The racers were loaded onto busses and transported out to Mount Nemo where we would be starting the roughly 27km journey back to the finish line. We Started around 9:15am and the 3 of us went right to the front of the group trying to stay in front of any bottlenecking that may occur at the first few checkpoints. Every team had in their own minds the order that they wanted to hit the first few checkpoints and it is always neat to see what other racers plan for their route. We found the first few points with ease and soon after that we split up to enter the matrix section of the course. There was one checkpoint for each team member to get and I took checkpoint "C" in Nemo north. I found that point easily and after punching my card I started to put the card back into my map bag while I was running back to the checkpoint where I will meet up with Ryan and Jack.
I was not paying as much attention to the footing and the terrain that I was negotiating as I should have because I was fiddling with my punchcard. Then, I tripped in a fence that was flat on the ground and I went down very hard. I didn't even know what happened. All of a sudden I was down on the ground in a pile of rocks with a severe lump in my quad. It was about the size of a grapefruit cut in half and hurt like hell. At first I thought it was my kneecap, but I quickly ruled that out. I laid there for about 30secs trying to regather myself and I figured it must of just been a bad charley horse. I applied direct pressure and tried to get the muscle to relax... There I was laying in a pile of rocks, less then 20mins into the race and I was already hurt. I got up and hobbled on my good leg for a few minutes slowly introducing weight and some speed to the painful leg, I needed to stop being such a wimp and get on with it.
I had a brief minute where you start talking to yourself and try to get motivated. It was coincidentally Remembrance Day and I had to think about all of the hard times that our Veterans must of endured while at war. I imagined that I was now running with a serious wound and that I was in battle. It sounds pretty cooky, I know but it really put the situation into perspective. Most of us have no idea what it was like to be part of a world that was at war. The suffering that our grandparents had lived through is incomprehensible for our generation and here I was playing running in the woods with a leg that sort of hurt and it got me thinking about how bad it must of been to be at war. In the end the right quad wasn't that bad. Today (monday) I went to work and yes it still hurt a bit but it was really fine. Back in the forest and back to my leg..., I had not stepped in a grenade or I had not been shot and I was by no means running for my life. What I did have was my remembrance day moment, it was far from silent but to me it was a moment that gave me a shiver down my spine. I would like to say that I am very grateful for how good of a lifestyle that we have today, but the truth is that it is hard to be grateful when we only have a 1min of silence once a year to remember our Veterans and all that they suffered for us. It was moments like this that really get to me.
Okay so I am way off track.... I ended up making my way to the checkpoint where I met Ryan and Jack waiting for me. Little did they know all that had just gone down, in real life and in my head. We hit the next few checkpoints bang on and hit the road section with only one team ahead of us, Canyonerro. We hunted them on the road section and with Jack setting a blazing pace we managed to catch them as we entered into the forest. We hit the next couple checkpoints with them and made our way onto the bruce trail. We were on the bruce trail for a few km's before entering the next section with a bunch of scattered checkpoints. We were being chased by some very good teams and we needed to minimize our navigational errors, because we were making a few. Ryan, Jack and I are all fast runners and not strong Navigators. We would loose time every checkpoint and have to make it up by running faster to the next one. We were all running very well together and managed to enter the last few road sections as the leaders of the race. We held onto our meagre lead all the way to the finish.
I know all 3 of us had a great time and I look forward to racing with these guys again. What I took from the event was something unusual. Sure there is the obvious, a great event with a amazing course. Everything from the race organizers to the race volunteers, it was top notch. What I took from the event was what I had mentioned above. That moment running through the forest with a sore leg where I was able to imagine being someone who we are now remembering.
Thank You Veterans!
