Spin the wheel of weather

We're pretty used to varying conditions here in Southern Ontario, but I swear the last 10 days have been enough to make my head spin and the ride isn't over yet.

It all started last week with an influx of unseasonally cold air and snow. We managed to get home from the Kona Chocolate Run just as the flakes began to fall, and by Wednesday (my first run after the race) it was up to my ankles!

Start of my off-season!

Even colder on Thursday

Much as it sort of sucked that winter was descending so quickly, we decided to make the most of it by heading out for a cross-country ski around the schoolyard and park just up the street on Friday night. It was -10c/14f and the snow was at least 15cm/6" deep.

Fun date night!

Saturday the temperature hovered around the freezing mark and we got miserable drizzle, so no cycling down to the market (I am fighting off the first stages of a cold and don't want to exacerbate it), and not a terribly pleasant day to be outdoors. I did get a run in, but did so through downtown as I figured the sidewalks would be in better shape than the icy, wet death that surrounded our place.

Sunday the mercury rose higher yet, and for the last day of my off-season week we went for a hike at beautiful Huron Natural Area. We arrived about an hour before sunset to an incredible sight: the warm air had melted the snow and evaporated the moisture, but as the sun dropped it was cooling enough to condense it into a thick mist that hung in all of the forest hollows and roiled over the mushy ice surface of the ponds.

Board of Education pond with thick fog

It was a one-in-a-million sort of experience - I commented to Tanker that you could visit the park every day for a year and never encounter the right circumstances to bring about such a mist.

As we headed home after dark the mild air remained, so I couldn't resist getting out for a run. 48hrs after our cross-country ski date, I was running in shorts and a tshirt through the very same neighbourhood!

Finally getting to try the awesome BondiBand I picked up at the Kona Chocolate Run expo! 

Monday brought sharply colder temperatures that wouldn't have been enough to keep me indoors on their own, but the accompanying 70kph/43.5mph winds that gusted up to 100kph/62mph caused some nasty damage around our area that made it unsafe to be outside. Much to my chagrin, there was no run that night - and the first real sign of winter training made its appearance.

Back to the trainer dungeon.

Things improved with a chilly but calmer day Tuesday, and then Wednesday it was sufficiently nice out that the bike came to work with me! It stayed around the freezing mark all day, but mild winds and just a few flakes of snow meant I could get in some nice riding.

Lunch ride!

Arriving at my Mum's - snowflakes look neat in my headlight!

Just when it seemed like November might be starting to behave itself, it started to snow out of the blue on Thursday evening. Our trip home from work was plagued by near-whiteout conditions, and the winds whipped up some nasty gusts that drove the snow and freezing rain mix seemingly right into my skin as I ran. It made the roads really slick, too - while out running I watched a car skid out of control just from tapping its brakes doing no more than 25kph/15.5mph.

There was spindrift. I was not impressed.

I took things very carefully on the way to the pool as even the 401 was quite icy, and was more than happy to follow a salt truck most of the way home.

Today it continues to snow in fits and starts with the air temperature a few degrees below freezing, but it's supposed to be back up to 10c/50f by Sunday.

This fall more than ever the old adage rings true: if you don't like the weather, just wait 5mins!

Kona Chocolate Run "Chocolate Double" - Sunday, November 16th, 2014

A tale of self-sabotage and rejoicing in others' achievements.

As I mentioned last week, this was my first international race, and I had high hopes of a 10k PR - I'd been running pretty well since Belwood and had put in a really speedy last hard push on Tuesday that seemed to indicate I was well on track. We hopped in the car Friday afternoon and jammed down to the Ambassador Bridge, got through the border and hit up PF Chang's for an absolutely amazing dinner, then it was down to our friend Mac's house for the weekend.

Such a neat sight after dark.

This, of course, is where things got away on me a bit. There were shenanigans. I may have put some rather unusual strain on my recently injured calf. While I might not have been drinking (I drink alcohol quite rarely), I also didn't manage to get to bed until just past 4am. In order to get ALL THE THINGS done on Saturday, I was up just after 9am.

