Training Log Archive: Bash

Event: 3rd Annual Falls of Hamilton Run
 

Today was the latest edition of Trav and Baloney's Waterfalls of Hamilton run (WoH). This has become a most excellent New Year's tradition. Last year 'Bent had to bike instead of running because he was recovering from knee surgery. This year I offered to take the more unmanageable of our two beasts (BazingaDog) to let 'Bent enjoy his run.

The combination of icy trails, BazingaDog's mega-strength and his excitement about his first group run proved too risky so I abandoned the idea after less than 10 minutes. Several others were cautious enough to run on the road from the start, including Reid Coolsaet who probably doesn't want a twisted ankle or rock-smashed knee to interfere with his training for the Olympics. Wimp. ;)

BazingaDog and I turned around to trek/run the slippery Bruce Trail in the other direction, aka the "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Waterfalls of Hamilton" run (WDNNSWoH). We visited Sherman Falls and Canterbury Falls on our route so we didn't miss out completely. The trail remained icy but was a little less technical in our direction. More importantly, my crazy puppy wasn't trying to catch 'Bent anymore. Even so, he pulled hard enough that I needed cleats about as desperately as I've ever needed them! It was a beautiful morning for a run combined with a random strength workout.

Trav and Baloney's hospitality was incredible as always and the company was excellent too. Once again they offered up the Best Brunch Ever featuring Trav's fresh homemade waffles with a multitude of yummy toppings. To make Pathetic miss Canada a little (he's already leapt ahead into 2012 without us), I'll mention the bottomless cups of Domestique coffee we drank by the fire.

BulletDog had a fun run with canine hostess Trix, 'Bent and the gang and was a perfect party animal afterward. Other than BazingaDog mistaking the Hottage's lovely high-ceilinged living room with its beautiful rug for the great outdoors (ack!), our New Year's morning couldn't have been better. Thanks, T&B! :)

Happy New Year to you and yours! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you in 2012. :)

Light snow fell through the night so the ski conditions out our back door looked good. That, along with some freezing drizzle and fog, convinced us to ski from home instead of driving an hour north to Highlands Nordic where the skiing was undoubtedly excellent today. We were so happy to be out playing in the snow!



My hair got coated with hoar frost.
(Don't touch that, Auto Correct! ;) )



Snow ranged from 5-15 cm deep with a thin crust from this morning's freezing rain. We did a lot of trail breaking, climbed over a few logs, crossed a few roads and snuck across a couple of forbidden fences (sshh!)

We skied from home through Palgrave West and Palgrave East, then crossed the fence onto the Reddington golf course.

On the far side of the subdivision, we had to take off our skis and bushwhack down a slippery hill to get around another barrier labelled with a "Danger: Electric Fence" sign even though it is just an ordinary chain link fence. (After my rogaine with JayXC this summer, I know what a *real* electric fence feels like!) That got us to the rail trail which we skied into Albion Hills.



There was much less snow than in Palgrave and the park wasn't officially open for skiing. We did the Red Trail before returning home on a slightly different route.



I'd brought 2 peanut butter cups and 2 gels for a 3-hour ski; 'Bent only brought 2 peanut butter cups. I'd been planning to buy a bowl of chili at the Albion Hills "Vegetarians Not Welcome" cafe, which turned out to be closed. I'm not sure what 'Bent was thinking!



As 'Bent's wife and adventure racing teammate, obviously the right thing to do was to eat my extra food myself so he wouldn't make the same mistake in future. ;) We were both ravenous for the last hour - too busy obsessing about what we would eat for lunch to do any extra loops in Palgrave West. Sadly, this weekend's rain will decimate our beautiful snow.



'Bent said, "This was a perfect Friday!" :)

I didn't want to wreck the Palgrave trails for XC skiing so I took BazingaDog on his first hilly bushwhack in the snow. It felt like snowshoeing- except for the lack of snowshoes. Lots of logging debris and fallen trees from windstorms. BazingaDog still can't be trusted off-leash and pulls hard, so he gave me a bonus upper body and core workout in addition to choosing some non-optimum routes. Logged at 50%.

