Almost done! Here I am at the aide station right before Grande Mt. The lady is pointing in the direction I am headed. 

I cried like a baby at the exchange. Not sure why. I do get emotional sometimes. I am not Whitney Houston. Glad to see a few friends at the finish line. I had a great time this past weekend. My teammates were a great bunch of gals.

As appeared in the Daily Herald Tribune

Quite frankly, I had not given the adventure race much thought until I was invited to join a relay team.

Then the demanding 125-km extreme mountain race with the tagline, “It’s a killer” captured my full attention. I took a detailed look at my appointed leg around the end of May.

Straight away the panic kicked in.

I thought there was no way in hell I could do this. I barely call myself a runner. But I had already said yes, and there was no way I would back out. I was scared to death, no pun intended, of letting my team down.

I really felt like I was in over my head.

Once I got over the self-doubt, I became determined to cheat death.

On Friday, our team met together for the first time (Grande Prairie residents, Di Arends, Tymmarah Zehr, Edmonton’s Michelle Taylor and Grande Cache’s Gina Goldie).

After sizing each other up, we calculated a ‘guesstimate’ of our expected finish.

Tymmarah came in at 2:56:08 for the first leg (17k), slightly faster than she expected. I started a little after 11 a.m. I felt lucky to run during the hottest part of the day.

Because I had ran the route completely twice, I knew exactly what I was up against. Given that I had a late start, I expected to be a late breakfast for the bears and cougars. Lucky for me, and not so much for the wildlife, I started passing a few runners.

While I stayed at a comfortable pace, I had a little difficulty catching my breath. I figured it had something to do with the altitude change. I breezed up the goat trail leading to the summit of Flood Mt. I felt some satisfaction passing a few gasping folks who moved aside to let me power ahead.

I raced down Flood and chatted with Amanda from Grande Prairie who was racing with another girl, named Amanda (oddly enough) on another team from Grande Prairie.

Manoeuvring through the Slugfest was next on the course. Many believe Leg 2 is the most difficult leg; it is definitely the most technical. Runners are treated with steep drop-offs, single narrow trails, mossy and swampy/boggy terrain, loose shale, fallen trees and tree roots.

Mother Nature was on our side. There was not a drop of rain so we didn’t have to deal with the added stress of running through the muddy and slippery spots.

I met Trish from Edmonton whom I chatted with throughout the ‘fest until I left her to fend for her self on the up hills.

At the base of Grande Mt., I gave my hydration pack to a friendly volunteer to fill it up at the aid station. This was a great time to call my teammates to tell them how I was doing. I turned on my phone. I called Tymmarah. No answer. I called Di. No answer.

After posing for a few pictures, I thought screw my team. I shoved my BlackBerry back in my pocket and headed up Grande Mt. Then the phone started ringing.

First it was Tymmarah. I gave her a quick update. Then it was Di. Repeating the same details, I hung up. I gave my coworker, Diana McConachie, a quick call and texted Delaine Haugen and Jenn Boyd to tell them I almost done.

Back in race mode, I met Helen from Toronto. We had a great chat. Her husband, Peter was running solo, and Helen was part of a relay team.

She left me in the dust. I met Helen again at the top. I left her on the descent. If you remember, I had a tough time getting down Grande previously. This time, I flew down the mountain.

I just closed my eyes and thought, ‘just go’. Ironically enough, I had an easier time going down without my hiking poles.

Near the base of the mountain is the Grande Cache Cemetery. Fitting, right?

At this point, I knew I could finish.

Then the floodgates open. Yes, Mike Amirault, I started to blubber like a baby. I was down in about 5 hours. I finished in 5:18:31. Di took the timing stick and was on her way (21k). She had to make it to the exchange by either 7 p.m., 7:06 p.m. or 7:15 p.m. Nobody really knew. The cut off time was questionable due to a misprint on the brochures.

All we knew was Di was cutting it close (and it was probably my fault for crying at the bottom of the mountain and walking to the exchange). I had no idea what she was wearing. But suddenly out of nowhere I spot Gina sprinting across the field and shouting at a runner. I joined in and the two of us ran and yelled at Di ‘to go hard and not stop.

Thankfully, she made it in the nick of time (2:46:12). Michelle was next and she finished her dark leg (36k), arguably the hardest, in 7:31:09. Gina brought us home running the fifth leg (22k) in 3:16:01. Our team, Wild Blue Woman, finished in 21:48:01.

Talk about nerve-wracking. I would have been really upset if we were disqualified.

I had a great time running with the team. But if I ever do the race again it will be with less people or alone.

Speaking of soloists, more than 400 soloists entered the race. Only 149 finished. So take off your hats for the three Grande Prairie soloists – my pal Amber Dawn Hunter, Christine Reid and Erie Lowen who finished with smiles on their faces. Bravo! Find out more results on www.canadiandeathrace.com