specific and the 'rules of engagement' are that you get 21 slides, that auto-scroll every 20 seconds, for a grand total of seven minutes. Once you start talking your slides start rolling, and the timer starts counting down. There is very little room for error or improv and as such I am not exaggerating when I say I put well over 40-50hrs into this thing before I took the stage on November 15th.



I was exceptionally nervous, even though I was among a group of supportive friends and peers. When I walked out on stage I did exactly as I had practiced. I took a deep breath, smiled, and tried to let it all flow. I had memorized the talk inside out and my plan was to easily reference the first few cue cards before finding my rhythm. I guess I was shaking so much that it was noticeable to most of the audience and all I could figure after the fact is that my shaking hands would not allow me to clearly reference my cue cards. Less than a minute in and I blurted out something like

"WHAT, THEY'RE NOT IN ORDER?" (when in fact they were)

Which was immediately followed by a numbing of my entire body and complete silence, as my world seemed to be shrinking before me. There were numerous umms, and ahhhs as I was completely rattled. The slides were rolling along and I actually turned to the organizers and said,

"Can I get a redo?"

To which the response was,

"Just talk."

Now at this point I was angry. Not at the organizers but at myself. You don't get redos in life, period. I'm thankful they simply told me to talk and left me to fend for myself. I had put so much time and effort into this thing that I doubted many others had prepared so thoroughly. Yet I somehow still found myself standing in front of an audience of 400-500 ppl looking dumbfounded and like I'd taken a wrong turn on my way to the bathroom and somehow ended up on stage.

As I was internally cursing myself all I could focus on was that I knew the damn talk intimately. It was MY TALK, how could I NOT know it. I looked up, the clock ticking away, now multiple slides behind, and just started rambling off all I could remember. I cut out little bits here and there as I knew I had to catch back up to my slides. I spoke like I did when I first left Newfoundland, when no one else could decipher a word I was saying because I can speak so fast. I continued plugging away and at exactly three minutes I finally managed to align my talk back up with my slides. I remember a huge sense of relief as this happened and again I was grateful for all the back end work I had put into the thing. Knowing my presentation so well, was all that salvaged it. This allowed for me to remove small tidbits along the way, to speed up my voice, and to know exactly when I was back on track.

Now for some reason FEAT edited out my 45second debacle, with a cut at 1m25s in. As funny as this is to say I kinda wish it were still in there as it would help explain why I was behind my auto-scrolling slides and speaking rather hurriedly to catch back up. It would also put on full display just how scared I was by the whole evening and how happy I was with myself, after the fact, for pulling it out of the ashes. I was seconds away from simply going down as the one presenter who couldn't handle the pressure. Thankfully I simply went down as the one guy who nearly botched it but somehow managed to pull his head out of his ass just in time to salvage the damn thing.

Have a watch, and feel free to let me know your thoughts. I would like to present again somewhere, sometime, and am wide open for constructive feedback.

And be sure to check out the next edition of FEAT here in North Vancouver on Feb 12th

GR

The Things You See (a dog riding a bike)

Went for a walk, got highly entertained. Unfortunately Roxy was out for a run (she trains harder than I do) as I would have loved to see her reaction to this as well. I'm still contemplating whether the dogs owner was just plain crazy, or crazy awesome?

A New 50 Miler Is Born: The Squamish50 (08-11-12)

After a one year hiatus for the ten year old Stormy ultra marathon we're bringing it back with a bang for 2012. Same great location of Squamish, BC, same great date of August 11th, two new race directors (including yours truly), a new name, and a BRAND NEW COURSE!

I myself resided in Squamish for over three full years and I consider it to be where I first cut my teeth in the running world, in fact my first ever ultra was the 2005 Stormy 67k and my first ever 100miler was the 2008 Stormy100.

Though Stormy had continually changed and evolved from 64k to 67k to 50miles to 100miles, co-race director Geoff Langford and I are simply looking to create one hell of a 50miler that will knock your socks off, almost literally. We've also continued with the relay option, and added in a 21k run over the final portions of the course.

I've had a long standing vision of what I dreamed a 50mile run in a true trail town like Squamish could be, and I could not be more excited to finally piece it all together. For those who knew the Stormy Trail Race, Nine Mile Hill is officially dead! To clarify, we removed this heinous climb not due to the fact that it was uphill for six miles, but due to the fact that you were on logging roads for nearly seven miles by the time you completed the loop. In a town that posses well over a hundred kilometers of cushy, flowing singletrack, we considered this completely unacceptable. Stormy was born of a bike racing course (The Test Of Metal), and we're proud to offer up the very first running specific course to ever be designed in the trail haven of Squamish, BC.

