Race Report: 2016 Lost Soul 54K

By now you know I finished Lost Soul. I made all the cutoffs and I didn’t collapse at the finish line. Regardless of my time, I call that a win. My pal Rachel also finished without too much trouble. (Rachel’s a bit of a whiner but I knew she could do it.)

This time around I was thrilled to have so much support at the race. My good friend Carleigh came up from St. Albert to volunteer and to give me that hug at the finish line. Back in my Grande Prairie days, Carleigh would always be waiting for me at the finish line. Once upon a time she was a runner too. (We lost her to cycling.)
 
 
We ate at Mocha Cabana the night before the race. I had my usual Happy Hippy Salad and a big beer. Carleigh ate some sort of wrap. I love this vegan-friendly restaurant. Rachel and I ate here earlier in the summer. The night before the race was pretty chill. We hung out at the finish line for a bit before we ate.  No time lately to be stressed or freaked out. 

I slept well

Let the running begin. I put so much time into thinking, whining, training, not training and worrying about the distance. At the most 12 hours (the official cut off time), I would be pounding back the pints with Carleigh or crying in my pillow because I earned a DNF.  It was only 12 hours (or less) of my life. You can do anything for 12 hours or 12 minutes or 12 seconds. 

It was cool

We were greeted with a nice breeze. We heard that it wasn’t that hot. It had rained slightly on Thursday/Friday, however, there was no trace of the rain by the time we set off on the trail. While I had embraced for the heat, it was the wind that nearly did me in. Boy was it windy on those coulees. I had a tripped lightly and the wind carried me a few steps where I took one knee. I have the bruises for show.  

Downhills sucked

It was around the 20K mark when I started having trouble on the inclines. I didn’t push it because I still had hours ahead of me. Walking down the hills so be it. My strategy worked because my knee pain did not worsen. Sure there were some moments when I wanted to scream bloody murder. There was that time when I pulled out my iPhone to let Carleigh know I was still alive. Look I can still make a poor attempt at a duck face. More coulees to go! 

Snakes everywhere

As it goes, shortly after I took the above picture I had two encounters with snakes. Lucky for me the snakes appeared nearly at the end of my race. I would have gone bonkers if it were any longer. Every where I looked I swore I saw what looked like a snake. 

Thanks Bill K for taking this picture! Funny how he just popped out of nowhere. Ha. 

Seriously I finished on two feet. Not sure why I am hopping on one foot here. Carleigh said I looked amazing. (Read: I didn’t look like death like some other runners.) It was great to see some familiar faces at the finish line especially after running for hours alone. 

Don’t you just love my trucker hat? I was in the middle of the pack coming in 14th out of 32 in my age group. I am pretty cool with that showing. Rachel did amazing and came in eighth out of 18th in her 50+ age group! 

Great weekend! Now as I sit here – weeks later – reliving the race, I can’t wait to do it next year. Funny because just weeks ago I swore I would never do this race again. But I felt so good after the race that I want to do it again. I shaved a big chunk of time off my 2014 race and I am confident that I can do much better next year too. 

Thanks to Rachel the raining for the race was a lot more fun this year. Thanks to Carleigh I had someone waiting for me at the finish line. (I think she had an awesome time volunteering too.) 

I digress …. if you are simply skimming and scrolling … know this … I am thrilled that I finished and I can’t wait to tackle those coulees again in 2017. 

Peace.