Skied mostly in Palgrave East - ungroomed trails plus half an hour of bushwhacking. With the relatively thin snow cover, debris and hard frozen ground, it would not have been a pleasant outing for a novice skier. I landed hard on my, um, gluteus maximus on a steep, narrow downhill trail and will likely have a bruise. But it was awesome fun otherwise - I love gliding through the silent forest. Too bad about the rain forecast for tomorrow afternoon. :(

Hydration is *so* important.

Snow! We only had about 12 cm by the time it settled but it draped beautifully on the trees and transformed the forest into a winter wonderland.

This is our driveway. Good thing 'Bent commuted to work by ski today.



The west side of our property is ready for tobogganing.



I went for my first XC ski of the year! The pines in Mad Dog Meadow looked like they belonged in a Christmas TV special.



The Palgrave West trails were beautiful in spite of a little debris. It's looking like a Happy New Year! :)

It's been on my bucket list since university and it's finally going to happen! 'Bent and I will ski 11 km over two mountain passes to Skoki Lodge and spend a couple of nights at 7,100' in the backcountry of Banff National Park. The lodge, which was built in 1931, has no electricity or plumbing but has loads of ambience, history, good wine and yummy food. Prince William and Kate spent a night there during their Canadian tour this year; a royal flush toilet was helicoptered in specially for the occasion.

Most impressive training-related accomplishment of the day: I got halfway through a massive clean-up of our outdoor gear room, even washing the (filthy) floor. Time for some editing too.

Slippery run around Palgrave West in 5 cm of snow!

More of the Daily Show.

Short "morning after the turkey before" run from my parents' place with BulletDog. Mostly on a trail along the Grand River with a little off-trail detour into Glenhyrst Gardens.

Nice version of Carol of the Bells played on classical guitar and piano. This makes me want to start practising again!

Merry Christmas! Today's training plans include carb loading, stair climbing (when we're carolling at the hospital) and team building activities. Hope you have a great day too!

'Bent and I are celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas at the same time this year. In this musical number, Jon Stewart explains Hanukkah to Stephen Colbert.

Preparations for Operation Christmas are almost complete so I had time to go to Glen Haffy to test most of Keith's Thomass Caledon race course before sunset. I was hanging flagging tape at controls so it wasn't a hard workout. Weather was cold with a light dusting of snow - so nice to have a little winter!

More earthquakes in Christchurch :(
Heartbreaking - they've been through so much already.

Tonight was fellow Salomon Flight Crew member Ryan Barrett's Winter Solstice Run from 4:43 p.m. to 7:48 a.m. He did loops of approximately 1 hour from the Salomon Store, joined by runners who came by to keep him company.



Simpy, Bugsinteeth, TheMinister and I did our first lap with him at 9:30 p.m., heading from the store into Edwards Gardens and back. Nice, chatty pace sharing stories with each other and with the other runners.



In between laps, we were thrilled to see WandAR who had come out to offer support in the form of home-baked Christmas cookie packages. What a yummy surprise!



TheMinister headed home and the rest of us headed out for lap 2 with Ryan and several other runners. It was getting close to midnight after that and I still had a long drive back to Palgrave, so I switched to Christmas shopping mode while Simpy and Bugsinteeth headed out for a 3rd lap with Ryan. Fun Solstice celebration!

Last call... Winter Solstice run based at the Salomon Store tonight. Ryan Barrett, a fellow Salomon Flight Crew member, will start running at 4:43 p.m. when the sun sets and continue until it rises at 7:48 a.m. He'll be doing 8-10K loops that take about an hour, and he'll come into the store after each loop to pick up runners. Speed is not a problem - he'll adapt. Bring a headlamp and trail shoes and come prepared to take advantage of a 20% discount on everything in the store, which will be open all night!

P.S. Simpy, Bugsinteeth, possibly TheMinister and I will arrive at 9 p.m. for 1 or 2 laps plus shopping.

Not the last call but getting close...

Canadian Death Race registration opens on Jan. 10, 2012 and the solo division apparently fills fast. It's on the long August weekend 3 hours west of Edmonton - 125 km of trail with about 18,000' of elevation gain. Solos have 24 hours to finish. You can do it solo or as a relay team. I've heard some rumblings from friends interested in trying the relay. Feel free to put a comment here if you'd like to find other like-minded relay runners.

Confirmed solos (assuming we get our registrations in) include Mrs. Gally, STORM, Dee and me - and probably others that I'm forgetting in the pre-Christmas rush.

