Vegas Baby!

The last event of 2011 is done! Las Vegas run the strip at night was a fitting end to the year. Dave and I have done the Rock n roll Las Vegas half for the last three years, 2009 was the inaugural year, started insanely early at something like 6:30, it was cold cold cold, but a great experience. 2010 had a slightly more sensible start time, and we had a wonderful time with friends Ken and Corrine. 2011 had a much later start time, 5:30 p.m. and was a half marathon experience like no other. Thanks to very generous friends, Dave and I had the weekend to ourselves as Michael spent the weekend with his buddy Andrew. We arrived in Vegas Friday early afternoon, checked into the Mirage and headed across the street to the race expo at the Sands convention centre. A Rock n Roll expo is huge, after making our way through the many exhibtors we emerged with new shoes, soxs, and best of all new Gu flavors: peppermint stick and peanut butter - can't wait to try them out.

An advantage to a Sunday evening race is that you have much more time to enjoy the city. We finally got to see a show, and for the first time Beatles Love was not on blackout, Dave has wanted to see this for a number of years and the last two it has been on blackout the first week of December. A disadvantage is you have much more time to contribute to the Vegas economy, the lights won't be dimming anytime soon.

Sunday was such a different experience, to be able to sleep in on race day was a treat. Brunch at noon, and around 2:00 we headed out for the 2 miles trek to Mandalay Bay and the start area. 45 minutes later we arrived, easily checked our gear bag and once again contributed to the flagging US economy. In past years Vegas has had a post-race concert, this year was pre-race featuring Cheap Trick, they may be old but they still put on a good show. It was a chilly evening, so one last trip inside to warm up a little before we headed to our corral (8) around 4:30. This is a huge event, there were 44,000 runners (or walkers) and at least 35 corrals. The corrals were chilly but we warmed up quick, 5:30 saw the elite runners take off and we followed about 7 minutes later.

Running the Vegas strip at night was great, the lights and the spectators made it a very different experience. With 44,000 runners it was a crowded course and since the corrals were not overly well monitored there were people of every pace out there. Dave had a great race - even with stopping for multiple photo ops he came in at 1:58! My 2:27 was just fine for me - happy to be under 2:30 considering multiple porta potty breaks :)
The finish line was super crowded, within minutes of my finish I'm sure people were having to wait to actually across the timing mat! Once past the finishing photo op station, things opened up a bit, grabbed snacks and water and found Dave patiently waiting for me at the P/Q sign. Dave had already retrieved our gear, we headed in to get warm and were very lucky to be on a shuttle headed back to the Mirage by 8:30.
While we had a great time from the reports on facebook it sounds like many others didn't. Apparently the water supplies didn't last, the support on the course was limited, the finish area got completely out of control. Many many people are very unhappy with the race organization - while be interesting to see if they make changes next year. If you are considering Vegas, you may want to take a look at the feedback that's out there.

So that's the end of 2011, only 4 more months to go. What's coming up......

January 14th Nookachamps Winter run in Mount Vernon Washington another little race, Ken Hamilton will be keeping me company on this one, if anyone else is interested in a day trip to Washington, here's the link: Nookachamps Winter Run

February is the Vancouver First Half

March we are considering an inaugural half marathon in Pheonix

April will be the Fool's run in Gibson's - come along to celebrate the conclusion of this adventure!