That made 2 nights in a row with 5hrs of sleep or less. Sub-optimal.

Right after waking, I kicked my butt out the door into the chilly sunshine for an easy shake-out run. I'd mapped it all out before we left, so I knew I just had to run up Telegraph Road to the gas station and back.

Plodding along at just below the freezing mark

I kept looking up the road, and it seemed like the BP station was an awfully long way off. I was feeling pretty flat, but I seldom run first thing in the morning and was working against a headwind, so I attributed my sense that this was taking much longer than it should to being a stinkin' whiner. I sucked it up, threw in a couple of short pick ups to try to get my legs used to some speed, then made my turn-around and headed back.

Halfway back after another short stride or two, I couldn't ignore my sense this was taking too long anymore. I'd intended to run for about 20mins, and had plotted a route that was around 3.6km / 2.25mi long. Pulling out my phone, I gaped as I discovered I'd already been running for 35mins.

Bugger.

I sent a message to the house to let people know I was ok (as I'd already been gone 5mins longer than the max estimate I'd given) and was sweetly offered a pick up, but there was no place I could shelter from the freezing wind while I waited and I was only a kilometer or so away from being done. Final total: 7.5km in just under 43mins.

Crap.

Google Maps fails make K something something.

Off to Plymouth to pick up race kit and scope out locations, everything went relatively smoothly for the rest of the day. We did, however, go for about an hour's hike in the woods out back of the house. It was incredibly serene and beautiful, but walking over fallen branches hidden under the leaves wasn't terribly easy on the ankles.

Brothers from different mothers.

One hell of a backyard.

I did manage not to eat anything that would aggravate my laundry list of food allergies (which is always a concern when we travel), while still having a lovely dinner out with a wonderful group of Mac's family and friends. However, sleep once more took a back seat to spending time with people we love - it was after 11pm this time before I racked out, and I had to be up at 4am.

D'oh. Make that 3 nights in a row with 5hrs of sleep or less.

Race morning came - I can't say dawned, as it was still pitch black out when I left Mac's place at 5.25am. I reached the Tim Hortons in Plymouth looking for a pre-race coffee at 5:55am, only to discover they didn't open until 6am. Somewhat less 24 hour than I'd been led to believe.

It's like a Canadian embassy with doughnuts.

I did get my coffee, though, and then headed to the race site. In another first, I'd let Tanker the Wonder Sherpa sleep in while I made my way through the sub-freezing pre-dawn - the 5k didn't start until 9:30am (or so I thought), so Mac & his wife Marci would be driving up later and could bring Tank along with them.

Arriving at the start/finish area in Kellogg Park, I found the two warming tents completely sealed up. Umm, I'd rather been hoping to stash my race gear in one of them - guess not. I also completely failed to spot any sanitary conveniences, so tossed my running shoes on at a park bench then headed across the intersection to the Starbucks.

I stood in line there for a solid 15mins waiting to use the single women's bathroom, pulling off my wool pants and down jacket and pinning my race bib onto my skirt. Yes, the high temperature for the day was only supposed to be 2c/35f, but damn it if I could survive having ice build up on my bare thighs at Horror Hill in 2013 I was pretty sure I could handle a bit of chilly wind for under an hour.

I eventually got to use the facilities (wordlessly expressing my opinion of Starbucks' coffee), stuffed everything except a sweater I'd brought because I wouldn't mind horribly if I ended up losing it into my race bag, then wandered back to my car to ditch it all. I grabbed my phone, the car key and a gel flask full of EFS sport drink and did some dynamic warm-up stretching before heading out for a 15min run to try to get my legs moving.

There was mixed success. I wasn't really feeling it. Nothing specifically bad - my right ankle felt a bit sore from the hike the day before as I did some toe circles, but it was fine while I was running - I just didn't have any zip in my legs.

Back to the start line with 5mins to go, I found a spot to ditch my sweater and headed for the corral, which was already full of runners. I tried to make my way into a group of people so I'd be shielded from the bitter wind, and ended up just ahead of the 50min pacer. Not a bad place to be, as I was kind of hoping I'd be able to keep him within earshot at least.

