Campbell Valley Stomp 2014: Raised Expectations

The 16th annual Campbell Valley Stomp went off today, and I had high hopes after my New Year's Day result of 2nd place at the Resolution run. This is my fourth running of this race, after completing it in from 2011-2013. I figured at best, I could run a 3rd place finish, knowing that Mike Murphy and Chris Barth were in the race. Those guys are a different breed of runner from me, but over time, I am closing the gap (note: the gap is still wide). I had no idea who else was going to show up to the party, so 3rd sounded reasonable as a best case scenario.

What is the cost of staying fit for a year? The money that goes into running, cycling, and racing.

Recently, Christopher Taylor's article about the real cost of running a marathon was published in the National Post. In it he details the monetary cost of running one marathon in terms of total dollars expended, beyond the entry fees. Shoes, training programs, travel costs, accommodations, souvenirs, and nutrition, among other things, are detailed by Taylor in determining what he spent on getting him through his first marathon.

This article got me thinking: I ran over 17 races in 2013, many of them without a care for the cost of the registration fees, money spent on gear to do the events, or travel costs. I was ignorant to what I spent my money on for 2013. If I wanted to do a race, it fit in the calendar, and was relatively affordable, I would sign up for it.

Resolution Run Race Report, January 1st 2014.

The last few weeks of 2013 had me travelling to Kamloops to take a couple of days after Christmas to ski at Sun Peaks and to partake in some trail running in Kenna Carwright Park. Both activities had snow.Good thing, too.

I decided to sandwich a trail run in between two ski days.

Happy New Year: 2013 In Review!

Without going through every painful detail from 2013, I thought I would share just the mullet of the year, the short-long, the cole's notes version of 2013, before moving onto the 1st day of the year, and my Resolution Run race report.

2013: The year of PBs

What is left over from the year of races. These, and memories.

This year was certainly the best year I have had for improvement gains. I socked it to my 8k (30mins), 10k (37 mins), 21.1k (1:24), and marathon times (3:06). I managed to run in 3 ultra's (and finished two), complete two marathons, and I learned how to get faster by running short course xc races. I won an age cat. national championship; won the age cat. for the lower mainland XC Series; I finished a Gran Fondo, and did not race any cyclocross at all (CX was my passion as of last year--how things change). 17 running races, 10 pairs of running shoes purchased, and a couple of bike races for 2013 make for a very good year!

Here are the stats: