2019 year in review

In 2019, I will reach my goal of 2019 miles one run earlier than I did in 2018. Currently at 3242K (2014.4 miles) with 4 or 5 runs remaining.

Events: 11 -  3 ultras, 1 DNF.

Badges: BT Iroquoia Winter E2E, BT Iroquoia side trail challenge, Falling Water, 3/4 sections of the GVT.

Beer: A LOT!!!

Highlights: the hot dog challenge, birthday sexy pace run, winter night run with a tree strapped to my head, Maitland E2E weekend, volunteering at Foxtail 100.

Maybe not highlights, but definitely memorable: missing a turn and running 6K extra (all on road) with Lori and finished with a roadside radler, a lot of "where the fuck is the blaze?" on the GVT, MUD MUD MUD at Sulphur and Palmer's Pond.

Ahead in 2020: surpassing 30000 lifetime kilometres, at least 2 100K's, 2020 miles, finish GVT and BT Blue Mountains badges.

Maitland Trail E2E Birthday Girls' Weekend Extravaganza

It is Lori and Agnes' birthdays next week, and we made plans to run the Maitland Trail (49ish kms, heavy on the ish) end to end. This post is going to be extremely picture heavy, and most of the pictures were taken by Agnes, Lori or myself, I could check and label every one, but I will admit that I'm far too lazy for that.

We stayed at an absolutely gorgeous Airbnb. It was my first time staying in one and I'm so glad it was a great experience. The Airbnb host, Jesse, drove us to the trailhead at Goderich Beach. The Bad Thing race has a different mystery start location every year, not at the actual trailhead.

The Start. 

Just after sunrise on Menesetung Bridge.

The first section was on rail trail, during the race you take a more rugged side trail, but end to end means keep following the white blazes!

I am cow, hear me moo
I weigh twice as much as you
And I look good on the barbeque
Yogurt, curd, cream cheese and butter's
Made from liquid from my udders,
I am cow, I am cow, hear me moo!
h/t Arrogant Worms

We met Steve, one of the Bad Thing organizers and Jesse's neighbour running to meet us. When Steve heard that we were running end to end, he provided maps, dropped water on the trail, AND drove Agnes' car to the finish so we didn't have to waste time shuttling cars. He ran with us for a couple of kilometres and took a few pictures:

A tornado went through this area a few years ago,
and it is now known as FUF3.

Selfie with Steve.

Since the namesake Bad Thing hill is actually an out and back off the main trail, we technically didn't have to do it, but Steve strongly suggested that we do, and hey, why not. Despite its name, it's really not much of a challenge, there are far worse climbs on the trail.

Bad Thing...all ~200 m of it.

The next landmark was Falls Reserve Conservation Area, the river looked particularly beautiful and we found stairs that went down to water level.

Bulldoggo chubbypants trying his 

best to get down the stairs.

Next up was Benmiller Inn. I clearly remember the beauty of the reflection of the trees in the water and it was just as lovely as I remembered.

It is important to note that the trail was very well marked and maintained, which was a huge contrast after a summer of running the GVT, which is neither well marked or maintained. There were only a couple spots where we had to fan out to find a blaze, or backtrack a few hundred metres, but we never even had to use the map and most importantly, no bushwhacking!

At 30K, we reached Steve's water drop. Since it was a fairly cool day, we weren't in desperate need of a refill, but it was good to have the water anyways.

I really wished we had some Coke in the drop bag!
Photo credit: Lori

The next section up to 40K was what I remembered was the most difficult and it was just as hard as I recall. Narrow, somewhat technical singletrack, downhill to a stream water crossing, and scramble up the embankment to go up a really steep hill. Rinse and repeat several times. In 2017 it was way muddier, but it was still super slow, right at a mentally difficult part, about 2/3rds in.

I'm certain many f-bombs 

were coming out of my mouth.

a rather sad looking chäir.

Trail apples are so delicious!!

We ended up having to hustle in the final few kilometres to be done before sunset, as we hadn't brought headlamps. This was my first time running an ultra distance with Lori and Agnes, and we never ran out of things to talk about, but the conversation ranged from proper pronounciation of dim sum menu items to signs that a person is sleeping vs. dead in their car.

During the race, you cross the river to finish, but given the chilly temperatures we opted to take the dry route. The easiest would have been to backtrack to a driveway that led to the road, but what's the fun in that? 

Agnes climbing.

Photo credit: Agnes

Finally, the last victory 1K hike into Auburn. We ran the last 50 metres to the car and celebrated.

A celebratory shot of Wigle cinnamon whiskey
from my mint green holo flask.

Bonus pics of Jesse's doggo and catto:

"I'm not fat, just floofy."

We recovered with beers at Cowbell.

And a hike down to the beach to gaze at the aqua waters of Lake Huron.

Falling Water - My First Trail Marathon

Somehow, after 12 years of running, this was my first trail marathon. Happy Trails first announced the race in summer 2018, with no details other than 1. it's a marathon-ish 2. there are very limited spots and 3. the scenery would be amazing. I was one of the lucky 80 people who snagged a spot.

v gud boi Tucker tied to my hubcap pre-race. Video credit: Martin.

