Keji's Backyard Ultra

 Keji's Backyard Ultra Run

BACKGROUND

This event used to go by the name of "Sonofa Gunofa Run" and took place in Five Islands Provincial Park in NS. After a few years of Covid cancellations in 2020 and 2021, the event rebranded and changed from a ~5.7km loop with ~160m of elevation to a ~6.7km loop with ~40m of elevation and conformed with the established "Backyard Ultra" norms. 

So what is a Backyard Ultra? For those not in the know, it's a new race format that seems to be getting more and more popular in the past few years - it's a great format for people to get PRs in distance travelled.

Here are the RULES, if you're interested.

In essence:

• Runners must complete a loop within the hour
• Each loop starts exactly 1h after the previous loop
• Runners must be in the starting corral at the top of the hour to start the loop
• Loops must be 4 miles 880 feet in length (6.7056km )
  

PRE-RACE

I have been looking forward to run this event for three years - and I had high expectations. We booked our site to the Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site earlier in the year. I did a bit of research on the park and the "runability" of the loop, etc. 

Kate and I dropped Nora off to her grandparents for the weekend, stopped at a grocery store and planned my race-day fueling, ensured we had all of my running gear, and made our way down to the Nova Scotia Valley - a 4 hour drive from Moncton. 

On Monday morning, I had checked the weather forecast at the park. It was looking like 18C and some overcast - a great day to run 80km to 100km perhaps? Thursday night I checked facebook, and somebody had mentioned that it was going to be hot and humid. Forecast was now closer to 28 -32 range, and ~40% humidity. 

Yikes.

This event format is quite unique in that it does not benefit a runner necessarily to run fast. As a rule, it was my goal to end each loop in ~52 to 54 minutes, giving me between 6 and 8 minutes to drink water, stretch, change shirts if needed, etc. 

In the past, I had done a similar event (Personal Peak Virtual Backyard Ultra) whereby I ran approximately 54 minute laps, and totaled 61km. This was the benchmark and the minimal distance I tried to beat on this day.

RACE

Kate and I setup my chair and stuff near the start finish line, near the garbage bins - in a small spot in the woods - a few other runner Ryan and Rob join me (I forget their names multiple times during this event until I got it right)

**Not remembering people's names/landmarks/times was a theme throughout the day, and was an oddity. If you've read any of my other blogs, I tend to have a generally good recall of people, events, things, names - but it wasn't the case on this day**

The race briefing started about 10 minutes before the event, and I was hoping he would wrap things up quickly so that I could go pee. Nope. Race brief and race start immediately after. 

1st Loop 

After the first 100m, I was in about last place (slowly walking up the hill) and then moved onto a slow jog down Jeremy's Bay Campground Road (an actual road) and made my way up the field to the point where we took a right turn onto the [Meadow Beach Trail?] at about 2.7km. Took a time check (~17 minutes) and followed a group. 

I tried to identify other landmarks on this run, and aimed for specific times at those landmarks - this would let me know if I needed to slow down or speed up.

Bridge - 22 minutes

Bench - 27 minutes

Turn away from river - 35 minutes

Turn onto Slapfoot Trail - 40 minutes from start/finish

With only 5 bathrooms for the whole field, I felt that I had to run quickly on the first loop to get in line for the bathrooms - not ideal given my lap goal, but it's lap 1 and I'm still feeling pretty fresh. I ended up running behind somebody who I felt was in the first 1/4 of the field, but also took it easy. We ran in silence for about 1km, and then we began chatting. This person was Jason White - he and a buddy planned on running +300kms on this run, his Instagram handle is @singletrackmind__ and I told him that there was a beer from Graystone Brewing in Fredericton that's named the Single Track Pale Ale.

We end up running the first loop in around 46 minutes. I ran straight to the bathrooms (there was a lineup). Came back to my chair, drank a bit of water, replaced my shirt which was already soaked and donned a singlet. 

Good to go, move into the Starting corral for the 2nd loop with plenty of time to spare. 

**The race director would whistle when there was 3 minutes, 2 minutes, and 1 minute left in the loop, to warn folks of how much time was left**

2nd Loop

I needed to go much slower than the first loop, but my issue was that my memory was fleeting. I could not remember the benchmarks that I had set during the first loop. This was probably due to the poor sleep I had had the previous night.

At what time do I want to get to the trail head? At what time do I want to get to the bench? River? Slapfoot?

I hit the trail head at about 18 minutes this time - this was probably still a bit too fast, but at least I'm not exposed to the sun. (which at ~10:20am was already starting to beat down on us) The road section, whilst extremely runnable was also completely exposed to the sun, and had very little shade. I tried to run this section as fast as was conservatively possible - then hike/fast walk to the bench. ~31 minutes.

A bunch of people had passed me at this point, and I was not sure whether I was running too slowly, or too fast. I had no concept of where I was on the course, nor how much time I would have at the end of the loop - I started to panic a bit and ran the rest of the course. By the midway point of this loop I needed to go to the bathroom once again - this time for a #2. I sped up again and finished the loop in about 50 minutes - ran to the bathrooms - came back to drink some water - and back to the start finish line. 

There was not a lot of time to spare.

3rd Loop

During the 3rd loop, I tried to remember my landmarks and associated times. 

Run on the road for about 18 minutes 

Fast-hike on the first section of the trail for about 10 minutes and let a whole bunch of runners pass me. Chester Dana (also from Moncton) passed me just before the benches, and I thought I would start running with this group. We started chatting a bit about the day, I noted that I passed the benches at 32 minutes this time - which was a bit faster than where I wanted to be, but ultimately was easily doable.

We ran most of the rest of the loop, walking during the minimal "uphill" sections, and easy jogging the rest of the way. It was during this loop that I started to cramp up a little bit for some reason - just a little in my hamstrings - but I was not happy feeling a slight niggle this early in the day.

I was still having some issues remembering the landmark times that I wanted to hit, but I trusted that this gang of pretty solid runners knew the pace zones that they wanted to hit - so I did not bother myself too much with the landmark/timing aspect of it. 

