Fort Langley Historic Half

This is a write up a did earlier this year, comparing my first half to what it was like to run the course 2 years later. By the way the Fort Langley Historic Half is what set off my drive to go further distances. 

My First Half

I had just finished my classes, when Balfour walked up to my desk and said, “Just registered for a half marathon, are you in?” After running a couple 10k's over the last couple years this was a goal of mine but always someday. So finding out that he is asking me to join him in 5 weeks with no training was something that I was very hesitant to do. Balfour was very persistent and asked, “If not now, when?” This was the question that sparked the fire, within a few minutes, I was online with my credit card in hand signing up for a 21k race, unprepared and nervous. But hey, what's the worst that can happen right?

About few days later, something bad did happen, I came home after work and developed a throbbing pain in the side of my abdomen that slowly intensified. A few hours later I ended up in the emergency room and found out I have a kidney stone. At this point I contemplated dropping out of the race, but the little guy inside my head said, “what are you, a crybaby?” and from that moment on my tone for running was set.

On race day, I was on the start line with no preparation but filled with excitement to start the race. I had only 2 goals in mind to see if I will be able to hit the 10k mark close to an hour and finish the race. As the race started, I tried to keep Balfour in sight but by the 2k mark he was gone and I was slowly being passed by majority of the people. I noticed the 2.5hr pace bunny was just behind me and decided to follow him. I made it to the 10k mark with time of 1 hr and 8mins. I realized how out of shape I was but keep my spirits high. The course I was running was a very hilly course I struggled to keep running up until the 16k mark. At that point I hit a wall that I will never forget. My body ached, every step was painful and I was not able to run anymore. I was determined to finish so I kept walking just hoping to see the finish line soon. I finished the race with a time of 2hrs and 42mins, very sad for someone of my age. Although not my worst time, that would be my second half that I ran.

Something did come over me at the finish line, a sense of accomplishment that I have never felt in my life. My mind opened up to the possibility that even though I struggled throughout the race, there is not a distance I can not cover on foot. This really set me on the path to fitness, health and the craziness that followed.

Update 2 years later

I have never felt better about my physical fitness or health, my mental state was a completely different story and probably the worst it had ever been due to unforeseen and out of my control circumstances. By now I have completed a number of races from half marathons, a snow shoe race, several number of 10k's, a full marathon (we shall not speak of this), couple endurance trail races and an ultra marathon. My best time for a half has been 2hr and 4mins on a flat course. I wanted an little extra motivation to break the 2hr mark I made a one sided bet with my training partner, Dustin, 2 pitchers of beer if I don't get under 2hrs and I really did not want to pay out.

Starting in the first seed, I was nervous about the race, like before I was not really training for speed. Most of my training has been for longer distances preparing myself for a couple ultras in the summer. Once again my thoughts were, I can do this. As the race started I was relatively at the front of the pack and it scared me a little. Was I going too hard at the beginning? I didn't let the negative thoughts get to me and I stuck with my plan. Steady pace for the first 11k then slowly increase my pace until the end.

One odd thing that did happen was I was slowly passing people and the few people that did pass me came from behind and passed me relatively quickly. This shocked me, as I was never one to think of myself as a fast runner. If you knew me in high school, you would know that I don't belong here. I was at the 10k mark in less than 55 minutes with lots of energy left. Thinking to myself, sub 2 hours should be easily obtainable, so I decided to go for 1hr 50mins. I continued to push harder then I ever felt like I have until I reached the 18k mark. This is where things became really hard for me. I took a few very short walking breaks (less then 20 secs each) and pressed on. When I finally saw the fort I started to sprint only to realize that the finish line was a lot further then I initially realized but with spectators watching I closed my eyes and kept the pace up. I crossed the finish line in 1hr 51 min and 2 secs; also started coughing like I was about to throw up, event organizers were checking up on me while Dustin was laughing. He knows my finishes are not always glamorous. :P

If there is one thing that I would like you to take away from my experience is that is capable of doing a half marathon, any distance or goal that their mind wants. It's okay to not always hit your targets squarely the first time but with patience and will power you can achieve anything. As someone who was never athletic, finished last place every single run in high school PE class, smoked & drank heavily for years before turning my life around is able to do this, anyone can do this.

