Intro

I first heard of the Canadian Death Race in 2016 when I told my friend Tyler I had signed up to a 50KM race. We got chatting about ultras and we fantasized about what it takes to run a race of that distance and how insane people must be who actually participate. Yet, we also wanted to be one of them so we spoke a little more and did the whole ‘one day’ sigh and shrugged it off.

It later came back into conversation when Chris (my partner) told me it was his childhood dream race. He spoke about the times he drove through the town of Grand Cache over August long weekend as a kid and he’d say ‘Dad, who are all of these people? & What’s the Death Race?’. His dad would reply along the lines of ‘Something only crazy people participate in’. Well of course, Chris smashed that childhood dream of his last year in 2018. I was there by his side, crewing, supporting and watching. It was great to see so many bad ass *crazy* runners suffer, smile and ultimately get STOKED! and of course, I wanted to be out there with them (at this point I hadn’t even completed my first 50 miler) but regardless, I was sold.

Registration opened in December 2018 and I eagerly signed up that day. Entry #65 (Later to become my bib #). All I had to do was forget not to train and put in the miles! But when you sign up to a race months in advance and snowflakes are falling outside, there’s always that voice in the back of your head saying ‘You got time, train tomorrow’. Fast forward 6 months and it ended up that I was on the verge of over-training combined with really low Ferratin & Iron levels. I worked my butt off over winter and into spring and then I went even harder at the beginning of summer. 6 weeks out and I wasn’t too sure if I would be towing the start line after all. In a critical moment of ‘I want to race, HELP ME!’ I reached out to a coach I’d admired for a while, Jen Segger. Jen got me on a strict tailored plan right away. She pretty much had me stopping still in my tracks advising me to take 10 steps back. I stopped running and I started walking. Once I was able to keep my Heart Rate (HR) low walking, I started jogging (or as I like to call it ‘Shuffling’) and I pretty much shuffled for 6 weeks straight. When I ran, I ran hard and with purpose with the intent of getting my HR high. I stayed well away of ‘no mans land’ which pretty much all of my workouts fell into before (not slow, not fast) just simply running at a pace I exerted myself at and resulted in that runner’s high.

The lead up to the race

Race weekend was fast approaching. My longest run had been 32 km’s over 6 hours and with that in mind I honestly didn’t know what to expect of myself. The doubt crept in. Am I prepared? Have I put in enough miles? Have I put in enough hours? Have my workouts been effective? Do I have my nutrition dialled in? I played it off cool to everyone! ‘I feel good about this’ but secretly I had my doubts. However, a part of me knew I had to trust the process. After all, I was being coached by an athlete who dominates endurance sports. Jen knows what she’s doing! ‘Be confident in your abilities’ I kept telling myself ‘You got this!’.

Finally, race week was here and tapering was going strong! I was still putting in low mileage shuffling/running but again, I was  trusting the process that tapering doesn’t necessarily mean stopping still for 7 days (that was my previous go to). By mid-week I was eagerly prepped, packed and race ready just waiting for Friday August 2nd to roll around so we could be on our way.

At last, Friday! We loaded the vehicle with anything & everything that I might need and the drive was painless. Chris & I rocked up to Grand Cache mid-afternoon and after checking in at the race package pick-up we set up our tent at Tent City (Hotels are over-rated!). Shortly after setting up a storm rolled in and it was time to kill a few hours before the pre-race meeting. We found a restaurant serving pizza (Hooray! More successful than last years attempt) and I order the most cheesiest pizza on the menu (mainly because I was scared sh*tless of contracting food poisoning from any meat source the night before LOL). After dinner, the skies cleared and we caught up with a few other Canmore peeps who were also racing the next day before heading over to the Rec Center for the meeting. As much as I wanted to be engaged the meeting was all but a blurrrrrr. Tiredness crept up on me big time and I was more than ready to call it a night and get some sleep.

I woke up prior to my 6am alarm on Saturday morning (& by prior, I mean 2 mins before it was set to go off). Reality hit. I’m about to run 125km’s! FARRRRRK. Breakfast went down smoothly. Coffee went down even smoother. But the best part of the morning was the whole sum poop (Urgh gross!) but in all seriousness I usually have a really off stomach race morning and so far everything was SMOOOOTH sailing. I did a double check of all my gear, attached my race #, ensured I had my timing chip & coin (I’ll get to that later) and got into the start area. Before I knew it the Canadian National Anthem was being sung & we were OFF – yaaaaahoooo!

