Reggae Marathon regular Ingrid Wilson along with the Off the Grid Running Club will be back in Negril for Reggae Marathon December 2…’Wouldn’t miss it’ says Ingrid.  Runners who love running, they’be been busy with their running adventures: Gasparilla in Tampa, Florida and Around the Bay in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada:

Gasparilla Ultra Update

We are back from the Gasparilla Ultra – 4 races and 50.5km. It took us about 6.5 hours to complete all 4 races despite tummy issues that required Tylenol and long potty line ups and a visit to the medical tent to ice and tape ankles in the half marathon on day 2 and intense humidity and chafing on day 1. On top of it – one of our Tampa/Chicago Reggae Marathon/Gasparilla crew got injured in the last couple of kms in the 15 km on day 1 and was told not to run his last race on day 2. But there he was – lined up for the last race – the 8km today. In fact we all lined up for the 8km – declaring that we were finishing even if we were walking in and walk we did. Cheered along by supporters; volunteers and police officers – laughing and smiling all the way cause we knew we were finishing and our challenge medals were at the end and we could eat and drink anything we wanted now that the challenge was over. You all rock Derek; Nancy; Selina; Dave and Bernard! #stackedtrainingworks #ultrachallengeshurt #thiswasfun.

Special shout out to our Gasparilla Ultra Support Man – Sheldon (Selina’s husband) who got us to the early race start lines and waited for us to finish our races. Carried our supplies in his handy backpack. Took us to buy donuts; cupcakes; water; beer; wine and chips and anything else we needed to get to the finish of this challenge. Put up with us whether we were tired; hungry or just plain miserable and always with a smile. We are so taking him with us again to the next challenge!

Around The Bay RACE UPDATE (30K)

Around The Bay is over and it was pretty tough! Very cold and very windy – everyone brought back up run outfits or were second guessing whether they were dressed appropriately for the race. The bonus was that the rain held up except for a few sprinkles part way through the race. Our Crew came out to represent with 25 plus of us out there running the relays or the 30km. It was awesome to have the crew cheering in the stands as we all finished our race and headed back upstairs to the group. A huge congratulations to Gillian May who completed her very first full 30km – you did it Gillian! Port Credit Runners are the best!

I have to say – I underestimated Around The Bay – something I will not do again. Despite training for this race and thinking that the old course we were running was the “easier” course – that wind and all those hills almost did me in. In fact – I think they threw some extra hills in out there:( It was especially tough as I was running by myself for the first time in several years. Yesterday – I left coaching behind and ran my own race aiming for my goal time – with Coach Ron’s voice ringing in my ears. We all started the race together though – lined up behind the 3:15 pace bunny who at the start of the race took off up the road with Rick and I chasing her. We caught and passed her at about the 2km mark and then passed the 3:20 pace bunny who had been ahead of us. I never saw the 3:15 pace bunny again. I continued along either running behind or just ahead of Rick until about 8km and then continued along aiming forward to the finish – running pretty much with the same group of people for most of the race. There was one guy in a blue jacket who was motivating and coaching everyone around him for 30km – gotta love it! The rolling hills after the 18km mark were a challenge – despite the fact that I had run these hills before without too much difficulty – it was a challenge getting to my goal time for the 20km mark. At that point there were lots of people lamenting as to why they were doing this!

Coming up the hill to finish, I went shaking off the legs and running with the wind blowing you sideways. Just before the 29km mark – I walked for a few seconds to loosen my screaming glutes – let out a huge sigh and a supporter waiting for a runner – smiled at me nodded and reached out and squeezed my hand as if to say “you’ve go this”! Just what I needed as I was still chasing the 3:15 goal time. Just as I got into the finishing shoot on the street – a group of ladies yelled at me “time to sprint” – I waved them off with a not yet as I still had to get down that awful ramp and then sprinting to the finish catching the 3:15 finish time. Legs enflamed but it was over and I headed up the stairs to be greeted by Stuart and Ron – Stuart with the thumbs up and Ron with an “Ingrid” and a big grin. Thank the lord the race is over!