Author: Nick Brindisi

The Dirty Girls 12 hour trail race is one of 3 events on the weekend of August 8, 9, 10, 2014, the other two being 24 and 48 hours! The race is located at Mansfield Ontario, Canada at an outdoor recreation centre that features an 8 kilometer forest loop trail with roots, rocks, sand and it’s all hills. There is one aid station at 4 km and the main start/finish area which features the mother of all aid stations! I’m talking about all sorts of fruit, french fries with a salt dip, grilled cheese sandwiches, Perogies, lentil soup, broth, all the sport drinks and water, literally anything you need to get through at least 12 hours of running.

Setting Out
I thought I’d get my feet wet at this event by keeping it to just 12 hours. The 12 hour race began at 8pm Saturday night. While most people were going out to dinner and a movie or pursuing some sort of fun weekend activity, we were preparing to run all night! We left the starting line promptly at 8pm. For the first loop, we remained fairly close together on the single track, with the breathing and footfalls of others all around. Like usual I got a little caught up in the enthusiasm of the start and went a little faster than I wanted to for the first lap. By the second lap people were spreading out and I felt a sense of peaceful contentment come over me as the headlamp went on and night fell.

10 P.M. to Midnight
Now that darkness fell I found that the roots blended in to the soil in the light of my headlamp. It became so easy to trip over rocks and roots that I began to try and memorize their locations on the course for the next lap. It was a time of transitioning from normal running into what I consider extended running and breaking the ultra barrier in exceeding marathon distance. Still feeling comfortable yet feeling the effort and the challenge starting to build particularly with the hills on the course. There really are no level places at all. You climb or you descend again and again. The “Super Moon” made it’s presence felt as a glorious round super bright object shining through the trees. It provided a cheery companion that got me through the night appearing briefly in the few clearings in the forest.

Midnight to 5 A.M.
It’s on! crossing the threshold of pain and hunger. Six hours or so in I had massive hunger pangs and needed more serious food! In addition to this I knew that given my perspiration rate I’d need salt soon to prevent cramping. I made sure to take some fries and dip them liberally in the salt bowl. Way more tasty and satisfying than salt pills and with grilled cheese sandwiches it really filled me up! With a full stomach I went to battle again with the trail. The temperature during this period dipped from the Saturday evening 25 Celsius to 15 Celsius but the humidity remained hanging in the woods. The sensation was one of feeling chilled yet hot at the same time and sweating a lot. I drank lots and urine output was good and it remained fairly clear. There were still no cramps!

5 A.M. to 8 A.M. Finish
The bewitching hour came after a struggle from 5 A.M. to 6 A.M. in which I truly felt beat up and tired. A race like this runs opposite to your normal circadian rhythm and your mind can really play tricks! In the early pre-dawn before it brightened up I began having some hallucinations. Plants beside the trail took on the shape of animals and actually startled me! I kept seeing creatures darting across the trail ahead of me but luckily it wasn’t my first rodeo and I recognized that my mind was playing tricks with the beam of my headlamp reflecting off the ghostly trees. First light came as a surprise as I looked up and the sky was not as dark. Slowly certain tree trunks began having reddish highlights on them. Eventually I came to a lookout point on the trail and could see the red brilliant light of the tip of the sunrise over the valley below. When the sun was over the horizon the forest erupted with light and color and my night adjusted eyes brought everything into hyper focus. I was so amazed at how different the trail I’d done so many times looked! I met a young woman on my ninth and final lap. When my energy was low and she passed me I made an effort to keep up with her and we began a pleasant conversation. She helped me pull through to the half way aid station at 4k and then she was the one whose energy was low! She began worrying about making the last 4 km before the 8am finish. I told her there would be no talk of not making it and we had plenty of time. I pulled her through the last 4km to return the favor and we sprinted to the finish together!

Final Tally
I managed to get through 72 kilometres of some bad ass trail with a lot of hills in the 12 hours finishing first for my age group and 9th overall, 8th male. There is no way to DNF this race. It’s all about how far any given runner can get. For instance my good friend and brother from another mother Peter Taylor lapped me and not only won the race but set a new course record of 106 kilometres! What an amazing night! What an amazing breakfast after the race! Pancakes, bacon and eggs, and good German beer, the best recovery drink! I’ll be back to do the Dirty Girls again. It’s a well organized race in a beautiful place and running at night is so peaceful!

I recently had the pleasure and honor to spend a full day as a running guide for the amazing blind trail runner Rhonda Marie Avery. If you thought you read that wrong I can assure you she really is a blind trail runner!

Rhonda decided to tackle one of the toughest trails in Ontario Canada, the Bruce Trail. The Bruce Trail presents a seemingly never ending array of undulating technical terrain over it’s 885 kilometres. From the town of Tobermory at the extreme northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula, the trail travels continuously to Niagara Falls in the south. Following the amazing Niagara Escarpment over it’s course, the Bruce Trail has a hilly spine with plenty of elevation change and breathtaking views.

Rhonda needs to be sure to have early bedtimes and an early start to the day. The approximately 45 kilometres she covers each day is best undertaken in the cool of the morning before the sun gets too hot. Another reason for such an early start is the length of time it takes for her to negotiate the trail and it’s technically demanding terrain. The run will last twenty days.

