Trail running on the GNW (Girrakool - Patonga)

When I found out that a certain crazy Canadian lady, Leslie Gerein, was heading south to Australia to visit, I had to take her out on a trail run! I had been resting and recovering post-UTMB, and was looking forward to getting out for a 25km stretch of the legs.

Leslie hails from Banff and is known by all the locals as "that crazy mountain runner woman." This title is no exageration - photos abound of Leslie trail running in pink underpants on the snow-covered trails of the Canadian Rockies! What a woman!

I decided that we would explore a section of the Great North Walk (GNW), a 160mi trail that runs from Sydney to Newcastle. We started at the Girrakool trailhead, about 10km from Gosford (the trailhead starts behind the Girrakool picnic area, marked with a sign for the "Piles Creek Loop Track"). The beauty about this run is that you immediately feel like you are in the middle of Aussie wilderness. For most of the run you are on open sandstone platforms that give unobstructed views out across the Brisbane Waters National Park. The trail also takes you through lovely Eucalypt forests, across fresh streams, past a must-swim-in waterhole complete with it's own waterfall and gives plenty of opportunities for "bonus trips": little side trips that add extra mileage but take you to amazing places, like the top of Mt Wondabyne.

Hopping across a lovely little stream (great opportunity to have a drink on a hot day):

Awesome sandstone cave along the track:

Dried-up river crossing:

Running across one of the open sandstone platforms:

Leslie: "I'm going in."

Me: "In your running clothes? What about your shoes."

Leslie: "I'm going in like this. I'm Canadian, my feet are used to getting wet from rain and snow."

This run is awesome if you want a great run in the bush on a mixture of technical single track, open stretches on rocky platforms and wide fire trail. The scenery shows the magic that happens when bush meets ocean, and leaves you as a runner sweaty but so happy to be out on trails and not mid-city road. In the words of Leslie: "I'm in Australia, I'm in Australia!"

There is plenty of information about this trail on the Wild Walks website, found here.

On the top of Mt. Wondabyne:

Leslie descending the mountain:

Reaching the coast, behind is the Hawksbury River is meeting the Tasman Sea:

Patonga Beach - the end of the trail:

Comfortably Numb 25km trail race (x2)

Described as epic, phenomenal, Whistler's best, the Comfortably Numb 25km trail runs from the Wedge Mountain parking lot, heading west toward Spruce Grove park on the outer fringe of Whistler village. Awesome. It has everything you would want from a technical single-track trail: gentle switch backs that take you up to just over 1000m elevation, beautiful open rock plateaus that mess with your mind as you run loops around, and around, and around...then you get dropped off rock faces, down technical chutes of trail, and finally through beautiful lush forest that always smells fresh.

Comfortably Numb is the trail race that has it all. So why not do it twice?

The idea started over a tasty seafood risotto cooked by Vancouver's Nicola Gildersleeve, aka "long-sleeves", an awesome lady that has pushed me on our weekly runs and adventures. We had been deciding how to fit in a long weekend run (in my lead up to the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc) and also race Comfortably Numb. "Why not just run from the finish to the start of the race and then do the race as well back to the finish?" Yes!

Race morning, 5.45am, crisp clear morning, Nicola and I start our run to the race start:

"Physically demanding?"

Nicola making a quick call to double check which way the trail goes: Left or Right?

What a morning to be out on the trails:

At the start line with Cathy, a local Physiotherapist and legendary for her consumption of 8 gels and 15 salt tablets during this race to stop cramping (she smashed the race):

With Nicola, restocking water:

The start:

At the only aid station, having a wrap. Thanks to the North Shore Athletics race organizers who hiked in 12k to man this remote outpost of help and hydration:

Halfway for some, 3/4 of the way for others...

Nicola and I started in the morning together and ended up finishing together as well. She jarred her ankle badly 7km into the race and I found her at the only aid station munching on salty chips. We ended up running the rest of the way together. At one point she commented to me "geez I feel so held back by my ankle, I just want to go faster." I think I grunted something to her, but inside I was thinking "I am at my maximum and could not go faster if I wanted." Nevertheless, running with Nicola, even if not at her best pace, pushed me to go harder than if I had been running by myself. Sometimes, running with a better runner is humbling to one's ego, but if you can move beyond that then you may just find yourself being challenged to work harder and become better as well.

I finished in 6:10 hours and gained 3165m of elevation in total. What a great day of running:

Post race party at the Whistler Brewhouse:

Bloody and Muddy at the 2011 Dirty Duo.

Mountain biking, trail running, or both. 15km, 30km or 50km. At the 2011 Dirty Duo the options were endless and competitors were able to set the bar to whatever challenge they wanted. I drew the line at 25km for my first race of the season.

Before the race, rumours circled amongst first-timers of steep climbs, technical descending, roots, rocks, mud holes resembling quicksand and sections of snow and ice. Perfect!

As the race got underway though, the North Vancouver trails charmed me with their rolling, cushion-soft terrain, rainforest green, long sections of boardwalks and just enough technicality to keep me on my toes and focused on the race at all times. With a total ascent of 2600m, the course was more than rolling, but luckily the climbs never broke the spirit! Camaraderie was great amongst racer, aid station support excellent from the event organisers, and I finished with enough mud on myself and even a scrape here and there to call myself a true trail runner.

I finished the race in 2:56 hours and placed 12th female in a race with some awesome female runners who always continue to inspire me. Always an inspiration to me, my fabulous coach, Jen Segger, set a smoking pace and came in second by 45 seconds. Her training is definitely starting to pay off and I can feel the benefits of the strength training translating to the trails. You can see Jen's website here.

I would definitely recommend this race to anyone wanting to get into the trails and enjoy a fun race with lots of like-minded runners. You can download the Garmin file for the 25km course here.