Andrew Shanks

Andrew Shanks recently completed his first ultra marathon and it was none other than the Sinister 7 100 miler. Not only did he finish but he also raised $7000 for Kidsport. In this chat we talk about his evolution from indoor cyclist to half marathons to marathons and Spartan races all they way up to his new found love of ultras. 

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Artwork by Gavin de Lint 

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Thank you to the Burning Hell for the use of their song Holidaymakers. Check them out at 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Andrew Shanks recently completed his first official ultra marathon. He has done a couple of Spartan ultras in the past, but this is his first trail race ultra. And what did he do for his first hundred miler? He didn't pick an easy one, like some people I know named Jason Burns. He picked one of the hardest ultras around and crushed the Sinister 7 100 Miler, all while putting his money where his mouth is and raising money for kid sport. We talk about all that and more in this episode. Enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

The last day of the summer vacation. We stopped in at the gas station. We walked along the train tracks.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

We didn't think about going back. You are listening to the Saskatchewan podcast with your host Jason Burns, the podcast where we talk to Saskatchewan runners about the people and places that inspire them.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Drink watery coffee with green. The kind that comes in those little plastic things I was wearing.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

This episode of the Saskatchewan Podcast, we are joined by Andrew Shanks. How are you doing today, Andrew? I'm good, man. How are you? Very good. Thanks for stopping by and doing this today. Appreciate it. Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Yep. Awesome. So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Okay, so I'm 39 years old. I work as a bar manager at a pub downtown in Regina, known as O'Hanlins. Been there 16 years. Um work a lot of late nights and weird hours. Um I started running, I'd say 2021, kinda just I don't know, very casually, so to speak. Um I guess uh prefacing that I I quit drinking in 2018 and joined Wheelhouse Cycle Club. Got really, really into like the indoor spin thing. Um and then one thing kind of led to another, and I discovered uh Spartan racing. So I didn't really do much run training for any of my Spartan races. I was just kind of doing that based off of, I guess, my endurance training through wheelhouse. Um but I ended up running the QCM half marathon in 2021. Didn't really run much after that until next summer came around when the idea of running the QCM full marathon was an idea. So I signed up for that. I believe I accumulated maybe 90 kilometers total of training last summer before diving into my first full marathon. Um because the QCM half wasn't too terribly bad for me. So maybe maybe a little bit of ego fueling my uh approach and thinking that the full couldn't be too much worse. Um got greatly humbled at the QCM full marathon. Um didn't didn't have any sort of strategy or plan. I think I took my first gel at 31 kilometers. It exploded all over my hands. Uh didn't most of it didn't even make it into my mouth. And I remember wasps just kind of attacking me because it was super hot that day. My hands were all sticky and just covered with uh, I believe it was a goo that I used. Um and uh I well I made it uh across the finish line. I didn't uh I didn't bail, so that was good, but I do have a video that my fiance took about 50 meters from the the end there where I just look at her and I'm like, yeah, never, never again, never again.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

Like this is brutal. The famous last words of a runner. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

I think the last three kilometers of that race took me like 30 minutes or something like that. Yeah, it's brutal. Um but I don't know. I found myself uh in a a couple weeks after that race just kind of researching what was what else was out there, and I'll ended up doing or signing up for Calgary Marathon in 2023, which would have been about seven months post-QCM. Um, I used uh a run plan from Coach Loris Sullivan. Definitely got me a little bit more prepared for that one. Um still terrible with fueling and any sort of strategy, you know. How hard can it be to just run four minutes and 14 seconds per kilometer for the whole thing, you know? Um made it and then uh yeah, started taking it a little bit more seriously after that and just realizing okay, there's a lot more that goes into just you know being quote unquote maybe a little bit naturally uh like I don't know if talented is the word, but just like I'm I've I've got kind of more of like a natural like runner's build to my advantage. Uh yeah, I finished Calgary sub 330, which considering the amount of training I didn't do for that one, despite having a coach, was not bad. So yeah, I took it a little bit more seriously and I got into New York via a travel agency. Oh fun. So I got to run the New York marathon in 2023, and that was first marathon I did where I actually ran from start to finish. Awesome. It was only maybe I don't know, five or six minutes quicker than Calgary was, but um that was an absolutely insane experience. Obviously, you go through all five of the boroughs and uh 55,000 people, you know, running through New York City. So that was uh something else. Uh then that uh after that, that like really kind of like fueled my passion and my desire to like commit myself more and more to to running. Um trained all through the winter, not so much uh outside, but did a lot of treadmill and like strength training stuff, just kind of stuff I put together from doing uh other Spartan races and kind of things I learned from doing QCM, Calgary, and New York. And lined up running the BMO Vancouver Marathon in 2024. And that one I got my sub-3. That's the one I I qualified for uh Boston with. I got I think it was 255 or 256, somewhere in there. But it was uh yeah, a pretty significant uh PR compared to my last few.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