I went for a waddle

It took me a while to decide on what event to do this month, but I'm very happy with the event I ended up with.
The Widdle Waddle is the half marathon cousin of the Wattle Waddle and the first event of the famed Seattle Quadzilla - what you've never heard of the Quadzilla?????
A quadzilla is pastime of marathon maniacs and half marathon fanatics - run 4 marathons (or halfs or some combination of half and full marathons) in 4 days. The local maniac community in Seattle has organized a quadzilla for the last two years. This year's event started with the Wattle Waddle, followed by the Wishbone trail run, the Ghost of Seattle and culminated with the Seattle marathon on November 27th. I think around 24 insane runners completed the quadzilla this year.
The Widdle Waddle was a wonderful run along the Burke-Gilman trail in Seattle. This trail is a paved running/walking/cycling trail that runs along a former rail bed. With its railroad history there are no major hills of any kind - in fact I could have sworn it was slightly downhill in both directions. The half course did an out and back, and considering the total registration was limited to 150 participants the on-course support was great - a self serve water and Gatorade station at the 4/9 mile mark, and a manned station at the turn around complete with a porta potty, and all the best snacks (chips, M and M's, lots of Gu's). Before crossing the finish line you had to make your way to the top of a small hill in Gasworks Park to read the secret message that was required to claim your medal - and yes they had medals (take note Whistler half). At the finish line there was a veritable feast: tomato and red pepper soup, yams with marshmallows (this was Thanksgiving), brownies, chips, gummy bears, what more could one want!

Pre-race

I took this run easy, having not done much distance since Victoria and with December's run coming up fast I treated this like a training run and kept in zone 1 for the whole distance, so I am very happy with my 2:26 finish. My partner in crime, Bob Hansen, took off after about the 4 mile mark and completed in a very respectable 2:19 (I think). The weather was great for most of the race, while the winds blew at home it was fairly calm and dry for most the race. The rain started up with about half an hour to go. With the weather turning Bob and I scurried off after the race on a hunt for brunch - not an easy task on Thanksgiving day. Eventually we found a great little Mexican place with warm food and cold beer. A final Starbucks stop on the way home and our day was done. Thanks Bob for the company!

Self serve water station

Post-race

Nice medal

Cerveza

mmmm enchiladas

Next up is Vegas in a few short days - can't wait to run the Vegas strip at night, it will be a different experience with all the lights!

November finally decided

Well it took a while but I finally made a decision on what half marathon would be my November event. Drum roll please.............and the winner is - The Widdle Waddle in Seattle on Thanksgiving Day. Bob Hansen and I will be driving down for the day, come back in a few weeks to hear about the adventure.  (the Widdle Waddle is the half marathon version of the Wattle Waddle, race number one of the Seattle Quadzilla - four marathons in four days).

In other news: the results of my comprehensive exams are in and I passed! I can now call myself a doctoral candidate :)

That's all for now, back at the end of November!

P.S. - November is Diabetes Awareness Month

Half way!

A second successful marathon

The Pearce family

We were the third to last car on the ferry, this is where we were parked :)

Woo Hoo!!!!! Half way through 12 halfs in 12 months - it's all downhill from here!
Thanksgiving weekend can mean only one thing - Victoria marathon time. Armed with a reservation (for a change) we headed off to the island Friday afternoon for a weekend of good friends, good food and good running. Thanks to Barb, Paul and Lauren for hosting us once again and being there out on the course for Dave. Saturday saw us headed to the expo to pick up race packages, a marathon jacket for Dave (only to be worn if marathon successfully completed), and lunch at the Noodle Box - the Pearce family tradition. The sun was out on the island and once again we lucked out with some fabulous weather. Sunday morning came awfully early, a 7:30 start in October seems so much earlier than it does in the middle of the summer, and it was extra early for Dave who didn't have to start until 8:45. With the lovely Corinne to run with we were off on the lovely Victoria half course. I really enjoy this course for a few reasons, the scenery is great; from the inner harbour, beacon hill park, to the waterfront, the hills are there but are gentle both up and down, and the volunteers and spectators are enthusiastic and supportive. There is one house that plays the theme song from Chariots of Fire all day long, the Hash House Harriers always have their beer stop fully stocked, and the retirement home near 19 km that plays 50's and 60's dance music all day are just some of the highlights. It is also nice to see the leaders on the out and back stretch and to see the marathon leaders as you head back in on the half course - so inspiring.
No PB this time out but I certainly wasn't expecting one - I'm very happy with my 2:19 finish. Given the amount of training I've done in the last couple months that is quite respectable. And, I'm very happy to be officially have way through this challenge. Only 6 more to go.

