Capes100 Mabou 2022 Race Recap.

Capes100 Mabou Race Recap. Yes, the dream of completing a 100 mile race has been 4 years in the making for me - from the couch with no running experience to Ultra runner. In the four years building up to this race, I've had some epic failures - one of which was Riverlands 100 in Maine this past year. I say epic, as in the entire experience. Yes, I didn’t finish the race but I learned a whole lot that I used as fuel moving forward. One thing with Ultras is nothing is guaranteed. Things generally go wrong at some point. It’s how you deal with that at the time that becomes the deciding factor in whether you finish the race or not. Let’s be clear here, I’ve never been or ever will be a fast runner. It is not why I run and attempt these crazy adventures. I run for the sense of freedom it gives me. I feel that the time I spend in the woods allows me to think, to dream, to appreciate, and to live. That’s my 'WHY'! That is why I run in the woods and explore the world. So you ask, why a 100miles.? Simple, because it is hard and the ultimate test of mind, body and soul. And I do not know if I can do it. We are going to find out! Like I mentioned before, training for this race has been four years in the making. Each race and race experience has made me a better, stronger and more prepared runner. Going into Capes, I was feeling good - super strong from lots of training on huge hills. My self made training plan had me doing 10,000 meters of climbing in the month of July alone. It was horrid. It was hot, humid and it sucked for the entire month. But I felt strong and ready to tackle the huge elevation that we would encounter in the Cape Breton Highlands. I'm not a super social guy and don't like big groups of people so I trained mainly alone or with a very selective group of runners whom became very good friends. So this is where I'll say thank you to Liz, Mark, Matt, Tracy, and Melinda ( who will be my amazing pacer for this race) and Chalmers who......well......I wouldn’t be here without his help and inspiration over the years. Thank you to my wife and kids whom allowed me to tackle this crazy adventure. The time and commitment it takes to train for a 100mile race is impossible to achieve without a supportive family. We arrived for race check in arrived and all went smoothly. The atmosphere was already building with lots of runners arriving and excited to tackle what we had been told would be the hardest 100mile course Nova Scotia had ever seen. And, oh boy, we had no clue! I spent the evening chatting with our small crew of friends, checked in with my pacer Melinda who would pick me up at the 109th kilometer. She told me just get to me and I'll get you to the finish. I promised her I would! In hindsight I shouldn't have promised because these races are so hard they have a habit of destroying people who are over confident. We decided to sit out well into the evening. It was such a beautiful night. We chatted for awhile., Mark, Cham and his wife, Tracy and another great runner, Michael G, also joined us for a quick beer to try and settle the nerves and hopefully help us sleep. Alarm was set for 4:30am and not much sleep was had, as I expected.

Race started promptly at 6am and we were off. The first part of the race was down the road from the college for about 2km before we headed onto a gravel service road for around 10km. I went very easy. My good friend, Mark, was clearly confident and feeling strong and wanted to start at a faster pace so he forged ahead pretty early into the race and we didn't see each other until many hours later. I very quickly hooked up with my good buddy,Matt Sabinski. We had trained together a lot. I was happy to run with him as it's always a good time. We would end up running together for most of the first 50 miles of this race. The first 20km went very well. I felt strong as we hit MacKinnon’s Brook aid station. This is really where the race started for me. The climb out of here was HUGE! And a quad burner! It never seemed to end and I felt it when we hit the top. I was happy when we hit the top and it flattened out to some nice single track that went out to the cow pasture which would be where I would eventually pick up my pacer later on in the race. The run down from the cow pasture, down to Inverness, was pretty easy. This is where we saw Mark heading out of Inverness as we were heading in. I estimated he was 8km ahead of us. He was looking in great shape. We had a quick hug and on we went. Most of the next 10km into Inverness was mainly road and pavement with a 2km beach section. The beach section sucked to run on. It was also the hottest part of the day and the sun was HOT! I decided to slow down at this point and reserve energy. I had learned from past experience running hard in the heat will come back to wreck your race later on. We moved on out of Inverness, around the coast, with some stunning views of the ocean. This would be our longest stretch without an aid station (approximately 14km) but it was relatively easy going and we kept a nice steady pace. At this point, another local runner joined us, Nickolas Richards. We all ran strong together and headed back to MacKinnon’s Brook. We were told this is where the hardest section of the race was about to begin and we would have to do this section again later on in the race! I took this opportunity to change my shoes and my buddy ,Chalmers (who was volunteering), helped fix my feet which now had some blisters forming. I decided to change into my Hoka Speedgoat 5s. This was a risk, as I had used these shoes at Riverlands and they hadn't treated me well. I put that down to the heat and right now, it wasn't very hot. The feeling of a nice pair of fresh shoes was just too appealing - so, I changed into them.

