My Stormy 2008 run report

This course was very,very well flagged, thanks Wendy! The volunteers were awesome and some of the views were captivating. Notable the tantalizing Tantilus Mts.,the Chief and Howe sound. The trails were a mix of Mountain Bike technical,powerline scrub, single track roller coaster,and logging road. Two loops, starting in town running by the golf course,out through a suburban neighborhood and then up,up, into the Garibaldi highlands. In terms of toughness, Brad said, this race was longer but less technical than the sinister Seven, but with better views and better "groomed" trails. Somebody had put a lot of work into those trail,anyone who has ridden the N.Shore trails would know what I'm talking about! Thirty hours for the cut was not that generous. You had to keep moving, I didn't stop moving for more than 15 minutes in the whole 27 hours. Brad and I were planning to run the whole race together, but at one stage Brad had a major bonk, he stopped and told me to go on. I was reluctant to leave him, but not wanting to jeopardized my finish, I hooked up with a group of Fat Assers, Gilles, John and Baldwin. Many good runners bailed through heat exhaustion,blistering,nausea or inadequate fueling. Day two started with light drizzle and ended with six or seven torrential downpours! I was happy with my 27:33:XX finish,loved the camaraderie of these events,felt pretty good and adequately prepared, even with my wimpy ten hours per week of base training.