Author: Iron Rogue

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Paintball!

This weekend I went North to an annual ‘Boys Weekend’. A bunch if guys (too old to refer to themselves as boys) get up to whatever guys do at a cottage when freed from family and work obligations.
Now, the cardinal rule of this tradition is “what happens on boys weekend stays on boy’s weekend”, so details will be sparse and obscured, but I wanted to discuss the only fitness/outdoor activity of the weekend: paintball!

Faces have been obscured to protect the identity of the… well, I can’t say innocent…

I’ve played paintball a few times before, but most of the time the day goes as follows:

  • Show up at the facility, rent used equipment.
  • Then, get your group of novices mixed in with weekend warriors who are there weekly, know the terrain and have superior skill and equipment.
  • Get overshadowed or simply slaughtered by these same warriors

On this weekend, I was looking forward to playing on a more level playing field. Some guys had used the experience of previous years (I’ve missed a couple of years due to the births of my kids) to get motivated to buy better equipment and get educated about the mechanics of the guns (which are officially known as ‘markers’ and that’s how I’ll be referring to them from here on in). So maybe the playing field wasn’t perfectly level… For my part, I bought a simple starter kit at Canadian Tire, but ended up shelling out a little more for extra ammunition and a light camouflage jacket.

I’m not a big risk-taker, so in prior games, my desire to put myself in a situation where I could get a drop on an opponent leads to a lot of hesitation; being over-cautious means missing out on the action. This time, I vowed to be more aggressive, and I think I can report mild success on that front, though I don’t think it netted any kills.

We played a few rounds, switching up teams and objectives. It’s notable that each round, someone would have to eliminate themselves due to equipment malfunction and we would burn a lot of time between rounds cleaning the internals of the markers or checking the carbon dioxide tanks that act as the propellant. It’s hard to maintain momentum and/or a calorie burn.

A funny thing happened during a game of ‘Capture the Can of Beer’: my marker malfunctioned, and the usual ‘pull the pin back and forth’ didn’t clear anything up, so I was left with nothing to lose. I simply decided to make a run for the can (heh… can) and see what would happen. I made it! Turns out, the marker
can be a hindrance to my enjoyment of the game. You catch a first person view of that round below; I mounted my camera to the marker – yes, I am a geek. Warning: I do use a bit of bad language right as I decide that the marker is not fixable during the game and decide to go for it.

In fact, I am such a geek that I also wore a heart rate monitor while playing. I knew I would wind up huffing and puffing and wanted to know how much of that was due to the emotional excitement or the actual exertion. A snippet of the data (representing the round shown in the video) is below.

Occasionally pushing 90% of max HR

So, looking at the rest of the data, you could conceivably burn 600-615 calories an hour doing paintball, though that’s probably being generous.  Maybe not the greatest for a fitness activity, but it’s better than most male bonding activities (like golf or poker), and it’s what I’d rather do.  Have you ever played?

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Race Recap: 5 Peaks Championship at Albion Hills – Strictly for the Hardcore!

Another 5 Peaks Trail Run in the bag!  The final race of the season is also the Southern Ontario Championship for all those who acquired points in the series during the season, but it also has a nice ‘Everyone is a Champion’ open event.  It took place at Albion Hills.


Due to the pre-Hurricane Sandy weather, I think the organizers cancelled a lot of the extras that made April’s Season Opener so attractive – there were no kids races, exhibitors, etc. (not that I blame them), but the main event was on like Voltron.






Racers all gathered under the only real shelter available – a roofed picnic area.  I had expected rain, but the icy wind made the weather extra nasty – getting right into the thick of the crowd was the only option.  I found I was dressed a little warmer than some – I saw plenty of shorts!  Sign #1 that trail running is masochistic.
One of the race directors, Erin Sheard, announced the course would be 9km (it had been described as being 7-9km; that big a variability might seem intimidating, but since you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get in terms of terrain, it’s good to be trained for something beyond the maximum).  I groaned inwardly, as I had been somewhat hopeful that I could just get the thing over with as soon as possible and get home, dry and warm.  She went on to explain that some of the early feedback they had gotten showed that some people felt that Albion Hills would not be ‘technical enough’ terrain wise, so they had done their best to compensate i.e. through the length, and also, according to her, the weather.  Sign #2 that trail running is masochistic.

