After sleeping through registration for this race many months ago (it sold out in just a few hours), I had decided I would just go and help crew my friend Adria while she ran it. Luckily, a couple spots opened a few weeks before and I managed to get one of them. The race takes place in Lethbridge, Alberta, about 3.5 hours from where I live. I drove out to Lethbridge on the Thursday to stay with Adria. We had our crew over to her place for dinner to discuss the race, which took place the next morning. Unfortunately the theme of races this year seems to be scorching hot, and the temperature was supposed to be somewhere around 35 degrees, which I’m told means 40 degrees in the coulees.
The race is kind of split into 2 loops, so you repeat parts of the course a second time (or 3 times for the 100 milers). We started at 9:00am Friday morning and it wasn’t feeling too hot just yet, probably thanks to the smoke.
Leg 1- South Loop. This section is about 7km and felt pretty easy. We started at the Lethbridge Lodge (this area is called headquarters) to the sound of bagpipes as we ran downhill and did a short section of until we got onto some trail. Adria and I ran this leg together in about 43 minutes or so. I really had to pee and so I was probably running faster than I should have back to HQ so I could use a port-a-potty. We were having fun and it was still pretty cool out. This leg isn’t too hilly until the climb back to HQ at the end. After a quick bathroom break we set our for the second leg.
Leg 2- HQ to Softball Valley. This leg is about 8km and is pretty easy running for the most part. There are a few hills but the climbs in this race are short and steep and compared with mountain races, are really not too bad. I actually like the break from running…. this course has a lot of flat sections where you can make up time. I started off this leg with Adria, but then I started to feel my stupid stitch pain and knew I needed to take it easy and practice breathing better.
I like running with friends, but during a race I also enjoy being by myself so I know I’m running the pace that feels best for me at the time. My goal was just to finish and get my Western States lottery ticket and not feel like crap (the Golden Ultra was two weeks away). I think this leg took me just under an hour.
Leg 3- Softball Valley to Pavan. 10km of many hills made this leg feel pretty hard once it started to get really hot out. My stitch was staying somewhat under control as long as I didn’t run to much downhill. I’m thankful my terrible experience at Sinister this year is making every other race seem not so bad. I actually think the smokiness made the heat tolerable because the sun wasn’t shining directly on us. Unfortunately the smoke also made it a DNF day for some people, so I’m thankful my lungs didn’t seem to be bothered by it. I’m bad at describing courses afterwards because it all kind of gets mixed up in my brain. It’s especially challenging for this course because a lot of the trail just looks the same in the coulees! I do know this is the hilliest leg and it took me just over an hour to finish it.
As anyone who has run or heard about this race probably knows- one of the best things about it is the volunteers/aid stations. Everyone cheers as you arrive, they get you ice, fill your water, and offer you all the different foods. And there are many- chips, pickles,pergoies, grilled cheese sandwiches, salted potatoes, etc. I also had the best crew. Adria’s parents were there to cheer us on, as well as a few people I’ve been lucky enough to meet through Adria. They were there to crew her but kindly took over crewing me as well since Brett couldn’t be there this time. I also like that you never go more than an hour or two without seeing your crew at this race!
Leg 4- North Loop. In this 16km section you run north and loop back to Pavan. There is a lot of flat running on this section but also some good rolling sections. I really liked this section, apart from the running on dirt road part that seemed to go on forever. After the dirt road there are a few hills to climb, but then the last 5 or 6km are along the river and flat all the way back to Pavan. There is an unmanned water station about 5k from Pavan which comes in handy as I had ran out of water just as I arrived. There is also another water station sooner that is apparently put out by one of the farmers who owns the private land we are running on for a section of that race? This is just what another racer told me so I’m not exactly sure, but I thought that was pretty neat. I ran most of this section with a girl running the 100 mile race. Actually most of the people I saw during the day were 100 mile runners…. so I was impressed that they were running as fast as I was when they had to run a lot longer. Although I actually wasn’t moving very fast since it was hot and I was feeling nauseous off and on for most of the day. This leg took just over 2 hours.
