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Prepping the old man
May the 4th be with me. May 4th is the date of my first ultra-marathon of the season. I am running the Old Man Backyard Ultra in Lethbridge, Alberta. It gets its name from the Old Man River, not because it is restricted to old men like me. This is a race format I’ve never…
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Riding the Iron Horse
“Don’t forget to look up every now and then and check out the view.” Adam’s advice was well timed. I had just crested the lip of a gnarly hill. I took my eyes off my feet and twisted for a look at what I just climbed. A rippling tide of yellow leaves rolled through a…
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Death Race 2
I hadn’t planned on running against Death this year, but suddenly there I was tightening my laces. After my upset at Sinister 7 in July, I felt like I needed an ounce of redemption. That, and my young new running buddy, Lewis, decided he was going to take a crack at this gruelling ultra marathon.…
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DNF
Did Not Finish. Excuse me, what!? I knew this was a possibility. In fact, one of the things I like about ultra running is the real possibility of failure. Failure still stings though. This is the first DNF I’ve ever recorded in an event. I came close on my first olympic distance triathlon when I…
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Boiling a frog
When travelling for work it can be hard to keep to the workout schedule. Sometimes I’ll set out for a run in whatever town I’m in but most of the time it’s the hotel treadmill. Treadmills are boring. I try to spice it up when I can. I figure I should name these “spices” and…
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Will I be ready?
An ultra-marathon doesn’t begin when the race starts. It begins when you decide to do it. For me, that was November 12, 2022. I had eight months to prepare, and now I am down to 6 weeks. In reality, I have 4 more weeks of training and two weeks of tapering. I’m nervous. I have…
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Dragons, Princesses, and Hapless Knights.
I might start this story with an apology. I imagine that my great-grandfather, George Andrew McDonald, might wish this story remain buried with him. Sorry grandad. There isn’t much left of you and I would have liked to know you so I have to take what I can get. I wrote about George in relation…
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Change of plans
After announcing my plans to tackle my first 100 mile ultra I’ve learned a few things. You might be thinking, “has he comes to his senses?” No. Clearly not. My ultra hero Jeremy Palmer suggested I pick up “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” by Jason Koop (second edition). I’m 9 chapters in and I realize I’ve…
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I’ve gone and done it now.
I hope to have done it, anyway, by Sunday afternoon July 9th, 2023. All I’ve done at this point is signed up and paid the entry fee. There are eight long months ahead to be prepared for the Sinister 7 ultra marathon. It is 100 miles (161 km) with 6363 meters of elevation gain (20,876…
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Bowron Chain 2022 – Day 7 & 8
It has become clear that I need to do these last 2 days together else risk never getting this done. Day 7 The sun was shining when we got up. It continued all day. The water was warm at Rum Lake and people began swimming with the dawn. I put the triathlon suit on that…
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