The Tartan hOttawa International Marathon

 

“Oh you’re doing Ottawa? I heard it can sometimes be hot.” – guy at work

A personal best was within the realm of possible on May 28. But it would not be easy.

 

The lead-up

Last year I ran the Fredericton Marathon in 3:50:22, on a low-carb diet [keto], following the John Stanton (Running Room) training plan. The goal this year is to beat that time. This year I took a different approach to training – I thought it was important to add new data points, test out new techniques and strategies and see what works best for me.

1.       Strength Program: Twice per week strength training. (I got good at Bulgarian split-squats)

2.       Diet: High-quality carbs, and high-carb diet.

3.       Plan: The Garmin Intermediate/Advanced Marathon plan.

The training up to the race weekend was positive– though I struggled a bit to complete some of the long-runs earlier in the training plan in March and April, the twice-per-week speedwork indicated that I was improving speed significantly over time.

Here’s my progression of top 3 all-time 5k and 10k times according to Strava. These paces started to feel comfortable and sustainable by the end of the training plan, and were not “Time Trials”.

Date	5 KM Time	10 KM Time
March 18	23:36
March 21	22:44	50:05
March 28	23:06
April 6		49:09
April 19		49:43
April 23		48:17
April 27	22:23
May 18	22:15

 

I was confident in my abilities to run a PB, so much so that I reached out to Stan Sarty of the True North Pacers and asked if I could be the pace bunny for the 4hr marathon in Fredericton on May 14^th, this would give me the required final long run in “race simulated conditions”, and still allow me to have a 2-week taper for Ottawa.

Something unexpected happened in Fredericton. Though I had eaten, hydrated, and tapered properly for that event, my heart rate immediately jumped to around 170 beats per minute (bpm) within the first two kilometers.

To put that into context, a week prior I had done a threshold workout and never exceeded 165 bpm.  Similarly, my last long run (32km) prior to Fredericton had an average heart rate of ~160bpm on a warm day. Something was off.  

During the Fredericton event, I was able to converse with the other pace bunny (Amanda) for the first half, and a few other runners; Derrick, Roy, Boyd, Dawn during the second half. My heart rate remained high throughout the 4 hours, but my perceived exhaustion was moderate. The two were not matching up, and I really cannot explain to you why this was the case.

Picture of Roy Banks and myself at Fredericton.
When Roy saw me at 35km in Fredericton, he said "oh fuck, it's you..".

I nonetheless was able to pace a successful marathon at 3:59:53 (my 2^nd fastest marathon to date) and my first black toenail of 2023 😊.  I unfortunately developed a slight hip injury during the event, which was completely new to me.

After Fredericton, I entered a 2-week taper, aiming for a PB in Ottawa.

 

Look ma! I'm famous!

Ottawa: Pre-Race

Ottawa’s weather throughout the month of May was quite favourable for a Marathon. Unfortunately for the 30,000 participants, the weather on May 27^th-28^th weekend would be the hot with moderate humidity and no overcast conditions. Despite the forecast, I still thought a 3:40-3:45 marathon was possible.

One week prior to race day, my daughter brings home a cold from somewhere, which I caught. I recovered pretty quickly, but had some lingering upper-respiratory issues for the rest of the week.

We packed up the tiny human for a family road trip to Ottawa and arrived midday on Friday to our gracious hosts Tim and Lindsay ‘s house – just in time for a fairy-themed birthday party!

Ottawa was insanely busy on Saturday. With the Ottawa Race Weekend, an Athlético Ottawa soccer game and the Great Glebe garage sale occurring at the same time - we had to park the car a 15-minute walk from the Expo. Headed to the Aberdeen pavilion to grab the bib and shirt, purchased some race-day fuel and checked out other cool things at the expo.

I stayed overnight at my long-time friends’ place, Jérémie and Marie live ~2.5km from the race start, which was a convenient location – we had some baked potatoes and pork chops and went to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour. In the morning I had a light breakfast of banana, egg, and chocolate milk, and walked/jogged to the race start which would give me a little warmup.

Here’s the mandatory picture of “flat Nick”:

For every long-run during training, including the Fredericton Marathon, I ran in the HOKA Clifton 8 shoe, but every speedwork day I ran in the HOKA Mach 4s. Therefore my Mach 4s were my “fast shoe” and I elected them over a more supportive shoe for this event.

During the walk/run warmup I noticed that my heart rate was doing that weird thing again - a light jog would spike it to ~150bpm, I thought it might just be pre-race jitters, but I still found it odd. The temperature at 6:00am was warm – I was wearing a singlet and shorts but was nonetheless comfortable outside. Temperatures were probably already in the high-teens with high humidity.

At 7:00am elite marathoners were set to start, the MC reminded us to adjust our goals based on the heat.

Fuck that, I'm PBing this MFer.

