Survivorfest 6 hour track race

I wasn't intending to do Survivorfest this year, but having put my name down to marshal from 5pm until 11pm, I thought it would be good practice for The Divide 200 if I signed up to run the 6 hour event, but starting at 2am Sunday morning. One may ask how 6 hours on a track could possibly prepare me for a 200 mile trail race in the mountains of Southern Alberta, but this time it wasn't about the terrain, nor even running long or fast. No, this time it was practicing being on my feet all day, and then having a couple of hours sleep before waking up and making my body run through the night, when it very likely would much prefer to be resting in a comfortable bed!

I arrived at the Strathcona Athletics Park mid afternoon on the Saturday, and having set up my own aid station for later on, I settled down for the remainder of the afternoon, and watched some incredible athletes churning out mile after mile, as they took part in the 24 hour event. At 30°c, it was certainly a warm day for the runners, and whilst there was a breeze, it was quite a gusty breeze that made running one half of the track hard work. Smoke from wildfires still burning in Alberta and neighbouring provinces had also moved in once again, and the air quality for the duration of the event was rated poor. Yet those incredible athletes persevered, pushing on through not only the unfavourable conditions, but also their own personal battles as the fatigue started to set in, and they battled on in the hope of achieving their goals.

My volunteer shift started at 5pm, and I positioned myself on the corner of the loop B course and provided encouragement to all those runners passing by for the next few hours. I'm not sure whether they appreciated me cheering and clapping for them every time they passed by, and I'm sure they must have had a sense of deja vu for the next few hours having me sitting there.

It was a lovely evening as the sun started to go down, and when Andy and the pups joined me at around 10.30pm, the sight of our three pups seemed to give some of the runners an extra spring in their step as they ran by.

My shift ended promptly at 11pm, and it was now time to get myself ready for my own race in a couple of hours. I downed a coffee - I'm probably one of the few people that can still sleep at night even if drinking coffee late on - and ate a scrumptious beef sandwich and a doughnut, before heading back to the track to get some shut eye in the tent.

I set my alarm for 1.15am then settled down in my sleeping bag in the hope of getting some sleep. Things had obviously cooled off with nightfall, but the wind was still ridiculously strong and the tent was flapping around which was quite noisy. The pups had come into the tent with me but were spooked by the noise of the tent, so Andy took them all outside to sleep whilst I settled down on my own.

The track wasn't particularly noisy, but there was too much activity for me to sleep properly, and the floodlights were far too bright to convince my mind it was time to sleep. I think I got about 40 minutes of sleep before my alarm went off and I needed to get changed into my running gear ready to race.

I was surprised at how awake I felt, and I knew that my body would respond pretty well when asking it to run, despite being the very early hours of a Sunday morning. Three of us had registered for the 2am start on loop A, and after a pre-race briefing, it was time to go.

I settled into a steady pace pretty much straight away and was knocking out consistent 400m laps of around 2.10. It felt comfortable. My breathing didn't feel laboured, my legs felt good, and it didn't feel like I was running too fast. I was looking to run between 60 and 65k in the 6 hours, and I kept things controlled, taking a one lap walking break to grab some fluids every 45 minutes. This strategy was working well, and I had no nausea whatsoever for the entire race. The food from earlier in the day had worked its way through and I did need to poop twice in the night which meant I lost around 4 minutes of running time whilst on the loo, but I soon got back into a steady rhythm and had no intentions of speeding up to make up for that lost time.

One of the hardest things for me this time around was having to run around the other runners on the track. Having been running for a good 17+ hours already, many of the 24 hour runners were walking or moving very slowly on the inside lane. I'd only been going for a short while and was still feeling fresh, so I was moving much faster. I've done enough timed events to know that I have to run around the others, but I was getting a little frustrated that I was having to run in lanes 3 and 4, especially when there were groups of runners together. Some spectators were also stepping into the inside lane without realising, and this too added extra distance to my over distance as things progressed.

For some reason, I'd got it into my head that we'd be changing direction at 4am, but this was of course incorrect and I was an hour ahead of myself! When I realised my mistake, I encountered my first and only negative thought and self-doubt in the race, and it took me a few moments to get my mental focus back on track. That extra hour before the turn seemed so long at first, but switching my mind to other more positive things helped, and I started to focus on the rising of the sun instead, which got me through the next few laps without too much trouble.

I was really hoping that we'd get to encounter a spectacular sunrise, but as things started to get light at 4am, it was clear that the smoke was still lingering in the air. A foggy haze filled the morning sky, and eventually I saw the sun, not accompanied by the beautiful pastel colours of dawn, but rather a bright red spot in an otherwise quite murky sky.

With about 2 hours of my race remaining, it looked like I'd finish with around 40 miles which I'd be quite happy with. It was just 4 weeks out from Sinister 50 miler and I didn't want to overdo things at Survivorfest and hinder my prep for Sinister. I kept things going, still hitting that 2.10 lap, although a couple of slower ones were now starting to slip in every 30 minutes or so. With the rising of the sun came the rising temperatures, and I was having to rehydrate more frequently. The smoke was also making my throat quite dry, so I was taking longer to drink to make sure I could finish strong.

With every lap, Andy and the pups were asleep outside of the tent, and I found it comforting to see my little family there, looking comfortable and content. It got me feeling all emotional a couple of times - boy, do I love our little family, and I was so proud of how calm and quiet the pups were being, even as I ran past them every couple of minutes. Andy had initially come along to crew me, but I'd left a small table at the side of the track on which I'd put my drinks, and so I was able to grab what I needed without disturbing Andy and the pups. He slept soundly, oblivious to his surroundings, as us runners kept on passing by.

As we came into the last hour, things stated to liven up again. The music started, spectators were waking up, and the buzz of the race returned as everybody had a new lease of life, running into those last couple of hours. With a couple of minutes to go in my race, I gave everything I had to squeeze in one last lap, but failed to complete the lap, missing out by around 80m. I didn't bother measuring the partial lap - my official distance was just shy of 63km or just over 39 miles - my watch was reading 41 miles, and I was perfectly OK with that :)

I thought that I would be shattered both physically and mentally having been up since 7am the previous day, yet I was still feeling awake and even my body felt good, despite having just ran 40 miles. I was certainly very hungry and desperate for a coffee, but we hung around to see the 24 hour runners finish, before packing up and heading off.

It was a great weekend at Survivorfest and it gave me some confidence about my ability to run after a couple of hours sleep, when it comes to The Divide 200 in September. As ever, the event was extremely well organised, the support from everybody was tremendous, and it once again confirmed why I love this race, and why I try to come back year after year. It truly is like a family.

This year once again saw folks qualify for the Canadian 24 hour national team, it saw records broken, and it saw others reach and even exceed their own personal goals. It was amazing to see, and I feel so proud and honoured to have been just a very small part of it.

After a couple of rest days, I soon got back into things and did a couple of easy runs, and today I hit the trails for a couple of hours in the pouring rain. Sinister 50 miler is only 3 weeks away and I need to get my trail legs back ready for those mountain climbs. It's been fun doing backyard ultras and a bit of track running, but now it IS time to focus on my biggie in September, and to commence the next stage in my training. I'm excited, and I can't wait!