Sunday, June 22, 2008

Ultimate XC Marathon - Quebec Edition - 6:17:56


Courtesy of: http://www.ultimatexc.com/gallery.aspx?serie=1

Official Results: 6:17:56
2008 Ultimate XC - Val Morin, Quebec Results



Graph and Beaver Dam Picture Courtesy from Kelly Dorey

On Saturday I competed in the Ultimate XC challenge in Quebec. I'm addicted to this type of competition right now. Just when I thought running on the bridle path for once a week would suffice for this type of competition; I was wrong. The course was mostly uphill with unfamiliar terrain. The carefully marked course featured mostly uneven rocky paths as well as numerous muddy sloshings. In addition to that, the marsh-like terrain took me by surprised as I fell deep on the water up to my waist and had my legs stuck on the muddy surface. I fell several times with a nice little gash on my left knee after 20 minutes of racing where I slipped on the stupid rock. There's one thing I learned after 20 minutes of racing. Don't overanalyze! Just run without thinking; but scan ahead. The moment you doubt yourself on some footing, you'll either tweak something (ankle, knee etc) and fall ;)

The scenery over several summits were amazing, but I barely had any time to soak in the beauty of Val Morin because I just wanted to get this race over with! The constant uphill and some downhills really wrecked havoc my knees and quads. Yes I cramped on both of my legs (knock on wood for the first time) after 4 hours but was lucky enough to have "Mary" (my savior and great runner) lending me a packet of salt to relieve the cramps. The uneven rocky and muddy trail really destroyed my ankles. Thankfully they were not sprained but very sore. I ran mostly by myself for a good portion of the race and met several runners (Rob, Sean, Mary, Anne, Lauren) from time to time.

Affirmative, there's one stream crossing on mile 20(they call it beaver dam) where we need a wire to get across. After beaver dam, the worse was yet to come as I had to climb up the damn steep hill by latching on to the tree trunks and using my hands to climb the wet ground. That was when I thought "what the hell did I get myself into?!" But then again, I had to keep going 'cus I was ahead of kieran, my other competitor. Just when I thought I was leading him on the last pitstop, he just arrived. Seriously like 5 hours later, I had a WTF moment and I was like "shit, did I slowed down by that much?!??!"(j/k) Hahahaha, no worries, it was good to finish the race with him 'cus I was basically running the last 1 hour by myself and needed another push to get across the finish line.

At the last pitstop, the lady told us we had 3KM to go. I was relieved to hear that, so we figured we would finish the race in 30 minutes. As 20 minutes have elapsed, we could hear the echoes of the speakers from the race event. 30 minutes, then 40 minutes later we could still hear the announcers but was nowhere near the finish line. I was getting anxious to see the finish line and just hated the fact that I was being toyed at. Over an hour later, we finished a race at 6:17 or 6:18 (unofficial).

Would I do this again? Hell yeah! The cuts, the bruises, the soreness, and not to mention over 22 mosquito bites was all worth it. After the race, I just had to be happy to complete and competed hard on my first grueling trail marathon; as this one no walk in the park. Forget the race time and getting my arse kicked by kieran, I had a better time in the race then the rest of my marathons. The people and runners were just amazing and from time to time we all looked out for each other. I'm looking forward to doing this next year since the Jay Challenge falls on the same date as the NYC half! Val Morin, I'll see you next year! Holla!














































Cheers,
Moz

7 Comments:

Blogger LANYTransplant said...

Holy crap! That's insane. What a crazy trail! I've been to that chocolate shop before in Montreal! I love it! They have the most interesting chocolate flavors.

7:42 AM  
Blogger runningkbomb said...

Ken! Great race report and I agree with everything you said! What a wild ride Dan put together for us - Congrats on your finish...I cant believe this was your first trail race!! See you next time! Great pix too btw :) cheers - Kelly

7:45 AM  
Blogger Bridges Runner said...

THat is absolutely nuts! Congrats - and your first trail race? Holy crap! Rest up...and what's next?

3:29 PM  
Blogger DawnB said...

congratulations on your first Trail Marathon awesome time and you are right about the people doing these races they do look out for each other I did the 30k escarpment my first and only trail ever in 2006 have not done another since and had the same experience we all wanted to get it done and helped each other along the way .

6:18 PM  
Blogger cherie said...

awesome!!! i'm totally doing jay (i can't wait!) -- we have a giant victorian mansion so we'll def be having some sort of after party (and you are invited!). i think we're training upstate somewhere next weekend. it would be nice to train in a brook for jay -- yikes. btw, i'm going to lose 1-2 toenails. such is the life of an ultrarunner. sigh.

12:55 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

awesome race recap. The photo of your muddy shoes says it all.

effin awesome!

7:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I cannot believe you are not a survivor fan anymore!! What the heck!?!? I don't know if we can be friends anymore. The fact that you did amazing on the NYC half may be a redeeming quality but Im still hurt that you would ever write anything negative about SURVIVOR!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats on a killer run though.

7:58 AM  

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