I usually use this blog to record my racing successes and failures, or to keep track of my training throughout the year, but 2020 has been a little bit strange and somewhat surreal to say the least. Looking back at my last post in January of this year, I’m almost inclined to say, “be careful what you wish for!” Yes, the year did get off to a positive start, but my words of “Compared to last year, I'm certainly not planning on racing as much as I did during 2019”, and “this year is going to be pretty quiet …” almost makes me wonder whether I have a sixth sense of some kind that, had I paid attention, could have predicted all of this!
In all seriousness though, nobody could have imagined nor predicted how different things would be this year, and we’ve all had to adapt and change our daily lives to get through these past few months. I’ve held off doing a post for several weeks now – we’ve all heard enough about Covid and I really didn’t want all that negativity coming through on a running blog. But then last week, I found out that I was due to lose my job on October 2nd and I started to wonder what the hell I was going to do with all that time on my hands. I was already feeling like 2020 was a complete write off, but then I took a step back to reflect on the past few months and realised that it really hasn’t been so bad, especially when considering what other people – including friends – have been through. Yes, those first few weeks were strange and hard to deal with as things were closed down, holidays cancelled and travel restrictions introduced, and watching the virus spread in the USA and the UK where I have lots of friends and family was worrying, but as we all gradually got used to this “new norm”, we all started to make the most of the situation.
I am usually an optimist and try to see the good in everything, and so without further ado, here’s a recap of the past few months and the positive things to come out of this pandemic for me and our little family 😊
Weaselhead Cross Country
Way back in February, Andy finally came home to Leduc having been working away in the US for a month. It happened to be my birthday weekend, and both Valentine’s Day and our wedding anniversary were that same week, so we booked a couple of nights away in Calgary with the dogs.
We had a
wonderful couple of days and whilst there, I raced the 8km Weaselhead Cross
Country Race. It had been so long since I had done a shorter, hilly, off-road
race, and I was somewhat apprehensive about running “fast” but I ended up
having a good race and finished third lady. I’d missed those single-track
trails, those short, steep hills, the thrill of the chase, and those twists and
turns that made things far more interesting, and with the snow underfoot, it
added that extra bit of a challenge. It was also nice to catch up with old friends
in the area who I hadn’t seen for a couple of years since we’d left Calgary to
move to Phoenix, and as we headed back home, we looked forward to meeting up with those friends again in the not too distant future. How little we knew!
Hypothermic Half
In addition to the cross-country race, I also ran the Hypothermic
Half Marathon in Edmonton back in February. That day, it was extremely cold but
thankfully we hadn’t had any additional snow, so the conditions were pretty
good for running. My training had been going really well up until that point
and I was hoping to run a decent time of around 1 hour 35 minutes, but as with
all road races in recent years, I found myself getting bored at around 8 miles
and ended up walking. I d finished the race in a personal worst for the half, but with a big smile on my face and the result reaffirmed my lack of apathy towards
racing hard and fast on the roads these days – even when they are snow covered! I really have no interest and much prefer running trails, and those days of chasing PBs are now long behind me.
Aravaipa Strong 50-Mile Virtual Race
By March, Covid had hit Alberta and after a couple of weeks,
life started to change. All the races I had registered for up to June this year
had already been cancelled, but at the time, I was still hopeful that Canadian
Death Race in August would still go ahead.
It wasn’t just Alberta where the impact was being felt
though. Back down in Phoenix, a place we had called home for almost 3 years, things were starting to get worse and it too was feeling the effects of the pandemic as races started to be cancelled.
Aravaipa Running is at the core of trail running in Phoenix
and the surrounding areas, and as a small race organising company, they were
starting to feel the impact of the shutdowns. I had spent 3 years representing
Aravaipa on the Aravaipa Racing Team, so when they came up with the idea of the
Aravaipa Strong virtual race, I ended up signing up not only to help towards their
survival as a business, but also as a percentage of the entry fee would go
towards the Covid Solidarity fund.
I originally signed up for the 50k, but when work ordered
everybody to take 5 days holiday in April whether they wanted to or not, I
decided to switch to the 50 miles – what else was I meant to do when everywhere
is shutdown and there is nothing to do with all that extra time?!