Goals should scare you a little and excite you a lot. – Joe Vitale

Here were my adjusted goals for the day:

A.      3:40 marathon – 5:13/km (probably doable on a good day, difficult on a hot day)

B.      3:50:21 – 5:27/km (this would be a new personal best for me)

C.      Finish

I had already secured a sub-4h marathon in 2023, and “finishing respectably” did not align with my mentality for this event, I was a bit scared and excited of my goals.

So PB or bust.

The energy in the crowd was a mixture of exuberant and excited early-bird marathoners, and a somewhat sedated humdrum of “what am I doing awake at 7:00AM” night owls. However, by the time the hype-man was done his thing with the national anthem, the woos from the crowd, and the corral comprised of +3000 organizing itself amongst the pace bunnies – the energy naturally reached its crescendo.

 

Race Start

At 7:00 on the dot, the elites were off!

Everybody moved forward a bit, and a minute later the next wave of athletes was off. I was in the third or fourth wave and we started at 7:04AM.

Thus started my second marathon in the month of May, henceforth named Mayrathon.

The immediate difference between Fredericton and Ottawa is the sheer number of people. I started on the far-right side of a jam-packed starting corral (a veteran move). We took a 90 degree right-hand turn on Elgin, towards the National War Memorial for 300m, forked right across the Rideau Bridge, and another right towards the other side of the Rideau Canal. This early in the marathon, everybody is running at the same speed, tightly packed. I was in a group running ~5:20/km pace for the first one. The 3:45 pacers were ahead of me by a little bit, and I tried to maintain pace with them, but the congestion made it difficult. Even this early in the event, people were slowing down to their natural pace.

This weaving and darting around people went on for about 3.5km, then it started to string out where I had my own “lane” to run. I averaged about a 5:13 for the first 3kms, and my heart rate went to ~175 immediately. I was once again confused about this – HR did not seem to line up with effort or pace zones. In Fredericton I was able to complete the full at this heart rate, so I thought maybe it just try to see if I can maintain it for another 3 more hours.

Early-on I was feeling OK.

Some days you feel fantastic, other days are meh. Today was a “just OK” day. My pace felt more difficult than it “should” feel over the first 5km, but still sustainable. One of the things I had considered was to deliberately run faster in the first half while temperatures were “cooler”, and then go into a “low grind” mode when the heat started to affect me. I ran the first 5kms in 26:13 for a pace of 5:14/km. I was close to the 3:45 pace bunny for the first 5kms, which I thought was odd, since he was basically running a 3:40 marathon pace.

There was quite a bit of congestion behind the pace bunny, but in front of him was nothing. He was like that guy who holds up traffic in a one-lane rural road. Once I passed him I was clear to go at whatever pace I wanted. There were a few scattered individuals running ahead. Nearing the 6-7km mark the side-roads opened up more for spectators I took a GU + Roctane here. To the left was Dows lake, the course made us do a few quick turns and we started into a residential area. This was where the real cheering began. Kids giving hi-fives, posters, bells ringing. Both sides of the road lined with people cheering runners along – the first misting station. So many external distractions, I got carried away. Some kid yelled out “I like your moustache!” The next 5km were at 5:05/km pace 25:30 – great pace for perfect weather, but this was not perfect weather, it was not even “good” weather.

I had an inkling that I was working too hard this early in the race. It was warm AND humid. Typically sweat will somewhat evaporate on warm days, but my arms were dripping as my sweat pooled into droplets – my body was not able to cool itself off properly. Early-on I made the decision to cool myself off as much as possible, whenever possible: run through the misting stations, pour water over my head and down my pants, make sure to drink a cup of water and a cup of Nuun at every water stop. My heart rate also did not “stabilize” as I had hoped it would – that may or may not be a function of effort and heat.

I knew that running at “marathon pace” should feel somewhat hard, so I pressed on. The next 5kms had us run downhill on Elm, and on what looked like a bridge on Booth St. – I incorrectly thought we had passed over to the Gatineau side. At 11km was the XACT Nutrition station. I grabbed one of their bars, opened it and ate it over the next few kms. We turned left on the Sir John A MacDonald Parkway. My Garmin and Strava are showing me that this was a pretty flat 3-4km, but I am convinced that this was a steady incline – it felt like I was running up a hill. I was running with the 6-10 people surrounding me, and not at my own pace. My right hip that I somewhat injured during Fredericton started acting up at around 13km – I had trouble lifting my right leg as high as my left one, and after 14km, my pace started slowing as a result. You would not guess it by the timing mat that I was already struggling. My 3^rd 5km split was at a 5:02/km pace for 25:14.

We turned onto the Champlain Bridge to cross into “La belle province”, then turned right, into a little road that was had some nice tree cover. A runner in front of me stopped and laid down on the grass next to the medical staff, which I had to dodge. I started to feel the heat of the day slowly creep up around the time I crossed the UQO campus (suspiciously empty). My Garmin indicates that it climbed to 28°C (though I question the accuracy of the Garmin’s thermometer). My pace was already affected by my hip problems, but the heat added on top was not something I was prepared for. 

