Race Report: Buntzen Lake Trail Run

It was the last trail run of the season, and the last in the 5 peaks trail running series for this year. I have to admit I’m a little sad that the season is done, as gruelling as the runs are and as much as I stress about them I really love doing them.

I had been debating for a few weeks about whether to do the enduro course for this run (15.5km with a 937m elevation gain) or the sport course (11km with a 630m elevation gain). After talking to Devin on Friday (he had run the enduro that week) we decided that it was a better idea to do the sport course.

I was a little nervous leading into the run, and my head space wasn’t completely where it should be, I wasn’t feeling completely confident going in. That said, I wasn’t AS nervous as I had been in previous runs. I almost had a “what happens, happens” attitude. Even still I was a little quiet on the drive to the run.

We arrived at Buntzen lake (we being Warren and I – he had agreed to come out and do the run with me) and registered. After registering I had about 45 minutes before the start – I hit the bathrooms and then it was back to the car to psych myself up for the start. Finally it was race time and there was no turning back.

The first KM was pretty good, pretty flat, nice trail, great temperature. Went over the first bridge and then the enduro and sport courses split off. It was still flat for several minutes and then it was into the first climb. I made it up without stopping but it was a steep climb. Then it was a downhill – whoohoo, I’m pretty good at downhills. Some flats and turns and then it was into hill 2. By this point I was struggling on the climb. When we got to the top there was a short recovery and then a series of small hills. By the time we got to the third big hill I was ready to throw up, or cry, or both. I hiked a bit on that one but still managed to pass a couple of people. Then it was into some more small up and downs. I was feeling the pain but I was also feeling my groove and this was where I managed to do a bit of passing. Then it was into the last big climb. If that hadn’t been the last big hill I would have sat down and cried. One thing that kept me going was this one girl who was consistently about 5 feet in front of me. I REALLY wanted to catch her. On the last hill I had a spurt of energy and finally passed her. After that it was into a downhill and some flats and I was able to pull away even more. Finally we saw the “1km to go!” sign and could hear the announcer at the finish line.

As soon as we were off the trail and onto the grass it was just a sprint to the finish and we were done. In the end it felt really good. As tough as some of the moments on the trail were it felt REALLY great to have done it, and to know that I had pushed myself.

One great thing about running one of these races is the people you meet. There was one woman who was running with me for the first few kms who I chatted with at the end and others I had met in the bathroom line that made a point of asking how my run was when it was done. A great community of runners. (Side note: Devin ran the enduro course and ended up winning it – Congratulations Dev!)

Final results: 105 out of 226 overall. Finished 33rd out of 125 women and 15th out of 51 in my age category. Decent results! Top half overall and top third for women/age category.

This was my 3rd trail run and 5th run since I started running earlier this year. I’ve been improving with every race but am still not quite in that place where I consider myself a “runner”. I’m looking forward to that day.

Next up – the half marathon!