Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

What a brilliant couple of weeks I've had. Having raced the Lost Soul 100km earlier this month, a day or so later, we finally had some visitors from the UK in the form of Andy's parents. Their arrival couldn't have been better timed as I took a few days off from running to recover from the 100k, which freed me up to spend some time with them. We visited a few places in Kananaskis and made a trip down to Waterton, made all the more special with our first sighting of a black bear since our arrival here over 18 months ago. First sighting of black bear since arriving in Canada last year - Waterton National Park By Thursday, we'd made our way up to Canmore, and for the next week toured the more popular sights of the nearby Rocky Mountains - Banff, Sulphur Mountain, Lake Minnewanka, Athabasca Glacier, Jasper, Maligne Lake and Mount Robson to name just a few. I've done these at least twice already on my travels over the years, and I never cease to be amazed at the...

Lost Soul 100km Trail Race - what can I say? It was an awesome experience and despite the pain and agony, despite "you're having a f***ing laugh!" entering my head every time I saw the trail heading up one of the many steep hills from about 20km onwards, despite the sunburn, quad burn, bruised hips, mosquito bites, ankle pain and a couple of blisters, I already want to go back next year to race it properly and see if I can better my time. I'd heard so many great things about the Lost Soul Ultra, and it certainly didn't disappoint. The organisation went like clock work, the volunteers were fantastic, and the runners were spectacular. Add to that the warm conditions and the most torturous yet wonderful course I have ever done over 100km, it certainly lived up to its reputation as the "toughest ultra on the prairies". Having done Edmonton Marathon just 12 days ago, I had no idea how I would fair at Lost Soul. I wanted to do my best but with not ...