Squamish 50/50 - Racing the Cut-offs

Last weekend I competed in the Squamish 50/50, why is it called 50/50, well there was only a 50/50 chance I would be able to complete it. :) But in all seriousness, participants aim to complete a 50mile foot race with 3500m of elevation gain in less than 17hrs on Saturday and then on Sunday a 50k foot race with 2500m of elevation gain in less than 11hrs. Everything I've heard about this event it's tough and from the beginning I was worried since I knew it would be a challenge for me to make the cut offs. For those who don't know I'm slow like really slow, so slow that I'm easily passed by a 70 year old lady in Stanley Park (true story, ask me sometime). This was a long two days for me so grab a couple your favorite beers or a bottle wine and re-live this life changing weekend with me.

50Miler Elevation Profile

50k Elevation Profile

The Plan

My crew consisted of the parental units, my sister & Shaggy Waggy (our mascot), their task was to get me to the start line, pick me up and feed me. For my pre-race meal I requested mom's fajitas, which were delicious. My sister booked a beautiful cabin about 10 mins away from Alice Lake which I didn't get to spend much time there.

Week leading up to the race...

Struck with a sore throat and was worried about it, since the internet told me it could be anything from a cold or flu to chickenpox, diphtheria or a tumor. So being the medical professional that I am, so I did what I normally do to fight off infectiousness diseases, lots of hot water with lemon & honey, some strategic high intensity workouts and lots of fruits & veggies with a little A&W thrown into the mix. Finally on Friday I was feeling better-ish.

Leaving Surrey

Saturday Morning, just before 4AM...

As soon as the alarm went off I jumped out of bed and took care of the most important thing of the day. I hit the toilet, everything goes better if you have a good poop in the morning. I threw on my clothes which I conveniently placed next to the bed, made one final check through my gear and quickly ate fajitas over the sink and we all pilled into the car.

We were at the start line just after 5AM, I quickly dropped off my drop bags and checked in, all I had to do was relax until go time. Marc, the ultra-veggie, spotted me and came right over, we hugged and wished each other good luck for the day ahead. I was nervously excited about the day as Gary gave the pre-race speech, afterwards we all were corralled into the starting chute. I placed myself firmly at the very back, I had a plan and I was sticking with it. Within minutes we were off running around the parking lot before getting onto the trail along the shore.

 

I kept a slow be steady pace and about 15 minutes in was running with my man Murray who I met at Buckin Hell. We stuck together all the way to the first aid station were both of us quickly fueled up and were out to head into the woods for the “fun” part of the course. On the way there some locals setup an arch with them dressed in blue body suits, high-fiving the runners, very welcome surprise. Murray made up ground on me quickly and I settled into my pace for the next section.

Aid station 2 felt like it come up quick but I was in between my fast and slow times so I was happy. I had my water bottles filled up and scarfed down the yummy food and was on the move towards aid station 3.  On my way to I came across a stationary bike that I had to hope onto and put in some time spinning. Don't know who would of left such a nice treat up there for us, thanks.

Getting into aid station 3, getting new feet installed, aka fresh pair of socks, that did the trick to feel refreshed. This aid station you see twice since there is an out and back from this point. I also saw Marc again, this was his second time at this aid station so he was about 9k ahead of me. Once I was fueled up I was out, although Marc said this section sucked, I was optimistic. 

Shortly after leaving the aid station, I saw Desmond's smiling face, he was volunteering for the day and running on Sunday, thanks for coming out. He told me to chase the pretty girl in front of me and I took off trying to keep up with her but sadly she was too fast for me, aren't they all. There weren't any huge climbs but it felt long and difficult, this section ate away at me and I started to think what am I doing out here, I could be with my family eating pizza and drinking beer. But I quickly turned that thinking around as I realized I was still doing good. I mostly power hiked the way back to where I met Desmond again, I thanked him for his encouragement and picked up the pace a bit all the way back to aid station 3.

