Tag Archives: Montana Beast

May31

May Happenings…FOUR recaps and then some!

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Wow, I have been slacking on blog posts!  May has been SO busy with not only races, but teaching, coaching, and life!  If I tried to do an individual recap for each for the four events I did in May, I wouldn’t get them done until September, so I am going to briefly touch on what I’ve been doing ‘running-wise’ lately, and also whats next…

MONTANA SPARTAN BEAST

On Saturday, May 7th, I participated in my 4th Montana Spartan Race weekend.  This time, instead of doing it with my husband, I was able to do it with my best friend Ali.  She flew in from California on the Friday night and would be participating in both the Beast on Saturday and the Sprint on Sunday.  The Sunday Sprint would be her first Trifecta of the year, and she is going for an incredible 5 Trifectas by the time 2016 is complete!

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Before the Sunday Sprint

I knew what the expect with the course; Ali had an idea from what I’ve told her or what she read online.  But I think it’s safe to say it was tougher than she could even had imagined!  The terrain is very challenging, and you are basically doing hills for 14 miles.  The barbed wire crawl at the end is also brutal, as I would say it’s a solid 200 metres long.  We stuck together the whole race and were very happy to be finished!  It is a gorgeous course with a great atmosphere post race.  I was happy to just be doing the Beast, as come Sunday being a spectator was right up my alley.  Sunday was a bit of a let-down, as it seemed that Spartan Race was more interested in their Elite Heat and the NBC video crews than the paying customers.  After the elite heat started over 30 minutes late, they started the open heats really quick, one after another.  This caused for back ups at obstacles and just hoards of people in the way.  I saw this first-hand by being a spectator.  I do enjoy Spartan Races, but I think I will be taking a break from them for some time.

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Who doesn’t love a good fire jump!?

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Happy to be finished…and even happier to have those fries!

LAKEVIEW SCHOOL SUPERHERO 5KM

This event was a late addition for me.  As a Wednesday night race put on by a local school, this event had a different purpose and would draw a different crowd.  The school was fundraising to build a new playground, and ScotiaBank had agreed to match their fundraising amounts!  Around 450 kids and adults registered for either the 2km or 5km run.  I think it would be safe to say it was a huge success!

The event was geared more towards the children, and that makes perfect sense as it was put on by an elementary school.  The 2km race went first at 6:00, and then at around 6:30 they started the 5km.  The loop for the 5km runners was down the green strip we run on with Marathon Club, around park of Henderson Lake and back, with the last 400 metres or so on the grass at the school.  Running on the grass was the hardest part for me personally!  I was able to huff and puff my way in to a first place female finish with a time of 22:16.  If they did this event again next year I would definitely participate, as it supports a local school…and I am a teacher!

WOODYS RV WORLD RED DEER HALF MARATHON

This is an event I have done many times before.  Red Deer is where my in-laws life, and the event always falls on the Victoria Day/May Long Weekend, so it’s super convenient!  For my 5th running of the half marathon, I would be joined by my husband and my sister-in-law.  Thing is, it turned out I was the only one who really had been ‘training.’  Now, let me be clear—Erika, my sister-in-law, works out and stays active doing things other than running.  She just joked saying that she had a running ‘rest week’ that lasted 7 weeks!  And my husband….well, he hadn’t run since the BAA 5km…and before that he ran while in Hawaii in January…so he initiated his 5 day training plan leading up to the race.  I didn’t have high hopes for him.  He just wanted to finish.

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Pre-race clothing consisted of rain poncho garbage bags…which Dan wore all race!

Come race day, I didn’t have high hopes for myself.  I had cramps that felt like Satan was inside my body and it was raining.  HARD.  I started out feeling OK, but by mile 4 I knew I just needed to trod it out and not care about my time.  My time was a 1:46.35.  I was freezing, wet, irritable and just happy to be done.  I thought I would have enough time to get back to the car, get clean clothes, and see my husband finish.  Well, of course he outdid himself.  He finished his first half marathon in a time of 1:52.37.  Seriously….it took me until 2013 to hit under 1:54, and he just goes out there and does that.  Whatever!  He was on Cloud 9 the rest of the weekend…that is, until Monday morning after I let Snoopy out to the bathroom at 5:45 AM and he got sprayed by a skunk.  What a memorable Victoria Day 2016 it was!

 

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Half Marathon Finishers!

CALGARY MARATHON WEEKEND-50KM ULTRA

 

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Expo fun!

My last event of May 2016 happened to be the Calgary Marathon Weekend.  I often do an event in Calgary, having done the half marathon in 2013, the full marathon in 2009 and 2014, and the 50km Ultra in 2015.  This year, I opted to register for the 50km, as I wanted to see if I could better my time from the prior year, which was 4 hours 40 minutes and 34 seconds.

