Into the Runner's Mind

My running buddy in Vancouver, BC Johnnee, has recently started up a podcast - Into the Runners Mind. Being as Johnnee and I are good buddies it is not the shortest of interviews (well, we don't get to catch up often!). Check it out at:

http://bcjohnny.podbean.com/

Martin Parnell's Marathon Quest Anniversary Run - Dec 31st, Cochrane, AB

You think you run a lot? Well did you run 250 marathons last year? Martin Parnell, a wholly unassuming Brit living in Cochrane, Alberta did in 2010, and all to raise funds for Right to Play. I had the pleasure of meeting Martin at Comrades this year andhave seen him a few times since and the more I have chatted to Martin I am amazed about his dedication to raise money for Right to Play through setting up amazing challenges without the aim of self-promoting whatsoever. He just appears to love to run and loves to inspire kids to be active.

Martin will be celebrating the one year anniversary of the completion of h

is Marathon Quest (250 marathons in one year) by....you guessed it, running a marathon! Everyone is welcome to come join Martin to run anywhere from

2.5km to the full 42.2 in Cochrane on Dec 31st. Personally I can't think of a better way to end the year :)

2012 Race Schedule...so far...

With needing to book vacation time off work and with ultras now typically selling out months in advance it always comes to this time of year and I start sitting down planning what races I might do next year. Of course, it is hard to plan so far ahead sometimes but in a sense sitting down and thinking about what I want out of my running year, what goals I would like to achieve and what courses I would like to experience and challenge myself against is a good thing to do for any runner.

The list I have come up with for 2012, now it is down on paper, looks pretty ambitious to me! If I do actually realize all these races then it will be an action packed and demanding 12 months for sure. Maybe I am trying to bite off more than I can chew, but on the other hand, if my body and mind are able to do all of this, it would be a dream. I have tried to choose races that complement one another, races that are a mix of old favourites with less pressure and more about sharing good trail times with friends, to big goals that I have no idea how they will pan out and even if I can achieve them. There are quite a few races which are repetitions from this year, which may seem odd but to be honest, any racer learns a lot from the first time completing a course and so some I would like to go back to with my new found knowledge and see if I can improve.

So, with no further a do, my 'plans' (race entries, body and mind permitting) are:

March 17th - Chuckanut 50km, Bellingham, WA, USA

April 7th - American River 50 miler, Scaramento, CA, USA

April 22nd - London Marathon, UK.

June 3rd - Comrades 89km (downhill), Pietermaritzberg to Durban, South Africa

June 23rd - Western States 100 miler, Squaw Valley to Auburn, CA, USA

August 31st - UTMB, Chamonix, France

September 29th - UROC (Ultra Race of Champions) 100km, Virginia, USA

... I also have 2 or 3 other races September onwards that I am eyeing up and have pencilled in, but will wait and see a little on those.

Oh, and as for Chile being my last race of this year.... all I can say is that I have zero will power, that Chile reinvigorated me to hit the trails and have pure and simple fun, so I look forward to lacing up my Montrails and seeing how I do in the Marin Headlands in 2 weeks time.

Happy trails x

Monday 28th November - Ultimate Fit Centre in Canmore - Winter Training Tips

On Monday 28th November I'll be speaking at Ultimate Fit Centre in Canmore about Winter Training. Come along for some useful tips and advice on how to brave the dark, snowy and cold winter months yet keep your training progressing. The evening runs from 6.30pm to 8.30pm with my talk, Q&A session and then a chance for some shopping!!

Hope to see some of you there, and if you know for sure you are coming, please comment on this post so we can plan for numbers!

Ultramaraton de los Andes, Chile - ESPECTAULAR!

Yesterdays 'Ultramaraton de los Andes' 50 miler in Santiago, Chile has to be one of my most fun races of the year, which is really saying quite a lot given how much fun I have had this year. But with this being my prize from winning the Canadian Death Race in 2010, it being a real destination race and one to wrap up the racing year with, there was a lot less pressure than at most other races. It was great to be in Santiago with quite a few of the North American North Face athletes (TNF are the race organizers/ sponsors) but really with most of the field being Chilean or some other South American nationality there was not the usual expectation of who might win, who might beat who etc.