The race didn't start too early so I drove up in the morning with Steve and Tucker. Normally at races with local peeps I'd say I know about 1/3rd of the field; at Falling Water I knew the majority of the participants.

Some of my favourite people: K, Bogdan, Agnes!

The first 6.5K was out and back, with a giant climb up a ski hill. That was the only point at which you could access drop bags so I travelled light and brought nothing extra beyond what I'd carry with me. The course was kind of a convoluted figure 8 - course descriptions beyond the basic three (loop, out and back, point to point) make no sense to me in written form.

Photo credit: K

As you can see from the pictures, I decided to use poles, and a lot of other people did too. A few weeks ago, Agnes let me try her lightest poles (that she used) just to see if I liked poles, then she lent me her 2nd lightest poles, which are significantly heavier but still tolerable. The poles are really helpful for getting uphill.

I learned from my training mistake last year for Cape Chignecto and did almost zero speedwork and added in long hill repeats. I also did two long runs in Blue Mountain, and the hills at Cook Forest were also excellent training. The worst climb by far was the Graham's/Campbell's Hill ST, which is actually a gravel road, which we did twice during the race and was about 3-4x the length of Martin Rd in Dundas. I don't have a picture of this hill and pictures couldn't do it justice anyways, as we'd round a bend and the hill kept going..and going..

Rounding out the back of the pack with Agnes and I was a lady named Karen, we ran together until she dropped at AS4 because she was supposed to be tapering for BFC next week. Steve is also doing BFC but he finished because he's a special brand of crazy.

Karen and I, endlessly climbing. Photo credit: Agnes

So we were promised awesome views and waterfalls. Here they are!

We were probably up at the top at some point. 
Good thing #vertsnotreal.

Hogg's Falls in motion. See the rainbow in the mist?

Love how the course detoured a few metres off the BT for waterfall picture opportunities at Hogg's Falls!

Eugenia Falls. SO GORGEOUS!!

This stone arch with a rock propped up in front - perfect photo op.

As we finished Graham's/Campbell's hill (aka The Big Fucking Hill That Never Fucking Ends) the second time, we came up to AS2/5, which was staffed by the Beaver Valley BTC. The club president gave us instructions on how to navigate the final 5K, which had a turn that was easily missed, but I admitted to her that in our brain-dead state, I could not process her instructions. 

This house. This waterfall! OMG! ❤❤❤

So this happened at some point in the later stages of the race:

Agnes: I see a big black dog over there.
Me: eeeee

We pass by and there is no dog.

Agnes: I think that might actually have been a bear cub.
Me: AGGGGGGGHHHH

But hey, there were no pictures, so maybe it didn't happen. 🤷‍♀️

Since our friend Bogdan had been MIA for so many months, I wanted to make sure he was at the finish.

Last horses. Photo credit: Steve

I LOVE the fact that we got a badge for completing Falling Water, because of Trail Math the distance was of course 42.2K-ish, definitely not a Boston Qualifier! Since this was my first trail marathon, it was a PB of sorts but also a PW if you also count my 10 previous road marathons.

#collectbadgesnotpbs

Agnes: who stumbles through the woods and climbs torturous hills for 9+ hours and still has fun?!

Me: psychopaths like us. 

well earned beer and chäir.

The Canadian Contingent

I heard about Cook Forest 25K from Coach Heather, who ran the race last year. I was looking for a race near Becky in Pittsburgh so I could stop by for a visit. We made plans to get a cabin near the race start for Friday night.

on our cabin bedroom door

The cabin was a couple kilometres from the start, and the first km was on road, but the rest was all trail. I sensed that Becky didn't believe me when I said I'd run with her, because the two road halfs we'd done in the past, I finished a good 20-30 minutes before her. But that was in the fast road days...things have changed.

Giving some serious side-eye to that dog owner.

I thought the race was going to live up to the nickname 'Rocksylvania', but only the first 5K was technical. There was a humongous climb off the first road section to the fire tower, and there were a few big climbs, but in between was very, very runnable.

The Fire Tower.

There were a lot of interesting rock formations, like this:

And this:

Love how it looks like the huge rock was propped up by the tiny stick!

Finished in what was probably a personal worst time for 25K, but I had no intention of racing this, as I had to wait for Becky to go to her house anyways. Also, she finished about a minute ahead of me.

25K-ish (27 on my watch).
 I was the only Canadian registered in the race!

Left a mark on the cabin wall:

The weather was absolutely amazing (high 23, zero humidity), which was so unexpected for August. It's crazy how much weather changes your perception of a race. If it was gross and soupy humidity, I would be writing about how miserable this race was.

Still didn't stop me from cooling my legs off afterwards in the Clarion River:

If you're 555 then I'm 666

Can I just say how much I love timed races? No DNFs, no chasing cutoffs, just go at whatever pace, no stress.

magical pine forest

Although this was not my longest race, this was my longest timed event and surprisingly, my first summer ultra. It was a warm day but it wasn't so humid that I didn't think I could catch a breath.