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Other than my races in between Boston Marathon and race day, I hadn’t put on any crazy mileage in preparation.  I really was going out there and seeing what I was made of.  The race start of 7 am is great, because it ALWAYS it warm this weekend, and the sun was out in full force early.  There was at least a nice breeze throughout the morning to help break the heat.  I started running with the plan of holding a 8:00 minute/mile pace for as long as I could, knowing I would probably have to slow down some.  I was able to keep my mind going on tons of different things during the race, because during the week before I asked for family and friends to let me know if they wanted me to ‘run for them’ at any point.  I had a list in my back skirt pocket that had the names of those who wanted me to run for them and the segments I would think about them.  I took this idea from my friend Dennene, who I met at this very race last year!

I was holding my own until around mile 22, when I realized I wouldn’t be able to hit the marathon timing mat (42.2 km) at a 3:30.00 (8 minute pace).  I decided to take a little break, use the washroom, and hydrate even more.  I knew I was just going to try my best to finish still with a better time than the year before.  I trucked along a bit more and my right foot started to really hurt (where my bone spur and arthritis is).  I ended up compensating for this pain by almost running on the outside of my right foot for the last 7 miles or so; it hurt too much to have my whole foot hit the ground.

My friend Saskia was helping out with her triathlon group at the 40 km mark, and she saw me as I went by.  She joined me and got me to the marathon mat, which I hit at 3:41.02.  What’s even funnier is that this is now my third fastest marathon time, with Vancouver being the fastest and Boston being next!  I was quite a bit ahead of my pace from last year, so I knew I just needed to muster through any pain and get the last 7.8 km or so completed!  I kept a positive attitude, smiled and had fun, and by doing this, I even had some extra energy stored during the final stretch to really push myself.  My final time—4:23.10!  I beat my time from last year by just over 17 minutes!  YES!

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Thumbs up!

I was very happy with my time for this race, and even happier to find out I placed in the 50km at 20/122 runners overall.  For my gender, I was 6/42 and in the 30-34 female I was 2/9.  I earned a 1st place age group award, however, because much like last year the overall female winner was in my age group, thus removing her from age category awards.

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Bling and trophy acquired!

This race was not a ‘goal race’ by any means, but it was important.  This marks my “last hurrah” before my cheilectomy surgery, which is happening on June 10th.  My bone spur will be shaved off my right foot, along with my arthritis being cleaned out.  Stitches will be put in, and I will be put resting and elevating my foot most of the summer.  I will probably have 8 weeks off of any sort of running, and then when I do start running again I will be taking it VERY EASY.  The arthritis will most likely come back over the years, but hopefully the bone spur stays away.  I will have lots to write about in regards to this surgery, and that will be what my summer posts are devoted to, so stay tuned.

And with that, my Winter/Spring/beginning of Summer 2016 races are complete!  Up next-surgery.  After that—get back into running so I can complete the 2017 Goofy Challenge in Walt Disney World!  Can’t stop me now!

 

May26

2015 Western Canada Spartan Races—Information and a Giveaway!

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Disclaimer: Spartan Race Media Canada contacted me about writing a blog post to generate buzz around the upcoming Canadian Spartan Races. Any Spartan Race Logos/images being used in this post have been used with permission on Spartan Race Media-Canada.  No compensation was received for this post, and the opinions stated here are my own.
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Coveted Trifecta Tribe member for 2015! Going for Double Trifecta with the Canadian events!

My US Spartan Race schedule has come to an end. I completed the Temecula Super and Sprint in January, and two weeks ago I participated in the epic Montana Founder’s Beast! I am so fortunate that I was able to travel to California in the early part of the year for 2/3 of my Trifecta, and being so close to beautiful Big Fork, Montana, is always helpful when the Montana series occurs each year. US Spartan Races occur all year long, all over the country. I could be flying to New York, Ohio, Idaho, Colorado….The choices are endless. I unfortunately do not have the funds to be able to travel across the USA and participate in all these fantastic options. However, I am fortunate that the Western Canada Spartan Race series is right in my backyard!

canada spartan race logoThe Spartan Race Canada series began a few weeks ago with a Super & Sprint in Montreal. Other race sites for the Eastern Spartan Races include Halifax, Ottawa, Quebec City, and Toronto. I have yet to make it to an Eastern Spartan Race, but hope to someday. The Western Spartan Race series begins in June with the Vancouver Sprint. The provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba all have confirmed events for 2015, with a Saskatchewan race also being in the works. With living in southern Alberta, I have the ability to drive just a few short hours to many of these events!

