Race Report Lumberjack 100 miler

The Lumberjack 100 miler is a wonderfully affordable and low-key run held in Port Gamble on the Olympic peninsula in Washington state. I had trained pretty hard for about 2 1/2 months after being reduced to cross-training due to an injury. I knew that this was a very short build up in training for a long event like this, but I finally wanted my first kick at the can at the 100 mile distance. My plan was to train hard, monitor my body for signs of falling apart and sign up last minute if it didn't. I knew that my friends Sean and Meg were going down to run the race and that our friend Dikesh and Sean's wife Nancy would be there to support them. I also knew that I would have to run eight 20 k loops to successfully complete the 100 mile race. Furthermore the course is historically very muddy and this year was supposedly muddier still. In all honesty though only about 5% of the course was bad with mud pits reaching the middle of my shin, puddles that should be called ponds or just a real slippery sloppy mess. Everything else was very manageable. I didn't know though that Meg's parents -Gary and Afona- would be at the race with their RV and would -along with Dikesh and Nancy- form an absolute rock star crew and a stellar home base for the 3 of us who ran the race. I was expecting to rely on aid stations and my drop bag alone. Coming in after each lap I was cheerfully welcomed by our support crew and subsequently helped with all my nutrition, hydration and gear needs. It was such a wonderful treat since I never had a crew before.

The RV also came in handy on the eve of the race when there was a real proper storm rolling through the "campground" (i.e. the puddle of mud forming the start / finish area). Dikesh and I stayed dry with the others inside the RV and didn't even have to bring out the tent we were planning on using that night. What a mucky mess that would have been. The course for the race has about 450 m of elevation gain for each lap for a total of about 3600 m for the 100 miler. It's a nice rolling course with a mixture of service roads and single track. An incentive of the event is the fact that you will be credited with a 50 mile or 100 k finish if you complete four or five loops of the course even if you were originally registered for the 100 miler. On the flip side this also makes it tougher mentally to embark on another loop rather than drop down in distance I suppose.

Before the race I made a real effort to wrap my head around the mental aspect of running 100 miles on a looped course which is historically not my forte. I went into detail on this in my pre-race post.

I will spare you the play by play of the race. Everything just went off without a hitch. My body held together, I was in very good spirits all day, we didn't have a drop of rain during the entire event, I had a spectacular group of people helping me out on-site and I knew that I had lots of people rooting for me from afar. How can you possibly quit or be unhappy under these kind of circumstances? Exactly. You can't.

Here's a little photographic evidence of my physical decline:

Before the start with the Vancouver delegation
Karl, Meg, Sean and me

Navigating through the mud pit after 40 k / 2 laps.

No sitting down for me ... yet.

Fine. I'll sit. Just a minute though. After 60 k / 3 laps.

Running into Meg and Sean after lap 5/8.
Showing some signs of wear after 100 k.

Fresh as a daisy. After lap 7 / at 140 k.

Walking it in with Afona inquiring about Sean's whereabouts. DONE.

Just to then be "heckled" - I mean congratulated-
by the two veteran Ultrarunners Karl and John.

3 things that worked out really well

1. Gaiters

I seriously don't know why more people aren't wearing them. They keep the debris out of your shoes that would otherwise tenderize your feet and lead to hot spots and blisters. No disadvantages aside from looking dorky, which I can live with.

2. My home brew drink mix

I drank a total of about 3 liters of the mixture during the race and it took care of my electrolyte needs and a good chunk of my caloric needs too.

Here is the recipe:

Equal parts Tart cherry juice, coconut water and water

1 squeeze of lemon plus 1-2 pinches of salt per bottle

3. Motivational notes

I had the idea to ask some of my friends and family to write some motivational or funny notes that I could read in between laps during the event. This strategy worked out really, really well and I was looking forward to reading a couple of them after each lap. If it weren't a looped course I could have put them in my pack and read them along the route. I had told everyone beforehand to send the messages to my wife and she and my daughter made them into some real nice playing card size flash cards. That way I never saw any of the messages before I ran the actual race.

