The Meet Your Maker 50 Miler claimed to be an “absolutely stunning course, up, down and through the Whistler Valley” and it certainly did not disappoint.

The course is actually 53.46 miles (84.04 km) with 3,736 m of elevation gain and loss, and it can be run as either a solo or as a relay of up to 7 runners. The race was only started in 2012 but saw a pretty big jump in popularity this year, with many runners returning for a 2nd attempt after having been beat by the fairly aggressive cut-off times.

I knew quite a few people from the local trail running community who were running the solo and as always was feeling like I was missing out. But having just run Waldo 100k last month, I thought I’d be best to just go up to spectate and possibly crew instead. When a last-minute opportunity to run the relay with Team Salomon Flight Crew presented itself I figured it would be a perfect way to get involved.