It’s been a few months since I’ve posted a training update, but it’s certainly not for lack of having any training to talk about.

I had a successful run at the Sun Mountain 50 miler in May, where I nailed my goal of placing top 10, finishing in 7:47 for 6th place overall. This represented an hour improvement over my time from my first 50 miler there two years earlier, despite struggling with an ankle sprain.

My training was a little rocky leading up to the 2015 Sun Mountain 50 miler. The week after my first race of the year, the Diez Vista 50k in April, I managed to strain my left hamstring. A couple of weeks after that, I rolled my ankle pretty bad while running on some technical trail at night, resulting in a grade 2 sprain.

Rainshadow Running’s Sun Mountain was my first 50 miler back in 2013, and I’d always wanted to go back to see by how much I could improve my time. After getting injured at the 2014 Diez Vista 50k, I had to skip last year’s race, so there was no way I was going to miss out on toeing the line this year. I just wasn’t sure if I’d be able to finish. But if I was gonna run, I would aim for about 7:45 and top 10 overall.

The Diez Vista 50k in mid-April which was my first race of the season went pretty well, where I finished in 5th place. More importantly, I did so without getting injured like last year. But that didn’t last long!

There’s nothing I love more than adventuring in the backcountry, whether on a destination run like a double-crossing of the Grand Canyon , a circumnavigation of Mt. Rainier, or something closer to home. While I try to travel fast and light, there are some things I won’t leave home without to make sure I’m also being safe.

Our local North Shore Rescue has a great list of the 10 essentials, but do the same rules apply to trail runners? Let’s review these items first and then I’ll tell you a little story.

After getting injured during the race last year, my goal for the 2015 Diez Vista 50k was nothing short of redemption. For me, this would mean improving my time by at least 5 minutes to finish well under 5 hours and, if possible, to finish in the top 5.

Heavy rains in the two weeks leading up to the race resulted in flooding along the West side of Buntzen Lake, forcing the closure of a key trail and the floating bridge used during the race. The hope had been that BC Hydro, who maintain the trails around the reservoir, would be able to restore water levels in time. But in the days leading up the race, the organizers had to make the difficult decision to re-route the course. This would make it close to the rerouted course from 2011 after similar flooding, with the addition of one other trail that had since been opened which would allow us to avoid a section of paved road.

I’d never finished an ultra feeling like I had really left it all out there and, given the last minute course change adding almost an extra 3k and more elevation, I decided to throw my splits out the window, caution to the wind, and to run with heart instead of head.