Shamelessly Bragging

In my body where the shame gland should be, there is a second awesome gland. True Story..

Over the weekend I had a very ambitious plan, last year I felt Buckin Hell was not super hard to finish so this year I made sure that I had a good chance to DNF it. My weekend started again at Friday 5AM, where I started the day with a short and shitty HIIT workout, about 30 mins but wasn't my best effort. Add in my 17k around trip bike commute for work and it was already Friday afternoon. 

This is where the insanity really starts, I went out to the Club FatAss Moonlight Mountain run at Garibaldi park. The main reason for making this was, I'm in a full on war with Mr Action Jackson for points, I am planning on taking him down this year. I was able to do 20k out and back with 1000m of gain, I had to make sure that I didn't go too fast downhill to make sure I was able to get the time over 4 hrs. I had some good company for the run, I got to meet Gary and Sarah, some new FatAsses. Unfortunately our fun run did have a sad note, Femi was injured during the run and had a long hobble down. I hope to see you feeling better soon and on the trails, but what a tough lady.

From here I went straight to the start line for Buckin Hell. I knew I was in for a tough day. Everything was going good for me the first half, a couple people recognized me from my speech. One of the lovely volunteers even asked if I threw up yet (she remembered my Frosty experience), yep on the climb up Neds. I was even able to give Sammy shit for missing the night run, he was sleeping, smart guy. I did well all the way to the 33k mark. I figured I'd be okay on the downhill but by the time I made my way around Goldie Lake, I was starting to feel the exhaustion from being up for 33 hours. At around 2:30, I was just done, completely done, physically & mentally. I didn't really recover until it was too late and and had already missed the cut off at the 37k mark. I have to say this was my best DNF ever, I learned a lot about myself and think I'll be able to handle some of my future crazy plans. 

I came home, downed about 2000-2500 calories in one sitting with about 2L of water and 600mL of beer. But before going to bed, I had to add up the distance and elevation gain, 56k with 3200m of gain, I was very impressed with that and hit the hay for some much needed rest. Sunday I went out and added another 6k with 300m of gain to round out the weekend. 

Now that the appetizers for the year are done, it's time to relax and feel confident that I did what I could before the main course for the year, I'm calling it the 755.

Huge thanks to Tim for putting together our moonlight run, Gary Robbins for putting together Buckin Hell. And the biggest thanks to all the volunteers that helped out with Buckin Hell, with special thanks for Meg, Stephanie & Gareth. It was awesome to see you in the later parts of the race. 

I know most who read this blog do things much more crazier then me so keep on doing what you are doing and don't let anyone who says your plans are stupid keep you from attempting what you want to do. Not everyone knows your ultimate goals and plans, so just keep doing what you want and have fun doing it. Besides easy is boring, make things harder and good things happen.

Cutoff by 2 Minutes & Losing my Knickers

No build up to what happened over the weekend, the title says it all, so you can stop read now.

If you are still reading, you are probably interested in the details of what happened, let's started off with what I said in last week's post. I said I'd reveal why I decided to run Knee Knacker and since things didn't go as planned this weekend, I might as well let the cat out of the bag. If you completed Knee Knacker, Broken Goat & Buckin Hell you get a shirt that said Buck Me This Goat is Knackered. Things I do just for a shirt. As you can tell my the title of this post, I missed the cutoff at Broken Goat at the 38k by 2 minutes.

The weekend started on Friday morning, I left home just before nine to make the six-ish hour journey to Red Mountain. I don't have much to say about the drive but Crazy D (thanks Chang for that name) may or may not have came out to play, only some of you have met Crazy D, if you've never meet him consider yourself lucky.

I got in early with lots of time to relax and finish converting the donkey into the toy-camper. I pick up my race kit and got ready to relax when I see I Tesla pull into the camp and I figured there is only one ultra runner I know with that car. Kyle & Brie pulled up next to me and set up their camp. After the race meeting we all called it an early night.

Saturday morning, trouble started right at the beginning where I couldn't go number two before the race, I did not like that feeling and to be honest I really didn't have my heart in the race at this moment. We were bused to the start line and we had a long time before start and I was glad I picked my heavier jacket to keep me warn until the start. I was still very lightweight, only 2 hand-helds and my waist pack. The race started and of course I placed myself at the very back, jacket came off very quickly as I started to heat up. My first hour was just getting the body and mind warmed up for the day ahead. And about hour and a half I got the call of nature and made my way off the trail, instantly I felt better and lighter.

