The Midnight Moose 100 mile race took place on Friday, September 20th and started at 10pm. Most 100 milers start at around 5 am on Saturday morning which makes the Midnight Moose unique. It was located in Gatineau Park and started at the ski hill, Camp Fortune.
I drove to my sister’s house in Ottawa on Thursday and I arrived in time to get a nice dinner and a glass of wine. I had an excellent sleep of around 10 hours that night which I knew would pay dividends. I spent Friday laying around, hydrating and getting ready for the race.
I arrived at the race start line at around 6:45pm for a 10pm start. The organizers arrived within a few minutes and I had a nice chat with them. Ray Zahab was one of the race directors and Ray is a well known ultra-runner and adventurer. He starred in the movie Running the Sahara which was narrated by Matt Damon. Ray took about five minutes to chat with me and I appreciated getting the time with him.
It got dark pretty quickly and it made for a festive scene as all of the racers gathered around the start line. There was a row of candles set up near the start and many of the racers were wearing glow bands. I ended up lining up mid-pack which is different from my usual start at the front of the pack. We were starting with 25km racers and I decided that I didn’t want to have to run hard at the beginning. I stood beside another 100 mile racer named Steve who I recognized from his ultra-running race reviews on Youtube.
The race started and we were off climbing up the Camp Fortune ski hill which was around 150m. This isn’t huge elevation by Quebec Mega Trail standards, a race in Mont Ste. Anne, Quebec that I ran in June. I knew however that I was going to climb this ski hill at least three times and that was going to add up to some significant elevation. We came off the ski hill and onto some mountain bike single track. I’m not a huge fan of running mountain bike trails since they’re technical with roots, rocks and bridges. We came off the single track at the bottom of the hill and got onto the road. The road was a welcome change from the technical trails and I picked up the pace. There was a mix of road and easy trails for about 10km and then we got back into the trails. We were sent back up the mountain on a large set of stairs. I was racing with hiking poles and they really came in handy when going up stairs. We were on Mount King and we got a beautiful view of the surrounding area once we reached the top of the stairs. We could see Ottawa’s lights in the distance. We came off the summit, descended a little bit on technical trails and then made our way on to flat gravel trails. This was another runnable section and I sped up to take advantage. I was making great time when I came up to another racer, it was around 1am at this point. He asked me if he was close to the finish at Camp Fortune and I told him that he had about 25km to go for the loop. He told me that he was running the 25km race! I had to let him know that he had missed the turn for the 25km route and that he’d have to go back 5km to get on the trail. In this runner’s defense, the turn off the 25km turn off was not very well marked and I was fortunate to notice it. I left the disappointed runner and continued on for another 10km on easy trails. I was moving well when I started the last 12km of this first loop. This stretch sent us way up the mountain to enjoy some more views. The trails were technical on this stretch and they were hard to navigate in the dark. I was running on trails when I caught a rock with my toe and started to go down. Fortunately, my brain had registered that I couldn’t fall exactly where I was because there were too many rocks. I was somehow able to manage a sustained fall for another 5 metres to a relatively safe place to fall. I fell in the dirt and scraped my knee on a rock but I was okay. I got up, dusted myself off and continued to finish my first 50k loop.
I came through the finish line at around 6am and was very happy to have completed my first loop in 8 hours. An 8 hour first loop was part of my aspirational plan. I knew that I was going fast but I felt like I had a lot of energy left so I decided to continue pushing. I got a coffee which tasted fantastic and went to my car to get changed into dry clothes and to replenish supplies.
It took me about twenty minutes to get back out on the course. It felt good to have had a rest but I don’t like to spend more than 5-10 minutes at aid stations. I decided that I would try to speed up my transition at the end of my next loop. I got back on the course and took a wrong turn at the spot where I had taken a wrong turn the previous loop. The course wasn’t very well marked around the ski hill and I burned up a good 10-15 minutes finding my way.
When I finally got back on the trail, I met up with a racer named Eric who was in good spirits and who was moving at a good pace. The sun had come up around this time which filled me with renewed energy. I had some coffee in my system and I was running with two other racers, things were going well. Jay pulled ahead of Eric and I after ten minutes and Eric and I kept together for another hour. I had been looking forward to the sun coming up so that I could listen to music or an audio book. I thought that it would have been too distracting to listen to music while I was running through the night. I didn’t want to put my music on while I was running with Eric though as I thought that it would be rude. I was slightly annoyed that I couldn’t listen to music but I started to realize that it was great to have some company after running alone. Eric and I kept up a good pace of running and fast hiking for about a half an hour until the trail started to get more technical. Eric explained that he was primarily a road runner and was fairly new to trail running. As a result, Eric was fast on the easier parts of the course and slow on the technical parts. I pulled away from Eric on the technical section of the trail and was glad that I could finally listen to music.