I ran through the misting tent at around ~17km and started walking through the water station at 18km. I was really starting to feel the heat, and it was affecting me more than I thought it would. Moving between 18 km and the half marathon was a real grind, but I was nonetheless still capable of moving. I crossed the half-marathon point at 1:52:22, which technically makes it my fastest half-marathon. That is unfortunately the extent of the “good news” from the Ottawa Race Weekend.

 

DON’T DNF

The “race” after this went into survival mode, and rather quickly. I bargained with myself that I could still do a sub-4:00 marathon. I know I am quite capable of running a 2:07 half marathon, and so I allowed myself to run slow and take the time to re-fuel with another XACT Nutrition bar at 22km and water + nuun. The water had been sitting in hot plastic bottles and it tasted like it - nasty. The Nuun electrolyte mix masked the awful taste. 

Thus the new on-the-fly hydration strategy was to drink all the Nuun, dump water on head and down pants.

We ran into some of Gatineau’s main streets, Montcalm, Wellington, Eddy, and du Portage, Laurier, etc. – the concrete structures trapped the heat – it just felt warm everywhere. I was doing a run/walk combination and was not moving efficiently. Between the 21.5 to 25km I got passed by the 3:45 and 3:50 pace bunnies, and somewhere between 25km and 30km I got passed by the 4hr pace bunny. "Oh fuck, it's you..." I get it Roy! I tried to muster the will to stick with this one, but I was not capable of maintaining a sustained pace without feeling extremely fatigued. On the plus side, my hip did not hurt as much when walking. Unfortunately I had burned way too many matches, too early - and I was suffering from the effects.

If I recall correctly, it was near Alexandra Bridge 25km -27km that I had given up trying to run for time and just focused on finishing, (luckily for me) just in front of the first race photographer of the day. It was near here that two separate individuals patted my back and told me to “get moving”. They both looked “hardcore” types. One of them had a biker bandana and was ripped, the other one was taller and thin, but had neck tattoos. After a few minutes of feeling sorry for myself I started running and witnessed both of these guys walking, and returned the favour of encouraging them to run. I suspected that we all made the same mistake of starting too fast. For the next ~10kms we would trade spots as we all ran/walked.

 As we turned left on Sussex, the crowds lining up both sides of the street grew denser. I could see some of the sub-elites returning from their loop of Rockcliffe Park, and into the final ~4kms of their race. It truly baffled me how they could be running so hard in this heat. By this time the temperatures were still climbing, up to the high 20s, and Sussex Drive is extremely exposed. Though the run was now a mix of run/walk, the loop around Rockcliffe Park was a really nice relief from the “city” marathon. I think we ran in front of a few embassies (I remember Germany and Japan embassies had some great cheering) and other random cheering sections setup by people who I assume just like to party. This area was shielded by trees, and we had a nice breeze on the far side coming off of the Ottawa River. Near the 32km mark my buddy Jérémie found me and was a one-man cheering section, “Top 3 athlete!!!!”, “You’re a legend Nick!!”.  He took a few videos and pictures of me (clearly struggling) - and I ran over to him and said “my race totally blew up, heat got to me”, though I’d like to think I still had a smile on my face.

The details kind of get fuzzy after around this point.

For the next 10km, Jer would bike along the course and cheer me on at various points – and even met up with me at the end he was worth 1000s of cheering fans.

Jer doesn't know it yet, but he will be a marathoner one day. 

Back to the racecourse... Shortly after seeing Jer was a wet towel station. It was rejuvenating to squeeze a cold and wet facecloth on top of my head, and wipe off all the accumulated salt from my arms and face. Every time I jumped into a misting station or dumped water on myself, it gave me a short jolt of energy. Though I was run/walking most of this last section, it didn’t prevent me from accepting small freezies from random strangers - a lesson I will teach Nora not to do. 

Do as I say, Nora, not as I do. 

We then ran through another residential area with people cheering loudly on both sides of the streets. Several people with their garden hoses pointed at the street to help runners cool down. They probably pitied us fools - hope the water bill isn't too expensive.

By the time the 4:10, and then the 4:15, and eventually the 4:20 pace bunny caught up to me, I started talking to a guy next to me who was also walking – we were both looking backwards, fearing the 4:25 pacer. We both were not having the race we wanted. I think talking with people at events like this just gives me back a bit of energy, and so I went for a bit of an easy run, the “run” portion of my “ralk/run” got a tiny bit longer – and I was no longer in “despair” mode. We came back up on Sussex Drive for the final 5km of the race, and across the road going towards the Rockcliffe Park section were two Amherst Striders, Rae and Shawna, who spotted me from a distance screamed and waived. I waived back (cause I'm a nice guy!).

At the 38km mark, I was just trying to soak in everything, enjoy the loud cheers, the scenery and the architecture – as we came back in the downtown core. A horde of half-marathoners had joined us, and I got swept away in the large crowd.

