**Blackspur Ultra 54k** Saturday August 19th 2017 Kimberley, British Columbia 7:55am I stood shivering in the small, gathered crowd of Ultra and relay runners awaiting the 8 am start of my third attempt at an ultra distance, hoping desperately for my second finish. After my failure at Elk Valley Ultra I was looking solely for a redemption finish. I really thought about dropping from Blackspur after my DNF but the race director messaged me with some kind words of encouragement prior to my decision and I ultimately decided to stay in the race. This time around I came armed with advice and backing from my newly acquired coach Tara Berry, experience (from my failure at EVU and the previous years BSU finish) and support from two friends running and one friend and her daughter crewing. 7:58 am I knew the course. I'd run and finished it before. It was hot last year and much cooler this year. I was going to finish. Finish feeling good. "You've got this" I said to myself. The only thing to go wrong had already gone wrong. I forgot the hose for my water bladder at home and had to buy a whole new water bladder the day before the race. 8:00am **Leg one: Goat** *16.1km and 886m of gain* We set off and immediately headed up the ski hill. I had a plan to go slow on leg one. I wanted to come in a half hour slower than my previous years time. My training buddy Jackie was determined we'd climb the first hill together and linked arms with me pulling me up the hill. At the top I told her to get moving cuz I'm going easy. She started into a run toward the next hill and I walked along with our other friend Suzanne who had decided to sign up last minute despite suffering a back injury for the week previous. We kept together up the gradual incline until the base of the steep section that last year I had dubbed "The never ending Jungle hill" due to its steep grade, never ending climb and over grown jungle feel. It was on this climb that I caught up with a woman from Chicago and my awesome tattooed friend D(and her cousins wife!)(that I had met at this same race last year). We all kinda stuck together, the two girls ahead of Chicago and me for a while, as we popped out of the woods and ran down along the top of the ski hill to get to the first aid station. I didn't stop for anything as my pack and flask were still full, I was drinking every ten and eating every 20 (fruit 2 bars, pears and beef jerky) and feeling really good so I just kept going. We headed down some more and Chicago started to fall a bit behind as I held on to my easy trot through the very rocky and technical trail eventually winding up in the bottom of a Valley of shale slides. I passed the girls ahead of me in this section and offered up some words of encouragement as I kept on my way out of the valley and back down the top of the ski hill to the main transition area. My god was I feeling good! I rolled in at 3:27:46. Slow, but steady and very much on time. **Leg Two: Toad** *18.3km and 674m of gain* My crew Terri checked my water, it was still almost full, she gave me a concerned look, but I had been drinking and it still was cool out. They offered me a shot of pickle juice and it sounded good so I went for it. I refilled my food with help from her daughter and she grabbed me a piece of peanut butter sandwich from the transition area tent to take with me cuz I was starting to feel actually hungry. I said goodbye and cheerily headed back up the ski hill to start leg 2. I had set a rather unrealistic (for that day anyways) goal of 3 hours for that leg. Which I could definitely do but not if my goal was to remain feeling good. The first big climb on this leg killed me last year, reduced me to a near crawl and ruined the rest of the leg. I was determined to be able to get up the climb feeling good and be able to run down the other side. I started up at a steady hiking pace, keeping it easy but continuously moving forward. It felt good, I still felt solid and I made it to the top with a smile on my face and jogged back down the other side keeping the pace easy through the rocky, technical parts. I found myself alone heading up the second climb into the shale fields, it was this point last year where I had been feeling sick and low and had caught a girl that would spend the whole leg walking with me. I was still feeling good, still eating and drinking and moving forward. I crossed the shale fields and headed into the woods, jogging the flats and downs and walking the hills. I popped out at the next aid station smiling. I refilled my soft flask but figured I had lots in my pack still so I didn't check. I grabbed a pickle and thanked the volunteers. They told me I was looking fantastic and positive. I really felt it. I continued on much in the same manner, keeping to a schedule for nutrition and water, for some reason I couldn't get anymore water from my pack although I could feel it in there, I just resorted to taking sips from the soft flask. I was still