GutBuster Duncan, Mt. Tzouhalem

I did my first official trail race this weekend. GutBuster Duncan at Mt. Tzouhalem.

The plan was for Kirsten and me to run it together and get a sense of what it will be like to run together at TRR later in the summer. That may sound strange, as we do run together fairly often, but I guess what I’m getting at is that it was a chance to run together in a race setting. That said, I had absolutely no expectation and didn’t really go into it with a “racing” mindset (oops, sorry Kirsten).

I’ve been doing a lot of running on hilly trails lately, with lots of big back to back days on the weekend. This is still somewhat new for me and while I am having fun with it and enjoying the newness of it all, I’m also quickly realizing that I kind of suck at trail running. I'm not super agile at this point in my trail running career, and well, I definitely spend a lot of time hiking up very steep hills cursing my cramping calves and wondering if it will get easier (which I know it will, I just want it to be easier NOW).

Anyway, the race. I knew I had to follow up Saturday’s GutBuster with a VERY hilly long run on Sunday, so perhaps that is why my mindset going into the race was more “have fun and just survive” than it was “race!!”

So yeah, was it fun? You bet – especially once we got to the top of the mountain and got to start our descent, haha.

We did a nice 30min warm up and although my calves were a bit tweaky and crampy during the warm up, I thought I had done enough that maybe they would be happy once we really got going.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Things started okay, but at the first big climb, my calves felt like they were going to explode and so I had to start hiking (along with a lot of other people thankfully). Kirsten finds it easier to run, so she would trot on ahead and then wait for me.

I felt really bad and like I was holding her up, so did find myself getting slightly frustrated (not with Kirsten, but with myself and my body), but we eventually got into a nice rhythm and made it up to the summit together. The views were pretty amazing.

The back half of the race and the downhills were awesome – definitely my favourite part! I tucked in right behind Kirsten and I felt like we just flowed down the trails – even passing a few people on the way. We were moving quickly and pretty fluidly and it was a nice positive mental break from the frustrations I was feeling with my body on the climb up.

As we came out from the trails and raced toward the finish line Kirsten kept picking up the pace, telling me to go faster. I was feeling pretty maxed out but tried to surge to get beside her (or well, I’ll admit it – maybe I was trying to get in front of her), but she had my number and got the last step on me. Turned out our finishing time was exactly the same though and it resulted in a pretty good finish line photo. I was smiling, but I’m pretty sure I was also calling her a jerk as the photo was snapped.

Photo by Esrah Boulton: www.esrahboulton.com

Kirsten and I post-race with Torben.
Photo by Mom :) 

After a much needed sleep in on Sunday morning, Kirsten and I met up at Mt. Work and did a little hike/run-sploration around Gowlland Tod Park to round out the weekend. We made our way down to McKenzie Bight, up and around part of the Jocelyn loop (I think) and then up and down Mount Work.

I'll admit, at the start of the run, I was feeling really stiff in my joints and the uphills were feeling really tough (stupid calves, again). In short, I was struggling! I definitely had a few moments of thinking "I don't think I can do this” (the “this” in that statement being both that day’s run and TRR depending on the moment) but as the run wore on, I loosened up a bit and it slowly got better. By the end, I wasn't feeling too too bad. Don’t get me wrong, I was still fighting heavy tired legs, but was definitely in a better headspace.

Pretty views somehow make a tough run worth it.

So that was the weekend… and what I’m sure many weekends this summer will look like. I’ll keep plugging away on the trails and will hopefully start to see some gains. Perhaps I’ll get a little more nimble and quick, and perhaps my calves will stop hating me.



Off topic (kinda), in our journey to TRR this summer, Kirsten and I have decided to support Martin Parnell in his TransRockiesQuest 888 – a fundraising effort for Right to Play. Knowing how much our lives have been enriched with sport, it was an easy choice to try and raise some money for Right to Play. On top of that, every donation we receive will be matched by Right To Play partners 3 times!

For more information or if you'd like to donate, please check out our fundraising page here.