I have to say the trails very runnable but I power hiked most of trails. I enjoyed the scenery thinking I wish I had my camera on me. I was making good estimates on times to get to the different peaks and got into the first aid-station probably about 15-20 minutes before my very rough plan. From here it was a 6k out and back before almost all downhill to the 38k mark for the 2PM cutoff. I think I did the out and back in around 1:15 and was getting ready for the downhill. I think this is where things started to go wrong for me, I probably spent a little too much time at the aid-station. It was a short climb up to the next peak before a downhill similar like Mountain Hwy and I started off strong but by the time the thunder & hail hit, I felt like a winy little baby in my head and by the time it cleared by right ankle and both knees were beginning to hurt. I don't think it was real pain but just mentally sort of giving up. Lucky for me Francine caught up to me and let me chase her all the way to the base of Red Mountain. I might have been able to push a little harder on the downhill but I liked the company and already decided whatever happens will happen now. As we both were keeping an eye on the time, we got into the aid-station asking if we'd made the cut off. Nope sorry 2 minutes over. I made the case that I'm running all 3 races with hopes to continue because I'm pretty sure I'd be able to the last 12k in less then 3 hours but was rejected. At the end I felt it was bitter-sweet ending to my Buck Me This Goat is Knackered attempt because I felt I didn't want it bad enough to make the cut off and was slightly happy to be heading home early for tomorrow's adventure.

I got back to the car, finally got to use my DIY shower to rinse myself off, had some food, left a note for Kyle & Brie and headed home. And yes it was a fun drive home. I was home by 9:30ish and had the car completely unloaded within 30 minutes, laundry loaded and ordered some Boston Pizza, wings & a flat-bread. I was in bed by mid-night with my alarm set for 5AM to run Club FatAss's Free Knicker, and I had points to earn so I couldn't miss it.

Sunday morning, I was up just after five and feeling good, packed a full pack with all bad weather Fat Dog gear with enough food for a 12-13 hour day. I have to thank Sean for allowing me to do an early start because I figured it's going to be a long day. I was on the trail about 15 minutes before 7 and got into a slow but steady hike up to Black Mountain.

My plan was simple, I was planning on staying ahead of everyone as long as possible and cutting sections of the trail out, like the dreaded section between Grouse & Skyline, as well as some of the Baden Powell around Quarry Rock, using Cove Runner to miss most of the tourists. As I was getting closer to the boulder field just below Eagle Bluffs, I came across the Donut Rock trail that I have always wanted to take. I think on the map it showed I'd cut a couple kms from the route so I figured I'd get a huge lead on the rest of the gang. Well it might have been less distance but time wise it took me much longer then if I stayed on the Baden Powell.

It started off okay but quickly because a vertical climb, with some route finding. I made one wrong turn that cost me about 15-20 minutes, a hard river crossing (I was trying to keep my shoes dry, and was successful) all before it became a very narrow and steep trail. At a couple points I had to throw my poles over to the top, hope they didn't fall back down and go into four wheel drive mode. I also bashed my shins a few times and hit my head on some logs. By the time I connected again with Baden Powell I figured I wouldn't be finished until well after 9 and was ready to throw in the towel and head back, but I at least wanted finally bag Black for the Bagger Challenge, which I am not doing well in. I got to Black and let Nancy (who was nice enough to set up an aid-station at Cleveland Dam) know my plan, I had a rest and was getting ready to head back down when I hear familiar voices. Kyndra, Meg, Eric and Sean were all just getting to Black, and I got to enjoy the fruits of the first cache with them and decided to follow them down to Cleveland Dam before calling it quits. After we were on Hollyburn, wherever they took a break I keep moving in hopes not to slow them down too much and I got into Cleveland Dam 7 hours after I started.

 

Even though the weekend didn't turn out as planned I couldn't have been happier with the day and decision to take Donut Rock since it was a new trail and an adventure. I am slightly disappointed with my performance at Broken Goat, if only I ran a bit more of the course. But at the end of the weekend I had fun and it's that's what it's all about. I still managed over half my attempted distance and elevation gain, 61k with a little over 3000m of gain, target was 90-95k with 4800m. And hopefully I got this year's DNF in the bag so the next few races go well.

On a side note, for those who have been wondering about my Fat Dog attempt, I made the heart breaking decision on Monday to drop down to the 70miler, knowing that I don't have the climbing ability I had last time I attempted it I thought this was the wise decision.

Knackered

This write up will be a bit scattered and lacking details since it was a blur to me.