Other notable results: Dave successfully completed his second marathon in 4:16 so he can where his nice new jacket. In the half Corinne, Deb, Christine, Emma, Andrew, Maxi, and Noah all had great runs (hope I didn't miss anyone). In the full I know Jacek, Sebastian, Brian, Christine, Ashley, Dave, Ken, Anna, Bob, Kelly, and more were all successful. Well done everyone, enjoy your rest and recovery time!

On the education front, I turned in my comprehensive exams on September 30th, I'll be getting my results by the end of this week. Keep your fingers crossed everyone - passed comps mean I can call myself Ed.D. ABD (all but dissertation) another milestone reached.

Next up - still haven't decided for sure but I think it's time to face the Fall Classic once again - not my favorite race but the timing is right and maybe I'm due for a good run at the Fall Classic.

Thanks for reading, if you have suggestions for upcoming races let me know, I'm still looking for January and March.

5 half's down - 4 days to go

Since I'm having a tough time focusing this morning, I thought I might as well update my blog.
Sunday was the Bellingham Bay Half marathon, officially number 5 of my 12 in 12. Not much sleep the night before as I listened to the pouring pouring pouring rain
I had visions of a chilly wet run and garbage bags at the start line.
Luckily the half start time was 9:30, which any half marathoners out there will realize is really late as far as start times go. This meant we could stay at home Saturday night and make the cross-border trek in the morning. Border line-ups were a little heavier than expected but after about a 20 minute wait we were across the border and headed to downtown Bellingham. The rain from the night before was gone and there was a fierce wind blowing the clouds away.
Arrived at the start area in plenty of time, found cheap parking a couple blocks away, late package pick-up went smoothly as did bag drop. By now the sun was shining (although the wind was still blowing) and it was much warmer than expected.
The race started right on time and we were off on a tour of historic Bellingham, it was a great course, a mixture of residential, park, waterfront, trail, and boardwalk. The occasional small hill, both up and down, all around a great course. The full marathoners, did a point to point route, they started at 7:30 and their route joined up with the half course at our 4 mile mark, it was great to run along marathoners who were at about the same pace. The only downside to this course was the wind, it was at our backs for the first 4 miles or so, and then we turned, there were a number of places where you had to squint and keep your eyes almost closed against the dust and dirt blowing around, and lots of debris falling from trees. The volunteers and spectators more than made up for this little inconvenience though. I would definitely recommend this event to anyone looking for a September half, it fits in nicely with tapering time for October marathons - oh and I forgot to mention one of the nicest medals and shirts in a long time!
Not a great time for my result, but not unexpected, training has really taken a back seat for the last couple months and in particular for the last couple weeks. The 4 days to go reference is 4 days left to complete my comprehensive exams: two 20 page papers, one on advocacy coalition theory and one on my methodology for my research project. They are coming along and will get done, but it is a challenge.
So what's up next......well number 6 and the half way point is coming up quick, Thanksgiving weekend in Victoria (where Dave will be running his second marathon), and then November is still undecided. I need some help with this one. Here are the options:
1 - Fall Classic - double loop around UBC - I've done this one a number of times and can't say I've ever enjoyed it, I think this one is November 20th.
2 - The new Ginger Jar half - another double loop this one around Stanley Park, this one is November 27th so it's a week before Vegas.
3 - Phantom trail run options of 12, 19 or 24 km. None of these distances are half marathon length, but 19 is close, this will be a challenge, I'm loving the trail running but boy am I slow, a 12 km run generally takes 1:45, not sure I'm up for these distances.
Let me know what you think - maybe I'll go with the one with the most reccomendations

Ok enough procrastinating, time to get back to the papers and figure out just what it means to code interview data.

Cheers and thanks for reading!