Sun Peaks Sprint Finishers in 2013

Sun Peaks Sprint Finishers in 2013

When I started doing Spartan Races in 2013, I completed my first trifecta by doing Western Canada Spartan Races. My first ever Canadian race was the Calgary Spartan Sprint, which is held right close to downtown Calgary at a local BMX course. I knew after doing this event that the Canadian Spartan Races were the real deal! Canadian events offer the same experience that the USA events have. Some of the same great obstacles are always included—rope climb, monkey bars, spear throw, sandbag carry, barbed wire crawl, traverse wall. But depending on the event, unique obstacles are added! Because of the course makeup in Calgary, there are TONS of mud pits. I’d go out on a limb and say this is the dirtiest course I have ever done! You also get the same great finisher t-shirts and some incredible bling!

Fun in the Calgary Mud in 2014!

Fun in the Calgary Mud in 2014!

While Calgary is held every August, the events that round out the Western Canada Spartan Race series happen in September. I first did the Red Deer Super, Sun Peaks Beast and Sun Peaks Sprint in September of 2013. I am heading out to the same areas again this year, but mixing it up a bit. In Red Deer, I will be participating in the Super on Saturday and the new-to-me Sprint on Sunday. Then a few short weeks later I will be capping off my Spartan Race year by making the drive out to beautiful Sun Peaks, BC, where I will participate in the Ultra Beast-26.2 miles of Spartan craziness! I love that the events have been adding enhancements each year, with different distances and new courses being offered. This makes these races very repeatable, as you won’t do the same thing twice!

Fire Jumping in Red Deer, 2013

Fire Jumping in Red Deer, 2013

Slip Wall in Red Deer Spartan Race, 2013

Slip Wall in Red Deer Spartan Race, 2013

Yes-Snow may fall during a Western Canada Spartan Race! Sun Peaks Beast, 2013

Yes-Snow may fall during a Western Canada Spartan Race! Sun Peaks Beast, 2013

My first Spartan Race Trifecta from 2013!

My first Spartan Race Trifecta from 2013!

I encourage anyone in Canada who has thought about doing an obstacle course race to look up the the Spartan Race closest to you. Spartan Race, in my opinion, puts on the best obstacle course race in not just America, but Canada as well! I am so sure of this, that I am going to offer my readers a chance to win an entry for any Western Canada Spartan Race in 2015! The fine folks at Spartan Race Media Canada are making this giveaway possible! I will have this giveaway open for a week. You can gain entries for it by entering in my Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom of this post!  You are able to register for the giveaway until it closes on June 3rd.   And if you already know you are going to be registering for a few Spartan Race Canada events, use the discount code AROO15 for 15% off your next race entry!

If you are interested in entering the FREE giveaway for an entry to any WESTERN CANADA SPARTAN RACE please follow the link below to my RAFFLECOPTER giveaway page. You can enter for free there!

Click HERE to enter for your chance to win a FREE Western Canada Spartan Race entry for 2015!

May19

Montana Spartan Race 2015-The Beast!

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This is the third year that Spartan Race has offered a Montana event, with the past two years being the Sprint Distance.   This year, they kicked it up a notch and added the Spartan Beast on Saturday—12+ miles and 30+ obstacles of fun!  Dan and I had done the Sprint the past two years and loved every second of it, so when they made Saturday’s event the Beast, I registered us for it right away!  This year, we also decided to go back to where we stayed the 1st time around—Averill’s Flathead Lake Lodge in Big Fork, Montana.  This dude ranch has been in operation for 70 years!  It is absolutely gorgeous, and as long as we keep doing the Montana Spartan Races, we will always be coming back here!  Part of the fun for us during Spartan Race weekend is getting away from Lethbridge for the weekend, and being able to drive 3.5 hours south and be surrounded by such beauty and fun is fantastic.  Big Fork is a small vacation “town” (I even think it is unincorporated) but there are a handful of restaurants and bars to enjoy before and after the event.   We opted for the new Flathead Lake Brewery for dinner and drinks on Friday, and we’re very happy with our meals.   The beer was excellent also!  On Saturday, we went into “downtown” and ate at Kiska’s by the Lake, a Cajun restaurant that was also new.  Excellent food and drinks all around!  My Cajun pot pie was AMAZING! Now that I just gave a lodging, food and drink rundown, onto the race recap….