Tweaked my meniscus yesterday and lay awake in pain half the night, imagining my new hobby of knitting instead of training for UTMB. It seems to be improving today but still crackly. I did a very complete set of knee stabilization exercises and now I'll try some red wine therapy.

In a month when we can get tired of Christmas carols, 16-year-old musician Sean Quigley has done something fresh and fun with Little Drummer Boy in the snowy streets of his native Winnipeg. He's also become a Youtube sensation with his video viewed over 1.2 million times in less than a week!

Today's Facebook status from one of my young elementary school friends:

"Ok right about now I'm getting really sick of these boring old people singing "I'm Dreaming of a white christmas" look we all know its sad but I bet ur not helping the world by warming it! So suck it up!!!!!!!"

Aackk!! Thunderstorms in the forecast for Wednesday. :(

I took a break from our main activity of the weekend (moping about the poor snow conditions) to check Facebook where I discovered that all the cool kids were mountain biking today. It was the best choice for a day with frozen ground and 2 cm of snow after a long-ish run the day before. Tomorrow it will be +6C and raining - bleaaghh.

'Bent located and installed a spare pair of cleats on my new Exustar winter bike shoes, which have been sitting in a lonely box in the basement since last winter. They're going to work well but one pair of socks isn't enough after the first 45 minutes. Fortunately, there is room for really thick socks.

In the name of science, I was also testing one of the pieces of Salomon Fall/Winter 2012 sample clothing that arrived on Friday. It worked just fine, Phatty - toasty warm.

We explored the trails of Palgrave East, avoiding the gnarliest stuff where a slip would hurt the most. My semi-slick tires didn't provide reliable traction so I'll have to set up my old bike with knobbies for winter riding. However, I hope to be very busy soon with skiing and snowshoeing (she said with a hint of desperation in her voice).

In a shocking development, I am going to use my training log to log some training.

'Bent and I ran west on the Bruce Trail side trail toward Glen Haffy. He wanted a longer run than I did today but he's much less keen on running alone than I am so he did an easy 7.25 km warm-up with me on the uphill section to the Glen Haffy stile, then he kept going for an extra 8 km loop while I headed back home.

It's been two weeks since the 50-ish miler and I was happy to feel a training effect, i.e. I felt stronger than the last time I did this run, rather than feeling trashed from the 12-hour race. 'Bent commented that the pace seemed almost exactly the same on uphills vs. downhills vs. flats. Translating that from 'Bent-speak, it probably means, "I had to hit the brakes behind you on the downhills." Guilty as charged: my ankle was untaped and I was cautious. It's still mildly painful but it feels like my proprioception is coming back nicely.

The weather was delightfully cold, about -8C with 2-3 cm of white stuff on the ground. Not enough to ski but enough to make us believe that maybe some day we will be skiing around here again!

After following her footprints for 6 km, we were delighted to run into ultrarunner extraordinaire Slowrunner - who still insists that it's not tights weather yet.





GPS died at the trail junction off the Gore Road on the way home. Luckily, I've done that run so many times that I don't need Garmin to tell me anything about it!

My 5 favourites from the 50 Funniest Tweets of the Year :

"With American Airlines stock at 20 cents, I can't decide between paying for two checked bags or buying half the company."

"CNN: 'American Visionary Steve Jobs Dies'
FOX News: 'America Loses Jobs under Obama'"

"The McRib is vaguely shaped like a rack of ribs in the way that the people who eat it are vaguely shaped like people."

"Mark Zuckerberg screwed over his classmates and his best friend. Do you honestly think he cares about your opinion on the new layout?"

"I'm done learning new things until someone can prove to me that we won't have Google forever."

Truncated core class with Caron since we had to move upstairs to the big room afterward for the Christmas yoga class. Arrived a little later than we'd hoped due to BazingaDog panicking when I yelled at him because he was playing extremely roughly with BulletDog and risking injury to his surgical incision. He responded by leaping onto our bed and peeing on the down comforter. Ah, the joys of having a puppy...

Christmas yoga class with Caron teaching and Patrick Dilkie playing the keyboard. Dimmed lights, big Christmas tree in the room and a very peaceful feeling. During the relaxation (not logged), Patrick played and sang "Hallelujah". Had a couple of really good chocolates afterward. Perfect.

