Baker Lake 50

*Mount Baker - Southern Aspect from Start/Finish Area

Lately I've been staring at our local mountains in awe. Likely because the air is crystal clear and the sun is low making them extra vibrant and spectacular. On a day free of valley smog, I've always felt this way about Mount Baker and often wondered about the terrain just beyond it. 

My late, half-assed, registration into the Baker Lake 50 answered that question this past Saturday and has left me wanting more. The race route took racers up the south side of Baker Lake to the mouth of the Baker River through thousands of ups and downs and twists and turns. The elevation gained and lost was unassuming until the return trip home. Every little hill became a fight after 40k and the red-shirted Portlander in front of me was the carrot I needed to get it done. We pretty much ran the entire race together.

Race start was 8am so I rose from the tent to sip my smoothie, nibble a bagel avec Pocket Fuel and light a coffee fire in my ass under lantern-lit cold and darkness. It was uncomfortably perfect. Being a self supported race, I packed two Salomon Advanced Skin bags. One was for the first 25km and the other for the drop zone and route back. In hindsight, a work of genius. 

In a bit of a daydream we wandered through the camp site discussing the day ahead. We had about 10 minutes to lay down our drop bags, yak with fellow racers and get moving... so we thought. The moment my drop bag hit the back of the pick up, I heard the RD shout, "GO!". A quick, "What the f#*k?" came out of mouth and off I went in last place.

*That's me third from the right in last place leaving the start line at 7:56am

Quickly I snaked my way up toward the dam crossing to immediately slow and stare at the ass end of Mount Baker. I hadn't seen it the night before because we arrived in the dark. After a quick look, my good friend Graem and I started making our way through the pack where we eventually hit what we'd come for: SINGLE TRACK HEAVEN. 

*Heading west along Baker lake back to the finish.

Not being able to help it, I let my legs roll immediately and left my rookie friend in the dust. He had never run anything this long before and I figured he was being smart and settling into a comfortable position. I was anything but comfortable by the time an hour had gone by. My right hip flexor started yelling at me and the toes on that foot went to sleep with the occasional lightning-type pain shooting through them. Being in the middle of nowhere, my only choice was to continue to the turn around and drop out. I've never dropped from a race in my life and I had a little over an hour to come to terms with it. Permanent damage wasn't worth it. A gorgeous landscape in all new terrain and I was wallowing in self-pity. Things couldn't have gotten worse...until they did. My "first time ultra runner" buddy, Graem, comes on to me like a train, yaks me up a bit and plays on through. Again, "what the f#*k!?". I was already into my 50k pace and I knew I was doing it right so I let him go. "Rookie mistake", I kept reminding myself. I ran about 100 meters behind him and two others to the turn around at which point I dropped my Advanced Skin pack, saddled up another and was gone. He later said he looked up from his own transition mess and I had disappeared.

My foot and hip flexors hadn't gotten any worse by this time, I think because I focused hard on my technique immediately after being run over by my buddy. I made sure to shorten my strides, stand tall and really engage my glutes to be as efficient as possible and avoid loading my hip flexors. With things being no worse, I had no choice but to continue my race. Now I was running scared though and I fought the entire way back to avoid another mental beating by Graem. Having left the turn around with a great runner from Portland named Todd was a blessing. We pushed and towed until about 48km at which point the wheels came off my bus and I entered survival mode.

Todd took 5th place by about 1 minute and I settled for a, not too shabby, 6th place in a time of 4 hours and 40 minutes. Graem had made a mistake in running by me early on and finished in 5:32. Nonetheless, a damn brilliant time for a first timer.

Again my Speed Cross III's treated me right as did my Fast Wing Hoody and Advanced Skin packs. My splits were 2:19 and 2:21. Unfortunately the first 3/4's of my return trip was a touch too fast and I paid for it with a 2 minute positive split. Super proud of my overall time though. A perfect way to end my season.

*Thanks to Solana Leigh (Klassen) and Hubby Photographer for the pictures.

A Two'fer Weekend

It's been awhile since I had a loaded weekend like this past one...let alone one this great. Not only was the weather brilliant, but the events were even better.

As usual, 5 Peaks put together an amazing show at Buntzen Lake on Saturday. It was amazing to run the Diez Vista trail again too. This trail really seems to suit my strengths in climbing and technical, rocky, rooty dancing. My time of an hour 30 was good enough for 11th overall.

