Bagel Chase 2014 - The End

The Bagel Chase officially ended on Friday at 8pm, and although we started the week off really strong it was only a matter of time before we were knocked off the podium. Because, apparently, you can't run all day, everyday and expect to get anything else done. It just doesn't happen! This became quite evident when the dishes were piling up and running clothes started amassing on the bedroom floor.
So Thursday and Friday didn't see a single lap added for either Jenna or I! Impressive though was the fact that Jenna only did two laps after Sunday and still managed to hang on to a podium spot for so long!

My 40 laps for the week and my day total of 16 laps were both obliterated by Craig who took off work on Wednesday to do 17 laps. Ok, ok, I'm still a little bitter, but it is really impressive that he averaged a marathon a day over the week! That sort of record will stand for a while, or until someone crazy enough breaks it next year... hmm I wonder if I can take time off in February next year?

Jenna ended up with 26 laps for the week, and we are still waiting on the results of the one-day totals to see if any of the ladies were able to pull off a 17 lap day. The RD says results will be up this week sometime, so stay tuned for updates.

We would like to send a huge thanks to all the volunteers and organizers, they did such a great job
and were so supportive throughout the event! Also a big thanks to the sponsors for providing all the
motivation to get us to go for such insane numbers of laps. Particularly thanks David's Tea since Jenna won one of their sampler packs as a draw prize, and Distance Runwear for providing the top prizes. And of course, we can't forget the amazing Siegal's Bagels for letting us take over their store for a week! If you've never been to Siegal's you need to go right now! Seriously. I don't care if you're reading this in the middle of the night or the middle of the day, you need to go! And since they're open 24 hours a day you have no excuse. Plus, their bagels make for amazing mid-run snacks, especially the Rosemary and Rock Salt bagels!!!

Run happy, eat a bagel!

-UltraChris

Bagel Chase 2014 - Day 3 & 4

Running with the Bagel Chase Bagel Buddy

After Days 1 and 2, Jenna and I (Chris) were both in the lead for most laps in a day, most laps per person and our team, Laps of Judgement, was leading by 2 laps over team VanRun. Turned out that days three and four were just as exciting and intense as days one and two!

On Monday, I did a total of 7 laps, while Jenna rested up from the massive day of running on Sunday. Despite still being in the lead as individuals, our team slipped to second spot as we were 3 laps behind VanRun.

Day four however saw us slip quite a ways behind team VanRun in the team standings as Craig ran for the better part of the day and made up a few laps on my weekly total. This was compounded by the other very strong runners on their team who all made an appearance for some part of the day.

I did hit a couple personal milestones on day four though as I did 6 laps on top of my week-long total of 31, bringing me to 37 laps. This puts me at 115 miles for the week, and I'm currently tied with last year's week-long individual total! And there are still 3 days to go!
As for teammates that were out pounding the pavement, Adrienne and I walked one lap together at the start of the evening and Jenna came out and walked with me after volunteering with her Girl Guide group ended. Clovis was also out there running while I was. Earlier in the day Tom and Heather both did a few laps. Even with all that our team totals are no match for team VanRun.

I know we have a couple runners on our team that are planning big lap days today or Friday, we'll just have to see if that's enough to keep up with the other crazies out there! As a small victory it's nice to know that our outstanding showing on the weekend has forced the other teams to really step up their running if they want to win.

More updates will be posted in the coming days, and if you need to find us, you'll know where we'll be! Chasing Bagels!

-UltraChris

Bagel Chase 2014 - Day 1 & 2

The 2014 Bagel Chase is off to a great start! With the first two days being on a weekend, all the runners had a chance to get in some long days of running laps over the Burrard Bridge. Although there were teams ready to go when the course opened at 6am on Saturday, we didn't start till after 7am.

We did 5 laps before 11am, then we had to go do a short hike (an easy 7 km) on the North Shore with people from my work. On the way home we stopped at Kintec in North Vancouver and tried on shoes as we figured we would want a change of shoes for the following day's endeavor. After that we headed back to Siegal's Bagels to do 3 more laps of the course, bringing our first day total to 8 laps, 40km.

It was really great to see some of the teams had dressed up and were having a lot of fun! And everyone was really supportive and high-fiving each other as they passed! Despite the festivities there were some very strong runners looking to set the bar fairly high for number of laps per day or for the week. The single day total for the first day was set at 12 laps by Craig Slagel, a local ultrarunner, though there were a few others who did 9 and 10 laps.

A great day to be running the 2014 Bagel Chase along English Bay!

We planned Sunday to be our longest day, and had the back of our car filled with food and clothes, as well as our second pairs of shoes! However, we weren't sure how it was going to go as Jenna's hip flexor was quite sore during Saturday's laps. Nonetheless, we started at 7:30am and ran a few laps with Adrienne, one of our teammates and an accomplished triathlete and ultrarunner. When she left to go study we continued on our own and managed to complete 8 laps before we stopped for lunch. Lunch consisted of quesadillas cooked on our little one burner stove beside our car, and it tasted sooo good!