I came back on to one of the road sections of the course after coming off the ski hill. I was told that there was a cross country ski race happening and that I should stay off the road when the racers came by. I was confused that there was a ski race happening in the middle of the summer but then I saw some skiers go by on long roller blades with poles. I had seen people on these types of roller blades before and it made sense that they would mimic cross country skis. I could tell by the looks on the ski racers’ faces that they were pushing hard. They would sprint up hills and then tuck going downhill. At one point, I saw a team of racers in a human train, descending the hills. There was a group of six racers in single file and they were all grasping each other’s poles as they zoomed down the hill.
I had been running on this road section for about an hour when Eric caught up to me. As mentioned, Eric was fast on the road and it was nice to see him again. We made good time on this road section and then got back on to the trails. It was time to climb the stairs again to the top of Mount King. We covered the stairs fairly easily although I was starting to feel the exertion from climbs. I was winded when we made it to the top. It was a beautiful Saturday and there were quite a few people out enjoying the park. We got to enjoy the view from the top of the stairs in daylight and the view didn’t disappoint. The sky was a clear blue and the sun was full in the sky. We could see green rolling hills in the distance, blue lakes and rivers and we could glimpse the beautiful Parliament buildings in Ottawa. We took a short time to enjoy the view and it did a lot to boost our spirits. We ran for a few kilometres to an aid station and I decided that I was going to have to eat something substantial. I felt good on the climbs as I had mentioned but I knew that the exertion had burned up a lot of my energy and that I needed to replenish. This is a common occurrence for me in later stages of ultra races. The way that I feel becomes very dependant on how much food I’ve eaten. The big problem is that my stomach starts to feel bad during the later stages of races but I decided to ignore my stomach pains as I had done in previous raced. I was very happy to see that the aid station had a big box of Timbits or small donuts. I ate about six Timbits and had a full peanut butter and jam sandwich which is one of my favourite things to eat while racing. I got an immediate stomach ache as I left the aid station with Eric but I knew that I would be okay as long as I kept moving. Sure enough, my stomach started to feel better after fifteen minutes and I got a good boost of energy.
We started the last 20k section of our 50k loop. This last section was technical with good sized climbs. Eric started to have a bit of a low at this point and mentioned that he didn’t want to push himself too hard for fear that he wouldn’t finish the race, it was Eric’s first 100 miler. I still had a lot of energy left and I was eager to see my family who was coming to visit me at the start / finish area. I love seeing my family during races, it always gives a huge boost to my morale. I pushed on past Eric and told him that I hoped to see him at the next aid station. I covered the last 20k of the loop in decent time and came through the finish line to some applause. I had completed this 50k loop in 9h24m which was very close to my aspirational goal for this race. I was thrilled to be hitting my pace and glad to know that I wouldn’t have to be out on the course for the full 36 hours if things continued to go well for me.
I didn’t see my family right away. They had been waiting for me for a while and the kids had gone into the forest to play. I started walking to the aid station to reload my supplies when I saw my nine year old daughter come running from the forest. She was followed by my two sons and two nephews. My wife Lindsay came out to give me a hug and my sister Jacquie had come with my six month old niece. It was so nice to see my family after being on the trails for seventeen and a half hours. The kids saw all of the chips and candy at the aid station table and started helping themselves. They saw the other racers doing it so they figured it was like a party. I spoke up to tell the kids that the food was only for the racers but the race organizers were there and said that it was okay. I was filling up my water bottles when both of my sons asked me if they could have a drink. I had been running in the woods for over 17 hours and desperately needed this water but my boys had been playing in the woods and they were thirsty! I let the boys drink from my water bottles and filled them up again after. I started to get emotional as I headed back on the course for my last loop. I was feeling the wave of emotion that I often get from racing and was almost drawn to tears as my family sent me off and waved goodbye as I got back on the trails.
