Returning to the Knarly North Shore

This past weekend was 'Canada's Knarliest 30-miler' - the Kneeknackering North Shore Trail Run - which winds it's way up and over the mountains of Vancouver's north shore from near Horse Shoe Bay all the way to Deep Cove. With 200 racers making the journey along the Baden Powell trail this is one of the biggest ultras in Canada and numbers would be far larger if it was not for a cap imposed by the various districts the trail passes through. With a lottery to get into the race, many who don't get picked end up volunteering anyway and so come race day there is one volunteer to every racer! Needless to say this is one seriously slick and professional trail race with a kick ass party atmosphere of sunshine, great trails and practically the whole of Vancouver's trail running community out in force. I love it! In 2008 I didn't make it through the lottery, so in a sense I trained for 2 years for the 2009 edition of the race and ended up far exceeding my goal of 'about 6hrs' and posted 5h36mins, placing 1st female, 8th overall and 4th fastest female time ever!

Coming back in 2010 (with a lottery exemption) I was unsure how the race would unfold. I had not been on the technical north shore trails since Septemeber of last year and was unsure of my climbing fitness. Might seem lame - but just get out on a section of this trail and you will realise why I had my doubts - there are rocks and roots all over the place like no other trail I know and the first 1/4 of the course involves pretty much a power hike up Black Mountain (some of which involves clambering over boulders). The course climbs 8, 000ft and descends another 8, 300ft so flat sections are few and far between!

I had got to Vancouver the week prior and went for a couple of runs - one from Cleveland Dam up to Hollyburn Lodge and back, and one from the Dam to Deep Cove (the final 1/2) - on the course to refamiliarise myself. This was great, I was pleasantly suprised that some sections semed to have got shorter (!), but I was also mildly alarmed that I appeared to have lost my nimble footing on the technical terrain. I therefore went into race day knowing I was fit but doubting my ability on the course. I took it easy the week prior, maybe not the best game plan for Death Race in 3 weeks time but I couldn't bear the thought of hitting KK tired given the nature of the course.

The course splits neatly into 4 quarters - start to Cypress (mostly the Black Mountain climb), Cypress to Cleveland Dam (lots of downhill, little significant uphill), the Dam to Lynn gazebo (ups, downs, twists & turns), the then to the finish (inc. Seymour mini-grind and a downhill blast to the finish). I knew that I was never going to fly up Black so I went out steady and focused on getting this least favourite section of the course out of the way. Suprisingly I found I really enjoyed it and for 20mins even had the privelege of being ahead of Gary Robbins - a new race experience for me! I didn't think I would have much female competition so hoped to stay fairly close to the top 10 men and also had my sights on Suzanne Evans' CR of 5:18:57. When I had finished last year I thought 5:18 would be tough but possible, and came into the race this year in the same mind set. With this being a pretty competitive race of 22yrs standing and Suzanne being an amazing runner I would be priveleged of I could snag the CR at KK.

After peaking at Black I powered down to Cypress and passed two men just before the aid station. Friends from Pacific Road Runners man this major aid station each year so it was great to see familiar faces, though I didn't want to get too caught up in the party hoopla this early on. Later on RD Kelsy Trigg said she had noticed that I had my 'race face' on - into the station, grab a few mouthfulls of coke, and off! As I left Cypress I knew I was in 11th place (and I later found out, about 1 min up on my time from last year).

As I had just passed 2 guys I didn't want to get caught so this kept me pushing on the ups and downs that were to come. Soon I had hit Hollyburn Lodge from where it is practically all down hill to the dam. I LOVE this section, I was skipping and dancing over rocks and logs and just enjoying myself, as well as being happy to see that there was really very little mud on the course. I was totally on my own (and pretty much had been since the start of the race) but didn't mind at all. It was also great that the temperature was still cool and cloud cover was keeping us out of the direct sun on the open sections, it had been upto 28 degrees in the week and there had been a lot of talk about the humid heat being a factor in the race. Down the Hollyburn chute, over Brothers creek and I spotted a vollie by a sharp turn that we had to take. I cornered tight and bam! Man down! Feeling a little silly I got right up and carried on running without so much as dusting myself off. As I ran I got over the shock and knew it would just be some surface scrapes.

