Sulphur Springs 2025

 Let's start with the basics: distances. 

A 5k is a 5k - it's 5km long.

A 10k is a 10k - it's 10km long.

A 1/2 marathon is 21.1km - 21.1km long.

A marathon is 42.2 km.  Nothing else is a marathon.  Only 42.2 = marathon.

An ultramarathon is anything above 42.2km... so technically, if you run 43 km would be running an ultra.  

Typically, ultramarathons are 50km, 80km, 100km and 100miles (160km).  You can now find 200+miles races too.

Sulphur Springs Trail Race 2025    

When I did this race last year, it should have taken be no more than 18 hours to complete.  Due to the weather and course conditions, it took 25 hours.  I decided to do this particular race again hoping for better conditions so I could get a better time.  Let's see how it went.

The course for this 100km race is running around the same 20km loop 5 times.  It's filled with hills, some roots but is mostly non-technical - except for this spot I have baptized hell hole. 

Loop 1:

Loop one started out great - I actually finished it in 2:44 minutes.  I probably started out a little too fast but it's so easy to get sucked into the crowed and go faster than you should.  It felt great to fly through the mostly dry trail.  With only a few muddy spots (due to rain earlier in the week), it was looking like it was going to be a great day.  

The race is in a conservation area and it is a magical place.  They have trees and plants we don't have here in Ottawa as it is a Carolinian forest.  I love it so much! 

On the course, there is a section called the lollipop - you run out, do a small loop and come back.  On this lollipop are what is known as the 3 sisters.  They should've been call the 3 bitches!  They are three hills one after the other - the 3rd being the worst.  You dread doing this section because 1. you need to make it to the top and 2. the last 3km of the lollipop suck.

So, I'm done the 3 sisters on my way out of the lollipop heading to the end of the first loop when my tummy decides it's not happy.  I take an Imodium and hope for the best.   Having the runs on long runs is a very common problem.  Let me tell you, it's not pleasant.  I had to walk for a bit as to not poop my pants. 

The loop ends with a very long hill.  Even though it's a tough one- you feel rejuvenated as there are tons of people cheering you one at the top.  It's great!  You get a boost of energy which helps you to keep going.  I can't remember what I ate here but I changed my socks, grabbed my poles and off I went - not before stopping at the potties.

Loop 2:

This one was tough.  My belly isn't happy, I'm on my own - no friends around. I get to the first aid station and have to spend a good 10 minutes in the bathroom.  I finally leave the station and keep on going.  I meet up with someone who's walking (Kevin), walk with him for a short while, get to the hell hole, leave him behind.  I get to km 30 or so and here we are, middle of a massive low.  Tears are very near, negatives messages are popping in my head.  I tell myself I'm done. that's it. Then, I shake myself and tell myself just get to the end of loop 2 and see from them.

Luckily, just as I'm about to enter the dreaded lollipop, I see my friend Annie.  I don't know if she could see how I was feeling but a big hug, a few words of encouragement and the low was done.  This very short moment snapped me out of it and I finished loop 2 in 3h56m - 1 h more than I was supposed to take.  I walked a lot more than I wanted to - but those lows are so difficult to get out of sometimes...

Up that stupid hill I went, got a boost of energy after seeing Remi and getting cheered on.  

Loop 3:

This was my second best loop.  It felt great.  I had 40 km done, one low done and now I'm on a high.  I slowly ran most of the loop which took 3h57m.  I took time to enjoy nature, got some pictures taken, met new people, played leap frog with another runner the whole loop.  Loop 3, get to the top, boost of energy ready to go for loop 4.

Loop 4:

This is where it started to deteriorate.  I still have tons of energy, I feel great! I look forward to run my little heart out.  I start down the starting hill when all of a sudden, Boom! I feel my IT band screaming at me.  At the same time I hear another runner say "Shit"!.  I pass her with some pain and run for about 1km.  By this point, my knee (this is where the IT band pain is felt) is screaming and so I know I will be walking for a while.

As an aside - the IT band goes from your knee to your glutes -lower back.  If your glutes fall asleep or don't fire properly, the band gets tighter and tighter.  You then get a stabbing pain on the outside of your knee with every step you take.  It's not a serious injury. Rest will resolve the issue, then you need to do exercises to strengthen the area.  It usually starts gradually - but not this time!  I never even felt it coming. 

