Catching up on Moose Mountain (training run)

My next race – Elk Valley in Fernie – scares me more than the 100K in September. There’s so much vert! So on Saturday, I met Rachel in West Bragg Creek for a long run. It was more a hike/run but it was great to catch up with Rachel and to have company on my long run. 

We met at the West Bragg trails where we ran to the false summit at Moose. The first 9K was relatively quiet as we didn’t see anybody save for a couple of mountain bikers. Once we got through the woods to the clearing, we met many runners and hikers who had started the hike from the parking lot. 

It was a quiet, cool morning. We were lucky the rain held off and it wasn’t a scorcher. Perfect really. I asked Rachel to bring her poles. I bought the same Black Diamond distance FLZ carbon ones at the end of last summer but I haven’t actually used them. I wanted to start practicing with them before Elk Valley. The first 21K is straight up Mount Fernie …. yikes! I need to save my quads. 

The carbon makes the poles super light. I love that I can fold them into three sections. Next time I have to figure out how to attach them on my running vest. It was a win figuring out how to lock and adjust the poles. 

We didn’t really push it so I am feeling fine today. It was just so nice to get out in the mountains. Time is going by so quickly and I have only made it to the mountains a few times. The next three weeks do not look promising either. I’m in Edmonton next weekend, then a couple of days later, I’m heading to Yellowknife. Hopefully I can find a big hill to climb on while I am there for seven days. I’m super excited to see another part of Canada. 

I’m going to be up north for summer solstice, which is even more exciting!

Next weekend, I am running a 25K “race” in Edmonton. I am not going to taper or anything. It will count as a long training run. Likely I will run with Carleigh who is running her first 25K trail race. I am really excited for her. Too bad the race is on Sunday. It really annoys us that they changed the race day after we signed up. Otherwise I don’t think we would have signed up. Anyway, I hope the sun is shining on us.

Onwards and upwards. 

Happy trails!