Revenge Was Had In That River Valley

Ultra #024: Revenge Was Had

2018 River Valley Revenge Ultra 100 mile

This was originally posted on Facebook notes 2018-06-22.

Race Lead Up

I have been racing a lot so far in 2018 and felt good about my fitness travelling up North to Edmonton. My mileage I have been working on has been consistent and I felt very happy with my level this year heading up to the race. My schedule nor training has ever been super structured, and that is exactly how I like it.

Travelling North

Eating some pre-race pizza | Photo: Katie Meding

My vacation days were booked and ready to escape work for a short visit and run back home in Canada. My Family decided to come with me so our kids would get to see their grandparents and visit our old home. We headed out from Houston on Tuesday and lugged our 3 kids and car seats through the airports and finally arrived in Calgary very late that night. Grabbed the rental van and got to my parents for some sleep. This meant I had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to relax and taper prior to RVR. I did a couple small runs around home and then we all headed up to Edmonton to stay for the race on Friday night. Once in Edmonton I did manage to sneak out for one last shakeout run prior to the run next morning. Due to the 10:00 start I figured I could use it to loosen the legs up a little. Also got in a nice pre- race meal of some pizza. Went over the gear one last time and set out my first set of rabbit clothing for the morning.

Race Day

My gear ready to 

Slept very lightly in anticipation and so I was up fairly early in the morning. We packed up all my stuff and headed to the race HQ. Pulled into the race location and who is the first face I recognize but the undeniable smile of one Keith Heslinga. I climbed out of the van and met him with a hug. I could tell he was quite stoked to run as well (also a returning finisher from last years RVR 100). I met Matthew one of the other runners taking on the challenge. After some brief conversation and small talk I decided to go find the check in around the back of the HQ and get my race bid. Here I met Sherly Savard, the awesome ETR leader and RVR RD. We chatted for a while and caught up. I was all ready and signed up now and set with my orientation key and race bid #704.

At the race in our rabbit gear with my wife | Photo: unknown

I walked back to our rental van and gathered up with my kids and wife. Here I started gathering my things and actually getting ready to go. It was a gorgeous day with no clouds in sight at all. The temperature was already around 23C (73f) and was climbing by the hour. With about 20 minutes to go we took my starting gear to the line and got ready for the race briefing. Fumbled around with my phone for about 8 minutes during the briefing done by Todd Savard, RVR course director, to ensure I had my GARMIN live connection ready to go for my family to follow along. I posted this feed to my Facebook athlete page for people to follow along if they wanted.

Go…

With a countdown and small crowd cheering us one, the small group of runners for the 100 mile distance was off. Keith and I took off at the front and started to chat away and catch up. It was a very short 0.6mi section down the neighborhood before the singletrack dove into the endless river valley trails. Here Keith stop and took a bathroom break, and left me to run on my own at the front right off the get go. The singletrack winded down through ravine towards the edge of the North Saskatchewan River. Then, naturally the infamous Two Truck Trail (TTT; ETR’s signature segment) was first up this year from their new headquarters. I felt the race adrenaline running through me as I loved this section. Only 2 miles in I new it was going to be a long day so I slowed a little and took in the sights and the glorious sun rays.

And were off... | Photo: Katie Meding

At the end of TTT you cross under a bridge and there were marker arrows pointing up and across the bridge for the relay race….but where were the solo markers??? I followed the marked up to top of the hill/bridge and knew this was wrong, but was looking for our markers following the river. Still did not see any. I got out my map and checked and again confirmed, yes, we stay along the river. I stood there for about 4-5 minutes and then I saw Keith below me looking around figuring the same thing. Between us we figured we’d just bush whack forward till we rejoined the trail. Worked out perfectly, just weird there was markers here since the rest of the course was very well marked. I blame overnight urban vandalism!

This photo doesn't do it justice = straight up!

Back on track and now Keith and I ran side by side again for a long while and chatted and caught up some more. We talked about our race goals and plans for the summer. This was one of the few sections that was not completely in the bush, using some of the multi-use paths. I ran with Keith nearly stride for stride till the first aid station which was at 15 km at the Kinsmen bridge, where I arrived first here just slightly and got my wife and kids crewing me as I got my race pack now, instead of my handheld I used to start, and packed up and continued on. I did not see Keith for the next section at all as it was now all singletrack. There was some awesome sections in here I had not run at all. One of my favorites was the new section of trails in the Whitemud Ravine. Todd found some great ones in there for us to run. Here we popped out at 33 km ish to the Snow Valley aid station. Again felt good at this point and changed my shirt and re-hydrated as I chatted briefly with the people there.