Back to the race.  As I'm walking, the runner (Joanne) I had just past caught up to me.  On the way down the hill, she felt pain in her shin and couldn't run anymore.  She joined me and we walked the 18km together.  I had to pee behind a tree so I told her to keep going, not to worry about me.  A man was walking - Bob - and we finished this loop together.  At this point I basically walked 20 km in 4h13m.

Another side note - On Friday, when we were setting up our tent, a man help us and then we helped him with his tent.  Funny enough - that was Bob! 

Loop 5:

Bob and I decided to walk the 5th loop together.  I know there is no point in even trying to run.  Even walking is now quite painful.  Advil, Tylenol do nothing for this issue, which sucks! 

We meet up at the top of the hill for the last loop.  It's going to be long and painful.  I'm ready for it.  Why is Bob walking?  His feet hurt blisters and all.  So do mine and everyone else's I'm sure!  

We set off to both walk our last 20km.  What are the offs!  I'm happy to have a partner because we encouraged each other the whole way.  Doing this in the dark, alone, in pain would have been pure hell.  We laughed and swore like sailors the whole way.  It took us 4h52m to finish the loop, walking as fast as we could.

The end: 

It was a very anticlimactic end of an epic race.  I'm guessing there are bylaws for noises or whatever but what a disappointment not hearing your name as you finish.  Nobody there to cheer.  You get your medal and that's it.  It probably doesn't seem like much, but when you've just run 100km, you are tired and freezing, it does matter.  

I think they the race directors should find a way to work around this.  Bring the volume low enough so only the runners and very close surroundings can hear?  ALL the runners should feel important - not just the elite people at the front of the pack, or the last people at the end.  It's in the details... you know? 

Last notes:

• All in all, it was a great race.  It's well organized, the aid stations are great, the volunteers are spectacular.  
• The trail running community is amazing.  Everyone encourages everyone. You see someone "dying" you cheer them up.  The favour will be returned 100 times over.
• I love that the bibs have the runner's name on it.  Whenever I could read the name, I would cheer the person on Keep going "Ken" you got this!  or Daisy! You are still going! Awesome job!   It makes everybody smile and gave them a boost.  
• On loop one, I saw a mouse that had been stepped on (poor thing).  On loop 2, it was still there so I stopped, picked it up by the tail and put it in the grass.  Food for something else I'm sure.
• During loop 5, heard raccoons fighting and coyotes yipping.
• On loop ? saw a female deer.  She was pretty!  I had a conversation with her.  
• Loop 3 I saw a star nosed mole.  I watched it for probably 5 minutes.  You have to enjoy the surroundings! 
• After doing this race twice, I probably won't be doing it again.  I'll move on to something new.
• I know exactly what to work on before my September race!  Those glutes!! 

That's all folks! 

Thank you for all the messages I received during the race!  They made me laugh and inspired me to keep going! 

A special huge thank you goes to Remi for always supporting me in whatever I do. His presence meant the world to me. 

Cycling Adventure

I haven't been feeling "the running" for a while so this summer, I've pretty much ditched running and cycled instead. I will get back to running when the bike goes away.  I realize I will have to start pretty much from zero but I'm ok with that.

Last week I completed a cycling adventure with a friend and colleague (Kally).  We completed our first metric century!  What's that?  Well, it's what a 100km ride is called.  How cool is that?  Runners have marathons, cyclists have centuries!

Our adventure took us from my place in Bridlewood all the way to Renfrew on trails.  It took us 6h40 minutes - which includes all of our stops for pictures and stretches.  Our moving time was 5h33m - 30 minutes more than  I had planned.  That 30 minutes came because of one of the trails we took.  It slowed us down quite a bit as it was a single track with larger rocks we had to try and not hit.  I will now have to do a 100k on road to see how much faster that would be.  

Kally and I had a great time.  I'm glad she was up for the adventure!  

