Notes from Dan the Trail Guy #26

Trail Bits

What a bunch! We started out with a promise (hope) of only running the new 8Km GutBuster Short course. A nice little 8km trail run, a taper run as far as trail runs go. BUT oh no, the masses wouldn’t allow that. Once we reached the view point up above the lake the comments of “we can’t only run an hour; an hour run isn’t worth getting out of bed for; come on, it’s only an extra 4 km more to do the full GutBuster” were heard. So off we went with three newbie’s in tow to do the full 12km GB. Well wouldn’t you know it, once we started the attack of the second ridge the complaining started? “Man this thing is steep; whose idea was this anyways; I thought you said we were only running the short course”. Well you know what, when you run a trail, you always have to be prepared for the unexpected. It might be a hill bigger than what you expected or it might be a large group of your friends suddenly loosing there minds due to altitude sickness and deciding that the full GutBuster is a nice way to taper one week before a marathon.
All kidding aside, we had a fantastic run. 30 people showed up for a nice easy run of the GB. The new people even said they enjoyed it.

Robin Dutton – GOOD NEWS - Robin is recovering well and is expecting to be discharged on Wednesday. When I spoke with Robin on Monday afternoon he was proud to tell me that he had taken twenty steps during his afternoon therapy. I thought I should buy Robin a copy of the movie Misery as a going home present, I think he needs to know what home nursing can be like. Actually, he will be in extremely good hands at home. He will have the lovely Kari as his own private nurse.

ROC Funds Distribution – last Saturday morning your ROC Board of Directors met and after much deliberation it was agreed that the 7-10 organization would reach the greatest number of the neediest of Nanaimo residents and should receive the major funding of $5,000.00. It was further agreed that we should fund Loaves and Fishes $1,500.00 for a dairy cooler that they need in order to be able to store and distribute protein products such as cheese and milk to those families that they distribute food to. It was further agreed that we should also fund Nanaimo Food Share $1,000.00 right now because summer is approaching and they tend to run low on food during the summer months.

10k and Half Marathon Learn to Run Programs – There is still space available in both of these programs, so please tell your friends and family. The clinic training is being adjusted in order to accommodate training for the Royal Victoria Half and Full Marathon as well as the Nanaimo Daily News Harbour City Half.

Fund Raising Opportunity – July 9th is the Westwood lake GutBuster. We still need a group to run an organization to run a BBQ if anyone know someone.

GutBuster Long Course Work Party. – Sometime next week I will need to call on a few volunteers for an after dinner work party. We will be cleaning up the Humility/Abyss portion of the Long Course. The race route takes the Cabin Connector Trail, not the full loop we usually run, so the route we will be cleaning is only about 6 or 7 km .

Port Angeles Cometh – June 12th – Boy will I be glad when I fed all of you that are coming. Yes, there is now vegetarian Lasagna available, Yes you can sub rice for Mac& Cheese or the pasta, Yes, they will take care of wheat/gluten allergies, etc. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT YOU WILL NEED TO TELL YOUR SERVER THAT YOU WANT TO MAKE SUBSITUTIONS, HAVE ALLERGIES, HOW YOU LIKE YOUR MEAT, ETC. I am only telling them the number of each item we are needing.

ROC Technical shirts – ARE NOW IN STOCK. Why not buy one and wear it in Port Angeles.. Net Proceeds from the sale of the shirts is being split between Frontrunners and ROC. A big Thank You to Stefan and Norm for their continuing support of Runners of Compassion and the work we do.

ROC SPONSORED EVENTS;
July 9th is the Westwood Lake Half Marathon GutBuster – ROC provides course marshals and start/finish line volunteers and receives a per racer commission in return.
September 11th is the Nanaimo Daily News Harbour City Half Marathon & 10K Road Race….what more need I say.

Well this weekend there are approximately 60 people from Nanaimo heading down to Port Angeles for this weekends North Olympic Discovery Trail Half & Full Marathon. That means that there won’t be that many of us left in town to run this weekend and I am not sure which trail leaders are available either. For those of you coming to Port Angeles, see you at dinner on Saturday night or at the start line. For those of you remaining in town, how about you all meet at Westwood Lake at 7:00 am and see who shows up. Next week we should see an increase in the number of trail runners with the return of the road warriors who have been pounding the pavement week after week in preparation for P.A.