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Phoenix Running Club - Stories

Bon Voyage sendoff for Saskia and Arianna, 13 August


Phoenix Running Club wishes all the best to Ariana and Saskia, two loyal club members, as they embark upon exciting adventures for the upcoming year. Saskia has already travelled to Belgium as a Rotary exchange student to participate in her Grade 12 school year and very soon Ariana will be attending Lester B. Pearson College, on Vancouver Island, for the International Baccalaureate program. We know that they will be successful and that they will return having benefited from the wonderful opportunities presented to them. We also hope that they will keep fit and return to Phoenix better than ever.

We will, however, miss their enthusiastic discussions and joy of running as will their mum, Tasha, but at least she still has one daughter whom we hope will come running with us to fill the void.

Good luck, girls; we will miss you a lot. Have great experiences and don't forget your 45 minutes of daily physical activity.

Have a wonderful year

Scotia Bank Half Marathon



My First Ever Half Marathon

Date: Sunday, June 26, 2011

Hello this is Joey Gargaro here again to tell you my story on my first half marathon. For starters, before I started the race I asked myself, wow, you're really going to do this? Then the race started. It was easy for about the first 10k but after that it just got tougher and tougher but I thought to myself, don’t quit, don’t give up, look how much you’ve run already. So, the race went on and I got my second wind at the 15k mark and when I kept seeing the signs getting closer to the 21.1 mark, I was like ok I’m just a couple of kilometers away, just keep on moving. Before I knew it I was at the finish line!

When it was all said and done, I said to myself, “wow this run was amazing; I can’t believe I accomplished my first half marathon”. Now that I am hooked, I will keep on practicing and training for half marathons in the future.

Thank you Phoenix Running Club for all those workouts and good advice from the well experienced members, it feels great to come this far, who knows what the future has in store for me

Joey


Tales From Boston

As my legs are just beginning to be able to support my body again I recount the events of last weekend’s 115th running of the Boston Marathon. Although it seems debatable now, I choose to run Boston despite the lack of training required to run the distance. It was definitely an incredible trip well worth the journey.  What made this destination marathon all the more memorable was the fact that I was surrounded by fellow Phoenix members.

We arrived early on Saturday morning after a delay with our connecting flight in Minneapolis due to high winds in the mid-west. We later learned that The Frilund Family suffered a similar fate with their connection in Dallas under the same conditions. Despite a lack of sleep I couldn’t wait to attend the Runner’s Expo and Race Package pick-up located next to our hotel. I didn’t think anything could rival the expo at New York but the sheer size and free samples at the Boston Hynes Centre easily surpassed the former.

The next evening we shared a cab ride with Chris and Peggy to the Pre-Race Pasta Dinner held at Boston City Hall. I was amazed at how efficient the organizers we able to accommodate the amount of people who showed up for the dinner. We were lucky enough to find Dave, Adam and Cindy amongst the throngs of humanity.

Pre-race Pasta Dinner at City Hall


 


The next morning we shared a cab with Chris and Peggy to Boston Commons, the site of the buses to transport everyone to the start at Hopington. We were lucky that the cabbie dropped us off at the Northeast side of the Commons because we were seated on the bus before a lot of other people who had lined up patiently further down the park. My only complaint of the bus ride was that Chris asked the bus driver to turn up the heat which was already much too hot to begin with. It must be living so close to sea level in Port Moody that makes your blood thin?

Boston Commons


 

When we arrived in Hopington we were herded into the Athlete’s Village constructed on a high school field. We were treated to warm coffee, bagels, bananas, and canned music. Again we were lucky to find Dave and Adam in the masses. We stood in line one last time for the port-o-potties before being ushered to the starting line.

Athlete’s Village

 

 
In preparation for the marathon I read that you should practice a lot of running downhill since the first half is mostly downhill. I was also told many times to go easy for the first part because you will pay for your digressions later in the race. I ignored both points by politely elbowing my way to the front of the pack and ran like a 2:30 marathoner. It felt incredible to run so loose and fluid, something I had not felt in a long time in the months prior. The quaint suburban houses of small town America adorned with American flags proudly displayed on every roof gable flew by without any perceived effort.  But gradually the 3:30 pace per kilometer changed to 4:30 as the feeling of weightlessness changed to a feeling that I was running with hockey goalie pads. I realized early in the race that I had overestimated my fitness and was in for a difficult next few hours. Usually when I reach the halfway point of a marathon I assess how I feel and decide how much faster I can run for the next part. At Boston I was distraught with a sick feeling that I had an insurmountable distance still to cover.  I began to fear I may need to ride the medical bus home. As I climbed Heartbreak Hill in Newton I spent the last remaining energy reserves to force myself not to walk. Oddly enough everything except my injured hip was hurting. My toes began burning as I was convinced I had laced up my new racing flats on the wrong feet. I shuffled the next few miles towards downtown Boston. With a mile to go I came upon a slight underpass which proved to be my demise. I started down the decline with a slight hesitation. That fleeting moment was all that my brain needed for my quad muscles to retire for the day. I collapsed to the ground. I couldn’t believe I had come this far but wasn’t able to continue. I received encouragement from a passing runner but to no avail. I collapsed again after trying to get to my feet. I didn’t know how long I would need to wait for the medical bus but felt demoralized realizing I would receive no finisher’s medal. I heard the screams of a crowd of spectators to my right shouting to not give up. I rose up on my wobbly legs and began the long death march to the finish. As I walked down the underpass I turned and waved to the crowd with gratitude. I made it to the finish and collected my finisher’s medal. It was an emotional moment. I don’t remember ever feeling so bad yet so good after a marathon.

