CHUCKANUT 50KM

I have done this race two times before and although a lot of people slam it for its boring flat/gravel start/finish, I have a special spot for it.Wit that said, it is not a race I would do yearly like the Knee Knacker but it creeps onto my calendar every couple of years. My two previous times were 4:55 and 4:35. I significantly bettered my first year time simply by running all the hills, even chinscraper! Having done a 50km race the weekend before I knew my time would be slower but I was more concerned with how my body would feel.

Photo by: Glenn Tachiyama

 I started out fairly conservatively. Shauna and I were chatting away for about 15km before we parted ways. I managed to run most of the first climb but I could tell my legs were tired as they just felt fatigued. They felt great though on descents and flats! I felt like I crawled running up the logging road. I was happy once I got to the ridge and was able to pass a bunch of people on the technical section. I like this course because it's fast and your not out there for hours. At this point I knew there was just chinscraper to go and then it was all downhill and flat to the finish.

Chinscraper wasn't so bad but this year I just didn't have it in me to run the majority of it. I was stoked to be on the final descent but just like in years past the bathroom gods called and I had to answer. I am not sure what it is about this descent but I have had to go to the "little girls room" on this section every time in this race. The flat section was a challenge. I had essentially just emptied myself and took my last gel with 10km to do. It wasn't long before I needed another one but I had no fuel left. I just tried to focus on running strong and getting to the finish. The km markers seemed to tick away very slowly. Luckily this guy, Barry Young, came ripping passed me and I hung on for dear life. I ran with him for about 8 km and if it weren't for him I would not have pushed myself that hard, so thank you! I finished 10th or 11th female in 4:45. I was still really stoked on how my body felt and glad I was able to push myself in that last 10km. I still managed 1st in my age group! The female course record was broken by 8 minutes or so which is just insane! Kudos!

Photo by: Glenn Tachiyama

 My legs have felt pretty tired this week but I'll take it easy until the weekend. Looking forward to a weekend without any races planned. Next race is Diez Vista on April 6th.

Run Happy,

Nicola

DIRTY DUO 50KM

I decided to volunteer as a leader for the Dirty Duo trail clinic. I have been volunteering off and on for the Mountain Madness trail clinics for years and I really enjoy doing it. I always meet some amazing folks who easily fall in to my trap and become ultra runners! This year Heather added a 50km clinic option and the runs got up to near 40km. Good times were had!

The start at Jaycee House!

 I decided to sign up for the 25km distance option as Chuckanut was the following weekend and I had signed up for that back in January. However, at some point I changed my mind, sent Heather a text, and Bada Bing Bada Boom it was done, I was now doing the 50km. I had been saying to myself all week that i was going to just take it easy but then I just decided to let be what will be and if I feel good, I am going to run. And run I did!!!

About to head up Homestead. Photo by: Chris Thorn

Peter and I ended up running together for the first 3/4's of the first lap. At some point coming down ned's his foot slipped, he got a cramp and we parted ways shortly thereafter. We never talked about running together, it just happened and it was nice having his company. He was doing the real Duo and I never saw him again until he crossed the finish line.

I felt really good all day and I was stoked on this feeling. The only glitch of the day was when I rolled my right ankle 3 consecutive times within  about a 3 minute span coming down ned's on the second loop. Each one just seemed to weaken it for the next one. I had to pause a few times and wince away the pain and watch as 3 of my friends (doing the 25km) rolled passed me. However, I knew that if I could just make it down ned's the rest of the run would be fine. Eventually the pain subsided and I never felt it again. I also caught up to my friends on the climb up homestead and this motivated me to push a bit harder. I thought I must be feeling pretty good if I am passing people who are only doing one loop! At some point I saw Graham Archer from Kintec and he told me Ryne Melcher was only 5 minutes ahead. I eventually caught up to Ryne (who's goal was not get chicked) with about 2 km to go and just started hammering. It was by far the fastest I had run all day and I was just loving it. I came into the finish in a time of 4:40 and first female.

The finish line!!!! Photo by: Don Scott

Thanks so much to Heather Macdonald and Mountain Madness for putting on this event and for hosting such a wonderful training clinic. The post race lasagna, cobs bread and salad were just what the doctor ordered. Also, the drymax socks are so comfy and Peter and I had a wonderful feast at Tommy's Cafe thanks to the GC I got as a prize!

My shoe of choice ALWAYS is the La Sportiva Crosslite! I decided to randomly run in this Lululemon skirt which was actually pretty comfortable, however it needs more pockets and my long sleeve top is a $14 merino wool shirt I got at Costco 4 years ago :)

Next up, Chuckanut 50km next weekend! Interested to see how I am going to feel!

Run Happy,

Nic

The Yeti Snowshoe race- Whistler

This blog is a bit over due but here goes!

The Congo line near the end of the first lap

 On March 2nd, I drove down to the Callaghan XC Ski area, with 2 lovely ladies. The 3 of us work for MEC and we are the title sponsor of the series and wanted to represent, set up a both, and hand out some warm hot chocolate for finishers. I also decided I would run too!

It's been many years since I have snowshoed let alone snowshoe raced. In fact, one of my first ever trail races was on snowshoes. I remember it well. I was signed up for the 10km and didn't realize it was 2 loops of 5km so when I went through the first loop around 45 minutes I was excited to stop! However I was a bit shocked when the announcer congratulated me on finishing my first loop and wished me good luck for round 2. Needless to say, I was done and stopped at 5km! Yup, got that dreaded DNF out of the way pretty early on in my career :)

Top 3 ladies overall

For some reason though I was excited to be back on snowshoes. The 3 of us finally found our location up in the Callaghan and set up our booth. With 10 minutes before the start I hurriedly changed into racing clothes and put on my snowshoes. It was a rather intimate crowd as there were only about 50 people there. The gun went off and we darted off the line. Immediately I was reminded how hard it is to run on showshoes. The reason I never do it anymore is because most of the time you can get away with yak trax and it just feels way more natural for me. I embraced it though and just worked hard. The weather was awful and cold but that made me work all the harder so I could stay warm.

Me and the Yeti. Thanks for the Piggy Back!

At some point towards the end of the first lap I found myself in a congo line with the leaders. I guess they were slowed by all trail breaking they had to do. It was nice being at the end of the congo line :)

The 12km course has been shortened to 9 so te 4.5km loops went by pretty fast. There were a few girl about a minute back from me but they finished their day off at the 4.5km mark. By the middle mark of the second loop I knew I had this one in the bag and just aimed at getting my butt to the finish as fast as I could so I could go get warm and drink hot chocolate :)

All in all it was a ton of fun. The only sad thing though was that the yeti was not out for us to chase. Apparently he fears the rain! Thanks Yeti series for a great day and for all the schwag!