2022 Golden Ultra: a Magical Weekend
Call me obsessed, but I’ve done the Golden Ultra stage race 4 times: 2016, 2018, 2019, and after COVID caused many years of cancellations, 2022. It’s my favourite event for so many reasons.
Why I love the Golden Ultra!
- It’s a 3-day stage race, which is a really fun format. It’s a great challenge, but it’s never really a suffer-fest, as you get to rest and recover every evening
- The town of Golden, BC is incredibly beautiful, in an amazing location close to many of Canada’s national parks, and full of the most friendly people
- The time of year (mid-September) is great, it’s never too hot. I’ll take bundling up in crisp + cold mountain weather over suffocating in mid-summer heat any day!
- The course on each of the 3 days’ events are my favourite routes I’ve ever done. The vertical KM on day one is always exciting, the 60km ultra stage on day two is the most beautiful loop of singletrack and alpine ridge running, and the final stage (a half marathon) is on super fun and flowing trails, with a beautiful start and finish along the river.
Fourth time’s the charm
During my previous years at this event, I’ve had every kind of weekend you can think of. I was really fit in my first year (2016), so I won the vertical KM, and was winning the ultra stage after all the vert on course, until I got really nauseous, literally lied myself down on the trail feeling sorry for myself, and then walked it in slowly with my mom. On day three, I was excited to get revenge, but I followed a marking for the shorter stage race distance, went way off-route, and ended back near the finish line after only half the distance. Total disaster…
In 2018, I had a very solid run, coming 2nd overall in the stage race behind the super-talented Ailsa Macdonald, and running the ultra in 7:16. I can’t remember much about that year except that I was really into Chimes ginger candies that year. I recall that the tiny packages were extremely difficult to open while running.
In 2019, I was one minute behind the women’s leader at the beginning of the race, and then unfortunately someone allegedly messed with the trail markings, and I followed some men onto another flagged route, which took a big group of us 7km off-route until a race official found us and turned us back onto the course!! We were back on route but in dead last position, and I worked my way up for the rest of the day, listening to Move Bitch on repeat and passing about a hundred people, and really salvaging my day the best I could. I remember it was actually a huge relief to go off-course because I’d built up a lot of pressure on myself that year, I really wanted to win so badly! (This much pressure on placement isn’t healthy, as you really can’t control what other people do out there.) By going that far off-route so early, suddenly a placement goal was no longer attainable, and I got to just run within myself with no expectations. I was really stoked to end up coming 2nd female overall in the stage race after the half marathon stage that year, even despite the huge detour on day 2!
Coming into 2022, I had no expectations, and no real pressure on myself, but I was excited to see if I could push the pace a little bit more than I did at the Squamish 50k one month ago. We drove east a few days before the race, spent a couple nights falling further in love with Canmore, and then got to Golden the day before the race.
Stage 1: vertical kilometer
Stage 1 goes straight up Golden’s awesome ski resort, Kicking Horse Mountain, with about 5k and just over 1,000m of elevation gain. My personal best in this event was an hour in 2016, but in my last 2 efforts, I seemed to be plateauing at 1:05.
I set off from our AirBnB on the ski hill, with Julien and Luc in the stroller nearby. The baby stroller was great as my personal gear cache, as the storm brewing above motivated a last-minute wardrobe change.
Thankfully, the storm held off, and I ended the day with a time I was quite happy with, 1:02:28 and 3rd female, a great start to the weekend! The race was uneventful except that I had a lot of nerves and my stomach felt unsettled, almost like I’d had too much caffeine (but just from nerves). An XACT fruit bar mid-way seemed to do the trick. I then went back to the AirBnB to down a smoothie, shower, and cuddle Luc before the dinner and awards.
Stage 2: 60 kilometer ultra
Day two is the most important day in the stage race, as it’s the day you can make up the most time in the overall stage race competition. Being an ultra, it’s also the day where there’s a much wider margin in individual performance due to factors like nausea, whereas the first stage is always within a few minutes.
The course for the ultra is incredible. It’s a really fun profile, with just a ginormous climb, and then a huge descent. The climb is surprisingly runnable, taking you up to a beautiful ridge above Canyon Creek mid-way, and then to the beautiful and super-technical alpine ridge on the top of Kicking Horse Mountain, before a really fun super-descent back down to the river, and then on to Golden’s adorable downtown square. The race was recently acquired from its original founder and changed ownership to Transrockies Running, and they changed the start to one hour earlier, so it would now include one hour of running in the pre-sunrise dark. To be honest, I was kind of annoyed by that, as we’d have to carry headlamps all day for only one hour of use, and it also meant a super-early alarm clock.