Update time

Thought it might be time for an update on how the 12 halfs are going.
It's been a nice break between events this time, with my September one not until the 25th. In the meantime I've been trying to focus on the other aspect of this adventure (my doctorate) as well as continuing to incorporate Michael's diabetes into our lives.
Michael is back to school, and adapting well. Our school, Gray Elementary, has been wonderful. They have a couple other kids with diabetes within the school and are well versed with the potential issues for kids with diabetes. It is great that the school has been proactive and I feel confident that should an emergency arise they will know what to do. It also helps being off this year and knowing that most of the time I am only 10 minutes away. Michael has also started back with his swim club, first practice this week went well, both in terms of blood glucose levels and swimming :) Michael was thrilled that he was the fastest in his group on Monday, and is looking forward to seeing how his times come down at the first PASS meet of the year in October.
I am spending this week getting myself organized for comprehensive exams. Comps are one of the major hurdles to get over in doing a doctorate. In my program they consist of two major papers which will ultimately form the basis of two dissertation chapters. My questions will be emailed to me Friday morning and then I have two weeks to complete two 20 page academic papers. I already know the topic areas so I've been able to collect background materials (haven't read it all yet), and get things organized and ready to go. The next two weeks will be a lot of work but then a short break to recover and I'll be good to go moving forward with research.

On the running front, well I'm not running as much as I'd like :(
So I won't be expecting any PB's anytime soon :)
September's event is the Bellingham Bay half, looks to be a nice course with a beautiful finishing medal and shirt. Dave and I will be driving down for the day, this will be a good taper run for Dave in anticipation of the Victoria marathon a couple weeks later.
October will be Victoria, I'll be running the half and Dave will be running the full, his training has been going very well so I'm sure he'll have a successful run. I'll be out there enjoying the beautiful scenery and since the half starts well before the full marathon I'll be finished in lots of time to cheer on the Alma marathoners!
November has been a tough decision, the new Whistler 50 relay is the same weekend as the Boundary Bay half so that one is out, there are two other halfs in Vancouver the Fall Classic and a new one the Ginger Jar half both of which are double loops (ugh), another option is a new race in Victoria, the Bear Mountain half. The Bear Mountain 10 km race advertises itself as North America's hardest 10 km, due to the three hills nicknamed Baby Bear, Mama Bear and Papa Bear. This year they are adding a half marathon course (not a double loop). This could be a fun event and may turn into a girls weekend :)
That's it for now, I'll be back in a couple weeks with a race report and comp report, until then happy running and happy studying!

August - 4 down!

Well, the last month has been nothing if not eventful.
After getting home from our Oregon trip (and the boys' cross the US road trip adventure) it became apparent something wasn't quite right with Michael. He was getting more and more lethargic and drinking an unbelievable amount of water. A quick check with Grandma's glucometer showed blood glucose levels that were way too high. Off we went to Children's Hospital and since then we have been learning to live with a diagnosis of type 1 diagnosis. Can't say enough about the wonderful doctors, nurses, dieticians, nurse educators, residents, and others at Children's.
Needless to say training has changed a little, Dave is continuing with his goal of the Victoria Marathon, I have adjusted my October goal to a more realistic half and we are now splitting up our weekend running. I'm doing the North Shore trails on Saturday's (love those trails) and Dave is running with the clinic group on Sunday's. I'm sure it won't be long before we are back to both running on Sunday's but for now it is easier on all for one of us to be home.
The Delta Half on August 10th was my designated half for the month, in the week prior I checked the website for a reminder of where and when package pick-up was and saw a note about there being less than 200 registered runners. This struck fear in my heart, with so few runners, and not quite the training I had hoped for, this could be the race where I could come in........insert shudder here......last! So it was with trepidation that I headed out Sunday morning for a 7:30 am start. Now there are a few really good things about such a small race: there is no line up for the washrooms, and you get to use real washrooms not port-a-potties, you get to park at the start line (I literally drove over the start line to get into the rec centre parking lot), you get to wait in your warm car until just before the start (it is still chilly at 7:00'ish am).
The Delta half winds it's way from the Ladner recreation centre through the suburbs of scenic Ladner, past a little nine-hole executive golf course, along River Road and into the farmland of Ladner/South Delta, before returning to suburbia again and finishing up back at the rec centre. The good things about this course: no hills, it was well marked, the volunteers were numerous and supportive, the water stations were well spaced, well supplied and well staffed primarily with families. The not so great things about this course: no hills (I know who would ever have thought I'd say this was a negative, but all flat all the time can get a bit monotonous), it's not the most scenic of courses, and once into the farm land the roads are very crowned you had to run down the yellow line to find a relatively level part of the road and then dodge the occasional vehicle as the roads were not closed.
The end result: a time of 2:21:50 and not last! I am actually very happy with my time and how I felt during the race. The finish line featured a pancake breakfast put on by the local rotary club, and a good number of draw prizes including a grand prize of a bike donated by one of the sponsors, South Shore Cycles. (Sad to say no prizes came my way).
Would I do this race again, probably not, but if you are looking for a half marathon to run in August, there aren't many out there and the organization and volunteer support was certainly there for this one.