I considered so many routes around Leduc where I could do a full 50 miles – Leduc is only a small city, and at the time, and with public health advice being to "stay local", we weren’t even allowed to travel to nearby places like Edmonton or Devon which would have offered more choice. I also needed to consider how I was going to stay hydrated and fuelled for potentially 8 hours or more.
I finally decided on 10 x 5 mile loops around the local
Telford Lake – it was close to home, Andy could pop down every couple of hours
to check on me, and being loops meant I could leave stuff at the start/end of
each loop to pick up each time I passed by.
I was really excited about the race despite not being what I
was used to, and having started at 7am on a Monday morning, I had so much fun
and worked just as hard on my own solo 50 mile run as I would have done had there
been people there with me. Andy brought me extra water, coffee and food, my friend
Julie came out to offer some encouragement, and even the locals walking around
the lake offered encouragement and support each time I passed them on my next
loop once they realised what I was doing.
It was a super day, I had a great run, and I ended up finishing in 7 hours 49 minutes, feeling fantastic having had no vomiting and no niggles or injuries despite having ran 50 miles on paved trails. The result that day was enough to place me first lady in the 50 mile virtual race and it made me feel so happy when tuning into the virtual awards ceremony to hear my name, along with my good friends Dennene who had placed 3rd in the 50 miler, and Julie who had placed 2nd in the marathon if I recall correctly.
Running a virtual race is not for everybody and it really does take personal motivation and drive to do well. I could have used it as a good training run but I didn’t – I didn't know when my next race would be, so I gave my all that day with the aim of doing my best. That was the start of several virtual races and challenges for the coming months which in hindsight have been totally worth it.
Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee (GVRAT) and Back Across Tennessee
(BAT)
By May, pretty much all of my races had been cancelled and I was starting to wonder how I would keep motivated to log the miles and put in the extra effort for speedwork when there really was nothing to aim for. We weren't even allowed to meet up with our usual running groups or friends, so even the social element was being taken away from.us.
Shortly after the Aravaipa Strong 50-mile race, it was announced that Laz Lake – organiser of infamous the Barkley Marathon – was doing a virtual race which involved running across Tennessee. The distance would be 1020km (635 miles) with the option of doing multiple crossings, the condition being that it had to be completed between May 1st and August 31st.
I had no real desire to run across Tennessee, but knowing it was
highly unlikely that I would ever run one of Laz’s real races, I signed up. This challenge
was a little different than the previous one – it was more about staying the
distance and running or walking those miles when you could, and at the end of each day,
logging in to the system to record your miles so you could track your little dot
on the map as you made your way across Tennessee.
One thing I learnt whilst doing this challenge is that
1000+km is a long way! I was doing my regular weekend long runs, but it wasn’t
even putting a dent in the distance, and whilst I was enjoying the challenge and
reading about each of the places I passed through on the map, I was starting to
get somewhat impatient about finishing - having to remember to manually enter
my mileage every day was also getting incredibly tedious!
By June, some of the Alberta Parks and campgrounds had started
to reopen after almost 3 months of being close, and we managed to snag a place
at Long Lake for a couple of nights camping. This gave me a deadline to
complete the GVRAT as it had become known – I wanted to finish before we went camping,
so that I could take some time off running and relax for a bit with the family.
My final run of around 20 odd miles came on the Sunday and I felt immense relief – now I would get the belt buckle we had all been working for, along with the race shirt. I was happy, having finished the single crossing in just 43 days - 1020km, 635 miles.
Of course, a week after I finished, I thought what the hell, and found myself signing up for the return journey, this time the incentive being a 1000-mile pin and a map of the route signed by Laz and his team. Thus started the daily recording of mileage again, the frustration that despite running 20 or 30 miles at a time, the miles were still taking an absolute age to get through. But perseverance eventually paid off, and on day 74 I passed the 1000 miles, and 16 days later, I completed the double crossing after 90 days and 2040km (1270 miles).
Having spent most of the summer running solo miles, by the
end of July small gatherings were allowed again, so the last 4 miles of BAT were
completed with the Leduc Runners. It felt so good to be finally be able to
celebrate an achievement in the company of others – boy had I missed that
feeling - and of course, a wee bit of Tennessee whiskey certainly didn't go amiss.
