There is a place not far from Vancouver where impeccable singletrack trails wind through lush pine forests, alpine meadows and lakes, and along a series of interconnected wind-swept ridges with spectacular panoramic views.

The Spruce Lake Protected Area in the South Chilcotin Mountain Range is located just 150 km north of Whistler, and 100 km west of Lillooet, B.C, an area which is nearly 72,000 hectares in size.

I was invited to tag along with friends Julie, Glenn, Ward, Jackie and Chloe for the August long weekend. The plan was to make the 5 hour drive on Thursday afternoon, then to run all day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, returning to our campsite at the Tyax Resort each night. The icing on the cake was that we’d be taking the float plane from the lodge on Sunday morning and getting dropped off at Spruce Lake so that we could run out.

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 😉

Well after that little set-back earlier this year at Diez Vista 50k, and then starting to make my comeback in June, it feels like my season has finally begun again in earnest after what turned out to be a really busy month of camping, training, and racing in July. Bring on 2014, Part 2!

The Golden Ears Trail is a popular hike in Golden Ears Provincial Park, near Maple Ridge, which offers some pretty spectacular views of Pitt Lake, the city, and the surrounding mountains including Mount Baker off in the distance. I ran the trail with friends Matt and Alexa in late July, by which time the snow had mostly melted.

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.