Training recap week #40

On Monday, I ran an easy 5 km. Tuesday, I stayed home from work to go to a dentist appointment and then I took advantage of the afternoon to proof the Harrier Race course. I didn't do the entire circuit but I covered 13 miles in the trails. On Thursday, I did my Q2 training which consisted of a 2-mile warmup, 5x5min T-pace intervals with 30 second rests, and a 1-mile cooldown. It was a tough workout but I am glad I did it. Friday after work, I ran the trails to mark the course for the Harrier Race, I covered about 15km in all but it just got too dark to see anything at one point, and it was raining so I called it a night. I got up early Saturday morning and covered the remaining 10km of the course to finish marking the trails. No Q1 training this week as I have done enough running to compensate.

The Harrier race was a success, the rain held off and the 40 or so participants seemed to enjoy exploring the trails. We had 8 participants for the 20km circuit, about a dozen for the 5 km and the bulk of the participants for the 10km. Most of the feedback was good, but the course marking had mixed reviews; some said it was well-marked while others didn't think so and some even lost their way. Seeing as we changed the formula this year compared to last - last year we didn't even mark the trail, but we had checkpoints to report to..we will have to see if there is a more efficient way that is also simpler for me - because I still have to put up and tear down all the course markers which is a long undertaking in and of itself.

I am disappointed with the t-shirts as well. We only sold one and I gave some away to the volunteers and to the last participants just to not be stuck with them. I don't think we'll do shirts again next year as it is that much less money for the charity if they don't sell. All told, we did raise about $1100 for the Montreal Children's hospital foundation and I want to thank NFOE architects for being a corporate sponsor, Physical Park gym for donating the shirts, the amazing Parks and Recreations staff for all their help and the Community Patrol and First Responders for making sure nobody got lost or hurt on the course. See you all next year!

Total weekly mileage : 51km