Race organizers have deemed it the Toughest (and Nicest) Race on the Prairies.
The Lost Soul Ultra Marathon covers three distances – 100 miles, 100 kms and 50 kms. The longer events start on Friday morning at 8 a.m. and the 50K starts on Saturday at 7 a.m. in . (Next weekend if you haven’t been paying attention)
I have 12 hours to finish the 50 km event. Runners doing the 100 mile and 100 km races have 35 hours. If you can’t finish within the allotted time you are booted from the course and receive a DNF (did not finish). The top finishing time for the 50K is about 5 hours while it’s 11+ hours for the 100 km and 21+ hours for the 100 mile.
This is not a road race. There will not be dozens of spectators lining the streets. There will not be a lot of hoopla. We will run through the river valley coulees and lose/gain about 1000 metres of elevations. Think hills. Lots of hills. I will not run the entire 50 km. I will be hiking. It’s okay to walk/hike in trail races. There’s no judgement.
The course is described as a pair of “stacked figure-eights.” I have no freaking clue what that means. So you do, please drop me a comment. The aid stations boast goodies that you would never see at a road race. Think hot soup, chips, cola, gummie bears, fresh fruit and cookies. All so yum!
And unlike road races, runners may come face to face with wildlife. I am talking bears, cougars and squirrels.
I don’t know many people who have done this race because I am still relatively green in the ultra and trail world. Amber ran it and her advice was something like “your ankles” are going to hurt. At least that’s all that have stuck in my head. But I have talked to a lot of people about Lost Souls over the last few months. Everybody, I mean everybody, said the volunteers and race organizers are awesome and welcoming. I haven’t heard one bad peep about the event.
I think there’s a sense of humour in there too. Way down the racer information sheet on the website: This is a clothing optional event! Kidding! Of course you have to have some sort of sense of humour when you think about the various tests you will endure over the course. It’s not mad, it’s awesome!
I haven’t been able to find many pictures online of the course. A Google image search brought up random shots. I promise to fix this when I am in Lethbridge. I will bring no less than three cameras!
Okay now the big question – why on earth do I want to do this? This sums it up better than I ever could:
Is the race route when looked at from "above" not shaped like a figure 8? And depending on the distance do you not do that figure 8 say 2, 4, or however many times? That is what I assumed….
It should be amazing hope the weather is great for you!
Thanks pal! Me too.
Good luck! I think trail racing is so intimidating and doing a 50 km is just insane. But a good kind of insane. 😉
Yes it can be 🙂 I am nervous-excited!
I understand that hiking the steep up hills is what the elites do – sure you'll do great.
Thanks 🙂
I hope you enjoy this race Crystal. I have no doubt that you are ready for it and I'm looking forward to hearing all about it. PS: There was bacon, yes bacon at the aid station at one of my 50K's. Enjoy!
I hope you had fun! I had a friend that ran the 100k. He was most excited for perogies on course.
For some reason your blog fell off my Feedly and I'm just getting caught up….