David Marlor's 56 Miles for 56 Years Ultra February 27 2021

Everyone has a different way to celebrate a birthday. Some like going for a special dinner, having a massage or throwing a party (pre covid days). But if you're an ultrarunner, you might want to run your age in miles.

Start of the 56 mile run at 7:10 an Mount Doug Park

David had originally planned his 56 mile (90 km) run for February long weekend. Unfortunately the forecast was for cold weather front and a freak snowstorm, David decided to postpone the run for two weeks. It's common whenever David plans a big event or has a race the weather Gods hear about it and decide to ruin it by blizzard, hail, thunderstorms or extreme heat. On David's actual birthday Feb 23, as we were heading to our destination preview of a section of the course, an ominous rain cloud followed us and dumped hail if to say “ha ha happy birthday David”!

David asked if I wanted to join him for his 56 mile event. With all races and events cancelled due to Covid, it was nice to have an ultra distance run to prepare for. My longest run this year so far being 50 km Jan 1st in cold, rainy and muddy conditions. I figured the weather couldn't get much worse. I was still recovering from my FOOSH – “fallen onto an outstretched hand” injury that occurred about 12 km into our 50 km run. Turns out a CT scan (thanks to my physio Jaymie McGowan) showed I had fractured my glenoid fossa and a large fracture fragment floating around, in the part of the shoulder where the head of the humerus sits in. Luckily my shoulder was functional, painless, did not require surgery and the joint was in a good position for healing .After seeing a sports med doctor at Rebalance I got the approval that my shoulder would be okay to run the distance. He just said “don't be afraid but be mindful in the technical and slow down and walk if you need to”. Since it was in the healing stage, I didn't want to re-injure it. I trained myself to become a lefty to protect my right shoulder initially.

In terms of races during Covid times, when most races and events have been cancelled. The original plan was to do Cascade Crest 100 miler in Washington, USA in Aug 2020. However due to travel restrictions and border being closed , the Race Director kindly agreed to roll over my entry a second time to Aug 2022. In the meantime, I suggested to David that we put our names on the wait list for Fat Dog 120 miler held in Manning park in August. I was shocked to have received an email a few weeks later that we got in! Fingers crossed the race will be able to run . David has completed the Fat Dog 120 miler successfully in 45 hours with a sprint finish in 2019. This year the race will be on the original course so it will be new for him too. My longest ultra to date is the Fat Dog 70 miler in 2019, which took me 23 hours. Adding on another 50 miles is a daunting endeavour. Fortunately, I have a great coach, Matt Cecil, and I feel confident that I will be ready when the time comes.

David designed his 56 birthday run, a mostly runnable route, on urban gravel , paved and roads with 3000 meters of elevation gain and loss .Starting and finishing from Mount Doug Park. David's talent is designing these crazy long runs. I don't know how he does it. He organized, with the help of his friends, Andrew Barclay, Lisa Fehr and Karen Laberee to drop off water and host five aid stations along the way so we could refill water and replenish nutrition. A long run such as this takes some organization and planning.

Water drop at Thetis lake courtesy of Karen Laberee.

I had packed my running gear the night before, a dry bag with a new pair of trail runners, and extra dry clothes to change after the river crossing at Goldstream. Headlamp fully charged, emergency gear, extra nutrition and hydration and running poles in case we needed them at the end when the legs get tired.

We started bright and early Saturday am 7:15 am a little behind schedule. Couldn't have asked for better weather, sunshine and no chance of rain until later in the day. I didn't know the route exactly and prefer not too as I find it can be overwhelming to know how far we will be running. I like to break it down one section at a time.

David and I set off from Mount Doug Churchill Drive parking lot and headed out on trails through Royal Oak to Colquitz, Interurban campus trails into Francis King Regional Park and into Thetis lake Regional Park. Karen Laberee had dropped off some water for us on route so we could top up. Nice of her to do that!

