| Athlete Excerpts: Devon Kershaw |
August. What a month!
I finished off that great New Zealand training camp that I yammered on about in my previous post and it remained completely astounding. Believe it. The snow actually got better in our final week down under, with even more kilometers of trails opening up for our gliding enjoyment. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, we were even treated to a 10km loop that hadn’t been groomed in 4 years! The camp was boss.
I spent my first week home getting my life back in order. I endured a few jetlag induced sloth-like days in Canmore before gaining back some energy and sleep normalcy. It wasn’t long before my feet began to itch. After six days at home I drove the 1.5hrs to Invermere, BC to compete in the “Loop the Lake 10km.” We had quite the crew that made the journey to the Renner/Grandi cabin and after a great sleep under the singing pines we all hammered it out on the roads surrounding the Columbia Valley. David Leoni was the real man, and braved the 42.2km beast, running the marathon is 3:15 which is pretty damn impressive considering that he decided to race it the night before at around 8pm. The “GM” (aka – Hullsy) shocked us all by running a 1:40 for the half after “tapering” all week (translation: not running a step for 7 days), and Sara, Nighbor, and I all tackled the 10km. I ran a seemingly slow 32:48, but it was good enough to win by 4.5min and shatter the previous course record by over 3.5min. Sara PB’ed and ran a 40:40. It was a difficult course, with some epic climbs littered throughout, and even though it was mostly paved I found it to be one of the toughest running races I’ve ever done.
I was enamored with the Columbia Valley after my brief Invermere weekend, and soon made my way back there with“team 2010” for their mini-Nipika-camp #2. Located 1.5hrs south-west of Canmore, Nipika (www.nipika.com) is an amazing eco-lodge on the edge of the Rockies and is abundant in trails, rivers, and beauty during all four seasons. Eric DeNys had great workouts planned, and when we weren’t tearing up the trails or roads we were kicking back in the sun… chilling out, swimming, playing some beach V-ball, and even fishing (Widmer and I caught a few small rainbows in the Cross River one night). If you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it.
Post Nipika I had just enough time to do some laundry and pack again, this time for 3-part West Coast adventure. First up was the “The Richmond Flatlands 10km.” I ended up winning it easily in 31:43, which was kind of a bummer. I was hoping to be challenged, but so it goes. I split the 5km in 15:36, and was disappointed to fall off my pace so badly in the last few kilometers, but for a solo-effort I was happy to be under 32. It was a scenic course, and running at sea-level is a real treat!
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