Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

Hill of a Race is creeping ever closer, and my hill running this past couple of weeks has started to give me the confidence I need, to be able to run up and down a ski hill for 6  consecutive hours! Since my last post, I did complete a weekend of double run days, and I was pretty chuffed how things went. A friend had asked if I fancied joining her on a run that very weekend, and we ended up heading to Edmonton to complete 10 miles of running up and down the Walterdale Hill. For those of you not familiar with this hill, it is long, steep, and tough. Yes, it's on road, but at a good half mile or more, it definitely isn't easy. Add to that ice, slush and snow on the day, it made things a little tougher than running on just plain concrete. I expected to do at least 10 times up and down, and sure enough, I had completed the session and had a good 1700 ft or so of climbing in my legs - they were undoubtedly fatigued and I could certainly tell I'd been running hills, yet I still h...

Last week, Sinister Sports held an online  live Q&A session for those registered  for The Divide 200 in September. I haven’t really given much thought nor planning t o this particular race just yet, especially w ith it still being several months away, but i t did get me thinking that maybe I should  start to familiarise myself with things  a little more, and start to do some  of that preliminary prep. I spent a good hour on Sunday printing out then reading the race information available thus far, and that nervous excitement about a big race started to kick in. After the initial read through, I immediately started to think about my race support crew and possible pacers. My support crew rarely changes when it comes to races, and of course Andy will be there to look after me, making sure I’m eating, drinking, moving and sleeping, but not necessarily in that order! Pacers was another matter, and whilst I have reached out to a couple of friends already, it’s a bi...

Every year in January, a battle takes place between running clubs around the globe, where the goal for each individual is to run 400km for the month of January. The top 5 men and top 5 women count towards the overall score, and should there be a tie, then it moves down to the 6th man and women, and so on until there is an overall winner. It's a team effort and purely just for fun, and it's a great way of getting people active in the new year and setting goals early on. This is the third year that I have registered for the January Battle, flying the flag for Wild Rose Runners who meet weekly up in Edmonton, and they usually do pretty well as a team and always make the top 10. Final run to hit 400km :) For me personally, hitting 400km in a month isn't too much of a strain, especially if I include my lunch time wanderings and dog walks/jogs in addition to my scheduled daily runs. Indeed, today I hit the 402km which is 11 days ahead of the end date of the battle, and I have to ...

On the first Saturday of the new year, the organisers of the Blackfoot Ultra put on a casual, social run in the Edmonton river valley called the Fat Ass 50k. For those that perhaps aren't up to that kind of distance, there is the option to do the Half Ass which is 25km, and both distances follow the pathways and trails alongside the river - one loop makes you a "half ass", two loops makes you a "fat ass". The donation is just $4, and this goes towards stocking the aid station which is located under the Quesnel Bridge at around 13k. A couple of years ago, I completed the Half Ass with a few friends, but this year, I really wanted to do the 50k just to see how my body felt running that kind of distance this early in the year. I'd certainly indulged in lots of chocolates and cakes during the festive period, and the scales were happy to confirm this when I weighed myself at the end of the year. I also hadn't really done any proper long runs since the backyar...

As 2023 commences, I'm excited to see what this year will bring. I've got some really good races planned that scare and excite me at the same time, and I know for sure that all of them will test me both physically and mentally, with some - if not all - pushing me beyond what I thought I’m capable of. This year, I will be celebrating my 50th trip around the sun, and it's crazy to think that I've been a competitive runner for over 40 years! Over those 40+ years, I've had some fantastic results, and just looking back at the archives in this blog alone brings back so many fond memories of the different events I've done - I just wish I'd started this blog earlier than 2011, as I'm sure there are lots of things I've since forgotten. Looking back and comparing my former self to the runner I am today, I’m very happy to report that the passion and competitiveness I have for running and racing is still there. Yet I have to admit to getting a little frustrated ...

As we head towards the end of yet another year, on reflection, I've had a good year of racing, with 12 races completed which resulted in 2 race victories - the first at Survivorfest 24 hour in the "track n trail", and the second at the River's Edge Ultra 50k trail race. I did my first marathon in over 7 years and placed 3rd in the ladies race, and then I had podium finishes in my age group at another 3 races throughout the year. I also did two more backyard ultras, one of which saw me representing Team Canada at the World Team Championships back in October. I was struck down with Covid twice which hampered some of my racing goals, and the hubby being stuck in Korea for near on three months earlier in the year made things tough for training. There's no denying that I had hoped for faster times or longer distances, but as I head towards my 50th birthday in February, and after 40+ years of being a competitive runner, I have no real complaints. Over the years, I'v...

 After a disappointing performance at the event in Okotoks, I was determined to train so hard to be in the best possible shape I could be, ready to represent Canada at the Backyard Ultra Team World Championships out in BC in October.  There is no denying that my training had gone extremely well. I'd mixed things up this time, and instead of doing 6 hour long runs, I'd asked my coach to schedule timed runs instead, and to give me multiple runs throughout the day on the weekends. This saw me running close to 100km on several weekends, where I would complete something like 2 hours in the morning, an hour in the afternoon, and another 90 minutes later in the evening. One weekend, I did 5 x 10km runs in one day, followed by a 2 hour and an hour the following day, and this seemed to prepare me both physically and mentally for the race. I had also been sure to get some trail running into my schedule. The course out in BC was going to be quite hilly and technical, and the city in whic...