After a whirlwind trip to Alaska, I’m back at home and have had some time to write down my experience at this years Sinister 7 100 miler. It’s tough to condense 20 hours of running, so it’s a little wordy. Without further ado, here it is!
Heading into Sinister this year, I knew I was a bit of a wildcard. My longest run so far this summer was 55km, and I took a big chunk of the winter off from running while I was racing in Europe. But I knew I had good fitness, with over 200,000m of climbing in my legs since January, and with a smartly executed race I could be a contender. In the couple of weeks leading up to the race, anticipation grew, and the nerves began to set in. With my 5th place hanging over my head from last year, I knew people were expecting a good result from me, and I didn’t want to let anyone down.
When planning out my race I decided to go with a similar approach to what worked last year. Start conservative and work my way through the field late in the race. After looking at my competition, I had a pretty good idea how the race was going to play out. 5 or 6 highly motivated guys were going to try and run with Dave Proctor (our new Canadian 24h record holder) and whoever survived the early pace would be on the podium. With such a runnable course, I knew I couldn’t keep the early pace, but know my strength comes when running by myself in the dark and I could make up big time then.
Leg 1
I’d rather run hard later in the race than blow up and be forced to drop out or walk at the end when speed really counts.
I ran a bunch of the first flat section with Joanna Ford, the eventual women’s 2nd place and let everyone else set a fast and furious pace up front. It was great running along, casually chatting and catching up with other runners who I hadn’t seen in awhile. Running through Hillcrest, there were dozens of people out to cheer us on, so I made sure to stock up on high fives for later. For most of the rest of the leg, I tried to zone out and just run a comfortably easy pace without losing too much time to the leaders.
Leg 2
The big climb at the beginning of leg 2 seemed to pass much more quickly than last year, where I remember walking large sections.
This time around I ran most of the climb, while still keeping an easy pace. Thanks winter Skimo training! After climbing, the trail drops back towards town. I felt awesome on this section, and really pushed the descent, knowing that I could gain some time on my competitors while letting my legs coast down the hills. I passed 10 or 12 relay runners who were having trouble with the technical muddy trail, and slid my past them on the damp undergrowth. When the trail spit out onto the gravel road at the bottom, I ran up behind Majo, knowing I had caught the first of the lead pack. He had decided to relax the pace, realizing that staying up there was a death sentence. The two of us ran the rest of the way in and hooted and hollered when we found they had put a bridge into the last mandatory creek crossing. Dry Feet! WHOOO!
Leg 3
Last year, this was the section that really killed me. The combination of runnable terrain and mid-day heat are a terrible mixture of all my weaknesses.
I learned from last year, and did some heat training to try and minimize the suffering this time around. I was also armed with my new secret weapon, a handheld bottle filled with Slurpee to start, and after that was done I used it to douse myself with creek water for the rest of the leg. Genius! It’s unfair how smart I am sometimes 😉 This worked better than I could have hoped, allowing me to keep cool and damp even when running past the occasional dry creek.
After a few kms, I caught the next casualty of the lead pack, Devin Featherstone, a super strong runner from Calgary. He was pretty out of it, and was puking and peeing blood after only 35 km of racing, so I knew they were hammering up front. I stopped briefly and gave him some ginger to help with his stomach, then carried on. I kept the pace easy on the first half of the leg, making sure to keep on top of my hydration and nutrition in the heat when it’s harder to get in calories, and then really pushed the descent and last half when I realized I was still feeling pretty good. On the final descent, I felt awesome, and really let my legs go on the gravel road pushing the pace into the transition zone.
The Highlight of Leg 3
Leg 4
I quickly switched shoes, plugged my watch into a USB power pod, grabbed a fresh Slurpee and restocked on food before taking off for leg 4. Let’s take a moment to reflect on this statement “plugged my watch into a USB power pod” You know you are running a ridiculous race when you need to stop and charge your watch half way through. Maybe I should consider seeking a position as the new Energizer Bunny…
By the time these thoughts had passed, I was already through the first climb up the ski hill and on the single-track through the woods. I suffered a little bit here, and walked a few climbs that should have been runnable, but for the most part didn’t feel nearly as bad as last year.
The relay runner on the high school team was just behind me for the whole leg, so I had an awesome cheering section that showed up at each aid station to take photos and offer encouragement. More high fives were had.
The last section of rolling, never ending hills went much smoother than last year, and I kept a decent pace this time around. To the north I could hear the thunder, and still suffering from the heat, I wished it would come a little closer and keep me cool. Little did I know it was waiting for me down the road at the beginning of leg 5.
Leg &@#%$#
Through the transition between legs 4 and 5, I was feeling great and got a good confidence boost when I saw, Ian, another member of the lead pack was sitting in a chair looking a little worse for wear. Ashley told me he had been there for a few minutes and was thinking about dropping. Just in case he continued, I grabbed some food, and sped through the transition sticking some arm warmers into my pack at the last second. These proved to be a lifesaver later on.