Fat Ass 50 km Race

 If you are a long distance runner, I'm sure you will relate to the following:  You train for months for an event, you feel completely ready and the day arrives.  As prepared as you are, it's impossible to know how things will go.  Good night sleep?  Probably not if you are travelling to your event.  Will you be able to poop before starting the race?  How about nutrition? Did you plan it right?  What will the terrain be like?  Ant the weather?  Too many layers?  Not enough layers? So many things come into play to make or break a race.

This was my first event in forever - it was before the pandemic hit...  my last entry was in October 2019 for a race I did that September.  

Fat Ass is a great, dirt cheap, fun race.  I've done the 25k there twice before - it was my first 50k at this particular race.  I knew the trail since I had done it twice and so I knew the elevation gain wasn't crazy (513 m according to my watch).  Phew!  When you live where I do, and everything is flat like a pancake training for a race with hills can be tricky.  I'm glad I have Gatineau Park not too far but that's still a 40 minute drive and so, I unfortunately can't get there during the week.  

It's Sunday morning, 6am - alarm clock goes off... time to get ready.  You know the usual happens, wash up, get dressed, having breakfast and perhaps the most important, a poop before heading out the door!  As we get outside, there is a beautiful red sky on one side dark grey with odd cloud formation on the other.  Lyse exclaims - "Oh red sky isn't a good thing - Red sky in the morning sailor's warning!"  I replied: "Good thing I'm not a sailor"!  Well, the sailor was right... cold and rain was in the forecast.

We (Lyse is with me as she will be running the 25k)  arrive at the ski hill just a little past 7am to get my bib.  This year, we have a Covid screening to hand in.  Glad I don't have the sniffles or anything!  Oddly, they didn't require you to be vaccinated.  Bib on shirt, drop bag in hand, I have everything I need, off to the start line I go.  It's about a 200m walk to the start line - in a nice little trail.  200m doesn't seem like much, but when you are about to run 50km, it adds up since I will also have to walk that after the race 😁  It's all good - gives a little cool down I guess! 

We stand there a little while, chit chatting with strangers.  The ultra world is a total different world than road races.  People are inviting and caring.  Even most runners who are there to win take time to say hi and to encourage you.  Not long after, the time has come to start running.

For this race, we will be doing a 10k loop 5 times.  The group doing the 25k will come by twice and the group doing 17.5k will come once.  This means lots of traffic on the loop through out the day.  

We happen to be the first group to go through.  I'm mid pack.  The first part of the loop was quite wet but not too muddy yet.  It was easy enough to go around the mud and water.  Luckily, by the time I got to the road to do the second part of the loop, my feet were for the most part still dry and I was feeling great.   On the second part of the loop (it's like a figure 8) there is a hill that I baptized the f*cking hill from hell.  It's this never ending hill - that gets fairly steep at what you think is the top... but no, of course it's not the top! You have to keep going up on a lesser incline, but up nonetheless.  Then, you meandered through the woods until it was time to come back down the mountain on the backside - best part of the whole trail!  Beautiful fast section - I can picture it when the leave are out... it must be beautiful.  

Of course if you go up the front of the mountain and down the back, at some point you will have to go back up... yup, you guessed it, up the other side of the mountain.  Luckily, this climb is not as long or steep, but still takes your breath away - well, at least it does if you are me. After this shorter climb, there is a short section where you cross people going the opposite direction.  Nice time to say hi to everyone.  Once you get to the road, there is about 1 to 1.5 km left to end the loop.  One loop done.  Feeling good and ready for the second time around.

Second loop was fairly good as well.  Running by yourself is challenging.  No one to chat with to make the time go by faster... so I put on my headphones and listened to a podcast.  I can't remember which one - I think it was Maintenance Phase - Halo Top Ice cream.  Second loop was a little wetter in some spots that you could sort of bypass on the side.  Got a foot quite wet but whatever - to be expected during trail running.  I have good socks and shoes on.  I get to the hill from hell, swear in my head the whole way up.  Man I hate this hill.  2 down, 3 to go.  I finish the second loop no problem.  No tears, no thoughts of quitting yet.  It's all good.