We finished this loop in about 52 minutes; I ran over to Katie who was cheering me on at the Start/Finish and I gave her a look (like a big sigh = holy hell it's hot out here). At the end of the 3rd loop, it was coming up on noon hour, and there's no place to hide from the sun. I took a salt tab, drank a bunch of water, and had some salted sunflower seeds for nutrition. 

4th Loop

The 4th loop was carbon copy of the 3rd loop.

18 minutes to the end of the road, fast-hike from the road to ~bench, hit the bench at 31 to 32 minutes, start running with whomever had passed me at the time, and run to the finish in about 52 minutes. 

It was during this loop that I started to get thirsty and perhaps a bit dehydrated, I think I may have ran with Chester, maybe not? I can't quite remember the details. All I remember is that it's about 5 minutes from the turn away from the river to the Slapfoot trail, and about 7 minutes from Slapfoot to the Start/Finish.

With 8 minutes to spare, I decided to change my shoes from Salomon trail shoes to Hoka road shoes - my feet were starting to hurt slightly, especially my big toe. It was at this time that I wanted to run with my portable water bottle - so Kate filled it up with water. 

Katie said that she was interested in hiking some trails today, and asked if I needed her on the next loop - I thought I was doing fine and said that I had everything I needed and that she did not need to stick around for the next loop.

Back into the corral. 3 whistles...2 whistles... 1 whistle. 

5th Loop

I don't know what happened on the 5th loop, but the heat really started to get to me. I was weaving on both sides of the road to try and get as much shade as possible - by 1:00am the sun was absolutely beating down on us and it was tiring me out considerably. I tried to run, but it was very difficult - still, I was not in last place. 

The road was hot and exposed, and by this time I no longer wanted to push in the heat. By my first checkpoint (turn into the trail) I was already 4 minutes behind previous laps (22 minutes). Instead of hiking the next section of the trail, I felt like I needed to run/walk it, as my pace was not a great indication of finishing the loop in time. 

I met up with Ryan who was also struggling from the heat and ran with him for a short amount of time. He was hurting a bit more than me, and at some point I told myself that I needed to push on, because I was not sure that at this pace, I would be able to make the end of the loop. 

There was a few people at this point that were running for about 1 minute, then walking, then running, then walking. I got passed, and passed the same guy about half a dozen times, but I think we both ended up running this loop in time. 

I was near the end of the loop when I heard the 3 whistles (indicating 3 minutes left). Went over to my campsite, drank water - refilled my water bottle, grabbed a pack of skittles and back into the starting corral. I thought about not starting again at this point - but then I told myself that I felt better than others were looking - and that if I quit now that our race results would reflect the same thing. 

Pride told me: No, you're going back out there.

6th Loop

By the 6th loop, I was feeling awful - cramped in my chest and legs. I couldn't tell whether my heart rate was 80 or 150 when I was walking. 

Most people started running down Jeremy's Bay Road, and they just got smaller, and smaller, and smaller, and smaller - I thought eventually I am going to feel like running a bit. I looked behind me and I think there were 2 or 3 runners behind me at the 1km mark. I started chatting with this woman (can't remember her name) and she was probably on her last lap also. 

About 1 more km, and after a brief run/walk, I am walking down the road, alone. I look behind me and nobody is there - I am in last place on this lap. Some people might have turned back, maybe I imagined them?

I hit the trail head crossing at 24 minutes. Mental quick maths told me that I will need to run this trail section as fast as last lap to finish on time. There was a runner in front of me by about 150m, and I told myself "I think I can catch up to this person"

I start slowly running on the trail section, and I can sort of see him through the trees, he is not far from me. Then I take a walking break. Back again on a quick trot. Then again a walk. I can't seem to sustain a run - my chest and back are cramping up and I'm very warm, but my focus is basically this sole runner and nothing else. 

I know that there won't be anybody behind me to pass and motivate me, so I need to be the self-starter at this point. By the bench I caught up to him and followed him as he was walking (37 minutes). We walked together for a little bit of a while, and I let him lead us. This was a runner from Digby I believe, and I also can't remember his name.

I felt uncomfortable with the amount of walking that we were doing, so I passed him and ran for about 5 minutes, and back into a walk. We sort of passed each other, and worked with each other for a while, until he got away from me.

I hit the Slapfoot trail at 53 minutes, and I knew that it took me about 7 minutes to get from here to the finish line, so I knew I needed to start moving or not officially finish the loop. 

I started slowly jogging UP the trail section with a bit of elevation - as long as I kept moving at a respectable clip, I would be able to make it to the end of the loop on time. 

In the distance I hear three whistles - there is still some ways to go before the end, but I thought 3 minutes of running is mental, not physical. I had the Digby runner in my sights off into the distance - I wanted to keep him in my sights, at least until the descent. 

At the end of the loop, there is a nice, short descent, where I could open up and get a decent pace in without too much effort. 

- Two whistles - 

It's go time: I hit the slight descent, and open up my cadence and the legs turned over quickly, in what would be a pretty good pace when I'm feeling good. 

- One whistle - 

I cross the Start/Finish area with less than a minute to spare, and walk over to my chair and slouch. Katie is telling me to stay and run another loop, but I am completely demoralized, hot, thirsty, cramped. I am done, done.

 

DNS

I stubbornly sat in my chair and waited until Jodi told the runners to start loop 7. I was officially out, and did not even run a full marathon. I just sat in my chair for about 5 minutes, head in hands, and incredulous at the fact that I came so short of expectations. 

Unbelievably disappointed in results.

Lessons/Post Race

After the race had concluded, Kate and I went over to the beach to soak my feet in the water - we had a discussion, and I expressed how disappointed I was for finishing so early and coming so short of my goals - I needed to process this and what it meant for my next event: Capes 87km (in August). 

After I showered, I returned to the race Start/Finish line to drink some beers and perhaps hang out.