Small and consistent steps.

For the last 4km I basically just tried not to run into anybody, keep moving forward, and not get into anybody’s way. It was a dense crowd of people running. Both sides of the road were packed with people cheering. I tried to continue to run with the half marathoners, but I was not able to sustain it for long. My heart rate would climb to concerning levels with the smallest of efforts and I was already focused on minimalizing damage so that I can recover quickly. My feet were hurting, everything was uncomfortable. I ran/walked the downtown Ottawa core, along the Rideau Canal. We turned right onto the Pretoria Bridge in the final 1.5km, I thought to myself I can run the last little bit without needing to walk. I did just that, with a ~6:00/km pace for the final mile of the event.

I finally see the finish line. 

Elation. I can finally take a break. 

My body exhausted, arms outstretched at the finish line in 4:24:42 –  happy to have persevered for as long as I did when quitting could have been such easy option when my race went south.

POST RACE 

Once done I could relax, started doing the post-marathon penguin walk to receive my medals and care package. I had to sit down two or three times to be able to muster up the strength to continue moving. I laid down on the grass for a few minutes, and would not bend my knees (I could feel a cramp coming up if I did). Met up with Katie, Jer and Nora after the race, apologized for taking so long. My feet were killing me, because my "fast" shoes have very little toe room.

THANK YOU

To Stan and the True North Pacing, for letting me be a part of the pacing community.

To Tyson who developed a strength program and advice on nutrition.

To our gracious hosts for the weekend Tim and Lindsay. It’s been way too long since we’ve seen each other.

To Jer and Marie, who entertained me on Saturday night and let me spend the night – you guys are awesome. And to my fabulous impressionable photographer and personal cheer section, Jérémie for the support. 

To the grandparents who looked after Nora when I needed to do my long runs.

And to my wonderful wife Katie and to Nora for being my inspiration. For being supportive and encouraging me even when things sucked.
You are the best.

Thank you all for your kindness, generosity, and support.

 

Below are the official split times for the marathon.

SPLIT NAME	SPLIT DISTANCE	SPLIT TIME	PACE	DISTANCE	RACE TIME	OVERALL (/3156)	GENDER (/2141)	CATEGORY (/323)	TIME OF DAY
@5	5 km	00:26:13	5:14/km	5 km	00:26:13	964	798	129	07:30:34
@10	5 km	00:25:30	5:05/km	10 km	00:51:42	899	744	125	07:56:04
@15	5 km	00:25:14	5:02/km	15 km	01:16:56	915	756	128	08:21:17
@21.1	6.09 km	00:35:26	5:48/km	21.09 km	01:52:22	1106	896	143	08:56:43
@25	3.9 km	00:25:18	6:28/km	25 km	02:17:39	1236	991	157	09:22:01
@30	5 km	00:35:15	7:02/km	30 km	02:52:53	1443	1120	182	09:57:15
@35	5 km	00:39:47	7:57/km	35 km	03:32:40	1551	1173	192	10:37:02
@40	5 km	00:36:53	7:22/km	40 km	04:09:32	1569	1168	191	11:13:54
@42.2	2.19 km	00:15:11	6:54/km	42.2 km	04:24:42	1565	1165	189	11:29:04
TIME		04:24:41.1	6:16/km	42.2 km	04:24:41.1	1565	1165	189	11:29:04

 

LESSONS MOVING FORWARD

A few more lessons for this time around:

Idiot Decisions

1. Running a marathon two weeks before a marathon is foolish and may lead to injury (case in point).
2. Adjust expectations according to heat and heat training.
3. Nothing new on race day: XACT Nutrition

Preparation

1. Follow a plan that lines up with abilities. The plan and pace zones I set for myself were too aggressive, and it was evidenced by my long runs suffering. 
2. Build a stronger aerobic base. Keep the majority of runs in the sub-145 heart rate zone, bike at low gear or walk if you must. 
3. Nutrition: The low-carb diet last year helped build a strong metabolic base reliant on fats rather than carbs, and in-event energy levels this year was more reliant on ingested carbs. 
4. If you do the Ottawa Marathon, come in expecting heat and pray for reasonable.
5. Strength training helped.

Unexpected

1. Nobody seems to talk in big city marathons, come in expecting to not talk to anybody.
2. There are so many things: from architecture, to people, to water station, misting stations, toweling stations, cheering people, etc. that it’s easy to get distracted and lose sight and run beyond your capabilities.
3. The race “felt” longer as a result of 2). 
4. Need to figure out the heart rate thing - I think it's based on overtraining and pre-race stress, which includes the cold Nora gave me, but I am not 100% on that. 

  

Chiggy Ultra - To Hell and Back Again

To Hell and Back Again

An Adventure in Cape Chignecto

Ever since I started trail running, I have wanted to complete the loop of Cape Chignecto Park. I missed my opportunity in 2019 at Capes 100 - and the subsequent Covid years made it difficult to travel and organize a trip out to Advocate Harbour.

