The Cap Crusher Race Report
Recently we ran in and completed a trail race called the “Cap Crusher“, the first running event of the year in the Coast Mountain Trail Series. This would also be our personal first race of the year and for Leigh likely his 5th total time running this year. It starts and ends in Capilano Regional Park, right near the immense Cleveland Dam. It’s name is very appropriate; “Cap” for Capilano and “Crusher” for the fact that this course will crush your quads. It climbs ~800m’s (2600ft) over a short 13km’s. There is an 8km variant to the course (named the toughest 8k in Canada) but we both chose to run the longer distance. Here is our individual experiences with this race: Leigh: So I’ve raced very little in the past. The Cap Crusher would be my 4th time running in any sort of organized race, ever. But, in 2015 I’d like to increase my base running fitness. Off the couch I’d like to be able to do +30km trail runs in the mountains easily. To help motivate myself this year I’ve signed up to run a bunch of races. So, we arrived at the starting line for the Cap Crusher early and picked up our bib numbers. There was a slight chill in the air coming across Capilano lake. In the distance I could see the snow capped summits of the Lions. Immediately we started recognizing faces and saying hello to the people we knew. The energy in the crowd waiting to start running was palpable. Gary Robbins, the Race Director, gave his speech about the course and then the countdown began. If you’ve raced before you likely know the energy in the crowd at this point, but if you haven’t I can only explain it this The energy is electric. It’s almost like you can feel everyones heart-rates start to increase as the countdown reaches zero. The main challenge at this point is controlling the urge to just sprint when you hear them shout “Go!”. Inevitably, there’s always a few in the pack that sprint out ahead, riding a wave of stoke that they hope will carry them to the finish line. Within 500m’s these early starters have usually slowed right down and begin to get passed. For myself, I tried to maintain a slow starting pace, but I knew I didn’t want to get caught up in the back 70% which would choke up and stall as the course narrowed to uphill, single-track trails. I ran harder at first to stay with the front pack until everyone started spreading out and then settled in to a slower...
Sky Pilot Race Recap
From reading some of our past posts you may have realized that the Sky Pilot is one of our favorite mountains around Squamish. It’s a spectacular alpine area where backcountry adventure is around every corner. So when we heard that the Coast Mountain Trail Series was bringing a trail race to this area, we knew we had to run it! The inaugural race was scheduled for September 21, which could mean beautiful fall weather or torrential rain; it could go either way here on the west coast. With the race being set in such a rugged area there was a lot of trail building happening weeks before the race. Everyone involved in creating this race wanted to make it a unique mountain running experience. The excitement was building when there was talk of roped sections, boulder fields and ridge running. However,days before the race, the endless summer sunshine we had been experiencing changed to the autumnal rains, which meant all of the fresh new trail became streams of mud. The steep trails were now too wet to run and it would be too risky to send all of the runners out onto this terrain. But if I have learnt anything about the Coast Mountain Trail Series races, it’s that they do not disappoint, and with literally hours before the start of the race, a change of route was put in place. They were going to make sure everyone got the mountain running experience they promised! This was some of the rugged mountain trail. Mt. Habrich from the summit point of the race. Checking out the view from the summit. We showed up to the starting line, on a sunny blue bird day at the top of the Sea to Sky Gondola, not totally sure of the new route and curious where exactly it was going to take us. Leigh and I were running this one together and decided to run it as a fun run. No need to race, just enjoy the new course, take a few photos along the way and revel in the scenery. As usual the starting area was buzzing with the energy of runners antsy to start, one of my favorite parts of racing. Just feeding off of that energy can carry you for miles! And we needed that energy to carry us. This course was unforgiving in its ascent. Starting on the tame and gentle uphill Sky Pilot ridge trail, we would eventually be taken straight up to a ridge that connected to Mt. Habrich. Running or rather power hiking up steep, loose, duff covered forest trail, straight onto a boulder field. Crossing the...
The Stawesome Chief Sampler
On a whim I decided to call our exploratory trail run around the Stawamus Chief in Squamish the “Stawesome Chief Sampler” as it’s Awesome and samples some of the best trails in this small Provincial Park. We did a loop, checking out all 3 summits of “The Chief” as well as some lesser known viewpoints and airy hangouts. We don’t like to give too much away in our reports, so that you can discover these places for yourself, but I will supply this picture of our GPS track to get you started. Our route heads up, steeply, from the Mamquam Road, takes a lesser known trail up the back of the 3rd peak of the Chief, which features some interesting rope pulls and Via Ferrata, it then drops down before ascending again to a lookout and airy dropoff down into the North Gully of the Chief, from here you descend again before ascending to the 2nd Peak, which we crossed over and dropped off on the common ascent trail to the South, from here we joined up with the 1st Peak trail and took it to the top. We did some exploration up here to search for a viewpoint we’d heard about that looks directly down the face of the Chief. We found it! Definitely not a place for the faint of heart. From here it was a glorious trail run down the popular main Chief trail and then a mellow run along the “Apron Connector” trail, which passes below all 3 summits of the Chief that we’d just been standing on. Awesome! If you don’t know “The Chief” then just check out the photos below to get inspired to explore your local trails. Drop off before 2nd peak En route to the 2nd summit Viewpoint en route to 2nd peak To cool off we ended this adventure with some cliff jumping nearby at Brohm Lake. If you are lucky enough to live near this awesome BC Park, then DO. THIS. LOOP. So scenic, either as a lazy hike or fast and light trail run....
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,...
Review: Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
In Run or Die, Kilian Jornet tells the story of how his passion for competitive running and wild places blossomed from being a child running in the hills around his home to a world-class record-setting ultra runner. In it he tells the stories of some of his most notable and personally rewarding feats. He tells it like it is, the ups and downs, the struggle and the pain. Despite the fact that he is performing seemingly superhuman feats you can feel a human connection to him through his passion and love for what he does. He describes in detail the search within himself for the age-old question of why? Why does he run? The overall tone of the book is one of inspiration. Just through describing his physical & mental ups and downs he captures the absolute essence of pushing the human body to its limit. He is trying to tell his personal journey and through it inspire others. I personally enjoyed this book for its honesty. As a person determined to try to push my own limits in running, I found the unwavering devotion to the the sport extremely inspiring. He never lost touch with his love for nature or the beauty of the mountains. It made me contemplate how fortunate I am to be able to move my body and be able to enjoy beautiful places along the way. If you are someone interested in feats of endurance or in getting inspired to push your own limits, then I would definitely recommend reading this book. It’s written by someone who just loves to run. It doesn’t contain a definite story line or the words of an experienced writer, but what it does contain is passion, dedication, suffering and a great love for running which surpasses the need to compete and rises into something much greater than just sport. “You don’t need to compete to be able to feel the intense emotion of finishing, the excitement of crashing through the finish tape. It is a happiness you alone feel as you experience that strength powering you to succeed.” ~Kilian Jornet~...
