Harvest Half and Terry Fox too.

[Ken B]

At last, I was able to test myself after my DNF of the ENDURrun due to my wonky left hamstring. The leg is okay now but I am still having issues with the sciatic nerve. Fortunately that only affects my sitting and has no adverse effects on running. However, I had only 4 weeks of training before the Harvest Half. This was definitely going to test my readiness for the PEC Marathon on October 04. Then I also signed up for the Shelburne, Ontario Terry Fox 10K on the next day. My father ran the Shelburne Terry Fox run in both 1981 and 1982. He passed away from cancer in 1983.

Harvest Half Marathon - September 19, 2015 - St. Clements, Ontario
The weather forecast was good temperature wise with a range of 11 C to 16C. This proved to be precise. However, it was very windy and the was high humidity. My plan was to try to achieve a 6:00 min/km average pace and therefore my goal times was 2:07. The course starts and finishes on a paved road but is mostly a packed dirt/gravel country road. It is continually undulating so I was either running uphill or downhill.
I start off well and by the time we turned onto the dirt part of the route, I was averaging about a 5:45 min/km pace. I felt comfortable and was using a 10 and 1 running/walking pattern. I maintained that for the first half of the race. Then the route turned directly into the strong wind , the first of two sections that I had to face the wind. I hate wind!! I slowed dramatically on this section. When I turned again so the wind was from the side, I was able to pick up the pace a bit. Then the final turn into the wind was combined with an uphill and was over a km of the last 1 1/2 km. I was really struggling here and had to dig a bit to manage to meet my goal time. Chip time 2:06:14. I managed my goal but I was completely wasted!! Hmm! What does this tell me about the PEC Marathon in two weeks??

Terry Fox 10K - September 20, 2015 - Shelburne Ontario
Mrs. Tortoise and I drove up to Shelburne early in the morning. We found out the Shelburne Terry Fox run has fallen on hard times. I signed in, was given a map of the route, and told that runners left when they wanted and to please make sure I signed the sheet again when I returned. I was assured that all the turns we marked by sign and that the map was just a precaution. Well two turns were not marked and I need the map to avoid running too far out of my way. Fortunately, Shelburne in my home town and I was able to make the correct turns with only a little overlap running. I set out alone and ran solo. I saw only two runners ( 5 K runners, finishing along a street in the opposite direction ) during the entire run. I was curious about how I would do considering how poorly I felt after Saturday's Harvest Half. It took a couple of kilometres but the legs loosened up and I actually had a good run without actually going all out. It was quiet, the weather that perfect and I spent a lot of time remembering places and events from my high school days. Final Garmin time: 56:31 for the slightly over 10K. When I signed out, I noticed only a couple other people running the 10K and about 15 or so runners had run the 5K. Everyone was gone except for two people waiting for me and the other 10K runner who started behind me. Sad to see so little support for such a great event.
I was pleasantly surprised at how my body recovered from Saturday's race. Now on to the Laurier Loop 10K on Sunday, September 27.

[Spirit Unleashed]

Great times!

[Habs4ever]

Good work on both races, Ken.

[HCcD]

Back to back races, Ken? Silly Man ...

Good to see you back out there and at it again !!!

[grimskot]

Kudos on back-to-back races. Nicely done

[Jwolf]

Very nicely done, Ken.
Good luck at PEC- you'll be fine at the right pace.

[Robinandamelia]

Great set of races!