Next up - Bellingham at the end of September, this one will serve as a stress reliever as I will be in the middle of my comprehensive exams that weekend :)

Thanks for reading :)

Fueled by Fine Wine

Number three is in the bag! And seeing as I am having a hard time going up and down stairs today I might as well update this.
Fueled by Fine Wine as an absolutely stunning course put on by the Dundee Vineyards Association in Dundee, Oregon in the Willamette Valley (now make sure you pronounce that correctly). The course covered a variety of terrain, from asphalt to gravel to farm paths through the vineyards. From descriptions of last year's course we knew we were in for something special and something challenging, these race organizers love their hills. I will never again complain about having to head up 8th Ave to UBC, at least with 8th there is a block or two of warm-up - not the case this weekend, over the start line out of a park and boom there's the first hill, that went on and on and on (or so it seemed), we climbed through the residential area of Dundee before venturing into the vineyards and heading back down again to Fox Farm Road, it was very challenging to not turn off and head straight back to bead as we ran right by our home for the weekend, Fox Farm Cottage. More hills were to follow, and more vineyards, and more hills, you get the picture. The most challenging hill took us for a loop around vineyards with some of the most spectacular views. Thank you to Newton for the Tuesday night training sessions - I know they helped, and thanks to Kate for the trail runs on the North Shore, they sure gave me the confidence to run downhill on farm tracks and to conserve energy by walking up the big ones. With one more hill at mile 12 the finish line was finally in sight, and not only a finish line but a fantastic medal and wine tasting with at least 20 local wineries, can you say pinot noir at 9:30 am?
The organizers were correct, you may not get your best time but you will have your best time - it was a fantastic experience. (Dave may disagree but perhaps he took the run a little too seriously :))

Here's a few pics, you'll note you don't see many people actually running up those hills, in fact I don't think I've ever seen such a large portion of the field walking the hills. 

On the other thing that I am supposed to be working on while doing all these runs - well the last couple weeks have not been all that productive but...I have nailed down my research questions and am continuing to expand my background knowledge learning all about advocacy coalition theory, tenure and promotion policies and practices, and also exploring qualitative research techniques. I'm also exploring means of keeping my work organized, OneNote is looking promising but I've got to figure out what office 2010 has done to my laptop, they don't like each other. Another month of so of reading and processing and then it will be time for comprehensive exams in early fall - if I can figure out the paperwork that is.

Next up - the Delta Half sometime around August 14th.

Is it time already?