"Oh, the outrage. Who knew that you need to swear to get the media coverage on climate change, even if indirectly? You'd think that the threat to human civilization itself would be enough."

Huffington Post: Why aren't more of us losing it like Trudeau?

1 Check Engine Light +
1 Very Bad Smell +
6 Engine Stalls
=
1 Car Family
(until we figure it out)

Fellow Salomon Flight Crew member Ryan Barrett is going to be doing a Winter Solstice run on Dec 21-22, based at the Toronto Salomon Store. He will run from sundown (4:43 p.m.) until sunrise (7:46), completing a series of 1-hour loops 8-10 km long, passing through the store each time to pick up runners for company.

The Salomon Store will be open 24hrs to accommodate this. Anyone who comes out to show support or run with Ryan will receive 20% off, and the store will be doing a draw for a couple of pairs of shoes for the runners.

As adventure racers, the whole "sleep deprivation" thing is right up our alley - not to mention the "saving money on Christmas shopping" thing. Hope a few others can make it over there to keep Ryan company. Easy pace. Some road and some trail. Bring a headlamp.

Reminder: Caron Shepley's free 1-hour Christmas yoga class with live piano music is tomorrow evening in Caledon East. Note to self: make cookies for post-yoga socializing. Better yet, buy some. Event details are in my Dec. 10 log entry.

Btw, if you're wondering if I will ever log any real activity again, the answer is: "As soon as I've made a bigger dent in my Christmas 'to do' list." I'm antsy to get training again and have been thinking a lot about revised strategies. Fortunately, the December rain makes it a little less painful to be stuck indoors.

Oh no! Two great winter events both fall on the March 10-11 weekend.

CNYO Snowgaine, Sherburne, NY
2-day (daytime only) winter rogaine

24 Hr XtaSki, Nakkertok Ski Club, Ottawa, ON
24-hr non-stop solo or team relay XC ski event

It's not every day I'm handed a Visa receipt that says "Castration - $400". I spent the rest of the day keeping an eye on BazingaDog who is supposed to stay "quiet" for a week until his incision heals. A Lab puppy? Quiet? God help us.

After Tobler got spayed, she was so mad at us for not walking her that she slipped out the front door at 6 a.m. when 'Bent got the newspaper. She ran up our steep driveway to the main road and barrelled down the centre line on the pavement toward the village. (We lived in Schomberg then.) 'Bent was in hot pursuit running like an Olympic sprinter wearing nothing but a bathrobe and a pair of rubber boots - the closest footwear to the front door. Hope he didn't scare any kids.

It's the "best of " time of year. The Globe & Mail has published Canada's Top 10 Most Famous Quotes of 2011.

#1 - “Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world.”
— NDP Leader Jack Layton, in a letter to Canadians before his death in late August.

They also listed Canada's Top 10 Most *Infamous* Quotes of 2011.

#1 - “This just proves what a nation of pussies we are.”
— Don Cherry on news that Canada's murder rate is at its lowest since the 1960s.

Oh, Don - stick to hockey.

Other interesting lists - iTunes Store Top 10 Podcasts downloaded by country. "This American Life" is so popular in several countries - not to mention in a few Attackpoint logs - that I've finally broken down and subscribed.

iTunes also publishes a "best of" list entitled Rewind 2011. Canadians did well!

Best Audio Podcast - Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean
Best New Audio Podcast - The Age of Persuasion
Best Video Podcast - TED Talks

Can't argue with any of those choices!

Thomass Chase - Fun, challenging (physically and navigationally) course. For my handicap, it wasn't obvious which controls to drop. If I were dishonest, I would say that I blew this race because my legs were tired after last weekend's 82.4 km spin through the Marin Headlands. But the truth is that my body felt good, if not super fresh. It was my brain that let me down!

I think this terrain was the most challenging for my ankle of anything I've done since the injury. Much of it was rock hard, recently frozen mud, which was unnerving as I hurtled down high, steep stream banks, careening from sapling to sapling. The flat areas were blanketed with dead leaves and fallen logs with areas of mossy rocks. Even with spikes and ankle brace, I could either focus on my footing or the map, but not both at the same time. And hey, it turns out that makes a difference! :) By the next race, my ankle will be ready for prime time and I *will* stay focused on the map the entire time. Grrr.

