Boston 2008 Race Stats

Well, I finally put my Boston times in my spreadsheet to figure out splits, pace, heart rate.

Time	Heart Rate	Time Elapsed	Km	Mile	Pace (min/km)	Pace (min/mile)
04:35.4		04:35.4	1	0.6	04:35.4	07:23.2
07:22.9	163	02:47.6	1.6	1	04:35.2	07:22.9
14:29.4	160	07:06.4	3.2	2	04:30.1	07:14.7
21:45.6	170	07:16.2	4.8	3	04:30.4	07:15.2
0:22:29			5	3.1	04:29.8	07:14.2
28:55.5	174	07:09.9	6.4	4	04:29.6	07:13.9
31:37.1	173	02:41.6	7	4.3	04:31.0	07:16.2
36:05.1	166	04:28.0	8	5.0	04:30.6	07:15.5
36:17.3	169	00:12.2	8.0	5	04:30.6	07:15.5
40:38.2	169	04:20.9	9	5.6	04:30.9	07:16.0
43:31.5	167	02:53.3	9.7	6	04:30.5	07:15.2
0:45:08			10	6.2	04:30.8	07:15.8
1:05:23	164	21:51.5	14.5	9	04:30.8	07:15.9
1:07:42			15	9.3	04:30.8	07:15.8
1:12:40	169	07:17.0	16.1	10	04:30.9	07:16.0
1:19:57	172	07:17.0	17.7	11	04:31.0	07:16.1
1:27:13	170	07:16.0	19.3	12	04:31.0	07:16.1
1:30:23	167	03:10.0	20	12.4	04:31.2	07:16.4
1:34:39	172	04:16.0	20.9	13	04:31.4	07:16.8
1:35:25			21.1	13.1	04:31.3	07:16.7
1:41:56	172	07:17.0	22.5	14	04:31.5	07:16.9
1:49:19	172	07:23.0	24.1	15	04:31.7	07:17.3
1:53:15			25	15.5	04:31.8	07:17.4
1:56:32	172	07:13.0	25.7	16	04:31.5	07:17.0
2:04:04	172	07:32.0	27.4	17	04:32.1	07:17.9
2:11:52	169	07:48.0	29.0	18	04:33.1	07:19.6
2:16:52			30	18.6	04:33.7	07:20.5
2:19:33	169	07:41.0	30.6	19	04:33.8	07:20.7
2:27:33	170	08:00.0	32.2	20	04:35.0	07:22.6
2:35:41	169	08:08.0	33.8	21	04:36.4	07:24.8
2:41:11			35	21.7	04:36.3	07:24.7
2:43:04	170	07:23.0	35.4	22	04:36.3	07:24.7
2:50:53	173	07:49.0	37.0	23	04:37.0	07:25.8
2:58:34	165	07:41.0	38.6	24	04:37.4	07:26.4
3:05:02			40	24.9	04:37.6	07:26.7
3:06:11	174	07:37.0	40.2	25	04:37.7	07:26.8
3:15:21	179	09:10.0	42.2	26.2	04:37.7	07:27.4
3:30:10	112	14:49.0	post race, moving through shute

After 15 minutes, I remembered to stop my watch, but interesting that my ticker slowed down to a more pedestrian 112 beats per minute.

Matt the runner

Matt has taken up running! He is looking quite buff now and likely would take me in a race - I'm the old geezer, he is the young buck still. Way to go Matt, keep it up! The running is even giving you a special halo [with bunny ears]. You are taking on the runner's "glow"!

Mercedes Benz Classic Mile

We are here watching the Classic Mile in Cambridge. Very exciting! As we entered the spectators area we were standing right next to Ed Whitlock!! He said he hasn't run since last August because of knee problems. Gained 15 lbs! But you'd never know it as he was looking pretty slim, even with those 15 lbs. Very cool to meet him. I told him he beats me in every marathon we run together!