Local running legend Bob Reid doing trail maintenance .

As we were running through Thetis we ran into Bob Reid, local running legend and leader of the Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club. I barely recognized him in jeans and a lumberjack shirt carrying a saw. He was out doing some trail maintenance. When David mentioned we were out running 90 km for his birthday run today, Bob didn't seem phased at all. “Well enjoy your run!” It was really nice to see Bob and we stopped to take a picture. Oh well broke the social distancing rule, whatever.

Onward to Munn Road trailhead parking lot to meet Andrew Barclay, where he would join us for about 25 km with to Goldstream. Andrew was his usual chatty self and he and David led the way as I trailed back a few metres. As we entered from Mount Work into Gowland Todd and Durrance Road parking lot, I was blown away by all the cars parked on the side of the road. Since Covid the trails have been busier than ever with hikers, walkers and dogs. We were looking for Karen Laberee's van since she kindly offered it as an aid station. There was a buffet of salty chips, protein balls, coke and water so we could refuel. It was nice to eat some solid food other than drinking liquid nutrition Tailwind. We also ran into Dave Campbell and Collin Goldblatt on the trails. Nice to see some familiar folks.

At this point about 30 km into the run we descended on Timberman Trail. Out of nowhere, I tripped unexpectedly and somersaulted onto my back, rolling and managing to avoid landing on my shoulder. Andrew and David were ahead and didn't see it, but saw me lying on the ground. I was a bit shaken-up; brushed it off and kept going. I could feel the adrenaline and now started to feel emotional as to what just happened and had some self doubt if I should continue. I couldn't risk another fall or risk re-injuring my shoulder. I'm such a klutz! I figured I'll get to 50 km and re-evaluate.

Heading down from Jocelyn hill, we heard voices singing “Happy birthday“ for David. It was a nice surprise to see Karen, Holland Gidney and Fiona Peters. We stopped for a bit to chat. The wind was picking up and we were getting cold, a sign to keep moving. As we headed towards Caleb Pike and Holmes Peak, we power hiked up the climbs. It started to feel like we were slowing down. I was having a low point and just trying to stay close to David and Andrew who were hiking strong. Highs and lows happen on long runs .Sometimes it’s just a sign to refuel or slow down. I find at times after hiking it’s hard to get running again.

We were making our way to Goldstream where we would meet Markus Pirker for this section of the run with his dog, which was more interested in fetching sticks than running :) We decided to cross under the highway, which meant crossing Goldstream and getting our feet wet. The current was strong against us and the water was freezing. I was happy to have stowed my dry bag in Andrew's car, with a pair of fresh dry Cascadias and dry socks to change into. I changed into a dry Merino wool shirt and warmer Lululemon compression tights, while David was re-taping his feet before putting on dry socks and trail shoes. This was 50 km into the run. I'm lucky I don't get blisters but I realized after I should have lubed up my feet with Bodyglide as my runners were brand new, but same shoe I was wearing previously. Sometimes a new shoe can give you “hot spots”, which need immediate attention, or you can get blisters.

My energy was good so I decided to keep going. If I had decided to quit now, I'm sure I'd regret that decision. My shoulder was feeling fine and I was okay. Besides what else would I do? have a bath and watch Greys Anatomy on Netflix? We only had another 40 km to go, funny how the brain thinks during an ultra. The tough part was over, meaning the terrain was more runable going forward.

As we ran from Goldstream onto sections of the Great Trail (Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail) I was feeling my strongest, using momentum and cruising up the hills. It felt nice in this section to run as the trails are smooth and flowy. We eventually got onto paved trails in Langford and started heading around Langford Lake to be confronted by flooded trail. We decided to backtrack to avoid it, not wanting to get our feet wet at this point.

