April 25, 2010

As expected the Bay wasn't one of our fastest (2:45:28.1 clock - 2:45:12.4 chip), but it was exactly what I was predicting based on our Chilly Half Marathon time.

Based on the Bay time, I was expecting to run a sub 4:00:00 marathon in Boston. You actually have to do some hill training to run a decent race Boston and I knew I hadn't because of my knee issues. So Amanda and I toed the line in Hopkinton with the Hoyts, planning on a training run, not to race it. We had just about the best weather of any Boston marathon that we had ever experienced. We crossed the finish line on Boylston Street in a time of 3:59:19.

Amanda had a great first half. She thought the bike escort dude was pretty funny and she loved the people cheering for her, but she didn't like the odd bit of head wind ("wind in the face"). The last 10 miles is just loud and busy. After 2 hours of people yelling... Well, it gets a bit much for her.

In the last five miles we stopped and aided three runners that were in trouble. One gentleman from Japan was having bad leg cramps, so we gave him a couple of salt capsules, half a bottle of Gatorade and the advise to walk to the next water station before we moved on. It must have worked because the same gent caught us just after the finish line and thanked us for the aid. It's stuff like this that makes me love this sport.

Next race? Not sure, but I'm sure we'll be doing a number of the VRPro races over the summer.

March 7, 2010

Amanda and I haven't done a lot of running together due to weather and scheduling, but we did run the Chilly Half Marathon today. Not a great time (1:45:37 chip), but it is what I had in the tank. Knee problems are still keeping me from doing any speed work. That's my excuse.

Amanda on the other hand, enjoyed the day, fellow runners and the excitement of the day. Yes, she still finished a head of me.

Next race on the schedule is the Around The Bay 30 km at the end of March.

January 14, 2010

I've been negligent in doing updates on the this page. Please accept my appologies.

Amanda and I didn't do a lot of racing in 2009, due to weather, injury or my focus on Ironman Canada. We did manage to do the Chilly Half Marathon in March, the Grandrapids Marathon in November. We also ran a bunch of fun 5 km's at the end of the year in the Santa suit, the Hanika Hussle, the Jinglebell in Burlington and the Reindeer Run in Buffalo NY.

This year we are signed up for the Chill Half Marathon again, the Around the Bay 30 km (both in March 2010) and one last trip to the Boston Marthon in April 16, 2010. It's getting far too expensive in my opinion, so this will probably be the last time for the spring time pilgrimage.

That's as far as I've committed, but I'm sure that Amanda will talk me into doing a bunch more before the year is out.

November 11, 2008

Please remember why November 11 is special. I do my best to try. I have three running routes that pass by the graves of our veterans, one on the Beach path and two are in near by cemetaries. I always make it a point in stopping for a few moments and saluting our honored fallen.

Sorry for the late update. Time slips by so quickly.

Race day weather was almost perfect for me. It was a tad chilly, but it was also sunny. Light tights, a long sleave shirt, running vest and ear warmers for me, the sleeping bag, winter coat and hat with ear covers for Amanda. Well, I did say it was almost perfect, the wind at the end was the only negative.

And Amanda hates wind in the face...

Over all the race has the possiblity of being one of the fastest I've run. Not for us this year, but maybe another year.

October 13, 2008

Race director Esther Pauls from the Runners Den in Hamilton Ontario invited Amanda and me to run in this years Road 2 Hope marathon. Actually, she asked us last year, but it was scheduled the day after the Florida Ironman event, so it wasn't going to happen.

Not only will we be racing in the event but we'll also be talking at the pasta dinner.

For those that don't know, Esther has been doing great charity work for years. It's one of the few charity events where I know that every dime that can be raised goes to where it can do the most good, rather than being gobbled up in administrative fees. The Pauls are making a difference in lives in Haiti and in Hamilton.

July 19, 2008

Been there, done that, we gots wheelchair division T-shirts.

What can I say about Utica that hasn't been said before. It's a great race, with amazing community support, the best after race party that I've been too and probably the most supportive race management for disabled atheletes for any race in North America. They went out of their way to make sure that Amanda and I had the best race experience possible. They even created a new division so we could be correctly catagorized. I just can't say enough for the race and it's directors.

Thanks again Gary Roback and your whole team.

I ran wearing the Toronto Achilles club singlet, and after the race we were greeted by a fellow Achilles member. We chatted with the legally blind runner and compared notes on the course, the weather and what a great race they put on in Utica. It wasn't until after that some one told me that the runner in question was also the Governor of New York, David Paterson. How cool is that?

Amanda was awake at 5:30 AM laughing and tapping on her wrist, "Is it time to go?" Due to rain we wrapped her legs in a garbage bag and her top in a plastic poncho, but we didn't need it on the race, as it stopped about 10 minutes before the gun. At the party after the race, Amanda had a yogurt and the bag of potato chips in my food bag. Ya gotta replenish those salts and proteins when you are an athelete.

Race time: 1:14:07..

June 3, 2008

The director of the wheelchair event contacted me in person and granted us permission to participate in the Utica Boilermaker this summer. He was very accomodating and I'm looking forward to meeting him in person in July.

I'm not entirely sure I'm looking forward to climbing Golf Course Hill with Amanda, but I'm sure we'll have a hoot on the decent. I better start working on my leg speed now.

May 29, 2008

I've asked permission from the race director's at the Utica Boilermaker 15 km to participate at this year's race. I've ran in seven of them and it's a real hoot of a race. I'm hoping that they will let us start with the wheelers and share this race together.

I'll update the news posts when I find out one way or another.

March 23, 2008

Well, I managed to nuke the news page while adding the Around The Bay article printed in the Hamilton Spectator (reprinted here).

Note to self... Make backup before editing a file as a template. -sigh-

Other news...

The first of the spring races was completed successfuly (Chilly Half Marathon) and now it's time to think about the The Bay. Then Boston. I don't think I'm ready yet.

Amanda and Mark Collis are a fixture in the Hamilton/Burlington Ontario area running scene and have been participating in races from 5 to 50 kilometres in distance since 2000.

They have had the honour and pleasure of qualifying and running in the prestigious Boston Marathon with their heroes, Rick and Dick Hoyt in 2005, 2006 and 2008.

Revised: April 25, 2010 .

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The latest information on what we are doing.

So you wanna run with
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During warmer weather we run with:

the Foot Tools Run Club on Wednesday nights at 7:00 PM at Foot Tools in Burlington, Ontario

- or -

with the Burlington Runners Club on Saturday mornings at 8:30 AM from the Aldershot High School pool parking lot in Burlington, Ontario

You can drop me a line to make sure we are going to be there: Team Rocket