This past weekend saw the second year of the St. Donat Triathlon – organized by Endurance Aventure. My friend Amanda participated in the Classic Winter Triathlon and has sent along this race report.

Amanda enjoying the skate

I’m going to right to the point. The organizers\volunteers for the St.Donat Winter Triathlon hosted a fantastic, well executed and super fun event. I showed up on time, well in advance, so you know that’s going to be a good start right there.

The small quaint town has the energy that makes you feel like you should come visit, and when you do, you’re in the right place to participate in something very unique. The registration on the Friday night was quite easy, simple, even for my lack of French speaking abilities.

The morning of was beautiful. Sun beating down on the lake made for a great morning picture. The transition zone was equipped with lots of volunteers to direct us, chairs for us to properly change gear and lots of warm Gatorade type drink to keep us hydrated.

The run had a nice little fun start by doing a nice little loop on the lake, then we headed up to the road for a few kilometers.  A nice water station at the turnaround point before you had down for the final 2.5km. Through the transition we were guided to the 800metere, BACK COUNTRY man made skating rink. Folks, this thing is the most fun I’ve ever had skating on an ice surface. With my helmet properly in place, I headed for my 1st loop. I’m like a kid in a candy store… All smiles. I was excited through all 6 loops and I was able to make up for my not so fast 5k (could of pushed harder) run. Through all of this I could hear my good friend Ronna cheering me on. Let’s not forget how important that support system is.

Amanda and Ronna

I’m ready for the ski, or at least I think I am. Thanks to Deanna for reminding me that this is the FUN part. That nice 2.5km climb made me think different, but I managed to get through and actually started to enjoy the descent. Again, a nice back country trail that was sorta groomed (I think)! That was definitely the hardest part for me, but I am so grateful for all the training thus far. I believe I heard my friend Isabelle cheering loudly in my ear, all the way from Gatineau. 

I have to say that if you are going to try a Winter Triathlon, go to St.Donat. Everything is so well laid out, and although not knowing French can be challenging at times, people are always great in answering questions that you may have. I for one am very happy with the day, the support from my friends, family and all the teachers who have helped me along the way.

The beautiful skate section

Thanks Amanda for the great race report – sounds like it is an event to put on the calendar for next season.

The other day my friend Amanda tagged me in a post on Facebook with a link to a music video… Now, I don’t typically click on links to videos – I’m one of those people who never visits YouTube and can’t understand why someone would watch videos… but I did click on this link – something drew me to it – likely the word Happy.

Well, I was immediately tapping my feet and grinning. So I think you should give yourself the same treat and enjoy this video of Pharrell Williams singing Happy.

If you want to feel even happier, go watch the world’s first 24 hour music video of this same song. (It is pretty awesome.)

Oh, and if you’re looking for something to watch on YouTube this weekend – I suggest you tune into the UCI YouTube channel and watch the World Cyclo-Cross Championships.

I don’t throw the word “epic” around much but I’ll be using it with liberty in this post. Everything about the Mad Trapper Bushtakah Snowshoe Night Race/I2P Fundraiser was epic…

The drive. The people. The vibe. The deep soft white snow. The field. The last climb. The potato chips. The brownies. The chilli. The conversations. The stories. The grins. The alpaca. The I2P fundraising.

All of these elements can be summed up with one so very 2013 word – epic. Oh and to top it off – it was a good fun night.

With weather that was not favourable to driving but very good for snowshoe running, a hardy group made their way to the Mad Trapper Ark for a very good night of running around in the snow. As usual, Mike set a very challenging course (I actually found this one more difficult than the Hilly Course), my favourite aspects being the downhills and the run through the field. I must say that hill at the end definitely cracked me – but in a good way!

As always these events are really so much more than about the race… Sure we all want to go out and run our hardest and some folks are even aiming for the win – but it seems to me that people are really getting more than just a race from these events. It is about community and support – the chatter in the Ark after the race was all about congratulating one another and really just coming together for some fun. Yes, the winners are acknowledged but the people who get the biggest cheers and attention are those that did the race for the first time.

It is this atmosphere that keeps me coming out. The race last night really felt like a giant “group hug”. Even more so when people generously opened their wallets to bid on auction items to raise money for Impossible 2 Possible (I2P).

So yes, it was an epic night. Good people. Super atmosphere. Excellent community spirit. Lots of smiling faces. (And my favourite potato chips – ripple au gratin…)

(If you’re interested in checking out the course profile and all of my fascinating Strava statistics, check out my Facebook page.)

