Notes from Dan the Trail Guy #19

Trail Bits

It just goes to show that if you live right, good things happen to you. Thursday and Friday were horrible days with torrential rain and high winds. Saturday morning the rain and wind were still present when we hit the trail, BUT within 10 minutes of us starting our run and the weather gods realizing that we were running, the rain stopped and the wind died down (for the most part). The 30 or so people that showed up thinking that they were going to be partaking in a run with nasty weather conditions were instead treated to a great run in ideal conditions. Yes there were lots of puddles and yes the “roadies” got their nice clean road shoes dirty (mine included) but all in all it was a great run. The constant up hill climb for the first half an hour of the run was a little taxing, but once that was past it was great. Special thanks to Kathleen Richardson and Mark Kuhn for leading and sweeping for the group, your efforts were appreciated and Thanks to Suzanne, John and Derek for keeping me company. Did I mention that the water fall was HUGE!

Frontrunners are having a Customer appreciation Night on April 20th and we are all invited. That is also the last day at the store for Kari MacIntyre as she is leaving Nanaimo and moving to Victoria; so if for no other reason, come by and say good by to an amazing lady who has always been a strong supporter of ROC and who has had an impact on most of you if you have been running and training for any length of time in Nanaimo.

The World Harmony Run http://www.worldharmonyrun.org is on for Saturday May 7th. Still no details, sorry……Stay tuned.

Membership meeting – Please mark May 14th in your day timer. Open the attachment to read what the meeting is all about.

Membership Dues – those of you have been around for a while know that each year I put out the “the hit list” of members that haven’t paid their dues for the year. So, if you don’t want to be on “the list” please pay your dues quickly. You can either pay them to me, or to Owen or to Kelly or you can drop them off at Frontrunners. Please make sure your first and last name are accompanying any cash you are giving us. If you paid you membership dues after September of last year, please drop me a note as there was an arrangement made that new members paying in the later part of the year would be credited for that remaining portion of 2004 and all of 2005.

If you have decided that you no longer wish to be a member of ROC please drop me a note so I can remove your name from the membership list and the email address book. For those you that are basically forgetful and or lazy, get with it and pay. The list comes out the first week of May. That gives you 14 more days to pay.

A couple of race notes to pass along ….
a) The Subway Vancouver Island Relay takes place on Saturday, May 21st. We already have 8 teams and 2 ultra runners signed up for this fun event! Remember, the Bastion Running Club will pay the $375 team registration fee for the first 3 teams to sign up (all runners must be paid up members)! Ask anyone who participated the past few years about what it is like to be part of a relay team...it's an awesome feeling!....Runners of Compassion should put a Relay Team into this event.
b) The Nanaimo Regional Hospital Foundation 5k fun run will take place the following weekend on Sunday, May 29th at Bowen Park. This year's early bird prize will be a getaway packages at Tigh-N-Mara resort worth approximately $1000...yes a $1000 which includes the spa, dinners and lodging! Watch for the registration brochures which will be out shortly and register right away for this worthwhile fund raiser. I will be looking for volunteers from the club as well so let me know if you are interested. A special thank you to Runners of Compassion from The Hospital Foundation for again being one of the major sponsors of this event! Let’s get out and show our support by running in this year’s race.
c) The Duncan GutBuster is May 7th. This is the home of the original GutBuster race and is an amazing race route. This is a great race route that starts and finishes at a pub. Nice and close to Nanaimo. We should try and have a bunch of us go down.
d) The Kusim Climb is June 19th if you are looking for a some what tough mountain run. The Kusim Klimb is a wild and rugged 23 km loop heading up (meaning steep) and over Mount Kusim and down the Stowe Creek watershed. Elevation gain is a mile high over the first 6km of Bill=s Trail. Starting at sea level, participants pass through some of the most spectacular scenery on Vancouver Island with views of mountain peaks and the Johnstone Strait as they negotiate their way over the well developed trail. The loop includes hard packed hiking trails having steep inclines and declines, open slopped rock scrambling, deactivated gravel logging roads, alpine meadows with possible snow pack, and multiple creek crossings at various levels, unstable surfaces with possible obstacles such as fallen trees and boulders, and asphalt road surface (approx. 2.2km). Some sections are remote with no vehicle access. After a rural start at Sayward’s Heritage Hall participants will pass farms in the valley, old, 2nd and new growth forests, scenic view points on rock bluffs, and active logging sections. Four strategically placed checkpoints include first aid, support and direct contact to the race headquarters start and finish line. Two checkpoints will offer refreshments and one checkpoint will offer a hot lunch. Klimbers will be timed. Some will race; most will Klimb to the finish and brag about it!

Runners of Compassion technical tops – remember to email me if you think you might want one. It is so Stefan has a rough idea of how many to order. So far over 20 people have indicated that they want one…don’t be left out!

Okay the important stuff – The Run – This week the run will start from Westwood lake Parking lot at 7:00 am. One group (led by Kathleen & Brad) will be running long and will be out for about 1hr & 45min and another group (not sure who is leading yet) will be out for about 1hr & 15min in length. I don’t really know where either group are going, but wouldn’t be surprised if was a run of either the saddle or the ridges. The view from the ridges will be amazing. We actually ran the GutBuster route up on the ridges this afternoon (Tuesday) and it was beautiful. The same cannot be said for the new logging that is taking place on the far side of the creek….lots of new trees have been taken down.

Four Steps to achievement: Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue persistently