Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

When I agreed to join the Snot Rockets team for the K-100 mile relay, I was expecting to be talking about the wonderful scenery, the excitement and anticipation, the team bonding, who had the toughest leg, and what a great time we had as the 10 of us sprinted to glory in our mixed-team category. Unfortunately, the event that we have all been looking forward to for the past 6 months was cancelled today for reasons beyond anybody's control. Yesterday evening, the rain started. I was home alone with Andy working away, and we had some pretty intensive lightning and some monsoon type rain. The roads in Mahogany were severely flooded and walking the dogs later that night meant getting absolutely drenched and covered in mud. Today we awoke to the devastating news that Canmore - a place that we frequently visit for hikes and trail runs - had been severely affected by floods as the river burst its banks. The deluge of water swept away houses and roads, forcing the closure of th...

My feet hurt. As I write this from the comfort of my home, they are bandaged up thanks to blisters on the soles of my feet. In the 20 or so ultras I’ve done – of which 5 have now been 100km – I have never really had problems with blisters - achy legs and an incessant need to sleep yes, but sore feet no. Despite the usual post-race stiff, achy legs, the Fast Trax 100km Trail Race was awesome. I will be honest in saying that I’m not usually a big fan of Edmonton and I do much prefer Calgary, and yet the organisers did an excellent job in finding such a fantastic course just 10 minutes drive from the city centre. In the winter months, Gold Bar Park is used for skiing, and needless to say there are lots of trails with plenty of steep, sharp ups and downs, as well as some flatter sections. It looks much different in mid-June and the 10km loop that formed the course around the park was proper trail running. My Garmin showed around 350ft of climbing on each lap – multiply that by 10,...

For 8 years in a row, the Potteries Marathon was always the main feature in my race calendar. Being born and bred in Shelton and having been a runner since primary school, I always felt I should support the local race and it was the very first marathon that I ever did back in 1995. Unfortunately, falling entries and increasing costs resulted in the demise of “The Potts”, and it has since been replaced by a half marathon. I’ve only done the half once, but since its inception I’ve been out supporting the runners as a spectator over the years. I’ve now been living in Calgary for well over a year, and ever since my arrival, I have felt the urge to support the marathon in my new home city. Unlike the Potts, Calgary is much larger, starting at the Stampede Ground, with 15,000 runners taking part in distances from 5k up to the marathon on the same day. I first ran the race last year and finished in 3.17. It certainly isn’t PB course, and I was way off my best, but I was so impressed with...