And as we sit down a man sitting behind me asked if the "Older than Boston" was the Around the Bay race. Yes, I said. "Well", he said, "have you ever seen St Ralph"? Of course, I say. He says, the boy is my son." I asked if he still runs. He said NO, he is not a runner at all, he is an actor.

Chris Duke

The Perfect Storm - and how to really experience it

Sandy Hale approaches the Perfect Storm and is encouraged to do stupid things by videographer Nick Grayson. The others in the van certainly are not discouraging being a lightening rod! Kids - don't do this at home.

Downpour #3 - Ridiculous Eyewitness News Report

Sports and weather reporter Nick Grayson of Eyewitness News on course at the Shore to Shore relay, video featuring the running of Stephen Kilburn of Van 1. Van 2 guys are either crazy or need a little more sleep.

Downpour #2

Art and Nic created a previous video of Luke running hard in the Saturday morning downpour. And then it starts to hail! Here is the next video.

team sole mates video

The women's team from Guelph, Fergus and elsewhere makes their final run at the finish line of the Shore to Shore Relay. One of the "Sole Mates" (the female team with some Guelph Runners, including Sue Wahlroth of The Running Works) crossing the finish line.
Note : The Running Works was a very generous sponsor for our team Chariots for Hire and we gratefully acknowledge their support. Now we are all going off to buy our next pair of shoes there! [we do that anyways!]

shore to shore blasts off

Nic and Art start off with video of the 3rd wave start. On your mark, get set ... (this is the "third wave" at 10 am friday -- 10 runners only -- the other 55 teams left in earlier waves). Stephen K is our starting man.

Live weather running report by Nic

Excellent video of Luke H blistering along during a heavy rainstorm during the 4th last leg of the Shore To Shore Relay. Way to go Nic and Art!

Pictures from the S2S by Art

Art has his pictures on line now!!

S2S 2008 Pictures here

You can look at the pics here. I forget if I posted this link or not. But here it is again. cd

Stage Results summary

Stage 1: Van 1. Lots of hills along the Lake Erie north shore. Many valleys of creeks running into the lake. Very pretty. Near the end the route turns north and follows Talbot Line, ends in a park. Van 2 took over after for stage 7. We were 5th at end of stage 1. The lead team went out very fast - great runners.

The 2008 Westover Shore To Shore Relay
Friday-Saturday May 30-31st, 2008
Stage1 Results - 78.4KM

----- --------- ----- ---- ------------------------------------ -------- ---------------- ----
Official  Pace                                            Category
Place Time       km    #   Teamname                             Plce/Tot Category         Wave
----- --------- ----- ---- ------------------------------------ -------- ---------------- ----
1 4:40:07.0  3:35   24 Salty Dawgs                            1/16   Open 40+         3
2 4:48:37.3  3:41   23 Flying Force Kin                       1/9    Open 39 & -      3
3 5:11:53.8  3:59   17 Team Mudsharks                         2/9    Open 39 & -      3
4 5:28:00.7  4:12   56 Aquafina Rocky Road Runners            1/18   Mixed 40+        3
5 5:34:56.1  4:17    7 Chariots For Hire                      2/16   Open 40+         3

Stage 2 : Moved up to 4th place! Van 2 runs hard and fast - continues on this stage and hands off the final couple of legs to van 1. Mainly heading north on this very flat section. Afternoon and evening of Friday. Luke joins us for the 12th leg and whips out a blistering pace. Andrew and Warren continue a hard run against the mud puppies and Warren finishes 0.9 seconds behind on the grounds of the lovely Westover Centre. Time for dinner and celebration. Also, our volunteer responsibilities were now over too when Scott and I man two exchange zones. We remember what happened to our dear friend and Chariots For Hire Phil who suffered last year from heat stroke and dropped at exchange 11. [was very rough, but he recovered well]. Note the average pace was sub 4min/km!

