A long way to go and a short time to get there: Part 1

Until 2011 every year in Squamish the STORMY! (Squamish Test Of Running Metal, Yeah!) race was held and a few hundred people got to run in the mountains.

Only a few days after joining PRR in 2009 I got to volunteer at the event and I got my first view of ultrarunning. Ross, Ed and Ellie were running the 80 km (50 mi) race, John, Terry and Susan were racing as the JeTS and three other club teams took part in the relay over the 80 km course. I was enthralled. I had heard about ultrarunners but never known one let alone seen a race. I had run 3 marathons by this point and thought I knew what pushing yourself was about, here were people doing practicaly double that distance over mountains! As I manned the PRR tent at the half way point, just before 9 Mile Hill, don't worry it is actually only 6 miles :), I saw people of every shape, size and ability come past. Maybe not all had a smile on their face, although most did, but all had the unmistakable shine of someone doing something amazing in their eyes. Ellie went on to win and Ross and Ed both finished their first 50 miler, and as for me, well I was hooked.

It took several more months before my friends got me out on the trails. I was nervous about venturing into the woods, I had images of rolling ankles, falling down hills and face planting into the mud, all of which has happened numerous times now, and this kept me from trying it out. At last Sukhi convinced me to try it out and I've never looked back, well I have done on occasion and that is normally when I trip, roll and smack into to things.

Over the next few months I learned on to be lighter on my feet down hill thanks to John, push harder on the up thanks to Susan and faster on the flat thanks to Terry. And as the summer of 2010 rolled around a competition was born. The JeTS would be racing STORMY again and Sarah, Barry and myself would challenge them as team BaDaSs. They had about 30+ years of trail running experience on their side we had a 10 year (+/-) lower average team age. We lost. Experience won out but as I saw Sukhi push across the line finishing the whole distance solo, I declared that as the race fell on my birthday in 2011 I would do the whole 80 km that year.

Months past and I did my first, second and third 50 km trail race with a sprinkling of marathons thrown in and I was getting ready for the STORMY challenge. Then the rumours started. STORMY wasn't going to be run that year. Eventually the official announcement came that permits could not be obtained and for 2011 STORMY was taking a break. I was frustrated. I was fit (ish) and ready to give this a go but it just wasn't going to happen.  I could have done other 80 km races but STORMY was special. It was a fun course, not to far from home and I knew I would have a ton of support from my friends and club members.

So again the months went by, I ran the Juan de Fuca trail on the Vancouver Island (a story for another day) and a and a few more marathons to keep me going and then the great news came out that the race was being reborn. Gary Robbins, local runner and top ultrarunner had some downtime and decided to fill it with organising a new and improved course. The race was aptly renamed the Squamish 50 (SQ50) and after a small amount of second guessing myself I signed up for my first ever 50 miler!

My training was varied at best. I took part in the Knee Knacker (another story for another day) and tied on to that some practice runs on the new sections of the SQ50 course. My fitness had slipped a little and when my scales asked if I remembered the weight I had previously lost because it was back and this time with reinforcements I knew that I could have done more to prepare. But never the less, race day was approaching and what I lack in training I make up for in stubbornness, which actually is a really good thing for ultras as no matter how fit you are at some point your body is going to ask the question "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING TO ME?" and it is really nice if your brain can respond by going "LA, LA, LA I can't hear YOU!".

The final days ticked down and due to unfortunate timing we found out that Julia would be out of town for the weekend of the race. I know what your thinking, "Yeah, sure, UNFORTUNATE timing" but Julia assures me she was really looking forward to spending a day in the hot sun chasing round the mountains after me, picking up my sweaty gear as I swapped t-shirts and filling my hydration pack, all whilst listening to my whining and self doubt. This left me trying to find someone silly enough to take on the job. That narrowed the list down, add in being a good enough friend and that shortened it further still. Long story short (I know, I know) and a few glasses of wine later, Amber graciously, if a little slurry, offered to help out on the day.

Barry was also going to be running his first 50 miler and although he was guaranteed a PB agreed to still share a room the night before (there is a back story which may or may not come out at a later stage). This meant Amber not only got to crew both of us, who have wildly different paces ensuring that a moments rest would never be hers, she also got to spend the evening before picking up race bibs and listening to us obsess about the following day. Lucky girl. 

We were early enough to packet pick up to have little in the way of lines and had plenty of access to the complimentary Howe Sound Brewery beer keg. Ultrarunners tend to be a little more relaxed about drinking the night before a race. We grabbed our awesome race shirts, Gary and an co-race director Geoff had landed sponsorship from Arc'teryx, and headed off to sample a few more of Howe Sounds beers, oh and get some food too.

A mention hear must be made to Amber who was tee-total (ish) that weekend so she could drive Barry and I around and we could enjoy said beers without concern. She suffered for us that weekend.

A quick pint or two and some mac n' cheese to fill the carb loading quota and we headed off for an early night. Now I have heard some grumbling that I attempted to sabotage Barry's race by falling asleep first, snoring and keeping him awake. I maintain this was self defense as I have fell victim before to not hitting REM fast enough and having to listen to Barry's tone-full sleep pattern. Regardless, sleep was had and the morning arrived...

This was meant to be a single post race report about SQ50 but in my usual style I realise that I have somewhat rambled on. I do happen to feel that it is important for you to understand what led up to me choosing to do this race though. So to stop your eyes from bleeding out, I will stop this post here and split the actual race report into the next post. I can hear the baited breath. 