North Face did a great job of adopting me as the lone Montrail/ Mountain Hardwear athlete for the weekend so there were fun times even before the race with team meals, a group run with the local TNF store runners and they even picked me up from the swish W hotel at 3am to take me to the race start, just a 20-min drive from central Santiago.

Having spent most of the summer training for World 100km and then having followed that up with Run for the Toad (trails, but flat trails) I knew that I was unprepared for the over 4100m of climbing (plus same of descent) that this race would encompass, but hey ho - I'd done a few Sulphur hikes, a scramble up Rundle and a slow slog up Edith/ Cory pass in Banff in the few weeks prior to at least warn my quads that they were in for a beating.

With the race starting at 4am we had a good 2.5hrs in darkness. Just like at Western States I used both a headlamp and a handheld flashlight and was glad to have both. It's always amazing how dark it is out on the trails even with fellow runners all with flashlights around. We had about 5km of flattish trail to start and then the first of the major climbs started with avengance. It was hands on the quads, try to look up, and keep on going. I was in a small group of men and knew I was lead female but was just focusing on the climb. It as actually over pretty soon, we crested the top and began a steep 'a la Canadian Death Race' descent. Sometimes it was definitely a case of just going for it and hoping you stayed upright on the shrubby grass and loose soil.

The maple leaf flag on my hydration pack (code - 'I'm Canadian - please speak to me in English if you can!') soon paid off as I struck up a conversation with John Tidd, an Argentinian/ American runner (who ended up placing 2nd male). I was soon surprised that Ian Sharman joined in the conversation in the inky darkness of our descent, Ian had come into the race tired and was already resolving to make the smart decision to drop. He played along for a while though and ran with me, which was good to have some conversation and company.

However despite this early company by about 22km I somehow ended up totally on my own. It was cool for a while, I was soaking up the fact that I was running through the Andes in the darkness all on my own and could just about pick out the silhouetted mountains. I don't think I have ever focused on course flagging so much, the trail was not really much of a trail and often sent us randomly up or down scrubby grass slopes in a slightly haphazard fashion, it was certainly not a case of just follow a well marked trail. As Tim (Twitmeier) would say after, 'what was the deal with the cow pat field?!' and indeed, I saw a few cows (including one dead one!), a few stray dogs and I learned the lesson for not speaking the native tongue when some marshals called out to me something I didn't understand in Spanish, before I promptly ran into a muddy/ cow pat filled ditch. Awesome!

After some time of running alone I just hoped I was still going in the right direction. Yes - I was following the flagging but I also remembered that we would intersect with the 50km course and hoped that I somehow hadn't gone astray and onto that course. But no, I soon came across a course marshall sitting all alone seemingly randomly in the middle of a cow pat field. In the dark. Well, it seemed like a slightly odd marshalling point, but at least I was comforted that I was heading in the right direction. It was good also to have to get a little 'passport' clipped at 12 points along the course to ensure that no one cheated, but it also reassured me that I was always on course.

It was surprisingly chilly, I had taken off my gloves but as we descended a bit the moist air had got trapped in the troughs of the landscape and I popped my gloves back on and kept my jacket on til after 8am. There was even frost on the ground in sections. However as soon as the sun came up the temperatures began to climb along with the terrain and I began to ensure that I was taking on enough liquids and gels/ shot bloks/ salt. As well as the 'passport' check points there were aid stations en route which were well stocked and well manned and I soon fell into my routine conversation of 'Hola!' 'Gracias!' 'No hablo espanol!', which was either greeted with some helpful English and a smile, or some weird look of 'Who's this foreign woman running around like an idiot?' (there were definitely far more men in the race than women, and I would guess that a good chunk of the marshals were not runners, and certainly not ultra runners).

As the terrain climbed the views became more and more spectacular, the muddy cow patch section (which had resulted in feeling like you were running in platform shoes of mud at times) was long forgotten and it was a case of hike, hike, hike. As someone who tends to do more runnable courses I felt like I was moving so slowly (I was) even on some of the flatter sections (which were traverses of grassy hillsides with no real level trail as such). I was convinced that runners would be catching me but no one did and at that point in time I wouldn't have cared if they had. I was running in the Andes, I was looking down over the shiny skyscrapers of Santiago and across to the snow covered mountains on the horizon, there were cacti on the trail (note to self, do not use Andean foliage to hold onto - it will hurt). It was quite simply stunning.

