The Totals

762.2 kms of racing this year (although some are 'training' races)

Where ya been?

Sorry to all my many dedicated readers, I have been absent for a couple weeks but not without good reason - okay, being lazy isn't exactly a 'good' reason but it's all I got right now. Plus I've been waiting for some news from the Comrades Marathon people. Read on:

Dear Mr Bentley,

Your application to run Comrades 2010 has been accepted due to your circumstances. Payment will be taken soon and your entry will be captured.


Kind regards,


Steven Johnston
Comrades Marathon Association

Nice.

Status	RaceNo	First Name	Last Name	Gender	DOB	Club	Seeding
	58807	Darin	Bentley	Male	14/08/1970	Canada	A

I sent a letter of appeal with my entry (as per Mr. Johnston's request) detailing what I've gone through so far to try and enter the race. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say it was a bit of an email battle to get in but it paid off!! The website is Comrades Marathon. There's also the Wikipedia entry which covers some of the history and has the winning times for every race since its inception in 1921. An article from Runners World is a good account of one of their writers who did an 'up' year. This year is a 'down' year from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.
Crap I guess I gotta get off the couch pretty soon.

Not All Roads are Created Equal

As I've been hitting the streets without shoes the last few months I've come to the realisation of some things:

1) Not all asphalt is created equal - some is smooth and great to run on, and other times it's almost an aggregate with a rougher surface that is not so great to run on

2) Cement is a no-no whether clad in shoes (due to the hardness) or barefoot (due to the
coarseness)

3) The white lines on the shoulder are the best road surface to run on - they're smooth and cool and feel good on the feet

4) People still look at me like I'm nuts

The run a couple days ago was a total of 18 miles with the last :20 done barefoot. I really have to figure out a place to ditch the shoes and continue running, maybe going back later and picking them up. It's easier to concentrate on what I'm running around and over without the extra weight in my hands. I picked it up at the end and did some short sprints. For months I was experiencing calf tightness after around twenty minutes but wrote it off to not doing it enough. Then I started experimenting a little more with different styles throughout the run. I was always concerned with never landing anywhere on my heel and all on the ball of the foot and still had the tightness and my calves were very sore the next day (like post-marathon sore). What seems to work better is relaxing the foot and letting it land more forefoot and feel the heel but not until the end. I'm still not landing on the heel but it's doing more work. That seems to be better without the lingering soreness for a day or two.

Sign up begins

This Ultrarunning thing is getting more popular every year so I've hit the Visa hard lately and dropped cash on some events. I had to sign up for the Vancouver Marathon a few days ago to avoid paying even more in a few months time. Also there's the ever-present threat about "signing up early to get a guaranteed shirt size". I figure by doing the marathon my speed should be up and if I can wrangle a spot at Comrades I'll be flying (it's four weeks after Vancouver). The goal at the marathon is to bring my personal best down five minutes to sub-2:40. I'm still thinking of the Historic Half in Ft. Langley in February but am finding it hard to part with $68 for a godd*mn half marathon. I might do something that race but my placing may not be official, if you know what I mean (rhymes with "bandit").

I committed to the Fat Dog 100 mile in July. If that doesn't get me out the door, nothing will. The preliminary schedule looks like this:

Feb - Historic Half (?)

Mar - Dirty Duo 25k

- Chuckanut 50k

Apr - Diez Vista 50k(if I get the entry in on time)

May - Vancouver Marathon

-Comrades Marathon 89k, South Africa (hopefully get an application accepted in early Jan, will post when I know, if I don't get in, see below)

June - Australian 100k Championships (if Comrades falls through)

July - Fat Dog 100 mile, Keremeos to Manning Park

Aug - Stormy 50 mile, Squamish

- Tour de Mont Blanc 166k, France

Sep - Spartathlon (ha! just kidding. Not in 2010 anyways)

Nov - 100k World Championships, Gibralter

Pretty big mix of road and trail but might as well be decent at all distances rather than excel at any one distance.

Barefoot Update

The last couple weeks have been cold, and I don't mean just put on a sweater and stop whining cold. I mean it's toque and gloves and, gasp, shoes weather!! I went without footwear as long as I could but it only took a twenty minute walk with the kids after dinner about ten days ago to make me realize some things are best left covered. The bottoms of my feet were bright red from the cold pavement. Plus now there's salt on the road and all I can envision is the soles getting all dried and cracked and peeling, oh, the horror. So I've been sticking mostly to my $8 WalMart water shoes I got in the summer. They don't breathe all that well, good thing it's too cold for my feet to sweat.

I've been out in the Fivefingers quite a bit, nothing epic but enough to keep the muscle memory of running barefoot. The ground in the trails is so frozen right now it's like running on the road. The grass is actually uncomfortable because the frost heaving has left it like running on gravel. I even managed a ten minute pavement stint today. Won't be doing that too much until it rains again, which it's supposed to do this week.

Stay tuned for the 2010 schedule. A little distance, a lot of distance, a little speed, a little travel.

A Dry Day!

For the first time in recent memory, like three weeks, I got a shot of vitamin D the old fashioned way and not from the bottle in the cupboard. Yes, the sun made an appearance today and I took advantage with a little minimalist run through the trails and on the road. After my two hour bike ride in the downpour a couple days ago this was a welcome break to go out in shorts and relatively warm weather. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind riding in the rain, it's just more fun when it's not. I was waiting at a red light during said bike ride when I heard someone saying something to me from the car on my left. I looked over and an elderly gentleman says to me, "Are you training?", to which I responded, "Naw, just having fun!". He laughed and waved his hand at me like "Oh, man, you is crazy". This was a great little interlude and made for a pleasant ride. It was the first time in a long time it was a windless ride. Even on the way back home when I usually get hammered head-on was great. I don't know whether it's the fact I'm on more than halfway done at this point or knowing I'm getting closer to being warmer and drier but my morale picks up and I have more energy as soon as I turn around and head back.
Anyways, back to today, I slipped on the Fivefingers and headed to the local trail for a 30 minute loop. Then it was off with the protection and time to toughen up. It was actually great because there was a fair bit of mud which made for some soft terrain but also slippery without the traction you get from shoes. After another loop it was out to the road for the longest barefoot run on a hard surface yet - 20 minutes! Whoo-hoo! It felt pretty good and even now have no discomfort or skin problems on the soles. I'll be building up the time spent shoeless over the winter and maybe even do a race of some sort in the spring barefoot. Stay tuned.

The Phantom Run

Last weekend was the Phantom Run at the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. The Fam and I thought it would a fun time to volunteer at an aid station. Heather Macdonald is the race director and passed our names on to Lara. She was very nice in letting us operate a family station near the finish line where the 19km and 24km runners would pass by.

The kids have never done anything like this but have seen stations before. Other than the cold toes everything went great and it didn't even rain. I was expecting people to come flying by grabbing cups and flying off again like I see in other races. This was a totally cool experience in that most runners would actually stop and look at our amazing banquet and try to decide what to eat. They'd chat for a minute then carry on. Really low-key and obviously for some they were just interested in finishing.

Oh, it was also a way to get a free entry in the Dirty Duo 25/50km race in March for Carrie and I but it was still a cool experience!!

The finish line:

Our amazing spread:

Super Vollies!!