The Chiggy Ultra was unlikely for this year, mainly because I already had a schedule of big runs in 2022 (Fredericton Marathon, Keji's Backyard, Capes 100), and I would be taking over on paternity leave, and there could be a scheduling conflict.

After a series of phone calls and logistics to find Nora a babysitter for a few days (grandparents), the race was a go!

I signed up to the event a bit under trained. My training consisted mainly of walking and running with the stroller, the odd trail run, and hoping the residual fitness from my August race kicked in.

Pre Race: A Comedy of Errors

After having dropped off the baby to her grandparents, quickly organizing my gear, driving the two hours to West Advocate to the Cape Chignecto Provincial Park, and registering for the race, I needed to get some calories in me; ordered a pizza from a local pizza shop - the pizza was undercooked, and it did not smell "fresh". After eating a few slices, I got a bit paranoid that eating more of this would lead to stomach issues and ended up not "carb loading" as much as I would have liked. I slept in my car the night before the race, and I didn't have the best night's sleep, because... I'm sleeping in the back of my car, and I'm not 20 years old. The next morning, I pour myself a bowl of cereal and milk, and in my haste packing for the trip I forgot a spoon - so I'm eating wet Cheerios with my hands. 

All in all, it was a great start to the day.

I drove the 5 minutes from my campground to the race start. 

It was warm for an October morning, a crisp 12°C - warm enough to ditch the jacket once we started moving. I hung around the start area, chatted with a few folks I knew waiting for the 7:00AM start to the race. 

John, one of the Race Directors started us off by reading us the runner's creed as written by Deb and John - which was a pretty neat touch to the event.

The Runner's Creed

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Ran on every trail twice

Hugged everyone once 

Seen porcupines stuck

Fought off three hungry bears 

And I know a man in Spensor's Island with a dog named Willy

I climbed more vert, got dirt on my shirt, more than any dirty vert climber around. 

I've a scarred body, never rested, sleepy, weepy, creepy, stiff legged, hallucinating, double salt tabs, trail running dirtbag.

There isn't a trail I'll say no to.

No vert too steep, no rain too hard, no descent too rough. 

Been in a lot of pain caves in my life.

Never attack a large hill with a small attitude. 

Wore all kinds of Bois in my life. Phatt Bois, Flat Bois, Toed Bois and those nasty Bois with Goat Spikes screwed in to keep me topside on icy trails. 

Any hill in life worth running up is worth doing repeats on.

I'm a lover, I'm a fighter, I'm a day or night badass trail runner. 

I'll drink beer, persevere and sneak out the back door when my work is done.

So if you are feeling antsy then you'd better run because this trail runner's been there, done that and going back for more. 

Cheers guys

Deb and John Collicott

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

To Hell - 0km - 0h00

Off we went to the races. 

In one large group of 50km hopefuls, we ran the first few kilometers with a few of the faster runners gapping the rest of the field. 

The race consisted of 1 or 2 kms on the main Cape Chignecto trail, a 5 km loop of McGahey Brook Canyon Trail, and then remainder of the run was on the main 45km loop of the Provincial park.

I got into a group at a pace I thought was slightly more aggressive than I should have ran, but it was a pace that I was certainly capable of maintaining. This being early morning, I was not chatting with anybody just yet -  we went down and up the main trail road, up, and up, and up we went... some people were running up this hill, which was totally runnable. I decided to walk it, as I was not quite warmed up, and I don't typically run the hills during ultras.

Our group took a right hand turn, following the "Jackhammer" signs, crossed a small stream onto the single track. I was 5th in a train of 6 or so runners, and we were definitely in the first 1/3 of the field. The single track had a few muddy sections, but I counted my blessings that I was not in the last 1/3 of the field,  as I suspected they would be running on flattened, wetter, worn trails. This first 5km had some nice, flowy trails - and we ran most of it. At some point we came across a hairpin section of the trail and we were able to see the group ahead - they had no more than 200 meters on us. We completely dropped the group behind.

We had a nice rhythm going, and soon after I started chatting with some of the folks around me. Josh from Fredericton was running his first marathon+ distance, Bobby from Digby was also there, and a few women were pacing us. 

After a while, we hit a long descent - which allowed me to open up on my group. I quickly made work of this downhill section, passed 3 or 4 runners, and rejoined the main Chignecto Trail. Next was a long uphill section, one woman with black hair passed me on the uphill. I did not have poles with me to start the race, so I expected to be passed on the ups and fast on the downs. Similar story to Capes.

I struggled a bit more on the uphills than I expected to, but that's evidently because of my lack of training on hills since Capes. 

At some point, the woman in black hair moved ahead up the mountain and out of sight, and I needed to pee. I got to a 4-way junction with no signage, was unsure where to go next, and decided to pee while waiting for the next runners to show me the way.