I did not want to ever run Knee Knacker, my argument was always why pay for running the Baden Powell when I can when I can run Van100 for double the fun with very little cost. But as everything you should never say never because this year I ran it. Kids remember this for the future, never say never because you can't predict the future. You might be wondering why I changed my mind, but you'll have to wait a couple weeks on my reason, some of you know the reasons.

The week of Knee Knacker, I was once again having some sleep issues and was a little worried about my performance, so I took 2 shots of Nyquil and went to bed at seven. 

With the sound of heavy rain, I was up just before three in the morning. I made a change in jacket and gear but still very lightweight compared to my usual outings. I got to the Deep Cove by 4.30 to catch the first bus to Nelson Creek. I was able to catch a little shut eye on the ride over.

My race plan was simple keep a head of the cut offs by 10-15mins. My climb up to Black was just pushing as hard as I could without destroying myself. No much happened expect I pushed a little too hard when I was almost at Eagle Bluffs. My claim to fame for the climb is I beat Nancy to Black Mountain. But on the downhill to the lodge she passed me and I never saw her again. 

About 5 minutes from the start, I jacket came off a couple minutes after this picture

By the time I got to the lodge, I was 30 minutes before the cut off and built myself I nice buffer. I quickly refueled, said hello to Sean and Phaedra and took off as quick as I could.

Downhill to the Cypress lodge

I maintained some good speed on the downhill and did my usual jog-run-walk-repeat all the way until I got to Craigmohr. I made it into Cleveland Dam with 15-20 minutes to spear before the cut-off. By this time I was starting to feel hot.

Sibylle, was running the aid station there, thanks for volunteering. There were others there but I can't remember who else was there, sorry but thanks for volunteering. 

Just afterwards, I hiked it up to Grouse for the dreaded Grouse section where I felt really slow for about 30 minutes and just like Van100, I lost my shirt in that section. 

I rushed into Skyline where I saw Holly and Andy, plus a lot of other people that I can't remember now but thanks for helping out. Andy had to warn me that I'm not allowed to lose my pants. 

From here on to the end I was in the fine balance between going fast and falling a part. Plus my thought was if I was going to DNF, I would of done it at Cleveland Dam. 

Just before getting to LSCR, I saw Ward just hanging out before his sweeping duties, he encouraged me to pick it up because if he caught up to me, he would use his poles to make me go faster. 

At LSCR, I have to give a special thanks to Willa and crew, where they hooked me up with Freezes. I have to admit those cooled me down a lot and it helped me push the pace for a bit. 

On the Seymour grind, I got the best compliment I could of ever received. One girl who now I forgot your name, sorry, recognized me from the Vancouver Mountain Film Festival and said that I was awesome to hear from someone from back of the pack since usually you just hear from front of the pack runners. That's the whole reason I started my blog, for the back of the packers and to say if I can do this anyone can do this.  

Getting to Mt Seymour Rd, was might tightest time to cutoff I think I was in less then 10 minutes before cut off. From here I knew I was going to finish no problem but I was still worried about making it before the 10 hour cut off. I knew I would struggle with the climbs after Quarry Rock so I made the best of it on the downhills. 

I don't think a single person passed me after Quarry Rock, and I "ran" into the finish with 13 minutes to spare. 

The finish line and my time

Where I proceeded to put my wet shirt back on and sit for about an hour before getting cold and started to feel not so good. I think I scared a everyone. Lucky Sibylle, Ean, Sean, Nancy, Meg & I think a few others helped lay down and all gave me jackets to warm up. I supposedly became a Gray Dude dying in the park for a bit.

All I can say is what a day, I know there were a lot of you out helping to make this race a success and I'd like to thank all the volunteers for helping out and making this race amazing and fun. 

Happy Retirement

After miles and miles cover, my original Mizuno Wave Ascend 7 are finally being retired to enjoy leisurely walks around lake and relaxing by the campfire.

These shoes have covered 1000s of kms, covered my current maximum cumulative distance, 117kms when I DNF Fat Dog, and have been on countless adventures. The final service that you provided has been written into the history books earlier this year at Badger Mountain 50miler, what an adventure that day was. I'd like to thank you for your service and hope the retirement brings you peace and happiness with no more sufferfests. As one final gift of gratitude I have given you new insoles, bright blue to match your bright exterior. 

New Boss meet the Old Boss

Van100, the Social Event of the Year

Vancouver 100 turned out to be a three weekend affair, with storms, friends and heaps of fun. This year I was adamant to complete this without a crew or pacer, with a hope that it wouldn't be a suffer-fest. So sit back, grab some water (you'll need to stay hydrated) and let's relive this journey to see what happened.