Cleveland dam is an open section - a tarmacked parking area and lots of walkers out and about. I knew that Sibylle of Club Fat Ass was manning this station so it was great to get cheered in by the 20 or so vollies and lots of speactators there. I decided not to spend time filling my Nathan pack and instead drank off the stations (water and gatorade) and just use my pack for my Clif electrolyte drink and shot blocks in between. I had purposely decided not to check my 1/4 splits from last year either, I didn't want to be obsessing about time the whole race. I'm a true believer that you have to run what you feel on the day and can't look at targtet times too much. I later found out that I was 6 mins up on my 2009 time at the dam and I knew at the time that I was lead female and about 9th overall.

Leaving the dam there is the only real road section of the KK - one mile all up hill to the base of the Grouse Grind. I ran a bit, walked a bit, ran a bit walked a bit. And in doing so passed one guy and spotted my friend Mike up ahead. I had to laugh at this, only days prior Mike had claimed that he ran this road every single time in training. Well I guess not on race day - though to be fair his power hike wasn't slow either! We got back into the trails and negotiated a few minutes of lots of hikers heading off to go up the Grind, and we bracnhed off to continue on BCMC. I was feeling pretty good and although hiking a lot I soon caught Mike. We chatted for a bit, I hadn't expected to pass him so soon but he wasn't having the best day so it was good to talk a bit and check in on each other. But I knew I had to power on so I left Mike and was glad to get to a more rolling section where I could get back into my running groove a bit. Once again I was on my own on the trail but didn't mind as I was feeling good, the course is exceptionally well marked and I know the route inside out so didn't have to worry about taking a wrong turn.

I popped out to cross Mountain Highway and stopped briefly to take on some fluid at the aid station and hear that Gary was only about 5 mins ahead! I soon passed my friend Kerry who had pre-swept some of the course and was now running to the finish whiist shooting a cool little video montage. Kerry gave me some encouraging words and told me I was running faster than the guys ahead of me, which I wasn't sure whether to believe or not!

The three quarter mark at Lynn gazebo aid station is at the top of a little hill which I sometimes struggle to run, but today I didn't have to force the run just to look good coming into the station! Again, there were lots of familiar faces ready to assist at the aid station if needs be, but with a quick check on my watch whilst taking on more fluids (it was getting hotter) I knew i shouldn't hang round if I wanted to still have a shot at the CR. the next section is in the busy Lynn canyon area but I managed to avoid knocking over any tousists by just shouting loudly - figuring that they would hear me even of they didn't speak English! This section also forms part of the Dirty Duo 50km and I was recalling training runs on these trails from years ago - every little section of trail has it's own memories! After some downhill there is quite a stretch of gradual uphill before the approach to the Seymour grind. The Seymour grind is a short, steep hike made hard because it is at a stage in the race when you are feeling tired. Just at the base section I saw a runner ahead and was alarmed to se it was Peter Findlay!! Peter is in his early 50s, held the KK course record for years and is KK royalty! He looked like he was running steady but slower than me so I snuck past him with a quick hello and tried not be be psyched out that I had just passed the KK King! At this stage in 2009 I was tired. I remember strumbling and tripping simply because I wasn't picking my feet up enough. This year, I was obviosuly getting a little tired but basically felt strong to power up the hills and to the top of the grind. From the top of the grind it is downhill to the finish, bar a few little killer ups very close to Deep Cove. I got to the top of Seymour grind and saw my watch flick over to 4h40 even. I had exactly 38min 57secs if I wanted to get this CR! I knew it was possible but could be tight and I could not let up at all. I didn't pause for a second, I simply hit the downhill and began to hammer. Down, down, down, try avoid mountain biker. Down, down, down, little up, down, down, cross first road and be very glad the vollies were there to stop the traffic. Down, down, down, oh..runner ahead ...oh, that looks mighty like Mark Bennet..oh, I've gone past him..oh, he's quite (ok, very) fast..oh well, down, down, down, gotta try for this course record and really don't want sprint finish. Down, down, cross next road (more nice trafffic warden vollies, thank you), freak...that's Gary ahead, re-enter trail, down down, 'Hey Gary, how's it going'. 'Ellie!!!!! What the.....?!!'. 'Excuse me Gary, I don't care about beating you but I'm just sneaking past, I need to get this CR!'. Down, down, chit chat to Gary, down, down, oh... little ups, little ups seem like mountains, Gary blast past, try keep up, man can he power hike, down, down, lost sight of Gary, up, up, man these ups are tough but gotta keep powering, gotta get CR. Feel better than last year, no drunken stumbling into tourists, good footing, down, down, oh, there's the daylight of Deep Cove-yay! Outta the trail, onto the tarmac, woo hoo, darn that Gary-man, he's just finished, sprint, push hard, only enough energy to raise one arm at the finish, oh, I do believe I just ran 5h 06 something!