So it would have been like a half hour PR, if my math is correct. Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

I was like 26 or 27 minutes or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 7:12

Awesome. And that's when you kind of did your own training just kind of based on your experiences. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

So yeah, what I also I mean, it was my own plan, but I also was way more committed to it too. Okay. Like I think the plan Laura gave me, I maybe did 30% of. So uh this one, I I didn't miss a single run. Obviously, my volume was way up and way more consistent over uh 16 weeks. Yeah. Proper taper, proper fueling, all that kind of stuff, you know. So yeah, and then I've just been really at it kind of ever since. For sure.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

Yeah. Getting back, um, when you said you quit drinking just as a sidebar, did you find I know Les and I used to drink and party and stuff too, and we actually decided not to drink from like to 2019, like New Year's of 2019 was like our last hurrah, sort of, and then obviously the COVID thing happened for yourself. Did you find that made it harder or easier? We we found it easier because we were just like more social, like we just went out with friends and then we couldn't even do that anymore, so it was almost like not that COVID would ever be a blessing in disguise, but it for us it was how how did you handle that?

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Uh I mean it was kind of frustrating because obviously, like when I quit, um like wheelhouse was kind of like my crutch, you know, that was like the activity that kind of took the place of you know getting drunk all the time. And so when COVID hit and the studios weren't open anymore and the gyms weren't open anymore, it was like, well, shit, like the one thing that I had to kind of kind of keep me grounded and on track wasn't there. So I believe the word pivot is was the buzzword that year. So yeah, that's that's when I kind of I I wouldn't go out that often, but I just started kind of doing like you know, a five K here, six just because it there wasn't anything else or you could really do. There was no options. So but I also my partner time didn't drink either. So okay, yeah, that made it that made it a lot easier, just having somebody that's you know, wasn't uh into that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

So for sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:23

Well that's that's cool. And then you said you had the was the half marathon where you kind of said you used your wheelhouse fitness base.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

Do you still cycle at all to to fill in the blanks if you're injured or anything, or do you just stick to running?

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Uh I I stick to running mostly now. Running and then just like strength, strength or mobility sessions at the gym. Nice. Still have a deep uh respect and love for wheelhouse and for cycling, but just yeah, my priorities and interests have kind of shifted. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

I've been a little injured lately and I bike. I actually did like an 80 kilometer bike ride with a friend around Buffalo Pound, and it's like cool and awesome, but something about running for myself too. I just I don't know. Yeah. I like it better for some reason.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Maybe the simplicity of just putting on your shoes and going, you don't have to fill up the tires and load the bikes and all that.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

But well, I mean, if you watch like a lot of like you know, major sports games, like the NFL for one, like if one of those guys, you know, has like maybe an impending injury during the middle of the game, the first thing they do, usually after they take him into the tent, excuse me, is throw them on a stationary bike. That's right, yeah. Right. So I mean those guys are doing it, then it's gotta be, you know, it's got they gotta be doing something right, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:41

So for sure. And then you mentioned that you still do lots of strength training. What kind of uh stuff do you do and how do you schedule it around your like hard runs and stuff? I'm always curious with that. There's different approaches and different things work for different people, so yeah, like stuff fascinates me.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

I mean, aside from the last two months uh leading into Sinister, I haven't been to the gym at all, but I usually try to incorporate one upper body session per week, one lower body session per week, uh, maybe one like just like full body session, and then just like little little stretches. And uh I'm actually a big fan of uh Shatki. I don't know if you've heard of those. No, I don't think I have. Like little acupuncture mats. Okay. I find those work really well to just kind of prevent injury and also just like help you kind of relax and unwind and lower the heart rate a bit. But as far as like the the particular exercises I do, it's just like a lot of single leg stuff.

