I’m sure I said out loud at some point after sweeping part of last year’s Squamish 50 course that I’d never run the race myself. Co-Race Director Gary Robbins is known for making his courses hard, but this one seemed to lack any flow or ‘runability’ in a serious way, despite being quite beautiful.

Fast forward to August 17th and I found myself on the starting line for the 50k alongside Salomon Flight Crew teammate Tom Craik and local elites like Ellie Greenwood and Adam Campbell. It’s not the 2,500m of gain plus 2,750m of descent but the terrain itself that make this a particularly challenging course, as evidenced by the 11hr cut off time.

My good friend Karl Woll was among the seriously insane attempting the ’50/50′, meaning he’d have raced the full 50 mile course on Saturday before pulling himself out of bed on Sunday to run the last 50 kms all over again. He and I had booked a room at the August Jack which was literally metres from the finish line, so at least he could be carried across the street if need-be.

With it being my first long distance race since getting injured back in April, I really only had one goal for the race – to finish feeling strong and healthy, my peroneal tendon no worse off than when I started. Of course, finishing top 20 and in around 6 hrs would be nice too, and finally beating Tom couldn’t hurt 😉

The 5 Peaks Cypress Mountain Enduro on July 26th was to be my 2nd race back since getting injured a few months ago, much shorter and faster than I’m used to, especially given that I haven’t done anything even resembling speed work in a while. I went a little off-course last year to say the least, so I was still looking forward to a better result – provided I could put in a solid effort and suffer a little.

Earlier in the year, my good friend and Salomon West Vancouver athlete James Marshall briefed me on a brand new race he’d been asked to help design the course for, full of (yes!) ridge running. The event promised an entire weekend of trail running, expos, great food, and amazing views in beautiful Revelstoke, BC. How could I resist signing up for the inaugural 5 Peaks TrailStoke Ultra & Relay on July 19th?

This weekend’s Diez Vista 50k was my first ultra distance race of the season. I’d done much of my training over the past couple of months right on the course itself. I felt prepared and felt stronger and faster than ever.

My ‘A’ goal was to finish in under 5 hours, but I decided I’d be content with closer to 5:15 in case it wasn’t my day. Aside from a technical section along the ridge early on, the course was very runnable, with some good climbs, and right up my alley.

I managed to finish in 5:04:37 for 9th place overall, but the race was far from a success.

I’m writing this as I sit in the emergency room the day after the race, waiting for the results of an x-ray on my ankle. I’m on crutches, unable to put any weight on my left foot since having sat down after the race.

I’ve thought the race through moment by moment as I rationalized continuing to run in pain that only worsened and it seems so obvious now what decision I should have made. Here’s what was going through my mind at the time.

This weekend marked my last big weekend of training before Diez Vista 50k in just under two weeks.

Saturday, I joined a group of another 70 or so runners in Squamish for the first of several Squamish 50 Orientation Runs. I’m not running SQ50 this year, but the orientation runs are always a great way to meet some new faces and to hang out with old friends. I tried to keep the pace in check though for the 21 km and 2.5 hours or so, knowing that the big event for the weekend was still to come. After all, Sunday was to be my first trail race of the year, the Cap Crusher 8k, part of the Coast Mountain Trail Series and said to be “the toughest 8km trail race in Canada” with 500m of gain (which would translate to a 3000m 50k).