I was now officially a RAT and a BAT finisher, and with a snazy buckle, a shirt, a 100 mile pin and a signed cloth map, I have all
the goodies to prove it – yay!
5 Peaks 25km
The 5 Peaks Trail Running series has been on my agenda every
year that I’ve been living in Canada, not only as a racer but also as a volunteer.
Not surprisingly, this too has fallen foul to Covid this year which meant the
option of rolling over entries to next year or going virtual. I opted for the virtual
option for the two races I had registered for, although now in hindsight, I
wish I had opted to roll over.
For the virtual races, those registered could select a race
distance category, the idea being that you increased the race distance each
month. I chose “Grit” which meant I would be racing 25km in June and 35km in August.
My original plan for the 25km was to run the trails in Devon,
but when Alberta Parks opened again and we were finally able to book a camping trip to Long Lake, I decided I
would race whilst on vacation – we were visiting mid-week so there would be
less people about, and I could choose what time of day I wanted to “race”.
On arrival at Long Lake, I explored the nearby trails trying to decide what route to do. There was a lovely trail section that ran for approximately 2 miles at the top of the campground, but it came out on to the road and then followed a hilly, paved trail for a couple of miles alongside the lake. I was happy to do this loop 4 times to get the distance, but the paved section really wasn't appealing, even with the gorgeous views of the lake. The other option was to venture into the nature reserve which had a good 10km loop that I could run twice, but it was very quiet in there, there was a lot of deadfall at the start of the trail, and with not being familiar with the trails and of course running solo through bear habitat, I decided against that.
In the end, I decided that running up and down
the hill at the campground was the best option – 2 miles up, 2 miles down, 7 and a half times. I
treated the run like hill repeats to get me up the hill whilst the downhill
allowed me to stretch out the legs and make up some time. I ended up running
close to 3,000 ft over the 15 or so miles and finished in around 1 hour 45
minutes which I was extremely happy with. It also felt good running on dirt road and trails - after all, 5 Peaks races are trail races!
I uploaded my results to the website and given that we were now competing virtually against people from.the different provinces across Canada where 5 Peaks host their races, the competition was tough. At the end of the month, I checked back on the results and it looked like I had finish 4th lady but first in my age group. However, it was somewhat disappointing in all honesty that there were none of the usual medals given out as awards. I realise this was a virtual race, and I don’t usually enter races for medals or awards as I have enough to last me a life time, but out of all the virtual races I have done this year, despite being happy with my performance, I was somewhat disappointed with this one. I’d opted for the virtual edition of the other 5 Peaks race I had entered, but I really didn’t - and still don't - feel motivated to do. Much as I love the 5 Peaks team and all that they do, I personally don’t feel like there has been as much engagement with competitors as there has been with the other virtual races I’ve done, and I started to question the point of doing it at all.
But still, it was another race under my belt this year for the 25km, and a DNS for the 35km, and shortly after the run I did at Long Lake, I decided to register for the return trip across Tennessee to give me something else to focus on once again.
Pure Ultra 24 hour
I can’t remember when it was announced that the Canadian
Death Race was cancelled - this year really has been a blur! - but I do remember it hitting me much harder than some
of the other races I had meant to have been doing this year. I’d had such a great
time in Grand Cache last year, and I was missing the mountains having not been
for several months. I really was gutted, and even doing the run across Tennessee
didn’t ease the disappointment.
Thankfully Sinister Sports who organise Death Race had also gone down the virtual route with 3 different types of races with their final one – Pure Ultra – being a timed event, I was pretty excited about this as I do enjoy these kind of events, so given that I was meant to have being doing Survivorfest 24 hour (this too was cancelled!) back in June. I signed up for the Pure UIltra 24 hour race instead.
For Pure Ultra, I was once again undecided about where to do it. I wanted to run trails and thought of a nice route in Devon, the idea being that we would stay at the campground which would give access to the route I was thinking about, and Andy would be able to crew me for the full 24 hours. But the campground was not allowing tent camping at the time, and we are still saving up for that trailer come RV. I also considered Telford Lake again but I wasn’t sure I would stay focused on such a large loop for 24 hours. Then there was the dog park loop which was approx. 3km and another good option, especially given that there was a parking lot and portaloo which was definitely a requirement.