SPEAKER_03 11:41

Okay, nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Um, not overbearing, not heavy weights, just a lot of reps. You know, and that way if you you've kind of got like a lower, a lower weight set and you're doing multiple reps, if something does start to kind of feel funny or whatever, you're not uh you're not overdoing it to yourself and you know, figuring it out before it's too late. So for sure.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Yeah. Then obviously another big thing with training is recovery. So how do you find that being that you have a job that keeps you up late? And how do you find you adjust to that or like um I I I'd say I'm just lucky.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Okay. Uh honestly. Um I mean, I do what I can to try and keep myself injury free, you know, very like self-aware, if anything feels out of place. But I mean, a lot of the time I'll do like a big run or something like that, and then it's like straight to work, and I'm probably only getting I'm probably putting in a 12 or 13 hour shift, and then I'm probably only getting like maybe a four and a half or five hours sleep before it's time to wake up and you know, take on my parenting responsibilities and whatever, and then it just kind of repeats itself. So I'd say I'd honestly just I've just been very lucky in that aspect. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

So did do you find well, say when you did Sinister this past weekend is your kind of experience as a night owl, did that come in handy, like in just being used to pushing hard when you're tired and 100%.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Yeah, I've been telling people that, and they're asking me how the like because it was just under 27 hours it took to to do that course, and people are asking me about the overnight journey and the sleep deprivation. And honestly, like I'm used to getting off work around 4 30 in the morning and sometimes not falling asleep till 5 30 or 6. Yeah. Uh I didn't like I was exhausted in different ways, but I was never in a state where I was like, oh man, I could just go for a nap right now. Yeah, I I think that secretly really came in handy.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

So awesome. So before we jump into your whole sinister thing, did you I think that where we left off, was it 24? 2024. And then what was that your last race in 2024?

SPEAKER_02 14:32

I forget which one you had said. Oh, I did BMO of Vancouver in 2024, which uh was my Boston qualified. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_05 14:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

And then I did what did I do after Vancouver? That's that's crazy. It's not even that long ago, but just so much has happened. Oh, I did uh Chicago 2024 via a travel agency. God bless those guys. Not so much anymore because everything's super overpriced, but back then it was actually pretty reasonable if you did the math. Um, booking through them was uh pretty much on par to like qualifying and booking your own hotels and all that kind of stuff. So that's the route I took. Um uh yeah, so I did Chicago 2024. Three weeks later I went back to New York and did New York 2024. Yeah. Um, and then I did uh Boston in 2025, which was an absolute shit show. Just I was super sick. Um basically the moment we landed.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Uh lost 10 or 11 pounds before I even saw the start line. Oh wow. Um yeah, just like night sweats and puking, and I don't know if well, I'm pretty sure I was sick, but also I proposed during the Boston marathon. Okay. So I don't know if it was just like I was so batshit nervous about that moment that I kind of like stressed out my immune system or whatever. But yeah, I I got maybe a solid 45 minutes in of running for Boston before I just absolutely shut down. Um and I mean I still made it, which is good. I had uh I had a you know significant task at hand. I had an engagement ring in my pocket right from the start line, and I think probably every five to ten seconds I was patting that pocket with my hand to make sure I didn't drop the ring. Um but yeah, that race is kind of a disaster from uh what time I was trying to go for standpoint, but also I had ginormous success in accomplishing what I wanted to do, was proposing, and she said yes. So that was cool.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

Congrats.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Proposed on uh Hereford, and yeah, she said yes, and then I got to turn left on the Boylston and cross the finish line. So that was quite possibly the most insane five minutes of my life. Yeah. You know? So yeah. And then um after that uh I did the Saskatoon marathon a month later, just because I had put so much work into Boston and then didn't exactly find the the time result that I was chasing after. Um so yeah, I signed up for Saskatoon, did that a month later, got another sub-three, rebuilt my confidence a little bit more. And then I did Chicago. Oh no, sorry, I did the QCM um that year as well. That's my first time returning to it since the first time I had uh done it in 2022. And man, it was hot. I just remember it being a hot, hot day.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

