Submitted by Carlos Castillo on 21 September, 2008 - 20:10
The day started for me at 3:00, with pulling down my tent.
I had been moved on the previous afternoon by an official from the town of Lake Cowichan. He told me to set up at the Lakeview Campground. Good plan as it was just 1K from the finish, and where we were getting the shuttle bus to Youbou.
Other than a few noisy campers, and a latenight, very noisy, powerboat,I slept quite well.
The race started with the singing of "Oh Canada", as always, and a quick plunge into the darkness, followed by about an hour of headlight use.
My buddie Brad did not have a light, so he hung with me for a while, then he jilted me for a cuter running partner a little further up the "Conga line", possibly a bad move...I hauled him in at the 52K mark.
There were a whole slew of fast fillies there this year! Nice,but...Their pacing was all over the map, (this could have been his Down fall.)
I was beaten by three of them,finishing in a time of 6 hours.
I highly recommend this event for aspiring Ultra runners.
Great support from the whole community, and very convenient for Victorians.
Submitted by kcongra on 22 September, 2008 - 20:39.
Standing beside Carlos for the singing of O Canada and not even knowing it.
441 people started the walk at 05:00
363 people finished, with the last walker crossing the finish line in 14:59 - (8pm) in other words, they started and finished in the dark.
I crossed the finish line in 9:48:39, 2:48pm, the 122nd person to cross the line (Carlos was #11)
My original goal was to beat the oldest woman's time from last year - she was 73 last year and crossed the finish line at 9:01:30. A noble and doable goal I thought. I'm happy to say I did beat her personally, she was the 124th person to cross the finish line, her time this year was 9:53:22. I had no idea when I crossed the line that I was in the first 50%. I cannot imagine walking another 5 hours but there were 23 people past the 14 hour mark. WOW.
The person who described the route as flat but with one hill .... has never owned a level and I'm sure will never reveal their name for fear of being strangled. This is not a trail, it's a freshly graded, loose gravel logging road frequented by hunters who have no concept of slowing down so as not to drown the walkers in dust. It has lots of grades, mostly up, some down and one incredible, nasty, bitching, twisty, winding hill. At the 40km mark if you can imagine. The one at the 30km mark was enough to bring tears but this one. Indescribable. Changed socks at the 8th aid station - the one in the middle of the aforementioned hill - and dumped out a quarter cup of sand/gravel from each shoe. Fixed up the blisters with more goop and managed to get the shoes back on. Once I was moving again my feet were okay. I don't know how anyone could do this walk without blisters, unless their shoes were sand/gravel proof. I did talk to a couple of young women at the end and they were shocked to find no blisters but their feet were very sore anyhow.
The first 2 hours + were in darkness which was very stressful with the loose gravel. Once we could see where we were putting our feet it was much better. Not a scenic route most of the time but there were some great views. Met some very nice crazy people doing the walk, met some of the most cheerful volunteers of my life.
This was with out a doubt the best organized event I have ever attended. Right from check in to the foot soak/massage at the finish line. We soaked the feet and the medics immediately came over and checked us out to make sure we were properly taken care of. There were medics at every one of the 12 rest stops. There were chairs at the rest stops, great food of all varieties. PBJ sandwiches were my favorite, never tasted anything so good in my life ... except maybe for the root beer at station 9, it was so awesome.
I have photos to share ... soon.
I can walk, I can bend over, I have no pain ... and those are good things
Comments
Great Lake Walk - a walker's perspective
Standing beside Carlos for the singing of O Canada and not even knowing it.
441 people started the walk at 05:00
363 people finished, with the last walker crossing the finish line in 14:59 - (8pm) in other words, they started and finished in the dark.
I crossed the finish line in 9:48:39, 2:48pm, the 122nd person to cross the line (Carlos was #11) My original goal was to beat the oldest woman's time from last year - she was 73 last year and crossed the finish line at 9:01:30. A noble and doable goal I thought. I'm happy to say I did beat her personally, she was the 124th person to cross the finish line, her time this year was 9:53:22. I had no idea when I crossed the line that I was in the first 50%. I cannot imagine walking another 5 hours but there were 23 people past the 14 hour mark. WOW.
The person who described the route as flat but with one hill .... has never owned a level and I'm sure will never reveal their name for fear of being strangled. This is not a trail, it's a freshly graded, loose gravel logging road frequented by hunters who have no concept of slowing down so as not to drown the walkers in dust. It has lots of grades, mostly up, some down and one incredible, nasty, bitching, twisty, winding hill. At the 40km mark if you can imagine. The one at the 30km mark was enough to bring tears but this one. Indescribable. Changed socks at the 8th aid station - the one in the middle of the aforementioned hill - and dumped out a quarter cup of sand/gravel from each shoe. Fixed up the blisters with more goop and managed to get the shoes back on. Once I was moving again my feet were okay. I don't know how anyone could do this walk without blisters, unless their shoes were sand/gravel proof. I did talk to a couple of young women at the end and they were shocked to find no blisters but their feet were very sore anyhow. The first 2 hours + were in darkness which was very stressful with the loose gravel. Once we could see where we were putting our feet it was much better. Not a scenic route most of the time but there were some great views. Met some very nice crazy people doing the walk, met some of the most cheerful volunteers of my life.
This was with out a doubt the best organized event I have ever attended. Right from check in to the foot soak/massage at the finish line. We soaked the feet and the medics immediately came over and checked us out to make sure we were properly taken care of. There were medics at every one of the 12 rest stops. There were chairs at the rest stops, great food of all varieties. PBJ sandwiches were my favorite, never tasted anything so good in my life ... except maybe for the root beer at station 9, it was so awesome. I have photos to share ... soon.
I can walk, I can bend over, I have no pain ... and those are good things
Kristie