Sometime in late 2024, I found myself on my phone a lot. My son, Jack, was only a couple months old and my phone usage had increased dramatically. As a newborn, Jack was not the kind of baby who could be put on his back to sleep. He wanted to be on someone, always. Anne and I would trade off...
Earlier this year I DNFed at the Black Canyon 100k. It was a frustrating result and a rather embarrassing experience. I preferred not to relive the experience, so my race report sat in the “drafts” queue for while before I finally picked it up again. I think it’s important to reflect on both one’s successes and failures, so I finally...
I signed up for the Whistler Alpine Meadows (WAM) 100 miler in the spring. The event had returned from a two year Covid hiatus was now a Hardrock 100 qualifier. With almost 9000m (29k feet) of vertical gain, this wasn’t entirely a surprise. Even though I would be in Montreal for the summer — and would have to train —...
This wasn’t supposed to be my first 100 miler. For years I’d intended to run the Fat Dog 120, a 120 miler. I’ve never learned the history of the extra distance, but being one of the best known races in BC, I’ve wanted to run it ever since I got into ultrarunning. It’s special to me because it ends in...
After my DNF at the Squamish 50k, I was hungry to race again. My failure in Squamish was a combination of poor training decisions, challenging conditions, and some bad luck. Despite the disappointing result, however, my body was feeling strong and I was eager to apply that fitness to another race. I knew wanted to run something in early 2022,...
The Covid era has not been kind to my running. After almost two years without races, I finally got back in the game and ran the Squamish 50k in October 2021. It’s taken me a while to write the race for a few reasons. Even though I’ve been on some amazing adventures over the last two years, I’ve felt like...
In mid-March, when the threat of Covid hit Canada and the United States, public gatherings and events were cancelled in droves. In the sports world, it began with the professional leagues — NBA, NHL and so on — eventually trickling down to smaller events like trail and ultra races. Many of us in the ultra world were eager to follow...
“What are you doing to us, Gary!?” These were the first words that left my mouth as I crossed the finish line. “We’re just making you stronger, one race at a time,” Gary replied as I accepted his congratulatory hug. 17 hours and 43 minutes earlier I’d set off in the middle of the night, along with 100 or so...
It was still raining when we woke up. Ella had slept in her tent and came to knock on the door of the van. It was around 8am. In two hours, the Outrun Backyard Ultra was going to begin. I’d slept terribly, not quite sure if I’d actually been sleeping or just lying there. We made some coffee and ate...
I was bit by the ultramarathon bug in 2014, and ever since I’ve wondered what it would be like to run 100 miles. Like many others, my gateway into the world of ultras was the book, Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall. The book is an exciting exploration of human endurance featuring the Tarahumara people of Northern Mexico known for...