'Bent set what may be a new record by losing two $75 SI-6 cards in one day. The first was his own, which was missing from his O kit on arrival. The second was the one he subsequently rented from the club. I'm not sure we can afford for him to keep orienteering. We have confirmed that Hammer will carry the SI card when they do the Snowshoe Raid together next month.

Great day to be in the woods, awesome organization and fun GHO club party afterward. Thanks to Hammer, Etoile, Baloney and all the volunteers.

Huge congrats to Tiny on winning Athlete of the Year honours! Well deserved.

Easy run in Palgrave West with both dogs, attempting in vain to tire them out before today's Christmas party. Lots of brief "sniff & explore" stops. I'm cutting BazingaDog lots of slack this weekend since I feel kinda bad that he's losing some of his boy bits on Monday. 'Bent is looking a little nervous! ;)

Very cool Christmas event in Caledon East this Thurs. Dec. 15.

We're regulars at Caron Shepley's core and yoga classes which are aimed primarily at triathletes and runners. For her Christmas yoga class, she is once again teaming up with talented jazz pianist Patrick Dilkie for a special yoga class with live music (not the same old Christmas carols!) They tried this last year and it was awesome. To get an idea of Patrick's style, listen to a bit of Georgia on my Mind, which he played last year. People will likely bring treats for a little post-yoga socializing.

It's free and yoga novices are welcome. Just bring a yoga mat or towel to the Caledon Community Centre on Old Church Rd., 1 km east of Airport Rd. between the police station and the hockey arena entrance. Yoga concert starts on the main floor at 7:30 p.m. If you want the 20-minute core class too, it's at 7:10 on the lower floor.

LosDobos has started a Google map showing locations of races in northeast North America where runners can earn points for the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc. The list will grow since UTMB is willing to add events that meet their distance/elevation criteria. This is something you can initiate yourself for a particular race.

The organization offers several events in the Mont Blanc area at the same time. The more of us who go to France, the merrier! :)

UTMB (166 km, 9500 m elevation gain)
CCC (98 km, 5600 m)
TDS (109 km, 7100 m)

To do CCC, runners need 1 qualifying point. Funderstorm and Hingo each earned 1 qualifying point at the 50K in San Fran last weekend so they're good to go for 2013.

To do TDS, runners need 2 qualifying points which is what I got for the 50-miler.

For UTMB, runners need to earn 5 points in no more than two races, e.g. TNF 50-miler + Death Race.

For all events, points need to be earned in 2011 and 2012 for a 2013 race.

Video about last weekend's TNF Endurance Challenge in San Francisco and the appeal of ultrarunning in general, featuring the Salomon international running team. Mostly worth watching for the great shots of the race course if you're considering doing it.

Moab last week of March. Who else wants to go for a ride or run in the red rock? :)

Funny, I had expected to take December off running but the snow is so gorgeous that I have to get out into the woods instead of sitting on a bike trainer or something. BulletDog preferred this plan too. Hope it'll be deep enough for skiing soon.

I'm surprised that recovering from 12 hours, 83 km and 3100 m of elevation gain has felt about the same as recovering from Run for The Toad - 5.5 hours, 50 km, not very hilly. I'm sure there's more going on in my body than I know, e.g. this new study talks about right ventricle performance decreasing for a week after 5-11 hour races.

But I was only aware of the usual two days of sore quads, plus I'm also catching up on two nights of terrible sleep before and after the race. I wouldn't want to do a big race this weekend but I'm feeling energetic and keen to get out. Yahoo. Too bad I'm so far behind on all my Christmas stuff; I won't be getting out a lot until I've made some progress!

(Overly long) race report for TNF 50-miler is posted now.
http://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/pe...

Easy run in the snow with BulletDog. Felt pretty good! (Distance estimated.)

Event: North Face Endurance Challenge 50M
 

The North Face Endurance Challenge 50-Mile Championship.

Warning: this report is way too long!

Six months ago, Cathy G. announced the plan - a group trip to France in 2013 for the 166-km Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc. She had me at "Alps" but we need to qualify by completing two other long distance trail runs with significant climb before attempting UTMB with its 9,500 m (31,000') of elevation gain.

