North Shore Recon

Originally when I started running again I had thoughts of heading out to Calgary for the marathon on May 29th. I've gone there for their race weekend a few times and its always a good time and even though I wouldn't be race fit, it would have been nice to get a good hard long run in. With the injury that semi-plan was cancelled and I set my sights on doing the Iron Knee 25k on the 29th instead, which is in North Vancouver. Last week this was even looking unlikely but I found a new massage therapist who fixed me up pretty good on Monday. Throughout the week I was loosening up a bit more, still spending some quality time on the tennis ball but 'managing' the injury well. I think I have actually traced the root of the injury to a groin problem I have had for quite some time, anyway my whole hip-pelvis-hamstring-back area is needing some work but its back to being functional. Functionality is of course a green light to get out and do some serious running!


I've been in Vancouver now for 10 years on and off and I've never actually gone for a run on the North Shore trails. So I decided, since I was hoping to do this race at the end of the month, that I'd better get out and do some reconnaissance. Here you can take transit pretty much everywhere so I hopped on the bus to downtown, took the boat across to the 'shore,' and one more bus up to the base of the Grouse Mountain Skyride. From there I would run across the north shore through Squamish and Tsleil-waututh Nation Territories to Deep Cove and bus it home from there. Just like that!


Arriving at the base of Grouse Mountain I packed away my pants and jacket into my bag along with my apple, orange, powergel, extra socks, iphone, money, and identification and off I went. I figured I wouldn’t need a water bottle seeing as it had been raining for the last few days and I could scoop a few handfulls along the way. The route and elevation profile is here, so there weren’t a lot of surprises, and I was as weak as expected on the hills, so I just got my grind on an ran down the downhill’s pretty quick but somewhat cautiously. I didn’t have trail shoes on but was pretty comfortable, I’ve always been pretty nimble on the toes so not having the grip wasn’t a big issue until later on in the run when I got to the famous Powerline Climb. Just after the 12k mark you start to make a steep climb and being that it started dumping buckets of rain when I got to Lynn Creek this ended up being a pretty tough section. Without the protection of the trees, going up the powerline trail was rough, the trail was pretty much a stream and I was drenched head to toe but kept the feet moving despite losing a half a step each time I put a foot down. Knowing it was pretty well all downhill from the top of the climb was comforting, little did I know I’d have to run down a creek once I got to the turnoff at the top of the climb. Taking a right and heading down Mushroom trail was more or less a creek and pretty icy on the feet not to mention adding some serious weight to the shoes, but that would pull me downhill the rest of the way. At this point I realized how impressive it is that the top guys in the race like Aaron, Oliver, and Dylan can do this run in about 90 minutes, the time on my watch at this point. The rest of the run was familiar to me from an easy hike I’ve done in the past and was more just a test of how my quads would hold up, I took it relatively easy on the last 20mins as to not injure anything while I was clearly fatigued. Getting into Panorama Park in Deep Cove was a great reward for a solid effort on the day, it’s a really pretty spot. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to enjoy it, I had to get on the bus and try and make it home in time to watch game 5.


Overall, it was a great run. I didn’t take on enough fuel or water(internally), am impossibly weak on trails, but on a positive note I confirmed my sure-footedness even when tired, however I would definitely like to get a low rise trail shoe. I think I’ll probably go do this run again next week but pick up a hand held water bottle or bladder for my backpack, and take a couple of turns I think I missed!