I sat with a group where we chatted and, drank a few adult beverages, and discussed the event.

It turns out that I was not the only person who fell far short of expectations, and this made me feel better about myself. I stayed at Jason and Lee's (aiming for 300km) crew station, where they made it apparent at how underprepared Kate and I were to deal with the heat, nutrition, and other things. I am very new to this running thing, and with Covid cancelling all events in the past two years - I feel like I had to make some mistakes to re-learn a few things. 

After the Fredericton Marathon, where I put 100% of my attention and focus on a positive outcome - and I had success - I sort of went into a lull in focus, recovery, and training. This event fell in an awkward timing between training and recovery, and I was not been completely focused on doing well at this event; I treated it like a long run that was part of my Capes Training. So much mental and emotional energy was placed elsewhere.

One thing I have never had to deal with in the past was overheating - I have never done a summer event in the past where cooling off is vital to success. Most of the events I have done were either Fall or Spring race weekends, or Capes in 2019 but that being off the Bay of Fundy, had some moderate temperatures.

I watched a recap of the Western States 100 - which occurred on the same weekend - the way they deal with heat and humidity, they had ice vests, etc. there are a lot of things that I could learn from adopting tactics like that in the future. 

I also listened to a podcast specifically about heat exhaustion/heat strokes, and it made me feel a bit better. 

For one, this was the hottest day of the year, and so it was impossible for me to have completed any sort of meaningful heat training up to this point in the year.              

I have some homework to do for next time: Better prepare and learn the course map, try to get some heat training done, and maybe do something about the bad sleeps (I think the poor sleeping affected my resilience a bit).

As my friend Chris said; in hindsight, you ran basically a full marathon in very difficult weather conditions. And I think that's a decent summary of the day. 

Lastly, nutrition. My nutrition consisted of skittles and salted sunflower seeds. I will be scrapping that, and also re-introduce Keto dieting during trainings.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Jodi and Karine for the fantastic event, I thought it was well organized, and Karine made sure to encourage all runners as they finished their loops. This event had to be deferred in back to back years, changed names, changed locations - but overall I thought they were transparent and kept people in the loop. The course length may have been 100m longer than regulation, but it was nice and runnable. I wish the weather would have been more forgiving. 

Even though I didn't know too many people out there, being one of a handful of people from NB, I would like to thank the runners and crew from NS who let us hang out and get to know you. 

A big congrats to Chester who was crewless, but nonetheless ran a masterclass 16 loops/~112km. You're going to crush Capes. See you at White Rock. And to Steeve Reeves the winner of the event.

Finally, I would like to thank Katie for being my support crew once again - sometimes I am not the easiest person to deal with, but she supports me regardless of mood or crazy adventure I put myself into. I think she learned a few things about crewing, and enjoyed herself as well. 

Next up for me is 87km at Capes. 

Till then.

Fredericton Marathon

April 10th, 2022

Katie : How do you feel about your marathon training so far?

Me : I'm going to fucking crush it.

Was that hubris, or a level of confidence even baked in reality? Only time would tell... history had unfortunately shown that the wheels often come off over 42.2km.

[If you don't care about training or Keto diet, skip to the race header]

TRAINING

The thing is that ever since Nora was born in September, running was put aside in favour of parenting. Months of no running or exercise between October and February had not been kind to my aerobic capacity. I had gained significant weight, and was not in any kind of running shape - in fact only a month earlier, on March 10th, I had yet to register for the deferred (and paid for) marathon because I didn't know whether I could cover the distance. 

I started running again on January 31st, and I thought to myself that maybe I should find myself a marathon plan. Went to the running room, and purchased:

Running: The Complete Guide to Building Your Running Program by John Stanton

..Flipped to page 358 "Complete a marathon in 3:45" and back-filled my Garmin calendar with all of the runs and expected paces. It turned out that the plan I was following was 18 weeks, and I was starting on week 6. I figured if I tried to follow a 3:45 marathon training plan, maybe it would give me the necessary wiggle room to complete it in my goal time. My goal at the marathon distance has been 3:57:26 since that gigantic shit-show of a race the 2018 Legs for Literacy. Wouldn't it be cool to shave an hour off my marathon PR?

So I start to train for this thing, and I noticed that I needed to skip a few of the "easy" mid-week runs to let my body properly recover from the load. At some point I weighed myself and topped the scale at 202 lbs - which is the heaviest I'd been, ever. 

I believe we all have a governor in our body/mind/soul that alerts us when to course-correct. Sometimes it comes in the form of that voice in your head telling you that something's off. Seeing that scale exceed that 200 mark was a smack in the face, I started dieting the next day. I don't know much about dieting and macronutrients, but my in-laws had started the ketogenic diet and had had big successes with it, so on February 24th, I started the Keto diet. 

The Keto diet is a very low-carb diet. If you've ever heard of "hitting the wall" in a marathon it's because your body ran out of glycogen (carb storage). 

That first week on the Keto diet was an interesting one: I lost 9 lbs (mostly water retention), and I hit the wall on a 6km run, and again during the subsequent 3 or 4 runs. The first two weeks of Keto were difficult - I was running slowly, and had zero top speed.

Three weeks into Keto, and I had started feeling like I was back to "normal" - I completed a half marathon without walk breaks, water, or nutrition - and I had essentially "caught up" to the marathon training plan that was outlined for me. Brimming with confidence, I registered for the Fredericton Full that night. My pace was a 6:44/km, but for whatever reason that did not deter me.

For the entire months of March and April, I was extremely accountable to the training plan I had committed to - typically heading out at noon on most days, and waking up early on weekends for the long run. My schedule revolved greatly around Nora's nap times; if I didn't take advantage of nap times, I might not get out at all. Katie was encouraging, but also made sure that I was accountable - she did a lot of research and preparation for Keto-friendly meals for me.

LAST WEEKS OF TRAINING AND RACE DAY PREP

As the marathon dawned closer and I began to taper and carb load, one important question remained; what are my race goals? 

