Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

Although I'd registered for the Calgary Marathon, I never intended it to be a target race. My original plan was to run it at my target pace for Survivorfest 24-hour which was just three weeks later, and I would be perfectly happy finishing the marathon in around 4 hours, providing I finished comfortably and without too much effort. In the months leading up to the marathon, I felt terribly stressed by my training schedule which had lots of focus on doing my long runs at marathon pace. Since I started going through the menopause, trying to do weekly speed sessions, hill sessions, and long runs that included several miles at marathon pace has been far too much, and I haven't been recovering as quickly as I used to. I struggled trying to pick up the pace, which in turn really knocked my confidence. Initially, I honestly believed I could run around 3 hours 40, but the slower and more tired I got from hormonal fluctuations and lack of sleep, the more I lost confidence in my ability. ...

 Lakou Backyard Ultra was not on my list of races for this year, but having missed the Jasper Half Marathon due to the rock slide, I was missing being around the running community and spending time with people who can relate to the things we do. The 2026 event was just one week out from the Calgary Marathon and after what feels like weeks of ups and downs, I just wanted another long run before I toed the line in Calgary. Having already put my name down to volunteer in the timing tent for the evening, I decided to register for the race too, and spend pretty much the entire day out in Devon by squeezing in a few hours of backyard loops prior to my shift.  We were greeted with overcast skies and cool temperatures on race day morning. I'd planned on wearing just shorts and a singlet, but when I saw that it was just below freezing outside, it was obvious that I'd need something a little warmer, particularly for the minutes in between laps where if just be sitting around waiting to ...