Well friends, it all boils down to this blog post for 2018. The big one. The main event. The one for all the marbles. Yes, it’s finally time to spill pixels and re-tell the tale of my experience in Chamonix, France for the CCC (Courmayeur, Champex, Chamonix) trail race. For the uninitiated (shame on you!), this is essentially the super bowl of trail running on the global stage. Road runners have the world majors, trail runners have the UTMB trail races that take place in Chamonix. Even getting to the start line has its own strict requirements, that for some […]
trail running
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The Canadian Death Race. What does the name of this event conjure up in your minds? Well, as you may guess, it isn’t a stroll through a lovely forest trail, I can assure you of that much! To my knowledge, no one has *actually* died while taking part in this event, but I can’t say that with 100% certainty. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, welcome to another race report. This time, we whisk you off to Grande Cache, AB for the 19th annual Canadian Death Race (now under new management…). This is a 125km, 5 leg race […]
Fresh off the heels of my successful running of the 100k Quebec Mega Trail, and leading up to my next major race of the year (the Canadian Death Race), I decided I wanted to keep the momentum going by taking on a shorter race not TOO far from home. After consulting a calendar (and past experience), I decided to head on down to Ithaca, NY and tackle the Cayuga Trails Marathon race course. I’ve done the 50 miler twice, but decided that a single loop of this beautiful yet challenging course would be enough for a good weekend workout. What’s […]
As I crested yet another little rise, feeling the many kilometers in my entire body, I could utter only a single word to myself in my internal monologue: “run”. So goes the simple existence of an ultra-runner deep into a long race. In this case, it was the 106km Midnight Moose Ultra, taking place in Gatineau Parc, so near my house, yet so far away mentally. The mantra I trained myself to repeat ad nauseum is simple: “Run where you can, walk where you have to”. This truly is the key to getting through an ultra. You need to simplify, […]
Now that you’ve read all about the lead-up to the big race, it’s time to get into the actual race reporting, isn’t it? First off, let’s clear up the title of this post. As many of you are aware, a month before this trip, I also found myself out west for another race, the aptly-named Sinister 7, which of course you can read all about. Unfortunately, at that race, I ended up with a DNF, but one that I had to wear as a badge of honour in my journey as an ultra runner. The conditions and my own mental […]