Hitting save on my Garmin never felt so good.
I had just jogged the last few metres with Stephane to where we had parked our vehicles some 12 hours earlier. All I wanted was a nice cold beer and some salty, salty potato chips. I settled for a swing of lukewarm beer and a handful of lightly-salted pretzels.
Nine of us from Grande Cache to Red Deer set out early Saturday morning on Leg 3 of the Sinister 7 Reverso Ultra in Crowsnest Pass.
Susan from Spry, the local outdoor store, was our unofficial tour guide/leader for the day. My friends (Kate, Amanda and Arleen) and I had arranged to meet Susan and her training partner for a day on the course. Imagine my surprise when I quickly learned her training partner was Jacquie, an old hiking friend from my Grande Prairie days. Our ragtag group rounded out with Stephane from Grande Cache and Conway and Dawn from Hinton.
The “plan” was to run Legs 3, 2 and 1 for a total distance of roughly 67 kilometres. A big day.
Now Leg 3 is considered the second hardest leg in the race. You may remember I pinch hit on Leg 3 for a team from Slave Lake in 2018. That has been my only experience with this cult favourite race. It’s roughly 31 kilometres with about 1385 metres in elevation gain. The route includes single track, double track and a gravel road. All kinds of fun including its loveable moniker of “satan’s sack.”
The entire Sinister 7 route will be run in reverse this year. That doesn’t mean a helluva a lot to me since I only ran one leg of it – four years ago. Susan kindly pointed out various sections of the route and where the aid stations would be and how the route is different than previous years.
Our group settled into an easy rhythm of small talk and real talk over the many, many hours. It can be awkward joining a bunch of strangers on a run but thankfully no one was an asshole. What I liked most of anything from this day is to hearing everyone’s story and race plans and training for the year.
Arleen ran Drumheller 50K the previous weekend so she joined us for the Leg 3. She is running the 50 miler at Sinister 7. She told me after the weekend that her partner, who I might add just got into running, wanted to support her so he bought a 50-miler bib. Can I get a collective “awe”?
Stephane is back to take another go at the Sinister 7 100 miler. He has tweaked his nutrition to include more plant-based foods and made elevation a key part of his training plan.
My running pal Kate has never run more than 50 kilometres in one go. That all changed when she finished the day with 60 kilometres under her belt. The majority of the group were seasoned ultra runners and 100 milers who could have easily scoffed when Kate shared that she was running the 100 miler. Nope. Not this group. Everyone was so supportive and encouraging all day. Got to love the trail running community!
Conway and Dawn led our group for most of the day. I didn’t really get to talk to them until the last couple of hours when I decided to leave the comfort of the middle pack to push myself to finish strong. They are training for the Tripe Crown (Sinister 7, Death Race and Black Spur). Conway was early to remind us all about the the importance of food for fuel.
I don’t think I have ever eaten so much on a run before. It’s one thing to know you’re supposed to eat on these long runs but to actually see a group of people stop at regular intervals to eat was fantastic. It sure made a difference for everyone. Some people were dragging then within a few minutes of eating they bounced back stronger than ever.
Food and fuelling became our theme of the day. It had to be when you are running 67 kilometres.
Leg 2 – Hastings Ridge
After a quick aid station stop at our vehicles and saying goodbye to Arleen, we headed out on Leg 2. Of course there was more climbing to start. The leg is 16.7 kilometres with 772 elevation gain over single track, double track and dirt road. All I remember is someone saying once you get to the top of Hastings Ridge on Leg 2, the rest of the race is golden. And of course Susan saying, “I am not pushing it right now because I know what is coming.”
What was coming was this ridiculous narrow climb that kept getting steeper and steeper. I had to stop at least three times to catch my breath. I wasn’t using poles but I wished I had them to propel my body forward. Instead I grabbed onto fallen trees to move my body forward. That climb was a complete and utter bitch.
Maybe it was because I wasn’t expecting it but I thought ‘the climb’ was the most challenging, definitely the steepest, climb of the day. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one feeling it was an asshole. Our seasoned Sinister 7 runners promised that the worse was over.
The views of the Seven Sisters and Crowsnest Mountain were outstanding and (somewhat) worth my pulsing heart and potty mouth. We dropped down and it got better as promised.
Leg 1
This 18.3 kilometre leg with 535 metre gain is considered the second easiest out of the seven. I don’t remember much of the beginning of this leg except for when we stopped to fill our water bottles at a creek. Some runners kept going then Conway said I am going to catch up with them. I waited a minute then I decided I would catch up with them too.
Eventually I caught up with them and the three of us and Amanda, for part of the way, ran in mostly silence. It had been a long day. By the time we got to the Frank Slide, the wind was howling and the rain was falling. We had experienced all kinds of weather throughout the day so it was not a surprise. We got a few encouraging waves from motorists too.
I managed to snap one photo while we hiked up a little hill. Taking photos was not a high priority. I just wanted to finish. Once we hit the Frank Slide I kept trying to calculate how much distance we had left to run.
After some nice downhill we hit more pavement to finish the leg. The actual leg 1 runs along the train track so we ran along the train track. We were a little off track (no pun intended). At one point, we walked over the the train track. All three of us thought of that scene in Stand By Me.
While we were bushwhacking in the ditch, it opened up the window for Stephane and Jacquie to catch up. (Stephane told me this after we finished that they were trying to catch us.) We reconnected on the road before – what it turns out to be – the last 400 metres or so. Conway decided to sprint it in while Jacquie and Dawn followed in close pursuit. I turned to Stephane to say, I am not sprinting but let’s move so we can make it in under 12 hours.
I was so proud of our little ragtag group of runners. Everyone did so great covering 31 to 67 kilometres! Officially I got in 67.32 kilometres and 2,489 metre in elevation gain, according to Strava. I am not saying it was easy. It wasn’t and I have a lot of work to do if I think I can finish the 50-miler. Many times throughout the day I thought what the hell am I thinking?
Sunday (written a week after training)
After some back and forth deciding what to do, six of us set off to do part of leg 4 late Sunday morning. Dawn and Conway did their own run earlier in the morning. I won’t lie to you. I was tired but it was great to take a look of the first part of my 50 miler race and to stretch out the legs.
This was a super pretty trail with gorgeous views.
We were all in high spirits and excited about the race. Mostly we talked about food and fuelling. Saturday was a great day to test nutrition and get a feel for what our bodies need for such a challenging effort.
I was exhausted when I got home on Sunday afternoon. It took me close to a week to recover from the weekend. That said I think I am ready as I am ever going to be (this year) for the 50 miler.