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Grouse to top Seymour Grind return, ~32 Km
This is always a tough one, both mentally and physically. Approximately 42 of us showed up for the first of the early 7:00 AM Sunday runs. It was another drizzly and humid morning. Grand Pooh-Bah Enzo was on hand to provide pre-training run instructions. Our usual training run coordinators (Glenn Pace, Rod Hatfull, and Craig Moore) were probably in bed having a well-deserved sleep after running/organizing the Vancouver 100 the previous day/night. As Enzo mentioned, this is perhaps one of the most difficult training runs: from the base of Grouse to the top of Seymour Grind and back. For the running masochists, an optional run was tabled: down to the Old Buck intersection (and back up) – it certainly makes for one looonnnngggg day. There was only a handful who knew this route and we managed to get some of the “old-timers” (Rick A., August A., Monty B.) to keep an eye on the neophytes. The key is to buddy up with someone and make sure your buddy does not lead you astray ;-) One of the great things about an out and back is that you can gauge yourself and turn back whenever you see fit. I was the sweep at the back of the pack and was able to re-greet the returning runners. The 7:00 AM start allowed us to say “Good Morning” twice! It was a relief to see a few people who were smart enough to understand how they were feeling that day and turned around at the appropriate point. A reminder is to not increase your previous week’s time/mileage by more than 20-25%. We do not want to trash ourselves with less than 5 weeks to go (yikes!!!). Wasn’t the rickety path towards Seymour Grind “relatively” smooth? None of those “which steps to avoid and NOT get a nail through my shoe/ NOT get a flying plank whacking me” type of questions? It was great to run on the amazing work the Trail Party gang accomplished a couple of Saturdays ago (Work Trail Party on May 27th). Maybe we can get a second group to deal with the fallen tree at the top of Seymour Grind. Hopefully, we will have this cleared off the trail by race day. Well, I always knew this was going to be a tough training run and had adjusted my plans accordingly - run from Grouse to Deep Cove and then back home (about 20 more minutes by road). I really must suggest to our training coordinators to increase their estimated duration of this run and to remember us turtles. I reached the top of Seymour Grind (happy to see Kathy B. greeting me) in 3 hours 20 minutes. By the end of the run, my 64 oz bladder (refilled at the Mountain Highway spigot) was completely drained! Remember to stay hydrated and drink & eat as much as you can, as early as possible. Next Sunday’s Run: This is a point-to-point training run “Cypress Top Lookout (Skyline Trail) to Deep Cove”. Meet at Deep Cove at 7:00 AM. We will then shuttle to Cypress Lookout (3rd switchback). Reminder 1: Do NOT speed up Cypress as a few of us have been caught with speeding tickets! Reminder 2: Leave a change of clothes for your finish in Deep Cove and bring some money. This will allow you to enjoy your rollie-pollie doughnut at Honey’s, one of our main sponsors.
--Francine Hong
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