I didn't like my odds.

The gun went off, and I started to run, but I could tell from the get-go that it just wasn't going to be my day. Again, nothing I could really put my finger on - no GI issues, not feeling overly tired or sluggish, just no punch. I wove my way through the crowds and passed a large number of people, but something was just a little off.

10k start video

I come bopping through around 2:15

The course literally has more corners than any other route I've seen in my entire life. It seemed almost designed to remove any sense of progress, just leaving me confused as to how far I'd come and had left to go. It also meant your speed was constantly varying as you leaned through the turns and accelerated again, plus gave near-infinite possibilities for running further than 10km unless you apexed everything perfectly.

WHERE THE HELL AM I?

Unable to access my watch (and not really knowing what time we'd started anyway), I had been running a fair while without seeing any distance markers. I was chugging along fairly well and the terrain was pretty flat other than a few short rises, but the pace was starting to tell on me already. I could hear a couple of people talking behind me, one of them saying "we can ease up a bit", and figured it was the 50min pacer. I knew I'd got across the line before him, so if he was on my heels I'd have to stick pretty close in order to make my stretch goal of sub-51mins.

Unfortunately, it wasn't going to work out. I finally spotted the 2 mile marker (was there even a 1 mile mark?) just as the 50min pacer came past me with a few runners in tow. I tried to kick it up to hang with them, tucking in behind to take advantage of any draft I could, but they just floated away as I failed to respond. Less than a third of the way through and already tasting bitter disappointment, I tried to keep focused on my stride and just ride it out as best I could. I attempted a surge to see if I could trick myself into holding a faster pace afterward, but to no avail. I tried a sip of EFS drink from my flask to wet my mouth and see if the carbohydrate content might allow me to push a little more, but it tasted too strong and seemed to have no effect.

By the 3 mile marker I was puffing and blowing pretty hard, but was coming to realise that I was really lacking any ability to push hard. By the halfway point of all my previous 10k races I've been death whistling and ruing having gone out too fast, but I couldn't seem to find my way to true threshold pace - it was like someone had locked the entrance to the pain cave, leaving me banging ineffectually on the door. I've felt the same sensation while recovering from long races; in the days after an ultra I can't manage anything more than easy pace swimming, cycling or running, as my body just rebels against any higher effort, shutting down any attempt to hit a higher gear. I generally take a week per hour of racing to recover fully from a hard push, but I had been feeling really good earlier in the week, so I have trouble believing it was due to running the Horror Hill 6-hour 3 weeks beforehand. No, I'm pretty sure it was just plain old sleep deprivation and too much time on my feet Saturday.

Dangit.

Way to shoot yourself in the foot, K.

The cold air may have been part of the problem, too. While rich in oxygen, it felt very thick as I tried to pull in lungfuls to power my aerobic systems - like slurping down syrup. I did my best to control my breathing with long exhales to keep from gasping, but it didn't seem to help much. The density of air molecules at lower temperatures also requires more energy to push through, but at my glacial running speed I don't think I can pin too much of my lousy performance on CdA.

By the 4 mile mark I was ready to be done, and had to resort to cajoling myself. "It's only 3.5 more kilometers" I scolded; "any asshole can run 3.5km". I continued to be confused by the many turns of the route - I knew I was on the 5k route now (as I was seeing mile markers for the 5k as well), but I'd see runners up ahead moving perpendicular to the way I was running at a cross street and had no clue if they were ahead of or behind me on the course.

I did get a giggle out of the fellow serving up dixie cups of Budweiser from the tailgate of his truck parked in a driveway, but was rather puzzled by the number of spectators who just stood there silently as the hundreds of competitors passed by. I'm used to onlookers cheering for everyone, and while there were some wonderfully encouraging folks there were many more who clearly thought this was the worst parade they'd ever seen. I got some weird looks from other runners as I gave them a "good job" as either I passed them or they passed me, so maybe the whole encouraging strangers thing isn't as common at Michigan races. I thanked the police and volunteers as I ran, too, and got some mixed reactions from them as well. Don't be alarmed, folks - I'm Canadian.