If it seems inexplicable that anyone would want to do that, this video makes it clear. :)



So that's how I ended up in San Francisco for The North Face Endurance Challenge 50-Mile Trail Championship - one of the hilliest and most competitive races in North America at that distance. It's not the best place to run your first 50-miler but since I had no idea if I could complete UTMB within the 46-hour time limit, I wanted my qualifying events to push me way out of my comfort zone. It's OK if I find out that I'm not cut out for UTMB but if it's a hopeless cause, I don't want to spend two years working toward it.

I've run a couple of 50K trail races in southern Ontario. TNF50 would up the ante in two ways:

1) It would be my first-ever mountain run, with about 3100 m (10,100') of elevation gain, and
2) It would add almost 33 km to my previous longest run (The race course is actually 51.2 miles).

If I could finish TNF50 and follow up with a mountain race of 100+ km in 2012, I'd be eligible to enter the 2013 UTMB lottery next December.

Like most adventure racers, I tend to approach single sport events with a combination of respect, enthusiasm and inadequate specific training. This time I had 12 weeks to prepare - a ton of time by my standards. I'd be starting halfway through the 24-week 50-miler training plan, but I felt good that I'd have time to focus. This good feeling lasted exactly one week until I sprained my ankle. It improved after a few days and only affected my training a little, then I crunched it much harder in Week 5, and all my plans went out the window. Instead of long trail runs, quad-pounding downhill repeats and strength training, I did rehab exercises and shorter road runs, visited the chiropractor, tested ankle braces and held ice packs on my foot. My fitness had been better at the start of the 12 week period than it was right before the race - sigh. My ankle still hurt as I was packing, and just for good measure, I caught a cold the day before I left.

I was going to California regardless because:

1) I'd convinced Sally H. and Paul H. to come too. They'd both decided on the tough 50K event that has about 2000 m of elevation gain.
2) Audrey K. had agreed to pace me in the second half of my race so I was strongly motivated to get to the finish line. After she'd been generous enough to fly across the continent to help me, it would stink if I dropped out after an hour of running together.
3) I'm really lucky to be in a position to even attempt a cool adventure like this, regardless of how it turns out.

Sally and I flew to San Francisco on Thursday. My stuffed-up sinuses screamed as the plane descended. It took an hour to drive to our hotel in Marin County, including a rush hour trip across the Golden Gate Bridge.





By then, I had a crushing headache - the worst I can ever remember. I crawled into bed at 5 p.m. I'd been craving a wonderful dinner but the thought of food nauseated me so Sally was on her own. I felt horrible and worried that I might not be able to start the race. Luckily, a few hours of sleep and some ibuprofen did the trick. My GI system recovered more slowly than my head, which meant five porta-potty stops during the race. 'Nuff said.

On Friday, Sally and I drove along the coast on Hwy 1 and visited two aid station locations. Until this point, we'd been focused on race logistics but now we felt excited by the beautiful terrain.





The highlight of our day happened in the winery town of Sonoma where the server insisted on checking both our IDs, haha. :)





And I hugged a tree in the town square.



Paul arrived and the three of us had an early dinner. I Leukotaped my ankle and feet and set out breakfast, race clothes and two gear bags that would be transported to aid stations. Audrey arrived after I'd gone to bed. My alarm was set for 2:45 a.m. but I slept so poorly that I got up earlier.

It was a chilly morning as 360 of us gathered at the starting line in Fort Barry in Golden Gate Recreational Area. We huddled around heaters as we waited in the dark.





As a Salomon Flight Crew member, it's amazing how often I get mistaken for a top runner in spite of all evidence to the contrary. The photographer who was working with the international Salomon running team took a number of pictures as I prepared to drop off my bag.



The emcee at the start asked us to raise our hands if it was our first 50-miler. A few of us did. The woman beside me told her friend, "If this is their first 50-miler, they're f&*#ed." Then she saw me and hurriedly apologized. I laughed and told her she was probably right.

We started at 5 a.m. under black skies pierced with brilliant stars. People in my part of the pack walked uphills briskly unless the slope was extremely gradual, and I followed suit at first since they knew more than I did. It was cool to have so many people with me. I'd had visions of being alone in the dark at the back of the pack, listening intently for mountain lions rustling in the bushes, but there were always people around for the entire race. We all used small headlamps because we would have to carry them for awhile after sunrise, so I only had a 70-lumen Princeton Tec EOS that I'd normally never use for racing. Other runners commented on how bright it was! (That's me on the left.)



