Finn Thunder Bay Nordic Walk Guinness World Record Challenge

Today was the Nordic  Walk at Boulevard, the Finn community had put the word out that they were going to try and break the world record for the most people Nordic walking for 3kms all moving at one time. I believe the record was 1126 people.
A friend of mine Brenda had suggested we sign up and it was great to be out there. We met at Boulevard and you were directed into one area and as you went through they were counting the number of people at the start.

The rules were that you had to have Nordic poles or covert you ski poles to Nordic poles by putting rubber tips on the ends to cover the spikes, another rule was you had to keep moving, there was no stopping. 

So away we went...

Dave from the running room, is a competitive Nordic pole walker, he can pole walk faster then I can run, he was first and on the way back he had snapped a pole in half, that is intense.

At the end there was a jam of people because we had to be accounted for on the way back, so we had to enter the gate 1 at a time, but at the same time keep moving in order for the record to stand. 

We had a great walk, Brenda, George and I.

There were some familiar faces in the crowd all wanting to be in on the Guinness Record, when are you ever going to have another chance.

I will not find out until Sunday as to whether they have beaten the Guinness Record  or not, I will re-post when I find out, Yeah Thunder Bay!

Park Point 5 Miler Duluth

July 18th all the runners that were registered for the Park Point 5 Miler in Duluth got an email warning of a potential heat advisory for July 20th. They were recommending that you treat the race as a fun run because it was going to be very hot and humid.......

The four of us packed into the car on July 20th and off we went to Duluth. It was warm that day but the clouds had come and gone on our drive down, it had even sprinkled a little along the way.
We got to Duluth around noon and did some shopping and had a bite to eat then headed to Canal Point to pick up our race kits, lets get this show on the road. The sun and the humidity were outrageous, it went against everything I believe in to run in such extreme weather.

We left the hotel dressed and ready to run, you just melted to the sidewalk. When we had picked up our race kits the race officials had made the call to cancel the awards to deter runners from running full out, although they were still going to chip time it. 

Here is the kicker...this is the dash in the car stating the outside temperature...

92 degrees, yikes. We had about an hour to wait for the race to start, they had a kids run and a 2 mile walk first. I was sweating standing still, I tried telling myself it was on the verge of snowing, wasn't helping. 

I bring my camera everywhere so here we are sweating and waiting. 

Alison and I had ran this race last year and I just kept hoping that people would put out their sprinkles out again so we could run through them, and they did. The people that live along this route are awesome, they cheer you on and spray you with water as you go by. 

I had kept my eyes peeled for the gang to come running back towards we as the route was an out and back route and here they are.

Lynda 

Erin 

Alison

When I started out at the start line I had decided to at least go 1 mile and then reassess whether it was worth running in the heat. I reevaluated it and decided to carry on, I didn't feel all that bad, hot yes but not ill. 

Here is me melting on the route.

The last mile of the race I had cut back my running to running in the shade and walking the sun, there was just enough of both to keep me from quitting all together. 

Here we are, all of us made it to the finish line and we are still smiling. It may not have been a personal best but it felt good to have challenged myself to run smart in the heat and able to finish the race without feeling ill at the end.

We headed back to the hotel then out for dinner and well deserved beverages.

 I would recommend this run to anyone and everyone, it is well organized and the community is like no other I have run through, they are what saved me throughout the run, the sprinkles helped allot. 

OMG, Goofy Run 2013

If you have never heard of this before I will explain how crazy this is. Jan 2013 I will be running a Half Marathon in Disney on a Saturday and then the Full Marathon in Disney Florida on the Sunday.
Yes I said back to back a half and a full.
You get a Donald Duck medal for the Half and a Mickey mouse medal for the Full and a Goofy medal for running both.
A group from Thunder Bay are going and Sam and I have decided to go.
So last night I made it official and signed up for the run(s).
I am nervous and excited at the same time.

Swimming

I had not been swimming in a long time and tonight I got back in the water......I swam without the flutter board. At first I was just letting go of the flutter board near the end of the length where I could touch the bottom, Then I decided to stick close to the rope and swim without the flutter board.
I did 4 laps and I hadn't drowned, I figured 4 laps was enough for one day, I had kept the lifeguards on their toes, I'm sure it looked like I was drowning the whole time. I was so thrilled with myself.

Watch Out

I was biking home this morning and this is what I was riding into, it just kept getting darker and darker.

The sight of the sky was just amazing, I did make it home before there was any destruction. I was getting off a night shift so when I arrived home I went to bed, I believe these clouds just turned into rain. It's bark was bigger then it's bite.

Trying to beat the heat, suffering together.

With this recent string of amazingly hot and humid weather, why not suffer with others. A group of us set out for a 4 mile run and the temperature with the humidex was 31 Celsius.  I think I started to melt for real this time. We took our time and just clocked the miles. This is the trouble when you decide to train for a Half Marathon through the summer months, suck it up buttercup.
Here we are at the end of our run planning when we should slug it out again together, as the weather doesn't seem to want to let up.

Another group of us decided to move our Tuesday night walk around Boulevard to the Marina, so we could check out some of the great things going on down there. This past Tuesday was 36 degrees with the humidex and the sun was intense. Why not sweat at the marina with friends, your going to do the same at home by yourself. 

From one end of the marina to the other and back was 2 miles, not as long as our usual walk but a change of scenery was nice.