   

  

We had the 9:00 am heat on Saturday, which meant we wanted to be over at the course by 7:30 – 7:45.  Ok, I know I said I was done with the lodging and food talk, but the great thing about staying at the lodge is the proximity to the course.   It is two miles down the road, and since the lodge is the “host” resort you get a VIP parking pass.  If you stay in Kalispell (15-20 minutes drive) or Whitefish (even farther) you are in more of a populated & commercialized area, but you have a farther distance race morning and after the event to travel.  They do offer shuttles with parking right outside of Big Fork, which is great, but I like being able to just drive up and park.  That way we can leave things in the car to come back to after the race, and since we are so close to the lodge it makes for a nice quick trip back.  Also, breakfast is included with your stay at the lodge both mornings, and they started it up in the main building at 5:30 am Saturday.  It is buffet style, with eggs, pancakes, bacon, fruit, cereal, toast, bagels and all the beverages you’d expect.  Seriously, I cannot rave about the Flathead Lake Lodge enough.  They treat the Spartan racers very well and it is worth every penny staying here.
Packet pickup went very quickly on Saturday morning, and this was a relief, as there wasn’t the packet pickup the day before like they offered the past two years.  I assume they canned that since now they had events all weekend, and it just makes it easier to do pickup morning of.  By the time we got on the grounds, the men’s elite heart had just started, with the women right behind.  We were able to watch the men’s elite runners come through the 4 mile area, as it looped right in the main part of the grounds.   This was neat as we got to see them do the bucket brigade and Hercules hoist.  Dan and I tested out the rope climb station they had to practice on and also messed around with the slosh pipe challenge.  Before we knew it, we were checking our bag ($5 bag check) and in the starting gate.
   

  

We had an idea what we would be in for with this race, since we had prior experience running the Sprint the past two years.   I really like that they change the route up year to year, even though the race site is the same.   We started a lot farther back from the main grounds but of course, tackled a hill immediately.  This course has a ridiculous amount of elevation changes happening….calves burn so bad going straight up, then your quads kill going straight down.   I don’t even know how many times we went up to only go down and repeated this over and over again, many times on single-track trails full of rock and debris.  It makes for a good challenge that’s for sure!
 
Many of the obstacles are the same at all Spartan Race courses….monkey bars, walls to climb, cargo nets to crawl over, rope climb, barbed wire crawl, tire flip, traverse wall, spear throw, sandbag carry….the traverse wall was like how it was in California, where instead of being just a single straight wall, it made the shape of a Z.  I was very proud that I was able to make it across this obstacle in Montana all on my own….something I couldn’t do in California!
The unique obstacles in this course we’re ones that were really made from the terrain itself.  There was also logs EVERYWHERE!  Logs to climb over, logs to climb under, logs to carry back and forth with chain link handles, and two separate log carries.  One of the log carries even went out through some mud and water before coming back.
I forgot to mention the injury I faced when Dan and I approached the first log carry, about 2.5 to 3 miles in.  After doing an 8 foot wall, I noticed I had blood coming out of the back of my shoe.  My heel had been rubbing against the back of my shoe pretty bad, as my sock had fallen.  I skipped the blister portion and went straight to open raw wound.  We stopped for a good 10 minutes at the medic to try and clean it up, when in the end Dan just spit on his shirt and wiped it off.   We put a bandaid on it, but it stayed for about 30 seconds.   It hurt like hell the whole race but I wasn’t going to let it stop me.
Dan was in really good spirits for the first 8 miles or so.  We were making jokes and having a great time.  I even remember Dan saying something crazy along the lines of “I love running on trails compared to roads!” and during all the log carryies “I do this at work every day!!”  Once we got to the 10 mile marker, though, Dan hit a wall.  10 miles is the farthest he’s ever run, and that was a few weeks prior at the 10 Mile Road Race.  He never got snappy at me (thankfully!) but he was hurting.  The elevation changes and the distance on his legs was getting to be too much.  We took this photo on my disposable camera at about mile 12 (or so we were told) and then Dan told me to go ahead.  I did jog ahead, because cardiovascular-wise I was feeling great.  Didn’t matter in the end because Dan caught up to me during the barbed wire crawl that never ended, as I was struggling to figure out how to do it with the water back pack.
 