Off I go for my third loop. At this point, that first part of loop 3 is getting wetter and muddier.  I meet someone who seems to be struggling a little as well.  We get chatting and moving together.  My feet are soaked by the time I get to the road for the second part of the loop.  I'm starting to lose a bit of steam - I eat a little something, get some candy and chips at the aid station as well as some Gatorade.  I go up the hill from hell for a third time (still swearing in my head).  My newly found running partner is faster than me on the uphill and so I lose him.   He yells back: "You'll catch up on the downhill I'm sure!"  and I did!  We went back and forth like that for a while.  I got a second wind and went on my merry way.  

By the time I finished my third loop, I figured I was second last as I hadn't seen anyone for a while.  The girl at the aid station with her clipboard making sure we did all our loop said nope - there are still lots behind - you are doing well keep going!  So off I went for loop 4 thinking she's lying and doesn't want to discourage me when I hear her yelling to me "and I'm not lying!".  

Each loop starts with a boring, long and straight bit.  Argh.  I didn't enjoy it at all.  All of a sudden, a group of 4 comes out of nowhere and passes me.  They looked tired just chugging along like I was doing.  They were chatty, happy and encouraging.  For the whole loop we kept passing each other.  They would pass me on the up hills, I would pass them on the downs and flat spots.  By this point, the first section is wet, wet, wet.  There is a long section - probably a km or more of slippery mud.  I decided I was not running on that mud - risk falling and breaking something.  The more you walk though, the less you want to run.  Every time I see a fast runner on their last loop, I jokingly tell them to find me when they are done so they can take my bib and finish for me.  There are no takers.  I get lots of encouragement though which is nice.  I guess I will have to finish myself.  

 I finish the 4th loop tired but not exhausted.  I'm not hurting anywhere, I'm holding up just fine.  No blisters that I can tell. No tears yet, no feeling of quitting.  I'm just tired.  (My first 50km race I felt like I was going to die, wanted to quite multiple times and cried quite a bit.)  Off I went knowing I wasn't last because I had passed the group of 4 and had finished the loop before they did.  At the aid station, right before leaving I noticed I had lost a glove.  One of my favourites gloves.  I was then sort of happy I had a last loop to do and that perhaps I would find my glove. 

Loop 5 comes around.  I don't stop at the station, I just go on my merry way.  I keep looking back for that group of 4.  I had a ton of questions going on in my head:  Did they quit? Why aren't they behind me?  I don't want to be alone on the loop and be the last one.  Where's that guy I did loop 3 with? Did he quit?  With all those thoughts in my head, my podcast still playing (I'm on the 3 or 4th podcast) I keep going.   Slowly but surely.  My feet are drenched as there is now no way to bypass the water.  My shoes are getting heavy from carrying so much mud.  I trudge along.  I get to the road one last time.  I'm almost done.  I figure about 6 or 7k to go.  At some point, I've realized that this will be longer than 50k and thoughts are going through my head - when my watch beeps 50k, who can I call to come pick me up to bring me to the finish line?!  

I get to the nemesis hill - the f*cking hill from hell for one last time.  Up I go, I feel quite alone.  The group of now 3 (one quite at end of loop 4) passed me and I've not seen them in a long time.  I fear I'm the last one out.  I trudge along.  I wonder if the event organizer will catch up to me when they go around to gather the flags.  They can't - Deadline isn't up.  I get to my favourite downhill part turn here, turn there, weeee! So beautiful, so much fun!  And up the stupid hill again.  Turn a corner and who do I see?  My friend from loop 3!  He's not moving very fast - I'm guessing it's his IT band as he can't run anymore - downhills are horrible and the flats are not much more pleasant.  I wish him well, encourage him (he has about 7 or 8 km to go).  I now have about 1.5 to 2km to go.  My watch has hit 50.   It's official - this race is longer than 50.  (This is typical for a trail race.  It's much more difficult than on road to have an exact distance.  It's usually a little under or a little over the expected distance.)  No glove in sight.  Oh well, perhaps someone picked it up and dropped it off somewhere.

I run past the aid station that is now non-existent.  No one is there.  No glove here!  I keep on going.  I'm almost there!  Last little bit that I really dislike.  The stones are awful - it's straight and boring but I see the finish line and the photographer at the end.  Raise my hands for my finish shot.  I still have energy... I do a jump shot - the photographer doesn't see me - I do a second one - he still doesn't see me but the people behind him did so I say - he missed it again - he turns, looks at me gets ready and I do a third jump shot.  I hope he caught the last one!  Time will tell! 