For one part, I have done 90% of my training in ketosis - surely carb-loading would give me some extra race-day pace. I also completed the last 8 weeks of the training plan at the pace zones and distances outlined in the Running Room's 3:45 plan. Garmin, however, is suggesting that based on my VO2 Max that I could aim for a 3:32. That's all well and good, but that seems unreasonably fast.

The primary goal for me is to get a good race in, I would also hate to go out too aggressively only to walk the last 10km and miss the 4h mark. The primary race goal is to cut one hour from my current PB. That number is 3:57:26.

Maybe I just take it easy on the first 32km, and then run a 10k time trial?

Further, there's only a few things that could go wrong that would really throw my race off. 

1. Chest Pain: In previous marathons and long runs, I sometimes get these really bad chest pains - they are related to fatiguing and cramping muscles related to supporting the arm swing. The first time I had these, I thought I was having a heart attack. These are mentally very distracting.
   
   
2. Nutrition: If the stomach turns sideways on race day, it would likely prevent me from achieving my goal.
    
3. Heat: I don't do well in hot weather, in fact I was unable to complete a 10km run at "race pace" 4 days before the race day.

As a side note, I was 24 lbs lighter on race day than when I started training. 

FREDERICTON MARATHON

Part 0: Pre Race

May 8th, 2022

It's a bright and sunny morning in Fredericton, not a cloud in the sky - temperatures are a cool 2°C, but the sun's rays are nice and it doesn't feel so cold. After a 6:30am breakfast I started prepping to head out to the race. When you're packing a baby, time flies by - you actually have less time than you think you have. 

Katie, Nora and I drive out to the Queen Square and walk over to the race area and meet up with Mario (brother) and deliver his race bib that we picked up the previous day [Mario is running the 10k] - I also take several pictures with the Amherst Strider group - a huge contingent made it out to Fredericton. 

Katie told me to wear the t-shirt, because I would feel more comfortable during the race, and I would warm up quickly once I start moving. (Katie is once again correct - so far she is batting 1.000% at crew chief recommendations). 

I make my way to the start corral, and see somebody that I was really hoping to see. One of the pacers for the 10km run, Stan Sarty. Stan was the very first person who encouraged me to run back in 2017. He used to post motivational videos on the Mountain View Runners Facebook page, and he stands out as one of the great people who've influenced my running journey. He came over to say hello to Nora and Katie, gave me words of encouragement and advice, and then he went back to his pacing responsibilities. 

I rubbed Nora's head for good luck. Mario and I moved our way in the starting corral near the 2hr half marathon/4hr marathon pace bunnies, since we both wanted to have a somewhat controlled and easy first few kms of the race before taking off. 

Part 1: Dusting Off the Cobwebs

National Anthem.

Gun.

Go.

We slowly make our way to the starting gate and off we go running. Mario and I were running with the rest of the pack, maybe a bit slower than our surroundings. I was in no rush to speed up, as I have another 4 hours of this, and Mario trusted me to start things off in a controlled pace, he would take off once he was comfortable. We were sitting comfortably behind the 5:41/km pacers. Quentin of the Amherst striders also pulled up to me to say hi, and ran with us for about a half km.

At 1.5km is the only "hill" of the course as we get onto the Westmorland Street Bridge, both Mario and Quentin take off on the uphill. 

Now I'm flying solo. 

Everybody else that I know who is running is either much faster, or much slower than my goal. Time to make friends.

I decide to continue following the 2h half/4hr marathon pacers for the first bit. They were running slightly faster than my goal pace, because they banked about 20 or 30 seconds of walking at each water station. As I'm running in this pack, I hear two french-speaking individuals who are both running the marathon and I start conversation. Marc and Marie-Belle are both from Moncton, both aiming for approximately a 3:55 marathon, and they essentially have the same race strategy as me.

Perfect.

My new friends started picking up the pace, and dropped the pacers (and me) at around 6km once we hit the wooded, hardpacked crushed gravel trail. At approximately the 7.5km mark there was a water station and the pacers both started walking for their planned break, this is when I made my decision to leave the pacers and the group behind and catch up to both Marc and Marie-Belle. 

I averaged a pace of 5:36/km for the first 7.5kms.

Part 2: Merry Friendsmas

At this point I checked my watch for a pace check, and I notice an InspO that I had taped to my wrist. 

An InspO is a small piece of tape with a message, reminding you of an important piece of information. Mine said "Relax, you can do this". Key word is ~ relax ~

Periodically through the race, I would look at the InspO, and it would reset my mental state to where it ought to be.

At this junction, I upped my pace and caught up to my newfound friends within a few minutes. I run with them for a several kms and kept the same pace, which felt sustainable. They followed for a few kms as we went off the trail and across the appropriately named Bridge Street bridge, that crosses the Nashwaak river. We then turned right through an aid station and back onto a narrow 5km out-and-back trail that followed the river. This section was a bit tricky. We were encouraged to stick to the right hand side of the trail so as not to impede runners making their return trip, but at the same time some of the half-marathoners had gone out too fast and were slowing down - who do I follow? When do I pass? 

On the out portion of the out-and-back, I saw a few fast Amherst Striders (Victor, Alison, Amy) who were gunning for ~3h30 marathons. "Woo! Go Striders!". On the way back I see a few groups Tanya, Danielle who are wearing "Snailed it!" shirt (with the picture of a snail), Myrna, Greg, and Sue, Rick. I use the same, timeless chant "Woo! Go Striders!"

Side note: I need to come up with better catchphrases.

Between the 7.5 km and 15km points, I average a 5:22/km pace

Part 3: Feels Like a Million Bucks

By 15 or 16km mark I pick out these two half-marathoners to follow (Kate from PEI and Silvia from Tracadie) who are running at a good clip, we are all working together and picking off those who started too fast. At this point I am still feeling FANTASTIC - Silvia is communicating with me in french, and Kate is mostly silent - I don't know if I'm annoying her with my chatter (lol), or she could be focused on herself. With about 3 or 4 kms left in the half marathon I'm shouting with encouragement, "We're pumping out 5:20s like it's nothing!". The three of us caught up to the 3:55 marathon pacer (and group of around 6 people) and I slowed a bit to start running with the 3:55 group as we're crossing the Fredericton Railway Bridge. 

