Great Canadian Death Race recap

Whew! It's August 2nd which means that our team completed the Great Canadian Death Race in Grande Cache over the long weekend. We had a really great time even though we were unsure what exactly we were getting ourselves into. Here is a recap of the weekend- enjoy!

Death race rundown: (from the Great Canadian Death Race official website)

"The Canadian Death Race is a 125km all-terrain extreme adventure race course on very challenging terrain including three mountain summits and 17,000 feet of elevation change"

Roadtrip - July 30th: Justin picked me up and we were on our way! The trip to Grande Cache from Edmonton was awesome. We had sunshine and great tunes all the way. We even ran into some fellow competitors and had a chance to talk to about the race as we were all very curious and excited. We arrived in Grande Cache, setup our awesome tent (thanks, Tim!) and obsessed over the course map and leg descriptions. I guess the point is to be scared and kept in the dark because the race itself was not organized well to those who have never done it before. Let's just say that there was a lot of guess work! After a pasta dinner and a great chat with some other fellow racers, we went to bed, but didn't get a lot of sleep because we were all nervous of what the next 24 hours would hold!

July 31st 0806 - Death Race start

We arrived at the Rec Centre and checked in at 7am. then, our fearless captain Jenn took the coin and timing chip and set off when the gun was fired. this leg is described as a "downtown jaunt" but I think Jenn would beg to differ!

1030 - Leg 1 complete in 2hrs 32mins!

19km later we met Jenn and she passed the coin and chip off to Chris. Jenn was hurting pretty badly from muscle cramps so we took it easy, walked around the transition area, and got her some fluids. At this point our first teammate had come in and was pretty roughed up. I was scared. What would I face?

1630 - Leg 2 complete in 5hrs 55 mins!

Chris did so well in this leg. in 26km, he climbed 2 peaks, dominated the "slugfest" in the sweltering heat and gave it all he had. Literally. Ziebart's don't stop so Chris pushed through and made it to the end with a smile on his face. He passed the coin and chip to Justin for leg 3. As Chris sat down the heat stroke set in. Chris ended up going to the hospital due to dehydration and was put on a saline drip. I'm so proud of Chris, he totally represented. Might I add that Leg 2 is seen as the most tehnical and difficult leg of the race.

1900 - Leg 3 complete in 2 hrs 27 mins!

Justin pushed through this 22km trail and made the time cutoff even though 9 minutes was taken off of the original cutoff time! The heat was still in full force, yet J persevered and made it. This was the longest Justin had ever ran in a race and he did awesome!!! At this point we were very close to the cutof times for the 4th leg of the race and we were all a bit uncertain if our team would finish. Julie took the coin and chip from Justin and absolutely throttled the next leg of the race (a whopping 36km on a treacherous course!!). Timing is everything in this race. Julie needed to be at her check in point (10 km up up up from the start of her leg) by 2215 in order to keep going. We tried to see if she had made it, yet the race centre could not give us a clear answer which was really frustrating. We all just sat and waiting, sending Julie good thoughts of being strong, safe and happy (our three words of focus for our legs). I was a nervous wreck! At this point, 3 of our racers were done and I banned the phrase "I am so glad it's over," because it wasn't even close for me- I hadn't even started my leg! This was possibly the worst part for me as the day was full of excitement in seeing my teammates finish, but also full of anxiety because I still had to wait!

0050 - Leg 4 complete! Julie's husband got a text saying she was done! The problem was that we had to drive to the transition area and we were planning on leaving at 1am! I was ready to go so we all hopped in the truck and made our way as quickly as possible. Julie finished in an amazing time of 5hr 37mins. Her predicted time was 6.5 hours and she absolutely thrashed this!! It took about 10 minutes to get to the transition area, where I was about to (finally!!) begin my leg! My timing chip was 20 minutes and running, and I hadn't even started yet. I gave Julie a huge hug, took the coin and timing chip, and was off! I could hear people cheering for me as I turned on my headlamps (one on my head, one around my waist) and made my way into the complete darkness.

The final leg was was amazing and spectacular. The terrain was rough, uneven, unstable and uncertain most of the time. The trail, however, was clearly marked and easy to navigate through with the headlamps. I met some incredible people along the way and was passed by only one person at the very beginning; Otherwise I was able to pass a mixture of solo and team racers as I cheered them on with a "Go Death Racer!!" Though I did not get to enjoy the full scenery around me because of the darkness, I knew that there was incredible nature all around me. I did find myself psyched out a couple of times because I thought that I had heard grumblings, which made me run faster! I was even spooked by my shadow a few times... 3. :) At 10km in I was ferried across the Smoky River and gave the coin to the Death Master to be able to proceed. Then I had an amazing climb, which definitely gave me a run for my money. I think it was better that I was in the dark because I couldn't exactly see what was in front of me, therefore I kept surging ahead. Some excellent advice was given to our team before the race and one piece was "don't look up, don't look down, and don't stop." This advice was so true for me and it definitely kept me focussed. I had a few potential trip-ups and ankle rolls from tree roots, etc. but held my ground and came out scrape-free. The last part of the leg was unforgiving as it was a steady uphill gravel road. I thought of my good friends Dave and Yvonne and thought, "what would they do?" My answer was: RUN! So I did. I ran back into the town of Grande Cache pumping those arms and pushing with all of my might to finish my 22 kms. I was nearing the last loop to the finish line and there was my team, cheering me on. They joined me for the last stretch and we all crossed the finish line together. It felt amazing to finish with all 5 teammates.

Technically this was the hardest race I have ever done in my life. Mentally and physically it was not as I can say that (surprisingly) my training had paid off. I had a great team that supported me and I ran and pushed for them because they had done their absolute best to get me to where I needed to be. I had 7 hours to complete my leg so the pressure of time was off completely. I enjoyed it, yet pushed myself to finish in under 3 hours - my Garmin posted 2.53.32 (the final chip time was 3.11.25 because of our transition error). My time prediction was 4 hours, so I couldn't be happier.

We had 24 hours to finish this 125 km mountainous race and we finished in 19 hours, 43 minutes, and 30 seconds. We rocked the Death Race. I can now look at other challenges I face and be motivated to do even better, because our team was able to complete this race. Thanks to all of you who supported me and our team along the way! It helped me cross that finish line!