They may just have been put off by the t-rex arms.

Speaking of passing, I hadn't been doing much for awhile, and as I came through the 5 mile mark I was chagrined to see some of the folks I'd got by earlier in the race overtake me again. I could tell my pace was decaying but felt powerless to do anything about it. Best I could manage was damage control - just try to keep it together.

I finally spotted the 6 mile marker as a volunteer yelled that we only had a quarter mile left - just around the right-hand turn then into the finish! I tried to pick it up a bit, having no idea what sort of time I was looking at, but the legs weren't any more responsive than they'd been all morning. I was just happy I hadn't seen the 55min pacer come past.

I made the right at the corner then ran up around the East side of Kellogg Park, overjoyed to see Mac & Marci cheering for me as I headed for the chute. Making the final turn I could see 53-ish minutes on the clock (and thought I heard Tank shouting encouragement), but had zero idea how long it had taken me to get across the start line and even less energy for a finishing kick.

I can stop now? Whee!

Official chip time: 52:40 @ 5:16/km (8:28/mi)

35/319 W35-39 - 148/1,667 Women - 409/2,478 O/A
Official results here

So on the bright side I was around the top 10% in both my age group and gender (top 20% overall), plus I was only 28sec slower than my 10k PR, making it my 2nd fastest attempt at this distance. It does burn that it only would have taken another 3sec per kilometer to improve my best time, though - I'm sure I could have found 30 seconds out there.

Internationally ill advised!

No time to mope, though. I found Tanker (and my sweater, untouched where I'd stashed it - win!), who told me Mac & Marci had gone back to their car parked a couple of blocks away. I suggested we follow, as we had to get a bag from their trunk and could drop it at our own vehicle, which I needed to visit to change out of my wet clothing. We met up with Mac, grabbed the gear, then the 3 of us headed to our car while Marci went to find her aunt, with whom she'd be walking the 5k. After a bit of international inappropriate parking lot nudity, it was back to Kellogg Park in time to see the first wave of the 5k go off at 9am.

Not 9:30. Mmmkay.

Quick pre-race shot.

We found Marci and headed for the corral to line up for the second wave, which would leave 10mins after the first. We were all set to go, walking up after the horn went up behind the press of people ahead, when suddenly we were halted - it seems they were only letting a certain number through, and the rest would have to wait for the 3rd wave.

Right to left: Marci, Mac, some dork and Marci's aunt.

I was dressed a little more warmly for the 5k than I had been for the 10k, but the sun had disappeared again and the wind had picked up, so I was still freezing to death.

Marci is apparently entertained by my hypothermia.

Eventually the horn sounded for the final wave, and off we trotted. Mac has made really impressive strides this year to improve his health and fitness (YOU'RE A ROCKSTAR!), and had done a 5k through an apple orchard at the end of September that he finished in about 42mins. The mission for today was to beat that time, and I promised we'd make it happen!

We ran through the crowds of people filling the streets ahead of us, both rather frustrated that people who obviously had no intention of running refused to move aside to let faster competitors through. Mac had told me that he'd probably "jog slowly for a bit, then walk", but he was keeping up minutes-long intervals of really solid running. We chatted along the way, dropping to a walk for a minute or so here and there, but always passing people ahead. We dropped the 12min/mi pacer near the 1 mile marker, and Mac let me know he wanted to keep him in the rearview as long as possible.

Rolling through quaint downtown Plymouth.

Without really intending to, I think I cut a couple of his walk intervals short. You see, Mac's a tall guy with long legs, and when he walks at a fast pace I can barely keep up. So, as he recovered his breath and started walking more quickly, I'd have to break into a light jog in order not to be left behind. Then he'd see me running and start running himself. By the time we passed the 2 mile marker he told me he didn't even care about his finish time anymore, since he'd run a hundred times more than he ever had before and was doing better than he ever imagined. I knew we were on pace to bag him a huge PR for the day, but there was still some work to do.

Coming in hard!