The final option was of course the outdoor track at the local high school in Leduc. This would be perfect as there was shelter if needed, there was a parking lot, a couple of portaloos, and it was much easier to leave a table there with all my stuff for the duration of the race, where we could still keep an eye on things as I ran. The track is also in a residential area, so although there would be no flood lights in the overnight period, the local streetlights would hopefully shed enough light on the track to enable me to keep going through the night.
It was a done deal – I would be running on the track, self-supported, with Andy popping around every 4 or 5 hours to bring me food. He would then stick around overnight from a security perspective, just in case we had any late-night revelers wanting to intervene.
My original intention was to run on the track alone, but when my friend Dennene asked if and where I would be running, I invited her to come along and join me. Having company throughout the day on the track would be a huge help to us both, and thankfully she agreed.
It was weird doing a 24-hour track race but not really being
at a race. We set up our aid station at the top of the track, and members of
the public swung by throughout the day, some of which we got talking to whilst
we ran. Most thought we were crazy to be voluntarily running in circles for 24
hours, but one lady was so impressed, she came back later in the day and brought
us some goodies to keep us going. This was so humbling as she was a complete stranger,
and despite living in Leduc, I have never seen her since.
My goal for the Pure Ultra was to just get to 100 miles as a minimum. I wasn’t really bothered about how long it took me nor how much over the hundred I could go. I’d already done lots of miles this year so I was just doing this to support Sinister Sports and to get my 24-hour fix for the year.
Once again, as with the Aravaipa Strong 50 miler, I had a superb day, so good in fact that at one point, I honestly thought I was going to unofficially PR! We had rain, we had wind, we had hot sunshine, we dodged puddles, we ran in the dark when the storms moved through, it got quite chilly, but we persevered. My splits for 50k, 50 miles and 100k showed a good, strong steady pace and I was barely slowing at all, and I eventually passed the 100-mile mark in just over 18 hours. I’d been eating more solid food that day and had walked a couple of laps whilst eating to make sure it digested properly – I was feeling fantastic!
Andy came around for the night session as planned and I had been dreaming about a jam croissant for my 3am feed which he had brought with him along with another hot coffee. Unfortunately, the jam had been smeared on the outside of the croissant and not as a filling – that sudden sugar rush of strawberry jam was not expected, and within a minute of taking an enthusiastic bite, I felt the nausea building and the next thing I know, I was throwing up at the side of the track. It was such a shame as I had been feeling so good for over 100 miles, and just that one thing upset my race. I walked around the track for the next couple of hours, trying to convince my body that it should take on board some food, but it had gone into shutdown and was protesting every time I put anything to my mouth to eat. My energy started dropping and it wasn't fun anymore.
Andy by now had retired to the car for a little snooze whilst Dennene was fast approaching
her personal goal, and with feeling drained of energy and wet from the rain and
puddles, I didn’t think there was much point carrying on once Dee had hit her personal goal.
I sat down and waited, eventually calling it a day shortly after 5am and having
covered 108 miles in the around 20 hours.
Looking back, I really did enjoy the Pure Ultra virtual race
and it was on a par with the Aravaipa race for runner engagement from the organisers.
I am also happy to report that both Dee and I finished on the podium with 2nd
and 1st placed ladies respectively, and I got a couple of lovely
nuu-muu sports dresses as a prize. I can say for sure that Pure Ultra was one of my favourite races
this year 😊
LEJOG
A day after completing the Pure Ultra 24-hour race, I found
myself on a relay team with some running friends in the UK, as my old running
club - Trentham RC – was doing another virtual team challenge, this time Lands
End to John O’Groats.
I was happy to be on team Alpha and one of the things I loved about this challenge was the camaraderie and the friendly competition between the teams. I also enjoyed having to research the route as went along, to find places every 100 miles that had some connection with my old home city of Stoke-on-Trent.
Being a member of a team again was fantastic and for once, I wasn’t just doing this challenge for me – it was a team effort – and that really motivated me to get out and put in the extra miles. Just one week after running the 108 miles on the track, I did back to back 20 milers to help push the team forward – I felt surprisingly good, but in reality I knew that I should really be spending my time recovering from such a long race, and not going out doing all these silly miles. Fortunately, I didn’t get any niggles or injuries, but my pace was much slower than normal whilst my weekly mileage was increasing. For three consecutive weeks, I exceeded 100 miles of running or walking, something unheard of in my 30 plus years of running!