I was super careful for the first 90 minutes in the dark. From 5-10K, we ran a long downhill on an eroded fire road and it would have been easy to step in a rut and turn my ankle. The uphills were much easier than expected since most trails were in great condition and we often climbed on gentle switchbacks. It was very windy on the high ridges and I had to squint to keep the grit out of my eyes. I turned my headlamp off shortly before Tennessee Valley Aid Station at 14K.

I hadn't expected to see anyone I knew for the first 6 hours of the race so it was a treat when Kyle P. called out my name and ran beside me briefly to offer help. I went through the aid station fairly quickly but the boost from seeing a friendly face got me up the next big hill. Thanks, K! Sunrise over the ocean was spectacular.





We ran along a rolling trail overlooking the sea on our way to Muir Beach. I got some very welcome texts from Richard and friends, which I saved to read on the uphills when I was walking. My only goals for this first 50-miler were to finish, learn and have fun, so I took a bunch of photos on my phone, sent occasional texts with race updates and even e-mailed a couple of photos. I just wanted to learn how my body responded to this distance, then maybe I'd try "racing" it another time.





By the third big descent, my quads were talking back to me. We don't get long, pounding descents in southern Ontario and my ankle had prevented me from doing the downhill training that I'd planned.





The descent to Muir Beach was gorgeous. (The better pics are from my real camera the previous day.)







After Muir Beach came the long climb up to Cardiac aid station. The switchbacks were gentle enough that I did a lot of running in this section. If you look closely, you'll see runners in this pic.





I hadn't touched my first gear bag at Tennessee Valley but I stopped at Cardiac. Denise had advised buying brightly coloured bags from a dollar store so it was easy to find my hot pink bag with multi-coloured stripes!

The race travelled into Muir Woods National Monument after this and I wish I'd had a real camera since the forest was incredible.



We emerged onto the Bolinas Ridge to do a 9K out-and-back run with a turn-around point at McKennan Gulch aid station. It was a fairly narrow trail on a hillside. As we headed out, we stepped off the trail to let the returning (faster) runners go by, then as we came back, most of the slower runners returned the favour. The view was amazing and I felt great up here. I'd gone over 40K and I couldn't wipe the stupid smile off my face! A couple of oncoming runners commented on it.





Apparently, this place where we ran over a wrecked car is famous.



It went downhill from here, both literally and figuratively. I'd texted Audrey earlier with an optimistic estimate of my arrival time at Stinson Beach at 46K where pacers were allowed to join us. This was based on how good I felt on the way up the big hill to Cardiac. What I hadn't counted on was how completely crappy I would feel going downhill.

This 1800' descent was mostly in the forest with a bunch of hairpin switchback trails, tree roots, day hikers and wooden retaining steps in various states of repair. I slowed right down as I protected my ankle and tried not to blow out my quads. More people passed me here than in any section of the race - maybe a dozen.

Throughout the race, it seemed that I was faster on the uphills than most people in my part of the pack; this was mostly speed hiking with a little running in sections where the slope was more gradual. On the flats, I was about average but I often got passed on downhills, even though downhill running is one of my strengths in Ontario. I'll need to do downhill-specific training and work harder to strengthen my quads. (This is exactly what Audrey told me long before the race.)

I was excited to meet up with Audrey; it was perfect timing. In the early part of the race, I'd been entertained by the excitement, the scenery, brief conversations with fellow racers and texts from home. For an hour on the out-and-back section, I listened to tunes on my iPhone but otherwise I didn't feel like using it. After I met Audrey, we chatted for almost 6 hours straight, which was awesome. She is one of the most experienced ultrarunners I know so it was like getting Wayne Gretzky to coach a minor league hockey team.



If her pack looks large, it's because she had nowhere to leave her gear so she ran almost 40K in the mountains carrying a puffy jacket and a copy of Outside Magazine!!! We may never let her hear the end of that.

For a 50-mile race, a pacer is a luxury. The top international racers often work with pacers, and so do some of the local racers whose friends live nearby. Someone like me would normally never have a pacer for this distance. I thought it would be fun to have a friend there and useful to be able to draw on the experience of someone who had run these distances before. Also, in longer distances, it's more common to work with pacers, particularly in places with dangerous wildlife or at night when runners get sleepy, so I thought this was a good opportunity to learn how to work with a pacer.

