I touched base with Mark about a week ago. He invited me along for a trail run with the Calgary Trail Runners. I jumped at the chance because I need to kick up my training for Lost Souls. The other night I was creeping on the Lost Souls’ Facebook page.
I am officially freaked out. I need to run hills and more hills between now and September. I am looking forward to my second 50K but I am also scared!
We left Red Deer about 7:30 a.m. We met about 10 other runners at the parking lot of a trail called Little Elbow in Kananaskis. It was supposed to rain so we brought a lot of rain gear. We were told there would be a lot of climbs on this trail. I was carrying the bear spray so I wasn’t worried about being left behind.
I knew within a kilometre I would be back of the pack. I think it may have been the elevation gain. I didn’t catch my breath until about 4 kms and I only found my groove at 8 kms when we turned around. The climbs were awesome to say the lethe least.
Mark was kind enough to stay back with me on the climbs. I am used to power walking up the steep hills but this group flew up the major hills. Yikes! I made up time with the down bills but we still managed to lose the lead group at 8 kms. There was no clear path at the snow drift so we turned around.
Three of the Calgary-based group caught up with us eventually. So the five of us made our way back to the start. We finished with 16K while the others finished with 17K for the day. It was a great day to be outside and in the fresh mountain air.
Running with faster people always pushes me to work harder. I hope to get out with this group again. It’s always a two-hour drive one day so it does take up the entire day. Mark and I dipped our feet into the river. (Mark hurt his foot on one of the downhills.) It felt so good!
And that was my Sunday …
Sounds pretty intense! Good thing you were smart and brought bear spray though.
I think I am going to have to buy my own. I keep borrowing from people. Ha ha.
I've just dipped my foot into trail running so-to-speak but I definitely want to add more trail running to my summer plans! I enjoyed not worrying about time…but more about my footing!