My first attempt was back on Friday May 27th, one week after Four Cities Ultra. I was keeping an eye on the weather, which was not looking good. Rain and cold was in the forecast.  I decided with an afternoon start at the Whyte Lake parking lot, I figured I'd do Grouse to Deep Cove and back in the dark and finish in the daytime, hopefully only spending the last half in the wet. Started off really well, a fully loaded backpack with bad weather gear, 2L of water, 7000-8000 calories and the attitude that this will be a walk in the park.

Don't know I'm smiling, I'm only 50 metres from the car

These are the new staircase build last September, don't want to brag but I did carry some heavy rocks that filled the stairs.

This boardwalk is next to Cabin Lake and a lot of those nails where hammered in by some crazy BrownDude.

There weren't many people on the trail, just a few groups I saw the whole day. I did run into a couple FatAsses out on Hollyburn, Craig and Dan. I wasn't doing so well and it was great to see them. As I made my way to Cleveland Dam, I had the doubt monkey on my shoulder saying, "do you really want to spend tonight in the rain?" After a short argument in my mind, I decided to call it quits and I slowly made my way down to the Highway 1 where, thanks to Holly, was picked up and she took me back to my car. I am very thankful that I did quit because next day the creeks that I crossed were waste deep. Thanks Nancy for that update you made me fill good about my decision.

One week later, it was Friday evening, about 7PM at Deep Cove. I was convinced to start with Dustin and we'd stick together until Sunrise, somehow I knew this was a bad idea. Dustin wanted to grab some beer an stopped off at the liqour store to grab some beer, but instead of getting a beer that would be easy to drink, he picked a heavy IPA.

On the trail almost at Mt Seymour road, I could barely get one down so I decided to hide the second beer at a stream. You should of seen my hiding job, you could of seen it from miles away, I figured I'd be back in 24-26hrs so it would be okay.

As we continued on through the night and getting closer to Cleveland Dam I think Dustin wasn't happy with my pace but we were on a 26hr finish pace. The first climb out of the dam, I was pulling ahead of him as he said he needed a seat. That was the end of the day for him and it didn't take me long to join him. We shared a sandwich while waiting for Bayly to come pick us up.

 
June 10 6AM, this was do or die weekend I needed to figure out where I should start from and when. By the time I slowly got ready & ate, it was about eight so I decided I should probably start at Cleveland Dam to give me the best chance to finish by doing 2 out and backs. It does suck that I'll have to finish in the Grouse section of the trail but I figured good mental training.

The stop watch started just after nine and I was heading out towards Horseshoe Bay. Really nothing exciting happened for a long time, just me having a conversation with myself. Some good topics some topics that made me sad but I continued on feeling good about my day.

My food supply, I finally used up all my gels

At the boulder field just after eagle bluffs, David just caught up to me. It was good timing since I was having trouble figuring out where to dart off to the right. I was able to follow him for a bit before he bombed downhill. I knew since he's just ahead of me I should get to the parking lot before he starts to head back. I'm very glad I did since his lovely wife had fruit and water for me. Also Andy was there to stash a car with supplies for his attempt and a short time later Jennifer showed up to help out Dylan, who was just shortly behind me. I probably ended spending at least 30 minutes just chilling and chatting away for before I headed back.

I knew I should really just pace myself on the climb, so I took it easy. I came across Dylan quickly so I knew that he'll probably catch up again soon. And just after Whyte lake I ran into Shawn's crew that were doing the run together. It was encouraging to know there were already so many people on the trail. I was keeping an eye on the time because I wanted time out how long it would take me to get to the lodge, it was 4 hrs. I felt good about that until I turned around and saw everyone that I saw going down had already caught up to me. At the same time Andy's crew got to the lodge area coming from Skyline. It was a meeting of like minded individuals and I couldn't stick around to chit-chat with everyone since I wanted to put some distance between me and the fast guys.

As they refueled up, I made good time to Hollyburn, how good of time you ask? I made it passed the section between the lodge and Hollyburn. After Shawn's crew passed me Dylan caught up shortly after also. I tagged along with him and his pacer for what felt like a long time before letting them get ahead. I ended up getting back to my car just passed Cleveland Dam just after 11PM for a out and back time of just over 14 hrs. I felt pretty good and had a seat in the donkey. I had the heater and music going while chowing down some sweet & sour chicken. I did a full change of clothes and was singing TLC's No Scrubs. I was having such a good time that an hour and a half passed by so quickly. I figured I better get going.