From this point I had the big climb ahead of me. I powered up with watermelon and coke before leaving the aid station and power hiked out of there. As I started climbing there was no one around me, I assumed I was the last person, but I climbed and climbed until I got some good views of Squmaish, and yelled out, "HELLO, SQUAMISH!!!!!" Shortly after getting the beautiful views I came across some skis just on display on the side of the mountain. As I kept climbing I finally saw another human and it seemed like she was struggling. I checked up on her and she replied, "Just struggling with the uphill hopefully the downhill will come soon." I seconded that thought, probably about 10-15 minutes after I passed her, the terrain felt downhill and I was picking up speed again.

Suddenly I saw what looked like a volunteer in the distance, I yelled out, "Hello, Volunteer!!" and the guy stood up, I raced over to him and he informed me that the aid station was still 4k away. This point there was steep technical section where at one point I had a calf cramp that made me scream in pain. I popped a s-cap and continued on my way. At this point my memory is a little foggy and I can't remember if I caught up to people or people caught up to me, but let's go with I caught up with people since it makes me look good. :) We played leap frog all the way to the aid station. From here it was a quick 5k down to the next aid station, Quest University.

Quest came up really quick because I remember one lady saying we're here. I was amazed how quickly the time passed and as soon as I turned the corner I heard people call out, "Go D Go" or something like that, I like said my memory is a little foggy. It was Nancy, Pheadra, Sean & Gareth waiting for me. They helped me with my drop bag and get my bottles filled up. Once again I installed new feet. I was given a little pep talk while scarfing down some nutrition and after dunking my headgear in some cold water I was out of the aid station, into what I thought would be easy peasy for me.

This next section ate away at my soul again with many exposed sections, I began to over heat. Not sure how long it took me but I know the climb was slow and then I hit keeper of the bridge, basically a really nice volunteer that made sure I went the right way, things got worst for me. The relentless up felt like forever. I climbed and climbed and finally saw this really nice lady who I had to ask, "How far until the aid station? I'm almost out of water." She assured me no more than 2k. I was so thankful that she was right. But this section was steep and technical downhill. I did my best to keep the speed up all the way until I hit the bridge again except this time I got to go over it. From here the trail was little better and I made it to the aid station again somehow with a group of other runners. I'm getting good at catching up to people. ;)

This was the second to last aid station I was running severely behind schedule, I downed as much coke and watermelon I could in the limited time I had, the volunteers told me I had about 1.5hrs to get to the next aid station, I panicked and got the hell out of there like my life was on the line. The climbs were set to maximum power hiking speed I could muster and the downhills were a balance of speed and not destroying my knees. I kept yelling out, "Aid Station, I'm coming please don't cut me off" I was in good spirits until I hit a fire road to which I starting falling apart. I had some really bad chafing in a very sensitive spot but I knew a lot of people were cheering for me so I moved as quickly as I possible could. Within 1k of the aid station Sean & Gareth came out to cheer me on. I was in the station with 8ish minutes to spare. I later found out only one girl made it from the group at the last aid station, the rest didn't make the cut off.

I fueled up as quickly as possible with more coke and watermelon, while Gareth & Sean walked me out. I don't remember what they said but it was something along at lines of move your ass. I was like 2.5hrs to do 10k, "I've got this" without knowing what was actually ahead of me.

This was by far the worst section but very thankful it was in the dark. I felt all I was doing was climbing even through there were some downhills I knew I wasn't anywhere near the final downhill. Not sure how I knew this but somehow I just sensed this. I was cursing Gary the whole time, it was brutal. Most of the time, there were several of us together through this section. Physically & mentally I felt done but had to keep moving. 

Finally we came across a volunteer that said all downhill from this point. I was like, "I've heard that before" then felt bad that I wasn't being nice to him and apologized for my comment. But in all fairness there was some uphill from that moment, a couple sections of about a meter or two of gain. The downhill was steep and I just wanted the day to end. Finally we saw city lights and knew we were close. 

This whole section was just a hazy memory, with sections of walking, jogging & hobbling but once I saw the McDonald's I was excited because I knew for sure where I was. I did the best I could, running and walking until I turned a corner. This is where I saw Sean and Gareth again, they said see that pylon that's the finish line. It seems so far away but they kept encouraging me to run. I finally saw the finishing chute and felt like I was sprinting but it must of been more like a fast walk, I saw my dad from the corner of my eye at the edge of the park and then saw Gary standing there with his arms wide open. I got my hug and 50miler medal with just 19 minutes to spare. I was surprised to see Dylan there also, it was awesome to see so many friends and having my family there. 