The first thing we did was climb about 1400' on a different trail to Cardiac aid station, then we headed into Muir Woods National Monument.



As we were hiking uphill in Muir Woods at a good clip, the toe of my shoe caught in a tree root behind me as I took a long step. It yanked my toe into a pointed position, straining a tendon on top of my foot that had been part of my injury. I froze and Audrey grabbed my foot and passed it back to me. Bizarre and kinda funny. For the next 5 minutes, it hurt and I limped, then it settled down and I forgot about it.

For someone who has done so many long races, I'm bummed that I screwed up my nutrition. As usual, I carried a bladder so I could drink whenever I wanted. I planned to eat food at the aid stations, a technique that I apparently need to practise. I didn't eat enough during the brief stops, and the things I enjoyed most (boiled potatoes, PB&J sandwiches, Mountain Dew - who knew??) weren't easily portable. Around 60K, I got mentally foggy and started to worry that I'd hit my limit after running 10K farther then I'd ever gone before. I ate what I had and starved until the next aid station where I stuffed my face. I felt fine by 70K and kept eating till the end (about 83K). It would have been wise to carry a few more emergency snacks in my pack since I'm used to eating small amounts along the trail.

We returned to Muir Beach and climbed steeply up to a ridge. Here's part of that trail as seen from a lookout the day before.





We eventually caught glimpses of the city skyline and bits of the Golden Gate Bridge. In the morning, I'd seen all these city lights when we were running in the dark.





The evening light was beautiful as we left Tennessee Valley aid station for the final 9K climb and descent. There was a small chance of coming in under 12 hours so we pushed the pace a little harder. (Audrey could have gone much faster, of course, but she was an awesome teammate.)



The last half hour was the fastest running of the day. At 12:01:41 (chip time), we crossed the finish line.



It was awesome running with Audrey for the second half of the race. Thank you, thank you, thank you!



I finished about an hour faster than I'd predicted and 2 hours ahead of the cut-off time, so I was very happy. I've had a couple of DNFs in international races this year so I got a little teary-eyed around the finish. I ended up 55/80 women and 7 minutes behind the winner of my age group (who may not have sent texts nor taken photos, but I'll bet I had more fun).

Paul and Sally waited to cheer us in and got a little chilled since it was just after sunset. I can't believe I don't have a single photo of Paul from this trip but big thanks to them both. We all went out for really good burgers and shakes, then I had another crappy sleep since my legs were so sore that they kept waking me up!

The next day, Sally and I went for a post-race lunch on the San Francisco waterfront. Crab pasta for me - yum.



And a healthy dessert - a Ghirardelli banana hot fudge sundae.



In trying to learn from this, I would say that ultrarunning is *very* individual so my experience may not apply to anyone else. For me, the challenges of this mountain 50-miler were ranked in this order:

1) Muscles - Sore quads made downhills super painful. I don't think it was much worse than an Ontario 50K though, which is interesting. Maybe there is a limit?

2) Mind - Main problem was the 10K mental fog due to lack of food (I hope) which contributed to some physical bumbling for awhile. I'd expected to be bored but that never happened; I had fun. Obviously, Audrey's conversation was a big help!

3) Aerobic - Almost never the major factor.

So if all goes well, the next step will be the 2012 Canadian Death Race next August. I need to go 45 km farther and climb 8,000' more in 12 additional hours. I now have a better idea of how that might feel and I would hope to be better trained.

I will train differently for future mountain ultraruns - more multi-sport cross-training, more downhill running and a smaller number of longer long runs.

Thanks to everyone for your support. It's really helpful that when I do these crazy things, I never feel alone.

__________________________________

Note: Garmin worked fine during the race but now claims to have forgotten all about it. Kyle posted his track for the last 21.4 miles where pacers were permitted and his friend posted the entire race route.

Adam Campbell (top Canadian, 3rd overall, fellow Salomon Flight Crew member) posted this video of the race (taken by someone else!) on his blog.

Beautiful city.



Race course looks amazing. Hope I still think so tomorrow!



It doesn't sound like there will be live coverage. I'm sure it would be as interesting as watching paint dry anyway. In case you happen to like paint, 'Bent will post any updates that I am able to send him from the race course. Hoping for a few friendly texts to help me get up the big hills! :)