We took one last walk interval, then ran through some of the final turns as the 3 mile marker hove into view. I told Mac he just had one more right turn then it was into the chute - less than a quarter mile left! He said he'd run what he could, walk a bit more, then try to run it in to the line. No way - I know how powerful finish lines are, and I told him he could make it all the way to the end without walking. He told me he couldn't, but I knew he had it in him!

You're damn right he did!
ROCK. STAR.

Official chip time: 36:45 @ 7:21/km (11:50/mi)

5+min PR for Mac!

Chocolate Double total: 1:29:26 - 187/434 O/A

(Official results here)

We proceeded through the finish chute to the now-open warming tents, and I was positively beaming with joy - this was some of the most fun I've ever had racing! As we lined up for the post-race "chocolate buffet" I gave Mac a huge hug and told him he'd done an amazing job and that I'm incredibly proud of him. I was delighted to be able to be a part of this race and to see him blow his goals out of the water! Even better, after getting our food we were able to head back out to the edge of the park in time to see Marci and her aunt come in, Marci bagging herself a 3min PR as well!

Marci and Aunt Brenda on course

PR finish!

In the end, my failure to PR the 10k doesn't matter. There will be other races, and if we're going to spend the weekend visiting with friends first, I'm not going to stress about trying to maximize performance. There's always value in just going out and running as hard as you can on the day no matter what the clock ends up saying in the end, and time spent with people I truly love will always be more important than any of my mediocre athletic endeavours.

It's all about him.
I'm just along for the ride!

I just hope we'll get to do it all again sometime!

Taking this show on the road

For the first time ever, race season got extended past Horror Hill.

I heard a friend was going to be racing in November, and was trying to set a 5k PR. Because this friend is like family and has made incredible efforts this year to improve his health and fitness (over 30lbs lost and counting - YOU RAWK!), I thought I'd offer to come down and pace him through the race since I've had some fun doing that in the past.

Then it turned out that the race in question also has a 10k which is run before the 5k, and there is the option to run both.

Hmm..

I've been running really well this year. A 10k PR attempt followed by pacing a friend? It would let me get the "racing" out of my system so there's no temptation to take off during the 5k.

Let's do it!

In another first to finish off my 6th season of endurance dorkery, this will also be my international racing debut. The car's all loaded and we're off to the grand old U.S. of A. as soon as we're off work!

I suspect the change of nation won't help with the dorkness.

So, with my calf feeling recovered from its recent tomfoolery, I'll be up at stupid o'clock on Sunday morning to drive from our friend's place up to Plymouth, MI to see if I can't take down my current best 10k time of 52:12. I honestly have no idea what my odds are: I've tapered and tried (with mixed success) to get some rest, and I was running damn quickly (for me, folks - don't get too excited) on Tuesday when I did my last hard push before the race, but there are so many variables it's hard to tell what will actually happen.

I just hope I don't freeze to death.

Yikes.
This is why I have a small running store's worth of clothing with me.

Umm, did we pack the camera? Crap..

Chasing some trail - the beauty of the lunchride

So I've mentioned before that I bring a bike to work with me on Wednesdays - usually my old rigid steel mountain bike, since I don't really care if it gets rain, grime & road salt all over it.

Dusty doesn't care - he just wants to play.

I don't have time to ride in to work (it's almost 80km/50mi), but I ride down to my Mum's house afterwards because we go visit with her every Wednesday evening. Since Tanker and I work very close together & he starts before me, we drop him off then I take the car to my office with the bike in the back. When I go see Tank for his 3pm break, I drop the car off with him and ride back to the office.

Even a 6min ride is better than nothing.

In summer (from the Victoria Day weekend until Labour Day) I ride direct, because my employer is awesome and lets us leave at 2pm on Fridays if we take half-hour lunches Monday to Thursday. I just barely have time to jam up to have coffee with my sweetheart and ride back to work before my 30mins is up. However, in Spring and Fall I have a full hour. I used to just do some extra riding around the (highly industrial) area of his warehouse and my office to get some training in, but since I got my hour lunches back this fall I have been going exploring!

What's down here?