I think I was cycling that day doing the uh I don't even know what my job description is, but I just drive up and down the course looking for people in need of help. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

It's an important job, man.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

I just call it like I get to have a front row seat to the marathon and run through the or drive through the pack on my bike. So it doesn't yeah. So that was a hot hot one for sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Yep. And then Roleid, there we go.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

That's the name I was like that's the name I was looking for.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

Yeah, Guardian Angel. Yeah. And then I went to Chicago again because that course is awesome. It's just so flat and fast. And that's that was like my big marathon PR after like a pretty uh um back and forth year. Uh the weather was perfect. Um I'd ran I was shooting for a 255 and I ran a 247.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

Oh wow, jeez. Yeah. So what pace per kilometer is that work out to?

SPEAKER_02 18:59

358 when I believe. Yeah, it was just one of those ones where I was like, I'll just hold on for a little bit and then I can start drifting. Like I'm I've got my I've got my goal time pretty much locked. So if I can even if I start drifting, you know, five to seven seconds per kilometer, like I'll still be good. And every time I looked at my watch, I was going like eight to ten seconds faster than I thought I was going. Oh, that's awesome. Like just constantly rolling under 350 per kilometer. I was like, holy shit, like what is going on? And it was just I got to like 33 or 34 kilometers in, and I'm like, I've got less than 8k or 9k to go, and like I guess I'm just going for it. It was like that moment doesn't happen that often. Like it happens sometimes, obviously, but like in the middle of like a race day, it was like the I I just couldn't believe it. I was like, this isn't happening to me right now, but no, it is, so all right, let's just let's just fucking roll with it, I guess. And then yeah, that was uh that was a big one, you know, breaking the sub-250 barrier. Not like I mean, just crossing a finish line over marathon is still insane to me, given like when I started back in 2022 and how how much of a disaster that one was. Yeah. But I mean, I guess the cherry on top was you know accomplishing a a time that I thought was like way beyond my current like training level.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

That's awesome. A good lesson too, because you remember having had a few ups and downs and questioning your confidence, and then you go out and crush your best time ever. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Yeah, I mean, the d like how I started the year in Boston and then ended it in Chicago was just yeah, it's quite the contrast and it was yeah, it was a good feeling. You know, like something something's uh going right, you know. I'm doing something right, obviously. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:53

And then you had mentioned earlier you did some uh some Spartan racing as well. Yeah. Yeah. What uh kind of which ones did you do of those?

SPEAKER_02 21:01

I was all about like any distance. I mean, I started off uh as most people would start with the the sprint, the super, the 5k and the 10k. My fiance and I actually did. Uh the first one I did uh was with her back in 2019. Okay. Um she did it and that was awesome. She loved it. Then she COVID happened and she got pregnant, and you know, one thing led to another, but I just kept going for it. Um The Beast was probably my favorite distance for the Spartan, right? Because there's you don't really see uh anything repetitive. You just kind of it's just like one track and then you're done. That's right, yeah. So um, yeah, and it started out just you'd go for the weekend and do like maybe one race. The next thing you know, you're going to do two races. Next thing it's like, well, if I'm not doing the trifecta, I'm not going. Yeah. Oh, sure. So you know all about that. You know, you do the five and ten and the twenty-one all in one weekend, and then eventually it's like the thought of doing uh an ultra um Spartan was a little daunting, but that's where it landed up. Uh Montana did did the Ultra, Montana and Cala, or no, not Cal, spell Bo has been both years. Okay. 2024, 2025. So yeah, that's just natural progression with running. I think you know one distance can be so scary until you do it, then maybe probably do it. Again, and the next thing you know, it's like, what's the next yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Yeah, you did that. Well, uh, my wife and I, and our our friend did in Calgary, I think in 2017 or 18, we did the sprint, and we were just so nervous, and yeah, we were just so destroyed after, and we just thought, wow, what what what else could we do? And then never think you could, you know, do an ultra or run a hundred miles at some point because that 5k like two-hour Spartan race destroys you at that time. But you just keep building and working hard and good things happen.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Yeah, yeah. It's so much of it's in your head, right? You know. But as far as Spartans went, like went to Kelowna, went to Southern California, went to Red Deer, obviously, Montana. Uh did the races in Blue Mountain.