Sunday too was outstanding. Over the past few years I've been sidelining Cyclocross races and thinking I'd love to try it. This year I got on it. Of course I was nervous as most people are with new things. I had no idea what I was doing, but saddled up and got in line to start 40 minutes of lung seering craziness. Vanier Park CX, put on by West Coast Racing, was a super fun, albeit dry, course. It was windy and fast with a few short steep hills and barriers. Thank god for warm up laps so I knew the lines to ride.

Here are a few pics from Vanier, thanks to Sam Gilchrist.

Jumping the barriers after a crap dismount

Jumping the barriers

Remount

Next weekend I'm off to Concrete, Washington for my final Ultra of the year, Baker Lake 50k. The weather is promising with higher than normal fall temperatures.

P.S. Thanks to Salomon West Vancouver for my new riding kit. You absolutely must get in there and try'em on.

The Place to be on September 21st

Meet Your Maker 50 & Relay

Meet Your Maker, a 50 mile ultra through the stunning landscape of Whistler, and the dreamchild of 5 Peaks' Kathryn Stanton, came to fruition this last weekend. And with outstanding success I might add. The 5 Peaks team put together one of the most amazing race experiences I've ever been part of. They must know god as well because the weather was absolutely perfect.

Having run the Squamish 50 a few weeks back I regretfully vowed not to run 50 miles again for awhile and so registered with a Salomon Flight Crew Team to do the  Meet Your Maker relay. As many of you know, the relay experience is super fun as you jump from leg to leg and see who can catch up or who will be caught. It's tense at times, but you can feel the camaraderie deepening throughout the event; Great for our Flight Crew Teams as we only really catch up once a year.

It's not often I am able to run in the alpine of Whistler mountain or any alpine for that matter so I requested an alpine leg. Munny, our illustrious leader, gave me legs four and five. Leg four is like no other trail run in the world. I received the relay beacon, sprinted 75 meters, and sat down inside Whistler's Peak to Peak gondola for 12 minutes. Our team was in 7th place and I knew I had some work to do and so didn't really enjoy the anxiety filled ride from Blackcomb to Whistler. Upon touch down at the south end, I flashed out of the tiny red cabin to run straight down hill for almost eight kilometers to Creekside. The run was uneventful other than a short pee break half way down Franz's until and a super dancy section of single track just prior to the end. It wasn't until I ran through the aid station and began leg five that I realized how messed up my legs were going to be after this was over. With a filled water bottle, I turned back up the hill and headed into the trees again toward the Cheakamus River. This leg was mostly old skid road until reaching the river itself. At this point you enter single track heaven and burn it down and down and down until finally reaching the exchange at Function Junction. Sore legs and all, I nailed the fastest time of the day on that section and the second fastest downhill time on my previous leg.

The relay beacon into Munny's sweaty, little hands and I was done. I put my hands on my knees, took a couple of breaths and looked up to see Munny had completely vanished down the road. My performance brought us into 5th place and Munny's  performances, one of which was a bit mysterious, got us another two places for a third overall finish and 1st team of males.

Your winning team (Me, Munny Munro, Ashley)

It was an amazing event and as has been quoted several times in the last week, I can't wait to Meet My Maker next year. With teary and proud eyes, Kathryn and her team were able to announce that this event is a certainty for next year on September 1st.

Thanks to Salomon for a terrific weekend. Great people. Great food. And a whole lot of laughs.

Congratulations to our Flight Crew Captain, Phil Villeneuve, for a well earned second place in the 50 miler. Four days later and my legs are finally coming around. I can't imagine yours have been any better.

One Tardy Squamish 50 Recap

Photo rip off from "Mr. Most Ultra's in a Season" himself,  Josh Barringer

I got me one these medals in what I have since called the hardest athletic undertaking I  have ever done. Slightly over fifty miles and somewhere near 10,000 feet of climbing, my mantra became one of two things: "every step is progress" or "I get to stop running soon". Fortunately the latter came after 70k and it really was to be soon.

The former began after kilometer 40ish, where the course comes out onto Perth Drive. Prior to that I was cruising mantra-less and absolutely loving the single track likes of Rigz n' Zen, Crouching Squirrel..., Credit Line, 4 Lakes, Made in the Shade, Ed's Bypass, Endo, and Roller Coaster. 