I rose out of bed at 4 am, tip-toeing around the AirBnB to not wake up Julien and the baby, who was asleep in his travel crib in the mini laundry room. I successfully got ready like a quiet ninja, which I credit to prepping oatmeal and coffee the night before. After a quiet breakfast lit by headlamp, I got a ride down to the start with “the Golden Girls”, which was a lovely way to start the day at 5:10 am Mountain Time (more like 4:10 am for me, as I stayed on Pacific Time)! We huddled in the car to postpone the near-freezing weather, and it was really nice to have the cheerful company in an otherwise dark, cold, nerve-racking time.
At 6:15 am, the race began, and a few runners shot out onto the riverside trail like it was a road 10k. I was surprised by the blistering-fast pace set by a woman and a few men, and I decided to go a little bit fast, but nowhere near as fast as them. I was still doing ~4:45/km pace, but was well behind.
We hit the trails after 2km, and I immediately went off-course, but thankfully caught myself quickly, turning around to rejoin where I left. It only cost me about a minute, but it threw me off a little bit, as now I didn’t know what placement I was in, and a few women caught and passed me. I like running in my own space, and suddenly I was squished into a big pack of men and women, feeling a bit boxed-in. One man right behind me was breathing down my neck, it seemed like he was breathing really hard for such an early point in the race!
At some point the crowd around me fell back, and I was very lucky to run with two very cool runners from Banff and Invermere, John John and Jed. It was a cool experience because they were running right behind me, but because it was dark, I couldn’t see them at all, so I had no idea what they looked like. They were awesome company, and helped me really enjoy the beginning miles as we gently climbed some runnable singletrack in the dark. I was enjoying my Timbits, just eating 2 sour creme ones per hour for 180 quick calories!
I made one strategic decision to be patient in this race, which is not my strong suit. Normally in races, I have a tendency to skip aid stations to save time, but often I run out of water. (In the Squamish 50k, I ran out of water between Galactic and Quest, which I think really contributed to my major leg cramps later in the race.) Today, I made myself stop at every single aid station, refilling both my bottles, to ensure I never ran out.
This strategy took me a little bit longer at aid stations, so I lost John John and Jed at the first aid station, and continued along on my own. The sun had just come out, and the weather was cold and crisp. I got to run the loamy trails all by myself, which was really wonderful. Except, I did feel like I was maybe hitting my edge a little too early. I had been lured to start faster than I would like, and it seemed to be taking its toll a little bit now. I wondered if I had gone too hard too early, and for a spit second, I wondered if I was going to die? At the same time, I knew that this course was a bit unique, in that after the giant climb ended at 33km, you got mostly all downhill to the finish line. I wondered if I could maybe push a little bit more, given that I had so much recovery after the climb?
After a while, I started to get caught by a train of men and women, and the feeling of being caught made me feel stressed. Maybe this was it — I had gone too fast, and I was destined to slowly crash and burn! Thankfully, another voice in my head chimed in, letting me know that I could make a tiny micro-adjustment, easing up just a little bit, and that I was still totally on track for my goal. This was not “the beginning of the end”. I could still run a great race, and my goal time of sub-7 hours was still totally within reach. I didn’t have any idea of splits, so I had no way of knowing if sub-7 was within reach or not. But I had faith, and I knew I needed to run my own race.
Instead of letting it all go to shit, I decided to listen to my body, and give myself a very brief backing off the gas pedal. I let a few people pass, and I went 2% easier. It was barely noticeable. I didn’t give up on my goal or even adjust it, I just made a little, temporary, micro-adjustment. I started eating XACT Nutrition fruit bars, and before long, I started feeling really good.
I got to run with Jacob Puzey just as the course was beginning to climb into a steep power hike, and it felt like having a pacer along. I kept eating and drinking my water, and the entertainment really boosted my spirits. At some point I was climbing faster, and next thing I knew, I had accelerated ahead of Jacob into the alpine, and I was catching a woman ahead of me. I realized that I might be doing rather well, and I felt good! I checked the altimeter on my watch and I knew that I was very close to the top, and almost done all the climbing on the course.
I continued going up at my pace, and I noticed that it was Michelle, and that I was catching her as we climbed the ridge. I didn’t necessarily want to run past her at this point, but eventually, I felt like I wanted to go a bit faster, so I passed just before the top. In retrospect, this was the absolute perfect time to pass, as it was just before the narrow ridge, where passing would not be an option. I really enjoyed this part, it’s a little bit exposed, was very crisp and cold, and it really feels like true mountain running. Someone let me know I was the first female, and it really felt surreal, after all those years of mishaps at this race.