SPEAKER_03 23:18

Okay, yeah. He did that one in 21, I think. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

That was good. Yeah, that's a really nice course. Yeah. So yeah, I did a bunch of traveling for that. There's a guy that's actually pretty well known in the ultra world from Saskatchewan named Stuart Shutter.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Oh, yeah. Um, Laura Sullivan. You mentioned her earlier. I usually like to get a plug-in for people if you get mentioned. So yeah. Yeah, but yeah, Stuart also did the Spartans. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Yeah. We'd see each other races all the time. Like we we'd signed up for the one in Sacramento together and did this. And then he just started talking about how he's got this 100 miler or this 200 miler, and like, yeah, every weekend. You go you will have fun with that. That just doesn't seem like anything I'd ever be interested in doing.

SPEAKER_03 24:02

So for sure. So you did your Chicago, like your 247 at the end of last year, and then when did you decide to uh get into the hundred miler that you thought you may never do?

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Um I was just like kind of huming and on about it over the winter time. Um actually part of the reason I was like influenced or inspired to do it is uh there's a good buddy of mine by the name of Camp. And Camp put together this whole uh like I guess campaign fundraiser uh leading up to Boston in 2025. He's part of like a tattoo shop, graphic design company, like collective. They produce like very like limited like clothing articles and designs and stuff. And he wasn't a runner, but we've known each other since elementary school. And he approached me in January of 2025, and he was talking about how the guys at the shop have this, they've got this design done up, and they want to make shirts, and they've got all this marketing and video, and the idea was to really just kind of like tell my story via um their company, um, and then sell these shirts and have them go towards funding some of my Boston trip. And I was like, wow, like I was just blown away. I was like, that's really cool, really flattering. But I was like, why don't we flip the script? Because I I don't know, there's something about taking people's money so I can go essentially run down the street. Yeah, that was uh just didn't really sit right. And I was like, so what if we still did everything you guys have in place, but like we just find like a charity to like donate that money to or whatever? Let's end it up doing it on kids sport, and uh so they released this video in whatever March 2025, and it just starts like getting spread like crazy through obviously just kind of like local viral video. And I told him, I was like, dude, if this hits 25,000 views by midnight on day one of it being published, you have to sign up for the QCN. He's like, No, I'm like, not the full marathon, the half marathon. Yeah, it hits 25,000 views, and he like looked and he's like, Well, it's only at 7,000 views or something like that. He obviously didn't refresh his page because it was like it was at like 21,000 views when I said that. So uh he's like, fine, deal. Um, I've got when is QCM? I was like, you got like six months, so whatever. So that ended up happening. I was like, oh deal, bro, you gotta go sign up for the QCM half marathon. I was like, shit. So he started like just running super casually, and he did the he made it to QCM half, absolutely crushed it, and then just was just like totally in love with running. It's like what's next? What's next? It was like reminding me of like when I was just like super hungry and trying to figure out what was next. And uh it was October or November, I think, and I was like, yo, BMO Vancouver, full marathon, do it. It's one of the nicest courses you'll you'll run, probably possibly the nicest marathon you can do in Canada. And he was like on the fence about it, and then he was just like kind of bugging me. He's like, Well, it's easy for you, you've done like a dozen marathons, like whatever. It's like I was like, Yeah, I'll do this one with you. And he kind of just said, like, well, what's next for you? So then I started thinking, and uh yeah, the the idea of doing Sinister just kind of like crossed my mind because I had been invited to it a couple times over the last few years to do the relay, but I could never um commit to it because I was we just always had something going on that weekend, and then this past or this year, I guess, um the people that I would have been able to do the relay with had like committed to doing the half marathon at Sinister and the 50k at Sinister, like the 50 mile, like their relay team didn't exist anymore. Okay, and uh oh by the way, Camp absolutely crushed the BMO marathon. So um uh I was like screw it, you know, if I'm gonna if I'm gonna go for this and camp's bugging me about what's next, like I'm not gonna I'm not gonna take it easy, you know. I'm confident enough that I know I could do a 50 miler. So let's let's just go for the 100 miler. Nice, I guess. Full disclosure, if Sinister had a hundred K option, I probably would have done that. Okay, yeah. Before making the transition to the 100 miler, but it was either 50 miles or 100 miles. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:02