They divided up the crowd into four waves: 1.) Competitive Men (i.e. shooting for a podium finish) 2.) Competive Women 3.) Age Group Competitors (looking for a top 3 in their age group) 4.) Average Joes/Everyone Else.  Definitely Wave #4 for me… due to work schedule and injury I hadn’t been killing it in training, and I was not confident.

Waves 1 through 3 went off about 3-5 minutes apart, then it was our turn.  Racers were asked to seed themselves according to their own estimation of their relative speed; always important, because so much of the course is too narrow for passing, and it should be kept to a minimum.  Off we went!



I slid in some mud within the first 100m, so that was my warning.  The wet terrain (not to mention fallen leaves and mud) made for slippery conditions, but not only did I not take any serious falls (only once – I had to put my hands down on the ground, but didn’t leave my feet), I didn’t see anyone else do so either.  Obviously a course like this has a lot of ups and downs, but I was still surprised to notice that my lungs were burning early on.  I checked my pace and it was slower than 7 min/km closer to 8 or even 9 for most of the time.  I was already almost 3km in before I thought to check my heart rate instead of my pace – 90% maximum.  Oops.





I still got the first 3km (i.e. the first third of the race) done without thinking I had been too aggressive, and I settled in for the middle third.  I had opted for a baseball-style hat which I never wear because I think it makes me look like a dork, but it was a better choice than my winter hat I use for winter running: I was warm soon enough, and the baseball brim kept rain out of my eyes and face.  In fact, I hardly felt wet at all, as long as I was running.



Somewhere near the 5km mark, I noticed I was doing more stepping on/over obstacles rather than leaping or bounding over them.  There just wasn’t enough ‘spring in my step’ and though I was able to keep moving, it lost the dynamic appeal for me.  I’d been doing more strength training lately, so it was a little unexpected, but maybe I didn’t have enough pre-race calories, or my cardio capacity should have been better.

The 5km area was just a crazy web criss-crossing the same ridge; in a road race, seeing other racers coming your way means a turnaround is near and you may be reaching a significant milestone (like the halfway or at least quarter-way point), but here, it just got confusing and disheartening: “I’m just going to keep seeing this same ridge again and again from slightly different angles!”.  Still, the mountain bike trail based course offered a lot of fun, especially on downhills.  I found myself banking into turns as if I was on a roller coaster!

I heard some complaints afterwards that the last aid station was not where it was supposed to be (it was supposed to be at 5km, it might have been closer to 3km).  I was wearing my Salomon hydration pack, so I didn’t really notice.

Near the end of the middle third, I stopped to take off my hat for a bit.  I noticed I was struggling more and more to keep a pace, and I realized I was overheating.  Some cool raindrops on my scalp was enough for me to put the hat back on and pick up the pace.  Obviously I was more tired than ever before, but after about the 7.5km mark, I realized the course was taking us back, and from the noise levels, I must be close to the finish.   I started to pour it on, and had another racer within site and made it my mission to catch her.  The last marshal said “Get in there!” or something like that, and it was good encouragement… I was getting really close, and it was going to be a tough call as to wheter I would catch her or not.  Suddenly, we both cried out “WHOA!” because we both hit the same patch of slippery mud at the same time and did a little surfing.  The last 10m of running switched to a kind of tentative ‘walk on eggshells’ stride and she finished the race just in front of me.  We shared a low five and went to get our recovery food.

Another finisher crosses the line!



I was smiling from the fun I’d just had and my smile would only widen as I helped myself to watermelon, bananas, cookies, bagels (with jam, cream cheese or Nutella available). The best thing I saw though… was JELLY BEANS!

They’re under the jube-jubes… you can’t trick me!



Once the high (and warmth) of having finished the race was wearing off, I looked to figure out if the race kits/swag would be handed out. Some people asked and were told “soon”. I think they wanted everyone to finish, and hand out all the awards at the same time as the finisher packages. I’m sorry to say, I lost patience; I had dry clothes in the car, but not a rain jacket to stay that way should I decide to walk back to the race site. Once I found myself shivering, I headed back to the car, changed, then drove away. This is my only real criticism of the race, making it hard to get the swag, but I understand that they don’t exactly have a ton volunteers to handle this kind of thing.  

I’ll happily do this series again next year!

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Motivation Monday

I always see these motivational images on blogs and Pinterest.  I don’t always like them… so I decided to make a few of my own.  I’m not much of an artist, I hope it’s the thought that counts.