I made the long climb back up the ski hill and noticed that the sun was starting to go down again. It was surreal to be starting another night out on the trails. This was the first time that I had ever stayed up two nights in a row. To add to this, I had been running for close to 18 hours. I didn’t know how my body would react to this lack of sleep which had me feeling slightly worried. I helped calm my worries by reminding myself that Navy SEALs go a full week without sleep or with very little sleep during hell week, the first week of their training. If SEALs could do a full week without sleep, I could certainly do two days. Fortunately I wasn’t feeling sleepy but I was having a tough time making this first climb. I had to switch to a shorter stride to avoid exhaustion which made for slow progress. The shorter stride technique had been shown to me by my friend Matt during the Quebec Mega Trail and it was proving to be very useful again. I climbed slowly up the ski hill and progressed onto the more technical trails. I was pleased to be moving well on the flats and downhills. I had been doing weight workouts every week to prepare my legs for these downhill descents. Running downhill really engages your quads and it can be extremely painful if you aren’t prepared for it. I had experienced beat up quads during my last 100 miler in 2018 and I knew the importance of being ready. The sun went down and I reluctantly turned on my headlamp for another night on the trails.
To my surprise, I started to feel better after sunset. I could pick up the pace on the uphills and was making good progress. I passed three aid stations which were all unmanned. There were only 16 people running the 100 mile race so the race directors figured that we were okay with fewer aid stations. Fewer aid stations meant that I spent hours on the trail in the dark without seeing anyone. Luckily, Gatineau Park had a number of hikers and runners on the trails after dark and it was great to have small chats with these hikers. I passed two beautiful ladies who were out hiking with head lamps. They saw my race bib and asked me about my run. It was around 9:30pm and I told them that I had been on the trails since 10pm the previous night. They told me how impressed they were and encouraged me to keep going. These words of encouragement did a lot to lift my mood.
I was about eight hours into my third loop when I spotted a cute looking critter ahead of me on the trail. It was the size of a mole and looked like something you’d see from Pokémon. I noticed that the critter wasn’t scared by my approach and was holding its position on the trail. I was disappointed and slightly alarmed when I got close enough to realize that my critter was a plain old rock. I realized that I was hallucinating which was a common occurrence among ultra runners who go a long time without sleep. I made a mental note that I’d have to be careful to monitor my hallucinations so that I didn’t hurt myself.
I finally reached a manned aid station at around the 20k mark and was very happy to chat with someone. There was a nice lady running the station and she told me that I was in fourth place. I knew that I was somewhere towards the front of the pack but I was surprised to hear that I was in fourth place, I thought I was closer to fifth or sixth. I left the aid station feeling good and covered the next 10k quickly to reach the next aid station.
There was another nice lady running this aid station and I was glad for another chat. She told me that I was looking fresh despite being on the trail for so long. She confided in me that the 3rd place runner had left her aid station only 10 minutes ago and that he could no longer run. I had never finished an ultra in the top 10 and the thought of finishing in 3rd place energized me. I started back out on the trails and I was moving fast. I was running the flats and descents and hiking hard up the climbs. I was amazed to find that I could run at around 9.5 minutes per mile, the same pace at which I do my training runs. I had been on the course for around 26 hours and I was running fast and free, it felt amazing. My training partner Chris had been in this situation before and he had told me about how great it feels to be running fast when you are far into an ultra. Chris described this as feeling like you are invincible and that nothing can break you. I was experiencing this for the first time and I did feel like nothing could break me.
I was hoping that I was going to catch up to third place soon since I was moving so quickly and I kept looking for headlamps ahead. I made a plan that I would run past third place as fast as I could when I spotted them. I had just finished a book called You Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins, a former Navy SEAL who runs ultra-marathons. He described a technique called taking souls in his book. Taking souls, like it sounds it designed to take away any hope that your competitors might have of beating you. I really wanted to finish on the podium and I was going to show third place that there was no use in trying to keep up with me because I was moving too fast. I was quickly running down a hill when I spotted third place sitting on a bench.
“Whoa, you’re flying!” he said when he saw me.
“Thanks, I feel good.” I said as I continued running fast up a hill.
I realized that third place was Steve, the same runner who I had lined up beside at the beginning of the race. I felt a great sense of satisfaction as I blew past Steve. I did feel sorry that Steve was not feeling good. There’s a sense of camaraderie among runners and as Steve was a fellow runner, I wanted to make sure that he was okay. This wasn’t just a friendly trail run though, this was a race and I was feeling very serious about racing.
“How are you doing?” I said.
“Oh, I’m okay,” said Steve.
“Okay, have a good one,” I said.
I continued moving fast for at least a half an hour after I left Steve. I wanted to ensure that Steve wasn’t going to catch up. I had finished climbing one of the more technical sections of the loop and was starting to go downhill when I heard a voice in the darkness.
“Hello!” the voice said.
