Rattle Me Bones

With #2017in2017 in the bag, it's time to look for some fun runs!

Rattle Me Bones is a Halloween themed event, and participants are encouraged to dress up and choose between four run distances on roads and a fifth on off-road trails.  http://rattlemebones.ca/

I entered the 10 km 'Wishbone' - which was an out and back near the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, almost identical to the Protein Night Race course in August. After the Wishbone was the 1 km 'Jigglebone', a family fun run (non-timed) which welcomes young children - so my wife and I took our little bumblebee for a run.

The weather was wet and windy all morning, but the rain eased off for the first half of the Wishbone.  My Halloween outfit consisted of skeleton gloves and face scarf, but I took the face covering off after just 400m before it could interfere with my breathing.

The first km went out very fast, well under 4 mins, but into the 2nd and 3rd kms the front runners built up a steady lead.  I was quietly wondering if I could go under 40 minutes for the 10 km and kept pace with a couple of other runners and pushed myself to stay with them.

My pace started slipping towards the end but I managed to finish in 41 mins 37 secs which was 10th place overall and 1st place in my age/gender category.

By the time the Jigglebone started we were wet and cold but the run was a lot of fun, with lots more fancy dress and faces painted (and a lot less competitive pressure!).  The pace was dictated by 3 year old legs which went out fast but got distracted half way by some of the other costumes. 

The course ended up being 1.5 km but we all really enjoyed the atmosphere, and of course the post-race treats!

DNS Marine Corps

Unfortunately I was unable to make it to the Marine Corps Marathon this year.

After gaining a place through the race lottery at the start if the year, we had originally planned to take a family trip down to the states for this hugely popular event. A mixture of reasons prevented us from making it - including a slow recovery from the Midnight Moose, combined with getting sick in October and not being able to run for 2 weeks.

This is the first time that I Did Not Start (DNS) an event I had entered, and I was frustrated at missing the deferment window and not being able to find anyone to transfer my entry to, but it just wasn't to be.

I'd still like to participate in this event one day. I've heard a lot of good things about it, but I'll go when I'm properly prepared and ready to race.  Better a DNS than a DNF!