Started off the morning cheering on Bryden and Greg in the 1K (first sub 6 minute, yeah!)

My boys.

The first loop was uneventful. Ran a lot of the second loop with Delano and started feeling a twinge in my glute, stretching didn't help much and it was affecting my gait. I rolled it out using my water bottle after the loop and it was definitely better but felt like the pain could come back at any minute. I texted Agnes to find me some drugs and stopped at a bench to do a pelvis reset. That, combined with the drugs, thankfully kept the pain away for the rest of the race.

The middle loops were pretty uneventful, hot AF during the rail trail open sections. I ran when I felt like it and just kept moving when I didn't feel like running. I reached the 6 hour mark at just over 5 loops.

Pickle juice, work your magic!

I had 9 loops in my mind as a goal and 10 as a stretch goal, but I ended up taking 3 breaks during the race and it put 10 loops out of the question but I wanted to do more than the bare minimum goal, so I thought it would be fun to run 66.6K. Agnes ran the 6th loop with me and I am proud of myself for being mentally strong enough to not go crazy without company.

🤘🤘🤘

The timing company had put me down for 72K (10 loops + 2K) but I am also proud of myself for having the integrity of emailing them to correct it, because I don't want my ultrasignup rating to be artificially inflated.

#13 is finally the lucky one

I was feeling a little bit nervous, as it's been a couple of years since my last long ultra, and I feel like I've been on a bad streak for the past few months with slow performances and DNFs.
Arrived at the race with 5 minutes to spare, but did not trip on my shoelaces and face plant, which already made the race better than my previous other 50 mile in 2016. Someday I'll make to to Sulphur race start without having to rush around like a crazy person!  The race started off in really good weather, cool and cloudy. Soon after, the skies opened up, huge thunderclaps and I fully expected to see someone or something smitten by lightning. The parts of the course that are always muddy were muddy, and parts that usually aren't (G. Donald) were muddy as well. Finished loop 1 in just over 3 hours - a normal day on tapered legs should have been around 2:45-2:50 but oh well. Lost a couple minutes because of the route change after the Martin Rd. AS, we have always turned left after the AS to access the lollipop, and even though there were marshals there, they were busy chatting, and I had to ask them where to go. Dudes, #youhadonejob!

Loved these witty signs, distracted from the pain of climbing the Three Bitches!
(pics with me in them were taken by Agnes)

I was surprised by how quickly loop 2 went by. It seemed like barely a few minutes before I was already 5 hours and 30K+ in. I saw a guy scoop up some muddy water with his hands, I was almost frozen with horror expecting him to drink it, but it turned out he was transporting a salamander to safety. I kept going back and forth with this 100 miler guy, when The Crew (Greg, Matt, Spenny, Beth J) found me on the lollipop descent, and Greg started talking to the 100 miler. Turns out he was SIL#2's high school boyfriend - small world!

After 40K Greg helped me change socks and shoes and we headed out for the first half of loop 3 together. It was warm and sunny at this point. In the frenzy of changing, I realized I forgot my watch charger and I sent Greg back early to get it, he met me at the Martin Rd. AS before the lollipop and I recharged while doing the lollipop.  Saw Steve on the way to do his final lollipop and he was behind, he was going to pace me for my final loop but was way behind pace. It was ok though, I had backup plans. Finished 60K in under 10 hours, considering MOTG (65K) took me 12+ hours..I was 🔥🔥🔥!!

Nurse Spenny making sure his Fake Mom was doing fine.
📷Agnes

I have always said that figuring out the blister game would be the key to Sulphur success. I started with the shoes and socks that got me through 40 miles at MOTG with zero issues, but I felt a small hot spot on my toe and taped that up after loop three with another sock change. In hindsight I should have brought one more pair of shoes, but even just a sock change felt good.

I had my rockstar pacing team of Agnes and Lindsay for the final loop. The weather went very quickly downhill and we experienced some of the scariest weather ever on Monarch, the winds and rain were practically hurricane force, and a large tree branch crashed down between us!

Hard to believe we were in the downpour minutes after this.

The G. Donald loop was horrendous, Lindsay was brave enough to mud surf down the hills but Agnes and I could only pick our way down inch by inch. I'll still say Palmer's Pond was worse in terms of how muddy the course was, but this was by far the worst conditions I have ever seen on the Sulphur loop in the 5 years that I have been running there.

So much fucking mud!
📷 Agnes

I felt a small twinge of cramping in one calf before the final lollipop, but a pickle from the AS made it go away. Lindsay and Agnes kept me moving, and although I can't say the last 20K went by in a flash, it was tolerable with their company.

The Orange Teletubby (Agnes) and Miss Mud Ass.
📷 Charlotte Varsarhelyi 

In the final stretch, Lindsay reminded me of one of my favourite Ann Trason quotes, "It hurts up to a point, and then it doesn't get any worse." That gave me the strength to run the best part, the downhill lollipop. Greg met us at the bottom of Martin Road, I ran the final stretch strongly, and met my goal of sub 15 hours in Patty-watch time. I'm super happy with my performance considering how completely shitty the conditions were.