Leg 1 – ‘The Downtown Jaunt’ – 19KM +430m/-538m
For the most part Leg 1 was easy. It started off with roughly 6KM through the streets of Grande Cache. The temptation to push and go fast here was real but knowing I had a long day ahead of me I decided to play it real cool and run SUPER easy. I looked down at my HR & it was high but this was a race and I was nervous. I also wasn’t about to spend all day monitoring it so I stayed chill and just looked at my pace. Over 6:30/min KM’s and it felt slow, I’ll take that. The first sign of trail came and it was a mud fest. I knew my feet were not going to stay dry for long but like everyone else I did my best to avoid the mud puddles by running around them, carefully. It was a lot of fun and there was so much trail banter and laughter between all of the participants on course. However, looking back I should have just ran straight through the puddles as by Leg #2 & 3 NO fu*ks were given. But still, I stayed conservative and followed everyone else’s lead. The only person taking charge of his own situation was the guy dressed head to toe in army gear – LEGEND! Towards the end of the single track (just before the leg turned into a dirt road) I got to share a few KM’s with a fellow Canmore runner, Sierra. It was nice to share a few KM’s with someone I knew but at the same time I felt I was on her heels and felt bad for it. ‘I promise I’m not latching onto you’ I’d say in my head but I knew it was only Leg 1 and things were likely to change. Transition Area (TA) #1 came into sight & it was HECTIC. SOOOOO many people and I realized I may have gone a little too slow at the beginning as I now statistically sat in the last 90% of runners. OOPS. Oh well, it can only get better from here. I’d much rather over take people as the race progresses than be over taken later on especially if I’m in a dark head space. I was in and out of TA1 FAST. I grabbed a bladder of water, changed my bottles of Electrolytes & Tailwind, grabbed some new gels/chews, my poles & ran off with haste. I am not sure at what point I split from Sierra but I couldn’t see her leaving the TA.

Leg 2 – ‘Flood & Grande Mountain Slugfest’ – 27KM  +1946m/-1841m
Actual running didn’t last for too long, the ‘Slugfest’ name was accurately given! The beginning of this leg started off with a climb up a dirt road that later turned into a steep single track. I felt a slight niggle in my right hip flexor but it was too early on to consider pain so I pushed that thought aside and ignored it (Half way through Leg 3 I realized the pain had gone and it didn’t bother me anymore, woo!). I passed people where I could and it felt great to be powering uphill. I was still trying to stay conservative knowing the day was only just beginning but with this much energy (& with climbs being my fave!) I couldn’t help but get a little ahead of myself. The lady who won Iron Legs last year was in sight but she was strong & moving quickly, ‘Good for her’ I’d say to myself ‘I probably won’t see her again’. Everything was going well, I had intervals on my watch set to 30 minutes that prompted me to take 100 calories. In-between the intervals it was up to me to remember to stay hydrated sipping on all 3 of my liquids which I stayed on top of.

Soon the trail turned into a swampy, delightful mess. MUDDY ‘sluggish’ steps were no exaggeration and I kind of wish I’d held off with powering up the first section of the climbs. Runners ahead would call down ‘Let me know if you want to pass’ but honestly, I was happy slowing it down a little and getting into a rhythm based off of the person in front. Once at the top of Flood Mountain the soloists did a short summit loop and then we were back on a trail running parallel to the section we just came up but, now we were on our way down. I’ve never been a strong downhill runner but I was behind a gentleman taking it extremely easy. I figured there would be time to pass later and I didn’t want to be *that* person who needed to get by NOW so I was patient. Soon a bottleneck formed and a few people behind REALLY wanted to get by so when the opportunity arose I sped off down the Slugfest with them. As I reached the ground I decided to run straight through a boggy section & BOOM my two feet got sucked into the tar-like mud & I fell face first. It didn’t hurt, it was just slightly refreshing. After laughing it off and realizing my shoes were still attached to my feet and not succumbed to the mud bath I quickly gathered myself and my now SOAKED body from the puddle and continued on wards.

The mud just didn’t give up. Another climb through the forest and the re-known ‘Slug steps’ were more like ‘Muddy waterfalls’. I kept thinking that Tough Mudder races would seem like a walk in the park! Heading on up to Grande I was feeling strong again. The trail was a wide double-track that I didn’t find too technical and I certainly ran most of this section. I found myself passing people especially when people stopped to replenish at the E-Aid Station. I on the other hand couldn’t help but take it as an opportunity to keep going and continue the passing streak (Did this mean I was in race mode? – ekkk, exciting!). Clouds were rolling in and the weather looked stormy and questionable for the first time that day. The wind picked up and it started to rain so I quickly put on my rain jacket and got poured on for a solid 15 minutes. Just in time for the crazy downhill that was fast approaching the skies cleared and the sun came out.