Vancouver 100

Two days before the Vancouver 100, I was very excited about this run since this was going to be the furthest distance I will have covered by foot and double the distance of any previous run, how could I not be excited. For those who know me, I haven't really done any easy trail courses and when I heard about going from one end of Baden Powell to the other and back, it just sounded like a good idea. For preparation I learned the entire trail and got some significant night runs in. The month of May I decided to keep track of kilometres covered and I was able to reach 298k for the month, so I assumed I was well prepared for this challenge. Oh was I wrong :)

Unfortunately I did not get a great night's sleep before the run, this is becoming an annoying pattern, but I was still all excited and ready for a fun day ahead. I was able to get to the start line and park within meters of the finishing fire hydrant. A few people recognized me from running around the trails over the last few weeks, I guess I do stand out. 

With the first couple kms on the road I kept a decent but back of the pack pace, start and finish was the primary goal, everything else was gravy. After the short road section back to the trail head I started my climb up to Quarry Rock, power hiking uphills and gentle running the flat and downhills. I had great progress to Quarry Rock and took a few pictures to capture the beautiful view. 

View from Quarry Rock

After Quarry Rock, it was uneventful up and down along the trail. I made it to the water tap at Mountain Hwy and refilled my bladder, only 1/2 litre of water used to cover about 15k. I continued onwards seeing only a couple of people, one lady even commenting on my nice shirt Frosty Mountain shirt :) Once I got to the Grouse Grind there where lots of people around so I couldn't slow down and kept the pace, jogging downhill to Cleveland dam where I was able to refill water and have some of my delicious BBQ chicken & bacon sandwich with all the fixin's. Caught a beautiful view of the Lions and took off towards Cypress.

The Lions from Cleveland Dam

From Cleveland Dam, the hike up towards Brother's Creek was a little uneventful but I keep a smile on my face.

The climb up towards the Hollyburn chute was getting tough, just power hiking uphill and taking in the calories, although I scared a couple of young ladies coming out of the chute, as anyone who has run with me I can make a lot of weird noises. I apologized for frightening them and caught my breath and continued on my way. I passed the warming hut in the nordic area and knew I was getting close to the turn off to head towards the Cypress lodge, I knew I was racing to meet my buddy Shawn there, who was crewing for Dustin. In my excitement I wasn't really paying attention, as I was going along the trail I knew something was wrong but instead of turning around right away I continued on for a bit until the trail turn 180degrees from the direction I wanted to go. At that point I decided to turn around and run down to my last known location, which was the outhouse on the way to Hollyburn mountain. Once I got there I headed back up making sure I kept on eye out for the BP triangle markers. I come up on the trail and instantly recognized the flagging that Sean, Kyndra and I did the previous week. But getting lost took an emotional toll on me that slowed me down all the way to the Cypress lodge.

Once the lodge was in site, I was excited to see Shawn, I ran over to his car and saw him napping inside, so I just tapped on the glass to get his attention. It was awesome to see a friendly face, he gave me some iced tea drink that I guzzled back and thanked him for. I also did a change of socks at this point since my socks were ripping to shreds. Shawn informed me that Dustin and his pacer, Gareth, were on their way down from Black Mountain but wasn't sure how far along they were. I wished Shawn a good day and thanked him again before setting off for the “gentle” climb up to Black Mountain. As I climbed up hill a saw groups of people coming down hill, knowing somewhere along the way Dustin, Gareth and other Vancouver 100 runners should be coming the other way. Just before the peak of Black Mountain I saw Dustin and Gareth, we stopped and exchanged a quick summary if each others day so far, wished each other luck and took off in different directions. Continuing up to Black Mountain and then towards Eagle Bluff, I ran into a local celebrity, Kerry. I have seem many of his videos. If you haven't seem any of his videos it's a must to check them out. (see links below) He gave me some words of advice and we when our separate ways.

The Lions from Black Mountain

Eagle Bluffs

Me going down Eagle Bluffs

Going down to Eagle Bluffs, I saw more and more Vancouver 100 participants, chatting with a few of them on the way down, the steep downhill took a real toll on my quads and by the time I arrived at the rock face I felt like I was barely moving. I lost all sense of time as I made my way down. When I finally made it to Whyte like turn off, I knew I was close but couldn't put the distance in to prospective. I kept the calories coming in and felt like I was miles away from Westport Road trailhead. During that section, I had a oh shit moment where I ran out of water. Shortly after my phone rang, it was Holly, my support for the half way and pacer for the way back. I told her I was close and I was out of water. She started heading towards me with a fluids, just moments after as I hung up the phone I realized I was closer then I thought and picked up the pace knowing that I was just minutes away from the turnaround point. Just as I was approaching the last corner Holly popped out with a drink in hand. I thanked her and slammed the drink. We walked to her car where I had some oranges and a change of clothes. Just as I was reloading my pack with food and water, Kyndra and Sean appeared. We updated each other on how we were doing and I left hoping to get a good lead on them with a pacer leading the way.