I've discovered a little patch of woods with some fun, rooty trails through it.

Recharging my soul with a pedal through the trees.

Some doubletrack trail that goes past another patch of woodland (unfortunately with no way in that I can find).

Behind some soccer fields near the 401

How I wish there was a way in!

Gorgeous fall colour along the trail, which I think is actually a service "road" for the sports fields.

And just last week I found a multi-use trail past a teaching garden with a lovely little footbridge over a stream.

Jan's Trail takes you past sumac and wild grasses

Looking North

This sure beats riding past warehouses.

The pathway actually continued further than I had time to explore, so I went back this week to investigate some more. I took a different route and was able to find the proper origin of the trail, getting there much more quickly so I could follow it further. The reward? I found an awesome little loop of single track trail around a small pond!

Which I rode despite being in a skirt, and got rather covered in burrs.

I'm not entirely sure this is even intended for cycling..

Pond right by the 403, in Parkway Belt Park, with 

When I return to work after these little jaunts (all 10km or less), I'm always in so much better a mood than when I left. Really, who wouldn't be after taking a half hour to go exploring?

I'm willing to bet that most of us spent countless hours discovering the world around us as children with our first bikes. They give you the freedom to go anywhere - to experience things that those locked away in their cars will never see. Why stop just because you're a little older? Get out there and find what's been hiding right under your nose!

I'm crayon art K, and I approve this message.

Horror Hill 6-hour Ultra - Saturday, October 25th, 2014

I decided to give it a go, injury be damned. Really - how bad could it be?

Step one - get out of bed and apply kinesiology tape. I went with a different achilles/calf strain application that I hoped would protect the injured soleus and also support the gastrocs, which would have to take over and do a lot more work than usual. It seemed logical.

Do you know how hard it is to photograph the back of your own leg?

Bagel, coffee, arrive at race site. It's a gorgeous sunrise and looks like it'll be a perfect day - none of the horrible rain or snow of the last 2 years. Skirt up, say hello to the wonderful people with whom I'll be sharing the trail, get my straw from Ron Gehl (choosing to believe nothing bad can happen if I have it), and hope like hell this works. Tanker asked if I was going to get a warm-up run in, to which I gave an emphatic no: I was trying to save whatever my poor calf might have in it for racing.

I did, however, do a little skirt-stuffed-into-my-pants boogie.

Ok, ready as I'm going to get.

One last portajohn stop with less than 5mins to the start, then head for the back of the bunch and off we go.

Crossing the timing mat to start the day.

I ran down the long hill past the pavilion/aid station, around the pond and start back up the hill to the turn into the woods. This is as far as I thought I'd make it, but the damaged soleus actually seems ok. No pain, no need to alter my stride - I make the turn to the technical drop into the forest with a little grin on my face as my calf apparently came to play.

You got it!

By some odd coincidence, one of the first people I really notice that I'm running behind is a fellow whose shirt back reads "Achilles - Running through disability". I take it as a good sign and press on.

Reaching the bottom of the two really, really steep climbs (the ones that reduce pretty much everyone except some of the 5k runners to a walk), I mentally cross my fingers and start to ascend. Fortunately it goes just fine, and I'm back to running again when I reach the top of the second bit. It's working!

The first big stinkin' hill - it's even steeper than it looks here.
(Photo found on twitter - would credit the source if I could find them!)

Truckin'

As you can see above, fallen leaves thickly coated the trail, so it was tough to be sure of footing as I ran along. I was also stuck at the back of a big conga line of runners - things are always pretty bunched up for the first loop, as there aren't many places to pass and all of the 5k, 10k, and 25k runners (no 3-hour option this year) are still on course. I actually kind of welcomed it, since it ensured I didn't go too hard out of the gate.

Around the big woods section, down the sketchy descent, then out of the forest and onto the gravel road up toward the building. Calf was actually feeling damn near normal - huge win!

The 2.5km loop.

Who farted?

Through the parking lot, then back into the trees again for the smaller woods loop and onto the long descent. I ditched a lot of the conga line, crossed the timing mats and then passed Tanker at the aid station while happily reporting no issues so far. Wahoo!