After downing a bunch of watermelon and some banana, we were ready to tackle this section, I believe it was named 'Steep Mountain'. It certainly lived up to its name! It was simply the hardest 10km I've ever done in my life! It was awful but the views were absolutely spectacular from the top! This section took just over 2 hrs to complete and after a quick fuel up at the next aid station, it was back out again. Matt and I were still together at this point and we got into a pretty good groove covering the next 10km in pretty good time. I was still eating well - lots of banana bread and lemon loaf with mini pecans pies were my rocket fuel for the first half of this race but I could tell eating solid foods was getting harder to stomach and soon I would have to turn to gels which was always my plan. Once we hit the next aid station, at about 75km, things started to breakdown. My feet were trashed - like really trashed! We were in a bigger group of runners now. The next section to the half way point was rocky, wet and just sucked. I made the decision here to just break away from the group. I wanted silence and to be alone. I was able to pull away and felt good for a short time putting down a few 6min kms. That's when I met up with Mark again. He said it was 2km to the halfway point which made me feel really good. I had actually caught him up a fair bit. Mat reeled me back in about 1km from the half way point, I think he was in the same head space and wanted some space too. It was here that he also told me he wasn't sure if he could continue as he was having dizzy spells and vision issues. Being a diabetic, this was a huge concern and I was worried for him. This is also where I had a major headlamp failure and it stopped working - new batteries didn't help and I was freaking out a bit. Luckily, I was with Matt and we got out to the half way point together where my friend Melinda was waiting and just happened to have a spare lamp I could use! This turnaround point was rocking with volunteers and people! Some of whom I didn't even know and just took control of the situation. “Chair out sit down!” “What do you need!” No hesitation at all. I said, “I need someone good with foot care!” And instantly a lady shouted, “Oh, I love fixing feet'” and again took control. Socks off, cleaned feet, lubed them up fresh socks and suddenly it felt like I had a new pair of feet! Amazing! Matt’s wife, Geniveve, brought over some amazing noodle soup that tasted wonderful! Along with peaches from another volunteer, everything tasted good and I knew this was a huge moment. Just being able to get in so many calories at this point of the race was amazing. The down side was I could see Mat in really bad shape. He wasn't looking good. I was about 17hrs into the race, which put me two hours ahead of the cut offs that would be looming large in the 2nd part of this race. I wanted this time as a buffer as I knew things would start to slow down as the body starts to break.

So, I'm ready to leave all fueled up and feet feeling way better. That wouldn't last as Jodi, the race director, came up to me and said “Stu, you should leave now”. It is always hard when you see your buddy, who you have basically been through hell with, struggling so bad but I knew and we had agreed if this happened the other person had to go on. So, I quickly said my goodbyes to Matt and had a quick chat with Melinda (my pacer) that I expected to take around 6hrs to get back to the cow pasture for pacer pick up spot. I know she was worried about me getting there but it didn't stop her positive attitude and encouragement. After all, I had promised her I'd get there! Jodi then came back over and said “Stu, you have to leave now. You can’t wait. You can do this! And it would be fucking amazing' or something along them lines. The words filled me with confidence. For the first time, in this race, I allowed myself to think maybe, just maybe I can finish this thing. I left the turn around point energized and flew 9km to the next aid station. I remember a volunteer local runner Al, saying “How in the hell did you get here so fast, you made really good time”. I was feeling so strong at this moment. I didn't stick around long and left again. Not long after I could see a light in the distance and as I got closer I noticed it was Mark. I thought to myself “no way! It can't be him as was so far ahead, but it was!” He had hit a huge wall. He couldn't eat and his stomach was screwed. I could tell he was in huge trouble. This hit me hard! Mark has become such a great friend and adventure partner. I realized what a huge blow this would be to him. I felt his pain and it sucked. I wanted to stay and help him but he told me go and inside my head I knew I had to leave him behind. I left with words of encouragement and hoping it would help. I tackled the next big climb which sucked, Suddenly, just like that, I had hit a huge low. Confidence gone, doubt crept back in, feet starting to hurt again. Highs and lows happen so often in a race like this and it's crazy you just have to battle through them. Heading back to MacKinnon’s Brook aid station, Nick had caught me back up and we went into the station together. It was 2:30am at this point and I wasn't talking much so I doubt I was good company at all. I refueled with some hot broth and grilled cheese. This helped bring the spirits back up. Now, all I could think about was getting this next huge climb done and getting to my pacer around 6km away. The climb was tough. Nick was right behind me and then something happened. You always hear of these moments when you suddenly feel energized. This was my moment! All I wanted was to get to Melinda as fast as I could. I had some energy so I just let go and flew through the next section of single track to the cow pasture. I could see a glimmer of light from a headlamp through the trees and it was such an amazing sense of relief to finally make it to kilometer 109 and the pacer pickup. Some hot broth down with a snickers bar did the trick. We agreed to jog any flats and down hills and aggressively hike the up hills for the next 24ish km. If we could do that, efficiently, then we had a real chance to complete this thing. Again, I found myself believing it could happen. This is when the rain started. At first, just gentle rain. Later on, it would be hours of torrential downpours. I met Melinda around three years ago at another event called the Toboggan Run. We had become good friends since and run many training runs together. We run at a very similar pace so it really works, and she loves to talk which always makes for a fun time. It was a great feeling knowing she would be with me for the remainder of this race - finish or not.

