Running in the COLD

Well I’m on vacation, visiting my parents at their beautiful home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most of west coasters call it Winterpeg and its living up to its reputation.

Having my sister and her family here I knew that I had a running partner to help stop the holiday 10pounder from happening.

So after a sleepin, I got up and asked her to embrace the temps and go for a run. The thermometer inside the house said the outside temp was -15celsius without windchill, maybe running wasnt going to be such a good idea. But you never know unless you try.

 So bundled we got in as much windproof gear as we had. Here is what I wore starting at my feet.

Sugoi Merino wool socks with rocky mountain Goretex socks over top, next was the lower body with a pair of sugoi windbriefs then a pair of compression shorts I finished this part off with a pair of Sugoi midzero tights. On top I had a Sugoi merino wool top with my Mountian Hardwear Transition Top over this. For my hands I had a pair of windstopper gloves plus a pair of sugoi windmitts over top and on my bald lid a wore the Mountain Hardwear transition dome. So to say I was wearing layers would be an understatment but it all moved well and felt non-cumbersome. On my feet I chose to wear my trail shoes without any extra traction on the bottom(no snowshoes or yaktraxs) and they worked really well for the snow conditions encountered.

Total value of gear for this run way too much but I owned it all already and its lasted me for years so far but to give you a value probably somewhere around $600 without shoes. WOW. Glad I get a deal.

 So off we went into the trails which are all packed from the numbers of folks that venture into this beautiful park just a minutes run from my folks place. After the intial shock of cold to the system and gaining the wind protection of the forest we were off on a gorgeous 45min run on packed snow trails that you could a have managed to do at least an 1hr30min run without even doubling back on yourself.

 Well after having braved this maybe an arctic running stage race is not as crazy as I might have first thought. Like all the outdoor sports that exsist if you dress with the appropriate gear for the weather you will enjoy your day much, much more.

Happy Holidays from Winterpeg. See you all in the New Year

 Peter

HONOLULU MARATHON 2007

 I just completed my 20th Honolulu marathon in about 3:02:35. They used a new computer chip system this year it was the consistency of a label and it poured rain at the start and at times during the race so my time did not show on the initial results sheet.  Some other competitors with the same problem as I had and I went to the officials and gave them our times so they should rectify it. The results say I placed 1st in my age category but I think it will be second because I ran with a guy from Bend Oregon who was in my category and he did 2:57 and it says I placed 61st male and 70th overall with about 28,000 entrants. I ran with a 26 year old nurse from Salt Lake City, Utah and we had a great time. I shared some of my gels and salt pills with her and coached her along then sent her on her way at 23 miles and she finished 1 minute ahead of me.
It was cool and wet at the start but once we got going the humidity and heat engulfed us. There was very little wind for Honolulu. The men’s winner did 2:17 and the women’s winner did 2:33.Cara was out on the course and I got to see her twice, I am so lucky to have her out there supporting me. She watched me go by near our condo then she ran up Diamond Head and caught me at the finish. Now she is back at the condo icing her foot as it has been swelling a bit. I was luck to have no real problems after the marathon other than some chafing from the wet weather.
Nicola Gildersleeve, who used to work for us at North Shore Athletics, ran 3:13 but found it pretty tough and I saw a few other people I knew from Vancouver. B.J. McHugh – an 80 year old Capilano Eagle and North Shore resident finished in 5:08:10 and handily won her age category and set a new world record for her age group, she is pretty amazing!
We are in Honolulu until Dec. 24th so still have lots of time to relax, run, swim and ride around Oahu.

Mark A. Shortert

LEGENDS 5K

Hi everyone, I ran the Legends 5k in Honolulu today. It is a 5k fun run for participants of the Honolulu Marathon. I showed up at the sign in area and the race director announced me as one of the legends along with my “brother” olypmpic marathoner Frank Shorter. They gave me number 2 and I had all sorts of Japanese, Germans and Italians taking my picture and asking for my autograph. Boy are they going to be disappointed! I started the race right on the front row and maintained 2nd place for the first 2k then a couple of younger guys passed me. I finished in 6th place overall out of about 400 entrants and managed to stay ahead of olympic marathoner Frank Shorter, Boston marathon winner Greg Meyer, world record holder in the marathon and New York marathon winner Alberto Salazar and world miler Jim Ryun. I guess it is good they are all getting older! Now it is time to taper for the Honolulu marathon this Sunday. Happy Training! Mark A. Shorter

Aloha from Honolulu!

Aloha from Honolulu. I ran a 22 mile run on the last 20 miles of the Honolulu Marathon course this morning. I started at 5:00 am local time, 7:00 am Vancouver time and ran the last 20 miles of the course. I was pretty well on my own until the sun came up (6:30) then I started to run into other runners. I got to talk to all sorts of locals and had a great run. My plan was to run 75-80% of max but that kind of went out the window on the way back from Hawaii Kai (the marathon turn around). I had a tail wind out to the turn around then a head wind and rain on the way back. It was about 75 degrees F so it was not unpleasant. I caught a guy that wants to break 3:15 and he picked up the pace till we were running 90% (it is easy to get caught up even 2.5 hours into a long run). It is nice to run here as I don’ t find I get stiff and sore and I don’t get too cold.

I hear the coast had about 12 centimeters of snow. My brother has been shoveling snow and meeting the neighbors. We had to wait an extra half hour in Seattle for them to de-ice the wings yesterday and boy, were we glad to take off.

All is well here.

Happy training!

Regards,

Mark A. Shorter