The Ultra Month – 4 Deserts and a Jungle

I feel like the luckiest guy in the world – perhaps because I’m relaxing poolside at a posh resort in Siem Riep Cambodia. For the past 5 months, I’ve been constantly traveling, racing, and pretty much homeless – but it’s been a huge rush at full throttle. Since mid-September I haven’t had more than a two-week break from racing. I’ve run in Kenya, paddled in South Africa, cycled in Utah, and most recently raced back-to-back stage races in Egypt and Cambodia. When I’m not racing, I’m in Calgary going full gas to grow my oatmeal company, Stoked Oats. Maybe that’s why these recovery days spent poolside after events are so incredible. It’s a chance to reflect on the event, and really appreciate the experience.

In the past 30 days, I’ve pulled off a personal coup. I’ve finished two 7-day staged ultra-marathons, for a total of 450 kilometers. The first was through the sands of the Egyptian Sahara (west of Cairo) and the second was through the steamy jungles and villages of Cambodia (north of Phnom Penh). In early October I was battling some serious patellar tendonitis in my left knee and didn’t expect to finish the Egyptian race, let alone race in Cambodia two weeks later, but the human body is a remarkable organism and not only did I complete both – I did so without pain and was able to race at a competitive level. Heading into Egypt I was nervous and honestly frightened – I had totally lost my running mojo. I expected the worst for my knee and was fearful of exacerbating the injury by racing on it but I decided to give it a shot – albeit entirely expecting to fail. Each day of running without pain gave me more confidence, and by the time the long stage (day 5, 86 KM) rolled around, my mojo had returned. I was ready to compete, and turned myself inside out for that stage, leaving me empty, but overjoyed at the accomplishment. I haven’t felt that way since I raced Eco Challenge New Zealand in 2001. It was certainly the toughest running race that I had ever competed in and was a mental battle nearly every step of the 250 KM course, where daytime highs reached at least 46 C.

Fast forward two weeks and I was at the start line for another week-long stage race, this time in Cambodia. While the heat wasn’t as extreme, the humidity was oppressive and crushed me on a daily basis, forcing me deep into my mind to battle my racing demons. Here, I had my mojo back and knew I could run without pain, the only problem was I didn’t feel like it. The effort in the Sahara proved too draining – I was gutted and empty, but I did what any stubborn racer would do, put my head down and soldiered on, but with an adjusted attitude. Gone was the “if you don’t go, you’ll never know” mentality and in was the “you are the luckiest guy in the world, and you should appreciate this moment and this race for what it is, so if you need to walk, then walk, it’s okay”. Accepting what my body was telling me was an epiphany and turned a potentially ugly, confidence wrecking race/walk into a memorable event that I will still rank as a soaring success – regardless of ranking. I learned that all races teach you something…sometimes I just need to slow down in order to learn the lesson.