Race Canceled? Plan a Trek

It’s a bad situation for trail runners – more trail races are being canceled every week because of social distancing. I’m very motivated by races and they drive my training. I’ve felt a dip in my motivation since most of my races this year will likely get canceled. This made me think about a 50 mile trek that I did in November, 2015 with my friends Chris and Joe. We ran the Bruce Trail from Georgetown, Ontario to the Forks of the Credit Park and back in one day. This was the first time that I ran an ultra-distance – something longer than a marathon (26.2 miles). Although the trek wasn’t an official race, it was very motivating and helped me take my training to the next level. I’ve decided to do a big trek on the Bruce Trail for late summer which has helped re-energize my training. I’m still figuring out exactly what the trek will look like. The Bruce Trail is currently closed but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it reopens soon. I hope that the story of my 2015 trek helps keep you motivated with your training and inspires you to plan a trek of your own. 

My Bruce Trail trek started 10km West of Georgetown at 6am on a Sunday in early November. It was silent and still – we could only hear our breath and the crunch of our feet on frozen grass. Joe and I crossed a farmer’s field as the sun rose. There was a light mist over the field and the sunrise made the mist glow. This was one of my first sunrises on the trails and I was hooked. I have experienced many sunrises since and I always take time to appreciate their beauty and associated positive feelings – life affirmation, joy and thoughtfulness. 

Joe and I covered 30km pretty quickly as we ran into Terra Cotta. We met Chris there, who joined us for the remaining 50km. Chris brought a nice lunch with hummus wraps, cookies and cupcakes. An amazing thing about running ultras is that you can eat whatever you want – candy, cookies, chips, you name it. It isn’t possible to replace all of the calories that you burn. 

We got back to running and the trails turned muddy – the ground had thawed and this slowed us down. We watched our footing as we descended a 200m cliff into Belfountain – just outside of the Forks of the Credit Park. This section is both beautiful and challenging, having one of the highest elevations on the Bruce Trail. We ran through Belfountain and then passed through a small village called Brimstone. Brimstone has a great sign, “Once home to several hundred hard living quarry men 1880s – 1910s”. We ran into the Forks of the Credit park – a beautiful area with rolling hills and great views of the Credit River. We were also treated to an amazing sunset – it’s pretty special when you see a sunrise and a sunset on the trails in the same day. Forks of the Credit marked the half point for our trek – we were going to cover the same trail on our way home. We reluctantly left the beautiful park and started our journey home. We climbed the cliff out of Belfountain in the dark and surprised a family whose house backed on to the trail. The family was unpacking groceries from their van as we ran by with our headlamps on. I’m sure that’s not a sight that they see every day. 

We had around 20km left when we came to the top of a hill near the Cheltenham Badlands. It was a clear night and we got an amazing view of the city lights of the Greater Toronto Area. We ran our last few miles through the cold and dark and I got some great encouragement from Chris and Joe. Chris and Joe were already experienced ultra-runners and they were excited that I was about to finish my first ultra. I was tired and sore but I finally finished the trek – it took over 12 hours. It felt amazing to have finished my first 50 mile run and to be an official ultra-runner.

This was an incredible experience and it was a great, low pressure environment for my first ultra-marathon. I was very fortunate to lean on the experience of my friends Chris and Joe. I would definitely recommend a trek as a substitute for racing and hope that my late summer Bruce Trail trek comes to fruition.