iRan 2017

ONE YEAR

2511 KM

START2FINISH

#2017in2017

 

$1900 raised

https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1466&AID=1695&PID=602510&Preview=Y

3x 5 km:

Neuro Dash / Army Run (CC) / Resolution Run

2x 10 km:

Night Race / Rattle Me Bones

4x half marathon:

Winterman / Hypothermic / Kingston / Army Run (CC)

1x 30 km:

Around the Bay

2x full marathon:

Ottawa / Road2Hope

3x ~50 km:

Niagara Falls / MEC Race Series (Gatineau) / impossible2Possible

1x ~100 km:

Midnight Moose Ultra

Don't Sponsor Me...

... but do support Start2Finish!

 

I would love your support to hit my target
(less than $300 to go). 

But your money can go further in December,
by donating via the Match Campaign:
https://www.start2finishonline.org/?_ga=2.36761383.666507077.1513735072-624209623.1510409193

 

You give and Start2Finish will match your gift!

Give the gift of nutrition, mentorship, or education to a child through Start2Finish.

If you'd really rather donate on my page then that's fine!
 
The link is here
https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1466&AID=1695&PID=602510 

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!

Finished; Not Finished!

Yesterday I completed my 2017th kilometer of 2017!

I had expected to reach the target before December due to participation at so many more races and events this year, but real spike in mileage has been due to the ultra-marathons this summer.  Training for these has brought me to 2,017 even faster than expected.  

To date I have raised $1,455 for Start2Finish. 

So what next?
Well I still have the Commander's Challenge (26.1 km) to do at the Army Run next weekend;
and at the end of this month will be my biggest challenge to date - the Midnight Moose Ultra (103 km) on the Gatineau Park trails... then probably some recovery time!

Meanwhile I'll keep pushing to try and reach my $2,017 fundraising target.  Every dollar welcomed:
https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1466&AID=1695&PID=602510&Preview=Y

Thank you to everyone who has helped get me this far - training, racing and sponsoring.  I wonder how far we can go in the next 3 months.

 

Peak Performance?

Training has gone up a gear this week, with an opportunity to undertake a fitness assessment at the Peak Centre for Human Performance, and a friendly but fast 5 km event.

www.peakcentre.ca

The fitness assessment included testing maximum VO2 rates and lactate acid production, as a basis for understanding current physical fitness and potential performance. It involves wearing a face mask and having finger-tip blood samples taken every couple of minutes as treadmill speed is steadily increased.

I managed to go quite far, but in the end my lungs gave out before my legs, as it became harder and harder to breathe in the mask.

The initial results suggest I could physiologically be capable of running some quicker marathon times! Maybe next year my target will be speed over distance...

I'm looking forward to the follow-up session to find out some more about how to apply the data to my training.

www.events.runningroom.com/raceId=13076 

My first fast run in a while was the Neuro Dash 4 Brain Cancer 5K hosted by the Orleans Running Room to raise money for the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, in memory of a member of the local running community.

After so many long training runs it was a great opportunity to open up for a sprint distance along the river pathway. 

The event is informally timed , and I ran the 5 km in just over 20 mins which is close to a personal best.

   
 
 

 

Halfway There (6 Month Sit-Rep)

1189 km down, 828 km to go.
$1,110 raised, $907 remains.
Donate: https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1466&AID=1695&PID=602510&Preview=Y
 


Niagara Ultra selfie

June was light on mileage in comparison to full marathon training and racing - apart from that little 50 km ultra in the middle of the month... 

I'm amazed at the generosity I've received so far.  I didn't really expect to raise $1,000 and I'm grateful for every dollar donated.

I am well on track to achieving my 2017 km target. The next 12 weeks will be spent preparing for the Midnight Moose Ultra trail race - and if I stick to my training plan I can expect to reach my 2017 goal during that event.  That would feel pretty special!

The transition from roads to trails is part of this training.  The month of June included my first ever trail runs.

I expect I'll be spending a lot of my summer weekends training in Gatineau Park!


25 June: first trail run - King Mountain (Gat. Park)

Over 9500 children

This year Start2Finish will help over 9500 children with the Running & Reading Clubs and the Backpack Program.

Operating in 38 diverse communities across Canada, including 2 schools in Ottawa, there are between 500-700 volunteers nationwide.

http://www.start2finishonline.org/


Start2Finish's mission is to break the cycle of child poverty by providing ongoing educational support to Canada’s at risk children throughout their school years. The charity undertakes research and provides books, backpacks, running shoes, athletic wear and nutritional snacks.
The programs at Start2Finish encourage literacy, healthy active living, and play: nurturing mind, body and social health so that the children are empowered to succeed and become role models for change.