So, I managed to snag 5th place overall, 1st place female and a CR by 12m48s. In charging for that CR at the end I also manged to run the fastest time of the day on the final leg. On the 1st 1/4 I gained 1min on my 2009 time, on the 2nd I gained a further 5 1/2mins, on the 3rd leg I was picking it up and ran 9 mins faster than in 2009. But on the 4th and final leg I had smoke coming out of my Montrail Rockridges and ran 14m29s faster than in 2009! Nothing like a good bit of running scared to get those legs a'movin!

By the finish it had got to be a pretty toasty day so ideal for hanging out at Deep Cove, soaking the legs in the tepid ocean and catching up with lots of friends and fellow runners. Definitely for the slower runners it would have been a tough day out there as the cloud cover lifted and the heat really hit come midday. But there were only a few runners that dropped or didn't make the cut off, everyone else was clearly powered along by the thought of Kelsy waiting to present them with their medal at the finish line, and the thought of Honey's donuts at the finish line aid station :) It is amazing that of just over 200 starters, 120 were first time KKs, and I would guess many of them, first time ultra runners. It is a credit to the immaculate organisation of Kneknacker that so many runners are prepared to pit themselves up against some of North America's knarliest trails.

Full race details are at http://www.kneeknacker.com/

and race results are at http://www.raceheadquarters.com/

Side note: I should concede that although I can say that I finished 17secs behind Gary Robbins, in all fairness he had placed 6th at Western States 100miler just 14 days previously. But at least I made him sweat a bit.

Scorched Soles, Icy Ankles

This past weekend I headed over to Kelowna to take part in race #4 in the BC Ultra Trailrunning Series (http://www.bcuts.ca/), Scorched Sole 50 miler. I raced in the 50km event (there is also a 25km) 2 years ago and loved it - dusty dry trails, long climbs rewarded by stellar views of Lake Okanagan below and a fun, low key yet slickly run event. This year I decided to sign up for the 50 miler, which I was very glad I did as it was going to be a great training race for Death Race in 5 weeks.

As the name and location suggests this can be a hot race so I was excited to pack just singlet and shorts...until I heard that someone had been out in snowshoes on the upper section of the course just 4 days earlier! The course changes a little most years and this year we were going over Little White which appeared from some photos to still be very white with snow! Nevertheless the forecast for race day was still 28 degrees and full on sunshine so I was glad of the 6am start.

The different race distances start at different times so although there were about 150 racers overall it was a pretty low key group, with lots of familiar Vancouver faces, for the 50 miler start. The course profile is pretty unique with mostly uphill and some flats, but zero descent, for 25km, then down over the otherside of Little White, a flat forest service road loop and then retracing steps for a downhill and flat 25kms to the finish. Dave Papineau (running his first 50 miler), myself and Steve Russell from Vernon headed out in the lead. I stuck with the guys for a good while but soon started to powerhike some of the steeper sections whilst they continued to run meaning that they gained some distance on me whilst still occassionally being in view. I was feeling the effect of zero taper (other than taking the day prior to race day off I had run all week and clocked 19 hours of running/ powerhiking in th preceding 7days) and my legs were heavy on the uphills but I figured that this was a training race so I wasn't too concerned so long as I made it to the finish. At the start of the day I had said to myself that if the going got tough I was just going to think of everyone running Western States at the same time, who would surely be working much harder than I was!

Overall the trail markings were very clear save for a few sections where I got a little panicked as they didn't seem at all obvious. But I would glimpse Dave ahead or soon see some orange flagging so overall knew that I was on course. Although the open sections very bone dry dust bowls, quite a bit of the trails in the shade and up high were muddy and wet from the still melting snow which made for some fun foot work hoping around the really bad sections. As we made our way to the apporach up Little White I caught Dave and was glad to have someone to chat to for a while. We soon hit the snow and zig-zagged acros it following the orange spray markings. The summit of Little White marked 25kms (and the turn around for the 50km racers) but us 50 milers carried on over the top and Dave and I soon saw the extent of the snow! The summit was wide open heathland (which reminded me of the Norwegian fjells) yet with the trail covered in snow and semi melted pools of snow we whacked our way through brush following the markings from one tree to another. Steve had gone out ahead so I could see his feint footsteps which helped too. Dave is one speedy road runner but I think fair to say that he is none too keen on the sort of technical trail that this course had now morphed into! I therefore got a lead on him just before we had to descend a particularly steep snowy bank with the aid of a rope that had been fixed up. All I could think was that we were probably only 27kms into a 76km course (they cut out 4kms due to the snow!) and this was way tougher than I had anticipated and who knew what else was too come! After scrambling down the slope I popped out on sheer bliss - a dry, dusty and slightly down hill forest service road - time to get some kms in the bag! The bliss however was short lived, I couldn't see Steve ahead or Dave behind me so I was totally on my own, clueless of the layout of the upcoming course and unsure of the facilities at the 42.5km aid station so trying to conserve my supplies a bit (some earlier aid had turned out to be just water when I had hoped for some food and electrolytes - note to self: read the website in more detail in future!) At least I knew I was on track as there were regular comfort markers and I just ploughed on knowing that each step would bring me closer to the aid station. After what seemed like an eternity I turned a corner and was stoked to see a fully-manned tent with gatorade, food, my drop bag and two helpful volunteers who informed me that Steve was literally a few 100 metres ahead.