As I'm chit chatting with the lady at the finish line, telling her there is at least one person behind me she tells me there is also a family that isn't done.  At the same time, a young fellow comes up to me and says "I think this might be your glove."  I jumped for joy at the sight of my glove!  They are in Merino wool, warm and I just love them.  I then walked the last 200m to my car where Lyse was waiting for me. 

Lyse was so lovely helping me change at the back of the car, in the pouring rain - taking my socks off, helping me put some dry pants on without getting them full of mud.  She was a great help.  The 3 hour drive home was uneventful.  Stop to stretch and a bite to eat and made it home safe and sound.

Like every other runner, I'm not sure I will complete another 50k.  Who knows though... I might forget how much I dislike the hours of training and how much suffering each hill brings and will sign up again... Either way, this was a great experience!  I am now a two time ultra-marathon!  Someone pinch me!   I couldn't even run 200 meters 8 years ago.... look at me now!  

Hard work pays off! 

What's next for me?  A week has gone by and I have thoughts in my head...  I have a big birthday number coming in December (the big 5-0!).  I'm thinking of organizing a 12 hour run for myself - perhaps fundraise for a charity or for the people in BC who are really suffering right now...  I will let you know what I decide! 

And So It Starts Again...

It's December 24th, a day of love, joy, and family time.  This year, it also happens to be the day marathon training starts! 

Remi and I will be signing up for the St. Lawrence Marathon - his first, my second marathon -just waiting for the registration page to open!  I've decided to do this one instead of the Ottawa Marathon.  It's smaller and supposedly a flatter course along the Seaway.  It's also a little earlier in the season -so it shouldn't be crazy hot!

I'm looking forward to running this distance again.  Why? I have no idea... it's not like the first one was pleasant... the pain, the fatigue, the feeling of despair... Fun! said no one ever!  For me, I think it's the personal challenge, prove to myself that I can do it, that I can do whatever I put my mind to. 

What I really don't look forward to is the training - all those long hours of running, prepping, risking injury every time -it is winter here, ice, snow, cold -all are potential risks for injury.  Yet, here I am, starting a new cycle.

My main goal this year is to conquer getting into my head and going into that dark place that prevents me from being my best.  That's not an easy thing... and I have no idea how I'm going to achieve this... but I know that I will give it my all! 

Midnight Moose -25km

Midnight Moose is a race that takes place at night, in Gatineau Park.  They have various lengths to join -from 25 to 50, to 100, to 160km!  Remi and I joined for the second year, in the 25k race.

This is a challenging race -You get up in the morning, go to work, go home, prepare dinner, eat, get ready for the big night, in our case, drive about 45 minutes, sign in, wait around until briefing time, and then start running.  This year, the race's start and finish was at Camp Fortune - a ski hill in the area.  Yup, you read that correctly.  A ski hill.  Which mean lots of running up and down a ski hill.  You see, Ray, the race organizer likes to make us suffer =).  He often will choose the most difficult routes... which is partly why I love their races - you know you will have to push yourself to the limit.

10pm arrives and off we go.  Up the first side of the mountain, down, through single track technical trails, up and down again, around this bend, around the next bend, until we arrive at the top of a hill.  We see lots of runners at the bottom of the hill, making their way up the next hill.  We also see flags - with no runners... so off we go chasing the runners.  Big mistake.  None of those runners were on the right track!  After going down this huge hill, and halfway up the other side, we turned around and went back up the way we just came to where the flags were.  It became clear that is where we were supposed to be running!

We continued on to do King, around and about other trails to end back out at Fortune.  This was a tough course.  It took us 4hours and 20 minutes - would've been 4 hours  if it wasn't for that mistake! Funny enough, I was more tired after this race than after doing my 50k.  Will I do it again? Probably! I'm a sucker for punishment! 😂

My first Ultra marathon

I'm finally finding some time to write about my experience running my first ultra marathon - a 50km trail run in Kitchener Waterloo called Conquer the Canuck.

When I finished my first marathon 2 weeks prior, I thought, well, the training is done, might as well get my 1st ultra done as well since it's on my list of running goals.  I decided to wait a few days and see how my legs and body felt.  Got up Monday morning, nothing. No soreness, no pain, no nothing.  I still waited until Wednesday to decide.

