#IRunWithStupidPeople

Sunrise at the staging area

It's a cold Thursday morning in late June.  Rain had been pouring down for the last 24 hours, but has decided to briefly let up for the occasion.  It's 2:30am.  It's summer Solstice (or the day after as the trail Sage Shayne would remind us, but close enough).  A group of us have decided to attempt a sunrise trail run in the valley a few minutes from town. 

The group is mostly the usual trail suspects of a running group.

Shayne- The trail sage who knows every ATV path in the area, and has named every goat/mountain bike path up every hill and valley (He's named this route the 'Beatton Beat Down' after the valley we are in).

Tom- The guy who stops running mid stride to take pictures, and whose idea of  'walking his dogs' include a vertical mile of gain.  He also designs these insane runs/adventures our group embarks on.

Joel- The only one of us that looks like a runner.  The guy who is good company to run with, and if the group is ever questioned about ability, you can point to and say, 'see, runner'.

Myself- The guy that is like running with a dog that doesn't get out much.  Every view is 'the greatest view ever!', never wants the run to end, and is overly excited about car rides to the staging area (mmmmm road coffee).

Joel swings by just before 3am so we have time to grab a Tim Hortons coffee on the way to the staging area.  Tom and Shayne are traveling together from the other side of town, and are probably drinking that nasty McDonald's swill. It is still dark out.

Tom and Shayne begin the descent

3:30- We are all at the muddy staging area that resembles a parking lot after a mortar shell has hit it.  Thick clay mud clings to our shoes instantly.  The clay mud that should be a warning, things will not get better, turn back.  We are not that smart.  Shayne and Tom discuss direction, and we take off downhill.  It's like an evil water slide someone has filled with mud and clay.  Our shoes get heavier and heavier every step until we are running on what feels like platform shoes, until finally the clay breaks off and the process starts again.  I discuss with Tom, how we should maybe start collecting the clay to form into coffee mugs, and maybe give those out to participants that complete this run he's designed.  He laughs, I laugh, the bears in the woods laugh.

4:00- We've run a couple of clicks down to a river which for some reason Tom and Shayne have us crossing five times.  Maybe to wash the clay off our shoes?  I begin to wonder what sick sadistic people do this to themselves at 4am, when it is 5 degrees out (that's 40 degrees fahrenheit for you yanks, and only you yanks!).  I've come to the conclusion that all good trail runners are a little like Silas on the Da Vinci Code (the dude that whips himself).  We don't consider it a good run unless we've left some skin, blood, appendage, toe nail, or non vital organ on the trail.  Did I mention we aren't that smart?

Joel at the first hill

4:30- Hill climbing has begun.  These hill are steep (25-40% grade), but today they are also super slick from the wet clay.  It is slow going.  A mist hangs in the valley, and we go in and out of it, getting drenched from the dew.  Soaking wet, and muddy, we reach the top of our first ascent.  Congrats, we did 6.5km in an hour, move over Killian!  We begin a nice jog along the top, Joel and I are finally in our element, when Shayne informs us, that we are heading straight down the hill again, on a more kamikazesque trail.  Shayne hops off a ledge and begins running down the hill.  The grade is so steep, I'm sure I will fall down the entire 200 vertical meters.  The path gets worse, but Shayne is not deterred, and decides he should probably run faster (he must have good life insurance?).  Tom and Joel on the other hand decide they want longevity in the sport and take a more measured approach.  I am not aware of this, and blindly follow Shayne.  Did I mention the view was awesome?  We hit the bottom of the hill which spills out onto the highway, and the sun is rising fast.  I'm expecting a nice bit of running on the shoulder of the highway with the rising sun and a good view.  I have never been so wrong.

5:00- We are grinding up the hill again from another god forsaken angle.  We have been promised pristine trail running at the top, and Joel and I are pushing the pace to get to this alleged  trail. At the top of the trail we begin running a muddy 8km bike loop.  It goes up, it goes down, but it is never flat or consistent.  At various times we all take tumbles, however Tom (as per his usual showy nature) decides to win the day with a double front flip, and a belly slip and slide through the mud.  Definitely a TSN play of the day.

Sunrise!

5:30- Joel and I are motoring on this bike loop.  It's sketchy single track with amazing views.  So much fun to run.  We are having a blast.  We are soaking wet, from head to toe, every step you can see the water pushing out of our shoes.  It feels transcendent.  We finish the bike loop, and hit the hill mid slope.  All we have to do is run a small kamikaze slope down, and we are back at the road.  Life is pretty good.

Tom before his acrobatics

6:00- We hit the road. We are a 30 minute hill run on the highway from the staging area.  We had a third loop planned, but we all work in a few hours, and need to get back, so we begin the run up the long, boring hill.  Time stops.  Soaking wet, muddy shoes running on pavement.  This is a grind. As the designated road runners of the group, Joel and I can finally shine.  We bomb up the hill (I was just really really really cold, and wanted to get back to the trucks and my jacket, but for the sake of this post, let's pretend I'm in great shape, ok?).  After what feels like hours, we finally get to the vehicles. Three hours, and 18.2km, 1060m of gain, in the bag. 

6:30- High fives followed by a brief discussion on how to stay awake at work the following day.  This is what normal, sane individuals do, right? The only reason I know we are all sane is because 12 hours later, we are plotting an 'entire overnight run!!' in the coming weeks.  Yeah, these are the moments I begin to wonder, if 'I'm with stupid', or, 'I am stupid'?  Then I ponder whether the other guys are thinking the same thing. Because at the end of the day we all think #IRunWithStupidPeople.

Sunrise with the mist

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