Leg 5- Pavan to Softball Valley. This 7km section starts with 3 steep climbs called the 3 bitches. The first 2 are right after one another and the 3rd comes a little bit after. They are steep, but short (just a few minutes to walk up) so really not that terrible. The rest of the leg is flat and I finished it in about an hour.
Leg 6- Softball Valley back to HQ. This leg is 6km and is very runnable. There is a nice (although very very short) shaded forest section which was probably my favourite part of the course. You then run along the river for a bit and towards the high level bridge. Once you get under the bridge you climb a long steep hill back up to HQ. This section took just under an hour. At this point I was excited for it to start getting dark, although it was still a few hours before that happened. And now, I had to repeat legs 2-6 to finish the race!
I think this might have been the spot where I caught up with Adria. She was leaving HQ as I was arriving. In my memory this is where it happened anyways…. it could have been somewhere else! hah. My great crew covered my blisters (2 blisters this race- this never happens!) and I ate a few french fries before taking off. I was feeling pretty good for the first couple kilometres. I had turned my phone on for a few minutes to read/send some texts. My sister had been tracking us and informed me Adria and I were in second and third place for the females! This was also the point at which I allowed myself to start listening to music. Repeating this 8k loop took me just over an hour. I was feeling pretty nauseous and my stitch was starting to hurt more. By this point I was finding it difficult to eat because it was still very hot and I was getting sick of sweet things. Once I got back to Softball Valley I took a 20 minute break to sit and eat. After some french fries, pickles, and cups of ginger ale I started to feel a bit better. Music wasn’t helping so I started listening to an audiobook. This was a great idea as it made the rest of the leg go by pretty quick.
Back at Pavan, Adria’s parents had brought Sam for a visit. It was nice to get some puppy snuggles as I filled my bandana with ice and stocked up for the long North loop. The second time around the North loop didn’t seem so bad. It started to cool off and I felt like I was able to run more. My stitch was still hurting, but still not enough to make me have to walk. Also, I knew I could have a pacer if I wanted one after I made it through this section. With about 6 or 7km to go I had to put my headlamp on. Normally I hate running alone in the dark, but because I knew I didn’t have to fear bears/cougars it was actually quite peaceful and I enjoyed being out there. The second half of the north loop is pretty runnable, and I was able to run the last 5km or so without walking much. I didn’t see any other racers until I was almost back to the aid station…. I passed a guy with blisters that forced him to walk. I wasn’t really eating much at this point. I remember trying to eat a gel (cucumber mint flavoured), and having to spit it out because the taste made me want to puke. I think I need to learn to pack more salty foods, since sweet things sound terrible later in races. I was still listening to my audiobook at this point. I can’t believe I haven’t tried this at a race before.
Once I got back to Pavan I decided to get Brian to pace me for the last 12km. My goal at this point was to finish before midnight (sub 15 hours). Brian ran in front of me and probably made me finish faster than I would have alone. I would have minutes of nausea where I felt I needed to walk followed by minutes of running (I’m sure it all felt like walking to Brian though, since he’s like a foot taller than me). We ran to softball valley, stopped quickly for a bathroom break, and then took off for the finish. It went by pretty quickly, which was probably due to having somebody to talk to. I probably annoyed Brian counting down the kilometres every 500m or so…. oops. Finally we were at the last climb of the day/night, back up to HQ. We ran towards the finish line and Brian told me to run ahead and he would see me up there. At this point I felt like I sprinted to the finish, just wanting to be done. I finished in 14 hours and 34 minutes- good for 3rd female (2nd in my age category) and 8th overall. Adria finished 2nd, a few minutes under 14 hours.
Post-race:
After a mostly sleepless night, Adria and I spent most of Saturday helping to crew our friend Geoff, (who had spent the previous day helping crewing us). Unfortunately I had to work Sunday morning, so I had to drive back to Kimberley Saturday evening. As was the case with sinister, after this 100k I felt extremely nauseous a few minutes after I stopped running, as well as for a few days after. Maybe just from dehydration? Hmmm..