Photo Credit: Glenn Tachiyama - Just off Debecks & into Rigs n' Zen with Pricey. Thanks, Pricey!

As many of you know, Roller Coaster spits you out onto Perth Drive and so begins a kilometer of road running before the flow-sucking parasite that is that f'n bark mulch trail over to the first of too many Fire Service Road (FSR) loops. My mantra got me up "Mount Olympus" to the top of Quest University where I'd see my cheering squad (and Brian McCurdy who's just a swell dude). The 100 meter climb wasn't my favorite, but a necessary evil to reaching my drop bag for the first time. Big smiles from my wife and daughter and huge crowd of half marathon excitees. Coconut water down, a second bottle, a shot of sunscreen, and the most unromantic body glide teste rub of all time. I was off again with a very very temporary renewed existence. Trotting up the FSR with the likes of Adam Campbell and other half marathoners in tow, I dug into my mantra again. Every step is progress when who should come into view, the author of my mantra by Twitter, Mike Palichuk. Smiling ear to ear he sent me across the flank of the the mountain to the dreamiest single-track of the day. Across George's Bridge and the Mashiter FSR to ascend Skookum and descend the Powersmart series, across the road and down Fred's into Word of Mouth. At the end of Word of Mouth, I stayed right and slipped into a trail I'd never run before. It was fabulous and best of all, spit out half way up "Mount Olympus" again to my drop bag. I didn't have to run all the way from the bottom to reach kilometer 58. 

This is when I started to realize how hot it was. McCurdy looked at me and said, "Hot, huh?" And he wasn't talking about himself. I dropped a bottle, misted myself in Kinesys, grabbed some more food, and off I went realizing he was right. It was HOT! I hadn't noticed until he told me how to feel.

As I do in most ultra distance races, I started to focus on segmenting the remainder of my run. FSR and Pseudo Tsuga, FSR to Powerhouse Plunge and into the final aid station of the day. After that came Crumpit Woods and that wasn't even on my mind yet. Nor should it have been. 

Cursing the name Gary Robbins and tootling up that FSR again...YES! AGAIN, the second loop wasn't so bad but dropping into Pseudo Tsuga wasn't as dreamy as I thought it might be. A former old school downhill trail, this thing has been buffed up with smooth flowing corners. What is incredible on a bike however isn't always incredible on legs with 60+ kilometers in them. The descent was tough and I oddly wished for the FSR again as it would lead me to the right this time and up toward the Powerhouse Plunge and my final segment.

It was good to see others suffering here as I passed four runners to find out they had black numbers indicating they were running the full as well. At this point I was looking for anything to bring morale up. With little chat in me I left them behind, cleared the Plunge and started thinking about the final aid station and my journey to the finish. Tired legs or not, the Plunge was wicked. It's fast and turny and technical; just the wake up I needed before seeing my family at the final aid station. A few smiles and cheeky jokes from Ward Beemer, a kiss from Lara, along with two glasses of Coke and off I went into Crumpit Woods. I really worked hard at this section because I knew it would be easy to lay off and walk all the hills. Trouble is there are too many hills and I'd be walking most of it. Running took just about the same amount of effort as did walking anyway so it made sense to push it. I kept thinking, "I'm actually going to finish this and my body is fine". Early on I had expected an injury or something to plague me.  The run down the asphalt of Plateau Drive didn't bother me at all. It was after exiting the Smoke Bluffs parking lot that my eyes started closing. I was starting to fall asleep in mid stride and was talking to myself in order to stay awake right until I crossed the finish line in 9 hours 30 minutes and in 12th place.

By 9 hours and 31 minutes, and still in 12th place,  I was laying on the grass with my very excited daughter feeding me watermelon and flaunting the medal I was given at some point that I don't recall.

My girls fed me sandwiches and Pricey's crew, Mr. McGregor, kept me smiling with his silly banter. (Special thank you to McGregor too, for bringing my lost water bottle to the start line for me). It wasn't long before Pricey came cruising through looking great. Congratulations, Chris. What a brilliant season you've had as you go into your last one next weekend, Meet Your Maker.

