V100 Diet... How to lose 6 lbs in less than 32 hours

I was coming into Vancouver 100 fatter, slower & severely under-trained, with that in mind I decided to hike majority of the trail and crawl as needed.

• Primary goal is to finish at all costs, baring visible damage.
• Secondary goal is to hopefully get around 28ish hours.

I had a later start then I originally wanted, I was shooting for a 4-5AM start but stomach issues kept me from leaving sooner. I was still on the trail by 6AM and since this year there is no official start, I was left to my own devices. I decided with 2 out and backs starting for Skyline drive. Tackling the west first then the east. Why you may ask, simple I don't have to the dreaded section between Grouse Skyride & Skyline Drive at the end. I've suffered through that section more than once. Plus easier access to help if needed for the night section.

The sign that greeted me in the morning

I was the only car at Powerline trail head at the top of Skyline Drive, I parked in front of a promising sign, unfortunately the sign wasn't referring to the good kind of cougar. From here was a relatively short hike up to the Baden Powell trail. I didn't worry about my pace at all from the car to Grouse, I used that time to convince myself this was a great way to spend my weekend and to warm up, as soon as I hit the pavement to go down to Cleveland Dam, I picked up the pace and all the way to Cleveland Dam.

Once I got over to the other side of the dam, the relentless climb up to Hollyburn started, and my pace slowed down again. This year I came equipped with polls to help me out on the climbs, poles are highly recommended. The whole climb up to Hollyburn was uneventful with no humans to be seen and no creatures stirring about, well none that I could see.

It wasn't until I was on my way towards Cypress lodge is when I started running into people, the first 2 dudes I ran into were a welcome surprise, they were doing the entire Baden Powell trail from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove and were also able to provide an update, they met Dylan on the trail. That put a smile on my face, there was another person on the trail to hunt down. 

I didn't waste any time on the way towards Black Mountain, I was feeling great and making steady progress. From there I was on my way to Eagle Bluffs, and guess who I ran into just as I was getting to the bluffs, Dylan. We exchanged our day so far and wished each other luck, he was also able to inform me that Sean was on his way up.

View from Eagle Bluffs

I scrambled down the bluffs and I kept stubbing my toe and getting my poles caught up; I was mumbling something like, why am I getting everything caught up in the roots.

I heard a familiar voice say, “because you're an idiot”

I reposed with, “probably”

It was Sean, on his way to Cleveland Dam. We exchanged how our day was going, which was slow for both of us. He though he was moving so slowly that I might catch up to him on the return leg. Fat chance but would of been awesome to pass him. Shortly after seeing him I was at the boulder field. I was almost at Nelson Creek but I knew it would take longer then I wanted, I had to conserve my energy for the climb back up to Black.

When I finally got to the parking lot the first thing on my mind was a change of socks and some food. I opened my pack and couple white chocolate macadamia nut cookies popped out, I completely forgot I packed these. After 8 hours on the move it's surprising what makes you excited. I ate and relaxed for about 5 mins before heading back along the trail.

I slowly make my way past Whyte Lake and start climbing up a steep hill, I see a group of runners thundering down towards me. As I move over to the side to let them fly pass me, one of the runners was looking at me and slowing down. It took me a few seconds to recognize who it was, it was Andy, doing the reverse Knee Knacker, along with Ultraveggie Marc and a bunch of other people that I didn't either know or recognize. I was seriously jealous of them, almost done and ready for beer o'clock. We wished each other a good day and when our separate ways.

On the climb up back to Black, I was starting to get worried about running out of water. I had to keep checking to make sure there was water in my bladder, since both water bottles were out by now. That climb took me a total of 4 hours to get up to Black Mountain and I was seriously worried about making to Skyline within the time I wanted to. By the time I was at the Cypress Lodge, all I wanted to do was cry and not do Hollyburn. I filled up with some water at the lodge and finally provided an updated to friends and let Kyndra know that I would call her once I get close to Cleveland Dam.

On my way down from Black Mountain

Once I was on Hollyburn I was able to pick up the pace a bit, I power hiked most of the way down with some short sections of "running", using quotes because I don't think you can call what I did running. I made up a considerable amount of time but still not feeling too good. I called Kyndra and see if she could join me from Skyline and do whatever she could, kind of hoping she could do the full out and back with me. She took care of everything, I had a text within 10 mins saying Sean would be joining me from Skyline to wherever Kyndra joins me. That perked me up a bit.