What made me want to do this one? Well, my running friend Kristi (@AverageRunnerK) wanted to do the two day race -50k on Sat. and 42.2 on Sunday.  I said, Hey! I'll join you, I will do the 50 on Saturday and just hang around on Sunday.  That was all we both needed to register.  Doesn't take much! 😂

We drove up on the Friday afternoon and stayed at one of Kristi's friend's Kyra (@kyraonthego).

I was told the trail would be rolling hills and beautiful.  I can agree that it was beautiful - varied in trees and terrain.  I can't agree on the rolling hills part...unless we don't have the same definition of rolling hills... These hills weren't the Gats, but they sure were not rolling either. Anyways... I digress...


Race starts - the race was 6 loops of 8.3 km.  The first two loops were fantastic.  I felt great - the hills surprised me a little as I, you know, was expecting rolling hills... (think countryside roads...rolling hills... that's what I envisioned -but in the woods...).  I've run up much bigger hills while running in Gatineau Park, but was trained for those.  Problem is I've been training on flat roads... no hills... on we go.

Loop three came and it was more difficult.  There was, the proverbial wall. "The wall".  So what is "the wall" exactly?  If ever you hit "the wall" you will know it.   It's a mental barrier that every long distance runner (or so I'm told) goes through at some point in their run.  You start feeling like you will never finish, that you can't do this, that it's ridiculous that you are even there to begin with... all sorts of negative self talk starts to happen.  Why this happens, I have no idea.  It just does.

 By this point, I was debating quitting. I talked myself into doing one more loop and decided I would maybe quit after the next one (knowing very well that I wouldn't quit with only 2 loops left to do).  That's sort of how you get out of it...talking yourself out.

I can usually talk myself out of this "funk" within 3 or 5 km.  Not this time!  My funk lasted a good 8 to 10km.  That's a very long time.  I kept going, walking more than running during this time.  I caught up to someone, started chatting and that helped me to snap out of it.  I reached an aid station and when the girl asked me if she could do anything for me, I asked for a hug.  She graciously gave me a hug, I had a piece of watermelon, some Gatorade and off I went, feeling somewhat better.

Back to more running and less walking.  That's a good thing.  I didn't have any pain anywhere, my legs felt fine, my feet felt great as well.  If only my mind didn't insist on playing these games with me.  I hit a second wall at some point not long after the little high from the hug and encouragement.  I think I was getting disappointed with my time and that might have had something to do with it.  I'm not exactly sure.  Whatever the reason, I had to get over it with only one loop and a bit left to do.

After the 5th loop, I was happy to be almost done.  I started my last loop with ice in my hydration pack, ice in my buff, watermelon in my belly and candy in my pockets.  I was still doing not bad in time- I thought if I mostly run, I could make it in 6hours 20min.  That didn't happen.  I wasn't hurting anywhere, but man I was tired!  Those hills took a lot out of me.  So did the heat.  I still kept on going... to be clear, I was like the little train that could... not the Energizer bunny! 😂

Relaxing, waiting for Kristi to finish her 2nd day -42.2k

I managed to finish in 7h 40min.  which is 15 minutes before the cutoff, and I was the last one.  Phew!  Can you imagine finishing and being over the time limit??  That would be devastating I think.  I'm disappointed in my time as I know I could've done this in about 6 hours to 6h 15min.  I really have to get a better handle on controlling my mind.  That would make a big difference I'm sure.  I have the determination and the drive, now to control those negative thoughts... Well, I got it done -which is more than most people on earth can say.  I'm not fast, I will never be fast - in long distance trail running, speed is not the point -well, you have to be able to do the cutoffs - I'm looking forward to trying this again -perhaps in the fall, or next year.  Time will tell.  For now, on to the next adventure - a hike around Mont Blanc- 170km in 12 days (I think it's 12).  Until next time!

