Mayo Midnight Marathon with Myra

Larger than Life.

That's the tagline for the Yukon Territory and after walking the Mayo Midnight Marathon as a guide for visually impaired power walker Myra Rodrigues, it feels necessary to edit that to Larger than Any Blog! Today, I will write a brief synopsis of just how LARGE it is to go to the Yukon for a race, but it will take further elaboration to get a full sense.

Mayo is a five hour drive north of Whitehorse. We left Whitehorse for Mayo around 1pm on Saturday after arriving in Whitehorse the evening before. Myra and I are entirely grateful for our most generous, enthusiastic, and energetic driver, Keith, who was going up there to run the full marathon. If you are going to Mayo, you need someone to drive you. Car rentals are virtually non-existent or exorbitant. This would be Keith's third Mayo Midnight run so we were well prepared for what lay ahead by the time we arrived.

The five hour drive to Mayo adds two hours of sunlight to the Yukon day. Really, it's always light. Myra and I saw no darkness from the time we left our homes early Friday morning to catch our flight from Lester Pearson airport until we returned to Toronto last night. The photo of Myra at the half way point of the race which you can see at the end of the video attached was taken at 1:36am.

There were 170 participants entered in the 5k, 10k, half, marathon events. Of those only 9 were participating in the full. The course was an out and back along the highway that we had driven in from Whitehorse. Once past the turn-around for the 10 k event, we were totally alone. We could see a walker about 1/4k ahead of us and there was another walker following by a 1/4 k. It was just us, the rugged Yukon landscape, and possibly, lurking bears!

Well, there was also a patrolling contingent looking out for us that included insomniac Mayo residents and supporters, an RCMP truck, a Conservation officer protecting us from bears, and an EMS vehicle. As well, aid stations were manned at every turn-around point and the 10k marker.

The race started magically at midnight amid swirling winds, rainbows, and a deep red sky reflecting light from the low sun on the horizon. A spitting rain cooled us off for the first few kilometres and then the weather was quite conducive to smooth walking. The road surface in the Yukon is not the friendliest to the soles of training shoes, but the relatively straight route allowed Myra to walk much of the event on her own without being tethered to me as her guide.

We finished the race at 3:09:31 in the morning. Keith, finished the full marathon 27 seconds behind us. We enjoyed home made chicken and lentil soup and all manner of bagels, fruit, and chocolate bars in the community centre after the race, showered up, and then returned to our motel for a 2 hour catnap. We were up again at 8:45am to make it to the same community centre for the best post-race breakfast known to marathoners (check it out on the video!).

Because I do not have more time to dedicate to the blog today, may I say simply that I stand in awe of Myra and her goal to walk a half marathon in every province and territory to raise money for the library at the CNIB. It was a privilege, and a lot fun (!), to accompany her on a small portion of her journey.

I'll return with more photos but for now check out the attached video of Myra talking to the crowd at the post-race celebration. I'll post more details about our weekend and the race today or late tomorrow.

Midsummer race excitement

Summer officially starts June 21 with the summer solstice, but it felt like summer fun this past weekend at the OTMH Classic 5k Run and Power Walk where the temporary tattoos and the speedsters were all in fine form. It was the 12th year for this local race that raises more than $100,000 for the Oakville Hospital. Over recent years, the organizers have been welcoming walkers with walker registration, start, results postings, and awards. As always we are grateful for the recognition of the effort walkers put into their race training and performance. It goes without saying that WoW Power Walkers showed up in full force. Many took home medals in the walking prize categories for open, masters, and senior. Most importantly, great fun was had by all at an outstanding local event.

The route walks by the harbour, wild rose bushes, past the historic Erchless Estate and Lakeside Park, and then along a few of the most charming streets in residential Oakville. Massage tables for participants, activities for children, and a delicious back bacon bun for breakfast made the morning a fabulous way to start Father’s Day.

I have one compare/contrast comment about short races versus long races. The feeling at the 5k finish line is the similar to that of the long races in terms of exhaustion, muscle fatigue, and elation. 5k may be short but it’s a sprint. The difference is the time to recovery. At Sunday’s 5k I was feeling recovered by the time I bit into the back bacon bun! Sweet!

Work still needs to be done to ensure that all walkers start at the walking start which followed the running start by five minutes. Also, it would be helpful to remind participants that the walking start and division is for walkers only. The education process continues!

If you read this blog and you walk out of town, let us know about some of your favourite local events.