Too many of these motivational images praise pain over common sense.  Remember, He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day.

As part of a deal on Fitness Cheerleader’s blog that we get a link up by posting the past week’s activities so here goes:

  1. Monday: Bupkis
  2. Tuesday: Gravity Machine
  3. Wednesday: Nada
  4. Thursday: Dumbell Decathlon*
  5. Friday: Resting?
  6. Saturday: 5 Peaks Trail Run**
  7. Sunday: Home sick 🙁
*Here’s a link to this workout.  As a kid in school I had to do a report on a hero… I picked Bruce Jenner (gold medal decathlete and unfortunately now part of that whole Kardashian thing).  Still Decathlon is like, multi-sport before there was multi-sport, so the workout was up my alley.
**This was a lot of fun despite the lousy pre-Hurricane Sandy weather.  I’ll have a report up later in the week.  It must have torn down my immune system though, as I’ve been sick (head cold, achey bones) ever since.  Today, in fact, I’m posting this from my basement.  Hopefully I’ll bounce back and have another week of exercise to report on soon enough!
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How I Rolled This Weekend

So many ideas for new posts, so few opportunities to get them done.  Some of these ideas will take a little research, so for now, I thought I’d just tell you about the weekend, or at least the fitness/active parts.

We celebrated both boys’ birthdays with a kids party this weekend, and for some of the parts of the weekend, we did a little divide and conquer with the boys.  That (and the beautiful weather) gave me my first opportunity to go for a run with Shark Boy in the Chariot.

I hadn’t been doing a lot of running these past weeks due to 1.) work schedule 2.) trying to manage my Achilles tendonitis, but I do have the end of season 5 Peaks Trail Run coming up, so it was good to get out there again.  Taking it easy, and not a long distance, but at least I was running.


Getting Shark Boy to ride in the Chariot involves stopping at a park so he can play a bit, it’s just part of the deal.  It had rained that morning, so the equipment was wet, and I had done a little upper body strength work the day before, but I got some squat and lunge variations (and a few inverted rows) done on the playground equipment.  No one was there to see, but Shark Boy seemed intrigued… maybe I can rope him into doing workouts with me in the future!

I also found out that he would have preferred to ride behind the bike instead of being pushed while running, which set us up to go biking the next day!

While I’m still annoyed at how Bike Trails in Mississauga can dead end or even worse, spit you out onto busy roads without a means of connecting back onto a bike network, I managed to put a small ride together in limited time.  That time was subtracted from with, you guessed it, another playground visit.




Hope you had a good weekend too…  Days are getting shorter and colder, so get out there while you can!

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Matrix Reloaded

I made some changes to the blog design… I wish I could do more, but visuals are not my forte.  Still, I hope you like it; it’s wider for bigger pictures now.

On Sunday I took another crack at a Matrix Workout.  For my warm-up, I did kettlebell swings, 1 minute of mountain climbers, 10 burpees and 25 pushups.

Sorry about the orange… as if you weren’t sick of pumpkin themed stuff already.

Remember the structure?  Here it is again, at least, the current draft:

And here’s how I varied it this time…

Here’s me doing the Single-Leg Bent-Over Rear Shoulder Flys…not perfectly graceful, but whatever.

I used a pair of 8lb pyramid shaped weights I have, instead of 12lbs on this exercise, so I ended up doing more (15) reps instead.  At home, I did the pull-ups in more of an inverted row position; putting my feet on the bench takes weight off, and being closer to diagonal makes it easier on my shoulders. 15 reps done.

Some support on my lower body plus a less punishing angle for the lift.

For pushups this time, I managed 40 in one minute – I’m proud of that.
I found the resistance band I have at home is not quite as tight as the one in the gym – even if I placed my feet (see below) further apart, I still couldn’t get a lot of resistance from it.  I’m considering scrapping this as my endurance/back exercise, but I like how the continuously increasing resistance during the motion feels.  It’s different (better?) than using a free weight – I just need the magnitude of force used to be bigger.

Rows with the resistance band

I managed 2 circuits this time, and the second circuit was done in 10 minutes.  I want to get a little more used to the load and the current exercises (maybe make it to 3 circuits) then switch things up a little.

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Strength Lab: Enter the Matrix

I am not a personal trainer (certified or otherwise) and I have no professional fitness training. Consult a doctor before engaging in an exercise program and follow my actions at your own risk.

