Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

I'm not going to lie. I really wanted a great race at Survivorfest this year. I wanted to get that age group record and was willing to do whatever I had to on the day to get me there. I wasn't exactly at my most fittest, but I genuinely believed that it was in my reach. Unfortunately, the best laid plans sometimes go belly up, and a couple of weeks prior to the race, Andy found out that he would need to travel to Sweden and then the UK on business which would result in him missing the race. This was somewhat disappointing as he was meant to be my crew, but I also knew that I could crew myself if needs be, and with the level of support at the event, I wouldn't be alone and somebody would be willing to step in if needed. I did put out an ask for help on social media, and was really happy to have two experienced crew offering to help me out - they were already crewing other runners, but they offered to help me out and also to share their tent on the day to save me having to se...

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 ...