In line with The Squamish50 mission of creating the best possible running course in Western Canada, we've completely retooled the first 20miles of the original route. This has allowed us to accomplish our goal of removing as much logging road as possible (we're down to just a few miles now), while still keeping and even adding to our overall vertical gain. In the end we came very close to 10,000 feet of climbing and descent, in a completely new point to point run. In fact over half of the Squamish50 course has never before been sanctioned in an ultra run. We've pieced together over 80% singletrack on a 95% unique route, as you'll cover just 2.5miles of the course twice, and for that we're confidently saying...

YOU-ARE-GOING-TO-LOVE-WHAT-WE'VE-CREATED-FOR-YOU!!

For full details check out our:
Website
Twitter
Facebook

We're also proud to announce that we've added an official race day photographer. Anyone who's run an ultra in the Pacific Northwest is sure to know the one and only Mr. Glenn Tachiyama. His work does speak for itself afterall.

Last but not least, on the topic of pictures, these are not Glenn's shots but we thought you might enjoy them, and we sincerely hope to see you out come race day. We are confident that we're really onto something special here and we simply can not wait to show it all off come August!

GR

A Little Story That Has Nothing To Do With Running

(If you scroll to the bottom ahead of reading it steals the punchline. It's a short posting I promise.)

Not sure why this just came to me but I realize it's been an awfully long time since I logged in here...

Way back in the spring, on the same day that I crashed my bike into the ever dangerous concrete floating street curb (it was ducking and diving so much it was impossible to avoid), I posed this video showing my neighbors gardening to gangster rap. I didn't know this lady at the time, and with her short plump build, constant stoic appearance, apparently over-sized offspring, affections for gangster rap, and incessant work ethic I pegged her for being Eastern European. It was obvious she was stuck here in North Vancouver after the boat she solo paddled across the Atlantic Ocean slammed into Nova Scotia, at which point she figured she could just walk home via Sarah Palin's bridge from Alaska to Russia. Upon completing her 8,000km trek on no sustenance other than rain water, she discovered that no such bridge existed. Undeterred, she settled on residing in North Vancouver until she could build yet another row boat off the land. Able to afford nothing but seedlings she had obviously taken to gardening in an attempt to grow a single oak tree before she turned 108 so she could row back to her homeland for her passing, much like the salmon returning to their coastal waterways in the fall.

With this highly intuitive and accurate knowledge of this lady firmly entrenched in my brain, she finally spoke to me one day in passing,

"You like fix?"

Thinking to myself, shit, did she just say that? There were painters here yesterday that aren't here today. Dammit she's gonna put me to work like the Canadian child they wouldn't let her adopt...act stupid...

"Umm...(awkward silence) what?"

"You like fix?"

Shit, she didn't even crack a smile. This lady is tougher than Bruce Willis in Die Hard, not Die Hard 2, 3, 4, or 5, THE ORIGINAL DIE HARD.

"Ummm" sweating bullets "Ummm" can't think, scared for life, just run, she knows where I live, SAY SOMETHING, "Whaaat?"

Now she's getting pissed. This is not what I want. She huffs a little and stares straight through my soul as if to say 'listen you little shit, you either help me fix my house or your gonna be my fertilizer'

"You like fix?"

Petrified that even the slightest delay may cost me my life,

"YES!" YES, please God have mercy on me, I'll fix anything you want lady!"

"Come"

Oh shit. Of course I have to follow her, please don't let this be in her basement, please don't have posters of Anthony Hopkins and Kathy Bates on your walls, please don't hurt me, I'll do whatever you say lady, I'll dig six feet deep as long as it's not for me. I'll wear a skin suit if it fits. I'll put the lotion on the skin. Whatever you say lady just LET ME LIVEEEE!

"Take" as she points to a ladder.

At which point I stare 30 feet up in the air at her near vertical rooftop and contemplate faking an injury. She knows I was on crutches all winter, just fall down. Just fall over Gary. If you want to live FALL ONTO YOUR DAMN FACE NOW!

Then she has me set up the ladder under a tree in her yard, and SHE starts ascending it. Slowly, one agonizing rung at a time. Clang. Clang. Clang. The bell tolls for thee. Clang. What's she hiding up there? Body parts? Locusts? A treehouse of death? Is it...

"Catch"

OH NO, oh God NO what could it be...

"Figs. You like Figs?"

What's that they say? Something about books and covers and stuff. Of course I knew she was a sweet ole Italian lady named Rosa. Knew it all along I did.

GR