Seizing new opportunities

April 18th 2024 was a special day - I finally became a Canadian Citizen, something that has been a dream of mine for many years. For those of you that didn't already know, my parents were meant to move to Canada back in the 1970's, and I would have been born Canadian had their plans come to fruition. But family ties and commitments meant that the move never happened, and therefore I spent my childhood growing up in England. Yet there has always been something that has drawn me to Canada, and I always dreamt of the mountain adventures in the Rockies, owning a horse ranch or a log cabin in some remote location, fishing for salmon in great rivers, and cross country skiing and ski-joring with the pups in the cold, Canadian winters. Even when at college, my final project was based on Canada. I remember writing to the Canadian tourist board for promotional material, and I hired a Mountie outfit to promote my booth at the travel fair that we attended which would determine our final grade - I was awarded a distinction for my efforts, and much praise for my presentation.

With all this in mind, it felt like I was always meant to be here, and whilst life isn't quite like the stereotypical Canadian lifestyle of log cabins and hunting every day, the lifestyle and culture I've experienced in Canada over the past 12+ years is the kind that I enjoy, the only thing missing was being officially Canadian, but now that dream has finally been fulfilled.

Of course, now that I am officially Canadian, it has opened up more opportunities for my running, and I can now enter championship events, and also aim to qualify for national teams. With this in mind, on June 8th I'll be competing in the Canadian National Championships at the Survivorfest 24-hour track race, in the hope of qualifying for the national team that will compete in the World 24-hour Championships in France next year.

I first ran in a World Championship race way back in 2007, when I represented Great Britain over 100km. I was still new to ultra running, I was still knocking out sub 3-hour marathons, and I ran 7 hours 54 minutes that day, which placed me 11th in the World Championships that year.

I went on to race in a further four world championships after that where I represented Great Britain, but after leaving the UK over 12 years ago now - and with the ever improving quality of competition in women's ultra running globally - I never thought I'd consider trying for a national team to compete on the world stage again, especially now I'm in my 50s!

There are so many amazing Canadian female runners that have the ability to make the 24-hour team, most of them much younger than I am, but I'm a firm believer in "nothing ventured, nothing gained", and if I don't try, I'll never know whether it would have been possible. My best 24-hour result is 208km, but that was from several years ago, and I'm not sure I can run at that kind of level anymore. To even be considered for the Canadian team, I need a minimum of 180km, and with just six spots available, it also depends on how many others exceed that distance too.

The good news is that the training I am currently doing should prepare me perfectly well for the 24 hour event, even though it has been more geared towards the backyard ultra. I've had a few decent mileage weeks that have seen me go close to 100k weeks, and with the hill work and strength work, I'm hoping I'll be feeling great come race day.

A couple of weeks ago, I headed out to Cooking Lake with a group of runners to do a loop of the Blackfoot Ultra course. It was a good solid 25km run, and I found running the hills far easier than in previous years. Then last weekend, I headed out to Devon to do a few loops of the Lakou course. There was another great turn out for this run too with over 30 folks turning up, and with close to 70 registered for the race itself, it sure is going to be busy out on those trails!

Blackfoot Ultra reccie  run - PC Gary Poliquin

Lakou backyard ultra was going to be one of my A races for this year, and I was originally hoping to go in excess of 40 hours if I'm completely honest. Now that I have Survivorfest just 3 weeks later, that distance is going to take some time to recover from, even though it would be run at a much slower pace. I still want a really good run at the backyard, but I perhaps won't be quite as competitive as I know I could be, simply because I want to give myself every chance of exceeign the 180km at Survivorfest.

Training has been going well regardless, and I am finding that I've been enjoying what I've been doing. I've particularly being enjoying the hill work which has seen me heading out to the only local hill at the dog park. It's one of the quieter dog parks and there are very few people out there walking dogs, so I get the place pretty much to myself. It's also trails which is far better than running on roads, and I feel like I'm getting a good trail fix mid-week instead of waiting for the weekend every week. I am certainly getting faster on the climbs, and I am managing to get a good 1000 ft of elevation into my run of around 15km, which is far more than I would get just running around Telford Lake!

Hills at Outlook Hill

I'm also still doing some faster paced running, and I am finding I am running a comfortable 7.30 mile pace when I can be bothered to put in the effort. With speed sessions, I tend to put pressure on myself, and the stress causes my heart rate to climb far quicker than it should do. I'm trying to be a little easier on myself by not obsessing over pace and by avoiding looking at my watch - it's taking some effort, but is doing the trick and running by feel rather than checking the watch every few seconds is actually bringing better results and a slightly faster pace.

Another session complete! Time for snoozes .....

Whilst training is going well, I am a little concerned about a niggle that I seem to have in my lower back and left hip. I've been trying to be disciplined with my strength sessions and have been doing them religiously for the past few weeks, but this past couple of weeks, I have noticed some tightness in my back which is making it difficult to bend over to put shoes and socks on sometimes. It hasn't really been affecting my running, although every so often, I do get a bit of what can only be described as a shimmy in my back and hip, which could quite possibly be nerve pain or a strained muscle. I've put up with it for now, but having had to resort to painkillers this past week, I thought it was time I went to see somebody about it.

I'm never sure whether I need a massage, physio or chiropractor, but given how tight my whole back has been, and how crappy and weak my hips are, somebody suggested a chiropractor, so on Monday I have an appointment and hopefully will get some answers. I personally think it is poor lifting technique, although I also recall having a sore back after the flight back from the UK in February from sitting twisted in my seat. As a friend said to me at the dog park earlier today, it will either improve things or things will stay the same - it shouldn't make things worse, so there is some benefit in seeing somebody. Then hopefully I'll get a much needed massage shortly too!