Motivational notes from my daughter Lara

3 random facts

1. There were 2 spots on the course were there was a cacophony of frogs croaking all through the night. One was just after the start of the loop and the other one was in the middle were there wasn't any visible body of water.

2. The drive down from Vancouver -or Bellingham for that matter- going through Whidbey Island and taking the ferry from Coupeville to Port Townsend is seriously scenic. I will definitely go back to explore the state parks along the route more.

Deception Pass State Park on the way to the ferry

3. The 100 mile finisher belt buckle is pretty sweet. Not like I care about things like that - or maybe I do.

Hard earned bling

Happy Trails,

Marc

Lessons from a Year of Running: Resisting FOMO, redefining FKT's

A few of my 2015 races kind of got away from me. In hindsight I would say I probably did too many of them too close together or at least my expectations were too high in too many of them. Looking back on my year in running, I had the most fun while just relaxing and being out for fun or to catch up with friends. Exploratory runs in the back country while trying to bag a peak or explore a new to me area rank equally high. There were occasions in the past where just relaxing and having low expectations actually produced excellent race results, but for some reason I was not able to reproduce that this year. I am mixing up two things here though. Running is fun or at least it should be and for me personally it is - most of the time. Setting goals and working towards accomplishing them can also be fun. Mostly because it is satisfying to achieve a goal that seemed out of reach and inch ever closer to ones' full potential as a runner. There are other times though when training can seem like a chore, even though running is still fun if that makes sense. I guess the idea is to make training feel like play time and have the results take care of themselves.

Racing = Kinda fun ... sometimes (Photo credit: Elaine Fung)

I think part of why I was trying to do too much in the past was the fear of missing out or FOMO and the fact that racing is being hyped and talked about a lot. "What races are you planning to do next year?" "Who's going to run -enter name of event here- next year?" or other questions are very frequent and can lead even the most even-keeled runner to feel like they should get on board and commit to more events.

 I had a couple of ankle sprains this year and as of late I also had to take some time away from running due to injury. Having said that, when I get out on the trails lately, I am having the best time ever. I am really enjoying each and every outing immensely. I have no immediate goals, I am signed up for zero races and I hardly ever wear a watch let alone a GPS these days. I just go out to play and have fun with or without company. I can not remember a time when I enjoyed myself more while running and  that's saying a lot.

It is the season for race registrations and goal setting again though and I have spent a good deal of time mapping out events that I am interested in for 2016 and beyond. A few of those races have opened their registration already. I am just not ready to jeopardize my carefree adventures in the forest by committing to a race.

Exploring: Usually lots of fun (Photo credit: Carlie Smith)

I will judge my year 2016 in running by how many smiles it brings to my face rather than by how many finish lines I cross. I will let the results come to me or not. I will have some great adventures and miss out on others without fretting. I am also going to borrow a term from my friend Andy and aim for setting as many Funnest Known Times (rather than Fastest Known Times) on the adventures I embark on as possible. I will race and I will have goals again soon. I just don't want them to own me along with my training and my mindset. I'm gonna own them this time. I will resist the urge to run a new longer distance this year, because if I am being honest with myself, I don't want to. Sometimes I am simply feeling like I should do certain things since it is a natural progression for many ultra runners. What it all comes down to is really that I will do what I want (which includes finding balance between adventures and family life) and not get sucked into things that I think I should be doing. It sounds shockingly simple, but at least for me, oftentimes it isn't.

Have fun. Run free.

Marc

Impostor no more - My Squamish 50 experience

By now I have about a dozen Ultras under my belt and although there was some chafing in the first one and some queasiness in quite a few of them, I couldn't help, but feel like an impostor. Why? I never experienced any of the Ultra running "rites of passage", like blisters, puking, debilitating cramping, lacerations and such.

That was about to change during this year's running of the Squamish 50 miler. This was to be my second 50 mile foot race. My first one, last year's Sun Mountain 50 miler in Winthrop Oregon (find my race report here), went shockingly well from start to finish without any issues whatsoever. Now, although there was no one single issue that slowed me down and made my plans go sideways at the Squamish 50, there were a few compounding issues that left me suffering in a fairly dark place for most of day.