I don’t recall how many miles I did for the team, but I know
it was a lot, and we finished strong just 14 days after we had started.
This LEJOG relay really was a lot of fun and we were in touch with our teams every day for the whole duration. It made me feel involved, it made me feel a part of something, it put me back in touch with old and new friends, and it reminded me just how big the UK really is, but also how small in comparison to where I now live. It was lots of fun and I would definitely have done it again 😊
Run Across Alberta and Run Across the Yukon
The Run Across Alberta
is part of the Great Canadian Crossing, another virtual challenge that has been
organised by 5 Peaks, This challenge started on July 1st – Canada
Day – and those taking part have a full 12 months to cross the entire country
in time for Canada Day 2021.
There was also the option of doing individual provinces or territories and earning a medal for each once completed - this appealed to me more than just the one
medal for the entire country– doing it one at a time would give me milestones and rewards along the
way, whereas the full crossing would mean waiting for months until I saw something for my efforts.
So it was that I decided to do the crossing one province, one territory at a time, and of course, I started with Alberta. As with the Tennessee Run, your daily miles can be done anywhere at any time, and with a link to Strava, the difference this time was that these miles automatically upload and track your progress instead of having to manually enter them.
Some of my races counted towards the tally and I made the full distance of 655 km across Alberta in just 26 days and have since received my medal. I waited for a couple of weeks before signing up for another province, and I’m now making my way across the Yukon and have just 200km to the finish – virtually of course. There are no prizes for this, but what it does mean is that I am learning about this wonderful country as I go along, my aim being to collect as many provincial/territory medals I can in the 12 months, and to do some sort of framed collage at the end to celebrate my Canadian citizenship which I hope to get next year.
Almost 2 down and lots still to go - this is one HUGE country!
Outside of Racing
There’s no doubt of course that the point to point challenges across provinces, states and countries have made up the bulk of my running this year, but thankfully as with any other year, there have been days where the miles haven’t mattered and I’ve ran or walked just for the sheer enjoyment of it.
Despite most of my runs this year being solo due to obvious reasons, I'm lucky that I have our three pups who are young and energetic enough to want to run with me - they always put a smile on my face, and I love spending time running roads and trails with the little munchkins. Back in the winter, we even managed to squeeze in a Park Run together, before they too were cancelled until further notice.
I’ve definitely had some fun runs and walks around Leduc, Edmonton and Devon in recent months and really enjoyed finding new trails and doing new things.
Since some of the restrictions started to lift, Andy has had to start travelling again for work, and in the past couple of months, he’s been down to the US a couple of times working at site. This of course has been unsettling given the current situation, and on returning home here in Canada, he has had to go into mandatory isolation for 14 days. This has been hard. He’s been at home, but locked away in a room on his own, not allowed outside except in our own backyard, and of course keeping his distance from me and the dogs. The dogs have lay at the closed door several times, sniffing underneath for their dadda, whilst I’ve had to look after Andy and do all the household chores as he’s not allowed to wander around the house and share things with me. He too has found it hard – he may be home, but not being able to leave the house, even for a walk around the block has not been fun, and he has admitted to being fed up of looking at the same 4 walls. With two trips to the US, it has meant him losing a month of his life shut up on his own in a room, and I have felt somewhat guilty leaving him home alone whilst I've gone out walking the dogs or running. Thankfully there shouldn’t be too many trips in the foreseeable future, but that can change quickly in his field of work.
Andy’s last trip to the US meant that he missed out on our family camping trip to Jasper and I ended up heading out to the mountains on my own with the pups and spent 2 nights solo camping at the Wapiti Campground. I definitely needed that break, and I definitely needed to see the mountains. It was so peaceful and relaxing, I loved living the basic life for a few days, and thankfully the dogs were so well behaved, meaning it truly was a lovely, well needed holiday.
Whilst in Jasper, I did quite a few hikes with the pups, and
on the Wednesday before heading home, Dennene came out to see us and we had a
fantastic hike with the pups to Wilcox Pass which overlooks the Athabasca
Glacier on the Columbia Icefields Parkway. It was a perfect hike on a perfect day,
and the dogs were so well behaved despite the number of pikas up in the meadows
and across the ridge. The views of the surrounding mountains were of course
gorgeous, and it was certainly somewhere I would go back to on my own with the
pups.