It was around the 50km mark that I began to catch the slower of the 50km runners. Having been on my own really since I left Ian (about km 22) it was nice to see other people out enjoying their day on the trail. The aid stations also began to seem closer together (they had been quite far apart in the first half of the race) which was great as I was trying to drink from those and not have to waste time in refilling my Nathan pack (and just use it for sips between the stations).

By 60km I was definitely beginning to feel my legs a little but I thought the majority of the climbing was done and now I should have a relatively flat and untechnical (now we were getting onto the more urban trails of Santiago) 20km to get to the finish. Oh how wrong

I was! I hit a gravel road climb and up and up I went. Hmm, should have looked at that course profile map in more detail! Fortunately it was around this time that I happened upon Marcello from TNF Brazil. Despite not being able to communicate much we both realized that the other was tired and began to death march up the road together side by side, once in a while exchanging a few words or I would show him my garmin so he could see what km we were at. With the gravel road climb over I again I thought that maybe the climbs were over but I can honestly say that they never were until right at the finish. Up and down and round and about the trail would twist and turn as we occasionally crossed roads or went through urban parks with bemused Santiagians out walking there dogs and enjoying a leisurely Saturday. However at least in hitting this more urban section, we were buoyed along by crossing paths with some of the 10km and 21km runners, as well as aid stations getting even closer together (great as it was now turning into a sunny Santiago spring day).

With the course marshals having been efficient but relatively unenthusiastic most of the day it was a welcome change to see one who started shouting at my in crazy Spanish. I just about made out that I was first female (ok - I know that and I am trying to hang on, convinced that I must be getting caught at the slow pace I am going) and also that I was third overall. He was clearly excited by this and it gave me a little buzz to keep pushing for the final 5km or so. By this point my garmin had died so I couldn't check how close I was getting to the finish line, but it seemed a very long 20km from the 60km mark when my garmin had still been working. Ok I was tired, ok I had lost Marcello by this point (and had briefly caught a glimpse of John Tidd who powered ahead as soon as he saw me behind him!) but even so..... the kms seemed long (and indeed they possibly were as someones garmin read 85km at the end).

But soon I saw a '2km to go' sign and well under a km later I saw the '1km to go' sign - no complaints about those short markings! I pushed to the finish despite the legs feeling the climbing of the day in them, and crossed over the finish line in 9:42:18. Somehow (maybe I've not done as many ultras as I think) this is my 3rd longest (in time) race to date!

All in all a HUGE thank you to the awesome TNF race hosts who welcomed me to Chile and ensured I had a super stay and amazing race experience. And once again a big shout out to my favourite shoe company around, in yet another race my Montrail Fairhavens saw me from start to finish without a hint of pain or a blister.

For more info on the race click here.

Run for the Toad - Canadian 50km National Championships

I can't think of any other race that I have competed at 4 times, other than Run for the Toad in Paris, Ontario. There are races that I would love to do every year but with new races popping up or just something getting in the way, sometimes I don't make it to all the start lines that I would like to. But somehow every year for the past 4 I have made the 3h30min flight to Ontario for Run for the Toad. With about 1100 entrants in the 25km and another 200 o

r so in the 50km, it is a huge trail race and the organisation is exceptional. Every year RDs Peggy & Goerge come up with some other improvement to what already seems like an excellent race. I mean have you ever been to a trail race with a kids entertainment tent? Or one wi

th table decorations in the marquee for the post race meal? Or how about one with a bagpipe parade before the race? This year there were even toad shaped chocolates being handed out!

Montrail/ Mountain Hardwear are one of the main sponsors of the event so it is always fun to come and hang out at the booth at the expo to chat with fellow runners and to see the latest shoe and clothing line up for spring. And there is some pretty sweet running gear coming out!

Race day was surprisingly cool to start with. At least it wasn't raining but it had clouded over and the wind was picking up as the 0930am start approached. I knew I would overheat but I couldn't resist starting off in my Geist jacket and gloves, knowing that I could ditch them at one of the aid stations or back at the start/ finish area (as the race consists of 4 x 12.5km loops). And yep, by about 3km I was warming up and pulled off the layers. I had settled into a nice little group with Andy and Daryl and was surprised to see that it took just over one loop for the first 25km runners to pass us (they started 10mins later than the 50km). Taylor Murphy set out well in the lead and another guy had also went out ahead so our little pack were positions 3 through 5.

