Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

After Sinister, the plan was to just train hard and get ready for The Divide 200, and hopefully get in some more mountain running prior to race day. The problem was that Andy would likely have to travel again, and getting mountain time when I’m home alone with the pups would be nigh on impossible. I needed an alternative, and whilst I love to run in Devon and on the river valley trails in Edmonton, they wouldn’t quite mimic the type of terrain I’m going to encounter on the Great Divide Trail in September. I personally felt that I needed to hit the mountain trails again, but with the 200 fast approaching, it was hard trying to find a free weekend where I could do big mileage and big elevation. It was only a couple of days later that I casually mentioned to Andy that maybe I should just do the Canadian Death Race again – it was a good 118km or around 73 miles, and it has over 5000m/17,000 ft of climbing. Given that it was also a race where one was following trail markers, utilizing aid...

When registering for the Sinister 50 miler, the intention was to use it as a practice run for The Divide 200, which I will be competing in in mid-September. I didn't really have a goal, although a finishing time of around 12 hours seemed reasonable, even though I was unfamiliar with both the course and the terrain. We had originally planned to take all three pups with us, but having bumped into our friend-come-pet-sitter at the dog park on the Thursday evening, she offered to take care of the girls over the weekend to help make things easier to manage during the race. April hates camping and never seems to settle, whilst Tillie doesn't like a lot of noise nor lots of people around her, and given that we would be camping on a rather crowded runners' campsite for two nights, it made perfect sense to leave the girls at home, and to travel with just Wilson for company. I always feel bad when leaving the girls behind, but I knew they'd be far happier at home, and I promi...