Knee Knacker (mostly) pics for now

I am in the process of writing a (much too long) race report, but ran out of day, but I do want to say a few quick words about my first Knee Knacker.

**The Knee Knacker is a point-to-point 30 mile (not 50km) race across the North Shore mountains with 8,000 feet ascent and 8,300 descent.

Generally, when you imagine yourself winning a race, it is a smooth, almost effortless feeling, where everything lines up perfectly. There are lots of terms to describe this feeling, like, "being in the zone", or "flow"...However other races and wins can only be described as "winning ugly" and that's how I would describe my first Knee Knacker experience.

My run yesterday was at the latter end of the spectrum and anything but a smooth flowing affair, rather, it was an awkward, painful, mostly lonely race of attrition. I felt tired and had a long internal dialogue running to keep me going through most of the run.

We all want the perfect day, but truth is, those come along quite infrequently.
Endurance racing is all about managing expectations, emotions and decision making throughout the event, so I will candidly admit that I was proud of myself for being able to handle the low points and rough patches relatively well and to still be able to pull out an effort that I can be proud of.

Although I spent most of the day running alone, as always, I really appreciated all the support from the spectators, volunteers and race organizers along the course, I always feel a huge pick me up when I run by and it was amazing to share the trail with so many talented, adventurous and hardy runners. It really is a spectacular and challenging course and showcases what North Shore running is all about. Despite having a love/hate relationship with running and racing along the up-and-down,rocky and root strewn Baden Powell trail, it is a beautiful spot to run and I always finish my runs along it happy.

Because of how the race played out, today I feel sore, tired and exhausted, but that just makes it easier for me to take a few days off of running, something that I am woefully bad at doing on my own accord.

There is an incredible aesthetic and appeal to the thought that I can now stand in downtown Vancouver and to be able to trace a line that runs across the North Shore peaks and slopes and to be able to say, that I have run that!

It is also a real honour to be able to add my name to the list of great runners who have completed and won the race. Full results here:

Thanks to VFK and Doug Gormican for the images from the Knee Knacker website:





Never forget to thank the volunteers!!!!!