Stage 2 Results - 54km
Official  Pace                                            Category
Place Time       km    #   Teamname                             Plce/Tot Category
----- --------- ----- ---- ------------------------------------ -------- -----------------
1 3:14:50.8  3:37   23 Flying Force Kin                       1/9    Open 39 & -      3
2 3:21:19.6  3:44   24 Salty Dawgs                            1/16   Open 40+         3
3 3:34:31.4  3:59   17 Team Mudsharks                         2/9    Open 39 & -      3
4 3:34:32.3  3:59    7 Chariots For Hire                      2/16   Open 40+         3

Stage 3 : Rain, pouring Rain! Lightning and Thunder!! see my post below. The night run! We run well, but so did the other teams. We run well, but our time drops to 4:32/km. That is fine - all the other teams were too. But it was a real soaker!

Stage 3 Results - 61.1KM
Official  Pace                                            Category
Place Time       km    #   Teamname                             Plce/Tot Category         Wave
----- --------- ----- ---- ------------------------------------ -------- ---------------- ----
1 3:52:47.5  3:49   24 Salty Dawgs                            1/16   Open 40+         3
2 3:58:03.2  3:54   23 Flying Force Kin                       1/9    Open 39 & -      3
3 4:25:22.2  4:21   17 Team Mudsharks                         2/9    Open 39 & -      3
4 4:35:00.8  4:31   56 Aquafina Rocky Road Runners            1/18   Mixed 40+        3
5 4:36:36.8  4:32    7 Chariots For Hire                      2/16   Open 40+         3 

Stage 4 : Our pace picks up again [Luke starts off this stage, coincidence?]. We enjoy the 3:30am morning start and the rain has stopped. Running north along the St. Claire River and the outskirts of Sarnia to finish in Mike Weir park. No golfing, but a great pancake breakfast. The coffee is not in the same "great" category. Just ask Scott. But we moved into 4th place again.

Stage 4 Results - 63.4KM
    Official  Pace                                            Category
Place Time       km    #   Teamname                             Plce/Tot Category         Wave
----- --------- ----- ---- ------------------------------------ -------- ---------------- ----
  1 3:55:58.4  3:44   23 Flying Force Kin                       1/9    Open 39 & -      3
  2 4:03:15.6  3:51   24 Salty Dawgs                            1/16   Open 40+         3
  3 4:33:25.1  4:19    7 Chariots For Hire                      2/16   Open 40+         3
  4 4:37:01.5  4:23   17 Team Mudsharks                         2/9    Open 39 & -      3 

Stage 5 : Here are the top 8 teams. Even though we are at the end, and the last 3 legs of this final stage are run by Stephen, Andrew, and Warren who are doing their extra runs, we pick up the collective pace by 1 second and place 3rd overall. We are so happy to have finished together as a team. What is very telling is we frequently hear "1km for company, 2 for water". Having been there myself, it is great to see your team mates just ahead waiting and cheering for you, then just ahead again another km for water. It takes a team of friends to finish as a team.

Stage 5 Results - 76.7KM
    Official  Pace                                            Category
Place Time       km    #   Teamname                             Plce/Tot Category         Wave
----- --------- ----- ---- ------------------------------------ -------- ---------------- ----
  1 4:54:12.1  3:51   24 Salty Dawgs                            1/16   Open 40+         3
  2 5:02:50.6  3:57   23 Flying Force Kin                       1/9    Open 39 & -      3
  3 5:29:28.8  4:18    7 Chariots For Hire                      2/16   Open 40+         3
  4 5:58:38.5  4:41   56 Aquafina Rocky Road Runners            1/18   Mixed 40+        3
  5 6:03:02.2  4:44   40 Oakville Blues                         3/16   Open 40+         3
  6 6:05:44.8  4:47   17 Team Mudsharks                         2/9    Open 39 & -      3
  7 6:07:22.9  4:48    6 what were we thinking                  2/18   Mixed 40+        3
  8 6:12:53.4  4:52   55 Pepsi Rocky Road Runners               4/16   Open 40+         3 

See us next year!
I'll post more here in a day or so for the final day's stories...

the results are in!