I had a chance to think about Strength Training lately.  I haven’t had a chance to do it, but for the purposes of this post (and not beyond that), it’s the thought that counts.  With my fitness ADD, I’d like to try something new; no problem… people post workout routines every day, I’m sure I could find something cool; in fact I do every day, sometimes I pin them to my Pinterest Board.
I would, however, like to exercise my own creativity and knowledge and try to make something original that suits me, my needs and goals.

Here are some important considerations:

  • No machines.  I have lots of fitness equipment at home, where I’d like to be able to do this workout and I prefer exercises that promote functional movement.
  • Speaking of functional movement, strength training for me needs to incorporate elements that will improve core stability as well as balance, which get neglected a little in a triathlete’s other 3 disciplines.
  • I’m primarily an endurance athlete, I’m not looking to bulk up or achieve any explicit strength goals, I just want to reap benefits like lean body mass (and the enhanced calorie burn that results) and injury proofing.  In other words, hopefully I get more power and better muscular endurance in my swim/bike/run – I don’t care how much I can lift.
  • I have injuries that I don’t want to aggravate.


Doing functional movements tends to mean exercises that recruit multiple muscle groups at the same time rather than complete isolation.  A push-up works your chest, but also your shoulders and triceps.  So do most exercises that resemble a “Pushing” motion, and following that logic, I could divide my exercises by muscle groups as:

  1. Chest – a.k.a Push, includes shoulders and triceps
  2. Back – a.k.a Pull, includes biceps and trapezius
  3. Legs


I figure these would cover 95% of the exercises I would like to do.  In terms of goals/benefits to be achieved by strength training:

  1. Power/Strength.  The raw force I can instantaneously generate… fast twitch muscles. Hopefully I increase the bang for my buck I get out of each stroke, pedal revolution, or stride.
  2. Core/Balance.  Being able to do load bearing/resistance using my (mostly) own body for support means being able to recruit more from my core while I’m swimming/biking/running.
  3. Endurance.  Being able to hold a pose, or do lots of reps for a long time.  Lighter load, more reps.


Now take the red pill with me… and step into… THE MATRIX (workout)!




Matrix: 1.) a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions
2.) a mold for casting letters

If I arrange the muscle groups as columns and the strength types as rows, I get a Matrix, with different exercises to fill in according to how they fit the criteria of the rows and columns.  Let’s take a look with what I came up with so far:


Already some questions/challenges: There seems to be a bit of overlap between Core/Balance and Endurance – some of the exercises could easily trade rows.  Furthermore, What order should I do them in?  I figured I shouldn’t start with the heaviest and allow myself to get a little more warmed up, so I didn’t put Power in the first row.  I also don’t really like the idea of two upper body exercises back-to-back.  Even though push-pull complement each other, I think some of the secondary muscles might object to the abuse.  I’m looking at you, shoulders.  So I think I’ll do them left to right, top to bottom, same as you’re probably reading the table.. I mean, matrix.  Finally, how many reps and how much weight (for non-bodyweight exercises)?  That’s where the experimentation starts… To the lab!

Plan A was to get up early and run through these in my basement; the kids have been sleeping a little better, so I thought a 5AM or so wake-up was feasible.  Well, I forgot to set the alarm and ended up having to soothe the Lightning Kid at 5 and 5:30 anyway.  

At the office gym,I don’t have time for full lunchtime workouts on Thursdays, but I figured I could manage once through before having to eat and go to a meeting.  Here’s how it worked out.

Chest/Push Legs Back/Pull
Core/Balance Bosu Pushups
20 reps		 Single Leg Squats with Toe Touch
10 reps per leg		 Single-Leg Bent-Over Rear Shoulder Flys
10 reps per leg with 12lb dumbbells
Power/Strength Bench Press
12 reps 30lb dumbbells		 Squat
10 reps with 30lb dumbbells on shoulders		 Pull-ups
1 full pull-up, 8 reps of negative phase*
Endurance Pushups
For 1 minute (36 reps)		 Wall Sit with Medicine Ball Squeeze
For 1 minute		 Band Rows
For 1 minute


Notes:

  • I warmed up with 3 minutes on a rowing machine.  As I mentioned, I was pressed for time.
  • I could probably go a little heavier on the bench press.
  • I knew I couldn’t do pull-ups well (or at all, really), but I’m going to have to get inventive with cheats/workarounds.  For the negative phase reps, I used a step to jump up to the top of the movement (with my chin at the bar) and lowered down slowly.  Even then, the latter reps were a little weak.  I could use a machine assist in the gym, or maybe resistance bands at home.  This will need some work.
  • The band rows were done with an extra cross-over compared to the pic in the link, i.e. my right foot was anchoring the end being pulled by my left hand and vice versa.  It seemed a little easy at first, but by the time a minute was closing out, I could feel some burn deep in my rhomboids and rear deltoids.  I think I’ll keep this one in the mix, though I need to be careful with consistency if the band I use (or my foot positioning) changes.


Not including the warm-up, getting through the circuit took me 14-15 minutes with the only rest between stations being the time it took to get setup with the right equipment. Not a long workout, but I want this thing to be scaleable; if I want a longer workout, I can work my way through the matrix/table again.  I’ll be looking for different exercises to drop into the various slots, either from workout to workout or even within the workout (from circuit to circuit).  Any suggestions for  that meet the Core/Balance | Power/Strength | Endurance vs. Chest/Push | Legs | Back/Pull intersection criteria? REMEMBER: NO MACHINES! You know what the machines did in the Matrix…

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Boot Camp Sunday

I’m not entirely satisfied with my current ‘Off-Season’ schedule yet.  So far, I have my running club (with structured speed, tempo, hill workouts) on Mondays and Wednesdays.  On Tuesdays, if I can, I go to Gravity Machine at Goodlife, and I do a spin class to keep my biking muscles in shape on Fridays.  Thursdays I have meetings too close to lunch to fit a workout in, and the kids still aren’t letting us sleep enough for me to plan a morning or evening workout.

I usually fit in something good on the weekend though I don’t have anything dedicated yet.   Like I said, I’m not satisfied with the structure yet, but it’s not terrible either.  This Sunday I decided to visit my friend Peter (from Fit2Touch, which I’ve mentioned before here) at one of his Boot Camps.

Peter does a good job of mixing exercise disciplines, so you don’t know what you’re going to get.  The warm-up had some boxercise elements, and the cool-down had its fair share of Yoga.  That Sunday’s class worked our core muscles more than anything else, and the circuits got progressively harder with muscle groups being hit with supersets (2 or 3 different exercises that hit the same muscle group without stopping).  Compound exercises like lunges with a bicep curl were favoured, and he hit some weak areas (especially for me) like the rear deltoids.  After whipping us good with the strength circuit, he hit us with some more cardio centric work in the last circuits including jogging laps around a pool… which was a welcome relief to cardio junkies like me, actually.

Peter’s Boot Camp (a.k.a. FitBlitz) was a great way to make sure I’d gotten my entire body workout for the end of the week.

Peter and Edna have been featured on Dragon’s Den, and Steven and Chris.  Visit their site Fit2Touch or Edna’s Healthy Couples Blog here.

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Shark Boy – Duathlete, Scoundrel of Steel

Warning: This post contains extreme cuteness, and examples of strong paternal pride.  Reader discretion is advised.

We found out about a ‘Kids of Steel’ Duathlon being run in the Beaches, and the allowed ages started at 3 (for a 3-5 age category).  Though Shark Boy is a few weeks short of his third birthday, we knew he was fit enough and generally game for this sort of activity so we signed him up.  Parents were allowed to accompany their kids on the race course (and in transition) so we figured it was safe and that we could make it work.  My biggest worry was making sure he didn’t get overwhelmed by the crowd of other kids and parents, and making sure he followed the course; I knew he was good for the 50-60m run, 600m bike, and final 100m run in terms of distance, but doing it along a prescribed course (as opposed to whatever the heck direction he felt like going) might be another story.

Upon arriving at Ashbridges Bay, we were easily able to follow all the other racers and their families to the starting area.  Transition was closing within 10 minutes, so Shark Boy and I found a spot for his bike; the racks were too big for toddler bikes and were dedicated to kids 8 and up, but there were some nice designated spots for nearby grass.   Race start time was fast approaching, and I realised we had neither a chip nor a race bib – it turns out I had walked right by the race kit pickup in my excitement and had to run back to get it.   We put on the race t-shirt (a little large, but it was a passable substitute for the rain wear we forgot to pack.

I had enough time before the start to show Shark Boy the sailboats he wanted to see (hopefully they’d be less of a distraction mid-race).