“Hello,” I said as looked around in the darkness. I didn’t know if I was hallucinating again. It took about 30 seconds before I saw a headlamp come on up ahead of me. Krista, who I had met before starting the race was lying up on a stone ledge off from the side of the trail. Krista had kept at the head of the pack for most of the race. She had her teenage son Reese with her who was helping as her crew. I had a nice conversation with Reese and Krista before we started our race.
“How are you doing?” I said.
“Not very good. I fell and sprained my ankle. I went off to the side of the trail to sit down to see if it would get better. I got really cold though and my ankle seized,” said Krista.
“Can you walk? I can help you down,” I said.
“No, I can’t walk, I need someone to come get me. I’ve been calling the emergency numbers that the race directors gave us but I can’t get a hold of anyone,” said Krista.
I was concerned about Krista but I was also burning up a lot of time. It was around 2am and we all had a strong urge to be done the race. Krista and I decided that I would keep going to the next aid station and that I would send back some help for her. I wasn’t sure that the next aid station was manned though and I let Krista know as much.
I made it to the aid station about 30 minutes later and luckily there were two ladies manning the station. I approached the aid station and was greeted by light cheers and then some surprised questions.
“I don’t know you. Who are you?” the volunteer said.
“I’m Jordan,” I said.
“Where’s Steve?” the volunteer said.
“I passed Steve a little while back, he wasn’t feeling well. I just passed Krista as well. It turns out that she sprained her ankle and she’s about 2k back,” I said.
It turned out that my volunteer was Steve’s wife and she was obviously concerned about him. Steve came into the aid station while I was still there, much to Steve’s wife’s relief. The sight of Steve gave me a lot of anxiety though. I had moved into second place by passing Krista and I didn’t want to give that up. I conferred with Steve and his wife and it was clear that Steve’s wife was contacting the first aid staff to come get Krista. Knowing that Krista would be helped, I decided to fill up my water and get out of there as fast as I could. I had a brief conversation with Steve as I was leaving.
“You had legs of fire out there,” said Steve.
“I was feeling really good,” I said.
“I was not feeling good but I’ve started running again since you passed me,” said Steve.
“Glad to hear it,” I said.
I left the aid station as fast as I could and was feeling very anxious that Steve was going to catch me. Steve did not seem to be in much of a hurry though and had been sitting down at the aid station while I was leaving. I wasn’t moving as fast as before and I kept looking over my shoulder for the next hour. Steve never materialized though and I started to relax as I made it through the last hour until the start finish line. I ran through the finish line for the third time to light applause from the skeleton crew of volunteers who were up at 3am. I was given directions back out on to the course for my final 10k loop. I wasn’t happy to learn that I needed to climb the ski hill again but I knew that the race would be over soon and that I might as well get it over with.
I started climbing up the hill and looked over at the Camp Fortune ski chalet. It had all of the inside lights on and I could see men, women and children in white cotton clothes coming out of the chalet. There was also a group of men throwing a white sheet into the air. It looked like a festive atmosphere and I figured that it was a wedding that had gone late. I thought it was strange that these people were out so late but I didn’t pay it any mind. I got to the top of the hill and followed the course markers on familiar trails. I was close to the finish when I passed by the Camp Fortune ski chalet again where I had seen the wedding earlier. Once again, I saw the the wedding guests in white clothes, outside of the chalet. I was glad that I was getting close enough to the chalet to see exactly what was going on. I was shocked to realize that the wedding goers were only long reeds that were waving in the wind. I was starting to have some significant hallucinations which worried me but also made me laugh.
Hallucinations from sleep deprivation are a right of passage for trail runners. Accomplished ultra runner Charlie Engle wrote about having a hallucination of seeing his mom on the side of the road while he was running the Bad Water ultra marathon in Death Valley. Courtney Dauwalter, the top female ultra-runner thought that she saw a friendly leopard lounging in a hammock during the second night of the 2017 Moab 240 mile endurance run.
I shook my head and ran into the finish line. I had finished in 30 hours and 7 minutes which was good for second place. This is the first time that I had ever broken the top 10 in an ultra-marathon and it felt amazing. What’s more, I had raised $2,600 for Leukemia and felt great to have followed through on my pledge to finish the race. I had a nice chat with the volunteer crew at the finish line, I could tell that they were impressed with my performance. You definitely get a different reaction from volunteers when you finish in the top 3 as opposed to finishing in the mid to end of the pack which is what I’m used to. I got my belt buckle and headed over to my tent for some much needed sleep. I closed my eyes in my tent and woke up with the sun, about 3 hours later. I don’t think that I moved an inch while I slept.