Until next time, auf wiedersehen.

Birthdays come and go

Well I certainly have been busy over the last week so I will try and not bombard you with my usually level of mind numbing detail.

After much self congratulations on hearing I had finally completed my Open University degree last Thursday morning, I wandered up to Swanguard Stadium in Central Park to watch the final of the men's 5k race in the World Police and Fire Games. Not wishing to show any disrespect to the fireman of the world out there but it seemed to be they received a good drubbing from the police. But that is just my take on it, not sure who came out on top for the entire games. The racing was good and it gave me a chance to practise some sport action shots with my camera, as it turns out I still need more practise.

Thursday nights club run turned out to be a little harder than I had imagined. A large number of the club was taking part in a 80k (50 mile) trail race on Saturday so I had thought that most would be taking it easy on Thursday in preparation for this. I yet again underestimated these guys. Their idea of tapering for a race is very different from mine. In brief, after running up a hill ()I say hill but I think crampons would have been more suitable than running shoes) to what I can only guess/hope is the highest point in Metro-Vancouver, we had a brief respite in Queen Elizabeth Park (awesome views) before running (free falling) down the other side of the hill to the site of the 2010 Winter Olympic village. After reaching (hitting) the bottom I committed the cardinal running club sin of falling so far behind that I missed the pedestrian traffic light and the rest of the group had to wait for me to play frogger across the road to catch up to them. It didn't get much better from there, I managed to keep them in line of sight until the last kilometre then just meekly finished off.

I don't want you to get the wrong idea here. The rest of the runners in the club are fantastic, they have been really friendly and welcoming and have never once complained or even rolled there eyes (that I have seen) as I gasp for breath at the back of the pack. I also don't want you to think that I'm not enjoying it either. It is a great challenge every time I go and I feel even in the short time I have been going, my running has improved. So far each run has had a different route and I'm seeing parts of the city and surrounding area that I would not normally see. Running clubs are only as hard as you want to make them, give it a go, you don't have to be fast or take part in races, you get to meet some great people who encourage and help you achieve what you want.

Friday was my Birthday!!! Thank you to all those that sent messages, it was great. After a finishing work and speaking to my Mum I had a day of mooching around, and buying myself some presents. I have now got my wireless network up and running so watch out for the video guided tour of the apartment soon. I also got the Wii connected up so I could practise my tennis. In the evening I headed off downtown to try out another restaurant , this time The Keg won my business. The Keg seems to be a Canadian chain who specialises in steak, who am I to argue. I had a great meal here and while a little more expensive than else where, on special occasions worth the extra, nothing too fancy but nice. After steak, jacket potato and a range of deserts (best not to ask) I got home after having a good night out.

As mentioned a little earlier, PRR members were taking part in a race over the weekend called the Stormy Trail Race which wound it's way around the mountains of Squamish valley. This was meant to be a relay race which the club had entered 5 teams, but some thought that the idea of taking part in a 80k (50 mile) relay version of the race was a little to sissy for them so they attempted the whole race on there own! I had volunteered to help out at one of the aid stations along the course and to be a backup runner if anybody had to drop out. I could do a whole race report here on the days events but in the hope you are still reading this and I would like you to finish I will be concise.

The alarm went off at 3:30am and I was picked up at 4am, FYI, people were still coming home from a good night on the town. We got to the race start by 5am and the race got underway at 6am with a 12 hour cutoff for the race. I nearly got to run a couple of times but on both occasions the opportunity was wrenched from my grasp (sigh). I spent the day eating sweets and crisps that were meant for the runners and cheering as they went by. Meanwhile, our club runners put in an amazing effort. Every team finished and one team only missed a prize due to a course marshal mis-directing one of there runners. All of the solo runners finished under the 12 hour deadline and not only that but Elle beat the male and female course record from last year, winning the women's race and coming third overall having taken 57 minutes of the female course record (her own). These guys did an amazing job and I can't wait to give trail running ago myself. This will have to wait just a little bit though as the amount of lost skin and blood makes me think I will wait until after the marathon. An awesome BBQ followed the event and finally made it home at around 9:30pm. Long day and I didn't even run.

Up early again on Sunday at 5:30am. This time it was my turn to run. I was taking part in the Delta Half Marathon which was about 25 mins south of Vancouver and most importantly, flat as a pancake. Due to some interesting difficulties with my car here I was very grateful for the lift to and from the race. On arriving at the start the first thing I noticed was the three fire engines lined up out side the leisure centre where the run was starting from. I'm still not sure what the problem was but the result was there were no restroom facilities, thankfully a nearby tree did the trick for me but members of the female persuasion were getting a little antsy. A Porty-potty was found and after a 15 minute delay the race was started. Just before we got off a light rain started which kept me nice and cool, if a little damp, for the race. I set off well and after settling in everything went well until the course turned into the wind, in all fairness wind might be an exaggeration, draft would be more fair but at the 9 mile mark it was enough to slow me down a little. My target was to finish in between 1:30:00 and 1:35:00, I crossed the line in 1:32:27 so job done. They had a nice pancake breakfast for the finishers, a good medal and just as important for me, a good ribbon too.

For future reference, a steak dinner on a Friday night, an early morning the next day eating sweets, crisps and BBQ, followed by a late night, another early morning and a 13.1 mile race does not a happy stomach make!

I'm going to cut you off at this point as there is more to come from the day and I don't want to overload you. I'll post again soon.

Thanks for reading.