"WTF, no motorbikes" you say. Don't panic, Pete and I will still be shooting some biking events. One will be the first Horizons Unlimited Maritimes Meet in July. We will also be showing a condensed version of Two Wheels Through the Big Land at the meet. It should be an awesome weekend of adventure. Plus we will still be some exploring of our great province on motorbike.
So what the hell is the Deer Lake 67? Well, a little background first. I started running back in 1997, to lose weight and get in shape. As a pilot it was the easiest thing to do while travelling. It turned into myself running various 10k, 1/2 marathons (21.1k) an Ironman triathlon (4.6k swim, 180k bike, 42.2k run) and two marathons (42.2k). That was thirteen years ago. Two kids, various moves around the country, and other interests put my drive to compete in big events on the back burner. I've kept my running up, but just shorter distances, 10k and under.
For the last few years I have been interested in running an ultra marathon. That is any distance over 42.2k, typically they start at 50k, and go to 50 mile, and 100 miles. Most are off road trail runs.
I'm sure some of you whose only exercise is twisting their right hand as 1200cc moves them down the road are thinking " what person in their right mind runs 100 miles, I didn't know people did that". Well in the last few years it has become quite popular. As I saw quoted in a runner magazine, "any idiot can run a marathon...it takes a special idiot to run an ultra marathon" So off to work on the short bus I go.
The Deer Lake 67 takes place in............tada, Deer Lake, on the west coast of Newfoundland. This year will be the second time for the event and it is capped at 50 runners, and sold out already. Pete and I are registered, and committed (my wife thinks we should be committed, as in padded cell committed). The course starts at the Holiday Inn, and follows logging roads, ATV trails and part of the T'Railway Trail all the way around the lake. It's a friggin big lake.
So the plan is for Pete and I to film parts of our training, the race itself, and interviews with the race director, runners, volunteers, etc. There are not many ultra running films out there, so it is a chance to highlight my home province again, and the people that love this crazy sport.
Since January Pete and I have been training, running 4-5 times a week, and slowly building up our mileage. I had a minor set back in February, I came down with a bout of shingles, yes folks shingles. 44 years old and I got shingles, WTF. So it was a pleasant couple of weeks, that was painful and knocked me on my ass, which meant I spent most of my time on the couch. I more or less lost 3 weeks of running.
So my long runs should be up to 25k, but with the set back I'm at 15k. Which is OK, the race is not until August 31.
The winter we have had, which will not go away, means trail running has been tough, and with the huge amount of snow in the woods means there won't be any for awhile. So we have to beat the pavement, which sucks.
So the blog will now consist of a lot of running, with the usual motorbike stuff. It is Bigland Adventure Films, which could more or less comprise any adventure. We didn't want to tie ourselves down to just bikes.