I see Ken Mackenzie who is taking pictures of the Striders.

"Hi Ken" as I whizz by.

"Aw shoot, I didn't see you coming, ill get you on the way back"... as he snapped this picture.

I might have said something to Kate and Silvia about finishing strong but I don't remember. Kate took off for her sprint finish while Silvia stuck it with our group and we pass the halfway point to start the second loop at 1:56:41 (gun time).

At this point, I took a moment to do an internal check and see how well I was feeling. It may have been adrenaline, but I was feeling super fresh at this point. (It still blows my mind thinking about it the next day)

Somewhere between 5:20/km and 5:30/km pace seemed to be the sweet spot for me, so rather than stick with the pacer, I left him in my dust, working with Bob from Moncton, and another guy who I don't remember his name. 

Coming back up towards the Railway Bridge, Ken was able to snap several pictures of Bob, myself and (yellow singlet guy).

Between 15km and 24km I average 5:25/km

Part 4: Fishing

At 24km, we head back out onto the hardpacked gravel trail for round 2. I saw two guys, 200m ahead and I make it my mission to catch up to them. Within a minute I caught up to them and we have a brief conversation, this is around the 25 and 26kms.

- This was probably the most important point in the race for me -

One of the two guys said: 

"You look good man" 

"You guys look strong too!"

"No, you look REALLY strong"

I felt strong. For whatever reason, what that guy said really resonated. He had probably seen a bunch of runners at this point, and to say those comments he probably meant it.

After I passed them, an old saying popped into my head from Alan Theal (Amherst Striders) 

"I'M GOING FISHING"

fish·ing

/ˈfiSHiNG/ 

 

1. the activity of catching fish, either for food or as a sport.

"the area is renowned for its excellent deep-sea fishing"

2. reeling in a slower runner

"the second half of a marathon is ideal to go fishing" 

I must have fished around 10 to 15 runners between the 26km and 32km mark. Every time I passed somebody, there was somebody new in sight. I'm not talking about walkers who had hit the wall, I was passing runners - many of them ended with sub 4h results.

At the 30km mark, I did another check. I'm still feeling incredibly fresh, which honestly did not make sense to me. 

How is it that only 3 weeks prior on my long run with Annie, I was running a 6:00/km pace, and needing to walk and slow down, but today at the 30km mark, my heart rate is at 145 bpm at a 5:20/km pace, and I have zero soreness??

Between 24km and 32km I averaged a 5:24/km pace.

Part 5: Halfway Point

There's a running adage that I read somewhere. The halfway point of the marathon is not 21.1km, but rather 32kms. At 32km I started feeling some soreness on the bottom of my feet, and in my hip flexors, and I slowed down a bit to 5:30/km pace for the 33rd and 34th km. Maybe this is the wall?

Between the 30 and 37km marks, it is a trail out and back. I got to see a lot of the fast runners who were just making their return trip. The sun had properly come out, and temperatures warmed. For the last hour, I started sweating as the sun was beating down on me. To the point where I was deliberately running on the shaded side of the trail. There were a few people that I witnessed stopping and walking - as the course was starting to get warmer, those who had not properly hydrated were feeling the effects.

For a few of the runners, I shout:

"Great job"

"Keep it up"

 "Almost there"

"You got this!"

"Good looking!"

Good looking?!? Maybe I'm the one feeling the effects of exhaustion and dehydration?

It was around the 30km mark that I noticed my mouth was dry and my stomach was feeling woozy from the sugar of the Gatorade (which I took all water stops, and sugary gels at 16km and 30km). After this point I only drank water, and I also took a second cup of water and dumped it on top of my head, which was super refreshing.

The 33.5km was the turnaround point for full marathoners. It's one way to the finish line after that. 

Decelerate to an almost walk...

Turn around the pylon... 

Start running...

Sounds easy right? 

WRONG. 

It was single handedly the toughest part of the entire race. My hips were so tight that they could just not do this simplest maneuver effectively.

After the turnaround, I pass a young guy with big headphones. His name was Barrett. I assumed he would be like every other person I passed for the last 10km and I would drop him like a bad habit - but this guy was different, he sped up behind me and started chatting. He had the goal of going sub 4 hours, and this was his first marathon.

I told him that he is way under 4h pace if he kept it up. 

He and I would trade spots from that point until the very end of the race, both overtaking many runners along the way. 

As we are returning from the out and back section, there is literally an ambulance on the trail tending to a runner. I hope it was nothing serious. We got around the ambulance by running off the trail and kept going. No point in getting in the EMT's way.

Between 32km and 36km I averaged a 5:23/km pace

Part 6: Mission Accomplished

With 6km to go, I had a pretty good idea that I had my goal time in the bag. I probably could have pushed the pace to 5:10 from this point on, but I wanted to just take it all in. 

With about 3 kms to go, it sunk in that I was about to accomplish the greatest athletic feat of my life, and I had a mini ugly cry (better now than at the finish line). At the last water station, I dumped a bunch of water on my head  and wipe my face clean.

I hear a familiar voice "Great job Nick, you look strong - I might have to hire you as a pacer." It was Stanley, and that lifted my already high spirits even higher.

Back over the Railway bridge for the final time, where my brother shows up to run me in to the finish (about 1km to go). As soon as I see him, I let out this loud adrenaline-fueled Viking war-cry. I accelerated for the last kilometer. I asked Mario if Katie and Nora were there, and he said that they were somewhere. During the straight, all I cared about was spotting Katie and Nora, and waving to them. I did not even notice, nor cared that Barrett had sprinted by me. I spot my family, wave to Katie and Nora, my parents, and my mother in law Janet, and then turn my gaze at the finish line to book a stellar finish to top off a near-perfect race. 