What went well:
-beautiful trail, views, terrain
-started slow
-had plenty of fuel with me including maple syrup, electrolytes, granola bar, nuts -plus 3 aid station with fruit and drinks
-was dressed properly
-got it done all by myself -no one to push me -had to do that myself


Lessons learned for next time:
-drink more electrolytes -I drank 3 or 4 bottles of water, but I should've been drinking more electrolytes as well (warm elect. is pretty gross) -was dehydrated at the end
-take more salt tablets -I only took 2- I should've taken at least one every hour.
-train for hills -don't believe when people tell you rolling hills! haha
-work on better controlling mind games
-need to stay at that slow pace for longer -perhaps an entire loop
-

My first marathon!

I did it!  I am a marathoner! I got through the training, and I got through the race!

The day started at 5:30 with breakfast and last minute prep.  We left the house at 6 so I could have a good 1/2 hour before the race to just walk around and find Kristi (@AverageRunnerK) the 5 hour pace bunny.  7am-gun sounds and off we went on our merry way.

The first 5km went well.  I followed Kristi, doing 10 minute run 1 minute walk.  I then went on my own as I didn't like that speed - just doesn't feel natural to me.  I met up with an ultra trail marathoner and ran with him for a while.  We parted ways when he had to use the potty.  Not long after did he catch up with me and we ran another while together.


I stopped on the bridge to take a couple photos and this is where Kristi and the group passed me.  I thought -ah, no problem, I will catch up with them... which never happened.  I could see them ahead, so I walked when they did and I ran when they did.  I can't remember when exactly, but I hit a wall, and I hit it pretty hard - must've been around 25km.  I wanted to quit, I wanted to cry, I have no idea why.... why do these lows hit you?? and why so hard?  It took forever to get out of this funk.  I don't know how long, but at least until the National Arts Gallery.

I kept on going, slowly but surely - now that I look at my splits, there isn't that much difference... these lows are all created in your head...

I turned the corner on Sussex at the art gallery, passed the Mint and had to stop to help someone -this girl passed me.  She was drenched and I remember thinking what the hell?  Why is she so wet? We haven't seen a mist station in a long time... and you wouldn't get that wet from a water station.  She had water droplets all over her legs and body.  She started looking like she was drunk.  I quickly asked if she was ok to which she replied she was.  I told her she wasn't, grabbed her by the arm and walked her to the sidewalk and "forced her" to sit down.  Someone came to help and I had to leave, knowing she was with someone else.  Hydrate people!  Your life is at stake here!  I continued running and close by I saw the first aiders - I sent them her way.  I'm guessing she didn't finish the race and that an ambulance had to come and get her... but I don't know for sure.

Soon after that, at the bottom of the hill, another runner that I had passed and been passed by many times was stopped so I asked her if she was doing 10/1. She replied my English no good -so I spoke to her in French.  We soon became best friends and ran the rest of the race together.  Thank goodness!  Being with someone else, especially on the long boring parkway makes a difference!  We chatted about this and that and encouraged each other to go on.  That's what runners do.

Passing through Manor Park and Beechwood area was great!  I saw some students, who attend the school I work at, cheering me on - what a boost!  It just lifts your spirits and gives you a bit of umpph to keep going.

My partner and I soldiered on... when we arrived at km 38 or so? There was Dan (@ottpak a runner I know)-part of the xtra mile crew - I gave him a huge hug and told him I wanted to cry, and cried a bit.  You can't understand how seeing people you know gives you that extra little something needed to continue.  He had words of encouragement and off we went.

I knew my sister was waiting at Pretoria bridge - another great boost of energy!  A great big hug, a few tears and off I went.   My partner didn't stop or she would not have been able to get going again!  We turned the corner to complete the last kilometer or so... and it hits me again... this uncontrollable urge to cry.  I see and xtra miler who is coming towards us and here comes the tears and I ask her: Why? Why do we have to finish with a hill?  Can't they come up with a better end for the race? 42 km and finish with a hill? 😂 The poor girl didn't know what to say!  She had words of encouragement, I grabbed my partner by the hand and said let's go, we are finishing this together.  I was able to sprint the last 150m or so and finished with 5:23.  A little slower than I wanted but that's ok - considering I've been battling a cold since Easter and I couldn't move yesterday... I think it's a pretty good time.

So what next?  Funny how right after you finish one race, you are looking for the next one!  I had planned on doing one marathon and one ultra (50k) race this year.  One down, one to go!