It was getting dark and our headlights went on. We eventually crossed the highway running along for a stretch to Goldstream group campground entrance to the campground where Lisa Fehr would meet us with a mobile aid station and Markus finished his section of he run. Lisa came fully prepared with her portable fire pit and warm chicken and vegetable broth, chips, pickles, water and coke. She helped up refill our Tailwind. It was toasty standing by the fire. We were in no rush, but had a schedule to keep.

One rule in ultrarunning – get into the aid station and leave as quickly as possible. We got our poles ready for the steep climb back up and around Mount Finlayson to Bear Mountain. This is where David and I continued on into the night. It was drizzling a bit but still warm. I didn't need to wear my rain jacket but always have it in my pack as an extra layer. David is a very strong power hiker and he was far ahead of me but I could see his headlight in the distance. Using poles feels easier since you get to use you're upper body to propel up the hills and give the legs a break. It was nice hiking in the dark and nobody was out there but us and the owls hooting. Had I been by myself I'd be scared, but I wasn't with David in company. We were on a mission to finish this.

The next aid station was Andrew Barclays place. It was now raining and when we got to Andrew’s we still had about 14 km to the finish at Mount Doug. Cindy Barclay said “I can't even imagine”. “Me neither” I was thinking. “Wouldn't it be nice to get a ride to Mount Doug” lol, but no we have to run. “Besides”, I thought to myself, “If I can't run 56 miles now how will I ever complete 120 miles in August. Suck it up Winey baby”. Andrew had some salt and vinegar chips, more coke and water for us and we were off on the home stretch. Ultrarunners eat so healthy!

In need of food and water at Andrew’s house.

David ran strong just ahead of me, I like to run in silence in my own head. Sometimes I find my thoughts are dark and immediately catch myself and change the channel to positive self talk. When I start to get tired, I almost need to get angry at myself to keep going. We were walk/running by this point, when David walked I did and when he ran I ran. Walking up the hills, running downhill hurts more than uphill. My knee was starting to feel the fatigue. Running on the last few kilometres through Broadmead I heard strange rustling noise in he bushes. I was starting to freak out, which made me speed up to catch David. Maybe I was hallucinating. In my mind I'm not sure why I thought we were running 96 km but 56 miles is 90 km so with only 2 km to go we entered Mount Doug Park.

I was happy to see another headlight approaching us. Lisa Fehr joined us for the finish. We toasted with some Fireball, just a sip to warm us up. We chatted away until the last stretch to the parking lot finish line. It was 10 minutes before midnight. What a long day but we got er done. I was happy to change into warm clothes and immediately my legs tightened up, typical after you stop moving. Lisa had brought her fire pit, where, on a cast iron frying pan, we warmed up pizza I had made the night before. We huddled around the fire to keep warm. The only thing missing was a beer or cider lol. I hadn't thought to pack one. I lit a sparkler on the remaining Fireball cupcakes I made for David’s birthday. All in all it was a great day and mission accomplished. I was really looking forward to a warm shower and Epsom salts and bed. David got his birthday wish, finishing 56 miles for his 56th.

I think it is a huge accomplishment to run a mile for every year as we get older. To what age do we think we can keep this up? Run 100 miles on you're 100th birthday is probably not a reality.

I feel like ultrarunning and pandemics have a lot in common. 2020 and 2021 feels like it’s been an ultramarathon so far. Its almost been one full year since Covid 19 started. It feels like the whole world is tired. Wise words from Bonnie Henry I like how she uses running analogy to describe this pandemic “this is when we need to stay strong, our perseverance and endurance to get us through this unrelenting fatigue”. As Bonnie says “If we were running an Ironman triathlon , we are finally on the run section of the course. The run distance in an Ironman its 42.6 km, but in this case we could be running an ultramarathon ( yes feels like it ). The finish line is not quite in sight, we still have a ways to go. The last kilometres are the hardest for all of us. We just need to keep moving forward with hope that the finish line is on the horizon. We will get there eventually.”

In the mean time Be safe, Be calm, Be kind and keep running !