Refuelling at Halfway

Holly did an amazing job keeping my spirits up during our climb up to Eagle Bluffs and kept a wicked pace for me, I didn't have to think and just had to follow. My quads were still killing me so the uphill felt endless, but with a friend helping out it made the climb up much more enjoyable. 

If you ain't smiling, you're not doing it right :)

The rock face that gave me so much trouble coming down was still hard but we got through it quickly as possible. Once we made it to Eagle Bluffs we had to take advantage of the view and took some pictures and I refuelled. 

Refuelling at Eagle Bluffs

My pacer

We continued on to Black Mountain, by the time we reached Black I was exhausted and the sun was going down fast, but the frogs were singing to us, lifting my spirits for a bit. It wasn't the last time we would be serenaded by frogs during our time on Cypress.

Top of Black Mountain

View of Sunset from Black Mountain

We made our way to the lodge and decided it was time to grab out lights. Just as we did we heard two familiar voices, turns out Kyndra and Sean were just behind us. As they refuelled we took off towards Hollyburn, during our descent towards the chute, Holly pointed uphill. Two bobbing lights were coming downhill fast, it was an amazing site but at the same time I realized we would never beat them to the finish line. They passed with smiles on their faces, and we wished them luck. The rest of the night to Brother's Creek was uneventful with the exception of me wanting to lay down and die. I would of done anything to just lay down and pass out. It was not a good feeling. Thankfully Holly would not let me quit. 

When we got close to Brother's Creek, I was taking the lead and thought I knew were I was going until the trail just seemed wrong. We doubled back to the last BP marker we saw, but it being tired and completely dark, it was a scary feeling. There was a wooden structure that we noticed and recognized. We eventually found the trail heading back to Cleveland Dam.

At Cleveland Dam we were able to refill water and get some food down for the 2km hike up to Grouse. Once we were back on the trail we pushed the pace as hard as I could and just focused on putting one foot in front of the other as the time just flew by. 

As we got closer to Mountain Hwy, we heard an animal coming towards us but couldn't really tell what was making the sound. So I let out a loud roar, which scared Holly probably more than anything. The sound flew over us, so we suspect it must of been an owl. Although Holly seems to think it could of been a dragon. I guess someone was starting to hallucinate. As we reached Mountain Hwy the sun was making an appearance, Holly had to take off to take care of her dog and deal with a moving crew that was coming to help her move. So after the short run through Varley trail, she took off on foot towards home and I was once again by myself. I made slow but steady progress towards the finish line. By now my left knee was giving me issues and going downhill was very difficult.

I didn't let that bother me and just moved forward knowing that, there is no way to quit now. As I was going up the Seymour grind I saw a young woman that I meet on Eagle Bluff many hours ago and she asked if I was the same guy she saw doing the Vancouver 100. I responded with my charming smile, “I'm still doing the Vancouver 100”. The whole Knee Knacker training group gave me more motivation to just keep pressing on. I was almost at Seymour road and started updating friends on my were abouts. I was moving so slowly it was easy to update everyone on my progress. From there I saw more people from the Knee Knacker training group. By this time I had found help in form of a walking stick. It helped lift my mood and with the downhill as I soldered on towards Quarry Rock. The time between Quarry Rock and finish line seems to take forever, but I kept pushing the pace where I could knowing there were friends at the finish line waiting for me. As soon as I hit the pavement I started to run, and just moments away from the finish line. As I approached the finish I saw Sean, Nancy and Kyndra waiting for me. I high fived them and when on to kiss the fire hydrant. It was an amazing feeling. 

DFL, 30hr 13min

We celebrated with some beers that I had in a cooler, exchanged stories about our night and when our separate ways.  I headed over to Holly's new place to try and fulfill my promise to help her move. Too bad by the time I got there I didn't have much to do, my apologies. It was an eventful weekend with no sleep but I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks Craig, everyone from Club FatAss, the Knee Knacker training group and all my friends that help make this a wonderful weekend.

Me and my hard earned badge

Club FatAss:
https://www.facebook.com/events/633146013414295/

Video, courtesy of Kerry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXUhybC5trE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpCNIA4r9-I