Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

5 races in one day – wow! With my incredible ability to waffle, this has the potential to be a long one, but for once I’ll try to keep things short so as not to prolong the boredom too much. Looking back, last Saturday was superb - 5 crazy runners doing 5 races in one day – what better way to keep us out of mischief on a weekend?! First up was the Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) Hot Chocolate 10km race. My best time for a 10k since moving over here is just under 42 minutes – that was at the MEC 10k race last April when I first got here. It was much warmer back then with just a few remnants of  ice and snow on the river, and I actually raced in vest and shorts. On Saturday however, it was a nippy -5 but felt much chillier due to overcast skies, and it was so tempting to just hang around the fire pits and heaters that the organizers had kindly set up for us around the start area. The route was a flat out and back course alongside the river and whilst the City of Calgary had ...

I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge, no matter how big or small, whether it be testing my own physical limits like when I did my first proper mountain marathon of over 50 miles in the Swiss Alps, or when testing mental strength like doing the Barry 40, going round and round and round in circles to complete 161 laps of an athletics track. Ok, they may be insignificant when compared to challenges undertaken by the likes of Jez Bragg and Lizzy Hawker (both of whom I’m honoured to have met whilst on the same GB team when competing in ultra distance races in the past), but we all have to start somewhere - even learning to ride a bike and staying on for more than a minute can be a challenge for some people! But I digress, and I’m waffling again…… Since September last year, I’ve merrily been competing in the Calgary Road Runners Cross Country events. I haven’t been outstanding but I’ve done ok and I’ve enjoyed doing them. I was really looking forward to the next race th...

My first race of 2013 actually went pretty well – certainly better than I’d imagined it would. During the preceding week , I’d been suffering from intense headaches, a bunged up nose and a chest infection, probably not helped by the small matter of a 37km training run on the previous Sunday as preparation for next month’s ultra! But as those of you that are runners will know, we’re a hardy bunch and we seldom let the “sniffles” get the better of us - neither do we let trivial things such as sub zero temperatures and heavy snow stop us from doing our regular runs, which is probably a good thing as that’s exactly what Calgary encountered prior to race day, making any running exceptionally difficult in the deep snow.  Needless to say, turning up to race at a cold, snowy and barren Nose Creek on a Saturday lunch time probably isn't the most intelligent thing I've ever done. It was race 6 in the Calgary Road Runners Cross Country Grand Prix and whilst I've ...

It's funny how things pan out - how one thing can cause a chain reaction and lead into something else. During the holidays I was busy looking around for races in 2013, but it wasn't an easy task. One of the problems here in Calgary is that races during the winter months are few and far between, but as with the flowers in the spring, there is an abundance of races as soon as the weather starts to warm up and the days become longer, making it very difficult to make a shortlist of "must do's" throughout the year! I'm also one of those runners that likes a bit of variety to keep me interested and avoid complacency - a mixed bag of long races and short races, flat runs and hilly runs, fast paced and slow paced, on road and  on the trails. It's small wonder that I've never really excelled at anything in particular but have tended to be mediocre at most race distances. Anyhow,  I was looking for a road 10k or half marathon sometime in March/Apri...