As I left the aid station at 4h32 my spirits were restored - I had liquids and food, had had some conversation and now had motivation to run the gradual uphill forest service road back - I could catch Steve! And sure enough, I soon did. We exchanged a few words but I ploughed on and greeted fellow 50milers running in the opposite direction still on their way out - again, great to see some familiar faces.

At the base of the steep climb back up Little White I saw Jess, who despite not being a super speedy runner is always smiling and is so determined she is a real inspiration, so I was really glad to see that she looked like she was having a good time. I was trying to powerhike the climb as fast as I could, aware that Steve was probably faster than me on the uphills, so I only had a chnace for a brief chat with Wendy, Martha and George on their way down before they hurried me on as they could see Steve approaching from behind. All in all, the climb back up took about an hour and mentally it was great to be at the top again - ok, I still had 25kms to go, but it was all either downhill or flat - woo hoo!

My strength is definitely downhills so I blasted away and loved running through the rocky upper sections that were now flowing wih snow-melt water. Mud and water were splashing up my legs, my feet were soaked and I was loving it! As I had never met Steve before I didn't know what he would be like on the downs and didn't want to give up my lead, now I was in full-on race mode and had given up the idea of 'take it easy, it's a training race'! It was 6h13 when I left the top and I figured I could easily be done in 2 more hours which was great as during the tough snowy sections I had been calculating a 10hour plus day. It's amazing though that although the way up had seemed all very steep, now I was heading in reverse there seemed to be a lot more flat!!! Probably the toughest section on the way back was a stretch along what had been a railway line - flat, steady and straight, with no distractions - time for mental strength to kick in. I hit 9kms to go at 7h19 so thought a sub 8hr race would be a breeze and although I was powering along and feeling good (despite the increasing heat from the direct sun) it was slow. I didn't even grab aid at the final station (4.7kms to go) and ended up running out of water but I just wanted to get to the finish at that point.

I was lucky enough to squeak in under 8hrs - 7:58:49 and proved that running scared in the lead can do good as I gained 25mins on Steve since passing him! As I bowled over the finish line my friend Ward was nicely positioned to slow me down with a hug as he stood in my direct line of running :) Susan (who won the women's 25km - yay!) greeted me and soon got me sorted with water and iced tea. By now it was a really hot day down at the start line and I wasn't seriously degydrated but definitely needed to get some fluids on board, so thank you for looking after one slightly dazed and confused runner Susan!

All in all Scorched Sole once again lived up to being a fantastic race. The oragnisers (Shirlee, Tammy and Dan - thank you!) are so welcoming and friendly and really go to great efforts to look after the racers. Admittedly with the snow this year the course was challenging but the struggles through the nasty sections were worth it for the views and the race experience. I think everyone who toughed it through the snow deserves a big congrats!

More race details and results are at www.scorchedsole.ca

Happy trails,
Ellie x

Montrail's Ellie Greenwood Talk at Kintec Port Moody, Wednesday July 7th

Where: Kintec Footlabs, Unit 9 - 400 Capilano Road, Port Moody, BC

When: Wednesday July 7th. Drinks and light snacks @6pm. Ellie @7pm

Who: Ellie is a member of the Montrail Ultra Running Team, Club Fat Ass and the Vancouver Falcons. Recently she set the World Record for 100km on trail and four weeks later won the Calgary marathon in record time. Ellie is arguably the heavy favourite to win the IAU Wolrd 100km Championship this fall in Gibraltar, Spain.

Ellie will be talking about some of her experiences during these record setting runs as well as taking questions regarding training, nutrition, racing etc.