The runner behind me is clearly at race weight.

I came through a second lap after about 34mins without any pain and then a third around 50mins, so decided to have a swig of EFS Liquid Shot from the flask I'd bought the night before while picking up race kit at Runner's Choice. I'd already made it longer than I had on Tuesday without anything blowing out, and figured if I was going to be in it for the long haul I'd need some calories. I had done some carbo-loading in the couple of days before the race and really hoped I could make it through at least 90mins so it wouldn't have been in vain! The day warmed up and I had to pull off my earband and roll up my sleeves to dump some heat as I rolled along.

From the official photos

Tanker took this one - thanks for making me look strong, babe!

I started to tick off minor milestones along the way: 10km took me past the 1 hour mark, then at 12.5km I had run twice as far as Tuesday's ill-fated workout, with another gulp of EFS Liquid Shot around 1h25m. I treated myself to a peanut butter Gu at 2 hours, then had to hit a portajohn at around 2h15m as I passed the building heading for the 20k mark. While the calf injury wasn't bothering me, I noticed my effort level on the uphills was probably not going to be sustainable for the full 6 hours - I was puffing pretty hard as I ran up the long climb in the woods. Then again, I figured there was about a 0.0% chance I'd be able to run the whole thing, so maybe it wouldn't be a big deal. I kept up the calories, though, with more EFS Liquid Shot around 2h35m after passing 22.5km. I had also rolled both of my ankles a few times on roots and rocks hidden under the leaves. I'm sure that wasn't helping anything.

Running with a friendly blog reader - Robin was doing her first Horror Hill

To everyone's surprise, my soleus hung in there through 27.5km (11 loops) and over 3 hours, about which I was overjoyed - at least I'd made it through more than 25k, because that would have been cheaper to enter! However, I'd only got one single run of over 20km/2hrs in since the Waterloo Marathon at the end of April (just under 23k about 3 weeks before race day), and my legs were starting to feel the accumulated fatigue without the training to back it up. I had another swig of EFS Liquid Shot to try to perk me up, but it was about this time that the calf started to get grumpy. 

Ok, we'll do it your way.

I came down the long hill to the pond, and as I ran through the little dip I felt a twinge that made me drop to a walk. A friend whom I've known through this race for years happened to be walking along just ahead of where I slowed, so I quickened my pace a bit to fall in step with him and actually ended up walking the whole rest of that lap as we chatted about backpacking and canoeing and the wonders of exploring the outdoors. I had meant to run the downhill bits, but Chris is good company and I wasn't really feeling any pressure to make distance - for all I knew coming into the race I'd be walking all day anyway, or possibly even heading home after less than 1 full lap, so I was more than happy to just enjoy some conversation while hiking through the forest.

Unfortunately, the weather had turned a bit uglier as a cold front came in. We only got some very light rain showers, but the wind whipped up and I started to get chilled. As I passed the aid station I thanked Chris for a nice chat but said I had to go run to warm myself back up again.

Still doing ok...ish.

Rounding the pond, I ended up dropping to a walk again as I hit the little dip. The calf just didn't want to cooperate, and I didn't want to do any further harm. I was looking at the very real possibility of having to walk for the final 2.5hrs of the race, and wasn't yet sure how I felt about that. I decided I'd just keep testing to see what I could do, and keep walking as long as it didn't hurt to do so.

Dorking it up as I went.

I came through 35k almost right at 4 hours, and whil I only needed 3 more laps in order to make it an actual ultra, though (42.5k being more than a standard 42.2km marathon distance), I was definitely feeling a bit worse for wear. I was still able to run the long downhill through the timing mats down to the pond, plus the gentle downhill portion in the woods, but I was walking almost everything else. I got my chocolate peanut butter Gu (with a bit of caffeine) from Tanker to try to put some zip in my step, but also threw on a light jacket as I wasn't able to run consistently enough to keep myself warm in the bone-chilling wind. 

Still dorking.