I did a couple of other hikes with the pups whilst out in Jasper – a visit to Maligne Lake, Old Fort Point, and Valley of the 5 Lakes – and those memories will stick with me forever. Meanwhile, the camping was tons of fun and I even managed to successfully cook for myself and light a decent campfire every night – of course we missed Andy, but me and the dogs still had a magnificent time.
A couple of weeks later, I was back in Jasper again, this time with a couple of friends as we took on the 46km skyline Trail. Andy had just returned from the US again so he stayed home to complete his second period of quarantine with the dogs, and I headed out on the Saturday afternoon with the others for an overnight stay at the Pine Bungalows Cabins in Jasper. The cabin was so cozy and warm, and the location alongside the river was superb – it's just a shame we only had it for the one night!
It was a gorgeous clear morning too, and the mist on Maligne
Lake when we arrived looked eerily beautiful. After a few photos of our little
group, we were ready to spend the next few hours up high in the mountains overlooking Jasper.
So many folks have ran the skyline trail this year and I’ve
admired the photos I’ve seen, so it was simply amazing to actually experience
those places in person instead of just seeing the pictures. Muddy forest trails,
mountain streams, lush green meadows with flowers blooming, rocky outcrops and
towering mountains, pristine lakes and fantastic mountain views – this trail
has it all! The climb up to the Notch was just as expected, but every step had me
smiling with happiness and I was so grateful to have friends that were willing
to spend the day doing this kind of thing.
There were a couple of times where we encountered bear scat and were cautiously meandering along single track trails, half expecting to encounter a bear feeding on the pathway, but other than squirrels and pikas and a couple of marmots, we didn’t see anything that caused us to reach for our bear spray! Almost 8 hours later (6.5 hours moving time with the rest for photos and eating food!), we arrived at the parking lot by the canyon, having covered almost 48km and climbed nearly 5,000 ft. We’d all got back safely with no cuts or bruises, a little tired in the legs, but otherwise feeling very happy having had a most excellent day out in the mountains.
If that wasn’t enough, just a week later, I was on a flying visit to Banff with Andy and the pups, having been invited on a mountain run with Dennene.
We arrived on the Sunday afternoon at the Tunnel Mountain Campground, and once we’d set up camp, I headed off up Tunnel Mountain with the pups in tow, hoping to tire them out a little bit and to make sure April could say she had now climbed that particular mountain.
Tunnel Mountain really is only a baby when compared to the others in the area and is just a 5km round trip with only 900 ft or so of ascent. It’s not an easy climb and is quite is steep in parts, but it is short and we did it in just over an hour which was enough to make the dogs calm down a bit and feel a little more sleepy.
The following day was epic! Dennene collected me at 8am from the campground and we made our way back to Canmore ready for our first ascent of the day up Ha Ling.
I’d never been to the top of Ha Ling – the closest I had ever been was the start of the scree section which isn’t too far from the summit. That time I had Wilson and Brandy with me, their paws were already sore from the rocky ascent, and I was reluctant to make them worse. It was also a rather warm day, and I recall Brandy flopping down at one point due to the heat, so we turned around and headed back down.
This time though, I had left the pups with Andy for the day,
so we were able to go all the way and as expected, the views of Canmore and the
valley below were fab. The dramatic rock
faces make for some pretty cool photos, and we were blessed with perfect blue
skies 😊
It was clear on our way back down that we had arrived just in
time – the number of people now heading up had definitely increased, and in
another hour or so, it would be like a football crowd heading up – thank goodness
we had avoided all those people!
We hadn’t actually decided on our next mountain, but having discussed on the way down, we decided on East End of Rundle. I’d never done this mountain but had certainly heard some stories about difficult trail finding and steep scree. Dennene did have some experience of the mountain, so we weren’t heading up completely blind, and it was a huge help when we headed along trails that she immediately recognized as being potentially the wrong way.