After refueling and changing shoes/clothes we were back out for more! Not long after lunch we were joined by Heather, another member of our team and we run-walked a few laps with her. Just as she was leaving Tom from our team dropped by and joined for a few more laps. After lap 13 we had to stop for a pizza feast as were extremely calorie deficient by that point even though we had our packs and had been eating continuously the whole day!

A beautiful sunset from the Burrard Bridge during this year's Bagel Chase

Tom left after our 14th lap and we were back on our own, or so we thought. Turns out Adrienne came back to meet us and deliver cake and brownies! What an amazing team we have!!! That really helped us power through our last two laps.

All in all, a great weekend! The weather for the Bagel Chase stayed quite reasonable. It was sunny for parts, windy and a little cold for others, but it didn't rain (or snow) on us! Our one day total for Sunday was 16 laps, the most yet. Let's just hope no one has the week off!
Now we're a little sore... so if anyone wants to join us for a couple walking laps tonight we might need the extra push to get us around the course!

 -UltraChris

Bagel Chase 2014!

Bagel Chase!

No, this does not involve running after speedy little bagels with arms and legs like the ones on the excel gum commercials.. (I think those are doughnuts anyway)

This is a week-long race along a 5km route that goes from Siegal's Bagels, over Burrard bridge to the Cactus Club and back. The main goal is to raise money for the Community First Foundation, but secondary to that is the goal of doing as many laps as you (and your team) can in the week.

Last year`s records are 101 laps for a team, 37 for an individual male and 35 for an individual female. Our team consists of me (Chris), Jenna, Heather, Tom, Adrienne and Nick. And our challenge is to blow away all of those records! Though that might not be as easy as it sounds.

To do 37 laps in a week we'll have to do an average of 5.3 laps per day, or 5 laps for 5 days and 6 laps for 2 days! That's monstrous!! so we'll see what we can do.

Our team name is Laps of Judgement - which may be quite fitting after we've attempted to run 185km in one week!

Follow the Trail Effect blog for running updates throughout the week! Or join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get updates automatically!

Gotta run!

 -UltraChris

Our 2014 Race Calendar

After much debate and indecision we have finally decided on a tentative race calendar for the year (or at least until August). We've updated our Race Calendar.

Jenna and I are both doing the DirtyDuo 50km on March 8th in North Van. It'll be Jenna's first
attempt at this race, and my third. This a two-loop race through some very technical trails in the LSCR (Seymour) area.

We'll then tackle the Vancouver Sun Run 10km on April 27th as some speed work.

The following week will be the North Shore Enduro 6 hour race (a ClubFatAss event). This one is also in the LSCR/Lynn Headwaters area and will feature some tough hills stairs! and a mix of technicality.

From there, our next race will be June 7th when we attempt the Vancouver100 (CFA event) a 100km race from Deep Cove to Horseshoe Bay (technically Nelson Canyon Park) and back along the Baden Powell Trail. This will be Jenna's first time at this race and only my second attempt. The consistent level of technicality of the trail and the possibility of snow at Hollyburn and Cypress makes this a difficult race for sure! Plus racers need to be self sufficient or find their own crew. Even then, access points are minimum every 15km for a very dedicated crew, or 25km for a "normally-dedicated" bunch. Nonetheless, lots of fun to be had!!

The next big stop will be FatDog in Manning Park on the weekend of August 15th. Jenna will be attempting the 70 mile option, her longest yet, and I am hoping for some redemption with the 120 miler.

If you're interested in any of these races, want to find out more, help out as a volunteer or as crew, either click on the images above, or send us a message via Facebook or as a comment on here.

-UltraChris

Ultimate Frisbee Art!

Our Ultimate Frisbee team had their first couple of games of the season today, and I am going to be SORE tomorrow!! But that's not the point of this post.

For the games I decided to wear my Suunto Ambit2 GPS watch and see whether it could keep up with my rapid cuts and turns etc. Turns out it did an OK job! Plus it makes some really cool art; check it out!

(The game was only on the one part of the field)

All my cutting and running from two games of Ultimate Frisbee as logged by my Suunto Ambit2

More running posts to come as we ramp up our training for the Dirty Duo 50km Trail Race in March!
Also, check out the Club Fat Ass (CFA) events coming up in May and June that we plan to take part in: the North Shore Enduro and the Vancouver100!

Run happy!

-UltraChris

Ubyssey Article - A blast from the past

Running along Jericho Beach!

While Googling my own name (c'mon admit it, you do it too) I came across an article written by UBC's student newspaper The Ubyssey a couple of years ago. Feel free to have a read through it as it details my triathlon and early trail running endeavors. Plus, it was kind of cool to be in the school newspaper!

And this one too, by Impact Magazine!

Side note: Running in Vancouver feels really cold after coming back from Hawaii!

-UltraChris