After a disappointing injury year, I'm thankful to finally have been on the start line of this year's 148km Sinister 7 Ultra. I'd heard such great things about this event and with
SOLE as a title sponsor of the race, I was determined to get there and experience the Crowsnest Pass area of BC/Alberta. However, in typical Jen fashion, I'd find a way to make an epic out of this somehow. So.....here is how Sinister 7 and the past few days have gone!
Thursday 7th - I intended to hit the road to Nelson where I would meet up with my crew and friend Randy Richmond for the night. However, delayed by the fact that I didn't want to miss watching the tour de France on tv with the Brackendale crew and enjoying one last
americano paired with some "issues" at the the CBC studio (like the floor peeling up due to heat) my departure was delayed until mid-day which meant long ass drive across BC until about 9:30pm! I arrived at Randy's house and crashed hard, drained from the crazy week I'd already had.
Friday 8th - Ok - up early and down to Oso Negro for my long awaited coffee at my 2nd most favorite coffee shop in the world! I discovered their bean back at a Raid the North event and post race, you couldn't get me out of there. Randy and I did some final gear and food shopping and then it was back in the car for another 5hrs or so to Crowsnest Pass in southern Alberta. After race registration and pre race meeting, it was back to the campsite for dinner! The winds were howling as we had an awesome chicken dinner tail gate party! Early bed but slept very little - the strong winds were blowing my trusty subaru around all night. Apparently Randy got no sleep either in his truck!
Saturday 9th - 5am wake-up, coffee and oatmeal at the campsite. I was so ready to get on this race course and burn off some energy. Travel days make me stir crazy. I was keen to get into the mountains! 7am race start and the energy was awesome. Some 100 + solo runners and over 1100 people on relay teams were ready to roll!
As usual, I seem to re-call very little of the race course. For the first 3 legs, I ran with an extremely elevated heart rate which was very strange given the pace I was running at. I was thinking that perhaps I was fighting a bug or something. I walked lots of the hills and chatted with a new ozzie friend out there. Nice to have the company seeing as on each leg, the relay racers just continued to pass the solo's. It was a little demoralizing in an expected way as they all had very fresh legs. Anyways, I just tried to keep pace with a few of the guys and stay relaxed. I dunked my hat and head at every stream I came across. The Salomon skins pack worked like a charm to keep me hydrated without feeling the weight of the water. Each leg had its challenges but that was fine by me. A hill is a hill and if we all have to go up the same hill, then its all good!!! Randy called out my predicted next leg time as I came through each of the 6 TA's. I was so lucky to have access to my magic smoothy every time as it keeps the body in a good groove. Leg 5 was probably the most challenging for me as the grade of the hills got super steep. Known as the "Seven Sisters" the climbs were relentless. I was so lucky to have some poles given to me by the wonderful Cindy Hartford that my pace increased near the end of the leg. The sun went down and I settled into 2 final legs of running in the dark. Body was feeling ok, not great but more then anything, my #1 priority remained for this race - keep the ankle healthy. I never pushed the downhills and instead just cruised them and watched my footing. I wore the Salomon S-Labs for this race, the low profile shoe turned out to be a great choice. Total ankle stability, I felt great. Leg 7 was my least favorite of the entire race course due to the amount of flat pavement running into town to the finish line. Sorry but just not a fan of that hard stuff. However, it was awesome to see Randy, Cindy and her husband Brian waiting for me near the end. Lots of relay folks still around at 3am in the morning - pretty cool!
Overall, Sinister 7 was a great experience. The RD's put on a fabulous, very well organized event. I have no complaints on how the course was marked - solid from start to finish. Lots of aid stations and great volunteers out there! I highly recommend this event either as one heck of a solo challenge or as a really fun team event. Maybe we will send a CBC team there next time!
I didn't meet my goal of running sub 19hrs so I'm a little upset with that. I know that was very attainable for me to do and I have some personal suggestions on how I can make that happen next time. I finished 1st for the ladies, breaking the course record by nearly 2.5hrs. This put me 8th overall against the guys!