The next group hug… I mean Mad Trapper Snowshoe Race is on February 22. Make sure you come out – there will be lots of good stuff (brownies, potato chips, running, smiling, huffing and puffing) – all on an epic level.

Earlier in the week, I mumbled on Facebook about the 2014 Milton Keynes World Cup…. I’ve been thinking about this cyclo-cross race since I first learned of it in late November. This World Cup is a special one – the first World Cup in Great Britain and even more special for me is that it is very close to where my aunt and uncle live.

Somehow a seed was planted in my brain – maybe I should do one last World Cup. After all, my racing ended in 2011 the day before the Koksijde World Cup when I had a rather unfortunate crash. Maybe this race in Milton Keynes would be a fun way to finally wrap a bike racing adventure that started way back in 2007 with some big dreams?

Believe me, I’ve been thinking about this a great deal. At first glance, I was “all in” – sure, I thought, lets go to Milton Keynes and have one last World Cup race – it would be a great way to see my racing friends, visit with my aunt and uncle and it would just be plain old fun. But the more I started to think about it and discuss the race with friends and with Marc, my stomach started to work its way into knots.

Rather than thinking positively of all the things I would have to do to get back into elite racing shape and condition, I started to dread these things. I started to think only of the things I’d have to give up. Was I really committed to make the sacrifices needed to get to the level of fitness and skill I would need to race this race on Nov. 29, 2014? I wasn’t sure. More importantly would I regret not doing the race?

As awesome as it would be to race the World Cup in Milton Keynes, I’ve decided that I’m not going to do it. Today, sitting here in January I honestly can’t get excited about racing at this level again. I remember when I’d watch the elite women race at Catamount and Northampton these past couple of years – I didn’t feel any urges to be out there nor did I feel like I missed the racing. What I do miss is being out on my bike and racing for the heck of it – I miss lining up and just racing. I want to race, but I want to take it down a notch – maybe this is a way of giving myself an “out” or an excuse to not push myself like I used to. I don’t know. What I do know is that when I think of getting ready for elite racing, I think of all the things I’d have to give up and I’m not at this point anymore. When I started this journey, I didn’t feel like I was giving anything up or making sacrifices – I craved these things and loved the process of getting fit, skilled and strong… Now, I’m happy to be out riding and running for the pure heck of it – in a way, I guess I’ve come full circle.

I was not able to attend the Summerstown Snowshoe Race this past Saturday, but thanks to my friend Amanda we have a race and trip report from this rather icy day.

I was asked to write a race report as Vicki was not able to attend the Summerstown race. Since the past year has been a year of 1sts, I thought.. why not!

As it has been discussed, some of the more technical trail was out on the road in getting there. My friends Maude, Renee and I decided that we would try out the 417 and if things got too messy we would turn back. Little did I know that not only did we make the race (just on time, I’m getting to that part of the story), but we had a lot of fun driving down that we passed the exit off the highway. It probably didn’t help that I suggested to mute the damn GPS as it was interrupting our conversations. Thankfully, Renee noticed that something was off and we headed back in the correct direction.

Just as we arrived to the race site, the the clock on my car showed 9:54 and this SOB of a salt truck decided to stop in front of us, and block the car from entering in the driveway! Thankfully with my honking, and one of the volunteers, the freakin’ truck moved. Changing shoes, racing to the start line, we were welcomed with a 10 minute grace period as a few others were running late also. I think we all agreed that our warm-up was the heartbeats of getting ready so fast!

The organizers and volunteers kindly checked us in quickly and we soon settled in nicely and got ready for the race.

The race was fun, challenging and other than the rain at the end, it was beautiful weather. There were many volunteers and people cheering at various parts of the race course. There was some nice rolling hills and some nice hill climbs that reminded me I have some work to do, and there was never a boring moment on the course.  Maude and I were running together until she broke free about halfway in the race and to which I was trying to chase down a fellow competitor. I felt compelled to try and catch up and catch her, but sadly she created a bit more separation which made that difficult. There was even a kind word from the volunteers letting us know that were weren’t far from the finish line.

I think everyone had a great attitude for the whole event. If you have a chance to participate in this event, I would highly take the drive down and join in. The terrain is different than Gatineau Park. More narrow, hard packed and had some technical challenges.  It was also a lot of fun to meet new people and share the fondness in being outdoors. The post brunch with Dave and Lise goes to show why some of us show up to these races. A good workout with great company. You can’t beat that.

Thanks Amanda for this great race report. From everyone I’ve heard from it sounds like it was an epic day in the car and on the snowshoes. Here’s a link to some photos and the report from Spafford Health and Adventure. Congrats to everyone who participated.