STATS & RESULTS

• 1 million Canadian children, or 1 in every 6, lives at or below the poverty line.
• Cost of poverty to Ontario taxpayers is $13 billion a year when looking at health care, criminal justice and lost productivity.
• Start2Finish has a $17 social return on investment for every $1 donated.
• Since 2000, Start2Finish has empowered 100,000 Canadian children and families.
• Evaluations of the Running & Reading Clubs by our Scientific Advisory Group volunteers and school administrators have shown the following results:
• 62% improvement in fitness
• 87% of children achieving grade level literacy scores and/or improving in literacy by 1-2 grade levels

Through the combination of physical activity, learning and mentorship, participation in the Running & Reading Club program is resulting in less absenteeism, reduced bullying, and a 76% lower potential of children dropping out of school.  

The link to my sponsorship page is
https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1466&AID=1695&PID=602510

4 Month Sit-Rep

819 km down, 1198 km to go.
$505 raised, $1,512 remains.
Donate: https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1466&AID=1695&PID=602510&Preview=Y 

Photo credit: Peter Stokes http://www.peterstokes.net/

I'm a third of the way into my challenge, and have a handful of miles in the bank - which hopefully means a lighter month or two after the May marathon. 

The fund-raising has been a bit harder but I'm hoping to raise my profile around the Ottawa Race Weekend, which started with a Twitter chat last week hosted by #RunOTTchat #2017in2017.

Pathway of Hope

This week I had the privilege of joining Coach Steve and the volunteer team with around 25 students at a Running & Reading Club in Ottawa.  The 32-week program is the second step on the Start2Finish 'Pathway of Hope'.

The session has two parts.  The first hour included a high-energy warm up plus strength drills, followed by some fun and games.

After learning about the word of the day (Excellence) we spent the second hour in smaller groups reading books.

It was a fantastic opportunity to see Start2Finish in action and find out a bit more about how the funds are used.  Hats off to the volunteers, including the junior coaches, who take the time every week to help all of these children improve their literacy and fitness levels.  The enthusiasm levels were impressive - and the kids are excited and motivated for their 5km race in May. 

I'm looking forward to carrying some of that zeal with me to Hamilton on Sunday for my run Around the Bay!

You can help more kids do more running and more reading here: https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1466&AID=1695&PID=602510&Preview=Y

March Madness

08:30 Sunday (long run time)

Ok, enough is enough...
it's time to move on.
This weather is getting repetitive.

The clock's have sprung forward,
but Spring is definitely lagging behind.

And today more snow. 10-20cm due to fall on Ottawa, which will make for slippery conditions for a few days.

Temperatures have been freezing since the start of March. 

We have had some brutal wind-chill,
which was especially unpleasant for Sunday's long steady run.

On a brighter note there are great things happening this month:

• Surpassed the $300 mark in fundraising;
• Already run over 400km this year;
• Next week I have been invited to participate in a Start2Finish 'Running & Reading Club' in Ottawa; and
• On 26 March I'll be running at the oldest road race in North America: Around the Bay in Hamilton.

 
 

Winterman

The 2017 Winterman took place on 19 February.

It was my first time participating at this event, and after the severe winter in 2016 I was expecting the weather to be a real challenge, but for 2017 it could have been called Springman!

The wind picked up as the start gun went off and the headwind along the course was cold at times, but overall the temperature climbed to an unseasonably warm +5c by 10:00 am.

On the previous Sunday I had slipped on a training run, bruising my foot and ankle but was feeling good on the start line, and was keen to take advantage of the good conditions. 

I started a bit faster than planned, but managed to maintain the pace over the rolling out-and-back course, and was thrilled to finish with a new personal best of 1 hour 32.
 

 

An added bonus was being able to visually represent Start2Finish after a member of the organisation was able to bring a shirt to Ottawa that weekend. 

The shirt came with a handwritten card from charity founder Brian Warren, and I was proud to run the course knowing that I've already raised over $100. 

You can help me reach $2,017 here:
https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1466&AID=1695&PID=602510&Preview=Y


  






  

Running for a reason

I have set myself a target to run 2017 kilometers this year, and I have joined the Start2Finish team to help make a difference in the lives of the 1 million Canadian children who live in poverty.

This blog will be used to provide status updates regarding kilometres covered (based on Strava data), event registrations and results, and fundraising efforts.

My personal fundraising page is here: https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1466&AID=1695&PID=602510&Preview=Y 

Every event I participate in this year will be an opportunity to raise awareness and funds that will empower the next generation.
Every training run will be dedicated to making a difference in the community.  



http://www.start2finishonline.org/about-us/