Right after the narrow part of the ridge, I saw Shauna and Rory, and it gave me a huge boost. It was such a great surprise to see these friends, who moved away from Squamish to the interior. Shauna is due in 6 weeks, and it felt really special to see her up there before she becomes a mom.
I started to really enjoy myself from this point on, as I knew I was running to the best of my abilities. I had just over 25km to go, and lucky for me, most of it was all downhill! I ran like I was being chased, down the super-steep Kicking Horse Mountain trails. I wasn’t going to stop for anything. (Well, except water, at all aid stations. And garbage gel wrappers I saw along the trail!) At one point, I realized that my shoes weren’t done up tightly enough, so my foot was jamming front to back on the descent, creating a hot friction sensation on the bottom of my foot. I knew that it could likely result in a hole in the sock, and then my foot, but I made the decision not to stop and fix it. I didn’t want to break my rhythm on the descent, and I figured I could just leukotape my feet for tomorrow!
I passed by our AirBnB at the Kicking Horse base, and that’s where I got to see Julien and Luc, high-fiving them but again not stopping. I decided to run as smooth and efficient as possible, thinking that I could try to put a gap on Michelle, to give myself more of a margin in the overall stage race elapsed time results.
The rest of that stage is a complete blur. All I recall is really enjoying every step, continuing to stop for water and eat right up to the end, and then bargaining with myself that I had to do the last (flat) 2km faster than I’d done it at the start, as a way of proving I hadn’t run it too fast.
I finished the stage as the first female and 7th overall, well ahead of my 7-hour goal, in 6:43:03, a 33-minute personal best!
Stage 3: trail half marathon
After the ultra, I couldn’t sleep! I was able to sleep until 2 am, and then I woke up, just wired in bed, and unable to move as Julien is a light sleeper. I sipped water, which woke him up, and just lied there, not sure what to do. Eventually at 3:30 am I did some emails and then texted my mom, who also happened to be awake! She was binging on Netflix after a busy week, and she reminded me of the trick of reading something dry to fall asleep. At 4 am I fell asleep reading Stacy Simm’s physiology book (even though I love it!) and was so grateful to get another two hours of sleep.
Going into today’s race, I just had to make sure that I finished within 16 minutes of Michelle to still win the stage race overall. Because it was only a half marathon without too much vert, I knew that it would be tough for someone to make up 16 minutes here. The main thing was not getting injured, and not getting lost — which I have done before on this exact stage! To be more alert, I continued running without music, and I decided to try to go out right behind Michelle, thinking that there was no way I could get lost if I was on her heels.
The race started out FAST again, with Michelle setting off at an uncomfortable, unattainable pace along the flat riverside. I decided to try to keep in her sight, even though it felt really hard. We got into the trail network soon after, and that’s where a nice group formed, and the pace backed off a little bit. Another fun surprise, original Race Director Magi Scallon entered the race, and she had passed Michelle once we got into the trails. I figured I’d never see her again, as she had the ultimate hometown, course designer advantage, and she hadn’t run the other days’ stages.
I caught up to Michelle after a couple kilometers in the trails, and decided to keep running right behind her, continuing my plan and being cautious about going out too hard. This part of the race was really nice, I got to run with Jacob again, and the trails were heavenly. After a while, I decided that I could pass, and before long I was off on my own, which stayed that way for the rest of the race.
With about 4km to go, I somehow caught Maggie, and then I decided to just run with it, picking up the pace until the very end. I got to run with lots of the 10km runners, which was really uplifting in the final few kilometers of the weekend. Even better, Tara was there for my last 100 meters, which was a really nice boost at the end. <3
I finished that day first female and 4th overall, in 2:11:55– very similar to my last time on this route! This put me in 1st Female and 4th overall after all the stages, which was unexpected. Sometimes that magical mix of training, execution, and uncontrollable external factors just work out for you, and it totally did for me this weekend!
Stage racing with a baby
I’m so lucky that I had Julien’s support to run this race, as he was with Luc for many hours as I raced. I have to say though, the experience of doing a stage race with a baby was a lot different than without! In my previous three years at the event before I had Luc, I found the 3-day stage race format to be really relaxing. After the day’s events, you could go in the hot tub, crack a beer, wander the town, and focus on recovery and socializing. This time, I did definitely hot tub and socialize, but those things were kind of rushed and crammed between baby nap times, and it definitely wasn’t relaxing. I did my best to help with Luc once I was done each day, mixed in with running into the shower, trying to eat enough, and racing around to attend the race awards each day. It was exhausting, and I definitely had a hangry temper tantrum at one point! Now that I’ve tried this, I think that single-day events are a little easier while Luc is little.
You must be logged in to post a comment.