As for me, I am off tomorrow to Mayo, Yukon to act as guide for Myra Rodrigues in her quest to walk a half marathon in every province and territory in the year of her 65th birthday. Myra, as many of you know, is legally blind, and she is doing this adventure, which she calls Myra’s Marathon, to raise money for the CNIB’s specialized library. You can visit her website at www.cnib.ca/myrasmarathon
to donate.

I look forward to the weekend. Mayo is 5 hours north of Whitehorse…and it is still not at the Arctic Circle! The registration form for the event offers these comforting words “Volunteers are trained to offer on-the-spot anger management techniques to bears to help keep runners safe.” I hope they are looking out for walkers too!

Personally, I’m hoping bears sleep between 11:30pm and 4am. The race starts at 11:45pm and we walk through the few hours when the sun dips momentarily behind the horizon. Today the forecast is for sun all weekend with a sunset at 00:50 and sunrise at 03:46.

Please post here if you have ever participated in this event and can offer some words of wisdom.

Deliberate power walking

Quite often I find articles of interest in running magazines. Yes, it’s true. And I always thought runners had so much to learn from power walkers!

At a recent event I received a copy of Canadian Runner. This is a new magazine that is in its first year of publication. The issue that I was given featured an article on "deliberate running".

Even though I read this article just yesterday, the magazine is already AWOL in my endless piles of books and magazines. So, my précis here might be slightly skewed by poor memory and wishful thinking!

What sticks in my mind, was the thesis that a runner can improve performance by being deliberate in the pursuit of speed. This is what we do on a weekly basis in our program and I can unequivocally tell anyone who asks that power walkers who challenge themselves to a weekly coached session of speed drills improve. For some the improvement is dramatic. For others it’s slow, but consistent, improvement.

It takes focus and deliberation to work on speed training. Speed is achieved recruiting the brain, as much as the body. Our interval work is often spent directing mental attention to specific muscle groups or to aspects of technique.

This deliberate thinking, according to The Canadian Runner, can be further categorized: associative thinking versus disocciative thinking. Some people exercise and use dissociative thoughts to distract themselves. They might dwell on the beauty of a sunset or count light poles. Others use associative thoughts - thoughts which are focused and associated with the body's movements. For example, walking as fast as you can while deliberately focusing on landing with the front foot in a strong toe-up position.

It makes sense that people using associative techniques would achieve greater improvement in speed and fitness, but what is also interesting is that these exercisers reported a greater enjoyment from their workout.

Possibly there are times to use each of these deliberations.

This is the place to post any of your ideas on “deliberate walking”. Do you think you use dissociative or associative mental games with yourself? Do you notice any difference in how you feel after the workout?

p.s. speaking of speed, I hope those of you reading this in the GTA are registered for one of the most beautiful 5k events in southern Ontario – happening this Sunday in Oakville, Ontario – the OTMH Classic 5k. Register at www.otmhclassic.com

The long and the short of walking

Two stories of two races, one short and one long, that WoW Power Walkers attended this past weekend.

Several of us went out to Bowmanville to participate in the 6th annual Alfie Shrubb 8K Classic. The race is held in honour of legendary Canadian runner Alfred Shrubb who held world records in every running distance possible at the turn of the century. If you want more details than you can possibly imagine about our hero, Alf, visit the website http://www.alfieshrubb.ca/

Apparently, Alfie believed in walking as cross training so the organizer, Al Storrie, is very committed to the walking contingent.

It turned out to be perfect racing weather - cool and overcast. Walkers started twenty minutes ahead of the runners. This meant that the bulk of runners were passing the bulk of walkers just before the 4k turnaround point. The race is set in rural Bowmanville affording us a relaxing pastoral view to the scent of lilac. The one hill was just taxing enough to give us something on which we could focus our mental energy.

At the ceremonies following the race, walkers were awarded first, second, and third prizes for male and female overall finishers. Yea! Congrats to Bob (second walking male) and Greg (third walking male) for doing WoW proud! Also, there was a mid-pack award for male and female in both the running and walking category. This is a new twist and a good one!

Other WoW Power Walkers faced a more severe test in southwest Ontario walking the 201 kilometre Westover Shore to Shore Relay. I've heard a few stories from the "Ped Antic" members of a gruelling 24 hours that included lonely gravel roads, extreme heat, thunderstorms, hail, and more. I'm hoping can encourage a few of them to post comments here so that we can be inspired by their tenacity, bravery, perserverance, energy, and madness!

Hearty congratulations (and a good sleep) are sent to WoW coaches Krista and Jane as well as WoW walkers LeeAnn, Sarah, Moira, Nancy, Jess, Irene.