A blind runner requires guide runners, and a run of this length required two fresh guide runners for each day. One guide runner leads and navigates to ensure the excellent trail markers are in sight and that they are still on the trail. Behind the lead runner is the guide runner whose responsibility is to call out every root, rock and undulation in the terrain. Rhonda who runs directly behind the guide runner has an uncanny ability to time her steps to avoid every obstacle the guide runner calls out. The guide and lead runners swap positions for two reasons. One is that it’s mentally fatiguing to call out the terrain and two is that it’s good for Rhonda to hear a different voice and style of callouts.
Having run the Bruce Trail for most of my life I can say that the roughness of the rocks, roots and hills provides a challenge to perfectly sighted runners. Lose your concentration for a few seconds and it’s easy to face plant! Rhonda’s accomplishment is all the more impressive given the fact that she is negotiating this terrain blind.

What motivates a person to undertake a run of this magnitude and difficulty? According to Rhonda the answer lies in the desire to do something nearly impossible; something with no guarantee of success. To quote Rhonda, “go big or go home!”

Today is August 8th, 2014 Rhonda is carrying on with more than a marathon per day every day. My day is done and other guides have taken over. And so it goes, this rhythm of run, eat, sleep and make friends along the way. At the end a sense of supreme accomplishment, a pinnacle achievement and a lot of amazing memories.

Let us not forget that Rhonda is doing this for a cause that can help many, Achilles Canada.

None of these activities are easy for me to manage without the help of Achilles Canada”This nonprofit organization connects those with disabilities with volunteer guides. “Over the years, they have helped me to take part in events from 5Km to 100 miles of running, 13km of tethered open water swimming, and 500km of tandem cycling. Without their involvement, I wouldn’t be possible for me to participate to this degree. Oftentimes, for the disabled athlete, getting to the start line is the most difficult task. As a disable endurance athlete, my goal is always to show up, do my best and put all concepts of my disability aside.

To support Rhonda’s cause please visit: http://www.gofundme.com/envisions-on-the-bruce

Godspeed Rhonda!

Here is the play by play of what happened written the morning after:

Just woke up after arriving at my tent at 4:30am. This is a beast that changes every year and you never know what you are going to get. I’m completely drained. This year it was the hottest most humid Sinister 7 ever! The proof is the approximately 25% finish rate for soloists. Got a ride from race director Andrew Fairhurst back to the finish who says some of the best soloists dropped out early.

Summary:
Leg 1: nice easy run no issues. Climb went really well.

Leg 2: this one was a killer as the temperature had already gone to 25. All the moisture from the late spring made the humidity nuts for high up in the mountains. I wet my hat and legs in every stream.

Leg 3: nicknamed Satan’s sack, this was positively evil yesterday. 35km leg with 4,500 feet of climbing. Again I drank everything, dropped into every river, fell up to my waist in the mud bog I was creeping around, and then the notorious final climb. I poured it on thinking I wanted to preserve my margin on the cutoff time and used the downhill after to speed into the transition. Despite 2 gels an hour and eating everything I could and taking salt capsules my stomach cramped up like I thought I would die. This was the 67.5km mark. Got great attention from the valet solo runner service. A volunteer nicknamed mother hen even peeled my mud crusted shoes and socks off, cleaned my feet and put on my change of socks and shoes! That’s service! Off I went onto 4.

Leg 4: Dastardly climb up part of a ski hill right out of the aid station. Half way up the stoic and amazing ultra runner Hiroshige Watanabe was in distress. The heat got him too on leg 3. He wasn’t able to keep anything in his stomach. He swore he was ok and bid me on my way. Then into the mosquito ridden woods for more climbing, mud and then the long cross country portion. At the barbed wire fence the pond from last year had doubled in size so you had to go through knee deep water. So much for the fresh shoes and socks. Made it to the end of 4 feeling sick to my stomach. Nausea came in waves for the better part of 20 kilometers. Drank tons of beef soup and then flat Coke, the saviour of a stomach in distress. I never have had a sick stomach in any race in my life! That’s how sinister it was.

Leg 5: What can I say… Everything sinister but more muddy than any other leg! I had mud caked to my legs right up to my waist. I ran, crawled, begged and pleaded, often having no choice but to wade through standing water all in the dark by headlamp. Saw something move on the trail when I had climbed the mountain and was truly alone. Actually drew my bear spray and removed the trigger lock! It snorted and moved away. Not sure what it was from a distance could have been a few different animals but most likely a bear. Passed a lost soul runner with 5k to go who assured me he was ok. When he pulled into aid station 2 on leg 5 his hand was bleeding and he needed medical help.

My journey ended at 105 km which is the longest distance I’ve run before. The reason is that I simply didn’t have enough time to get the 10k left to the end of 5 before the cutoff. My stomach had recovered to a degree but I was clumsy. I would have continued though. I don’t know if conditions will ever allow me to unlock the key to this insane race. It is indeed the toughest test of a runner I can think of! Mad respect to Hiroshige Watanabe wish you could have continued on leg 5 with me Hiro! Mad Respect to Peter Taylor who gave me the coaching to get me to almost the end of 5 on the hottest wettest running of this race so far, and for his 2nd place finish here last year which doubly blows my mind this year.
Bring on Sinister 7 2016. 3rd time is the charm!