I ran with Mark(?) and Josh for a while, for a few kilometers, eating a package of honey stinger gummies and banana baby smoothie. This section had a few trees that had fallen from hurricane Fiona, but the park staff did an awesome job clearing them from the trail. At some point we caught up to some of the slower 2 and 3 loopers. The three of us were moving well and even caught up to the woman in black hair on the flat sections. At some point, we hit a downhill slope, both Mark and Josh had a history of knee injuries, and they needed to take the downhills pretty easily I moved ahead and soloed it. 

The next 6 or so kilometers followed along a narrow stream that we crossed a few times. I rode this part solo - I looked behind and ahead and not a soul was seen and I worried briefly that I took a wrong turn. Alongside the main trail, there were distance markers at every kilometer, and soon after I thought I might have been lost was a marker indicating I was going the right way. Chignecto has many beautiful sights looking out the Bay of Fundy, but this was by far my favorite part of the course. The forest floor was littered with fallen autumn leaves, the stream of water to my right, barely any roots to trip me up. My idyllic running setting.

I had not studied the course map, but I knew that the first aid station was at around 14 and 16kms. I must be getting there soon...

Eatonville Aid Station - 16km - 2h20

Just before reaching the aid station, Ryan (a person who was at the same campground as me) caught up to me and asked me if the girl he was with had passed me (the answer was no). We entered the Eatonville aid station together at 16.5km, around 2h20 into the race. Anthony Fromm was one of the volunteers - I said hi to Tony, got my bottles filled with water, grabbed some Oreos. I had my drop bag at Eatonville, in it was a Gatorade bottle, my poles, extra pair of shoes, etc. I thought the trails so far were pretty runnable and elected to not grab my poles - also drank most of my Gatorade because I thought I needed the calories. I quickly turned it around at the aid station, recognized Emilie - a runner from Moncton - on my way out amongst the several runners into the aid station. 

Still feeling fresh from the aid station, I booked it down Eatonville road,  through the parking lot, across the field, and onto the single track once more. I passed a group of three runners (two and three loopers that started an hour earlier), and started out on a climb. Midway through what should have been an easy climb, I started to have some stomach issues and slowed it down a bit. A guy who was looking very strong passed me on the way up. I got caught by Bobby from Digby and ran and chatted with him for about half a kilometer, but I was not feeling great and told him to go ahead. It was likely the Gatorade that made me feel woozy - and I decided to take it a bit easy for a little while until I felt better. The muddy parts started... they would show up sporadically every 200 to 300 meters, and it was tough to get into any kind of rhythm. 

Completely out of the blue, both quads started to cramp, at first it was a small niggle, but after about 5 minutes of slight cramping, they both went into full cramp mode. At kilometer 22, I was walking on a nice single track, and every step felt weird. 

left, right, left, right, 
cramp, cramp, cramp, cramp...

What the hell is this?!?

I got passed by many people, including Emilie, Ryan, and finally Blair Mann. 

Blair was looking strong and briefly stuck with me to recommend making sure to drink enough water and get enough salt. I took the veteran runner's advice to heart and added another Nuun tab in my water bottle. I was not moving great, but I could still walk - luckily the rest of the field was probably moving slowly also because of the constant muddy parts around every turn. By the 24th kilometer I looked at my map to see if there was an easy way to quit (there was not). Still another 6 or 7km to the Big Bald aid station. I will definitely quit there.

Every step was painful. The quads were not firing correctly, and thus my coordination was lacking. I inadvertently stepped in very muddy areas and got my feet soaked with water. My only solace, the only thing that took my mind off the pain was looking for the distance markers on the course, slowly counting down from 34, 33, 32, 31... and the beeping of my watch after every 1000 meters. 

Many runners had passed me during this section, most just ran by. One runner with a PEI flag has stopped and chatted with me for a while to try and improve my spirit, she seemed like she was in a great place mentally herself. My mood somewhat improved, but I was still feeling awful physically. I was taking so much time to hear my watch beep between every kilometer - 12, and 14 and 16 minute kilometers. I went through all of my water, and the only liquid I had on me was a full bottle of Gatorade (yuck) in my backpack. The last thing I wanted to drink today was Gatorade, but it was the only thing I had.

At some point around kilometer 29 or 30 - I was alone and looking at my feet, following the trail ahead of me. Crossed a small stream, and somehow I got lost. I followed what I thought was the trail but the "trail" that I had followed was unused. Odd, I thought to myself, that all of these trees are leaning towards the main trail, and there are fewer and fewer footsteps on the ground. I turned around to try and find the way back "this can't be the right way" and there were no trails. I bushwhacked about 50 meters and found the trail again - but I didn't know which direction was the right one, so I waited until the next people on the trail to show me the way. This event sort of reinvigorated me for a few seconds - I don't want to be lost in the middle of these woods. Luckily, I didn't wait long, as a group of hikers with a dog came up from my left within the next 30 seconds. "Is this the way?" I asked. 

