Mini Ponies Take to the Streets of Quebec City

While most of the herd of Mini Ponies was volunteering and ensuring a successful Chamberas Race, a vanful headed to Quebec City to take on the "Circuit Courir a Quebec". CP Pizarro represented NETT in the full marathon, Eminem & Amanda muscled through the 1/2, & Little Skittles (not so little anymore) took on the Canadians in the 10k. As usual NETT
also traveled with its chief photographer, doctor, and electronics wiz...aka Dustin, Dr. Ron, & Daniel.

The runners headed out at 6am to catch the ferry & respective buses. Amanda, Eminem, and Noah were able to walk together to their buses, while CP had to split from the group and hop on the ferry to Levis and then a bus to the starting line. Little Skittles was up 1st for his first EVER 10K! He ran like a seasoned veteran, running conservatively for the first 5K and then speeding through the second 5K. He ran an impressive race, finishing in 44 minutes!! The kid pulled out a 20 minute 5K for the 2nd half of the race when he realized tht 10k isn't that long afterall! Hope the Belmont XC team & their competitors are ready to be smoked!

Next up were Karyn & Amanda in the 1/2 marathon. Both went into the race with a strategy and stuck to it. Amanda made the 13.1 miles (21.1K) look easy. She covered the course in 1:33, which earned her the honors of being 9th out of 656 in her age group -- and 14th woman! Karyn, sped over the course in just under 1:50, one of her best races of the year, giving her a 15th place out of the 211 old ladies in her age group! They worked the crowd as they flew over the Quebec streets (drinking beer and eating poutine on the way) and made NETT a household name. (Okay...the beer and poutine are a bit of an exaggeration)

Finally, it was time for CP to tackle the marathon (and the men).  She ran the first 1/2 in just under 8's - using the bulkier men as wind blocks to alleviate the headwind off the St. Lawrence River. She barreled up the hills, running steady, but passing people all the way. After the 1/2, as the race headed toward the Quebec Bridge, she started to quicken her pace and really got cranking...clicking off some sub 7:30 miles. During the last 10K the weather started to heat up, and there was no shade to be found. Rather than be bothered by the heat, CP decided to start noticing her surroundings - which was beautiful scenery and gaining ground on many other marathoners. At 7K to go, she started counting the number runners she flew by...at the end the number ended up being around 93 people (99% men...sorry guys). She flew to the finish, watching every kilometer pass by (Canadians love their metric system). There was a cohort of NETT supporters awaiting her finish. She finished in a time of 3:24:06, good enough for 3rd in her age group & 11th woman overall!

Thanks to the help of Dustin, Ron, & Daniel, the race was well documented and all of the logistics were perfectly planned out. It was a successful trip for all, so successful that Dr. Ron found the need to breakout into the 'Gangnam Style' dance...believe it - it all happened!

GMP