Since the gate was locked at Grouse I had to make my way passed the gate and into the dreaded Grouse section of the Baden Powell. Instantly I through I had made a mistake with my shirt. I was starting to over heat fast, so I lost the long sleeve warm shirt and instantly felt better. It was middle of the night so I figured no one will see my fat belly. I continued on but by Skyline I was still hot, so I birthday suited up. If you haven't done it yet I highly recommend, it was amazing feeling, until I heard a noise somewhere around Fromme. Initially I was thinking an animal but very quickly saw a headlight coming towards me. I placed my hat discretely in front of me and stepped off the trail.

I informed the guy that I'm in my birthday suit and his voice sounded familiar but could recognize it. Turned out to be Derek, making his attempt. We wished each other luck and went our separate ways. As I was getting to Lynn Headwater it was getting cold and I could feel a couple drops of rain starting to fall. So before taking the Varley trail I put my clothes back on. At this time I also realized I wasn't going to make it to Deep Cove for when most people will be starting.

I was getting to the bottom of the Seymour grind and the front runners were coming through. I knew now that I would be seeing a lot of people in the next little bit. About half way up I ran into Sean & Gareth and shortly after it was Kyndra & Meg. I was thinking to myself, haha I'll be done before you.

The last group was Kyle's crew who I ran into just after the Seymour grind. I slowly made my way down to Deep Cove and did the out and back and was heading back on the home stretch. I was around 23 hrs at this point. I figured 7 hours to get back to the car sounded right. 

I was doing well, picked up the beer that I stashed last weekend and kept on trekking. On the Seymour grind I saw Andy's crew and I was hoping this would be the last time I see them because if I see them again, they would of lapped me.

I was still hopeful for a 30 hrs finish until I got to the top of the climb out of the Seymour river valley. I sat down and realized it had just over 2 hours to get back to the car from here and no matter how you cut it, it wasn't going to happen, at least not in my tired state. I had some food, changed my socks and decided to just take it easy and stop off at End of the Line for some hot food.

I had a breakfast burrito there and ran into Andrew who was waiting for Claire, who's been running with Andy. I relaxed and chatted with him for a bit before making my way out. I really can't remember how much time I spend there but I think it was at least 30 mins probably more. By now time was completely lost on me.

So the rest of the race was just more of having fun and goofing off. I ran into Craig shortly after End of the Line, Marc was spotting sweeping the MEC run that had started and finished since I was last in this area. And by the time I got to the bench around St. Georges, I decided to have a seat, eat some food and enjoy the view. As I was packing up to get moving again, Claire had caught up to me, I was being lapped, not good. But I was able to use her as a pacer to get me to Skyline. I did okay keeping up with her until the short climb up to Skyline Drive where I was like I'll see you at the top.

I did try and convince her if she's like to do any bonus kms and join me to Cleveland Dam but she gave me a look like she was going to kill me so I figured I shouldn't press the issue. I also had to talk myself into keeping on BP, since it was so tempting to take Powerline back to Grouse.

The dreaded Grouse section, I think I made okay time. There were a few sit down breaks and I saw the front runners coming back that started in the morning. It was a little soul crushing to see these guys look as good as they did, but thanks to them I found out Matt had setup an aid station at Cleveland Dam. So I made some good progress the last couple kms to get the the car and drove the 500m to the dam. Where I sat relaxed and saw other runners come through.

As I sat there, I realized that I set course record this year, sorry Kyndra I stole you record, with a finish time of 33 hours 38 minutes. I looked at the GPS data and the trip computer was at 106.3kms, I don't believe the GPS is correct since I don't think I got off course that much but the moving time was more believable at 25 hours and 38 minutes. I feel this was believable because, there was probably about 60 people that I stopped and talked with and probably spent at least 2 minutes with each person so there's 2 hrs there. Plus the time at my car at the 50k mark, Whyte Lake parking lot & End of the Line, each of those stops were a minimum of 30 minutes. Plus all the other goofing off I did that I have no how much time was wasted there. I think realistically I would of been able to hit the 30hr mark if I didn't spend so long at the car but I would not change a thing with the way I ran this year's Vancouver 100. 

I have to admit that feel that I don't deserve the all time best value record since I didn't suffer. I was really just enjoying myself so much, that as I'm finishing off my write up, 3 weeks later, I'm still living off the high from that weekend.

Craig, thanks again for a wonderful event and to everyone who stopped and chatted with me, you all made this event what it's really about, just a group of crazies running around the forest and having fun.