Prizes: Montrail will be providing some random draw prizes for those in attandance! They will also have a display tent available with all the line up of trail shoes, performance sandals and gear.

Partner: Kintec is proud to partner with Montrail to host this event. Kintec is Montrail Canada's largest distributor and specialises in performance footwear be it for 100km ultra marathons like Ellie runs or footwear to walk your dog in.

RSVP: rynemelcher@gmail.com or call 604-800-3338 for more information and if you are planning on attending. Or post a comment here!

Look forward to seeing you at Kintec!

Death-Fest Here I Come!

This time last week I was contemplating how I was going to get good training in for Kneeknacker 50km on July 10th. Funny how things change in one short week 'casue now KK seems like a cake walk compared to what I have just got myself involved in: Death Race in Grande Cache!!! Of course I have heard a lot about Death Race and always said - no thanks, I'm not crazy enough for that, but now after one email from a stranger out of the blue and I'm signed up! I got a facebook message last Sunday from Richard Davies, the Alberta North Face rep (DR is a North Face event) saying he could probably swing me an entry to DR if I wanted. So basically the offer was 'Do you want to come to the 125km pain-fest that encompasses 17, 000ft of elevation change over mountain terrain in weather conditions that no one can predict?' Oh no! At first I almost wished Richard hadn't asked as now I was in a dilema and I am terrible at saying no to such things!

So I ummed and ahhed all week, got a few runs and run-hikes up Sulphur in and thought whether my hamstrings will be able to take the training involved and whether it was a race a really really wanted to do, as it is going to involve some pretty intense and mountainous training - in the next .... 7 weeks ... cause that's how long it is til race day! This was a key consideration as I have got lots of miles in this year but lots of real flat running miles and to put it into perspective, last years male winner (fellow Montrailian Sean Meissner) crossed the DR finish line in just over 15hrs and took 2.5hrs to climb the longest hill. Oh my!

But I have thrown caution to the wind and kindly accepted Richard of North Face's kind (if that's the right word!) offer, afterall apparantly no one has ever actually died at the Death Race so this is very encouraging news!

And I have to say that Richard's email is just one example of the super warm welcome that the Alberta ultra community has given me since I moved here. I've had offers to go for runs, offers to be in relay teams, and now an entry to Death Race!

So if I don't blog much over the next 7 weeks, please excuse me but I am probably out running somewhere :)

Check out the craziness at: www.canadiandeathrace.com

Press Release!

This week in the follow up to Calgary marathon I had the fun of my first ever interview and photo shoot, courtesy of Calgary Herald. It was definitely a fun experience and intersting to see how an interview turns into an article! Check it out:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/Runner+tests+limits+endurance+sanity+chasing+passion/3118474/story.html

Marathon Madness

Ok, so I'm afraid that this post is entirely about a road race but I'm a true believer that road running benefits trail running and I still enjoy the challenge of road racing! There is something so fun about racing against the clock, checking kms splits and going for a PB that is way easier to do on roads rather than trails.

When I moved to Banff in the fall I decided to run Calgary as it is my new home city marathon and I have not finished a road marathon since Victoria in October 2008 (I dropped out of Vancouver with injury in May 2009). I had already trained for Elk Beaver 100km four weeks prior so there would be no need to really train for Calgary in terms of mileage, I could just show up and hopefully put in a solid effort. Pre-race day I was aware that I lacked any speed training at all - I had focused so much on mileage that any concept of short yet fast training runs had long gone out the window. I had clocked 3h07m at the 42km split in Elk Beaver and had then continued to run another 58km, but even so would I have the speed to run much faster over 42.2km? Well, I decided to make a good stab at it and prepped my pace band for 2:55:00, with my existing marathon PB being 2:55:18 from Vancouver in 2008.

I was lucky enough to get a comp elite entry from elite organiser Jeremy Deere, one of the main benefits of which was having elite bag check right at the start with no lining up. I drove down to Calgary the day before the race and the closer we got the Calgary the worse the weather got. Low clouds were rolling in, the sky was grey and as the temperature barely hovered above zero the percipition that started to fall was as much snow as rain. Hmm, not exactly the weather I had hoped for but not much could be done other than figure out how many layers to wear!

Come race morning however as I peaked out the window just after 5am, I was pleasantly suprised to see that it looked like a dry and slightly bright morning and although it was still only 2 degrees it felt much warmer as it was dry. I wolfed down my standard pre-race brekkie of a bagel with peanut butter and a cup of tea, wanting as much time for my stomach to settle before the race. The race start area was less than a 2km walk from our hostel so it was good to stretch the legs and also preview the surrounding streets of the race start/ finish. I did an easy warm up, saw some familiar faces and then got in behind the start line, even with the half and full marathons starting at the same time the elite field was pretty small so I was close to the front.

