I wasn’t expecting a beautiful day on the trails when I drove through huge amounts of rain to get to Squamish, BC. I arrived in Squamish early on Saturday morning and much to my surprise, the rain stopped just as I started my run. It was my second running trip to Squamish and the trails didn’t disappoint.
I joined in with the running club from the Capra trail running store (www.capra.run). I ran with Brian and Jason, two Squamish residents and all-around nice guys. Brian led us through Squamish’s extensive trail network. We ran out to Alice Lake where we had a beautiful view and saw some bald eagles circling the lake. The sun was peeking through and the temperature had risen to a nice 6°C. This weather was a big relief after spending a week in the rain in Vancouver. We started our run back to Capra and ran two mountain bike trails – 50 Shades of Green and Credit Line. These trails were fun to run, they had good elevation and were fairly technical. We also had some beautiful views of the surrounding mountains.
I thanked Brian and Jason for the run and then got back out on the trails. I headed in the same direction as my earlier run but I added in more climbing. Some parts of the trail were pretty gnarly because of all of the rain. Luckily the sun stayed out and I got some more beautiful views. I spent a total of five hours on the trail and loved every minute of it – except for the last 30 minutes. I somehow got onto the Squamish public golf course on my way back to Capra and had to hop a fence and walk through some freezing water to find my way back to the trail.
I met Mike Murphy (http://murph-off-road.com/), the co-owner of Capra when I got back from my run. Mike is an accomplished ultra-runner, mountain biker and rock climber. Among other impressive accomplishments, Mike won the Squamish 50, 50 miler in 2017. Mike let me use his bathroom to change out of my running gear and then helped me find a new pair of trail running shoes. I’m looking forward to my next Squamish running trip and will be sure to stop in to see the friendly folks at Capra.