Feeling that I'd be unable to do much more than walk for the last hour and a half, I actually ditched my flask of EFS Liquid Shot asked Tanker to get out the chocolate chip cookie I'd brought as a post-race snack. I planned to eat it right around the 5 hour mark as a treat for hanging in, but in the meantime I decided to see if there were any banana chunks at the aid station. I ate about a 2.5" piece and was off to the pond once again.

Little did I know that banana was freakin' magic! Suddenly my calf quieted down and I was able to start running up some mild hills again. I think my gastrocs (which I was forcing to compensate for the damaged soleus by digging the ball of my foot into the ground when climbing) were getting too fatigued to handle the extra load, but the banana helped get them firing again. Things improved even more after I had a salted caramel Gu (best. flavour. EVER.) with elevated electrolytes just past 5 hours - against all odds I was running stuff in the last couple of loops I hadn't run for hours - pace per loop was back to where it had been around the 2hr mark!

Calf after the magic banana.

Completing another lap

I pushed hard through the last full lap plus another partial lap before the horn went, having lost count but thinking I'd at least made it through more than a marathon. The sun came back out, and I ditched my jacket again as I was running consistently enough to need to dump heat. I was super happy to make it past 42.5k so it truly was an "ultramarathon" for the day, though a bit sad at the same time because conditions were perfect and my run fitness has been awesome this summer. Had I not blown the calf I could've PR'd for sure.

Lap times with a few notes

I actually got Tanker to come up to the timing mats just to get a photo of me with the time clock so there would be some evidence that I was still running close to the 6 hour mark!

ill advised racing gang sign and all.

So we go inside and listen to the awards while I get an AMAZING massage and some post-race food (though I never did eat that chocolate chip cookie). Instead of finisher's medals this year, we were given certificates of completion with our final distance. Now, the timing company made a small error and credited everyone with a complete final lap, but I was still surprised to see mine said 47.5km.

Whaa?

It turns out I'd somehow missed a lap in my count, and had actually completed 18 full (45.0km) plus 1.6km of my final lap.

Official distance: 46.6km

0.1km PR (prior best 46.5km in 2011)

4/10 F<40 - 6/13 Women - 22/39 O/A
Official results here

So apparently despite walking that one full lap plus about 2/3 of most laps past the halfway mark, I still managed a 0.1km PR in a race I've now done 5 times.

That's worth a couple of thumbs up.

More awesome things from the race:

There was a volunteer dressed as a zombie marauding around the course for most of the day. He'd hide behind trees and run out at competitors, or hide himself in a pile of fallen leaves and jump out at people. Scared the crap out of a few of us!

Photo lifted from the overall winner's race report

My friend and stud ultrarunner Steven Parke guiding the indomitable Rhonda Marie Avery through the 6 hour race - meet Team Tutu!

They raised $550 for KidsAbility, too!

Why does Rhonda need a guide? Because she's legally blind, and still a more badass ultrarunner than I could ever hope to be! Also the sweetest girl you could ever ask to meet - she's a sports therapist by trade, and generously offered to help out with taping up my calf before the race (on which I'd have taken her up had I not done so before leaving the house), and told me to find her to work on it if it started bothering me while I was running. All sugar with a core of pure iron, that one!

And finally, the fellow I'd seen first thing in the Achilles shirt actually ran his final lap in the storm trooper helmet I'd seen him wearing when we first arrived at the race site.

He beat me by 2km, too!

The best part of all, though? Far from having done any further damage, at 2 days post-race my calf was feeling better than it had at any point since the injury. I took a full 3 days off running and eased back in with an easy 4k on Wednesday and 5k on Thursday, by which point the injury site felt almost completely back to normal. My right (non-injured) calf actually felt tighter than the left! I'm continuing to do knee-wall touches and heel drops - now with both legs instead of just the left - and making sure to warm up my lower legs prior to heading out the door, but I'm confident I have the damage under control and will be well healed in time for the Chocolate Run. A far cry from my expectations when things started to hurt last week!

Post-race glow.

I can only wonder what might have been if I hadn't had to contend with the injury. Fingers crossed for 50k in 2015!