The gun went off and we were away! I was careful not to get carried away with too fast a start but it was hard to guage my pace when I have not road raced in so long and didn't know any of the runners around me. I only knew Graeme Wilson of Vancouver, a sub 2:30 marathoner so I just made sure that I stayed well back from Graeme! First km I was a little fast - 3:50, when I needed to hit 4:08's but it was slightly downhill so I wasn't too worried. In the first few kms I was glad to see that the km markers were super clear and although I was a little fast I soon reined it in so by 5km I was about 1min up on a 2:55 finish time but back on track in terms of pace.

As the marathoners and half marathoners ran the first 13km or so together until the half marathon route branched off, I was trying to guage who was in which race. I got into a good rhythm with a female half marathoner and there were a handful of men around us but I didn't know if any women marathoners had gone off ahead. When we got to where the half marathoners branched off I just prayed that some of the men were marathoners, but as they all peeled away I realised they weren't and now I had one marathoner male about 100m ahead of me and he was the only racer I could now see. Ok, this would be tough if I was going to have to road race solo! At about 14km we hit a significant hill - a steady climb for about 1km that I had seen on the route map but this didn't worry me. Although I would class hills as my weakness in trail racing, I think I'm better on them than most roadies! So I climbed up and had caught the guy in front so at least now I had some company, plus when I crested the hill I saw a lead cyclist waiting for me - not only company but 100% confirmation that I was lead female. The cyclist immediately asked me my name and right away I knew she was going to be critical in my race, not only would I no longr feel like I was running alone but throughout she gave me helpful hints, like calling out my pace having checked that I didn't have my own GPS. After a few kms working our way through the university I had lost the male runner and had settled into my pace and the rolling terrain. The hills were nothing drastic but some nice ups and downs to break up the monotony. I was checking my km splits every 2km or so and was glad to see I was on pace for sub 2:55 finish but I was also feeling like I was running the unknown, having not specifially trained for a marathon. What is I crashed and burned? What if this pace felt fine now but I fell apart at 30km? But on the other hand I knew that if I wanted to try get 2:55 finishing time then I had to take a leap of faith and go out at that pace.

At half way there was a weird out and back in a cul-de-sac where we crossed over a timing mat and it also allowed me to see that 2nd place woman was probably a little over 1min behind me. I wasn't phased when I saw her as I was happy with my 1:26:47 split and knew if I could keep up this pace I was on for a PB. We then headed through what I found to be the toughest section of the race. We went into a nice residential area with large houses and yards but this was at about 9am on a Sunday morning and save for 2 residents there was not a soul in sight so there was little atmosphere and nothing to push you along. Again I was spurred along by the lead cyclist who cheerily shouted out to all the marshalls and occassionally said a few words to me. I was really impressed by the organisation of the race, at every possibly place that a runner could have queried which direction to take there was a marshall standing by to point runners in the right direction.

The advantage of having had to climb the long hill at 14km was I knew that we got to go back down it! I had checked out the km markers on my way up and knew that the descent began at about 32km, so this was a double motivation - get to the downhill and get to the 10kms to go mark! As I hit the downhill I let my arms pinwheel around and I enjoyed picking up the speed a little, although my legs were beginning to tire a little I know from trail racing that my quads can take a good downhill pounding so I wanted to take adavntage of opening up my stride and gaining some time. At the base of the hill we the course then was relatively straight to the finish, keeping fairl close to the river. It was here that I began to pass slower half marathon runners and got the boost I needed. I knew I was going to make it to the finish but was digging deep not to let up on the pace and lose what was now looking like was going to be a new PB. The lead cyclist was shouting out 'elite female marathoner coming though, move to the right!', I had to laugh, I felt like I had a VIP escort and lots of the ladies who were walking and jogging the half took off their iPods and cheered me on, which was a great boost. I really wanted to cheer them on too but now I was just clinging on to not losing the pace. My personal escort even went one step further and would tell some upcoming marshalls my name so when I passed them I got a 'Go Ellie!' from people I didn't even know. I tell you, this cyclist gets a gold star for how to lead a marathon!

