obligatory year end 2025-by-the-numbers-and-other-stuff note: chapter 3/tokyo drift

 

(a little context for my new readers this year: for the last couple of years i've been aggregating unused thoughts that didn't make it into my race reports into a year-end catharsis.  most of these are ideas or discussions with myself i had in a potentially-hallucinogenic stupor after hour 20 of staying awake during an event of some sort, but lately some of these are thoughts i had in a sleep-deprived stupor 30h into a volunteer shift. 

the title is also a reference to this.)

race report: this feels oddly familiar

The one thing that totally caught me off guard about my first DNF was how long it took the imposter syndrome to actually wear off.  Sure, there are a fair bunch of y'all that would give their left nut to be able to do 91mi at Hardrock - but it's more painful when my performance was a clear regression of fitness and a stark reminder of my own mortality.  

That being said - I totally signed up for Tunnel Hill prior to running Hardrock fully expecting this scenario to play out.  It definitely helped with scrubbing the imposter syndrome away...but it still hurt like a bitch.

yup, this is how I dress for races now.  nothing to do with kolache intake though.

race report: high climbs and misdemeanors

welp, it had to happen at some point.

i'm just glad it took me 12 years to get here - and that it is not the sad story i thought it'd turn out to be.  

like seriously, i don't need you to feel sorry for me - i'm just glad this is the culmination of one batshit-crazy racing history.  

[so far.]

race report: you are the manufacturer of your own misery

I didn't want to write this one, given how incredibly chaotic it was the six days leading up to the race, plus the race itself.

proudly sponsored by Big Donut

But I figured it would help someone, including myself, in the future, so here we are.  

obligatory year end 2024-by-the-numbers-and-other-stuff note: chapter 2/electric boogaloo

 

(a little context for my new readers this year: for the last couple of years i've been aggregating unused thoughts that didn't make it into my race reports into a year-end catharsis.  most of these are ideas or discussions with myself i had in a potentially-hallucinogenic stupor around hour 26 of staying awake during an event of some sort, but lately some of these are thoughts i had in a sleep-deprived stupor 30h into an aid station shift. 

like 2021 and 2023, it was difficult this year with only one race on the docket....but unlike those years, there were way more hours alone with the thoughts in my head since there are fewer folks that run long down here.)

Race Report: The End [of the Beginning]

Like most things in life, everything is temporary.  
And like it is for most runners, distance running is just a crutch that you don't need forever.

This is the story of the confluence of these two concepts.

obligatory year end 2023-by-the-numbers-and-other-stuff note: "body glitter will give you a second wind, trust me"

(a little context for my new readers this year: for the last couple of years i've been aggregating unused thoughts that didn't make it into my race reports into a year-end catharsis.  most of these are ideas or discussions i had in a potentially-hallucinogenic stupor around mi75, but some of these are thoughts i had in a definitely-drunken stupor 13h into an aid station shift. 

like 2021, it was difficult this year with only one race on the docket....but unlike 2021, so many more crewing hours and way too many aid station shifts outside of Alberta.)

Race Report: 切ない/Setsunai

Full disclosure - this report is long.  

But so was this race, so........🤷

obligatory year end 2022-by-the-numbers-and-other-stuff note: stilettos and broken bottles

can you believe I've never been on Cascade Mountain before?  it's amazing what you can miss when you keep staring off into the distance and trying to escape your present.  or something like that.  (but seriously, i've never seen banff/minnewanka from this perspective and this was trippy as fuck.)

Race Report: "And then fucking taco shorts comes out of nowhere"

Despite dragging my ass around the world on many various adventures throughout the years, I had amazingly never been anywhere in Canada east of Toronto (technically Montreal if we are counting layovers).  Then one day, this scrappy ULCC airline started flying out to St. John's from Calgary for roughly half of what I would pay on a mainline, so I checked with what my bud out there was up to for September long.  He said he was out of town running the Steep 50k in Corner Brook, so I signed up for the 100k of that iteration to tag along with him.  

Yes, you've read this story before.

Me, MEL'NIE! and Tim before the race

Race Report: Stellar Nucleosynthesis

Seven years ago, shortly after signing up for my first 100 miler, I signed up for a hilarious 120miler race just to see what happens after the 160k mark.  (I'm almost certain that this decision was also affected by my consumption of alcohol.)  That race was also a Hardrock qualifier, and after enduring that race I embarked on a multi-year saga to make my way into this "post-graduate" race.  I figured that by the time I made it through the lottery, my teeth would have been sufficiently sharpened enough to be able to make it through this endurance run (not a race!) in the San Juans.  

I made it into the 2019 version, which was canceled by high snow depth, but then was deferred to 2020, which was canceled by a pandemic, and then deferred myself to 2022 in light of onerous travel and training opportunity restrictions during the 2021 race.  I didn't count on getting into Western for 2022 as well, but with fears that I was losing my edge with nagging discomfort here and there with the progression of time, ('aging out', i guess), I elected to bag the two races in the same season.  (and also three weeks apart.)

This is how that story ends.