Still having fun 20 k into the race (it's a smile not a grimace)

About half way through the race I developed some chafing on my thighs and later on in some other areas that shall not be further specified, but made the post race shower one of the least fun experiences of the day.

Furthermore my shins and calves were on the verge of cramping throughout the second half of the race. My shins on the uphills and my calves on the downhills, which had the added "bonus", that when I tried to stretch one of the areas the other one would immediately seize up.

Although I still didn't have to throw up I got to the point where outside of the aid stations I was hardly even able to tolerate water, leave alone food. Interestingly enough when stopping at the aid station (i.e. not moving) I was still able to take in some calories, although too much food at a time didn't work out so well either.

One other issue I dealt with were my lower abs which got really sore and hurt me quite a bit, especially on the downhills. Now this is an issue I have dealt with in the past, but never got quite as bad as in this race. This really upset me, because for the last 9 months I had been really consistent about adding some weekly strength and core work to my routine, which it seems did nothing to alleviate the problem.

Lastly my mental "fortitude" was such, that I was pretty much hosting an 8 hour pity party for myself. I got to the point where I was about 90 percent certain that I would drop at the 5th aid station about 53 k into the race. This was the biggest aid station of the day with lots of cheering friends and family. I continued mainly due to the volunteers doing a phenomenal job of pushing my sorry butt out of the aid station and back onto the trail. From this point forward there was a lot of hiking involved. My saving grace was that my friend Eric caught up to me at aid station six at around 62 k and we were commiserating for much of the remaining 18 kilometers. In the end I might have finished the race mainly, because I was too proud to ask for a car ride back to the finish line from any of the last 3 aid aid stations. In between aid stations there is not really a way to drop out anyway since you are in the middle of the forest. I violated the "beware the chair" rule and enjoyed a few minutes of chair time at each of the last two aid stations to "contemplate life", which seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn't have too much trouble getting back up either actually, so no regrets there.

Overall this was probably my worst race ever in terms of my finishing time vs my initial expectations. It is also the one I am most proud of though, since I managed to stick it out and not quit although my body begged me to. I shed my "ultra-impostor" label and am now able to move forward. I think I still have a ways to go in terms of improving on my mental fortitude. After finishing this race, I have a hard time imagining how people are able to finish -let alone excel in- events of even longer distances. Ultras are all about managing your body, which I thought I was getting pretty good at. It's back to the drawing board now though. I need to take stock of what happened and try to improve upon a few things in my training and preparation.

I suffered through a 50 mile footrace and all I got was this T-shirt :-)

If you are looking for a tough and beautiful 50 mile race with awesome support and course marking that makes getting lost near impossible, the Squamish 50 miler is for you. There are 50 k and 23 k options by the way, which now seem like incredibly appealing, more sane options to me. Co- Race Director Garry Robbins is known for designing  tough courses, but he really outdid himself on this one.

Happy running and racing,

Marc

Digging deep in the face of mediocrity

As part of revisiting my Gorge Waterfall 50 k race experience I had to concede that my mental fortitude -or lack thereof- might have been the biggest limiting factor to finishing stronger.

It seems to be easier for me to prepare physically for a race than it is to prepare mentally. I usually ask myself on race morning: "How much are you prepared to hurt and suffer today?" I think it is a good question to ask and it prepares you for the fact that there will inevitably be some discomfort involved while trying to race to the best of your abilities. Even if you are mentally prepared though some discomfort will sneak up on you during a race. How do you manage not to be dominated by the pain and exertion though? I suppose you also need to answer the question: "Why should I make myself hurt in the first place?" There are two types of physical discomfort during a race. One is the kind of pain that you are trying to avoid as much as possible such as blisters, bruises, chafing and such. Then there is self-inflicted pain which comes from pushing your limits and racing hard.