Yes it is - time for number three.
Later this week I will be hopping in the car for a drive to Portland, eventually ending up in Dundee, Oregon for the Fueled by Fine Wine Half Marathon. Plans for this trip have changed a little (well maybe a lot) since we first decided to venture to the Willamette Valley. What was initially going to be a family trip to the Oregon coast ending up in Dundee for a little wine and running, has become a father-son road trip across the US. Dave has been talking about getting a classic car for a while, and a little more than a week ago he found what he wanted - a 1966 El Camino. A day later and a few hours spent watching e-bay he was an owner - one small problem though, the car was located in Anna, Illinois (where?). After a busy weekend of planning I dropped Dave and Michael off at Seatac airport, they flew to St. Louis, got a ride to Anna and picked up the "kami" (as it is now affectionately known) on the morning of June 29th. Since then they have been making their way across the US: Sullivan, Missouri, Kansas City, Grand Island, Nebraska, Cheyenne, Wyoming, and currently in Evanston, Wyoming. We will be meeting up in Portland probably on Wednesday this week, and then will spend a few days exploring Portland - I think the boys may have had enough driving by then and a trip to the coast may have to wait for another year :)

When we do finally get to the half marathon location, we will get to enjoy running through and by a number of Willamette Valley wineries, and then get to sample the wines at a tasting after the run (no wines on course this time). Won't be looking for any PB's this time around, the route looks just a tad challenging (although they say the hills aren't quite so bad this year).

Stay tuned, I'll be back with a race report and restaurant reviews in a little over a week.

A few more pics.

Here are a few more pics from the Whistler half.

Now since this endeavor has a second part to it - namely get a dissertation written I thought I should provide a short update on that front.
My work office is officially cleaned up and ready for my replacement to take over. That means I'm working from home or SFU from now on.
I am three weeks into a directed readings course and so far so good, 15 articles down, 35 (or more) to go. 2 funding and fellowship applications complete, next up is shrink the research proposal and finish off the literature search on Sabatier's Advocacy Coalition Framework. So now it's off to find somewhere comfortable to read, read and read some more.

2 down - 10 to go

2 down - 10 to go!
The second official event is now history! I'm very happy to have PB'd on the first one in May, because now I don't need to worry about my times :)
Saturday, June 4th was the inaugural Whistler Half Marathon and what a day it was. Our horrible Spring disappeared for a while leaving us with an absolutely glorious day, sunshine all the way.
Friday was a busy pre-race day, accompanied Michael's class on their big grade 5 field trip to Victoria, MP and I opted out of the parliament building tour in order to catch the 5:00 ferry to Tsawwassen and then make the trek to Whistler. Dave had gone up earlier in the afternoon so he could pick up our race packages. It was a beautiful drive with a total of 4 bears spotted on route.
Saturday morning came awfully early but the sun was out and there was a good crowd of Alma runners at the start line:

I had taken what I thought was a pretty good look at the route for the race but apparently I didn't look close enough, while I though we headed out to Rainbow park on the first part of the race we actually headed up Blueberry Hill. Blueberry is far too unassuming a name for that hill, it went on and on and on. I knew the Valley trail alongside the golf course was hilly but the road was even worse, thank goodness for the down hill stretch that followed. From the summit of Blueberry Hill we sailed down to Wayside park, good directing Jacquie, then some more up as we looped around and came back to Blueberry Hill this time to take the golf course route down. Now we headed off to Rainbow Park and the turn around point, another loop around a residential area then back to the golf course to run alongside the front nine. Along the way we saw lots of evidence of bears, the poop exhibit at the museum in Victoria on Friday proved useful to identify the piles o'poop at the side of the trail. Luckily we didn't see any of the poop depositors, although it sounds like some of the later runners and walkers did encounter at least one bear on the trail. From the golf course we crossed under the highway, took a jaunt through the Village, past the cheering throngs (Newton), and off to the Upper Village (at least I think that's where we went), a few more dipsy doodles and it was back to the Olympic plaza and the finish line.

It truly was a spectacular course and a spectacular day. Many thanks to Nicole for sticking with me through a not very energetic run, I really appreciated the company. Congratulations to those that managed to achieve PB's on a very challenging course; I know for sure that Dave and Christine did, and congrats to all the Alma runners that finished: Andy, Liz, Sebastien, Emma, Nicole, Bob, Phil, Anna, Lina, Susan, Andrew, Tony, and any one else that I may have missed :)
The course organization was wonderful, the volunteers were great and the spectators who came out along the route were fantastic, there was incredible community support for this inaugural race. The only thing missing was a medal for finishing, although the original print is lovely I'm not sure how I'll display it with my 11 other medals :)

The afternoon was spent scouring the Village for the best calamari in town (Carumba wins) and the sickest backpack we could find for Michael.

