The Midnight Moose Ultra Trail Race was my first official trail race. You see, I've been running for about 4 years now. My friends Kristi and Rebecca, got me into running. Because I had the two of them, I was doomed! This summer, I decided to try trail running with my friend Kristi (check out her awesome blog here). She now has me hooked on trail running since this past July. Road running will have to wait until the winter, when I can't use the trails anymore.
Back to the race at hand...
The Midnight Moose took place in Gatineau Park. It was the first time a night race was held in the park. When signing up, you had 3 choices: 25, 50 or 100 km. Rémi and I registered for the 25km race (which was really 26.6 -trail runs are never really the actual distance - hard to measure in the trails I guess!).The day of the race finally arrived -I had a busy day at work, and of course couldn't nap when I got home. Any other day, I can lie down on the couch and have a short nap not on this day! We left home at 8 to be there for 9 to sign in and pick up our race kits (Race start is 10pm). After a short briefing, off we went in the dark trails of the park.
Within the first 500 meters or so, I took a tumble. (It's not a real trail run if you don't fall at least once!) I banged my right knee and left hand pretty hard on the ground but didn't really think much of it at the time. Adrenaline is pumping through my veins -it's hurts a little but whatever, it's not going to stop me! My hand throbbing, off we went.
The trail was marked by these "reflective" ribbons that were not very reflective at all. Caution to everyone who buys reflective tape - they don't all reflect light even though it says on the package! Many ribbons were place higher in trees - problem is, during trail running, you are always looking at the ground - so you don't trip and fall -so ribbons that are high are missed. You often had to stop and look for ribbons to make sure you were on the right trail. That took time -and so added time to our end time.
We managed to run up one side of Wolf, and down the other. We got to the first checkpoint just fine. We had a quick drink of water and back up we went.
The second leg of the race was absolutely brutal. There was much more going up than down. We got to trail 2 and I just wanted to cry. The hills were just nuts! One of them felt like it was 10km long. It was steeper than the other hills and we fell behind. I'm thankful Rémi was with me. I might have quit at that point... which would've been ridiculous since I was in the middle of nowhere and still would've had to get out of there! His encouragement got me up that darn hill. It was hill after hill for what felt like an eternity.
A few people past by us on that hill from hell - they had gotten lost somewhere and were going in circles - made me glad I didn't miss that turn (I know where they missed it as we almost did ourselves but saw the little ribbon).
We finally got to the second checkpoint. I believe it was somewhere between kilometer 18 and 19. I refilled one of my water bottles and off we went. At this point, we are on a paved road. We ran and ran down a very long hill. A car stopped by and asks if we are ok - to which we replied yes - doing great. and off we continued down this hill. At some point, we saw the headlights of people in the woods. Uh oh! We must not be where we need to be! We get to the bottom of the hill and meet people coming out of the woods. I asked them: "Are you guys doing the 25km?" To which they responded: "No, we are doing the 100. You guys missed the split." OH MY GOD! We had to go back UP the hill (I really really hate hills by this point) to find the entrance back in the woods so we can get to the split. Get back to the top of the hill, literally the top, and we see the tiny little "reflective" ribbon tied up high onto a sign post. Really? There should've been a little sign with an arrow or something - it was so easy to miss. Oh well, what can you do... off we go into the woods. Not far from there was the little signs 50/100 km to the left, 25km to the right. Yeah! We were on the right track again!
We did this bit with more running, bits of hiking since you guessed it -more major hills! We hadn't seen people in a long time, and ends up we didn't see anyone until the end -except for Mike (Kristi's husband) in his car on a short stretch of road. We entered the woods one last time -the last stretch.
The last I don't know, 5 km maybe?, were terribly long and painful - mostly walking at this point as We were both exhausted, the trail was single track, not very well marked and very technical -in the dark, the technical parts are particularly difficult as you lose your depth perception. We didn't want to risk injuries. When it was flat and not so technical I would say "Un p'tit coup de coeur?" and we would run for a bit. We finally got back on the trail #1 and knew we were almost there -about 1km to go. Once we could see the lights at the finish line, we started running because we knew we were almost done. It was quite a relief to be able to finish! We finished with a time of 5hours and 55minutes. We added 4 kilometers by missing a turn.
This was quite an adventure. It's great to be able to challenge yourself - both mind and body - to see how far you can go. All in all, great event! I would do it again! First, I need to take a few days to recover as my legs are not really happy at the moment! That's ok -it's all worth it in the end.
I'm looking forward to the next big adventure - perhaps a 50k is in my future.
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| Before the race (forgot to take one at the end - too tired I guess!) |
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| My knee -can't tell on photo, but it's quite swollen. |
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| My poor hand! |
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| The badge we received at the finish. |