Almost two weeks later and after some serious reflection, I'm certain I'd challenge this race again. Gary and Geoff did an outstanding job of showcasing Squamish and making this race an instant classic. I have run/raced 50 miles many times however, and I must say that never has it been as hard. By all accounts this was a very challenging 50. Finishing times were slower than expected even in the top of the field. My greatest relief was hearing Ellie Greenwood say it was one of the harder ones she's done, if not the hardest.

Hard or not, I'm grateful for a full day and the achievement. Cheers to Gary, Geoff, Squamish, and so many Volunteers.

Ahead of Squamish 50

I've been thinking a lot about this weekend's Squamish 50 and what advice I might give myself or what advice others might give me. Guys like Krupicka might say, run shirtless while Killian might say, in broken English, have fun and run fast up hill. Gary Robbins has told me start slow; slower than you think is appropriate. Distance Runwear's Dave Cressman told me via Twitter, "just remember it is supposed to feel as hard as it is so don't be disappointed by the pain but enjoy it".  My mother simply says, "How far? And why? I hope you like running".

I'm know I'll enjoy the day and I'll likely take it easy on the hills with my shirt on, but this video is exactly what I needed. Take the 12 minutes. Tim Noakes is brilliant.

The Mind of the Injured

A while back, I wrote a blog questioning "when are you a runner?". Some of the responses were hysterical and mostly based on what one is not - "a jogger". A jog is "what you do to warm up for running" or "that is what my high school PE teacher made us do", were some of the responses.  Would a jogger force him or herself out the door to train for an upcoming race regardless of pain? No way! This is the job of a "runner".

For this reason, I evidently think of myself as a runner for injury has once again reared it's ugly head in the form of foot pain.

Something strange is causing numbness, tingling and spear-like pain in my feet. It started a few months ago as a warm sensation on the lateral and distal portion of my right foot and has slowly wormed it's way into being occasionally debilitating. Several recent runs have become beautiful forest walks, but still I race, 5 Peaks Squamish on June 9th, Redbull Divide and Conquer, on June 16th, and Comfortably Numb, this coming weekend. The training runs that haven't been debilitating are just the dangling carrot I need to convince myself I still CAN race. 

Here in lies the problem for most runners with injuries however. We tend to bargain our way back out the door. Who wants to miss a day? We're driven and seldom do you meet a runner who says, "I'd rather  not run a P.B. at my next race so I can skip some training days".  When we are plagued we hit the computer and after a short Google search highlighting our personal ailments and a hasty self diagnosis, we find a way to justify the most conservative approach to managing the injury. Rarely is rest accepted and no way could surgery ever be required. And who's going to let a physiotherapist or chiropractor tell them what to do? A couple ibuprofens and some favoring of the injured area and off the runner goes to tackle his long run day which becomes even longer and slower due to walking back to the car in a puzzled and depressed state. "What could've gone wrong out there?",  he thinks., while completely ignoring the fact that he ran with his fingers crossed the entire time.

So why do runners do this? Betterment. In John L. Parker, JR.'s book, Again to Carthage, the sequel to Once a Runner, he writes the following and it totally wreaks of our will to rationalize running injured.

"When you're a competitive runner in training you are constantly in a process of ascending. 

That's it. 

It's a simple idea, but the more I thought about it, the more profound it became to me. 

It's not something most human beings would give a moment of consideration to, that it is actually possible to be living for years in a state of constant betterment. To consider that you are better today than you were yesterday or a year ago, and that you will be better still tomorrow or next week or at tournament time your senior year. That if you're doing it right you are an organism constantly evolving toward some agreed upon approximation of excellence. Wouldn't that be at least one definition of a spiritual state?" 
Quenton Cassidy -

The issue of injury, as it pertains to the true and injured runner is simply that the constant state of betterment is halted. And more poignantly, that others are continuing to develop and become better while you sit and wait out your ailments. If running is so deeply seeded in your mind and body so as to be spiritual, it is easy to see why injuries that prevent one running can be so depressing. And why we push ourselves to get out there in pain seems sane and justifiable. 

Two pain free runs this week following a decent, but conservative race weekend, and I look forward to Comfortably Numb this Sunday. The odd throb in my foot tells me I should lay off until after receiving professional advice, but my spirit says race. If it goes well, I'll convince myself  I'm fine. If it goes badly, that little voice inside my head will be saying I knew it!