The crazy power line downhill section on the front of Grande mountain is rated the most technical part of the whole race. Looking back it probably was and boy was it steep! but, for some reason I was flying down it. Racers were stepping aside to allow me to pass yet at the same time I was being conservative too. Chris had warned me that last year he took this section too fast and it eventually caught up to him later on in the race and I didn’t want that to happen to me. Yet here I was with speed and I wasn’t going all out. Is this even me? Exciting! This section of the leg felt like a time warp. The steep down would end, then we’d all be faced with just as steep a climb back up and then as you can imagine the same downhill again! By the end of the downs I was happy to be done. Town was in sight and I comfortably jogged into TA2 with another soloist chatting about our approach/tactics for the rest of the day but most of all, I was ready for a change of socks, shoes and to eat some solid food. I was hungry!!

Leg 3 – Old Mine Road (AKA “City Slicker Valley”) – 19KM +689m/952m

After a delightful re-fuel of pasta and olive oil washed down with a bottle of flat coke I was ready to take on Leg 3.

The clouds rolled in again and 10 mins after the TA I needed to stop to put on my jacket. Just as I was about to get back onto the trail a volunteer warned of a bear ahead. I decided to stay relatively close to the lady in front who passed when I was grabbing my jacket (Turns out she’s running the triple crown meaning she had just ran 100 miles not too long ago and has another race in a couple of weeks. Incredible!!) After a little chat I took off running and caught up to another gal who watched me plunge face first into the mud puddle on Leg 2. She was running with a guy at a pretty conservative pace. I wondered if I should stick with them but I felt good and with this leg being very runnable I wanted to use it as an opportunity to get some quick km’s in. They both warned me about the bears telling me to make lots of noise. I didn’t tell them about how many bear sightings and encounters I’d had during training LOL and I wasn’t overly concerned knowing that racers were both in front and behind me. Leg 3 was a lot quieter than the previous 2 as the ‘Near Death Marathoners’ had finished so Soloists and Relay runners were the only racers on course. People were spread out and I did run a lot of this section alone although I kinda made it into a game with the aim to be quick enough to get someone in my sight then use them as a means of motivation to overtake.

After running past the Smoky River and admiring the views I was back on another dirt road with a female soloist in sight. Using my tactic mentioned above I over took but a km or so later she overtook me. She looked really familiar and I think we spoke briefly on Instagram a week or so before the race (Alicia?). The sky was getting darker and the clouds were rolling in so I stopped again to put my jacket back on. Before I knew it I was in the middle of a thunder / lightning storm on a wooden bridge. GREAT! Alicia had just crossed the road and into the trees. I was a little nervous that the thunder seemed to be getting louder and if lightning hit I would be a perfect target so I too made a a quick dash across the road and into the trees. As I rounded the corner there was a group of smiling volunteers which made the situation a little easier. The rain was relentless and this was definitely the first time that I got anxious not knowing if I was too wet but, the thought of warm clothing at the next TA soon cleared away any major negativity I was feeling. I caught up to Alicia and a couple of other runners who were navigating their way down an extremely muddy slide. But once we got down that it was pretty much highway ditch running into TA3. WARM CLOTHES……

Leg 4 – Hamel Assault – 38KM – +2465m /  -2476m

Lucky for me Saira (who was crewing her husband Andy) was still at the TA with their big sprinter van. Saira welcomed me into the van where Chris had set up all of my aid. I switched shirt, socks and shoes. Chris also provided me with a more durable jacket that I was extremely grateful to have. Chris went to swap out my bottles but noticed they were still pretty full which led to them asking how my nutrition was going. I was having too much fun out there (playing my over taking game OBVS) that I had lost track of how often I was eating / drinking and with the crazy rain I can’t say I noticed my watch beeping at me when 30 minutes had passed. Saira made me down water and coke and I ate some more olive oil pasta. I was still feeling good so I wasn’t too concerned but they tried their best to drill it into me that if I didn’t start hydrating it will eventually catch up and I will bonk! With that noted, I drank some more coke and headed back out on course.

As soon as I rounded the corner the climb up Mt Hamel began

The initial climb up Hamel was through the trees with the same muddy / swampy conditions that I had become accustomed too. Again, I found myself behind a guy who asked if I’d like to pass but I was very happy following his rhythm of putting one foot in front of another. I wouldn’t say I felt struggled but I certainly wasn’t feeling the excitement I’d felt earlier on during Leg 2’s climbs. Still I put my head down, I cleared away the negative thoughts and I looked ahead. A few guys passed on this section who had a lot of speed. I didn’t bother to see if they were soloists or not I just made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t fall behind the 2 guys I was shadowing.