I know not everyone likes the idea of a course with 4 loops but I find it a great way to split up the race as in addition to each km being marked you can mentally check off each loop as you go by. Plus there are so many other great things about the Toad that even if the course it pleasant rather than spectacular, I just can't help keep coming back year after year.

After my vomiting incident at World 100km I was making extra care to pay attention to how my stomach was feeling. With the Toad 'only' being 50km and a pretty fast course at that, I decided I'd prefer to be a little under hydrated rather than over hydrated with a sensitive stomach. So I took on Clif drink one sip at a time along with the occasional gel or shot blok. It was great to come past the start/ finish each time and have Bruce of Montrail hand me a fresh bottle rather than bother with cups at the aid stations.

Having not really tapered for the race, I have to say that my legs felt a little tired the whole race but I managed to hold a steady pace and it was great to stil

l be in the company of Andy on loop 3, even if he was looking decidedly fresher than I was feeling! I was on pace to maybe catch my course record from 2010 (3:37:33) and as I went into my 4th and final loop a volunteer gave me the extra push I needed by yelling at me that I still might catch my course record. Ok, 12.5km to go - I could dig deep for that long even on heavy legs and off I went, pulling ahead of Andy. It still didn't feel like I was running particularly fast (although the course was drier and in much better shape than muddy 2010!) but I was finally feeling a little more like I was in race mode.

With the final short steep hill done and only about 1.5km to go, I pushed hard and knew I would be cutting it fine to catch my record, so was motivated to stay ahead of Andy as much as anything else! 3:38:01 - 28 seconds slower than last year on what in theory should have been a faster course. But who's complaining - 1st female, 2nd overall and a great social running weekend. Big congrats to Taylor Murphy (3:25:57) and Laurie McGrath (4:28:17) - 2011 Canadian 50km Champions

Top: Kristin & Ryne, happy post race!

Below: With Glen Redpath - 4th overall, 3rd male, 2nd Canadian, 1st in age group!

For a neat video clip that gives you more of an idea of what a wonderful event Peggy & George host, check out this link.

Ellie's Annual 10km

It seems like every year I think I'd like to try squeeze in a few more shorter distance races but then another year goes by and I found myself racing Melissa's 10km here in Banff, my first 10km since the same race last year! Being it is one of only 2 running races held in Banff each year (the other being Winter Start 8km in November), I take part just as much because it's my home time race as anything else. Being in a National Park means it is often hard for event organisers to get permits for special events such as this in Banff but Melissa's has been held every year for the last 32 years and brings almost 4, 000 racers to town (for the 10km and 22km events), so is an annula tradition that brings lots of visitors to town for a final busy weekend of the summer season.

Needless to say I had not trained for the 10km at all. I ran 37:37 last year and hoped I could maybe run a similar time this year but with jetlag (I just got back from the UK on Wednesday) and a cold/ stomach bug hitting 2 days prior I was feeling far from like I wanted to push a fast effort. It also has to be said that there are a good few 100 metres of elevation climb around 3km to 5km in the course so it's never a fast race. Excuses, excuses ...

So overall I had a fun time, I was joking that after my DNF at 90km a few weeks ago I can finally say that I have completed the 100km distance... it just took me 2 weeks to do so! I didn't have the energy to push really hard and especially found breathing hard with the cold. It was a suprisingly sunny and warm day too - 25 degrees! - which made it great to hang out after the race. I repeated my 2nd place from last year, despite running 20 seconds slower (on a slightly altered route) so I guess I can't complain too much.

Last year at the time of Melissa's I had been in full 100km training mode so remember hitting a 3 hour long run after the race, in the afternoon. I was suprised how heavy my legs felt and realised that even if I had 'only' raced 10km - it was still much faster than I was used to! Given this year I had no real need to get a real run in like that, I instead made the most of the awesome weather by a run/ powerhike up and over Sulphur Mountain. Two and a half hours, 23km, so not a hard effort but a great way to be outside and enjoy the weather, because at this time of year in Banff you never know when summer might abruptly end and the snow start to fall....

Next up... Run for the Toad 50km in Ontario on Saturday with fellow Montrail team mate Ryne Melcher, and then 2 weeks later TNF 50 miler in Chile!!! Very undertrained for a mountain course but it's all going to be about having fun and sightseeing along the race course :)