That's awesome. Yeah, that's and that would have been your like your second ultra distance, or I guess third if you did the two Spartans.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Is that uh yeah, technically. Um I mean the Spartans only landed up being like 434 kilometers. That's right, yeah. My actual longest run before doing Sinister was I did uh 50.50 kilometers at Douglas Park Hill.

SPEAKER_03 29:28

Okay, yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. Yeah. So for people to think you can't train in uh Saskatchewan, or not Saskatchewan's obviously, there's hills, other places, but in Regina, my uh our mutual friend Tao showed me your uh little called it like your infinity loop or something that you do around Douglas Park Hill. Why don't you tell us a bit about that? That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

Yeah, it's a point seven zero kilometer loop uh at Douglas Park Hill. Basically, you go up across the parking lot, go down, go south for maybe I don't know, 20 meters, go up, go across the parking lot, come back down, go north for 20 meters. That's the loop. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

So and how much uh vertical can you get in that 50k?

SPEAKER_02 30:14

I mean, it's funny because my watch kind of gave me a different reading every time. I'm like, yo, yo, Koros, I'm doing the same loop. Like this should be more consistent. Yeah, and I'm not sure the choroses are great for so for the um apparently, like in that loop alone, you can get anywhere from 55 to 70 meters in elevation. Yep. So I kind of noticed that. And I was like, I know I know that the course is gonna be way different and way harder than this, but I was like, at least I'm getting something in, right? So I would do that loop probably like five to ten times if I was just strictly training vert. Okay. And then if I wanted something long trail-wise, I would probably do that loop about five times and then kind of just run around Douglas Park. There's about, I don't know, two and a half, three kilometers worth of like actual just like single track that you can do there. Yep. And then I would just repeat that and go okay, go do the infinity loop, and then away you go.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

So I think I saw you would have been a Sunday, like probably six weeks before. I think you and a friend were doing that, and you guys looked like you were floating up and down the hill. I was yeah, near the end of a run and not feeling great. And oh god, those guys look fast. I'm just like this big clumsy ox going up and down the hill. But I think you do you have like orange shoes that you wear, or yeah, yeah, that was you then for sure. Yeah, you guys look like you didn't your feet weren't even touching the ground, you're just floating up and down the hill.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

So yeah, yeah, the weird part about that is it didn't get old or boring. Like that's all I really did. And it was such a transition from like, I don't know, every other training block I've done has been strictly road race, like full marathon kind of training. Yeah, you know, strictly on the pavement, just either long zone two runs or like shorter kind of like threshold like speed work. Okay, yeah. So yeah, just going in the same loop over and over four or five, sometimes six days a week. Just I don't know. I guess it was good mental training because I wasn't I was actually I'd look forward to it. There's a lot of like the marathon stuff, like the road race stuff. I just drag my ass getting out of the door. Yeah. Sometimes I'm like, oh, I don't want to run 15k at X uh you know kilometers or X, you know, the X speed, you know, any sort of speed work, I just dread doing for that kind of shit. Most of the time. Sometimes I get excited about it. But the hill stuff at Douglas Park. No, let's go. I thought just yeah, sure, I'm done. All right, like I actually have time for a few more laps. Like, why not?

SPEAKER_03 32:57

So your you said your longest was 50k, hey? 50k at Douglas Park. And then what kind of weeks were you accumulating for kilometers?

SPEAKER_02 33:05

Uh I was trying to I was trying to aim for well, kilometers was about 115 to 130. Okay, nice. But my focus was to just kind of build on my time on feet uh each week. So sometimes some weeks I had lower kilometers than the last week, but I had like more vert or okay more like 90 minutes more of running than I had the week prior. Okay, yeah, you know what I mean? Because from what I learned, that was like the most important thing to kind of focus on is just time on feet and like your you know getting your body used to you know 12 or 13, 14 hour kind of weeks.