We had a plan and I'd like to think we executed the plan perfectly. We made great time over the next 20ish km and had lots of laughs along the way. She came prepared with a bag load of dad jokes to keep the atmosphere positive (something about our good friend Elizabeth McEwen’s HUGE feet that seems to stick in my mind for some funny reason).! It was exactly what I wanted from a pacer - good humor and positive conversation. She knew when I was hurting to be quiet and exactly when I needed a pick me up. Pacers can be taken for granted but the difference between a good one and a bad one can make or break your race. I knew Melinda was just as invested in getting me to the end of the race as I was and it was an incredible experience. We made it back again to the dreaded MacKinnon’s Brook aid station and we both knew this next section was make or break. If we get through it then, we will definitely finish. We were two hrs ahead of cut off so we decided to take it very easy and slow as possible. No need to risk anything now. One slow step at a time we climbed the steep mountain for the last time. I was exhausted and breathing heavily with each step. I stopped multiple times to recover but with every step we got closer to the summit. That's when Melinda says, “Is that a BEAR?”' I looked over and saw a huge bear sitting on a big rock and it seemed to be looking right over at us. Luckily, it was far enough away that we didn't completely freak out but still, that bear was big! One hundred thirty five kilometers in and the rain was now a tropical downpour making the climb down the mountain slow, muddy and absolutely horrible. All I could think of was don't slip and break something now, not now , we are so close. We made it out of this section in 2.5 hrs which was amazing. We now were three hrs ahead of cut off and as long as I could keep moving we would finish this monster!

The next 10km to the final aid station went pretty well. My feet were destroyed. I could feel the entire bottom of my feet were blistered and soaked. It hurt with each step like walking on razor blades. But we got to the final aid station to lots of cheers and encouragement from the volunteers. I had some warm broth, cheese sandwich and ginger ale I was ready to leave. I had 11km to go! It seemed like such a long way. It would be a grind - one painful step after another. Our goal was to get to the road and we knew then it was 2km to the finish from that point. But the road took forever to come. My feet were screaming and I said to Melinda it’s excruciating to walk so we may as well run because it can't be any worse. So we ran out to the road and only now did I really start to think about what we had accomplished. I had dreamed for years what the final km would feel like - emotionally never knowing if I was actually capable of completing a 100 miler. I had failed in my last attempt and that hurt but here I was now just 1km away. I struggled to tell Melinda what it meant to me that she paced me for the last 51km of this race. Having people believe in you is the ultimate respect you can receive. I was honored to share this with her. One kilometer, I could hear the cheers and bells from up around the corner. Then three runners came down the road one of which is a good local runner, Luc , who I have huge respect for. He is really a great young man who will go on to do great things. Having him run down to cheers me on this last km was very emotional. I looked at Melinda said thank you and put my head down and took the last few minutes to internally thank my wonderful wife and family and all my great training partners who had helped me to get to this point. I crossed the finish line in 33hrs and 49mins and collapsed into the arms of Jodi. I was balling and so was he. He told me how proud he was which coming from someone of his stature is a big, big deal! I had done it, the 100 mile buckle would be mine and I sure as hell earned it! So much more happened in this race but it would take years to write it all down. What I didn't mention here will stay in my mind and heart for a lifetime.

My goal now is to heal up the body and plan a new adventure challenge, volunteer and give back. To the trail running community. Huge thanks to Nova Scotia Trail Runners, Jodi and Karine and all the volunteers for putting on a world class 100 mile race! I will definitely be back!