Wasaga Beach is Dreary When it Rains

Wasaga Beach is not the place to go when the weather is miserable, but it wasn’t a bad place to run to when the weather is wet. All in all I had a great run on Saturday, but it would never have been accomplished without the organizing of Joe Polcz. Joe put this together a while ago for two reasons, one to help out Catherine Harding in her goal to run 100 miles at the Vermont 100 in July and to try and prove that it is possible to run 50 miles with little training and on his crazy fueling method, Stroopwaffles! Joe had invited whoever wanted to show to run or help out, so I jumped at the chance to get in a 50 miler.
Either way things didn’t quite go as planned, firstly Catherine got sick and backed out at the last minute (actually the night before). At this point I thought it would be just me and Joe and biggest concern was trying to run with Joe all the way. That morning I arrived at Joe’s house and mentioned to him that I would run with him as much as I could, but probably wouldn’t be able to run his pace all the way. Another surprise was Victoria Northcott and Donnie Ellis showing up to run with us. They weren’t sure how far they were going to go, but it would be good to have company for part of the trip. Joe’s wife Joanne was going to run out 5k and turn around too. Apaarently there were a number of people who had offered to support us through out the run, but at this early hour only Joan VH showed to help out.
At approximately 6:10 we headed down the street to start the run, and right off the bat it was obvious that my idea of a slow run and Joe’s were quite substantially different, he would do 10 and 1’s were I would run and walk when ever I felt like I needed. Victoria and Donnie were a head right a way and I ran with them but would turn back to or stop when Joe did, allowing him to catch up. It was a foggy morning and slightly humid, but nice for running. Livingstone to Sunnidale to Wilson Drive and then a long straight run. Joanne turned around at about Carson Road and we said our goodbye’s, we were now four. Victoria and Donnie would continually drift ahead and stop for us to catch up, at times I go ahead and turn around to help out Joe. By the time we reached Anten Mills at Horseshoe Valley Road it was trying to rain. A couple of more turns and we on the road to Phelpston, so far so good and we rolled into Phelpston at 20k all feeling good. Victoria and Donnie and decided that they would do 30k and get a ride back from there.
The road from Phelpston was a long haul, at least 5 or 6k long without a turn, this is where I started running with V & D and left Joe behind to be supported by Joan. Not long after Brian Chew showed up to help out with support which would work out well having 2 support vehicles for 2 groups or 2 runners, but as it turned out Brian would take V & D back after the 30k point and not return. When I left Joe it was the last I would see of him until I turned back.
Turning off the road from Phelpston was a relief, but the next road (Vigo) was not much better, it went on forever. After V & D went back it was a lonely run, but at the same time I like that. Other than crossing Hwy 92,it was a nice quiet peaceful run, I struggled a at few points on the way out, but took numerous walk breaks. Just after dropping V &D I ran into someone who had just parked their SUV off the road and was standing there in running gear. She asked me if I was running with a group and I said yes. Turned out Sylvia was waiting to run with Joe to Wasaga and back for a 20k run. She had been waiting for over an hour. Running into Wasaga Beach picked up my spirits, but it is a long run into the Beach. On the way in I was surprised to see Steen pass by and pull over. He had everything but the kitchen sink. At the turn around I grabbed a change of shirts, found a public wash room to warm up and change. It seemed quite a bit cooler in Wasaga and the change of shirts and adding my vest warmed me up some. I refueled my camel back and had a bit to eat and then off I went again, I had put in 40.7k at this point.
It took a awhile to warm up again once I got going, but gradually the warm feeling came back, especially after turning on Vigo Road again. The temperature seemed to go up instantaneously 5 degrees. Before leaving the Beach I ran into Joe and Sylvia at the 42k mark, Joe said the turn around was as far as he was going. Again this was a long stretch on Vigo and played with my mind a lot, I was suffering a bit. At about 50k there was a large dog that had sort of chased us on the way out and I was worried that being by myself that I would have to fend for my self against this “7 foot tall, 300 pounder”. I mentioned to Joe, who was now riding with Joan to keep an eye out for me. Sure enough I wasn’t at the property when the monster saw me and beared down on me, charging across the yard and to the road, stopping ten feet away to bark, snarl and bear its teeth at me. Joe and Joan backed up their truck to get between me and the hound from hell and that seemed to throw off the dog. He turned around and off he went in one direction me the other.
Turning back on the road to Phelpston it was up hill for a long stretch and walked a fair bit of it. But after taking a break past Crossland Road, I felt invigorated and ran all the way into Phelpston, running felt better than walking at this point. I took advantage of the support crew and asked them to get me a bottle of coke as I was craving it again. Never drink pop normally, but in a long run of this magnitude I crave the stuff. I seemed to give me a boost and ran well from there on in, still taking walk breaks but feeling good. It was at about this point that I realized that if I kept this up I would finish with a negative split.
Back on Wilson drive out of Anten Mills I had another dark spot, I walked through it and then down hill to the flat part of Wilson Drive again made me feel good. Up the next hill to Hwy 26, down the next, walked up to Snow Valley Road and ran into Cindy Marcelli who said I looked great, Thanks Cindy! The next or last 7k or so went by well I walked up a bit of the hill to Carson Road, but ran most of the way back to finish in 9 hours and 37 minutes. A 25 minute negative split! I was very pleased at finishing so strong and on top of that felt great on Sunday, I felt like I hadn’t even run. A very successful run that has really boosted my confidence and spirits prior to both Sulphur Springs in 2 weeks and Burning River. This coming weekend I’ll be off to Ohio to run the first Burning River Training run on Saturday morning, other than that it will be a down week, with only a little bit of running. Thanks to all who helped out on Saturday, it was agreat.