as usual, once i got there i was fine! for gawd sakes! chantal had met this guy alan at bighorn in june and he offered to house, entertain and drive us around for the weekend! man, he did a great job! we were spoiled rotten! on our way to golden friday morning we stopped for a quick glimpse of lake louise. check out the touristy shot of chantal, kat and me ...
i can't quite remember where this is - we had stopped for a pee - but nice pic of alan, kat, me and chantal! kat, by the way, is awesome. not only is she a high-end obstacle course racer, but she does crossfit, now she ultraruns, AND, she looks like she could kick over a bus!
we arrived in golden just after lunch, and after registering we headed to our rooms at the kicking horse lodge. stage one, 'blood', was scheduled to start at 4pm. although it was only 5k, the total elevation gain was 1000m! so basically we just 'ran' up kicking horse mountain!
the girls ...
we were given 2 hours to get to the top, but i was pleasantly surprised to find myself at the summit in 1:20! and it was snowing! brrrrrr! after a couple pieces of watermelon and a picture, i threw on my puffy and took the gondola back down to the bottom, where alan was waiting with a hot chocolate! what a sweetie!!! and yes, i did use my poles, and yes, they were great - my legs were fine! shut up spafford!
day two, 'sweat', was a lot more intimidating! total distance was 57k with 2500m elevation, beginning at 7:30 with a 12 hour time limit.
here we are at the start, with me looking especially creeped out ...
we ran along a road for about 2.5k - ew - before heading into the trail. and then we climbed, and climbed, and climbed for close to 30k. here's chantal - hours ahead of me! haha ...
again, i was thankful for the poles, although they kept coming apart. the only thing that stopped me from throwing them off the mountain was knowing i could get my money back!
jen from golden!!
at the top, but before the aid station, we had to run along the ridge! this was scary as shit! i'm not good with heights, and was actually thankful for a bit of cloud cover so i couldn't see the drop over the side! the best part was this guy carrying his bike up on his back and calling ME awesome! seriously buddy! i'm barely holding on and you're carrying a fucking bike on your back! too funny! so after 6 and a half hours i made it to the top! it was amazing and i felt great! i absolutely LOVED the climb!!
it was the descent that trashed me! 20k of foot pounding, quad thrashing downhill! luckily the views were a great distraction ...
i really wish i had have taken more pics, but i was pretty focused on just getting done within the time limit. fuck i'm stoopid!
i held it together for the most part, but the bottom of my feet were getting sore! and of course then i started obsessing that i was getting blisters! haa! i did keep looking around though, and was really appreciating my ability to do this kind of stuff! the last little pavement section was, as kat put it, 'soul sucking', and pretty much involved running from one pylon to the next. i didn't look 'my best' as i came into the finish, but i was real happy with my time - 10 hours and 17 minutes.
it was however, bittersweet. when i turned on my phone to take a finishing shot, i had a message informing me that a running friend had died from injuries suffered from a freakish and tragic accident the day before. i was too distraught to do anything but sit on a curb and bury my head in my hands. i cried for a beautiful person who never got to come run trails with me. i dedicated this stage to her, leaving a little piece of her high up on kicking horse mountain. rest in peace gentle diane, you will be missed.
that night i was afraid i wouldn't even be able to get out of bed the next morning, let alone run 20k. i was stiff as a dawg's asshole! after a great dinner of squash soup and a bison burger, i got myself ready for bed. let's see, i'll try a couple advil, some magnesium, a couple fish oil caps, and this biofreeze stuff chantal gave me to rub on my legs. as i was lying in bed watching american ninja, my legs started to get cold, then really cold! they almost went numb! oh great! then after about thirty minutes, they started to sweat - profusely! oh great! i think i managed to fall asleep around 10:30 - dreaming fretfully of what the next day would bring! when i woke up the next morning and gingerly hauled my ass out of bed, i was pleasantly surprised, and relieved, to be able to walk with little discomfort! woohoo! stage 3 here i come! the 'tears' was a nice, short 20k on mostly single track.
my legs were a little kranky off the start, but loosened up nicely after about thirty minutes. the first few downhill were a bit testy, but by the aid station at the half-way point i was feeling good. and i got stronger as i went. it's so amazing what our bodies are capable of if you just let them do it. i loved the course, lots of rolling hills and beautiful forest scenery. i came into the finish after 3 hours and 16 minutes, well under the 4 hour time limit.
my total time over the three stages was just under 15 hours. chantal came 3rd in the female open category and kat was 6th!! me, i was 5th in the master's division. not bad for three little ladies from ontario whose longest hill repeats only last 6 minutes ...
and THIS guy is ben! ben is also a client of derrick who lives in the yukon! the yukon is on my bucket list (along with meeting syn martinez) so i was sure to get a contact for a future road trip!
we didn't get a finisher medal, but i was really touched when alan presented me with this ...
with still a day to play in the mountains, we decided to drive to banff on monday - again, alan was the best!! my buddies leslie and keith were in montana for the weekend, but we, well i, thought it would be hilarious to stop at their house and take a picture. thanks for humoring me guys!
from there we drove up to the base of sulphur mountain, and hiked 5k to the top!
i wasn't in 'race mode' so i managed to get a few pics ...
what a great way to stretch out our legs and finish off our trip ...
and yes, we took the gondola down!
in all it was an amazing trip and a huge thanks to chantal, kat and alan for making it so much fun! and i think my new shirt from beard boss ross pretty much sums it up - well, except for the beard part...
and may i never forget ...