The results were posted on Sports Stats.ca. Drum roll please!!!!.... .... ....
3rd over all, and 2nd place for old geezers!

The 2008 Westover Shore To Shore Relay        
Friday-Saturday May 30-31st, 2008
London, Canada 6:00am
Final Results - 333.6KM

----- ---------- ----- ---- ------------------------------------ -------- ---------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
   Official   Pace                                            Category
Place Time        km    #   Teamname                             Plce/Tot Category         Stage1  Stage2  Stage3  Stage4  Stage5
----- ---------- ----- ---- ------------------------------------ -------- ---------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
 1 20:51:41.6  3:46   24 Salty Dawgs                            1/16   Open 40+         4:40:07 3:21:20 3:52:48 4:03:16 4:54:13
 2 21:00:20.2  3:47   23 Flying Force Kin                       1/9    Open 39 & -      4:48:38 3:14:51 3:58:04 3:55:59 5:02:51
  3 23:48:59.1  4:18    7 Chariots For Hire                      2/16   Open 40+         5:34:57 3:34:33 4:36:37 4:33:26 5:29:29 
 4 23:54:33.6  4:19   17 Team Mudsharks                         2/9    Open 39 & -      5:11:54 3:34:32 4:25:23 4:37:02 6:05:45 

...

   37 31:51:30.7  5:44   16 My Sole Mates                          2/5    All Women 40+    7:02:09 4:56:11 5:59:05 6:20:27 7:33:41
...
   55 35:30:58.3  6:24   45 More than just a pretty face gotta r   5/5    All Women 40+    8:05:25 5:32:01 5:58:30 7:03:00 8:52:03
56 36:26:56.1  6:34   47 Power 5                                7/9    Mixed 39 & -     8:57:13 4:54:57 6:44:23 8:14:05 7:36:20 

About 60 teams entered. With such a hard race some would inevitably not finish, but most did. The fastest team was also fast last year. We were placing 4th most of the time, but the 6-man team the Team Mudsharks [mud puppies?] started to collapse as the lack of sleep and so much running must have been too much. Maybe their running strategy was not the best too. But good running for them!
The My Sole Mates, a all gurls team from Guelph and area was headed by Team Captain Ginny - a defector from Guelph to Pennsylvania. While spying on our team's activities and good planning, they could not come anywhere near us. But good for them for their great effort. Not as great as ours, but all the same, not bad for a bunch of gurls! [don't worry, Ginny deserves all the trash talk she gets!] ;-)
I'll post the other stage results, but you can all see them online.

Message from Vic!

Vic sent us this message! Hoi Vic!! Great to hear from you!

Hi Chris,
Your blog has been great. I have followed you guys every step of the way and having run it last year with the excellent reporting I almost felt like I was there. I tried to reply through the blog link but it was password proetected so I'm hoping you can pick this up. You guys are running great. Excellent times and you have moved up a position from last year in the 40+. Hope you have a strong team finish and enjoy the post race festivies. Hope you guys get to the podium it looks very promising. For those stating enjoy the cottage.

Best Regards, Vic

Beer on the deck

Well, we sure are thinking of our comrades on the road. We had showers back at the house Scott and the others rented in Grand Bend. Went to get beer and food, and now enjoying both! It is 11:25 and the weather is very pleasant on the back deck.
While we were at the beer store Nic called to say he had a great run and had put over 3 min on the Mud Sharks. And Art was running really well at that point too. So we are thinking of the - and raise a glass of beer to them.
But we will be heading out on the course as we have to deliver 3 runners for the last 3 legs. Stephen, Warren, and Andrew need to run their last legs which will make number 4 for them!
Having fun!!!

