Buckin Hell Race Recap
Once again I had a serious case of FOMO and signed up for another Coast Mountain Trail Series race about 4 days before the event. I had a few friends doing it and one friend, Adam, was volunteering. This one was called Buckin Hell. It was full of technical trail that ran from Deep Cove to the Seymour Lookout and back down again. There was a 15km & 21km option. I had already decided to run the 47km Squamish 50 Orientation run the very next day and thought adding the 21km race the day before would make for a great training weekend. To my surprise and delight Leigh decided that since I had a weekend full of running,he would get in on the action too and signed himself up for the 15km race. Finish line smiles! Photo credit: Sarah Stepec And we’re off! Photo credit: Brian McCurdy Beautiful day for a race. Photo Credit: Brian McCurdy No point getting bogged down in the details of the race, other than to say this was a hard, beautiful, hilly, flowy and technical course. Yes it was all of those things! Having run in the area on previous training runs, I knew that it was going to be alot of uphill at the start. I didn’t want to start out too fast for fear that I would burn out too quickly. Also in the back of my mind I knew that I had a big run ahead of me the next day There was a strong field of women runners that day. Kim Magnus (1st) & Ellie Greenwood (2nd) created a huge gap between second and third place. Me and my friend Chloe Gendron ran together for much of the race, vying for 3rd and 4th position. I knew from the start if I kept Chloe in my sights I would be finishing up front, so I did the best I could to stick close to her. Leigh looking strong on the descent. Photo Credit: Brian McCurdy Keep pushing. Photo Credit: Brian McCurdy Leigh on a technical section. Photo Credit: Brian McCurdy I was fighting to hold my position on the last big uphill section. I wasn’t sure where I was in the race until I saw the leading women Kim & Ellie racing down the hill. Chloe broke away from me on the climb, but I could see her ahead and then it was just me! I was in fourth place, so close to podium finish but it wasn’t going to happen this time. I struggled to the top of the hill, with a mix of power hiking and running, downed...
Survival of the Fittest - Race Recap
Beautiful view at the top of the Gondola. Post-race hike. Racing mindset is something that I have been trying to work on recently. Just gathering information from awesome running friends I have met over the last few years, learning what they do and focusing on working on my mental strength. I have said in previous posts that I don’t race often and I signed up for this race last minute, 2 nights before race day actually. I had a few friends running and was having a serious case of “fear of missing out” so decided to join in on the fun. I chose the 18km option which had a challenging 1000m elevation gain thrown in. This race, Survival of the Fittest, is part of the Coast Mountain Trail Series and if you know anything about this race series, you will know that they put you to the test! Everything for me is training for the Squamish 50 mile that I will be racing in August. I view everything like part of a training run and try to train my body to run tired most of the time. My reasoning behind this is that I want to prepare for the worst out there. I know that the worst I will feel training is probably the best I may feel at a low point during race day, so I need to be able to push through those moments. The day before Survival of the Fittest, I got up at 5am, ran to the First Peak of the The Chief, and then did a set of small hill repeats on my lunch break at work.I was going to do the Sea to Summit trail that evening with Leigh, but he convinced me to taper that evening…hahaha tapering the night before a race! My fellow crazy running buddy, Adam, stayed over at our place, since he was also running the 18km race.. It was nice to have a partner in crime to bounce pre-race jitter energy off of. I woke up feeling tried, pretty much as usual and on schedule, but after a coffee and oatmeal was feeling more race ready. I didn’t do a huge amount of research into the course, as I live in Squamish and know most of the trails in the area. The only thing I did check was the elevation profile which was 1000m over the 18km course. This seemed like it would be a challenge but definitely doable. When they made the call to get to the starting line, Gary (the race director) said everyone wanting to run fast and finish first needed to get up to...
Tears on Mount Harvey
A few weeks ago we did a popular North Shore hike that we had previously done for the first time in 2011, Mount Harvey. It has spectacular scenery, on one side of the ridge the Pacific ocean with a chain of islands stretching out as far as the eye can see , and on the other side a sea of beautiful coastal mountains with no end in sight. But it wasn’t just the fantastic scenery that had me reminiscing on this trip. This years summit shot! View of the Lions Stealthy selfie The first time I hiked Mount Harvey I was training for my first road marathon. I was following a strict 5 day a week running plan and feeling the effects on my body and mind. I was feeling overwhelmed with the training and the physical toll it was taking on my body. It was important to me to still be able to train for the marathon and to also be able to spend time in the mountains, so I felt the need to always be pushing myself. That day in April 2011 proved to be the breaking point for me. The day prior to the hike I had run an 18km training run, which at the time was a long distance for me. I felt tired starting the hike, but felt pretty good, until we started the uphill section. I slowed down to a snails pace and Leigh shot past me, making his way up the hill. Looking up the steep incline,allowing the tiredness to weigh so heavy on my mind and body and watching Leigh move in a seemingly effortless way up the hill, proved to be too much. I stopped in my tracks overcome with frustration and feelings of not being able to continue. At that moment I felt so tired, so heavy with emotion that I could barely breathe. Leaning on a tree, out of sight of Leigh, I started to sob. I felt useless, exhausted and irritated with myself and my physical limitations. Feeling pretty sorry for myself, I said to myself, between sobbing breaths,“I can’t do this” “I’m too tired”. Taking in the view The smile before the meltdown Up, up and up It lasted a few minutes before I had to tell myself that no one feels sorry for me but me. I chose this and I can’t expect anyone to have sympathy for me. In my own words of tough love I needed to “suck it up buttercup”. So in that moment I had to make a decision, I wiped the tears from my eyes, composed myself and headed up towards...