Barrett beat me by 1s on gun time, but I have a faster chip time, so I'm claiming victory. 

Experience > Youth

Between 36km and 42.5km I averaged a 5:16/km pace.

I crossed the line at 3:50:22 chip time. That's a marathon PR. 
According to my Garmin and Strava - the second half of this race was my fastest ever recorded half-marathon. That's an unofficial half marathon PR.

Part 7: The Mentee and His Mentors

After the race, the first people I see are Vanessa, and Diane Trites (of the Motivate to Move podcast) who wants a gross, sweaty hug and to congratulate me. 

Next is my family who all came down to congratulate me. Mario and I posed with our medals. I am crouched because my hip flexors no longer work.

Next is Ken MacKenzie who walked over with a huge smile, shook my hand and congratulated me on the amazing job - he even got me a 42.2 bumper sticker.

Kraig Colpitts from Moncton (who podiumed his half-marathon age group) came over to congratulate me as well.

Then Victor and Victoria (of the Striders) cross the line together and I head out to congratulate them with a big strider group, high fives all round. 

Kate from PEI (the half marathoner) had stayed at the start/finish and went out of her way to congratulate me.

Myrna from the Striders approached me and told me that in her heart she believed in me, and knew I could do it. Myrna is a huge reason why I joined the Striders.

Shortly after the race, I got texts from John, Annie, Daniel, Becky, Chris, Sue, and several others who all independently looked up my result online and congratulated me for absolutely crushing it. 

This was such an amazing day, and it meant so much to me to be able to share the day with my running mentors and biggest supporters. From family parent and brother, to my mentors and friends from my days in Halifax, Sackville and now Moncton - thank you! I'm sure that I'm missing some details and important people, but I just wanted to thank all of you for your support and kindness and love. 

Finally a big thank you to Katie who has been there throughout the journey, kept me accountable and supported me for months and years of running. Without her, this would not have been possible. And Nora, you might never remember this race, but I thought of you whenever the race got tough and it made everything easier, thank you for being there on my big day. Love you both with all my heart.

I'm sure there are words of wisdom that I could extract from this journey and condense the experience for you, the reader. You've gotten this far, it's only fair that you get something from it.
Here goes:

• Make friends along the way, those who are genuinely happy for you will help you succeed. 
• Enjoy the experience.
• Believe in yourself.
• Work hard, AND smart.
• Learn from your mistakes.
• If you want to lose weight, run 600km and don't consume carbs.

P.S. I would like to thank Terry and Jo for their amazing hospitality this weekend. Jo went out of her way to get me a light breakfast and share some knowledge that she learned from her siblings (athletic coaches).

Goggins Challenge

 

THE GOGGINS CHALLENGE

You might be wondering, if you're out of the loop...

What is the "Goggins Challenge"?

Why is it worth writing about?

What or who is a Goggins?

Was it actually challenging?

.. among other questions you may have.

DAVID GOGGINS

You may or may not have heard of David Goggins. If you haven't... have you been living under a rock? 
He has over 3.8 million followers on Instagram, and he's been on the Joe Rogan podcast a few times.

(hyperlink below)

David Goggins' has done a bunch of badass accomplishments throughout his life, he's run the Badwater 135 Ultramarathon multiple times, completed Moab 240 (240 mile ultramarathon), is an ex-Navy SEAL, and in 2013 held the Guinness World Record for most pull-ups in a 24 hour period. 
(Among a long, long list of other accomplishments)

Goggins' claim to fame is his motivational speaking, and his message. He preaches mostly that you are able to accomplish way more in life than you think, and that your mind is your biggest obstacle, so you need to train your mind. You do this by voluntarily accepting pain. For example, willing yourself out of bed and not hitting the snooze button would be consistent with this philosophy. 

“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.” - David Goggins

The man swears like a sailor, and has a few key catchphrases.

"Stay Hard"
"Who's gonna carry the boats, son?"
"You don't know me!"

4x4x48 CHALLENGE 

So with that background, let me introduce the Goggins Challenge 4x4x48

The Goggins Challenge is a 48-hour challenge, whereby a person runs 4 miles (6.44km) every 4 hours, for 48 hours. In total, a person completing this challenge would run 48 miles total, or 77.2km.

I'm a big fan of Mr. Goggins, I find him inspiring - and I started reading his book "Can't Hurt me", my brother Mario is also a big fan. 

My thoughts going into the challenge was that it should be fairly easy if properly managed. A 78km weekend is on the high side in terms of mileage, but the ~3 hour breaks should be sufficient to stretch, refuel, etc. to keep me going for the whole distance. I had tweaked my lower back the previous week - and this worried me a bit going into the challenge, but on Friday night I had good mobility.

Goggins started his challenge at 8 PM Pacific time, which meant I started the challenge at Midnight Atlantic. I had also invited my brother to do the challenge with me. He is not a runner, but he said that he would attempt the first 24 hours. 

I also took 3 pages of notes to document the experience. 

SATURDAY: MIDNIGHT

I ate a large bowl of egg/chicken fried rice after work, and took a 3-hour nap. Mario showed up to my house at around 11:45 PM, and we prepped for the first run at midnight. Went on Instagram for Goggins' live video, introducing us to the challenge. Off we went.

Loop 1: Full of optimism

The first loop was reasonably easy - I took the whole week off running, kept it to an easy pace (~6:30min/km)
After about 5km, Mario started complaining about knee pain. We walked for a little bit, ran the rest, and was back home in around 45 minutes. 

I noted that my left calf was a bit tight at the end of the run, temperature outside was -7.5°C, a bit colder with the wind chill, and we did have a strong East-bound wind that hit us on Killam, for about 300 meters. 
When I got back home, I was quite cold, and needed to thaw, so I turned on the propane fireplace. 

4 down, 44 to go.