In the end, Dan and I finished together in 5 hours and 11 minutes.  The pain of the race would hit me hard the next day, but for Dan he just had utter exhaustion on the day of.  We picked up our bag and Dan didn’t even bother rinsing off.  He put on his layers of clothes and got a ton of food from the food trucks that were set up.  After gorging himself, he promptly fell asleep for about 45 minutes on the grass in the food truck area.  So I was left to eating and drinking beer by myself.  The nap was needed for him though, because he woke up a lot happier and less crabby 🙂
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One glitch in the race day was that the Beast finisher shirts had not arrived.  So everyone that completed the Beast would have to wait to receive their shirt via mail.  We did get an email explaining more about this shortly after, and I was able to confirm our shirt sizes and new mailing address.  Once we receive them and they are the correct sizes, I’ll be fine with this mishap, but if there are errors or delays it will be even more frustrating.  When you pay fees like this for these events and aren’t even given all of what is included on the day of the event it is unfortunate.  Hopefully something like this doesn’t happen again.
That being said, Dan and I will be back next year.  For the Beast?  Probably.  I assume they will have a Beast and a Sprint again, as the Beast was very well attended.  The Sprints always have more participants, but I think it is worth their time having both.  The location is ideal!  Basically, whatever event is offered in the Saturday we will do.  And while I have done back to back Saturday & Sunday Spartans before (Sun Peaks Ultra/Sprint, Temecula Super/Sprint and in September the Red Deer Super/Sprint) I don’t think Dan and I will do that for Montana.  We enjoy coming down the day before, having great food and beer, taking in the resort before and after the event, and having a great night out on the town Saturday.
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Oh yeah….and this race was my Trifecta event!  By doing the Super and Sprint in Temecula and now the Beast in Montana, I have completed my first Spartan Race Trifecta of the year!  I will be doing my second in September when I do the Red Deer events and then the Sun Peaks Ultra Beast……omg, I signed up for the Ultra Beast.   Crap……
trifecta
Jan28

Initial Thoughts and Rambles from my Spartan Race Weekend in California

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      spartan medal sign  pro pic 

I am still not fully recovered from my whirlwind weekend in Southern California.  I flew out at 7 pm on Friday, and then was back at LAX on Sunday by 3:30 pm.  I drove home and got into my bed by 3 AM Monday morning in Lethbridge.  I am tired, my body is tight, I had chaffing marks on my ankles from my calf sleeves, my eyes hurt, I am sunburned, and my number is still etched into my calves with permanent marker.  But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

course map

This weekend I ran the Spartan Race So Cal events-Super Spartan (9 miles) on Saturday, Jan. 24th, and the Sprint (approx. 5 miles) on Sunday, Jan. 25th.  Both events were held at Vail Lake in Temecula, California.  My best friend Ali, her boyfriend, and their dogs picked me up from the airport and we headed to Temecula on Friday night.  We were at the race site nice and early for check in and to peruse the site.  I also spent a lot of money on merchandise!  I would run the Super with Ali and Kevin.  This would be Ali and Kevin’s TRIFECTA race weekend (completed the Beast the weekend before, a distance of a half marathon).  Heading out at the start of the race, I didn’t think the wind would be to bad, seeing that I am used to Lethbridge winds.  I was wrong.  These winds were just as strong at winds in Lethbridge, but add the gritty sand and dirt from the course blowing around and the sun, and that makes it a whole different experience.

view of vail lake

I enjoyed all the obstacles on the course—some that are the same as previous years’, and many that are new.  Seeing that this is my 3rd year doing Spartan Races it is appreciated that they change things up.  Like the Traverse Wall—while they still had one, instead of this one going in a straight line, it now zig-zagged.  The terrain of Vail Lake also just added new natural obstacles that reminded me of the Montana Sprint.  Ali and I finished this race together in a time of 4:40.06.  I know I have said this before, but considering this girl wouldn’t even run 900 metres last year at this time and was now doing 9 mile obstacle course races is amazing!  I am so proud!

us before superfinish beer

That night I realized when we went in the hot tub how sunburned and wind burned my thighs had gotten.  It stung like HELL getting in the hot water.  Whoops. That being said, I still decided to go out and push myself during the Sprint.  Seeing a preview of the course the day before was a huge help, and I was able to tackle those hills just like I would if I were in the Coulees in Lethbridge.  I even nailed the Spear Throw obstacle!— a Spartan Race FIRST for me, and this was my 9th Spartan Race ever!  I still move quite slow over any height obstacle, as my fear sets in, but I made them.  I fell on the Monkey Bars, Rope Climb and also made it 3/4 of the way on the Traverse Wall….so 90 burpees for me.  Even with those burpee penalties, I finished in a 1:21.52, which was good for 33/1655 females in the Open Division!  My running came in handy for my lack of upper body strength!before sprintI knew what to expect coming into a Spartan Race, but I am very happy to say that I feel the organization is back bigger and better in 2015.  The obstacles did not disappoint, the race swag was new and improved (finisher shirts that are specific for each distance, instead of a general shirt!), and incredible medals!  I am very excited for my Spartan Beast in Montana this May so I can become a member of the USA Trifecta Tribe!  AROO, AROO, AROO!!!!

trifecta medallionbefore super