Having a time goal can be a good motivator, but this is somewhat tricky to establish a realistic finishing time on an unknown course especially if you are having issues early on in the race. I am not the kind of person to get super competitive with the racers around me either, if I don't know them that is. If I know them, the race is on.

Everybody loves stories about perseverance, but the vast majority of them seem to focus on contenders or champions even if they might be the underdog of the narrative. It's somewhat easy to imagine what drives athletes in these situations: Winning, earning prize money and qualifying for an event or competition among others. What about the rest of us though? The folks in the middle of the pack who punish themselves tremendously to finish 112th instead of 129th? What are we supposed to use for motivation? If you have ever volunteered as a course marshall or at an aid station in a race you might have also noticed that the slower the participants are the more fun they seem to have.

Even though my primary athletic pursuit is trail running, I am an avid reader of Bicycling Magazine. I remember now retired pro cycling veteran Jens Voigt writing about his relationship with pain and discomfort and claiming that he treats pain as his favourite enemy. He relishes the opportunity to get to know and control it better every time he encounters it. It's a great little article and you can just substitute "run" for "ride" as you see fit. The idea is the same. After re-reading the article I am wondering if I spend enough time getting acquainted with physical discomfort in training. Probably not. I am afraid I should though. It's the best thing I can think of in order to prepare for race day. On the plus side: It is generally accepted that training super hard all the time is not what you want to go for for best results as well as for staying injury free.  So luckily I don't have to face my newly crowned favourite enemy every day. Maybe a couple of times a week will suffice.

I re-discovered another article on pain and suffering which delves deeper into the science of things.  I enjoy the reference to former pro cyclist David Zabriskie's habit of adopting a superhero persona in his mind while competing in time trials (and quite successfully at that too). A good portion of the article deals with the thesis that a so called "central governor" in the brain is what determines how hard we can go. This governors' job is to tell us that we cannot possibly go any harder while preserving some reserves in order for us to not collapse on the spot. There are great reserves of strength and stamina to be found if we manage to override the impulse to back off that is sent out by the brain. If you feel motivated now to go out and run or ride yourself to pieces, don't blame it on me though please.

If you still haven't got enough of reading up on the subject, here are three more great articles on pain and perseverance from irunfar.com:

• Peak Performance and The Selfish Brain on irunfar.com
• Cramps and how to deal with them from irunfar.com
• Navigating the pain trail from irunfar.com Part 1/2
• Navigating the pain trail from irunfar.com Part 2/2

I especially like the concept put forth in one of the articles that our brain is like a board of directors which decides on the severity of a threat to our health and well-being and therefore lets us perceive the intensity of our pain signals accordingly.

After taking the time to look at the issue of digging deep, suffering and racing hard a little closer, these shall be my strategies to push myself hard and finish strong in future events:

Re-focus on form. This time I am not talking about the Caballo Blanco mantra of "Think easy, light, smooth, fast". That one works better for training rather than racing for me. Instead I will try to remember to tighten up my form when I start spending too much time in my own head or when I notice that I am getting sloppy.

Steady breathing, relaxed jaw and hands, arms pumping, cadence high, spine straight and long, shoulders back. Check, check, check and check.

As for developing an alter ego or super hero persona for races for myself, I think I will stick with trying to be the best version of myself. This might sound tacky, but I think it really touches on what will keep me going. There are a lot of people that are less fortunate than I am. They might be physically or mentally unable to pursue their passions. I am blessed to be able to run and live my life to the fullest for the time being and feel therefore obliged to not waste this opportunity. My mantra shall therefore be: Be the best you can be, always. This rule is great because it can be adapted to any situation. For example if you are racing hard and moving well, but you come across another athlete who is injured or in distress the logical consequence for me will always be to put my own ambitions on hold and and help out as needed. A good way to figure out what my best self would do is to ask myself how I would hope for my kids to react in the given situation. The idea is to try and see yourself from an onlookers perspective. This will usually help to make it easier to figure out how to act in a given situation.

