Heat and humidity are not typical conditions for an early-morning running race through the streets of Prince George.
But by 7:30 a.m., Sunday as she lined up for the start of the Canadian Tire/Y Road Race, Char Balogh knew her lean runner's body was in for a world of hurt for the next hour and a half.
By the time Balogh and Jim Van Bakel took their final strides across the finish line at Masich Place Stadium, the mercury had reached 18 C and the humidity was still hovering around 60 per cent. That was less than ideal for a long race but not an insurmountable problem for Balogh and Van Bakel, who ran with each other from start to finish and won the women's and men's half marathon.
"Jim would have beaten me very easily if he wanted to because he's faster than me but he was running with me at my pace," said the 32-year-old Balogh, who finished in 1:27:47. "It was no leisurely stroll, it was tough. It's warm and humid and I like cool. I'm not a heat runner. The big hill on Ospika (Boulevard) with about 5K to go, that always gets to me. It's just at a spot where you're pretty tired."
Van Bakel, 41, said it took him a long time to recover from the Ski to Sea team relay race two weekends ago in Bellingham, Wash., and he was still feeling it Sunday.
Ski to Sea combines cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, road running, road biking, trail running, canoeing, mountain biking and kayaking. He was part of an eight-person Prince George Express team which included Pat Turner, Greg Blackburn, Mike Smith, Hugh Fisher, Stefan Widmer, Don Williams and Scott Forrest, which combined to finish 10th out of 352 teams. Van Bakel ran the road race, a 13km route, all downhill, and it left him hurting.
"It took me until two days ago to feel normal again," said Van Bakel, who's training for a new three-day ultra-marathon off-road running event in Golden in September.
Van Bakel didn't mind the heat Sunday but he knows a cooler day would have given him and Balogh faster times. He ran the Hart Half-Marathon in much cooler conditions in April and clocked 1:18:50.
"For performance I would have preferred 10 C and raining, but for actual comfort and fun, this is a real close second," said Van Bakel. "Today I was just here to run with Char to try to pace her to a goal time but I don't think she was feeling 100 per cent. Even effort is the key with all the hills. There are some pretty good hills at the beginning and it's rolling so it's hard to find our rhythm."
Grant Yule and his wife Jean, whose combined age is 170, were in a class of their own in the five km race. Grant, at 87, was the oldest runner on the course and finished in 38:25, while 83-year-old Jean held up her end of the bargain when she clocked 46:18.
Grant says he was born to run but grew up in an era when running was not popular with the masses and it wasn't encouraged.
"When I got into the air force (in the 1940s) I kind of had to hide it because you were a bit of weirdo if you were a runner - if you were smart you sat in the beer parlour and had a drink," said Grant.
He didn't get serious about it until long after he and Jean moved to Prince George from Manitoba in 1965. It wasn't until 1988, when he was 60 that Yule met up with Dick Voneugen, who saw him running and asked if he'd be interested in competing in the B.C. Seniors Games. Yule took him up on the offer and by the time he was 75 he'd run his first marathon.
He took that a step further two years later when he ran the Boston Marathon. Back then he was training 30km per day three times a week.
Now, he and Jean run three five kilometres, three times a week.
"It's the best thing that's ever happened to us, really," Grant said. "It increases your energy, increases your lifespan and your enjoyment of life."
Jean didn't start running until she entered the B.C. Seniors Games at age 65. She gradually built up her endurance with a few 10km runs and by the time she hit 75 she decided to tackle a half marathon.
"I was sitting in my rocking chair when I was 75 and thought, 'should I learn a new crochet stitch or should I take up scrapbooking? No, I think I'll run a half marathon," said Jean.
Her first attempt at the 21.1 km distance was in the Y race in 2007 and she wasn't able to finish, but she and Grant traveled that year to Regina, where the half marathon course is flat, and she finished in three hours 16 minutes.
"There are no heartbreak hills in Regina, just little tiresome knolls," she said.
Amy Merritt and Barry Nakahara were 10km winners, both in 40:51. Zachary Matyas was the quickest of the five km runners in 17:23, 90 seconds ahead of his father Steve, while Margaret Jones-Bricker topped the women's list in 23:06.
