March 28, 2020
Blackfoot Ultra 2020 Cancelled
Received via email:
In light of the importance of self-isolation and the uncertainty of how long we will continue to see the effects of COVID, Blackfoot Ultra is canceled for 2020.
Race entries for 2020 will automatically be rolled over to 2021. No further action on the part of racers is required at this time. There is an option to move your entry to 2022 if 2021 doesn't work for you. Racers will have until November 1 to declare their intention to move to 2022.
We wish you all the best for your health and safety in the coming weeks. Keep running, keep doing your mobility and strength training, and most of all keep on keeping on! Dog gone it, we will get through this!
For the third year in a row, I find myself registered for a unique local event: the "baby" edition of the the Blackfoot Ultra marathon, a 25 klick slog through the rolling, often wet-and-muddy hills of a nearby nature preserve. Where I can usually run a half marathon in around two hours and change, this slightly longer race has turned into a nearly four hour plodding endurance adventure through rough grass and gravel trail, alongside marshy lakes, and spring-time boreal forest.
Or, as the website describes it:
A fantastic spring race to test your fitness and prepare for the mountain races later on in the season! The race is run on the beautiful trails of the Blackfoot Recreation Area located just 40 minutes east of Edmonton, Alberta.
Following a deep-winter respite and conditioning regimen, it will mark the first milestone in a planned goal of the Chicago 2020 marathon in October.
May 29, 2020
One day shy of the start for this race and I'm feeling a little sad. The forecast for tomorrow is clear, dry and sunny... which I suppose would have been a tough slog in the heat. Not to mention that the mosquitoes have already been wrecking havoc on the city for a couple weeks now and heat plus mosquitoes plus the longest race of the year-so-far would have made for a fun but exhausting day.
Instead, I signed up to do yet another virtual run tomorrow morning, the first of a summer series of virtual time trials by the folks who brought us the Quarantine Backyard Ultra. Twenty minutes alone through the neighbourhood versus twenty-five klicks through a gorgeous natural wonderland with friends... what's the difference, right?
*sigh*