Finally, we made it to the shoulder of the mountain were a medic tent asked if we were all doing good. I was shocked to see the strong female solo runner (from Leg 2) was sat down, struggling to eat a chip and not looking too great. I asked if she was okay and told her she would be back out here in no time. I don’t know if it was the change in scenery or the fact I had just over taken another solo runner (despite the sh*t circumstances) but I felt good and wanted to push. I left the 2 guys I was shadowing and started my own pace up the wide, double track using my method from Leg 3 to keep someone in sight and push to overtake. Just before the final switch backs to the summit came in sight there was an E-aid station. A guy and gal had stopped here to re-fuel. As I approached I noticed them looking down at my shorts (maybe to see what bib# I was and if I was a soloist or relayer). My bib however, was covered by Chris’s jacket that didn’t quite fit. They made a comment as I passed saying ‘You look fresh!’ (Yup, they think I’m a relayer) to which I replied ‘Hmmm not really, but thanks’. ‘What? you’re a solo runner?’ ‘YUPPPPP’ and off I went to complete the last section of Hamel feeling on fu*cking fireeeee!!!! THANKS FOR THE BUZZ.

I promise I felt good no matter how hard it looks in this pic haha PC: Raveneye Photography

Once at the summit we had to do a short ridge run to the end and collect a prayer flag before continuing on to the downhill. I started to feel a little niggle in my left IT band but it wasn’t enough to stop me powering down the descent. Again, I found runners would slow down and let me pass. Running down, with speed, felt GREAT! and I’m really hoping it wasn’t a one off rare race moment (Maybe all of the strong downhill intervals Jen has had me doing in training has really paid off’) WoooooHoooooo I was killing this. Half way down Hamel the sun was starting to get low and there was an orange glow everywhere, it was beautiful! I rocked up to Ambler aid station and all of the volunteers were in good spirits. They asked if I wanted some warm broth and I jumped at it! The warm, salty goodness was super comforting. The volunteer mentioned we needed to run down the road and loop back around to complete the ‘Ambler Loop’. I had honestly forgotten about this section and it caught me off guard but I was also glad for some flat km’s before continuing down again. I ran the loop with a couple of guys and we chatted about the race and how we were doing. The IT band pain had calmed down and practically disappeared. This race was being good to me!! Finally, I was back at the Ambler aid and I didn’t stick around. I shouted out my number and I was off running down the road. Again, I was pushing the pace and feeling fantastic. It was super easy running too as the rain has made the gravel road soft with less loose gravel so flying down it felt effortless. I don’t recall eating much after the hot broth but I still got some liquids in me. The descent finally linked back up to the road and I could see faint lights of the next TA in the distance. I was running with a couple of guys and none of us chose to put on our headlamps yet even though it was practically dark. I kept thinking ‘DO NOT roll your ankle here out of laziness to stop and put on your headlamp’ I successfully ran with feel straight into the TA where Chris was waiting for me.

Leg 5 – The River Crossing – 22KM – +838m / -567m
I was in and out of the final TA pretty quickly. I decided to keep all of my layers and shoes on and just get through the next couple of hours as quickly as I could. I wasn’t physically tired but I knew mentally that I’d start to come down. It was dark. It was the leg I was least looking forward too and I was only 22KM’s away from the finish. I ate a few scoops of Chicken Noodle soup (YUM!) and I was back out on the trail.

Every climb so far hadn’t felt as hard as the climbs on Leg 5. Again, maybe that’s due to the mental fatigue I was feeling or, the fact Chris has told me last year that’s how he felt so maybe I’d already set myself up to struggle. And that I did. I struggled for the first half. I HATED being on the trail alone and my animal anxiety was huge. I kept saying to myself the quicker you get yourself through this, the quicker its over. A couple of lights would come up behind me and I’d try to stay with them so I wasn’t running alone but everyone was moving so quickly and I had no desire to move THAT quick. Every time I did try and push the pace I’d slip or trip so I decided to speed walk a lot. I’d also keep shining my headlamp into the forest beside me to see if anything stared back, I had such a weird feeling (Turns out there were a couple of cougars on the trail stalking runners!), I would have Sh*t my pants if I came across one!!!! hahaha

My main aim was to not lose the trail and to continuously look for the reflective stickers on the trees. Half way through leg 5 runners have to cross the Smoky River and are transported across by boat. We were all issued a coin at race package pick-up that we had to carry with us for the whole race and if we still had it at Leg 5 we could gain access and pass without issues. In Greek mythology, Charon is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx (that divides the world of the living from the world of the dead). A coin is used to pay Charon for passage. This coin must be carried at all times by soloists and the runner for each leg and given to the grim reaper at the river for access to the boat. Runners who lose their coin will not be permitted access to the boat resulting in a DNF (Did not Finish). BRUTAL! I made sure I kept mine locked in a pocket that I didn’t touch for the whole race. Finally, I saw the light and heard the boat being revved up. A volunteer dressed in a grim reaper suit asked for my coin (SO much fun!). I jumped on the boat with another guy and we were whisked off to the other side. The river was high. The boat was fast. We turned off our headlamps and the stars were SO bright. Definitely a ‘pinch me now’ moment.

