Round the Mountain 2017 Round the Mountain is an outdoor event hosted in Kimberley BC every year. It boasts something for everyone with a 10k run, 20k run, 20k trek and 20k bike plus numerous kids races. Obviously I signed up for the 20k run. Last year I ran the 20k as well, but I paced a friend in for her first race finished ever, with a time of 2:51 and change. This year I decided all I wanted to do was beat last years time (as I primarily use this race as a warmup for my other races) and come out the other side feeling good. My long runs in training haven't been good all season, I've been mentally checked out of my training which isn't a good place to be. Much like Stella, I went in with the hopes of getting my groove back. Saturday June 24, 2017 I woke up hungover in my tent, at 5 am, to the kid telling me he is hungry and can he please start a fire. Fuck. Eat a granola bar, no to the fire, let me sleep damnit. I toss and turn a bit before giving in and getting up. We do camp shit for a while and then head out to package pickup, where I run into my training partner who is much more prepared than I am to crush it. Along with her, two of my other running buddies and their phenom kids are running, as well as my avid hiker of a neighbor. I get my bib and head back to camp to make dinner. My phone goes off, there's a heat warning for tomorrow. It's Blackspur all over again. Fuck. Sunday June 25, 2017 Race day. My sleep is much better, lots of water, good dinner, no 5am wake up call. Coffee, oatmeal, pack up camp, off to grandmas to drop the kid off for the day. I met up with my friends and toed the line covered in bug bites, sunburn and sand. They countdown from 10 and we're off at 10:45 am, with the heat already at 18c (64f) which is really hot for that early for up here! The first km is straight across from the Kimberely Nordic center across the Ski Hill and into a solid steady climb. I ran lightly to the base of the climb and started hiking up settling in with my neighbor J and talking shop about running strategy. The first part of the climb on the exposed quad trail had me questioning why I even bother running these sorts of races, heat, elevation, why? I chatted with J to get my mind off of it. We passed a woman who was obviously struggling with the heat and made sure that the crew up ahead knew to watch for her. The first aid station was just a water drop at 4.8km, right after that though we headed into the woods on single track with shade. J and I cruised through to aid station 1, hiking up the hills and doing all day pace on the downhills and flats. The first 10 km were relatively uneventful, as it slowly grew hotter and hotter and I dipped my hat and cooling towel in every available puddle. We kept popping in and out of the trees, going from cool shade to direct sunlight. The second aid station was right around km 9 and it was fully stocked with water, Gatorade and food. I grabbed watermelon and water and pulled away with J still following. We crossed the first shale field section and I turned around to snap a photo of J who was slowly starting to fall behind as I edged closer and closer to the guy in the neon yellow kit ahead of me. On the next hill I passed him and I couldn't see J behind me anymore, I hoped she was doing okay. I kept going, slow and steady trying to catch the girl ahead of me that seemed to be one corner ahead through the trees. I finally caught her just above the descent into the next aid station shortly before km 14. We chatted for a while before I decided to pass and pick it up a bit on the downhill into the station. The lady I just passed had been running with her husband and he was there waiting for her. I gulped some plain water, dumped some over my head and kept moving, I didn't want to waste any time. I knew I was already way behind plan. Coming from that aid station you go directly into a climb, dusty powdery single track studded with sharp rocks makes the climb fun. Fun until you stub a toe really hard and send yourself flying. Which I did. I caught myself from falling down but I twisted in such a way that it caused my right calf to start cramping. I grabbed it and yelled at it: "No!!! Fuck you calf!!! Fuck you!!" I'm not sure if anyone heard me or not but it seemed to work and I was able to keep going at a limpy jog to the next shale section. As I crossed carefully my calf seemed to loosen up, but the sun seemed to bounce back up at me from the rocks. I took a big drink of my water and realized I was almost out, it was only 3 or so more km to the next aid station, so I'd just ration. I wasn't looking forward to that though, my head was starting to pound. I ran my all day Pace through the flat sections into the next aid station. Filled up my water and continued on. The next couple kms were relatively flat, I just focused on a steady easy pace and surprisingly felt great, my stomach wasn't acting up, my old injuries didn't hurt, my calf was loose. I made my way to the bottom of the last climb and got caught by the bike race sweepers. I managed to stay ahead of them all the way up the hill and they complimented me on my hill skills. I came down the last switchbacking downhill and I could hear the finish line and announcer, I caught up to a girl but couldn't quite reel her in and she crossed the line a handful of seconds before me. I finished in 3:18:56 It was 20.4km with 649m of gain and 27 Celsius (80.6f). Really fucking disappointing time. I have to take the good with the bad though, I finished without any pain, this was the only race I've ran without any stomach issues!!! Which is a huge win for me!! All I used on course were dried apricots and my Infinit Nutrition mix in my water plus the watermelon I grabbed from one aid station. My heat management strategies really worked well and although I was hot I managed without suffering even though it meant slowing down. I'm hoping all I needed to get mentally back in the game was a good day racing.