SATURDAY: 4AM

We had a big buffet of snacks that we had purchased for this challenge (gummy bears, peanut butter M&Ms, Bits n Bites) an assortment of salt, protein, and carbohydrates. We ate some food, drank more water than I felt like was necessary at the time, I did some minor stretching in the areas I thought might tighten up. And quickly off to bed.

*BRRRRRRT BRRRRRT BRRRT*
At 3:45 AM, my phone alarm goes off. I open my eyes, and stay snuggled in, try to look over at Mario who is on the other couch. Neither of us is moving. My body had "just" started thawing to the point where I was comfortable. Neither of us wanted to make the first move and rouse the other one out of sleep. Eventually I said something, and he retorted "it's your challenge". 

We probably got up at 3:53AM, and rushed to the door for the 4:00AM start. 

It was -12°C according to my outdoor thermostat, but it was so much colder than that with the wind chill. We were f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g on this loop. 

Mario also started really having some knee pain. It was evident to me that this was ITBS. That loop we had three intervals of walking, and I could tell that Mario was in bad pain. I totally get it, when I first started running, I had bad ITBS also. The walking breaks did not help with the cold. I wore clothes expecting to move and generate some body heat. I would also never drop Mario in the middle of a loop for my own sake.

We got back home at around 53 minutes, and I stripped, turned on the fireplace and attempted to dry my clothes for the next loop. I showed Mario a few stretches to help with the pain, gave him a therapeutic gun to focus on his glut medius and lower back. 

Casualties...

The worst pain I was suffering at this point was nipple chaffing - not the worst place to be.

I went back to bed, this time with a heating pad.

8 down, 40 to go.

SATURDAY: 8AM

Katie got back home from her night shift, and I think this woke me up - I made myself a protein shake, applied a generous amount of body glide over my nipples (and all other sensitive areas). Mario had elected to sleep in one of the upstairs beds, and by 7:50AM he had still not come downstairs. I went up to get him.

In my best David Goggins impression; "WAKE UP MOTHERFUCKER! WHOS GONNA CARRY THE BOATS"

He was like, "not me" - his knee was totally locked up, and that was the end of his challenge. 

I was mentally tired, physically OK - and this was the first loop in the sun, but also my first solo loop. I thought that the sun might rejuvenate me. The only notes I took for this loop was that it was -11.5°C, and that it was "super windy and cold". There was a 1km stretch where I ran directly against the wind, and it was absolutely soul-suckingly cold. 

The first loop was cold, but the second and third were soul-sucking - I was having some wind burns on my face as a result.

I got back inside the house, sat by the fire, changed underwear, shirt, socks, took a warm shower, brushed teeth, and Katie made me a breakfast sandwich. I think I got 1 hour of sleep in this interloop.

By this time, I started to notice a few people on social media who were doing the Goggins Challenge - on Strava, there were Lindsay McPhee, and Luc Doucet, and we started messaging each other and giving kudos' and "how are you feeling".

Laura Roy from the Amherst Striders also picked up what I was doing, and asked a few questions - she turned out to be my biggest fan throughout the next day. 

12 down, 36 to go. 

SATURDAY: NOON

I woke up from my 1-hour nap. This was the worst I felt throughout the whole 48 hours. Mentally I was so drained and fatigued, I did not want to go out again. Some of my clothes had not completely dried. I checked the weather and it registered -3°C, but in my mind I had convinced myself that though it was -3°C, but probably -20°C with the wind chill, because Murphy's law. 

I started the loop. *This is the proof that running is more mental than physical* - I run/walked this whole loop - I could not sustain a running pace at all despite it being the best physical conditions up to this point. It was nice and warm, sunny, the wind had died down, and I had eaten a meal. I had doubts about being able to complete the challenge at this point - it just felt like the end goal was SO far away.

At the end of this loop, I still had 32 miles left.

I started feeling better by the end of the loop, but still mentally quite tired. My right calf muscle was still straining a tad. 

My lower back was holding up surprisingly well. 

SATURDAY: 4PM

By this time I had established a post-run routine of;

• Eating some sort of leftover food (be it fried rice, pasta, or some other meal that Katie had made, 
• Drink a substantial amount of water, sometimes with Nuun, sometimes not, 
• Stretch my calves, quads and hip flexors, lower back, sometimes use the TheraGun (Wattne)
  
• Dry all of my running stuff by the fireplace or next to the baseboard heater.
• I had a rotation of gloves, toques, running pants, jackets, socks, shirts..
• Try to get some sleep.

Even the slightest wet clothes was uncomfortable in the cold

So I slept about 3 hours, and by this time the body glide was just not working as well as I was hoping - so I took some medical tape and taped over my nipples. Some of my toes were starting to develop minor blisters, so I taped all of the problem areas there.

I was able to manage 3 hours of sleep between noon and 4PM, I didn't feel great when I woke up, but Katie made me a cup of coffee, and within ~10 minutes I was a brand new man!

Elixir of life

The 4PM loop was great. Only -2°C, I was in a great spirits, alert, it was sunny, nice weather. The wind had slowed. I was still feeling stiff in my left calf, probably due to the slant on the road (for drainage) - aside from that I felt really solid for somebody who previously had ran 20 miles. 

SATURDAY: 8PM 

My mom had texted me and asked if I needed company for some of the loops - mom was worried about me, I think.

I would have liked to have her do the midnight loop with me, but I suggested we walk the 8PM loop, because I didn't want her to feel obligated to stay up until Midnight to walk with me. (She 100% would have done it had I asked).  

So we walked the 8PM loop, weather was nice, the sun had set and it was -5°C when we left the house. I elected to wear a new pair of Brooks Ghost that I had purchased, rather than the Hoka Clifton shoe. I thought it might be better for my calf to change the drop.

My body was good, mind was a bit tired, eyes face, and lips showed signs of wind and cold damage. 

Just like that, 24 miles in 24 hours - and I felt pretty good after the first day.
The first few loops were tough, because I didn't really know how to manage all of the variables, but by around this time I had figured out the approximate amount of food, sleep, etc. needed to continue. 