From the other side we continued our journey into the next section of forest and yet another steep climb. FML. Can it not just be flat now?!? During this section I could hear a couple of female runners coming up behind me, tooting and hollering to let the animals know they were on trail. This was more of a motivator for me to move quickly not knowing if they were soloists or relayers. One caught up to me and I did the whole ‘Are you a soloist?’ ‘NOPE’ ‘Okaaaay, have a great run!’ PHEW! I still had no idea what position I was in but I figured I’d overtaken a fair few females earlier on and I was definitely in race mode still. The second lady came by not too long after and again, she was a relayer. I tried to use her pace to stick with and do as much running as I could. I got another waive of energy and it felt great. I watched her take a wrong turn and I shouted out for her to come back. I was so glad I had stayed with her because that would have been awful. She soon pulled away from me when her friend got out of a vehicle on the road and started running with her. They sped off and I was left to mentally get er done.

It wasn’t long until I sore lights in the distance and realized I was in a neighbourhood. My watch showed I was 116 KM’s in so I figured I must have 9KM’s of road running through the town to do before finishing. As I approached a set of traffic lights marshaled by a volunteer, she shouted out  ‘straight across the road, take a left and you’re 1KM from the finish’ ‘WHAT? she’s playing with me, right?’ but she wasn’t. I legit had 1KM left. HOLY FU*K BALLS. Chris suddenly appeared on the side of the pavement, shouting words of encouragement and telling me to push it all the way to the finish line. I started sprinting. I wanted to cry. I was so emotional. Then boom, finish line comes into sight, commentator reads out my name and before Iknow it I have crossed the finish line in 18:05:01, 39th overall and 8th female. I DID IT. I RAN THE CANADIAN DEATH RACE. I DIDN’T DIE. AND I MAY DONE OKAY…

Afterwards

I couldn’t wait to have a shower! It was first on my list followed by food from the canteen. Chris drove me over to the rec center (which stayed open for 24 hours) however, unlike last year the canteen was closed. Oh well. Shower first, food later. The shower was heavenly and by the time I got round to thinking of food, 1.5 hours had passed. As I was deciding what to eat I felt really light headed and nauseous. I ended up going to the washroom to see if it was my stomach acting up and whilst sat on the toilet I collapsed, face first, splitting my lip and my nose. I ended up in hospital for the night. Turns out when you decide to become ‘lazy’ with hydration and fuel because ‘You’re so close to the end’ it really does catch up with you. My blood sugars dropped, my blood pressure dropped & my body was dehydrated. Having low iron level also didn’t help the situation and I should have realized that nutrition played an even bigger part in the day but I got too complacent that I felt fine and I hadn’t bonked! After a night in A&E and an 1 IV later I felt a lot better and definitely walked away with the biggest lesson learnt – DON’T STOP FUELLING!

A week has passed and I still can’t believe I ran the Canadian Death Race and covered a huge distance. My stoke is SO high yet at the same time I feel a little lost too. As runners competing in long distance races we put SO much work and SO much time into training and then boom, just like that, the race has come and gone. I already have another race to look forward to in 6 weeks time and after spending the week recovering I am back on a training build in preparation to smash that one out too. But I can’t help but feel like I am not ready to simply brush it off as a memory. I have SO many emotions right now and I am trying to make sense of them all. One thing I am confident in saying is that I enjoyed every moment and it WILL NOT be my last. In fact, I had such an enjoyable experience I wish I had suffered more so that I don’t feel the need to push my body further (HA!). But my race went exceptionally well and I am in absolute AWE of what my body can achieve that I am already SO excited to see how much further I can take it. I have found my jam and every time I spend a second on the trails I can honestly say it is the sweetest taste of happiness.

Thank you to Sinister 7 for putting on an incredible event, to all of the volunteers who made the day possible, to all the runners out there who make this community SO rad and to Chris for being the best support pre, during and post race (Especially post race when we we found ourselves in a bit of a sh*t situation 😉 HA!).