Tag Archives: Trail Race

Race Recap: Dirty Feet Mountain Run

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This past Sunday I managed to make my way up to the rainy mountains for the Dirty Feet Sun Peaks Trail Run!

It was my second time running this race and I almost, ALMOST, signed up for the 10K distance but chickened out changed my mind at the last minute. I’m glad I did because judging by the way my legs still feel three days later … another 5K on top of what I did probably would have made me wheelchair-bound.

Anyway, I drove myself up to the mountain in time to pick up my race package and had about an hour and a half to kill before I had to line up at the start line, so I treated myself to a light breakfast at Cahilty Creek Kitchen restaurant. It was lovely eating in relative peace and not having to tell a tiny human to sit nice and eat their dang food! I had poached eggs with a slice of bacon, a sausage link, toast, and fruit, and it was just enough to fuel me up without weighing me down! I highly recommend stopping there for breakfast if you’re ever up at Sun Peaks. (Their regular menu looks pretty awesome too, IMO.)

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After breakfast I wandered back to my car to stay warm and dry before the race. It was pretty wet in general all weekend, but thankfully the rain subsided just enough to make it not completely horrible by the time the 5K runners had to start. (I can’t say the same for the 1/2 or Full Marathon runners though!) I eventually crawled out of my warm car and met up with some fellow running folks I knew from town before getting ready at the start line!

Overall, I felt pretty good during the race. The mud wasn’t too terrible, although there were a few spots where it was pretty slick and I had to slow down a bit so I wouldn’t slip and fall. As it turns out, adjusting my gait/stride for the mud wrecked havoc on my knees and they’re pretty dang sore. The more you run the more you learn …

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I don’t know if it’s the course itself or if the mountains just play with the GPS function, but it always clocks this race at just under 5 km. Whichever it is, you can totally tell by my splits where the uphill battles were, and where I had the privilege of coasting downhill.

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Photo via Dirty Feet’s Facebook page

All things considered, I’m pretty happy with my final time of 31:36. I was aiming to beat my time from last year’s race, and I think it definitely could have been possible had the trails not been so muddy! I’m looking forward to next year’s event already!

Race Recap: Dirty Feet Trail Race #1

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It was an amazing day for the first trail race of the year on Sunday! The North Face Dirty Feet Trail Race #1 took place in the beautiful grasslands of Kamloops and I was pumped to get going!

After dropping the girls (and dog) off at my mom’s I headed over to the shuttle location to hitch a ride up to the start/finish line. The energy was great on the bus and thankfully it was a short trip as I don’t think I could’ve handled going a long way down that road without Gravol …

Anyway! After I got checked in I had quite a bit of time to kill before the 5K runners departed. We cheered on the half-marathon runners who came through and I caved and ended up buying a Dirty Feet hat for future runs. I ended up chatting with an acquaintance and I ended up running with him a bit during the race.

The views around the 2km mark were ridiculous, let me tell yah!

Overall, I felt just “okay” during the race! I definitely didn’t train enough for hills and got a little too ambitious off the start; I ended up powering out a little after the first kilometre and had to dial things back a bit, but I managed okay! There was definitely zero gas left in the tank when I finished, haha.

I also like to see what shapes I see in the course. This one looks a bit like an upside down & backwards North Carolina, I think…

My official time was clocked at 31:58, so I’m pretty content with that, all things considered! I stuck around for door prizes and managed to have my number called, so I chose a pretty awesome shirt, and then it was time to walk hobble up to the bus to get back to my truck.

8,000 levels of sweat!

Oh, and an added bonus? Zero ticks hitched a ride on me during the race! Seriously, I was more concerned about ticks than the difficulty of the trail!

As always, a huge shout-out to Phil, Grace, and the whole Dirty Feet crew for an awesome race!

Race Recap: Dirty Feet Trail Run – Vista Run

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If this race happened before the Mountain Run two weeks ago, I probably would have never run another trail race again. It’s a tough course! Or at least to me, the relatively green trail runner. Either way, it was still a great event with some awesome views, and I don’t think my legs have ever been this sore after a run, haha.

My new-found race-buddy picked me up so we could check-in with the race directors, and then we walked back to the car to stay warm until our start time. It was dang chilly!

It had basically rained almost every day the week prior to the race, so I was expecting a very wet and muddy course, but thankfully, aside from a few puddles it wasn’t too terrible. There were definitely some slick sections where you really had to watch your footing, but I was lucky enough to not bail and roll down a hill. Go me! (Kyle’s stepdad, who ran the 21K distance, unfortunately wasn’t as lucky. He’s okay though!) The views were awesome and I wish I was able to take a quick photo or two, but I had no time to stop, lol

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Fake smile. Dead legs.

The hills were brutal though! I definitely need to do more running outdoors if I want to keep doing trail runs, because my legs were just useless by the last mile and I had to will myself to keep my pace up the best I could.

While I was hoping for a sub-35 minute time, I under estimated how tough the hills would be and had to slow myself down a few times to catch my breath and rest my legs. I’m still pretty happy with my time though, which was officially clocked at being 36:41 – fast enough to place 3rd in my age category! (Hashtag: Humblebrag)

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Of course, I ate all the goodies at the end of the run, (nothing tastes better than jellybeans and cookies, haha) and hung around to see if I could win a door prize. I ended up having my number called and managed to snag a nice North Face shirt for Kyle.

So, overall it was a tough but fun course and I’ll definitely do it again next year! It was a great way to end the “competitive” race season for me! (There’s one more in October that I’m doing, but I’ll be acting as Isla’s pace bunny, lol.)