Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

As 2023 comes to a close, it's that time when we reflect on the past 12 months, and make some decisions as to how next year will be even better. For me personally, this year has been amazing, and it really is going to take some beating. As is typical with life, there have been some downs as well as ups, but the fact that we keep moving forwards is a positive in itself as we make the most of every situation.  From a running perspective, I have no complaints whatsoever. I ended up doing far more races that I had initially planned, but every single one has tested my resilience both mentally and physically in one way or another. Every race I have done this year has been an ultra, which now brings my tally over 100 since I first started ultra running some 15 or so years ago. Whilst I still consider myself a competitive runner, the competition these days is more against myself, and I am happy to say that I have surprised myself this year with the race results I have had. A seco...

  After completing The Divide 200, I had no plans to do anymore races, but then I ended up registering for Bar-ka-koo – a 55km trail race in November that I was already familiar with, having competed in the augural event back in 2020. That year, I finished as 1 st lady and 1 st overall in some extremely challenging wintery conditions. I was really looking forward to doing the race again, but a distinct lack of snow and mild winter temperatures caused my enthusiasm to wane, and when race day came, I wasn’t one of the runners that toed the start line.  Looking back, it was a good thing that I had already decided against doing the race; the day before, I had an urgent email from my brother over in the UK – my mum was seriously ill in hospital and had gone into respiratory failure, and the doctors and nurses were doing all they could to keep that breath in her lungs. It certainly wouldn’t have felt right gallivanting around woods and collecting tokens with things as they were, a...

 It's been two months since The Divide 200, and after having a couple of weeks just recovering and not really doing very much, running has now recommenced at a far more leisurely pace, with the weekly speed session thrown in just to keep thing ticking over. My mileage in recent weeks has been hovering around 50 miles or so which as seemed manageable without overdoing things. I have been getting out to the local trails, and it's been nice just enjoying the running without any pressure. We've been really lucky with the weather this autumn again and even now as we fast approach mid-November, there is still no snow on the ground and temperatures are well above freezing. We did have snow a week or so ago, but it melted within a couple of days and everything is back to being that dull brown colour, although there are still quite a few lawns in the area that are still looking nice and green. I have been enjoying my running and I wasn't planning on doing any more races this yea...

 A month after completing The Divide 200, I finally finished writing about my experience, and so I allowed myself to read other blogs written by fellow runners who had also taken part in the race. I'd avoided looking at others as I didn't want their thoughts and experiences influencing what I wrote - I wanted to remember things from my own first hand experience, and I didn't want to compare things to anybody else, especially when I hadn't fully digested what I had achieved in those four or so days out on The Great Divide trail. I really enjoyed reading other people's blogs and I was fascinated to hear about how their races had gone, but the more I read, the more something became more noticeable to me - my race sounded so boring when compared to others! My race had no drama, no real mind games, no thoughts of quitting or doubting my ability, I didn't have any "dirt naps" at the side of the trail in the middle of nowhere, where I was too tired to carry o...

The Divide 200 went far better than I expected, and there's no denying that for me personally, it was one of my best races where everything went almost perfectly. I went into the race with no expectations, my only goal being to finish no later than 11.59am on the Saturday. I'll be honest in saying that from the moment I registered, the thought of running 200 miles always seemed within my reach and I didn't find it intimidating. What was intimidating was the elevation gain and the terrain I would be running through - living in Leduc, there was no way I could replicate those long climbs and descents in training, neither could I find somewhere close by that would mimic those rocky, technical mountain trails - running on the Devon trails or in the Edmonton River Valley was the best I could do on a regular basis, and with daily strength sessions that included half an hour of step-ups, I just hoped it would be enough to carry me up and over mountain summits and undulating ridges,...