After my disappointing Scotiabank half, I was looking forward to doing my next trail race. I had not run the Mt. Seymour trails before so I would not have the benefit of knowing the route beforehand, but for me that is part of the fun.
Because I had not realized how much of drive it is up to the start of the race, I arrived with very little time to park, bio break and warm up. I found it quite amusing that there was a group of us coaching each other on the quickest way to get a parking ticket from one of the very few parking ticket dispensers in the parking lot. "No, select all day". "Put in your coins first then press the button". "You forgot to take your parking stub!!!". Trail racers are a friendly and helpful lot. Most of used the trip between car and ticket machine as an opportunity to get in a warm up run, out of desperation more than any other motivation.
I managed to get the pre-race rituals out of the way and made my way to the starting line. Instead of worrying about whether I needed to get one more pee in before the race started, I started to think about just how warm it was at 9 AM in the morning on top of this mountain. We were having a run of warm weather in the Vancouver area: warm for Vancouverites being any temperature over 25 degrees Celsius. It was already in the mid-twenties before the race started. Oh boy, I'm glad I drank a lot of water the day before.
I started out in the second wave of runners and followed the course down a gravel service road and into the trails. On days like this, the forested trails are not cool and inviting, instead they seem to seal in the humidity and heat and are more than happy to share this sauna with as many trail runners as are willing. I was very happy to be wearing my lightest gear I have.
This is one of the more picturesque trails I have run on. Lots of small ponds, little flowers and interesting views. Oh and lots of bugs. Instead of hearing the huffing and puffing of the people around me, I was hearing a lot of spitting and declarations of "Gross" or "Eww!". I had learned how to cope with "bonus protein" while doing training runs in Burnaby's Central Park so I wasn't too freaked by these close encounters with nature. What is really disconcerting is having one of those little critters smack into a contact lens. Since I was running without sunglasses (I find a peaked running cap gives enough sun protection) I must be an inviting eyeball target. Now having a bug fly into your eye should just demand a quick blink or rub to finish off the problem, but my contacts seem to be made by the same people who make Post-It Notes, sticky, but not overly so. So it takes a few blinks and eye rolls to effectively deal with these critters. Since I have astigmatism, I then have a few seconds of adjustment as the lens slides back into the proper, bug-free orientation. This makes those few metres of trail even more challenging, because I am traveling along without the benefit of stereoscopic vision. Fortunately, I stayed upright and ankle-twist free during these periods of excitement.
This course offered a great mix of up and down and terrain. At one point I was scrambling over rocks similar to the Whistler route. At the highest point of the route there were snow patches left over from the winter. Instead of running around the snow I happily ran right across it, happy to have refreshingly cool snow crystals stirred up around me. If the snow had been cleaner, I think I would have done a quick belly flop just to cool down!
As I descended from this peak I traded positions with a few racers. We came across a group of hikers ascending the trail. As I passed by what I assumed to be a family of tourists the fellow who seemed to be the patriarch shouted at me "Hey, you shouldn't let those women get ahead of you, where's your pride?" Luckily, I was too out of breath and focused to shout out "Buddy, you try this and see how far behind those fit women leave YOU!".
I continued down the trail and yes I did catch up with those fit women and ran with them for a while, but they eventually pulled ahead of me and I was left to enjoy the trail on my own. This part of the route was quite technical, with lots of rocks, roots and very low tree branches just waiting to smack the inattentive. I passed three racers who were knackered, something very unusual for me and as far as I know they did not catch up with me by the end of the race. I came across a volunteer who indicated that I was almost there, ascended a small incline and saw the finish line. I crossed on my own, finishing strong and very happy to have completed this challenging route.
As I was walking around and stretching I noticed that my jaw felt a bit tight. I rubbed it gently and dislodged a palmful of salt crystals from my beard. Well, not only did I just get a good workout, but apparently I completely rid my body of toxins and salts! I chugged back at least a litre of electrolyte drink in the next half hour to compensate.
I hung around to watch the awards presentations and to munch on some of the snacks provided by the organizers. I checked my results and saw that I ran 11.7km with 642 metres of gross elevation in just over 1:46. Considering the heat and technical nature of the trail, not bad for me, and certainly not last to cross the finish line either.
Boy did I enjoy my cold water bath when I got home!
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