Race Report: The Zone of Optimal Confusion

Back in 2012, when I was feeling bored with my time after having just moved out on my own, I ended up hanging out with a few random internet strangers and colleagues who got me into trail running.  These folks were terrible influences on my life - I had trouble keeping up with geezers on 6km runs and lacked the appropriate gear for this new sport, which cost my wallet dearly.  But slowly and methodically - my weekly volume increased along with my endurance and capacity to take no shit from my legs.  Folks told me that with enough practice, I could get to participating in these highly esteemed lottery-entered races full of cursing and minced oaths.  

Then on one fateful day prior to the 2014 Canadian Death Race, my entire corporate team realized it took place over the August long weekend and backed out, leaving me to run the entire thing by myself.  I had told myself I had no business chasing after Western States Endurance Run (WSER) tickets because it seemed like an overly onerous endeavor, so the only reason I was running this race was because my company had effectively comped my entry.  The race management saw my name on every leg, ported over my relay entry to solo and I ran it a few weeks after pushing my max race distance to 50k at the Calgary Marathon.  It was messy as fuck and I don't remember much of it, but I got my first ticket to WSER at that race because I made the cutoff by half an hour.  

I learned you could hang on to your tickets and double them by running qualifiers in successive years as long as you kept it consecutive, and alas - this is how that story finally ends.

obligatory year end 2021-by-the-numbers-and-other-stuff note: maladaptive daydreams

in years gone past, this would have been a bunch of 'cutting room' thoughts and ideas left over from race reports that never made it to publication, as well as other musings from heckling friends while working aid stations.  i had a few volly gigs but i've only run one race this year, so let's just say i'm still kinda short on material for this year.  nevertheless, here's a bunch of stream-of-consciousness ideas that never found relevance in my other post for 2021.  

despite this being a running blog, none of these chicks are in running gear.  

Race Report: On Letting Go

How're ya now?  Not 'sbad?

It's been a while since I last toed the line at a race - exactly 52 weeks and 6 days before the race of this report, I ran a 3k relay race mid-pandemic, but that was a massive rolling start and our team all started together.  I had volunteered for ultras and smaller road races since then, but the concept of running long distances for long periods of time was once again foreign to me.  

Fortunately, I had to get my shit together for the 2022 WSER race lottery, and needed a qualifier between November 2019 and November 2021 to keep my consecutive ticket count going.  There were effectively no WSER qualifiers during 2020 in Alberta and we had a non essential travel ban effectively through to mid summer 2021, so despite spending an entire summer volunteering for local events and gravel riding instead of getting long training runs in, I committed to getting off my bike at the end of August and racing a 100k closer to the end of October to give me the most time to prep as possible.  It was between Quicksilver in San Jose and Leona Divide in LA, both races that normally occurred in the spring, and I figured the latter would be saved for another year when I could swing by Disneyland on my way home.  (Not a joke.)

obligatory year end 2020-by-the-numbers-and-other-stuff note: yes i'm still here

in years gone past, this would have been a bunch of 'cutting room' thoughts and ideas left over from race reports that never made it to publication (ha!).  i didn't run a single race this year (assuming you're not counting a 3k relay race leg), so here's a couple reflections on the dumpster fire of a year we all had.  i hope you enjoy it.  

 

obligatory year end 2019-by-the-numbers-and-other-stuff note

“Nowadays, curmudgeon is likely to refer to anyone who hates hypocrisy, can’t, sham, dogmatic ideologies, the pretenses and evasions of euphemism, and has the nerve to point out unpleasant facts and takes the trouble to impale these sins on the skewer of humor and roast them over the fires of empiric fact, common sense, and native intelligence. In this nation of bleating sheep and braying jackasses, it then becomes an honor to be labeled curmudgeon.”  

--Edward Abbey

Race Report(s): well that was a hoot....

.....but this life is not for me anymore.

no, i'm not retired; but despite having the freedom to do so, I'm just not inclined to put so much energy into running long distances in obscure locales for silly outings anymore. 

grab a chair, maybe a growler of a hard-to-drink stout or sour, because my rationale is stupid long and takes place over a series of months.  sorry not sorry.

Barely-passible Aid Station Cooking: Super-moist Sous-vide'd Wilford Brimley Special Non-Medicinal Brownies

do you find you sometimes need a boost of energy but caffeine is too much of a diuretic for your stomach?
do you like to pretend your aid station in the middle of bumfuck nowhere is basically the house of the witch from hansel and gretel?

Race Report: A Temporary Absence of Irreverence

Aldous Huxley once wrote that, “The harder we try with the conscious will to do something, the less we shall succeed.  Proficiency and results come only to those who have learned the paradoxical art of doing and not doing, or combining relaxation with activity.”  I, for one, am terrible at this, because for the most part, I think that most activities do not operate on non-linear laws of diminishing returns based on a horrible misinterpretation of a Chinese interjection at a very young age.  

Serendipitously, this year's Bighorn was just the punch to the throat I needed to rediscover the joie de vivre I've been lacking as of late.  

Barely-passible Aid Station Cooking: Super-moist Sous-vide'd Banana Bread

have you ever found your banana bread to be stupid-dry?
or that you committed yourself to an aid station which operates in a cold, dry winter where everything is susceptible to freezing and drying out?