In the last 10km I kept imagining that I was on my last loop of Elk Beaver and how fast that had seemed but this 10km seemed so much longer. I was checking each km split and realised that I might now post 2:51: something - woo hoo, that definitely kept me going! I was literally counting the kms - 5km = 20mins to go, 4kms = 16mins to go and by 4okm I was so excited to get this race done. In the last km there were a few uphills that slowed my pace and drained my legs to feel super heavy, but it was great to get cheers of encouragement as I came around the final corner and saw the finish banner. The cyclist peeled away, 'Go Ellie, it's all yours!'. I looked at this section after the race and it seemed so short - maybe 15om - but at the time it seemed miles away as I tried to sprint to the finish. The clock had clicked over to 2:52 but as I broke the tape to win I saw 2:52:21 - a PB by 2m57secs!!!

I am absolutely stoked at the time that I got. Having gone into the race on high mileage but blind to the course and what type of speed I had I did think I was maybe being optimistic to shoot for a PB. Of course, I am now thinking that if I can just throw in a few speed work outs into my mileage then maybe there is a sub 2:50 out there! And of course, Calgary is about 350m lower than Banff but it is still over 1000m, so maybe a race at lower elevation.....!

The Calgary marathon route was new as of last year so I got CR too, and fastest female time since 1990 (and apparantly the new course is tougher than the old course!), and 5th runner to cross the finish line. Fellow Vancouver Falcon, Graeme Wilson, narrowly missed the mens CR but still placed 1st in 2:32:14 - just 4 weeks after racing Vancouver! And I've got the bug back for road racing, so now looking at what marathons I can squeeze into my schedule and see if I can push that PB a little lower still....

The Calgary Herald did a neat little video montage if this link stays active for a while http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJaOXqfNbCE

And check out the race details and results at http://www.calgarymarathon.com/

Hey Ladies! No cat fights! Let's all just bliss out on our spa products!

Today was my first ever women's only run. I found out about the Rocky Mountain Soap Company's 1/2 marathon through the Lululemon (yoga store) group that I have been running with every Thursday. It had already sold out but it's one of those events that let's you trade places at no charge and so I managed to get a spot via a Facebook trade.

Of course with training for my ultras I did no speed work in prep for today's race but was just excited to be participating in a local event (of which there are far fewer than in Vancouver) and looking forward to racing my first 1/2 in over 2 years! My 1/2 PB is 1:23:34 so I thought I could well beat that....oh how wrong could I be!

The race is held in Canmore (20 min drive from Banff) and I got there a good hour before the race to do package pick up, warm up and just scout out the area. The start/ finish was at the Canmore Nordic Centre (built for the '88 Olympics), already a little step above the valley with beautiful views of the mountains around. I had checked out the course profile and knew it was going to suck - pretty much out and back (that's all fine) but about 3km of downhill at the start...which would mean 3km of uphill at the end! And in between what had looked at brief glance to be a nice flat course was in fact a nice rolling course of small ups and downs at regular intervals.

In previous years there had only ben 6km and 12km events so I had no past results of the 1/2 to see (1) how tough/ easy the course would be and (2) what the competition would be like. Looking at the 12km times I figured I would be in the lead few.

Pre race I bumped into some ladies I know from Lululemon and also had the pleasure of meeting a local ultra runner, Brenda, who I've exchanged a few emails with but yet to get the chance to meet. Also to my suprise I knew one of the guys doing the race timing - Michael Campbell-Burns - a Lions Gate Road runner and a Vancouver trail runner - so great to see a familiar West Coast face :) I also got chatting to some fellow racers and it looked set to be a fun and social day.

Michael did the count down, the horn went off and away we were. Myself and another lady (Lynette) went out fast but within the first few hundred metres I was in the lead. I wanted to race hard so was not going to hold back and was very glad to have a lead cyclist as I didn't know the route at all. (Guys - I would highly recommend volunteering for lead bike in a ladies only race - Jay must have had a field day having several hundred excited, fit and lycra clad ladies trailing along behind him!). After a loop in the Nordic centre we hit the tarmac downhill to the valley/ town and I clocked 3:57 in the first km and 3 flat in the 2nd (Coach Hill, if you are reading this - I promise the 2nd km was fully downhill all the way!). Already it dawned on me that the last few kms were going to be killer!

Now you may think that 21.1kms would be easy for me but as I'm a slow, steady runner my pace felt hard and I was thinking that Elk Beaver 100km 2 weeks prior was probably easier in some respects! I'm just not used to running where I am heaving for breath all the time. But I settled into a pace as much as I could and found that a bulk of the race was on packed cycle path trail - some of which was flat and other sections of which had switch backs to work it's way up and down. Jay (the lead cyclist and I were by now on 1st name terms!) was awesome at pre-empting me of the sections up ahead and I knew he was a runner when he was talking about what pace I was on for 1:26 he thought at the time. Now 1:26 I would be ok with, but under 1:24 would be much nicer ;) But by the 6km mark or so I realised this was not an easy, fast road 1/2 marathon...