Chris Duke

End of stage 4 stats

After 256 km, we are 4th overall and 2nd in the 40+ category.
Cumulative time 18:19:30 with an average pace of 4:17/km.
We just finished the 4th stage and there are 2 more. The Mud Sharks are 30min on us, they are a young team, but fast. However they only have 6 members so they have to run 6 legs each, and they would be getting very little or no sleep. Now we have some fast runners heading out too.
But now I'm done, as are several others on the team.
The breakfast of pancakes and sausage was excellent but the coffee was gross. Now we are heading to the finish to shower and get bevvies for the team.
Then we'll head to the finishline to meet our team and run in together.
The sun came up during my run - morning broke with sun shining through low clouds that were breaking up quickly. But is us starting to warm up and the humidity was very high after the rainstorm last night.
Over breakfast we all got together (except for the few guys who were asleep in the tent) and told stories about running in the rain and how little sleep we got. A great bunch of guys.

Chris Duke

My morning run (last leg)

stephen had a great run, as did andrew. Warren also ran well but for his 11k leg said his legs felt like jello. Scott is out running now, at 8k. Working hard. No doubt will be cussing when he hands off to me though.
I've been warming up every 2k when we give water to Scott, but my diaphram muscles are cramping each time. I'll have to start off slower and ramp up the pace so I get my gut into shape.
I'm up in about 2km!

Chris Duke

Start of stage 4

Thand goodness that we got some shut eye. We got to the St Clair river park after midnight while van 1 was still out on the course. They were running throght the wee hours of the morning. In the pouring rain.
We got 'comfortable' in our van chairs and actually slept for about 3 hours.
We woke up at 3:10. The storm has passed. Nicer than last year when we got 5min sleep.
We had stopped in the park and it had a washroom. It was so nice to wash my face and brush my teeth. Almost makes up 1/3 of a night of sleeping.
Luke started off the wave 4 and we are driving to the next leg for Stephen to get ready.
The fog is coming off the St. Claire river. The american side looks just as dark and sleepy as the Canadian side.
Luke is 3k from his finish and we see many runners from wave 2... OUR NEXT ROAD KILL!

Chris Duke

Just finished my night leg in rain

It is pouring rain and lots of thunder and lightning! Big big rain and a strong wind out of the southwest. We are now heading west to the St Clair river south of Sarnia, just north of Chatham.

The lightning is pretty close and lights up the whole sky and the landscape. The thunder fills the land and the van rumbles.
During my 10k run had stomach cramps just like this morning, except it was from my dinner that was still with me. It was a little bit of a hard run. I think I should incorporate a little speed training into my plan so my body is used to the fast but long runs of 5 to 10 k.
Christoph, a work colleague too, has taken over for the next leg. Lots of fun now as we huddle in the van and peer out the back window trying to see our runner. He just ran up to us and had to stop in front of the van to tie his blasted shoelaces.
Lightning just lit the sky and siloetted another team's runner as he passes our parked van.
After Christoph's leg our van is done for several hours.
Then time for a good rest.

Chris Duke

Rest and dinner at Westover Centre

I was finally picked up by van 2 as my van 1 was out on the course. Luke H apparently ran a very fast 6+ km and then they came to get me. We came to the Westover who is organizing this event. They have a 19 day treatment that uses the '12 step' process. The centre is a beautiful huge Victorian mansion. The kitchen staff made a great pasta dinner. I didn't want to eat too much as I run around 10:20pm (1hr from now - I ate 1.5 hrs ago when I first got here).

Waves 1 started out about 45 min ago and wave 2 left about 10 min ago.

Must not forget to pay Art back his $5 he lent me for dinner. I need an bank machine.

The rain is holding off so far but the clouds are looking darker and lower. It is starting to get pretty dark, street lights are on.

Stats: we are 4th overall and 2nd in the age 40+ category.

Cumulative time for 132.4 km is 9:09:28 with average pace of 4:10/km. We are 1:08 behind the (very fast) lead team.
So
Chris Duke