By the time I got to Grouse, the gate was locked to the trail and I needed to go around the fence to get back on the trail, stupid Grouse. That wasn't a problem and it was also a good time to pull out the headlamp since it was dark once I got back under the trees. Lucky some of the markers are reflective so it was easy to follow the trail.

Just as I was arriving at Skyline drive heading down to the car, I see lights pulling up. I'm thinking it must be Sean, who else would be. He saved me a bit of time by bringing hot veggie broth, it was amazing. I grabbed what I needed for the out and back to Deep Cove and we were gone. After all the time I lost climbing Black I was just 30 mins behind schedule.

We chat chitted (yeah I flipped that, they're just words they don't control us**) along the way, mostly about this year's plans. One thing we did realize for both of us, if we weren't in the forest every weekend, we wouldn't have a clue about what we'd do with ourselves, probably fatter and lazier. My decision, is if I ever have a falling out with mother nature, is to become a hobo. Sometime during hte night, I learned that Kyndra would join me at Mt Seymour Road, but as we got closer to there, I kept having issues with wanting to throw up, especially while climbing. When just less then a km from Seymour Road, something finally came up, but only clear liquid.

We saw Kyndra and Greg waiting for us and they had coke and chips for me. I fueled up, and we were off now with a new pacer to get me home. By the time I made it to Deep Cove and did the out and back towards the gate at end of Panorama Dr and to the fire hydrant, I was ready to call it a day. At this point I believe I was only 45 mins behind schedule.

I'm actually trying to use the hydrant as a pillow

I did the best I could with maintaining a pace but it wasn't going too well for me. We were at the 24hr mark about 100m from Mt Seymour Road and I was on the ground with sunlight starting to make an appearance. Kyndra got me my long sleeve shirt out of my bag and put it on hoping it will help warm me up. It didn't help a lot.

At this point it was so bad for me that Kyndra had to let Greg know not to go to bed, just in case I needed rescue. We slowly made it to the road and as soon as I saw the outhouse, my stomach said go to the outhouse NOW. I came out feeling a lot better but still weak, Kyndra was nice enough to get a bed ready for me on the park bench there. I rested for a bit and ate what I could.

Kyndra said I was alive but I am really? Hard to tell.

We decided to see how I would hold up for bit before throwing in the towel. Surprisingly I wasn't feeling like throwing up as we approached Old Buck so we continued on. From going down Seymour Grind to Lillooet Rd, the time seemed to fly, well for me at least.

Somewhere between Hyannis & the suspension bridge

Suspension bridge, everything was swaying back and forth by now

By the time we made it to end of the line, I was just over the 27 hr mark with just over 6kms to cover. On my best day I would have trouble making that route in less than an hour but I felt 29 hours was still in site. Although my stomach had other ideas.

Someone is happy that we're almost done

Every time I started to climb I felt like throwing up. It was awful but since I was so close there was no point to quit. By the time I was less then a km from my car, an entire team was assembled to pace me back: Sean, Nancy,  Phaedra, Greg and Dylan came out to see me to the end. It was an awesome feeling having so many people join me. All in all it was just an hour slower then last year but I did a much better job of pacing if it wasn't for my stomach issues for the last half I felt I would of been very close to my goal. I walked away without any pain or soreness the next day. Only thing would of been nice is to have taken Monday off to catch up on my sleep.  

My friend to take me home

Huge thanks for:

Craig, we couldn't have had the same experience unless it was for our host and his idea for running the double. You can read more about the creation of this beast here:

http://archives.clubfatass.com/events/Vancouver100/results/2005/

Kyndra for everything she did, out of everything, keeping me alive is most appreciated. Greg for his driver services, sorry I screwed up your sleep. Sean for giving up his Saturday night to get me to Mt Seymour Road. Dylan for doing it the same day as me, it was nice to know someone else was on the trail with me. Can't forget Nancy and Phaedra along with everyone else who joined me at the end for the finish.

**by the way not my line from Dane Cook's comedy, referring to chat chitting.

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