Hobbling along the coast, I figured I couldn't be too far away from the next aid station - should be around the corner. My stomach went sort of south again because of the second bottle of Gatorade. One runner came up from be behind me - Josh from Fredericton again - his IT band was bugging him at this point, so the both of us hobbled along the trail - he luckily had some poles with him to assist, and we worked together for the next 10 or so minutes into the Big Bald aid station.

Big Bald Aid Station - 30.5km - 5h45

"How are you feeling?" asked the aid station crew from the patio. 
"Like absolute dogshit"

It took me nearly 3 and a half hours to cover the 14 kilometers between the first and second aid station - and there was barely any elevation. There were a few small hills, some ups and some downs - but nothing too bad in terms of elevation. The trails had been muddy and rooty. The downhills were painful on the quads, and the salt tabs barely helped. My poor planning and slow speed forced my hand to drink more Gatorade, and my stomach was feeling awful again. One issue led to another, which led to another.

Josh was feeling better than me, and a few other runners were leaving and wishing us good luck. 
Octave - a runner with whom Josh had been running the last section came in, with a positive attitude. 

I sat on the step for a few minutes - contemplating quitting. Looking for any sign of a vehicle, but there were none, and I briefly abandoned the idea of quitting.

I refilled my bottles with water, added another Nuun tab - went inside to eat some chips, got some Coke. I also changed my socks. I had an extra pair of socks in my Salomon backpack, but unfortunately I sweat so much that the socks were damp - still better than then ones I had on my feet. 

Josh and Octave were getting ready to leave, and I got to talking with them through the aid station - I figured if I was going to move on, it would have to be with a group. The three of us set off down the hill, approximately 12.5 more kilometers until the next one. 

Now that I had a group to hike/run with, I felt confident that I could at least distract myself long enough to not suffer as much as the last section. Both Octave and Josh had poles with them, and they seemed to be navigating all of the muddy bits better than me by leaning on their poles and helping themselves balance. I was ruing not having grabbed the poles from my drop bag at km 16. We made some slow progress - Octave was saying that he wanted to keep his legs fresh for the "runnable" sections which we should start to see eventually. For a good chunk of these, we were averaging 11 and 12 minute kilometers, which was an improvement on the past section, but still not great. 

Octave pointed to an island in the distance - it was a waypoint from which we could mark our progress along the coast. The three of us took the lead at various points during the next section - running when we could, walking when we had to, and hobbling when it hurt. At some point I had to tie my shoes and after I looked up, both of them were way ahead - it took a few minutes for me to catch up. We passed a woman that Josh knew (presumably from Fredericton), and he dropped back to chat with her. I thought we had dropped him for good, but he caught up to us on a climb. Octave mentioned that he thought Josh probably is done running due to the IT band issue. My quads were still really hurting on the descents, but I was feeling fine on the climbs. At some point - presumably because of the growing foot and quad pain for the last hours, I also developed a very sharp pain in the back of my knee that worried me, but it only hurt when I bent my knee on uphills. If bending your knee hurts, then don't bend your knee, I thought.

After a while, I took the lead of the group.

It came up during many conversations at this race, not only with Octave and Josh, but also with Emilie, and possibly with Roy Banks pre-race. Everybody made mention of two climbs; Mill Brook, and Refugee Cove. 

First up was Refugee Cove. 

Once we hit the valley looking out onto the Cove, it was apparent that it was going to hurt. We were atop the western border of the valley - we would run downhill on singletrack, only to cross a bridge, and go back uphill on a doubletrack (service road). 

I was leading our group on the descent, and every step was agony - the quads started to burn more and more with each passing second. I couldn't even go fast for risk of losing control. On the downhill shuffle, my toes were slamming in the front of my shoes, each step more and more painful. My big toes were pulsing. The ground flattened at the bottom of the descent, and I took a second to re-tie my shoelace - this time I used the heel-lock function on the shoe to hopefully save what might remain of my toenails' integrity. Looked behind me, and there was no sign of Octave or Josh. 

I figured that the aid station was close by, and I was low on water again - so I pushed on. They both had poles and I thought they might catch up on the next uphill anyhow. Crossing a bridge across the cove, and then a short, flat section, turn, and there's the "gnarly uphill". Refugee Climb towards Arch Gulch climb was no joke. It went on and on as far as the eye could see, but the incline was manageable. After about 200 meters up, I saw both Octave and Josh working together behind me at the bottom of the hill. Rather than taking long, slow steps on the uphill, my knee only let me take small, shuffling ones - thankfully unlike the quads and feet that were hurting on both sides, only one knee was bugging me.

It felt like a long time, climbing at a steady incline, up ahead it looked like the trail would get steeper and steeper, but once I got to that point, if felt the same as always. I finally hit a flat spot on the top of the climb, and took a few seconds to catch my breath, and FINALLY, some runnable trails. It was slow moving, but I was running again - thinking to myself that it's not far to the aid station...

