I haven’t been doing much ultra runs. Actually I have done 1 pure ultra last year, the Endurance challenge 50km in Utah and that is it.
I have done many ultra distances in Adventure racing but the pace is never the same as in a single discipline race.
I went to the Ultimate XC back in 2011 when it was at Mont Tremblant and was participating at the time in the 3 days event. My 58km run then was very slow (10h38) and I thought I would die for the last 30km which is a considerable amount of time when you think about it.
James and I packed our stuff and went to a friend’s cottage 30 min from the race on the Friday night.
Really nice little place and good company made it for a pleasant and not too stressful evening…except that the water pomp broke and we didn’t have water…or bathroom.
James and I were racing the 60km so we had to wake up pretty early and we made our way towards St Donat, praying to find a Tim Horton open to be able to get breakfast and a bathroom stop.
I was pretty stressed and wasn’t feeling 100% but I had put all the chances on my side to have a good race. I had my 2XU compression shorts and socks, my Altra LonePeak 2.0, my osprey Rev 1.5L, my nuun tablets for hydration and I had my PacificHealthLab gels and strongbar nutrition bars ready to be eaten.
At 6:15am we were in the buses in direction to the start. I was frozen as we couldn’t leave anything in the bus so it was either carrying the sweater the whole way or freezing for 40min…I froze!
A last quick kiss to James and off we went. I tried not to go too fast but was frustrated to see myself walking the up hills very quickly. My calves started cramping and I had no electrolyte tablets with me. I only had a little bit of Nuun in my camel back so I started drinking. It was a lot steeper than expected. For the first 5-6km another girl and I kept on passing each others. Then the downhill arrived and she blew blast me. Then a group of at least ten people and another girl passed me.
I didn't like the first 20km. I found it a little too technical to my liking and I kept on rolling my ankles on loose rocks covered by leaves. It didn't help that my knee was hurting a little bit preventing me from bending it too much.
I, for once, didn't think negatively but tried to think positive. It was a beautiful day and yes people were passing me but I still had lots of people behind and hey I was catching up to those people as soon as it was climbing.
I started setting up small very achievable goals. To the next aid station then as my legs were starting to be a little sore I was dreaming of the Vietnam section that was at 40km in where I'd be in the water.
At the feed station just before the Vietnam (35km) oh surprise I caught up to one of the two girls that had passed me in the first few kms. I was pretty happy and decided to not let her go. She looked like she was in a down moment and we left to the Vietnam a minute apart. Quickly I caught up to her and we did the section together, helping each others.
It is really nice to be able to run with someone who has about your pace but different strength. By the end of Vietnam we passed a bunch of people who were seating there changing their socks and all. We travelled Joelle and I together for the rest of the course. 18km before the end we made a deal. If we were still neck to neck by the time the 2km came we would go to the finish together. We kept on pushing each other's and passed people on the way. In the last climb some girls told us we were 2nd and 3rd which we didn't believe at first. I could remember the first girl that passed me at the start and I knew there was at least another girl ahead but Joelle told me that we had passed the girl from the start a while ago..oh well we were having a great race and we agreed that finishing on the podium or not we would be happy with our race.
We ended up crossing the line together in 8h37 (on my watch-8h39 on the timing machine-we started late) in second position in the women category.
The organization not wanting to have a tied found out a way to look at the hundredth of a second and called me third. We were 18th and 19th overall out of 51 finishers.
I was expecting 9 to 10 hours and mid field and was an hour faster and on top of the field. James crushed it and won the race in 6h57. He is my hero!!!
Nothing felt better than seeing friendly faces at the finish (Dave,Augusto, Amanda and of course James).
Dave and Lise brought me a long way and I'm thankful to Natural Fitness Lab for it.
Nat
