Scott McMillan : Endurance Junky

I am finally back in action! This weekend I raced the Hallow’s Eve Half Marathon which is part of the Ironlung trail series. I wasn’t planning on running this event but Eric emailed me asking if I wanted an entry so I thought why they hell not I need to get a quality run in before the H2H the following weekend. I am glad I did, it was a very challenging course and a fun event.

As far as the race went I felt pretty solid the whole time considering this was my first race since April. The downfall of the race for me was the technical sections where I lost a lot of time, especially on the Griffin Trail (which I have to say may be the most technical trail I have ever run on) I was passed by 4 runners who flew by me like I was standing still in that section! The other hard part about this course for me(and everyone else I suspect) was the large number of stairs, especially the killer set on the Baden Powell going west from the Lynn Headwaters. Stairs in a trail race are hell, it ruins all your momentum and floods your legs with lactic acid. I say it would be like having to stop running during a road race and then pounding of a set or 2 of weighted lunges and then trying to continue on at your normal race pace, not easy.

The race had some outstanding performances by VFAC runners Simon Driver(1:33:06) and Katrina Driver(1:41:26) both took first place breaking the previous course records held by themselves. Simon’s time is mind boggling, to run that pace would be hard for most people in a road race but to do that on a technical and very hilly trail run well that is something. I would say they are the fittest couple in British Columbia.

My Data:
Finishing time: 1:53:46
Place overall: 20
Ave HR 176 bpm - Zone 4.8

Elevation/HR Chart

Course Route