Up ahead, I heard some voices, and I thought I saw a cabin, but upon closer inspection, it was a bunch of spraypainted trees. Were the voices imagined too? I kept moving along this trail and just a few 100 meters further was the aid station. 

Arch Gulch Aid Station - 43km - 8h45

The unofficial photographer of Chiggy Ultra, Roy Banks was taking pictures as runners entered the aid station. I told Roy that if he caught a smile from me, it'll be the first one I've cracked all day.

I filled up both water bottles, grabbed some Coke, probably whined a whole bunch to the aid station crew, and sat down - waiting for Octave and Josh. 

After a few minutes and chowing down on an Oreo, we heard a few voices - obviously two runners talking to each other. I was expecting Octave and Josh, but it was not them.

Mat Sabinski and Stuart Thompson, came into the aid station looking pretty chipper. I asked about Octave and Josh, and they said that one of them didn't look too good and was slow moving.

These two were all business in the station - Stuart was planning on 3 loops, and he seemed in control. They were in and out pretty quickly, and I figured it would be an opportunity for me to tag along a few strong runners. A positive mindset can be pretty infectious. 

We took off from the aid station jogging. As we leave, Octave and Josh come in, I wish them both good luck and high five both. We kept that pace for the remainder of the flat trails. They were running faster than what was comfortable for me, but I held on. It was only 8.5km from Arch Gulch aid station to the finish - I knew I could do it, even if it took me 3 hours.

Stu, Mat and I start chatting. I told them about my quads, "It's probably because you don't have poles."

Mat asked me why I didn't have poles, and said that it was very stupid of me to not have taken them with me. 

No kidding Mat.

Anyhow - Stu seemed to know these trails pretty well, and led us for a few kilometers, and warned us about what was in store for us between that point and the end. 

Big descent, big, big uphill, and then some stairs and down and back up. Easy peasy.

To nobody's surprise, Mill Brook downhill was downhell, and then we got to Mill Brook climb. 

Just eyeballing it, you could tell it was steeper than Refugee Cove, and it seemed to not end. Mat Sabinski took off, as he was doing a single loop and wanted to finish strong. 

Turns out that "Sabinski" is Polish, and roughly translates to "climber of great hills" 👍 

Within a minute, Mat was out of sight, Stu and I were slowly getting up the hill together. Hikers coming down the hill encouraging us. Midway up the hill is a bend and a bench - the bench was occupied by hikers naturally, so I hugged a branch that was sticking out, and caught my breath. I waited for Stu to catch up to me, and back on my way up. Up, up, up we went, a climb that never seemed to end, ever steeper than arch gulch... "But how does it compare to steep mountain?", child's play, it was absolute childs play - I could have setup a picnic on Mill Brook. I managed to pull myself up this hill on cramped legs and a bum knee - so it wasn't that bad. 

I tried to pull a Mat Sabinski and finish this forsaken run strong, but the legs would not have it. There were a few sets of stairs, and I was limping up these because of my left knee. 

Eventually, I got to the main trail, which was of course all downhill. I walked the downhill, saw the distance makers for 3km and then 2km, and chatted with another runner (who started at 6am) we were saying how unbelievably tough this run was. 

We ran the last 100m, which was uphill - I could have moved quicker in the last down and up hill, but I was just done with "competition". "Style" went out the window about 6 hours ago. 

After 10 hours, 50 minutes or running. After battling cramped quads for 8 hours. Wet and painful feet. Upset stomach. Toes that are likely to lose their toenail as soon as I took my socks off. Whatever the hell was going on with my knee. A bruised ego, wanting to quit for 30kms. I touched the green gate - signaling the end of this awful, awful run. A sigh of relief.

"How was that?" John asked. 

My only response, and what I felt was appropriate at the time, was "holy fucking shitballs". 

Back Again - 52km - 10h50

If you read this John, I hope you don't take it personally. I had one hell of a day.

I think it's safe to say that I made many mistakes on October 1st, one mistake compounded and led to other issues down the line. I will hold onto my patch and coaster for a long time as a token of perseverance and determination.

Hydration, salt and caloric deficit compounded to stomach issues and leg cramps, which then led to foot and knee issues. Beyond that, not properly studying and knowing the terrain led me to gear-related mistakes such as not taking polls, bringing insufficient water, etc.

This was a humbling experience, and way more difficult than anticipated. 

Mostly my fault, though.

As I was writing this, a single song kept playing on repeat in my head: Roger Alan Wade - If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

I would like to end by thanking Deb and John for hosting the event that we all wanted. It was no walk in the park, but they still managed to make it a pretty special day despite the uncertainty of Fiona and all the other unknowns abouts the logistics of this race. It was awesome to have this event so shortly after hurricane Fiona. It's unbelievable to me that anybody wanted to attempt more than one loop of this, but Adam Harris completed a triple-loop, 100 mile run and that is an incredible feat. Congrats to Stu for having the gonads to brave two full loops and to Josh for completing his first Marathon + distance on what turns out is a tough trail.