Race Stats and Results can be found here on the
Sinister 7 page.
Congrats to everyone out there and thankyou for all the support!
Sunday 10th - I finished at 3am and by the time I enjoyed a shower and post race beer, it was 4am. I had a crappy sleep back in my car until about 6am, waking up every few minutes to hack up a lung. Randy was so great, making me coffee, helping me sort gear and pack up etc and then we went out and enjoy a great breakfast before the awards. However....no time to chill, I had a flight to catch. I jetted from Crowsnest up to Calgary, parked the car, grabbed a new set of run clothes and rushed into the airport to grab a flight down to Vegas!!! It was time for me to crew for the wonderful Mary Betts at her Badwater debut. I was so excited. I arrived into Vegas at 8:30pm, hobbled through the airport, met up with crew members Michelle and Kay and traveled down to Death Valley, CA to meet up with the rest of the team Mary Betts. OMG - long day! It was 12:30am before I got to bed as we sorted through the last bit of logistics of the race.
Monday 10th - Mary had a 6am start time down in the
Badwater Basin! For the next 40hours, myself and her crew worked hard to motivate, hydrate, fuel and help her achieve her race goals!!! As drained as I was, Mary motivated me so much that day. I am the proudest coach in the world right now, so rare to get to work with someone for so long and be with them through training, the race and right to the finish line. Mary got the job done as I always knew she would. Having done Badwater back in '08, I knew what she was going through every step of the way. She didn't waiver, she remained focused and driven. I put my shoes on to run with her as often as I could, it seemed to help bring down the leg swelling and once I took a few steps with her, the pain settled. I've got great memories of watching Mary burn down the back side of Towne's Pass at midnight as we made our way to Panamint Springs. I will write another blog soon on my Badwater experience thoughts, feelings and experience.
Tuesday 11th - Mary reached the Mt. Whitney portal at 10:20pm or so on Tuesday after 40hrs of running! We celebrated with her for the few minutes that you are allowed and then descended back down to Lone Pine for late night taco's.
Wednesday 12th - coffee, breakfast and gear cleaning! 2 dirty vans that needed attention. We then loaded up and hit the road back to Las Vegas. What a shocker to go from the middle of nowhere to the lights and crazyness of Vegas - not a good contrast. Anyways, we rallied up and headed out for an amazing dinner at Taos to the Venitian Hotel where Mary treated us to an incredible dinner and dining experience. After saying goodbye to the crew, Paul and I journeyed out to Lake Mead so that come sunrise, I could get a quick little SUP session in before my flight.
Thursday 13th - yup, early it was! The things we do in order to play. I really wanted to hit the SUP board before traveling. Paul and Super K own a fabulous little spot right on the lake, not surprising seeing as these 2 like to play more then me! Paddle, breakfast as we watched the end of the tour and back to Las Vegas airport! By 11am I was in the air, bound for Calgary. Grabbed the car, got some gas and put pedal to the medal with only a brief stop in Canmore to see Phil Villeneuve and grab a coffee. I cranked up the sirius radio that Norm so kindly installed before I left and just enjoyed an incredible evening of driving through the Rockies until I finally reached Vernon at 10:30pm. Exhausted I arrived at the Sellars house and swapped recent stories (them off of BC Bike Race and Trans Alps and my Sinister) before crashing hard!
Friday 14th - Morning swim! Ultraman is 2 weeks away and I have work yet to do. After a great water session, it was onto Kelowna where I'm spending the entire day coaching and catching up with athletes. Thanks to my friends Dustin and Brandy for the house to stay at. Tomorrow JF and I will be riding in the 115km RBC Grand Fondo road race - can't wait!!
So there you have it! Sleep is seriously over-rated! Its amazing what you can do in a day when you don't given in to the closing eye lids! Looking forward to a Sunday wedding down in Washington and then to getting back to life at CBC and all the amazing peeps that I get to coach!
GOOD NIGHT!
