MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

We made it across the finish line. I feel like I could’ve run it faster.

The goal was to not necessarily race it. The goal was to complete it. With the nuance that I did have to run it fast enough to get through the whole thing before they closed the course.

I had an imaginary target. Which actually ended up being a super realistic target. Rough estimate. If I go 10k every hour. That would be 5 hours… plus 2 hours for elevation gain etc.

I completed the course in 6:40. My Strava said 6 hours of moving time.

In the days after. People have asked. If I’ll do another one. And I said I think I’m retired. But then also thinking… it would be fun to race it.

And the thoughts then lead to the next ‘impossible’ thing. Would be to win it.

I think knowing what I know. Run it back and see if a full year of proper training. How far that would get me.

Lauren also mentioned. Because leg 4 was effectively cancelled due to forest fire prevention stuff. They ran leg 5 twice. She says, well now you’ve got to run it again. Indeed. I did miss out on the full experience. There’s also plenty of uncertainty if next year I would get that chance. Seems luck of the draw with weather in the fold.. Sunday snow meant only leg 5 was raced.

Then I recalled. The training I did for this one and the challenges to get it in.

I think I’m much smarter now. Even more motivated now with what’s possible. This new target would be compelling. For sure.

There was a lot of uncertainty within myself. How hard will it actually be. I remained confident. But still. I have no idea if I did enough.

But now I know exactly how it all fits together. The exam so to speak was perfect.

It required some mental toughness. Leg 4 and leg 5 were rough. I’ll maybe discuss that later. In leg 5 tho I remember thinking. This. This is what I didn’t get doing the half. I wanted to go into the hurt locker and find out what I was made of.

I thought to myself that. This is actually pretty basic. I’ve gone through way tougher. So. It only partially checked that box.

Fix some things up and I believe 100k would be in the bag. That said. That’s a long ass run. I think finding a sweet spot would be fun to challenge. The 50k. But fast.

Lauren was impressed. She was actually in awe. I made it look easy. Something she thought was basically impossible. What this does. Is unlocks a new level of support. She was very on edge about my training. Not believing I was doing enough. All the while. I was doing quite a bit. But not all of it was strictly pounding pavement etc. She was concerned. And rightfully so. I was figuring it out for the first time. And it was not always pretty. One of the trickier times which added fuel to the fire was being incapable of walking without my calves cramping. For a couple weeks I was in struggle mode.

So satisfying to have completed the half. In 2 hours 1 minute. Gave me some breathing room. But still so much anxiety that I was going to permanently injure myself for something so unnecessary. Why?? If you don’t even like running?

A little secret. It’s true. I did not like running. But I liked the idea of completing the ultra. I love golf. But time to play golf is super limited with kids 3 and 5. But I can get out for a half hour run on a week day. That quiet time altomyself. I quickly gained a passion for running. The first time out. I was like. This is amazing. I can go anywhere. Just run.

Also. I liked this phase because. I did joy have to go fast. Which killed me. I would always go as fast as possible for my running in school cross country and track. But this idea of getting into cruise mode and just going a crazy distance. In beautiful trees and trails. And in theory all accounts 50k is a wild distance and the trail is epic in the mountains etc. the grizzly was so obviously perfect. And has been perfect the past year to help me build an entirely new me. Based on me. But like. All the keystone stuff needed. To do this. Changed me. Very strategically.

It was all the training leading up to it. Not just running but weights and mobility. And then learnt a lot about nutrition.

I got myself into the best shape of my life. And then I got to test myself physically and mentally.

It was perfect.

But now what.

Where do we go from this?

The sense of unlock was palpable.

I can pick something impossible. And now I have a massive data point to suggest I can actually do it.