About 3 minutes after leaving the aid station, the rain started, and was quite cool and refreshing. Finally! Relief from the heat of the day. I ran along the highway enjoying myself and making good time, and as I turned north onto the quad trails, I saw a tidal wave of water coming my way.
It had really been raining farther north, and as all that water rushed by me suddenly I was running in ankle deep water. Not as fun, but manageable. The “fun” really started when the trail turns west to follow the power lines into the woods. This section and the next 25k were an absolute nightmare. I slipped and skated my way up and down the rolling hills, occasionally having to leave the trail to get traction in the grass and bushes on the sides. Getting more and more frustrated, I finally slipped, falling chest deep into a mud pit and was thoroughly soaked in cold, gritty (read chafing), muddy water. Luckily Jayden, a relay runner was right behind me and helped me out. He was keeping an awesome pace and was fun to chat with, so I did my best to hold on to his pace as long as possible. This really took my mind off the conditions, and the two of us sprinted along the trails splashing right through the middle of the puddles hooting and hollering as we went. I did my best to tell him all about how much fun I was having and successfully convinced him to sign up for an ultra! (I’m 2 for 2 at Sinister. If you want to know how well it worked last time, talk to Lindsay Neufeld).
Finally the high pace was too much, and I had to take it back a notch. Just before the last aid station, I started to feel the cold, and threw on the arm warmers I almost hadn’t brought. These kept me warm enough to plod my way through the rest of the leg. The last couple kms were very frustrating and in a few spots I had to walk on the flats because it was simply too slippery to run. When I finally got to the transition, I was frustrated, cold and chafing from all the muddy water.
Leg 6
At the transition, Ashley ran off to grab me some soup and I sat down. When she got back, I was feeling pretty down (I swear there weren’t thaaat many tears) but after a big hug, a change into dry clothes and some soup I was feeling a little better. Then she told me that a couple runners had dropped, and I was now in third place. That was enough to light a fire under me and I jumped up and took off into the dusk.
I started slowly, walking at first, then picked up the pace to a jog. The quick stop at the transition had worked wonders, and I started to get into a groove again. Leg 6 was much rockier, so the mud was still there but less of a nuisance than it was before. The rest of the leg is mostly a blur, because I got in the zone and just started ticking off the kms. As always, I asked at aid stations about the gaps to the runners in front of me, and it stayed pretty consistently at an hour to Eric, and over 2 hours to Dave up front.
At one point, I knew I had to be close to the next aid station, and I looked down at my watch, only to realize that I still had 6km to go, way farther than I expected. This was a bit of a blow to the confidence, but suddenly I rounded a corner and there were the lights in the dark. My watch had been consistently measuring the course short, but I hadn’t noticed up till now. All of a sudden I felt fantastic knowing I was getting close to the finish. I picked up the pace, and shortly after met up with Joe, an ultra-runner from Edmonton who was doing the relay this year. We ran an awesome pace together and chatted about upcoming races and other ultra related stuff and time flew by until the end of the leg.
Leg 7
As I ran into the transition, Ashley ran to meet me and shouted that Eric had just come through 15 minutes before, and was looking pretty rough. If I worked hard I might be able to catch him and snag 2nd place! What?! I had made up over an hour on the last 9km of the leg?! Thirsty for blood, I sprinted over to the van where she had things set out for me, and dumped everything except my mandatory gear out of my pack, stuffed a handful gels and a Redbull into my
pack and took off for the finish line. Not 5 minutes up the trail I caught up to Eric, and made sure to pass decisively so he wouldn’t try and chase me down later. I spent the rest of the leg thinking he was right behind me, and because my legs still felt great, I pushed the pace at every opportunity. Just before halfway through, my headlamp flickered, and I knew it was time to swap out the battery. Uh Oh, I had dumped it along with the contents of my pack when I left the aid station and I was now left in the dark. Luckily I had just got onto the gravel road section, so I took off running up the road in the pitch black. I knew the footing was pretty good, and I just had to make sure to keep the sound of the creek on my right as I went. Before too long, the aid station appeared ahead and I popped out of the darkness taking them by surprise with a “Hey! Any chance you have a spare headlap?” Thankfully they did, and I took off for the finish line promising to return it to them after the race. I “sprinted” (it felt like it at least) through the woods with the phantom Eric hot on my heels until the trail dumped me out on the streets close to the finish. Running through town with a huge grin on my face, I enjoyed the last few steps of the day.
I don’t think it has quite sunk in how well the race went, but I don’t have time to worry about it because Fat Dog 120 is coming up real quick! Thanks to the race organizers, all the volunteers, everyone who helped me out at the aid stations and especially Ashley, my amazing girlfriend for crewing for me! You are all awesome!