Then it was the Garibaldi Lift Company in time for the big game - Go Canucks Go!

What a goal Burrows, now that's the way to end an overtime period!

All in all a wonderful weekend!
Next up.....get some work done on that darn degree, get back into a good running routine, I have learned that I cannot run a good half marathon on one run a week, and prepare for the next event - Fueled by Fine Wine in Dundee, Oregon, anyone care to join us??????

Half-Corked

What could be better than a beautiful sunny morning and an 18.3 km run with 9 wineries along the way?
Hmmmm, I can't think of anything can you?

This past Sunday was the second annual Oliver Half Corked Marathon organized by the Oliver and Osoyoos Winery Association (formerly SOWA south okanagan winery association). Team Greased Lightening consisting of Danny, Kinnecki, Rizzo, Jan, Frenchie, Cookie, Marty and Sandy (bad version) was ready to go and fueled up with some Gerhinger Bros wines at 8:00 am.

Following the costume parade and judging we were off, with a quick stop to drop off the ghetto blaster (don't know why Ken didn't want to carry it the whole 18.3 km). After a short downhill jog and onto the farm roads we were in the midst of Tinhorn Creek vineyards - once again Tinhorn served up some lovely Sangria, white this year, and refreshing watermelon. If you are interested in the sangria recipe Tinhorn has posted it on their website - beware it serves 144, you may want to scale things down a little. Another short trek along the farm roads took us to Iniskillan but wait, there was Dave but what happened to Greased Lightening? Apparently it must have been a Ford for it was "found on roadside dead" - a fautly seatbelt bolt prevented Dave from carrying our transportation for the whole race. Erica did a great job at ensuring our beautiful vehicle made it's way to one of the support shuttles so it we could retrieve it at the end of the run. From there the wineries kept coming fast and furious, Road 13 and Rustico Cellars were up next - at this rate we were going to run out of wineries well before we ran out of distance. From Rustico we went down into the valley, crossed the highway and travelled along the canal, being careful to avoid the "drowning machine" and started our trek up the other side of the Golden Mile with a visit to Silver Sage - a beautiful setting, this is where the race ended last year, with some interesting wines. After Silver Sage there were some hills to climb to reach Church and State, followed by Stoneboat and Oliver Twist. Stoneboat wins for the most refreshing presentation of a wine, they turned their white blend, Chorus, into a delicous granita with grapefruit, lemon, lime and orange juices. Leah assures me we can easily make this treat. Leaving Oliver Twist we left the vineyards and continued our journey on Black Sage Road. If you've been counting you will notice we are already at 9 wineries, and the distance at this point was only around 12 km, the next 6 km were not looking too good. We had been warned so the rather long hill at 13 km was not a surprise but I think all would agree it was very long and some of that Tinhorn sangria would have been very welcome half way up. While there was no sangria to be had, there were apple fritters and fizzy fruit drinks to be had at the top, and then a short jaunt down the hill to La Quinta Ferria for the last winery stop, and then it was all downhill to the Oliver Community Centre.
Most of our group stuck together, finishing in just under 3:00, not the speediest of times but possible one of the funest times.
The finish line provided a lovely lunch, and guess what else? More wine, the association wineries that were not part of the route were present at the finish line to offer their selections.
Finally the morning finished off with presentations of awards, our hard work on costumes paid off and Greased Lightening won the best group costume award - a 3.0 L magnum of limited edition Half Corked Red wine. Every participant received a bottle of this wine in their race packages, a blend of reds from all 23 participating wineries. Team Greased Lightening thouroughly enjoyed their winnings that evening.

Here are a few pics of our day :)

And next up.....the Whistler half in one and a half days - stay tuned.