Just a couple of weeks after the River's Edge Ultra 50k, I found myself back in Devon, this time to compete in the last race of the Northern Alberta 5 Peaks trail running series. I had once again opted for the Enduro, which would see me running two laps of the course which would total around 15km or more. I'd had confirmation that I was to join the Canadian team at the team world championships of the Backyard Ultra in just two weeks time, so I went to Devon erring on the side of caution, not wanting to get injured just before my biggest race of the year.
It was now October, and those cool and frosty mornings had crept in. The trees looked resplendent with their golden hues, and the trails were in great condition with no muddy patches and certainly no snow. I was looking forward to just taking it easy once again, running comfortably hard but not flat out racing, using this race as a final fitness test before the team event.
I took things pretty easy on the first lap, and once again, I was very surprised that I was running every single hill without the urge to stop and walk. I'd been doing trail runs on a Sunday, but I hadn't specifically been targeting the hillier trails, yet something I had been doing in recent weeks had given me tons of strength, and I felt it! I had definitely upped my mileage and had been doing double, triple and even quadruple day runs, and this clearly was benefiting my strength and fitness.
I was nowhere near the front, but I was steadily overtaking lots of the ladies, and going into lap two, my goal was to keep the pacing as consistent as possible. I did walk a couple of the hills on lap two, but I made up tons of time with my usual reckless downhill running (so much for erring on the side of caution!), but I was feeling fantastic and was taking advantage of it.
Coming into the final 3km, a chap was keeping tabs with me, so I decided to check his resilience and picked up the pace, I still heard him behind me, so pushed a little harder, opening up a slight gap although I could still hear his footsteps close behind, whilst his breathing had become a little more laboured. I put in another little burst of speed and it seemed that that was just a little too much for the chap behind me, so I continued to push forwards, maintaining my pace and heading for home.
I ended up finishing strong, I don't remember my time, but once again I made the podium in my age group which made me happy. I may not be able to compete against the youngsters anymore, but I can certainly try again people the same age as me :) Given that I'm also an ultra runner rather than a short distance racer, I was pretty happy with the outcome of my race. The chap who had been running just behind finished about 30 seconds later, and we did thank each other for the extra push at the end!
As with all the 5 Peaks races, this was another perfectly organised race where everybody had fun and finished with a smile. I'm almost sad that I won't be doing the series next year, but I'm pretty sure that I'll still be out there either volunteering, or just entering the races on an individual basis if and when I feel like it.
The race in Devon also gave me lots of confidence going into the BYU and I was ready to give my all for Team Canada later that month.
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