Prior to the beginning of my trail season, I was hosted the unofficial grand opening of the “South Simcoe Physiotherapy Running Club”. I had an opportunity to take over unit 10-180 Parsons Road and turn the front of it into a “club house” for our local running group. For years, a small group of us (often between 4-8 people show up) have been meeting out front of the clinic on Saturday mornings at 7am (6:30am in the summer months) and running varying distances. This new space gives us somewhere to sit down and socialize before and after, dry off when it’s wet, rehydrate, and most importantly share stories! My goal has been to help grow the local running community and I am hopeful that introducing a Tuesday night 7pm “easy pace” run, perhaps a couple of running related workshops, and some other fun activities, will achieve this.
One of the running group regulars (and someone that I often run with during the week), Patrick, signed up for the Sulphur Springs 100km trail race on May 23rd. We all thought he was a bit nuts when he told us, and seeing what race day brought confirmed this! I like to go to support other runners and friends when I can, so in the weeks leading up to Sulphur I recruited 2 other runners from the group to come with me and cheer on Patrick.
We drove down to Ancaster in the afternoon and arrived when Patrick was 60km into his 100k “slog fest”. The weather could not have been worse: it poured rain the entire day (35mm in total), was incredibly windy, and was extremely cold. From what I gather, our presence there gave Patrick the motivation to finish the race (when over 100 people in his race did not). Patrick persevered and completed the event in almost 17hrs of what must have felt like hell!
Having a front row seat at his competition set the tone for the upcoming trail run season for myself. My initial thought after watching the “slog-fest” in Ancaster was, “I’m not sure I ever want to do this,” but as time went on, I warmed up to the idea of eventually increasing my mileage beyond the 42.2km (that I run in a traditional road marathon).
First up in the trail season was “Rainbow Run” which is local at Earl Rowe Park just outside of Alliston. Recently, friends of mine Lisa and Aaron took over Rainbow Run and asked South Simcoe Physiotherapy to run the first aid tent for the event. I decided that in addition to running the first aid tent, I would also run the 24km option at the event. Madison, one of our physiotherapists at South Simcoe Physiotherapy, came along to run the first aid for the couple of hours that I would be out running.
Going into the race I didn’t have any expectations. Coach Sean decided to taper my running a bit in the week leading up to it as his opinion was to give the race the respect that it deserves. I must say that I like this approach; despite often thinking that I will “go easy” in this race, that really isn’t in my DNA, so I might as well approach the race with the mindset that I am going to run it hard.
From the start, Mike (a fellow South Simcoe Physiotherapy Running Group member) and I ran hard. Two other people went out even faster, but we assumed that they were both running the 12k version. Mike and I were able to hold a steady pace throughout the race even attacking “lookout point” and the steep hill there. The race, which for us was two 12k loops, is mostly flat, aside from this hill and some subtle inclines, and is not overly technical save for some tree roots. There were a few muddy sections to contend with, but overall the course is quite runnable and amenable to moving fast. Aside from the top popping off one of my water flasks at the 6km mark, the run went as planned. I finished in first place at 1:53 with Mike only seconds behind me. Interestingly, one of the two runners ahead of us was actually running the 24k version, but pulled up lame and was unable to finish after 12k. Had he been able to hold that pace, he would’ve had an incredible time.
Race day was warm, especially in the areas without shade. I certainly felt fortunate that we finished before it got too much warmer outside. For those people running the 50k and longer versions, the heat definitely played a factor.
After a quick change and some rehydration, I sat down to take over the first aid tent which is generally quite quiet. This year, unfortunately, we did have some action: with one woman being bitten by a dog while running the course, and also having to tend to a toddler (who was not running!) that appeared to be dealing with heat stroke.
I always enjoy being a part of Rainbow Run and look forward to taking part in it again next year.
After Rainbow Run, I had a quick couple of weeks turnaround to my final tune-up race before this year’s “A-race”. The tune-up would be the Utopia Backyard Ultra which was co-directed by my coach Sean and took place at the Tiffin Centre not far from Alliston.
Now, I won’t explain all of the nuances of a backyard ultra, but essentially it is a course with a 6.7km loop where everyone completes one loop each hour. If you finish early, you wait until the next hour to start your next loop. If you don’t finish, you’re disqualified. Having never competed in one of these, and not wanting to push myself beyond the limit, I was completed a 6hr version (6 laps) with my friends Mike, Kathy, and Patrick.
In this format, it does not matter how fast you complete the lap, just as long as you finish within 60 minutes (though this seemed to be lost on Mike!). So, we kept a reasonable pace and finished in 40-ish minutes each lap. After about the 4th lap, Patrick and Kathy decided it would be fun to get at least 50k in, so we got permission to take our 6 laps up to 8. The course was great, not much elevation at all: but a nice loop through the trees (with a couple of warm open spots on the course). Although warm, the heat was nowhere near unbearable and the course organizers had a wonderful smorgasbord of goodies at the end of the course that we could enjoy until our next lap!
After 8hrs of running and 8 laps, I had officially completed my first “ultra marathon”. The format of this type of ultramarathon was quite enjoyable. First off, the 4 of us were able to run together for large portions of it as pacing wasn’t quite as important as in other races. Secondly, you had time to rest in-between each lap, enjoying some good food and recharging for the next lap. On the final lap, knowing that I had plenty in the tank, I went quite hard and recorded the fastest lap of the day.
Getting in one last race before my family trip to Europe was important to me. I take my training quite seriously (though I’m never going to be a paid athlete!) and having 2 weeks where my training was going to consist of a lot of 530am treadmill runs before heading out on a European excursion, brought in some questions about how prepared I would be for Tremblant. In running the Utopia BYU, I was able to get in over 50km of racing and allow myself to enjoy the family time (though still training) without overthinking it.
Upon my return from Europe (and an attempt to get over the jet-lag), I was 4 weeks out from my ultra marathon (which would be a lot tougher than the backyard ultra I completed) and time for one more push in training.