The other day I happened to notice a runner on the seawall wearing a shirt that read: "Ride hard. Smile often." This reminded me of reading an article about the positive effect that smiling has on the brain. A lot more reading can be done on the subject. Go ahead and google it if you like, but it comes down to what is expressed in this quote by Thich Nhat Hanh:

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."

Since my primary athletic pursuit is running my mantra shall henceforth be known to be:

Run hard. Smile often.

I will furthermore try to be aware that goals have to always be re-evaluated or adjusted. If the goal of finishing the race under a goal time fails the event doesn't have to be a write off all together. If that happens I shall not fret, but try to focus on finishing and having fun in the process instead.

Having devised this ingenious strategy I also have to say that racing to ones' full potential in terms of speed might not be for everyone and I respect anyone who emphasizes fun and camaraderie over pushing their limits. As for myself, I will test my boundaries for a little while longer and see how far I can take my fitness or how far my fitness can take me. I also see the need to plan adventure runs and other events and training runs that focus on connecting with fellow runners. As with everything else in life I am striving for the ever elusive balance.

See you out on the trails,

Marc

Gorge Waterfall 50 k Race Report

The Gorge Waterfall 50 k was going to be my second Rainshhadow Running race after completing the Sun Mountain 50 miler in May of 2014 (check here for my race report).

After some tough negotiations we decided to go to Oregon as a family.

Going into this race I was confident about my gear and nutrition choices. The only tossup was my shoe choice, but in the end I had to opt for my slightly beyond broken-in Altra Lone Peak 1.5 over my newer still somewhat shiny 2.0 version. Why? Because I have trained in the 1.5s lots, but I haven't raced in them yet. I tend to remember my past footwear by the events I ran in them and the Lone Peaks deserve to be remembered after they fall apart down the road ... or rather down the trail.

Finish line high fives are the best high fives

When it comes to racing I am a bit spoiled I must confess. This race was something like my tenth ultra (depending on how many of the fat ass events I participated in you count). To this day I have not had a really bad race in which I had to suffer mightily. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I wish for it or that it's been all bees and butterflies. It's just that some rites of passage like losing a toe nail or puking my guts out mid-race have not been part of my racing experience yet. Things just happened to go well for me thus far. Going into this race I envisioned myself frolicking through a balmy springtime Oregon while enjoying the sights. Aside from one big climb towards the end of the race the course is very runnable and I was dreaming of maybe earning a sub 5 hour finishing time. That's not quite how it played out though.

Here are a few details on how the day went:

Scenery:

expected: 9/10

actual 7.5/10

Don't get me wrong. There were portions of the race that were clearly a 10/10. The course has singletrack, mossy rocks and beautiful vistas of the river valley till the cows come home. Just the road portion, which was not quite as low traffic / quaint as advertised or imagined,and the virtual absence of waterfalls in the first 2/3 of the race course were a bit of a bummer.

Multnomah Falls. Good news: You get to see it during the race.
Bad news: you'll have to climb up and over the hill it flows down.

Technicality of the course / ankle twist potential:

expected 4/10
actual 6.5/10

Running on North Vancouver trails, I found in the past if people tell you trails are technical, they are usually not all that bad, since we have some pretty gnarly conditions to train on around here. In this particular case my "North Van technicality adjustment factor" was off though. There are a lot of smooth stretches of singletrack in the race for sure, but there are a whole bunch of really rocky sections along the course that really demand your attention too. More often than not these are in the more scenic sections of the course too which doesn't help with focusing on the task at hand (i.e. staying upright and keeping both ankles intact).

Cheering / aid stations / finish line:

expected 7/10
actual 9/10

There is limited access and parking for spectators along the course. Therefore there was a higher concentration of family and friends in certain areas, which made for a great atmosphere. Cheers and cowbells always help to lift my spirits.

My finish line welcome committee.

My surefootedness:

expected 8/10
actual 4/10

One fall. One near ankle twist and several stumbles weren't what I was hoping for. Reciting the trusted Caballo Blanco mantra of "Easy, light, smooth, fast" in my head didn't remedy the troubles with my footing. I think going out too fast had me pretty knackered by km 30. If a world class athlete such as Krissy Moehl puts down a 5:13 it's not entirely realistic for me to be ahead of that by any margin. Stupid UltraSignUp algorithms put me at about 4:48. I think there was a course change at one point. So the course record on which this prediction was based could have been a wee bit off to say the least.

