This past Monday marked Thanksgiving Day in Canada. It was actually a laid back day at best.
I had returned from Pennsylvania the day before after spending an entire weekend volunteering with Mike at the Oil Creek 50K/50M/100M trail runs. We both committed to volunteering but we were not sure of what we would be doing until Saturday afternoon. Tom Jennings approached us and asked us if we would like to work in the timing room for the night tracking runners as they were being called in and updating the webcast. We had no problem doing this. Mike had his daughters with him and being indoors would have been more comfortable for all of us than it would have been if we were outdoors all night. We kept the girls entertained by providing them with lots of paper to draw on, as well as magazines to cut pictures out of. The room also had a chalkboard with lots of chalk so they kept busy on that as well until it was time to go to sleep.
Later on in the night, we found that the data was starting to become inaccurate. The aid stations were calling in the splits but the splits were being reported wrong. We then decided that we had to pull the webcast... As this race was an inaugural event, Mike got to work designing a more friendly spreadsheet for reporting purposes. Upon reviewing the events of the weekend, the issues with logistics and communications will be discussed and Mike's spreadsheet will be among one of the suggestions presented.
The event was definitely a success by all counts. There were some outstanding finishes from some of my friends that ran the 50M and 100M. While there were some idiosyncrasies that will be addressed, there was a lot of positive feedback from the event and a great time was had by all in attendance. In fact, Mike and I both expressed a desire to run the 50M there next year.
Monday morning, I woke up with a desire to go hiking. I really wanted to see some caves in the Singhampton area. Later on, I suited up, got my gear in the car, and headed north towards Devil's Glen Provincial Park. Along the way, I listened to the long weekend countdown of the Top 500 Classic Rock Songs of all time on Q107. It was definitely a great drive up and the fall colours were beckoning.
I arrived at the parking lot just before 16h00. The caves I wanted to explore were 6K away. I decided to follow the Bruce Trail in that direction and see where I was in an hour...
Suiting up for the hike in the parking lot.
A blurb about the park
Enjoying the view of the Mad River as it passes under a bridge
Looking towards the Devil's Glen Ski Club where the trail also goes
Hmm... should I even be in this area??
After coming up a steep switchback, I turned around to find this sign. I wonder which brave nordic skier is brave enough to tackle this hill heading down... Hmm...
A nice view looking from the top of the alpine ski hill.
After an hour, I realised that I was not going to make it to the caves with enough time to spare to make it out before dark - even though I did run some of the easier trail sections - so I decided to loop around the Mad River Side Trail back to the main trail on the way back to the car. I was definitely in for a treat with the views...
After getting back to the car, I organised myself and headed down the road. It turned out my hunch about dusk was correct. Within 15 minutes of driving off, night fell and it got pretty dark out there on the roads... I know I will definitely have to raincheck a visit to the caves either before the trails ice up, or in the spring. In the meantime, I was grateful for the time I did get to spend out on the trails, with more time to come...
I had returned from Pennsylvania the day before after spending an entire weekend volunteering with Mike at the Oil Creek 50K/50M/100M trail runs. We both committed to volunteering but we were not sure of what we would be doing until Saturday afternoon. Tom Jennings approached us and asked us if we would like to work in the timing room for the night tracking runners as they were being called in and updating the webcast. We had no problem doing this. Mike had his daughters with him and being indoors would have been more comfortable for all of us than it would have been if we were outdoors all night. We kept the girls entertained by providing them with lots of paper to draw on, as well as magazines to cut pictures out of. The room also had a chalkboard with lots of chalk so they kept busy on that as well until it was time to go to sleep.
Later on in the night, we found that the data was starting to become inaccurate. The aid stations were calling in the splits but the splits were being reported wrong. We then decided that we had to pull the webcast... As this race was an inaugural event, Mike got to work designing a more friendly spreadsheet for reporting purposes. Upon reviewing the events of the weekend, the issues with logistics and communications will be discussed and Mike's spreadsheet will be among one of the suggestions presented.
The event was definitely a success by all counts. There were some outstanding finishes from some of my friends that ran the 50M and 100M. While there were some idiosyncrasies that will be addressed, there was a lot of positive feedback from the event and a great time was had by all in attendance. In fact, Mike and I both expressed a desire to run the 50M there next year.
Monday morning, I woke up with a desire to go hiking. I really wanted to see some caves in the Singhampton area. Later on, I suited up, got my gear in the car, and headed north towards Devil's Glen Provincial Park. Along the way, I listened to the long weekend countdown of the Top 500 Classic Rock Songs of all time on Q107. It was definitely a great drive up and the fall colours were beckoning.
I arrived at the parking lot just before 16h00. The caves I wanted to explore were 6K away. I decided to follow the Bruce Trail in that direction and see where I was in an hour...
Suiting up for the hike in the parking lot.
A blurb about the park
Enjoying the view of the Mad River as it passes under a bridge
Looking towards the Devil's Glen Ski Club where the trail also goes
Hmm... should I even be in this area??
After coming up a steep switchback, I turned around to find this sign. I wonder which brave nordic skier is brave enough to tackle this hill heading down... Hmm...
A nice view looking from the top of the alpine ski hill.After an hour, I realised that I was not going to make it to the caves with enough time to spare to make it out before dark - even though I did run some of the easier trail sections - so I decided to loop around the Mad River Side Trail back to the main trail on the way back to the car. I was definitely in for a treat with the views...
After getting back to the car, I organised myself and headed down the road. It turned out my hunch about dusk was correct. Within 15 minutes of driving off, night fell and it got pretty dark out there on the roads... I know I will definitely have to raincheck a visit to the caves either before the trails ice up, or in the spring. In the meantime, I was grateful for the time I did get to spend out on the trails, with more time to come...
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