SPEAKER_03 33:48

Yeah, I like that. When one couple years ago, my training was all or the long run training was all just seven or whatever. How many, however, go run for five hours. And yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_04 33:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

Which is kind of relieving too. It's like I don't have to hit like a I don't have to hit a pace target or like a distance target necessarily. I just have to go do my thing for four hours. That's right, yeah. Five hours on my long run. Yeah. If I need to stop or take a little walk and break to hydrate or whatever, cool. That's part of what you're gonna be doing. That's right, yeah. With uh, you know, a hundred mile race.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

So I always found too, if I try if I'm running, say I have 30 kilometers, I'll tend to like push the pace to get done. Whereas you know, I'm trying to keep it an easy run, but all of a sudden you're like, I want to go do something else today. So you try to shave 10 minutes off or 15, but then you're kind of not quite training in the right zone.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 34:42

So the hours, yeah, it just takes the pressure off that, doesn't it? Yeah, it's uh yeah, it's a weight off the shoulders for sure. So you did you did all your own training then for Sinister? Yeah, yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

I mean, I got tons of uh tips and advice from Teo was huge. Yep. We don't actually didn't really know each other prior. I mean, we followed each other on Strava, but um yeah, we lined up just linking up. I was doing an easy run around the lake, and I ran into him and his fiancee, uh Tiana, and I was just like, Are you Theo? He's like, Teo. I'm like, sorry, dude, I don't know you in real life. Like we've never met. And he's like, Yeah, I'm Teo, man. I'm like, cool. I would love if I could go for coffee with you sometime, picking Brandon Sinister, and he was just like all about it.

SPEAKER_03 35:29

So when we first started hanging out, I uh sent him a text and just said, How do you say your name? And about five seconds later, I got a little voice message back and went, Tao. Tao, Tao. So I always remember that because I thought it probably was pronounced that way, but I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Yeah, yeah, he's such a he's just such a solid, solid dude with you know a lot of great insight, great training advice and tips and stuff. And then uh yeah, going back to the the days of doing Spartans in 2022, 2023 with Stuart Cheddar, I was hitting him up quite a bit. Yeah, and he gave me some really good info and some tips about training and just actually what to do on race day that were very valuable.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

For sure. What would you say were say one tip from each of them that you found really helped you out?

SPEAKER_02 36:20

Um Teo was just he he he basically just said just like don't don't overdo it, don't overthink it, just you know, trust your training. And if you're getting bored of this crazy infinity loop, there's some single track over there you can run. Like I think he thought I was a little nuts, you know, because he'd pass by on his bike sometimes when I was doing my sessions after we chatted, and he just like, come on, man, just go run that single track. And you know, you know, one day I was like, Oh my god, I don't actually want to run this freaking infinity loop. So I did that, and it was just it was very relieving. I was like, man, that dude is just so right. Yeah, it doesn't always have to be grind, grind, grind. So um Stu's advice was to take as much of race day in as you could. Um because he knew what I was training on. Yeah, he's like you're training on the same essentially four and a half, five kilometer loop in Regina, so you can go ride me in the Canadian Rockies. It's like don't treat it like a race, treat it like an experience. Um talk to the volunteers more than just like a hello, how you doing? Like, actually ask their name, chat with them a little bit if they aren't too busy. Um, stop, take pictures, take enjoy the scenery. Like you're from Regina, what you're gonna go run is absolutely epic, a lot more different than what you're used to seeing.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

So that sounds like him when you see him. I I always think he enjoys every second of every moment of a race. He's always smiling and happy and beforehand visiting with people, and yeah, whereas lots of people have their game faces on or they're kind of cranky during the race if things aren't going right, but he's always yeah, so positive.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

He is, man. I saw him uh coming down from I was just finishing leg three, and he was just starting because he's actually the sweeper.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

