January 1 2021 Sooke Wilderness 50 km Trail Adventure

I always look forward to New Year's. Fresh start, a time to set new goals, begin new habits or end old ones that no longer serve us. This year especially I was happy to recycle my 2020 calendar, but also feeling a bit in awe of what 2021 will have in store.

David Marlor and I planned to start the New Year off with a 50 km adventure trail run on the Sooke Wilderness trails. What a better way to celebrate the start of a new year being out on the trails all day .

The forecast was for rain, so I packed a few extra layers just in case I needed them . Lessons learned from previous long trail runs, if you get wet and cold you're doomed. I brought extra gloves, hand warmers, and toque. More than enough. I've done may 50 km runs and races; the distance usually isn't an issue, more about being prepared for the conditions.

The day started off just after sunrise. We got going a little later than planned because we wanted maximum amount of daylight. We brought our headlights just in case it would get dark before we finished and in case of emergency.

David planned the route with his talent as a Human GPS. I had a rough idea where we were going and familiar with the trails we frequent often. I like the Sooke wildness trails for the variety of terrain with some very run-able trails.

Things were going well, the weather was actually nice, and the temperatures warm with a bit of sun. I was happy I had my new Merino wool gloves on made my whole body feel warm. I also had new full lengthy 2RX tights and new Cascadias with great traction good for wet conditions.

There was a lot of blown down trees on the route and we could have really used a chain saw to get through all the fallen down trees. It was a challenge just crawling over or under them. I felt grateful for good hip mobility. I could get down into a squat under the fallen trees without using my hands if I needed to.

About two hours into the adventure, going over a huge pile of logs I fell onto my right outstretched arm and heard a “crunch.” I was hoping that was the tree I just landed on and not my shoulder. Ouch it was sore, but everything was in place luckily not a dislocation. David was ahead and I didn't want to say anything about it. My shoulder was moving okay and not too painful . My right shoulder is always sore as it's my dominant arm, and as a massage therapist, how I earn a living . Not something to tamper with. I didn't want to pull the plug so early into run and it actually felt good to move it so kept going. A few minutes later my pack began to feel light. Little did I know I was losing my gear on the trail as the log had unzipped the UD run pack. This is a first. Another UD fail? Luckily we backtracked and found everything, including my phone, strewn out on the trail. Happy I had packed everything in ziplock bags to keep it dry.

Continuing on our way, I couldn't help but assess my shoulder. Thinking the worst outcome is my anxiety talking out loud. Telling myself to think positive “my shoulder is fine“. Besides if I was really injured I wouldn't be able to swing my arm running,

We encountered lots of high stream crossings. The water was freezing cold too. More logs and trees to get over or under. It felt like an obstacle course. Sometimes it was hard to figure out how to get through it, go around over or under. It was thick and sharp with twigs poking out. We had to be careful not to impale ourselves crawling over the dense brush. It was slow going – run a few metres, more logs to cross over. I was finding it hard to stay warm as we were moving so slowly or stopped dead in our tracks. There was snow and slush too, which made it slippery. The trails disappeared into thick wet salal to push your body through. Tat one point it appeared there was no trail. Even David seemed frustrated. The salal and pushing through downed trees made everything wet and I was soaked through. I was getting pretty chilled when the wind hit. Happy I had brought the extra layers, I changed into a dry long sleeved Merino wool shirt, dry gloves, hand warmers and my rain jacket made a world of difference. David seemed fine and wasn't even wearing gloves the entire time.

A river has taken over the lakes carriage way near Leech town.

The trails we had run so many times before seemed unrecognizable with all the tree fall. It was frustrating as I was getting tripped by branches and twigs and trying not to trip and land on my shoulder. Even with the recent change of clothes I began to feel cold and shiver. David gave me his Merino wool gloves and hand covers as mine again were soaked. Hand warmers do not work wet. I had buffs around my wrists to keep warm, covered up my Garmin so I didn't look at how much further to go. Kept telling myself “one step closer to the car.” Out of who knows where another trail runner wearing shorts appeared with his dog. Shorts? Are you crazy I thought? He was finding the conditions frustrating too and decided to head back the way we were going. It wasn't running it was a bush whacking at it's best! I had a bag of fruit gummies that I accidentally dropped a few on the ground; the runners dog loved them! I had a tough time drinking because I was so cold. Drinking cold water made me colder. My neck was too sore to turn my head to drink Tailwind – I was feeling miserable.

One of things you have to consider as an ultra runner on trails is how to pee in the wilderness and to adapt to the conditions. I usually would find a bush or tree off the trail to pee behind. But given the cold , dark and wet conditions I didn't want to stop so I just peed in my pants as I ran. In all my years of competitive Ironmans I had yet to pee in my pants, but it kept me warm and I was already soaking wet. You do what you have to in survival mode.

David on the most run able part of the trail.

I was thinking we must be the craziest people in the world doing this for fun! Oh yeah a Jan 1st to remember. What do normal people do Jan 1st? David offered me his last dry layer but I refused as I didn't want to stop and if something were to happen he would need it. “suck it up winey baby!” I kept asking how much further. I could feel every kilometre tick by on my Garmin. Still probably two hours from the end, completely soaked, cold, in the dark with headlight. I visualized someone popping out of the forest with a Thermos of hot chocolate for us. Grateful I was with David. I'd never attempt this on my own. I always feel safe when I'm with him. He always knows the way and I admire his talent in knowing where we are in such extreme conditions. I felt he was upset not knowing how bad the trails were after the storms we had had .. who knew?

We were planning to summit mount Empress but bailed at the saddle. Looking up to the mountain it looked cloudy and ominous and it would be exposed and windy, and in wet clothes would have been asking for trouble. Besides there wouldn't have been much of a view.

The trails were becoming more run-able, but were very slippy and slidy with thick mud. On tired cold and cold legs I ran, bracing so as not to fall. It was crazy! I was relieved to see the sign five kilometres to the parking lot. Okay we were going to make it. I could handle another hour of being frozen. The air temperature felt warmer in the valley. As we ran-hiked the last few hills I could finally see the highway. Yeah we made it. Took us just under 11 hours to do 53 km today, but we were not expecting those crazy conditions.

I felt grateful to change into dry warm clothes, still shivering to the core. It felt like a long hard day. Mentally and physically I was done. I suggested we order pizza from Virtuous pie as I was starving. I sure was looking forward to having a warm bath and some good food! We had good reason to pop the bottle of champagne that had been sitting in my fridge from last new years!

Post run reflections, why we do this? About half of the run was quite enjoyable and run able. The other half not so much. I feel ultra-running teaches you how to suffer and deal with discomfort. Knowing that you can survive tough times, finding a way through the obstacles that lie before you, exposing yourself to the elements. I think this has a lot in common with getting through 2020; surviving uncertainty and dealing with changing conditions you have no control over. I'm choosing to look at 2020 as the year I survived and thrived given the circumstances. Embracing what I did achieve rather what I didn't accomplish. The year 2020 will forever be in history and to some still a mystery.