They counted down, blew a whistle and we were off!  Shark Boy quickly decided he wanted to hold hands for safety and security – maybe the crowd threw him off, but it turned out to be a sensible way to avoid colliding with other kids or slipping in the grass.

We completed the loop at a good clip, and worked our way into transition.  Shark Boy knew to let me  do up his helmet strap before grabbing the bike, and he’d been practising walking/running with the bike on his own (!) anyway so he did a great job of exiting transition 1.  He tried to mount a little early… did I mention this race was OAT (Ontario Association of Triathletes) sanctioned?  Rules were enforced!  The bike course had some small hills that challenged (i.e. slowed) the kids somewhat, but it was overall enjoyable.  Even though he’s a bigger bike specialist than his old man, Shark Boy clearly subscribes a ‘stop-and-smell-the-roses’ approach to racing.  My explanations as to why we had to go as fast as we could were not satisfactory, apparently.  Still, while he did slow down to look at other kids, the water, a flock of Canada geese, he never stopped, and never complained (unless you count a teenager-worthy “I knooooow” and eye-roll in response to my cheers to go a little faster). We rounded the corner to head back to transition to the sounds of cheering, his mother of course being the loudest of all.

After getting his t-shirt stuck on the bike during a near flawless dismount, we ran the bike back into transition, in the exact same spot we originally had it, then took off on the final slog of the run portion – the fatigue setting in as I know all too well.

The race marshals and volunteers kept up the enthusiasm and cheering to keep us moving, and when the finish line was about 10m ahead I ran ahead to the finish line to get him to run into my arms for a big hug and toss like we did in practice.   Spectators were kept away from the finish line so getting a picture was hard, but I assure you there was a big smile on his face.  We collected granola bars, raisins and of course cookies as post-race snacks, but he was surprisingly uninterested in Gatorade or water.  There was barely enough time to get congratulated by his mother and take another look at the sail boats before the rain really started up, and we hustled out of the park.

GAME FACE! Shark Boy shows his teeth!

But not before a few victory poses.  I’m very proud to have another endurance athlete in the family, and I really think he’s going to show an increasing knack for it the older he gets.  Still, my favourite part of the day was at bedtime, when he asked me when he could do another ‘Traflon’… he asked so sweetly and innocently if there would be another chance tomorrow!

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Our First Terry Fox Run

It’s weird that someone who

  1. has been as affected by cancer all too often.
  2. likes running
has never been part of a Terry Fox Run.  Most years it seemed to creep up on me and be over before I could get my plans together.  That’s what wives are good for – we were signed up a few days before and figured we could incorporate the kids like we did in the Levac Attack.

On Sunday, after taking Shark Boy to his first soccer program (no rest for the wicked!), we quickly stopped in at home to get changed and packed for the race.  Making it to those commitments meant skipping the Mississauga Cycling Tour, but you can’t be everywhere at once.

Ready to Rock!

When we arrived at West Deane Park, to be greeted by all kinds of interesting and family-friendly sites including a Remax hot-air balloon and a fire department bouncy castle.  We weren’t sure what to expect, but once we got sorted out at the registration desk, we headed out to run.  As we found out later, we ended up using the ‘South’ portion of the overall run.  With Shark Boy on his bike (and maybe a little tired) we made slow progress which failed to put the Lightning Kid to sleep – the first little while was a bit of a struggle.  We didn’t see any course markers at first, and the only thing that kept us thinking we might be on the right track is that we kept passing other participants wearing Terry Fox shirts and ribbons.  Shark Boy took a little spill near the 2km point and opted to finish in the Chariot. From that point on our walk evolved into a run. We reached the turn-around point and got some nice cool water to refresh ourselves and have a nice chat with one of the volunteers.  He explained the course a little so that I learned we could have done the ‘North’ part had we wanted to do 10km (after a near sleepless night, we did NOT).

Somewhere along the way back, I realized why we hadn’t spotted course markers – we were used to looking for temporary signs… this course is in the park permanently!  There were people walking, running and even biking the course; lots of jogging strollers too.

The event ends at 1:00PM, so we just barely managed to finish the run, buy lunch from the BBQ, and give Shark Boy some time in the Bouncy Castle.

The Terry Fox Run is not only a great tribute to a great, heroic man, it is both a good cause and a nice way to be active for the whole family.