walking the hills, running when I could, but I was alone, and there were way more hills than I remembered there being on leg 2. I could feel myself slipping into a bit of a funk. My legs were protesting the climbs and I was starting to get upset that I was feeling that way. I turned some music on on my phone speaker and walked a bit. I took a deep breath, and tried to change the direction my brain was taking me. A relay runner came up behind me and I shut off the tunes. She had slowed to a walk up the hill and we chatted a bit about the race. She had gotten briefly lost having missed a turn off sign and was ready to be done her leg of the race. We chatted all the way up the hill before she took off running again. I was refreshed. All I had needed was a bit of company to regain my positive perspective. I jogged it in back to the top of the ski hill and down into transition, once again smiling, happy to be back in and also dreading the last climb up the ski hill. I came in at 3:40:39 for the leg. Way slower than anticipated but feeling better than I could've hoped for. **Leg three: Bear** *19.4km and 670m of gain.* Terri filled my water up for me and her daughter gave me a cup of water and another shot of pickle juice. They handed me a Boost and some fresh snacks and I headed out to go up the ski hill one last time. I kept thinking of the full 19 km I had left to go, while climbing up the hill. Break it down, I thought, small chunks, 10 km to the next aid station, I can do that. I got up the first climb and the second, and cruised through a little downhill and a flat section. The only issue I had was with my water bladder, the hose kept coming out so I'd be sucking back air and I had to take my pack off twice to try and clip it back in. It was a bit warm in the direct sun but the wind was giving nice gusts and my sauna training seemed to help because never once did I actually feel hot. The temperature only reached 24 Celsius at its highest though. Perfect weather. I passed a guy on a smooth downhill into the Kimberley Nature Park. His knees were hurting on the downhills, so as soon as we hit the next climb he caught me and pushed on. I shut off my brain on the climb, my hips were sore, I tried to focus on pushing from my butt and just shut down any complaints that were bubbling up. It worked and I hit the top of the hill where an older guy caught me, he was hiking fast but no longer running, we chatted for a bit while I recovered from the hill, he was 71 years old, had been running since he was 65. I hope I'm still running at 65, let alone 71. I found my feet and picked it up into the best pace I could manage and cruised the long long downhill into the next aid station. I passed the guy with sore knee through here again. The aid station was packed with runners that didn't want to go up the long exposed hill leading out from it. I tried to be quick though, I filled my flask, grabbed some pickles and pretzels and joked with a girl sitting down that I'd carry her the first half if she'd carry me the rest. That was a no go. I headed out and chatted with a 108km runner the whole way up the hill before picking up into a jog along the top. I was still feeling fantastic. Sore and tired, but absolutely great. I cruised through the next section and sent a text out to my crew when I hit 50k so she knew I was 4K out from the finish. I found myself alone again, the woods were making sounds and I had been seeing bear poop all day long. I picked up a couple rocks and clacked them together to make some noise and pushed on trying to catch someone. On the very last section of hill I caught up to a woman who insisted I pass her, so I did. We chatted a bit but I think both of us were more focussed on getting to the finish than on the conversation. As soon as we came out of the woods and onto the dirt road I knew we were close and I picked up into a run again. I cruised through back to the ski hill, back down and over the finish line with a huge smile on my face. My crew was waiting for me just over the other side and gave me a huge hug. The race director shook my hand then pulled me in for a hug too, he asked if I felt redeemed. To which I replied "Fuck yes! I've had the best day ever!" **Post-Race** I finished the race in 10:59:07, barely squeezed in under 11 hours, and almost a whole hour slower than the previous year. My friend Jackie finished in 10:34:11 with some massive blisters, and our friend Suzanne had ended up dropping after leg one when her back began seizing up on her. My tattooed friend and her cousins wife ended up being the last two finishers sneaking in just under cutoff. I had my post race beer, we ate our meal and watched the awards and then headed back to the condo to soak in the hot tub. It was the best race experience I've had. It was slow but it was worth it to feel that great all day. I'm hoping that working with a coach I can get faster while still feeling good during races. That's the goal.
