Due to an Injury, my legs came into this run under-trained. Started to feel my quads like 10 miles in. Last 7 miles my mantra was ‘do not walk, just keep running.’ I have learned the hard way that even if you are running super duper slow, it’s still faster than walking!

Take aways: 1. Lots of ‘short’ up and downs take a bigger toll on the legs than longer climbers. In other words, lots of true mountain ultras have the big climbs at the beginning and the big descents at the end…therefore the legs don’t get beat up as quickly. However, at pick your poison, my legs were toast only like 10 miles in. 2. Still working on not comparing myself to others (super hard to do in a race). But I had some insight into it ‘like, its just illogical.’ Maybe the guy I just passed was up all night with a newborn baby or something else while I slept great all week. Or maybe this is so and so’s ‘A’ race while this is just my first run back.. the comparing just doesn’t make sense! So the question isn’t how did I do compared to others, its ‘did I do me as best I could’? 3. Crossing the finish line with Keshet, my kiddo, is just the tops!

To boil it down – the race plan has two points:

1. Physiological – The best example of this is really creating a plan where in the first 1/3 of the race you don’t ‘shoot yourself in the foot.’ What does this mean? If you want to run a half marathon at 4:00/km then set a speed limit of 4:05-4:00 for the first 5km. For the most part, if you go out too fast, you will not run to your peak performance.
2. Psychological – When you have a plan in place, you can ‘focus on the process.’ So if 1/2 marathon plan is 4:05/km for the first 5km. 5-15km settle into a good rhythm, focus on mechanics and keep an eye on pace with a speed limit if 3:55/km. Last 6km ‘put the watch away’ and race, race, race! You can see here that the race in broken down into more digestible bites. So when you are 3km in and you think ‘shit, I have 18km to go’ you can change that to ‘okay, focus for two more kms and make sure to not break my speed limit.’

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat” Teddy Roosevelt

Hamilton runners to take to Bruce Trail for ultra-relay race

We Run the Bruce will raise money to support marginalized women who are survivors of violence

A group of Hamilton runners will be hitting the Bruce Trail this spring to raise funds to support marginalized women who are survivors of violence.

The run project, titled We Run the Bruce, will see around a dozen athletes from different Hamilton run clubs take to the more than 900-kilometre footpath — which stretches from Tobermory down to the Niagara Region — for a non-stop, ultra-relay race.

Their goal? To run the entirety of the trail in just five days.

Stephanie Jetté, head organizer of the run, said the idea for the project came together after she and a handful of other Steeltown runners watched a screening of “Escape,” a film about the 2021 Escape to Chicago run, last spring.

The documentary left her and others feeling inspired to create their own ultra-relay — but instead of racing between two cities, they set their sights on the nearby trail system they all loved and many had wanted to run solo.

“It was one of those aha moments,” Jetté said in an interview with The Spectator. “We realized that we didn’t have to run the entire trail alone and that we could plan it as a group and endure it together.”

Runner André Morgan said the project will see each runner complete different segments of the trail before eventually tagging off to the next sprinter.

The participants will make their way along the footpath, which mostly hugs the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, at all hours of the day and through rain or shine.

https://www.instagram.com/werunthebruce/

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2023/01/24/hamilton-runners-to-take-to-bruce-trail-for-ultra-relay-race.html?utm_source=share-bar&utm_medium=user&utm_campaign=user-share

Until March 31st 2023, first month of coaching is FREE. This offering is meant to support those who are on the fence about trying a coach. If you have any doubt, give it a shot! You will get faster at running, learn a lot, and have fun:)

Well, that was hard! I entered the One Track Mind 24hr track race thinking running 100 miles would be no problem. Boy was I wrong! I thought that the biggest challenge would be mental and running on a flat track wouldn’t be physically as challenging as say a mountain trail ultramarathon. So wrong. After about 50 miles of running in circles, I could run no more. I managed to walk another 18ish miles, but I literally could not pick up my legs to run. My quads were entirely shot! But I thought quads get beat up when running downhill? WTF! In the end I ran for 15hrs and about 68 miles (68.68 according to my watch). When I dropped out I was going slower and slower and I just couldn’t see myself walking for another nine hours! I did fully feel disappointment. I wanted more out of the run and my body/mind but it wasn’t to be.

I do feel proud of myself. It’s rare that we set goals and objectives that we have a pretty good chance of not achieving. I’m proud of myself for putting myself in a really tough situation and knowing I might not finish. I am also proud of myself (us) that I raised over $1,000 for Help Fill A Dream.

I also can’t express how impressed and inspired I was by all the runners. People were working so freaking hard and giving it their all. What else can you ask for? It was really an amazing experience. Felt like I was really living life, ya know??

Below are some shots from the day