Mental Fortitude:

expected 8/10
actual 4/10

My head was a bit of a whiner during the race. For the better part of the first three hours I was running in a group of somewhere between 3 and 15 people. To my surprise there was zero chit chat going on though. Maybe we were too focused on moving somewhat swiftly across the ground. As a result I spend a bit more time in my head than I would have wished for. You know how it is with those heads. They are never happy:

"If you just ran slower this might actually be fun and it would definitely hurt less"

"Who comes up with these things? Why would you pick a hobby like ultra running anyway?"

I was well prepared physically, but hadn't really prepared myself mentally to race and run hard. During the tougher stretches of the race all I wanted was to sight-see, run with a friend, take pictures and take my time. Now that the event is over and the memory of the challenges I overcame faded, I am back to thinking: Let's race harder and crack the top 50, 30, 20 or whatever number it might be in a given event.

By the way if you're just some random guy or gal who slips by me towards the end of a race , be my guest and "out-kick" me. 9 out of 10 times I couldn't care less...unless I know you. That usually triggers my ego and I will give chase. I should probably develop a strategy for digging down deep and finishing strong regardless of who is around me.

Soreness after completion of the event:

expected 4/10
actual 8/10

I was about as sore as I have ever been after any race. On a few occasions in the past I raced hard and recovered really well. This time I was absolutely wiped for a couple of days after finishing with my legs, upper back and shoulders being the main areas of discomfort. To make matters worse, this happened after I was really, really good about strength training in the 4 months leading up to the race. Therefore I foolishly expected less soreness than usual rather than more. Baffling.

Gastrointestinal distress:

expected 1/10
actual 8/10

I promise I won't go into too much detail, but in the last hour of the race I had to step out of line twice, including a visit to the Multnomah falls visitor centre washroom with only about 5 mins worth of course left ahead of me. My tummy didn't agree with something I ingested pre-race, although I wouldn't know what it could have been.

In the end I finished a few minutes under six hours, but more importantly we spent a great family weekend exploring the beautiful area around Portland and, if nothing else,the experience of this race helped to keep me humble and reminded me that things don't always go as expected.

The Gorge Waterfall 50k is a very well organized event that lived up to its awesome reputation. Thanks to all the volunteers and to everybody who helped to make it such a memorable day. Special thanks to my family and race director James Varner for smiles and finish line high fives.  Also a big shout out to the fine folks working the wood burning pizza oven trailer for making a special meat and cheese free pizza for me and for being very generous with the serving size.

See you on the trails,

Marc

Running Free-ish

I just finished reading Running Free by Richard Askwith. The author references the ages of running repeatedly throughout the book. Essentially these ages are tied to your motivation to run or exercise. Are you in it to stay healthy, shrink your butt, become faster or to enjoy the sheer joy of running and the connection with nature (the one outside the door as well as human nature). As I was reading the book I had to ask myself what motivates me and I have to say it has to be a combination of the above mentioned factors. There are usually a couple of races a year that I really train for in earnest. I like to pick a target race in spring, because it keeps me honest and focused through the rainy and dark month when hibernating seems oh so tempting. These are the times when training principles like specificity (tailor your training to the demands of the event you are training for) or the 10% rule (don't increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% over the previous week) are somewhere in the back of my head. I might not have a written training schedule, but I do try to follow some cycles of progressively increasing mileage week over week with easier weeks roughly every four weeks. I also want to believe that I have a chance of bettering some of my past race results before focusing entirely on other sources of motivation.