That night..

We were back at the cabin by 11ish, where I quickly showered, screaming in pain because of the chafing. I had some food and warned my family I might be screaming at night because of cramps. I think they were a little worried about me. Even though I was super tired I was only able to get about 2 hours sleep. 

Sunday Morning, just after 4AM..

I was up and had the same ritual as the day before. I think I surprised my family by how fresh I looked, I even jumped in the air to prove I wasn't broken. Shaggy was not impressed being woken up this early. We piled into the car and were at Alice Lake by 5:30AM where I quickly checked in and dropped off my drop bag. This morning surprise was that Dylan came out to the start line to see me. I still had no idea of the others that would surprise me by the end of the day.

Once again Gary gave his pre-race speech and we were off, it turned out myself and Kyle (who I meet a week before at Fat Dog) were last out of Alice Lake. We wished each other luck and I was off. Once I got to the first slight up hill and I mean very slight up hill, I slowed down and whipped out my fajita, breakfast it's the most important part of the day. 

Since I knew what to except, I pushed where I knew I could and the rest I conserved energy, for the killer last 10k. The whole day that last 10k was on my mind and how I didn't want to do that section again. The goal was to get to the last aid station with 3hrs to spare.

Today I came across the stationary bike before the first aid station and I decided to not take a spin since I was on a tighter timetable today. Nothing eventful happened. The main difference was after I aid station the big climb started right away and I didn't have the out and back. Also there were a group of us doing the climb together, it was nice to have company this time around. I said hello to the skis again and to Squamish when I could see it through the trees.

Today the downhill was quick and fast-ish, well fast for my speed. Everything came up quickly and the aid station before Quest was a quick stop and the arrival time to Quest was also quick. I was smack in the middle of my pacing chart so I was very happy.

Fast forward to the bridge from yesterday, this loop killed my yesterday and today I was determined not to let it slow me down. I had the pleasant surprise seeing Ashley, another North Shore runner that I always seem to run into. Today it was her and another girl playing the part of keepers of the bridge, sorry dude from yesterday but seeing two beautiful ladies in the forest beats a dude anytime. Although I wasn't as fast as I wanted through this section I was much quicker then yesterday, but the climb still felt relentless. Finally I saw the same volunteer I saw yesterday at the top. I thanked her again for coming out and high-fived her. She told me that we high-fived at the finish line yesterday too and I had to apologize that I didn't remember. She said, "You looked kind of out of it, so I figured you didn't remember."

From here I knew it was a quick steep downhill hill to the aid station. I put on my dancing feet and booked it downhill. I repeated KFG, KFG, KFG all the way down to the beauties at the bridge, said, "Thanks for Volunteering" and kept going all the way to the fire road. By the way those who don't know about KFG, it means Keep Fucking Going (link at the end for the article).

I saw the fire road and yelled out, "Aid Station!!", sadly this section my mind blocked out from yesterday. The nice volunteer there told me he's not the aid station but I knew it just just minutes away. Once I got into the station, I asked about the cut off at the last aid station, they didn't know but I was told I had lots of time.

This time I took it a little easy out and took some watermelon for the road. I decided to make sure I fuel up properly before speeding up since I had time to get there. On the way to the aid station I was passed by a few volunteers who were running from Quest to the finish line, beats driving to to finish line. They looked strong and fast, but also provided lots of encouragement for me.

I finally got to the last aid station, but a lot slower then I wanted too. I only had 2.5hrs to get to the finish line, but unlike yesterday where I felt I would be able to, today was worrisome. I fueled up as quickly as possible thanked everyone and took off for the dreaded last 10k.