I kissed all 4 of my girls and headed back into the dense untrimmed river valley singletrack, again new sections for me. I got only a few hundred feet up into my climb and I could here the aid station cheering in Keith as he came in for aid so I knew he was keeping the same pace as me and was only a few minutes back.

Crewing at the Snow Valley aid | Photo: Brenda Shaunghnessy

After round back to the river and crossing back under the Whitemud, there was a neat section of trail up above Fort Edmonton. But after completing this part there was a point where we popped out onto the road and it was back through the neighborhood briefly for just under 1 mile. As I slowed down on this part Keith had caught me and yelled at me from behind. I saw him there but just kept pushing on. In retrospect I should of slowed down more and taken more relaxed approach at this point. But I kept my slow and steady pace and maintained about 500m ahead of Keith until I got to the top of House Fall Down (another infamous ETR segment). I stopped here and grabbed a picture and waited for Keith at the top.

Selfie at the top of "House Fall Down" segment

Found the trampoline, did not jump on it, just took a selfie

I let Keith take the lead descending down into the valley yet again. We troughed along at very similar pace for a good while. A couple of these small downhills is where my muscles first started to get a slight twinge, so I knew I needed to get drinking more. On this section here Keith’s pace exceeded mine as I slowed a little and let him continue on. Once I got to the Fireplace hydration station, I took my time here drank a bunch of water and coke and filled up my bottles. From here the route let around Terwillergar Park. My paced really slowed at mile 29, I’m not quite sure the reason here, but I could tell this is was the start of the downturn. I just wanted to get to the next aid station at this point. However it was a long haul up parallel with Anthony Henday Hwy in a open field exposed to the heat. Coming from TX I thought the heat would not be a huge factor, but the fatigue combined with this heat was definitely taking its toll on me this day. After 31.5 mi I finally got up that long steady climb to the top and the aid station where my family was there waiting for me. This was a boost and managed to get some boost in morale. It is always huge to see my wife and kids during these long efforts. After short break here and refueling I headed back down towards the river. Another new section, for me, made my way to the mandatory check point of the Ol’ Tramp Trail. Just over 1/3 done the race now, 34 miles completed. I remember leaving the trampoline and be appreciative of the shadiness of this section.

Once I crossed the Anthony Henday footbridge again here I got to head further west into more unexplored trails. It was basically exactly 1 full mile out along the river through the bush and on the extreme 25 degree ish slope of the river valley of course. My pace had really slowed again here. Then at the very end of this a climb out of the river valley was straight up the embankment and was a death crawl up to the top. Once there the trail popped out on an open field where the trail just ran parallel along the end of the trees. Anyone feeling decent would be running this section as it was flat up top, and nice soft dirt beneath the feet, but my body was not having it now as I continued a death march pace. Just before crossing back underneath Anthony Henday I had to stop and empty my stomach. This is only the second time now in all my ultras that I’ve had to puke, but my stomach was not my friend. I felt better briefly but then the thought and feeling of dehydration began to creep in my mind. At this point I knew I just had to keep moving forward and drink all the fluids I could and catch back up, so that’s what I did.

Once I got passed the Epcor plant there was another transverse section along the riverbank followed by a small ravine climb back out into the neighborhood. I had caught up on my fluids as much as I could as having emptying my 4 bottles and now running nearly on empty for last couple miles before the aid. Mile 38 hit and my body was really starting to rebel. I was stopping & stretching my aching calf muscles now, dehydration must be setting in. Also I recall feeling light headed at this point, the dreaded bonk was near. I finally recognized where the ravine was and knew it was only a little climb out to the neighborhood section where the next aid station was. Only problem was my pace was well, bonk pace. Looking at my data it is near 25-26 min/mi -- so just over 2 mi/hr -- a crawl! The only reason I managed to keep moving there was the sun was hidden from the trees and so the mosquitos were so very bad that if I stopped at all. There was instantly 10-15 biting me at any given moment. I remember swallowing at least 2 mouth full of bugs on that section, sadly that did not bring me out of the bonk. When I saw the last remaining light through the top of the trees I knew the street was near. I just starred at the top of tree and kept moving, ignoring my screaming calfs. The glorious aid station cooler was there and I grabbed a 1 L of water and started chugging, took a watermelon, and a small snack, and slowly kept moving forward. I moved away from the cooler as it was set right by the trees, and also my crew was meeting here at the entrance to the other trail where the aid station was supposed to set up originally. It was only another 0.5 mi down the road, so I got away from the bugs and looked forward to seeing my wife.