Finish on Boyston Street


I found Chris at the finish looking like he could run another marathon. He wanted to go for a beer and a peanut butter burger at a famous tavern but I was too sick to oblige. We all met that evening at P.F. Chang’s for Adam’s birthday dinner. Only then did I begin feeling better as I was surrounded by my fellow Phoenix Club members. I vow to run Boston again one day, next time… smarter. The manager of P.F Chang’s gave me his business card asking if I ever needed anything to let him know. I’ll keep it; I may need a place to sleep next time I run the Boston Marathon.

Adam’s Birthday Dinner


 



A Fresh New Start At This Year’s Stevestons 8k Race

Hello this is Joey Gargaro here again to tell you about my 1st experience in the Stevenson ice breaker.   For starters I ran in the ice breaker 8k just to break the ice for the beginning of the road racing series.  Thankfully half of the team was there this time which helped me out and I appreciated it.   Anyway I ran this race at a good strong pace then coming through the finish,  I was running so hard that I broke away from everyone and I could see the finish.  I pushed and pushed then as soon as I opened my mouth my jaw locked on me! Thankfully it was near the end of the finish line.  After the race I was all bumped and bruised then it turns out that I came 5th in my age group and I cut three minutes off my 8k race time from the last event I was in.

 This race has given me the confidence and incentive to keep training and improve plus it helps with all the baking I have been doing lately at school.

 “See you at the next Race Competition!”

Joey Gargaro

Joey (and John) at the Gunnar Shaw 2010.

The Gunnar Shaw 2010 - a Picture Story courtesy of Hans Fenz.

A reminder of a bright and muddy day.

                                      

 

A Marathon Experience

Since I began running in 1970 I have read and listened to countless stories about running a marathon.  While I had long wanted to do one, I never seemed to have the time to commit to doing the long runs necessary to complete a marathon. So after 40 years of running, and retirement giving me the extra time, I thought that, perhaps, time was running out and that I had better do one before the full onslaught of niggling nagging injuries prevented me from running one!   Last summer I decided to train for the Victoria Marathon. Vic Suddaby was training for the Wroclaw Marathon in Poland, so we could do our long runs together. I was curious to learn about those fulfilling experiences that I had long read about.

Marathon weekend arrived and my wife and I went to Victoria and stayed with our daughter and her husband. I knew beforehand from my training runs that my goal time of 4:45 was doable as long as my sometime-uncooperative hamstring didn’t fail me. 

While the wind and rain hammered Victoria the night before, race day morning was clear, crisp, and sunny. Running through Beacon Hill Park was glorious with the morning sun high-lighting the Garry Oaks resplendent with their spectrum of yellow and red leaves.  The elite runners passed us on their final circuit through the park, and I was excited to see how well our Phoenix runners were doing. Things went easily until somewhere around the 15 km (9 mile) mark when my hamstring started to tighten. After several stops to stretch it I saw that my goal time was not going to happen. After some muttering to myself about not reaching my goal time I took stock of the situation. I felt a twinge of guilt for my whining after I realized just how lucky I was to be there. The weather was perfect! The crowd along the entire route seemed to be truly supportive and genuine in their encouragement, and I was taking part in a long desired goal! This was a great day! All ages from seniors with walkers to toddlers with home-made signs lined the course. The runners, themselves, ranged from the sleek, smooth, and swift to the overweight and plodding. At my position in the pack people were very friendly and seemed to me not to be taking themselves too seriously as runners, but very seriously as individuals striving to attain their goals. As the mileage and fatigue increased, the brief lighthearted comments between runners around me ceased.  My hamstring continued to protest, and I ended up plodding on at a very pedestrian pace. At the 32km (20 mile) mark I walked/jogged and stretched and the miles seemed interminable. I shared a joke with a woman I had been running with since about 19 km (mile 12): Before the start I knew that not meeting my goal was a possibility, but I never expected that I would have to gut it out just to finish before they closed the course! At 37K my daughter met me and jogged the final kilometers with me. That was a very special time for both of us. As I hobbled to the finish line, Dave King (the announcer) called out my name, age, the fact it was my first marathon, and my running club. I couldn’t help but smile as there was a slight pause after he announced, “Phoenix is the club of well respected and successful runner, Nancy Tinari.” In my mind I knew that the silence was in place of, ”How is this guy in the same club?” I stifled a reply of, “Yes, we’re training partners!”  An official put the medal around my neck, someone else wrapped a plastic sheet around me, and they both congratulated me as if I were first overall.

  While I have to admit that there was a time on the course that I thought I may have made a mistake entering the race- it definitely had its painful and frustrating moments. But that was brief and, overall, it was, overwhelmingly, a very positive experience! Since then, I’ve reflected on many events during the marathon, and it still remains one of the highlights of my life. Despite missing my goal time by the biggest margin (proportionally) of any race I’ve been in, it was well worthwhile.  It may be that my recalcitrant hamstring has met its limit, thereby restricting potential future marathons to the same time results. The benefits, however, greatly outweighed the relatively brief pain and frustration encountered.

  Some of the physiological benefits I noticed are the following:  even after running for 40 years and with the club for over 11 years my aerobic conditioning and aerobic capacity improved greatly; because of these improvements Saturday warm-up runs became easy; both my pulse rate and blood pressure lowered; on endurance runs, I was able to maintain at least a 95+ % max heart rate.

 There are a number of intangible effects that make any event special, and my marathon has its share. Our club has many marathoners who have run a number of world class marathons very competitively, but we also have runners who haven’t yet done one. I encourage every one of you who haven’t done one to give it a try. If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll have a very rewarding run.   And if I can do it…well, you know the saying.

Kit Slade


Past stories - stories too good to delete - click here.