Kitchen Sink Cookies
As an avid snacker I am always on the lookout for delicious treats that taste amazing and are still somewhat healthy for you. One evening at my job I was offered a fresh-baked cookie from one of my customers and couldn’t believe what I was tasting. I asked her what it was and she said it was a grain free recipe called “Kitchen Sink Cookies” . I went home that night and found this recipe. Turns out that after making a few batches and sharing them with friends, they now happen to be a favorite of everyone that tries them. I have one friend in particular who is crazy for these cookies, so this recipe is for you Jo! There have been a few small adaptations and this is the recipe as I make it. Ingredients: 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 2/3 cup blanched almond flour (if you don’t have almond flour on hand, just buzz some almonds in a food processor until it’s the consistency of flour) 1/2 tsp of cinnamon 1/4 tsp of salt 1/3 cup of flax seeds 1/4 cup maple syrup 3 tbsp almond butter (I have also made these with sunflower butter, it’s cheaper and they were just as tasty!) 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of melted coconut oil (the amount of coconut oil can vary depending on how many extras you add to the recipe, so don’t be afraid to use more or less if needed) My additional ingredients: 1/3 cup chopped nuts (usually whatever I have on hand - walnut, cashew, almond or pecan) 1/2 -3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (quantity depends how much you love chocolate!) 2 tbsp hemp seeds 2 tbsp chia seeds handful of sunflower seeds handful of pumpkin seeds Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a cookie sheet (I use coconut oil) but you could also use parchment paper as noted in the original recipe. 2. In a bowl mix all of the dry ingredients together. 3. In a separate bowl whisk together the maple syrup, almond butter, vanilla and melted coconut oil. 4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together. 5. Using a large spoon scoop the cookies onto the baking pan and bake for 13 minutes. 6. Allow the cookies to cool before removing from the pan as they will break apart very easily. 7. Once cool I recommend keeping them in the fridge to allow them to harden up. They tend to be crumbly at room temperature. Now get eating &...
Running Recap: Squamish 50 and Cap Crusher 13km
Ok so this post is well overdue, but better late than never! Here is a quick recap of some running fun I had 2 weekends ago. Leigh and I decided to charge in different directions the weekend of March 22/23. We both feel it is important to our personal and combined growth if we spend time apart in our chosen pursuits. What we learn separately we can share with each other on our next combined adventures. Saturday, March 22, I was signed up for the first of 4 Squamish 50 Orientation runs. I will be attempting to run the ultra distance of 50 miles(80km) on August 17th, which is definitely going to be the hardest thing I have ever done to date. Needless to say I do most of my training runs on the trails around Squamish, so I am quite familiar with the course route, but I still love attending the orientation runs. I get to run with friends, make some new friends on the trail and feed off of the general stoke of the day, which is usually very HIGH. It gets me excited to train! With a large group, of usually close to 60 people, there is ALOT of fun to be had on the trails. Plus these runs are almost like a mini race in themselves. Gary Robbins and Geoff Langford (directors of the Squamish 50 race) make sure to have the route marked pre-run with spray chalk and ribbons, making it almost impossible to get lost. They even have an aid station mid-run stocked with the usual goodies…cookies, salty chips, orange slices - it’s a veritable runners smorgasbord! The cutest Mascot ever! You will see Oreo at all the races. A veritable smorgasbord! So that Saturday, was no exception to the 5-star service all the runners have become accustomed to at these orientation runs. The morning started off chilly and we even had fresh SNOW! It was a large group of smiling, excited runners ready to hit the trails. I was excited to start that morning with 2 of my running buddies - Adam, who will be running his first 50km (so excited for him, he is going to crush it!) and Hailey(check out her page Run Like a Girl), who will be attempting to best her time from last year (I have no doubt that she will). Of course there was a lot of laughter, pre-run, run and post run that morning…runners are a crazy bunch of people…crazy good! Crazy good! Trail running is beautiful. Running through the lightly snow dusted trails was so beautiful. Winding through the forest, over the wooden bridges,...