New PR!

I arrived at our van at the edge of the Donsdale area around 20:18 and like I said the sun was just setting on this long summer day. So I sat down at the edge of the van and just sunk in my own pity. Katie could tell quite easily I was broken and hurtin’ at this point. I tried to get all the fluid and coke and calories in I could. This was a slow and painful process. I set my PR for longest time in an aid station of 1 hr 58 min before I managed to convince myself to get moving again at about 22:16. There was some self-doubt talk here about dropping but then I realized I did not travel all the way to Edmonton and NOT run the segment of Golf Ball Alley. Also at this point I was not fully demoralized yet as no other runner had caught up to me yet, which means it was just Keith in front. My race was not over just yet.

Heading back on course after a looooong break | Photo: Katie Meding

I set my PR for longest time in an aid station of 1 hr 58 min before I managed to convince myself to get moving again.

1 Loop

There was a moment of what the hell am I doing as I left my family to head for these last 12 kms back to the HQ. Shortly after leaving the Donsdale community the trails drop drastically into the river valley down a steep section called the Cliff. It hurt so bad to run down it even though it was short. It was all or none once I got down there cause I sure as hell wasn’t turning around to climb out (even though in reality that would technically be easier). I actually did get a boost in energy from my mass aid stop and was shuffling/running this section best to my ability. The pace on this trail at the best of times is super slow due to its technicality so that may have helped slightly.

The river valley is truly beautiful at night in the middle of the city

Once I got passed the Terwillegar footbridge and continued up the river towards the finishing stretch of loop 1 entering the Patricia Ravine trails I just kept thinking to myself of just keep moving forward. I was still feeling down on my water intake as I had no yet gone to the bathroom since my bonk so I knew I need to finish off all my fluids before getting back to the race HQ aid and then get squared away again. I finally emerged from the long windy gentle climb of the Patricia Ravine and entered the neighborhood. A hard right turn and I was only about 0.3 miles into the end of loop 1 and another aid station stop.

Well Shit…

Revenge was definitely had this year. I just walked away with my first failed race. The dreaded three letters DNF – Did Not Finish.

How did this happen? I thought I was catching up after this super stop 12 km ago. Well as I can in to the race HQ I was beaten up and my legs were sore, but really my stomach was starting to rebel on me. I tried to go to the bathroom here but again no luck yet. I continued to down coke and water which felt great. My wife stayed up late still with the kids still to crew me one last time. I had a pacer lined up for the night and he was there getting ready and provided some assistance. However, after about 15-20 minutes of sitting down and doubting myself a little I walked to the front of the van and boom – I lost every fluid I had again out of my body spewed onto the ground. At this point I knew my stomach was completely against me. I could no longer keep fluid in, and yet I was dehydrated; a recipe for disaster unfolding right in front of me. I sat down and thought about it some more but then it dawned on me that I just had to pull out of the race.

I slowly walked over to the HQ and delivered the news of my withdraw and then proceeded to pack all my stuff up and head back to the hotel. My race was over – not the way I had envisioned it at all.

Final Thoughts

Here is my Strava activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/1643542694/overview Check it out if you want to see some bad data.

official race map

A lot of people would feel 50 miles (1 loop) is a good accomplishment, but I went there to win and push myself and another 100 mile effort. Unfortunately, this was not my day. Now it is nearly one week later and I am really angry at myself for dropping. However I knew at the moment there was no way I was able to continue, the fact I kept puking and couldn’t hold water for a few more hours basically verified that fact, but the DNF still hurts. Took me till my 24th ultra to feel that sting, but here it is. I will now take a bit of recovery and try and refocus my efforts to my next big summer race in late August, Squamish 50/50.

Thank you

A big shout out to my supporters this season:

rabbit for selecting me to the rabbit ELITE trail team

Trail Racing Over Texas for teamTROT ambassador selection