I loved EEOR! It was definitely a tough climb due to the gradient
and the scree, but it wasn’t as daunting as I was expecting, and it brought back
memories of mountain hikes in Britain, albeit on a much smaller scale when
compared to here in the Canadian Rockies! The view from the top was once again
outstanding, and being able to see Ha Ling across the valley where we had been
just a couple of hours earlier was pretty cool.
Heading back down the mountain, we definitely strayed off the usual route and ended up in some dense woodland with plenty of deadfall. It looked like prime bear territory and I admit to having a little bit of a sing to myself just in case. Thankfully we didn’t encounter any bears and the trail led us straight back to the parking lot which was perfect.
By now it was already
mid afternoon,and we were trying to decide which should be our final mountain climb
of the day. We had wanted to do the Canmore Triple Crown but Lady Mac trail was closed, so we
pondered trying Grotto Mountain which is apparently very similar to Lady Macdonald.
Neither of us knew or were familiar with Grotto, and I think our decision to
save it for another day was sensible and responsible, especially having do a little bit more research and spoken
to other people since.
This trail was very different than the previous two, with most of it being through the trees with literally hundreds of berries lining the trail which sure
looked like a perfect feast for a Black Bear or Grizzly should they be in the area!
The trail though was also interesting and really quite technical given all the tree roots, and it was one hell of a climb with nearly 2000 ft in just 2 miles or
so.
It didn’t take us too long to break out of the trees and
reach the cliffs of Cascade Mountain that towered above us, and I have to say it was outstanding.
We took a few pictures as the sun seemed to be going down – another indicator
that we are fast approaching the fall – and had a listen to the whistling marmots
and the chirpy pikas that lived in the rocks.
We decided to run back down the trail and it was so awesome
putting in a burst of speed! Thankfully we reached the bottom without any falls
and without any bear encounters – it had been a pretty cool, and very enjoyable
day 😊
Having been dropped off back at the campground, I had missed Andy and the dogs and it was nice to be back with the family again and spend the evening huddled around the campfire together. We were heading home in the morning and we agreed to head to Two JAck Lake with the pups before heading off. The good news is that we will be back in Banff again in just over a week’s time, and we will be there for 5 days next time - I'm pretty excited!
This next few months Plans
So that has been my year t=so far, and like I said, it really
hasn’t been too bad at all. Over the next few months, I don’t have any virtual
races planed, although I am still running across Canada and hope to finish the
Yukon in the next couple of weeks before embarking on my next province which is
still undecided.
We have our family camping trip to Banff organised for next week again and as things stand, I’ll be heading up Grotto later in the week and hoping to achieve the Triple Crown after all. A couple of friends are also running the Legacy Trail as their virtual Boston Marathon, so I may even end up doing a few miles if not the full distance at some point, depending on how the legs feel after climbing more mountains. There’s no denying that running up and down these mountain in recent weeks has played havoc with my quads and yes, they’ve been somewhat sore and achy! There may be a race that I will finally be doing in October, although I am still awaiting a formal announcement before being able to say much more, but that will be a good focus for me, especially as it comes after I leave my job. Otherwise, my main priority will be looking for work and trying to stay fit and healthy.
So as the leaves start to change colour and the mornings get
cooler, and we wake up to mist in the fields, it’s a sure sign that autumn is
in the air. I don’t know what the coming weeks will bring, especially as I
leave my job and move onto pastures new, but I am trying to look on the
positive side of things and be grateful for what I have actually achieved this
year. I know friends and family have lost
loved ones, I know that some haven’t seen their spouses or families for months,
I know some have also lost their jobs and have an uncertain future, some have
missed celebrating milestone anniversaries or birthdays, others have had to
cancel holidays and weddings, and some are still faced with financial pressures
or health concerns as we move into autumn and on towards the winter months.
We all handle things differently, we all have our own individual
coping mechanisms. For me personally, I have to take a look at my life and see that all the positives far outweigh the not so good things in my life, and I really do have lots to be thankful for - I can run, I can
still climb mountains, my husband is at home – even when in isolation upstairs!
– I have my 3 little pups, we still have a home, our health, I know our
family are there if needed even if we can’t see them right now, and I have
so many amazing friends, some of which are extra special and I know will be there for me if I need them.
To anybody that has got this far reading my waffle, thank you for sticking with it. Hoping you all stay safe and healthy, and that despite how things may look right now, we can all get back to some kind of norm sooner rather than later.