I was so thankful that I didn't get to see the torture yesterday, but at the same time I had no idea where I was at any given point. I played leap frog with a lot of people throughout this section, including Murray's wife, Paula, who informed me that poor Murray wasn't able to run today. Every climb felt brutal but I kept trekking along. Once I saw the volunteer at the top where it was mostly downhill, I put on my dancing feet again and booked it. I was a little reckless but looking at the time, I wasn't sure if I was going to make the cut off so it was time to be a little reckless. I'd had little sections where I was completely dead and then was able to keep going in other areas. Once I got down to where there were other people (non-runners) I got some strange looks, for those who don't know I can make some strange sounds while running and that day I think I made some of my most interesting noises and maybe some whimpering.

Once I got into the town area, the McDonalds come up quicker than yesterday but looking at the time, I still wasn't sure if I was going to make the cut off. At this point everything is a faded memory of "running", walking & hobbling. I did the best I could until I got to the final straightaway and it was a full on sprint, or what it felt like was a sprint to the finish line. As I got into the finishing chute, I saw my mom out of the corner of my eye, then another face that surprised me, Holly, who waited for me after she finished her race. Then my attention turned to Gary, my hate for him died and ran towards him to get my hug and hat. I thought my excitement was over until I saw Dylan again and out of no where, Andy. He always seems to come out of no where. By the way Andy's the reason I ran this race and I really should of been cursing at him but since it was such a wonderful experience at the end how can I be upset. (Side note, Andy ran the Squamish 50/50 last year and then completed a 100miler so I figured I should follow his footsteps, different 100miler though.)

My family came up to congratulate me but I don't think Shaggy was impressed or he just thought I smelled. I got my cold Gatorade and a hot dog and just rested for a bit. I don't really remember much excepting wanting to go to The Nest for some pizza and beer. Which was the perfect way to finish off this amazing weekend.

Shaggy, Eagerly Waiting for Me

129.99k Completed

Finished

Hot Dog Time

Analysis..

Bad stuff & what I still need to work on:

• First and foremost is need to still get better sleep, it's still a problem and will be problematic if I don't get it enough.
• Need to drop below 170lbs before Bigfoot, going light weight helped a lot for the climbs and was less damaging to my body on the downhills. With amount of food, water and gear that I'll need to carry for Bigfoot I need to lose more fat off my body.
• Need to stay positive on the bad sections, the low points need to be managed much better, keep in mind, KFG (http://overld.me/2015/07/30/dfq-no-more/)
• Need to add cut off times to my printed pacing chart.

The things that went well:

• Nutrition was good throughout, although like Buckin Hell, I reduced my intake at the end but didn't really suffer for it since I did good early in the day
• Ability to push and balance the need to go fast at the same time not going too fast as to destroy my body (aka my DNF at Fat Dog the previous year), I'm still amazed that I was able to push when I was dead tired.
• My cooling setup, never tested until Saturday during the race.
• Finishing, the only thing that mattered in this race for me. I said this before I was so worried about making the cut-offs and I did it somehow

For the 50miler I placed 187 out of 190 finisher with a time of 16 hrs 41 mins.

For the 50k I placed 232 out of 251 finishers with a time of 10 hrs 51 mins.

So I didn't get the coveted best value for money spot for the 50/50 but did place 39 out of 40 finishers with an overall time of 27 hrs 32 mins. I think there were just under 90 people registered for the 50/50. This being the furthest distance I've covered in less than 36hrs, so taking all things into consideration I am very happy with my finish.

What I Worked So Hard For

Now that the race is over and I had some time to recover, I have to thank Gary Robbins & Geoff Langford for putting on this amazing but very difficult event. To all the volunteers who came out and spent their precious time to help out at this event and cheers us on, double thanks to those who also ran any of the races. Thanks to everyone I met on the trail, it was a pleasure to run with you. Thanks to Mom, Dad and Heena for coming out and supporting me in my craziness. Thanks to Sean, Gareth, Nancy & Pheadra for crewing for me on Saturday. It really made a huge difference. And thanks to everyone who cheered me on along the way and at the finish line. 


If anyone asks me if I'll do this race again, you know what my answer will be, HELL YES, there's a different colored hat for those who finish it more than once :) I've heard it's my favorite color too.