I was well ahead of 2nd place, but like Jay said it was a beautiful day for a solo run! And I looked up at the surrounding snow covered mountain, blue blue sky, and dried out yellow grass and indeed it was a stellar day. I was just perfect in shorts and t-shirt and was happy with my choice to wear my Monrail Rockridges. No doubt road shoes would have been fine too as the trail sections were easy but on the other hand I would estimate about 40% of the course was non-tarmac. I was carrying Clif Shot Bloks and using the water stations en route, although I felt vaguely guilty when two kids aged about 6 got reprimanded for not being ready holding out water when the lead runner came though! No worries - they were pros by the time I passed their station on the way back :)

After the loop around to turn back I was pleased to hit a section of highway - slight downhill, good response from the tarmac and real open-road running. I then got to pass the ladies who were still heading out and it was great to encourage each other along. Another little boost in was given to my rapidly fading legs when I got a cheer from my coworker Lawrence who was out cheering on his wife and daughter.

I had hit 11km in 45 even and that felt fast! But I was totally thrown when I hit the 14km marker at 64mins - I mean I know I was hurting but yikes - 7km to go and I was at 1:04 and still had the uphill finish. Oh yikes, this was all going horribly wrong! Yet I then hit 15km at 1:08 - had I got back on track or.....no, as we were to find out later, I think the km markers were a little out! Whatever, I couldn't run harder so just plowed on and at least I wasn't getting caught.

The last few kms were as bad as I expected, I just simply had lead legs, was breathing hard and yet I think I saw an ant pass me. I was sooooo slooooow. I trudged up and had to hit a short power walk on one particularly nasty tarmac hill, but the upside is that after a silly-steep hill, normal hills were now manageable in comparison :) I could hear the announcer calling in 6km finishers and the sight was in finish. But no - we looped past the finish and down a hill, and as all runners know - what goes down must come up. Oh *&?!*. So uphill I went and to my dismay yet another seemingly unneccessary steep uphill had been added just before the fun rolling downhill to the finish. I swear that we looped 7 sides around an octogon to get to the finish line! And my killer winning time was a staggeringly slow....drum roll....1:36:11. Oh well - only about 12 to 14mins off my goal!

At the finish line we were handed a bag of Rocky Mountain Soap Company goodies (nice smelly stuff), there were towels to mop your face and some organic-gluten free-vegetable-fair trade-tree hugging juice was handed to us. We were definitely treated like ladies :) But it was at the finish line that the intrigue started to unfold. I had felt slightly better when one woman said she was 20mins slower than she normally runs a 1/2, and then the 23km or so rumours started. I mean you can't fool us ladies especially when some have GPSs!! So it does for sure seem like the course was about 2kms long.

I then saw Lynette who I had chatted to at the start and guessed she had come 2nd, well...yes, but.... It seems likely that the woman who crossed the finish line 2nd went off course so Lynette crossed 3rd but should have been 2nd and Sandy crossed 4th but should have been 3rd!! Now no one was being nasty about it but the 2nd finisher claimed she ran past both Sandy and Lynette. Sandy and Lynette admitted they were running hard but they were also running alone so figure they would have noticed someone race past them, they were not that delirious! 2nd across the line (for some reason we never found out her name!) claims that she recognises my ponytail from running behind me towards the start of the race. Well that's pretty good eyesight given she crossed the finish 12mins back of me! All in all Lynette and Sandy managed to laugh it off, and it got us chatting so now I may have some familair faces to spot when I race Calgary marathon in 2 weeks time. However it was judiciously decided by the RD that for the 1/2 marathon only age group prizes would be announced and we had a good laugh that they obviously expected some cat fight to break out if they attempted to award overall 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

Anyway, to top the day off before I needed to get the rental car back to Banff I decided to make the most of having wheels and continue my girly day with a power hike up as much of Lady McDonald as I had time for. A steep forest trail in Canmore, with the smell of pine needles and the chirping of crickets in the warm sun it got my blood pumping for some fun times discovering new trails this summer. And just had a few minutes on my fav terrain - boulders and scree- before I ran out of time and had to turn back. All in all, a fab day of new people, new trails and new freckles to mark the start of summer trail running season :)

Happy trails xx

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