Through much of the summer my focus shifts. Between work, the kids being home from school and holidays I am happy to keep some kind of weekly regimen going. Often times the majority of my workouts will consist of running or biking to and from work. Whenever I do have more than just the odd hour for playing outside I will try and bag some peaks or have some adventures. I love these activities as they motivate me to go out and explore places that I otherwise might not try to get to. These outings offer a welcome change from my regular running routine. The terrain usually requires me to hop, pull, bushwhack, scramble my way to my destination. Split times and pace are pretty useless indicators of performance on those occasions and more often than not I end up with my upper body being sore the next day rather than my legs. The change of scenery and general spirit of adventure of these outing help to keep things fresh and interesting. I am signed up for my third consecutive Frosty Mountain Ultramarathon this September and I intend to keep up that streak. For me it's a great indicator of what kind of fitness my random long run adventure summer routine has left me with.

Another big motivator for me is to meet and share the trails with like-minded people. Especially those long and wet workouts seem to go by a lot faster if you have someone to share them with.

Coming back to the book, the author seems to have the ability to find beauty and joy in each and any of his runs and rambles around his home regardless how grey, cold or wet the conditions. This is one of the things I aim to get better at myself. I'd like to tell you that my regular weekday runs involve gliding along in a meditative state while being totally present and alert to my surroundings. More often than not I start my workout -which I have been looking forward to- just to then be preoccupied with chores, blogging, my next workout or a million other things that pop into my head.

I really want to work on being more in the moment on and off the trail. How so? For starters I will ditch my GPS watch whenever I can (unless I am training of course). I will also incorporate some conscious breathing into my day (you can call it meditation if you like, but for now that's too big of a word for me). Whenever I notice my attention wandering to all the wrong places during a workout I will acknowledge the thought and try to let it go. Now that sounds relatively easy. I don't know if you ever tried though. It sure doesn't come easy to me. The best starting point I can think of is actively focusing on my surroundings rather than the incessant stream of thoughts in my head.

What motivates you and how do you manage to stay present or get in the flow as they say?

Now if you would excuse me, I shall attempt to bag a peak before going to work.
Have fun out there,

Marc

10 Reasons to love the Frosty Mountain Ultra

Everybody has their favourite event on the calendar each year and for me that is the  Frosty Mountain Ultra trail race, which has been  held in Manning Park BC since 2008. I will be going back for the 3rd consecutive year this September.

Here are the top ten reasons why I love the Frosty Mountain Ultra (and you can too):

1. Frosty is one of the most scenic courses you'll ever find anywhere with seemingly endless Mountain views. It's wonderful to be in a wild place like this.
2. The location is perfect for either driving in from Vancouver for the day or spending the whole weekend in beautiful Manning Park. The 8 am start time helps with that too.
3. The event has a great grass-root feel about it which I love. It's actually quite amazing how the race director Gottfried and a couple of dozen volunteers are able to pull off a quality event like this.
4. There is absolutely no cell reception in the area, so you will not be able to check your tweets, texts or Facebook as you make your way across the course or reach the finish. Nothing could be more relaxing.
5. My schedule allows me to do a lot of my training during school hours. It's tough for me however to do any kind of structured training in the lead up to the Frosty Mountain race due to the fact that my kids are off school throughout the summer. So there is very little pressure for me to do my best. I just show up and do the best I can with some run commuting, random long runs and peak bagging missions for preparation.
6. Making it to the finish before the veggie burgers run out is a good motivator (legend has it that this has happenend in the past).
7. Any race distance can be humbling, but there is also a realistic chance that you bump into somebody who just completed the Pacific Crest Trail which is a 4270 km trek from Mexico to British Columbia with the northern terminus close to the race start at 20 Minute Lake. Now that really takes self propelled long distance travel to the next level.
8. It's a "Goldilocks" course in terms of technicality. Not too easy, but no crazy ankle eating terrain either. Make no mistake though. There is lots of climbing and descending to be done.
9. It's a great value with the ultra distance costing $ 60 for the early bird registration.
10. There is a challenge for every ability level with a flat and fast 13 km, a one mountain 27 km option and a 50 km two mountain ultra distance.

Don't take my word for it. Check out the Frosty Mountain Ultra homepage and register for this awesome trail race.

See you in September in Manning Park.

Marc