I've added some things that are BrownDude approved:

Cabin: https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/19126?euid=36aee687-3c35-47e5-16f6-c03a3289e538&locale=en

My cooling setup: http://www.mec.ca/product/5030-686/realxgear-cooling-towel/ plus my Vancouver 100 Buff

Since I didn't carry my camera and you usually get some nice views, here are some pictures from airplane adventure that my parents and sister when on while I was running.

Spent the night with 2 beautiful women :)

It was Tuesday night, the eve of Canada day, a group of us have gathered at St David's Church in West Vancouver. I was scarfing down the dinner of champions, a Jr Chicken from McGressyDs. We argued over who would be driving up to Rubble Creek for our moonlight mountain run, Sammy & David won that fight. The rest of us, piled into the cars for the drive up to the trail-head. Getting to the trail was as simple as taking the Sea-to-Sky all the way to the Rubble Creek turn off. 

The route was straight forward, an out and back to Helm Pass for the fun group and out to Helm campground and back via Garibaldi lake for the fast group. 

Fun Group's Route

Group Shot

We all started at the same time, about 9:30ish but within a couple minutes the fast group making good ground on, leaving me with 2 beautiful women, Kyndra & Claire, I was the luckiest guy on the trail. We were the fun group, although I'm sure the fast group might argue that. 

The climb up to the alpine was awesome, even though we were in the forest and the sun already set, the dim light from the horizon still filtered though the trees and we didn't even need our headlamps until almost an hour in. I saw some trash on the ground and noted the location for the return trip to collect my trash point. 

View Point on the Way Up

My Companions for the Night

We were were at the Taylor Meadows camp area, probably around an hour and a half mark and we did make good time on the climb. But with more climbing ahead, we had a quick pit stop here and continued on the way. The views were magnificent and I wish I carried my tripod to take better pictures, oh well live and learn.

As we made our way to Helm's Pass, there was small snow patches (yeah) and even some streams with water running, much better than the north shore. At Helm's Pass we decided to carry forward for a bit since the area was so nice to be in. The temperature was cool but not cold. In the distance there was a red light from what could of been a microwave tower but can't be sure. 

The Glow in the Background in from Lower Mainland, Talk About Light Pollution

A Lake and Snow

The Moon and Snow

As we slowly trekked forward, a light was noticed in the distance. It must of been the others. We didn't think anything of it but within a 10mins or so there were more lights that were heading towards us and we decided to turn back at this point. 

That Blurry Light is the Fast Group

Within a couple of minutes of heading back the lights were closing in on us and looked like they were gaining on us fast. There was one headlamp well ahead of everyone else that we assumed was Sammy. We decided not to find out and beat them back to the car. It was an ambitious goal for us, I somehow got put in to point position and set the pace. We made such good time to the Garibaldi Lake turn off that I though we took some shortcut. 

Here we had to make the cirtial decision of going down to the lake and head back or just head back. We figured the others were hot on our tail and decided not to add the lake, mostly due to the fact we would have to climb back up after the lake. 

We continued along the way, switching between jogging and walking but still making really good time. I felt I was starting to fall apart just as we headed into the forest but lucky for me, Kyndra and I got into a conversation about finances and the run down was very quick. Poor Claire had to put up with us at this point. I did struggle for the last few kms again but it wasn't too bad. As soon as we saw the end of the trail we all were excited and realized not one of us had any keys to any of the cars. Lucky for us, I was prepared with some Mezcal. 

We relaxed and waited for the others to show up. It took us about 4.75hrs to complete somewhere between 23k - 24k with about 1200m of elevation gain. At least all three of us collected trash points for this run and with my time and distance I should be well ahead of my competition, Sean. :P

When the others arrived about 20mins or so after us, we all sat down in the parking lot and told our stories and had some much needed beer. During this time I asked Sammy about doing a 200miler, his response is priceless, "Don't do it" but can I really take him seriously, he's already completed one 200miler and about to compete in another at the beginning of August, Bigfoot 200, and yes that is the bigger badder brother of the race I am doing in October, Bigfoot 120.

As we headed back to the lower mainland, I saw the moon setting while the sun was rising. Too bad it wasn't the end of my day but just the beginning of Canada Day and I still had plans for the morning but that is for another day.

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