SUNDAY: MIDNIGHT

 I eat another meal (probably pasta), watch the hockey game on TV.

*BRRRRRRT BRRRRRT BRRRT*

And out for another loop. I was reasonably awake for this part, felt good - but the sun had gone down for a while, and I expected the temperatures to dip again. Started the loop at -6°C. I could feel my lips start drying out, my back was a bit sore, but all-in-all it was a good loop without issue. 

SUNDAY: 4AM

I had taken a nice nap, and before I knew it

*BRRRRRRT BRRRRRT BRRRT*

Time for another loop.
At this point, it was an automatic: my phone would go off 15 minutes before the start, I got up, picked out my clothes, dressed and out the door.- No ifs, ands, or buts.

Turned out I forgot to eat a decent amount between, I snacked a bit though. I didn't think this would be a huge issue, but it's never good when you run hungry. I ran pretty good during this loop. Even though I was physically tired, and hungry it went well.

Not freezing is a great motivator.

I noted in my journal that it was "cold but not soul-sucking". It was -9°C

I finished this one in less than 45 minutes. I transitioned very fast, as I wanted to have the maximum sleep. Took a hot shower to "thaw", eat, brush teeth, eat a big meal, snooze.

32 down, 16 to go: 2/3 of the way there!

SUNDAY: 8AM

*BRRRRRRT BRRRRRT BRRRT*

Amazing sleep!!!!

As always, clothes on and out the door. -8°C

I started running, gluts were sore and I was quickly out of breath. I had a sharp pain in my butt, not sure why that was, but I took mental note of it. This loop was a bit more of struggle, physically. Aside from my walking loop with mom, this was the slowest one. 

Mentally I was OK, sun was out and we had another beautiful cloudless day - but I still needed to move. 

I had to solve what was the problem with my butt - so I did a lot of stretches, used Wattne. I didn't sleep on Sunday, Katie made me a coffee early in the morning and this sustained me until the end of the Challenge.

After this run, Laura Roy, who had been commenting on my Strava posts took a screenshot  of my ninth run, and shared to the Amherst Striders. - Cat's out of the bag, I couldn't quit now.

SUNDAY: NOON

 

Sometimes I had a STRONG feeling of not going out again, but whenever it was less than 10 minutes to start, I prepped as always and ended up moving towards the door. The left knee was starting to hurt a bit.  The left side had been taking some damage all throughout the challenge - it's really a function of running on the left side of the street and facing oncoming traffic. 

I fixed the butt issue that had been nagging me during the last loop, and I had a decent 6.4km run. 
It was nice out, and I finally had the sense of confidence that this challenge was going to be successfully completed. 

Only 8 miles to go. 

SUNDAY: 4PM

I had a sense that part of the issue on my left side might have had to do with my body not being used to the 6mm drop shoes (Clifton 7). So I decided to try a different pair, the Brooks Ghost - which is not a shoe I had been super in love with - but have a 10mm drop. 

I hoped that this solved the issue. I have to say, it absolutely did! 

I was in a great mood, even was able to not wear my toque!

SUNDAY: 8PM

Final loop, 

My mom had texted me and asked if I wanted company on the final loop. Yep, I'm not gonna break any records. No problem, let's do this.

The parents arrived home shortly prior to the final run, my only issues are my slightly sore knees. 
It's -5°C outside, and I'm in great spirits - my dad said that he would run with me (mom ended up cleaning the kitchen, including dishes)

We head out, and I'm running in a solid pace for somebody who had already ran 44 miles. 

First mile, I run it at 6:30min/km pace, and I'm feeling great. 
The old man, not so much. 

We then decide on a run 5 minutes, walk 2 minutes intervals. 
Oddly enough, this final loop was faster than most other loops on Sunday, and I had enough legs left to solidly run the last 200m. 

Done! 

I had an amazing sleep, 30 minutes later. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

The challenge was very difficult for me - the toughest aspect was the mental piece, for a few reasons:

1. Very limited sleep overall, you're reduced to ~3 hours to get in food, drink, sleep, stretch, foam roll, prepare for next loop.
   
   
2. At night where I live, it was cold, very cold with wind chill. Voluntarily putting myself through that was difficult, and my brain sometimes just did not want.
   
   
3. Getting out of bed when I was super cozy ~8 times in 48 hours was tough. 

Physically, if you've done a half-ironman, possibly if you've done even a half marathon, you should be able to complete this challenge. As long as you are reasonably prepared with food and hydration, and you properly stretch and foam roll between laps.

I don't have a treadmill or any way to do indoor activities, I suspect indoor loops would make  this challenge easier, especially during the winter

I learned a lot about myself during this experience, and I think it was a good way to train for an ultramarathon. I learned a lot about food intake, and how to "feel fresh" when I'm not fresh. I learned that I had way more in the tank than I thought. The last loop I ran with my dad - and I could have dropped him as a "pacer". I also learned that if you change shoes from a 6mm drop to a 10mm drop, that you stress different parts of your legs. It really gave me confidence moving forward as an ultrarunner.

A lot of success in ultrarunning is problem-solving on the fly, this provided me an opportunity to do exactly that, but where you have a bit more time to solve the physical issues, while at the same time going through the mental and emotional problems that came with the challenge.

David Goggins' whole philosophy is about training your mind. Once you do that, you can push yourself in a more focused way. I would say that this challenge did exactly that. Mentally, this was one of the toughest things I've ever done, but physically I was perfectly fine. I look forward to do this challenge again in the future, and also complete other unique challenges (12-hour/24-hour, 50 miler, and perhaps even a 100 miler one day). For some reason, I feel more confident when faced with adversity. I don't know if that's temporary or not, but time will tell. 

 You are confined only by the walls you build yourself. 

– Andrew Murphy

Update:
Shortly after the event, John Leygraaf and Diane Trites interviewed me on their Motivate to Move Podcast. Below is that episode.