Failures
I have so many failures, and they’re an important source of my knowledge and growth over the years. Personally, I feel that if you’re not failing from time to time, then you’re not setting ambitious goals! Here are a few of my failures over the years… a whopping nine DNFs that I can remember!
- DNF, 2024 The Bear 100 Mile. Another great learning experience! I had a wonderful, joy-filled run through spectacular scenery, but around mile 40, I stopped being able to eat anything at all. I’m sure it was a perfect blend of altitude (the race is between 5,000-9,000 ft.) and heat, (it was over 30 Celsius during the day) that caused my issues, coupled with the fact that I didn’t know about gut training before this race. I decided to call it a day after 100km, after seeing that it wasn’t looking promising to avoid death-marching the last 40 miles. I had already taken two Zofran anti-nausea pills with little success, and had tried to sit patiently and eat some “delicious real food” at two aid stations (miles 50 and 60), each for close to an hour. I was literally not able to eat any of the delicious aid station food – not even comfort classics like plain Mr Noodles, or hot grilled cheese! Looking back, although it’s disappointing to not get that “dream race” and all the positive emotions that come from a successful race or a finish, I’m really happy with my choice. I credit this race for finally getting me to see that nutrition and nausea was my #1 issue and opportunity. It led me to finally explore gut training, which led to my success and amazing day at Red Rock Canyon 100k just over one month later.
- DNF, 2020 Ultra Trail Harricana 120k. This one was a really good learning experience around travel and logistics. I flew from Vancouver to Quebec within 16 hours of the race, and so I landed in Quebec after a long flight, and then immediately drove to the start line, which had us starting just after midnight around 2 or 3 am. I was exhausted, and really sleep deprived after the long day of travel, but I only had time to down a coffee and then start the race. I took a nap at 50km, which was wonderful and hilarious as I was leading the women’s race. At 90km I just had nothing to give, and I dropped as I didn’t feel safe continuing through the night in such an exhausted, sleep deprived state. Going forward I’ll make sure to be much kinder to myself in terms of travel plans and racing!
- DNF, thru-hiking Canada’s 1100 kilometer Great Divide Trail as an FKT attempt in 2020. I got really bad trench foot and blisters after 300km in 5 days, and decided that unfortunately the skin injury needed more time to recover and repair. More on that in my blog post.
- DNF, 2019 Black Canyon 100k. I came down with nausea and vomiting very early in the race, and I couldn’t resolve it. More on that in my race report.
- DNF, 2018 TDS by UTMB. This one was a total rookie mistake. Unfortunately, I forgot to put all my awesome mandatory kit and warm layers in a waterproof bag inside my pack, and they got soaked through during a storm. The weather deteriorated into a hail storm and with nighttime arriving, I didn’t feel safe to continue and dropped at 90km (at the time, the course was 120km. I was so close!).
- DNF, 2018 Diez Vista 100k. I didn’t want it badly enough, and didn’t have enough of a why to continue beyond halfway, when I got bored of the course.
- DNF, 2017 Sun Mountain 100k. I didn’t want it badly enough, and when I got a bit nauseous around halfway, I couldn’t convince myself to continue. Looking back, I needed a break that year as I was mentally fatigued!
- DNF, 2016 Elk/Beaver 100k. I didn’t want it badly enough, and when I started vomiting about halfway into the race, I couldn’t rally.
- DNF, my 2nd time running Cascade Crest 100 Mile in 2015. When a bad storm rolled in and runners started donning alpine skiing GoreTex, I called it. I was running a 200km adventure on the East Coast Trail in only one week, and it was too close to that big effort to be motivated enough! I now try to space out my goals and big efforts a bit farther apart, seeing that my motivation is high, but nowhere near unlimited.
- DNF, my 1st time running for Team Canada, at the 2015 World Trail Championships in Annecy, France. This one was really disappointing as I was representing my country. I was inexperienced racing at that level internationally, and in Europe, and I made many rookie mistakes, including going out way too hard, and not eating anywhere nearenough. Lesson learned! Read more in my race report.
One thing I’ve taken away from these failures is that I should put more of my mental energy into fewer big efforts! This is something I started implementing in 2021, and so far it’s paid off with more efforts I’m proud of. I was doing so many big challenges and races every year, and my body and mind wasn’t always ready for it. I always try to remember, a failure in an ultra is usually still going a longgg way, still farther than most could go in their longest run!
Successful runs
Here are some of the trail and ultra runs which went a bit better:
- 1st 2024 Red Rock Canyon 100k, 2nd overall, Course Record
- 2nd 2024 Diez Vista 50k
- 2:54 marathon (my PB!) at California International Marathon, 2023
- 2x HURT 100 Mile finisher, 2nd in 2015 and 5th in 2023
- 1st 2022 Golden Ultra by TransRockies Stage Race
- 2nd 2022 Squamish 50km
- 1st 2021 Whistler 50km (pregnant)
- 4th 2021 Black Spur 54mk (pregnant)
- FKT Howe Sound Crest Trail, with Tara Berry (2018)
- FKT West Coast Trail, with Tara Berry (2019)
- 2x 2nd at Golden Ultra stage race (2018, 2019)
- 2nd 2018 Mount Baker Ultra 50 Mile
- 3rd 2017 Deception Pass 50k
- 2nd 2017 Whistler Alpine Meadows 55k
- Top Canadian female at CCC by UTMB – 27th (2017)
- 2nd 2017 Elk Valley Ultra
- 1st 2016 Overlook Endurance Runs 15km
- Top-10 at 2016 Chuckanut 50k
- 1st 2015 Elk Beaver 50k, and 50k PB (3:53:18)
- 4th 2014 Cascade Crest 100 Mile
- 1st 2014 Redwood Trail Run 50km
- 1st 2014 Elk Beaver 50 Mile, and 50 Mile PB (6:58:28)
- 1st 2014 Gorge Waterfalls 100km
- 1st 2013 Deception Pass 50km
- 3rd 2013 White River 50 Mile
In 2023, I’m planning to run the Lavaredo by UTMB 80k in May, and the Squamish 50k in August. Can’t wait!