Oh, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

And I didn't know it was him, he didn't know it was me, but he just in true like Stuart Chutter fashion, he's like, You are doing so amazing, you look so strong. Like, let's go, you're almost there. And then he like stopped himself because he realized it was me, and I realized it was him. Oh, we both just let out this big like yell and like gave each other this massive hug and like chatted with him for a few minutes, and it was just so refreshing.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 38:50

Like, I feel like I didn't even need to go to an aid station at that point. It's like, oh, I had Stuart's energy just recharge me. So yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

And then what was your um getting back to the reason you did sinister you kind of had like a fundraiser or something, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Yeah, so like we wanted to uh uh build off of what we did last year for the Boston one, because we landed up doing we raised $2,500 for Kid Sport last year, which was dope. Um this year with it being since there being a much bigger race. I mean, obviously it's like comparing apples and oranges, right? Um with it being like the longest, hardest thing that I've ever producer baker, that wasn't me, by the way. Uh with it being the longest race that I've ever done by you know by more than a hundred kilometers and it being like just this crazy you know challenge. Uh the goal is to raise more money and doing it in a different way. So I approached these uh few friends that have you know businesses around town and essentially just pitched the idea of like you make a minimum donation. If I don't finish the race, then I'll match your minimum donation personally out of my own pocket. If I do finish the race, then you have to double your minimum donation. Camp made uh another series of shirts. We sold those and then uh yeah, I I finished the race between the the donations from the business uh the businesses, um a random donation from the Fat Fathers run crew. Nice. Um and then uh the shirts we did seven thousand dollars. Oh congratulations, yeah. So that's awesome. I mean, I didn't have to do much, I just had to reach out and like these it's it's cool to to see all the generosity from all these other like local spots and whatever for sure.

SPEAKER_03 40:50

And can people still donate to that or is it kind of closed up now? We closed, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

Okay, it was like my like my priority was getting home safe for one after doing Sinister because I was driving solo, taking one rest day, and then going and collecting all the checks and going to Kid Sports. We actually went to Kid Sport uh yesterday. Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

Yeah, yeah. So that's really good.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:13

So are there any other you said you mentioned seeing Stuart on leg three? How did the how did the race go, say from legs one through seven? How were you feeling? What was I noticed Oh man, I slept like absolute ass on Friday night.

SPEAKER_02 41:28

Everybody said that too. Like you're probably not gonna sleep much before a race day, yeah. Especially if it's your first one, and I'm all too familiar with that because yeah, I don't really sleep before like a road race either. So I fell asleep around 12:30, I was up at 3:30, coffee four, and then we were staying in Fernie, so yeah, we had a 45-minute drive to get to oh wow, yeah, get to Blairmore. Um, but uh just seeing the start line and getting my shoes laced up, my my pack on and my poles out, like cool, like this is happening. Yep. So I felt really good during leg one. Heart rate was a little little high, but it was uh that's a super runnable part of that course. So I was just kind of using some uh road race experience to yeah, it's kind of like a road race for parts of it. And then uh I met up uh one of my buddies that I've only met during uh Spartan races, whether it be like uh Ultra in Montana or in Red Deer, he was doing the relay. Okay. Uh legs one and two. He caught me around seven or eight K and he had done Sinister Triple Crown last year. Okay. So like the Black Spurs, Death Race, and Sinister, and he did Sinister the year before, so like super experienced.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

And what's his name? Uh his name is Francois, yeah. Francois Gosche, right? Yeah, yeah. You know everyone, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

He is just uh an amazing spirit. So he caught me and we we were just chatting. He was telling me to slow down and then just like chill out. You're running too hot, you know. Yeah, you're running too hot, and we got chatting, and the next thing you know, we we see this giant X in front of us. Like, oh, we were just chatting too much. We just went off course. Oh no. So um, but uh yeah, I ran with him for a bit, got through leg one, wasn't too terrible. Leg two definitely had a lot more incline than I was kind of uh anticipating, but still made good time and was feeling good. Um and then uh leg three, Satan's sack, uh was really hyped up in my head that it was gonna be just treacherous. Yeah. The temperature was like 32, 33 degrees that day. Uh so many, so many people talk about DNFing or like the the heat from that one really like kind of taking people out. But ice bandana overloaded on the front, the back. I have one of those funny uh Nike uh ACG shirts with all the holes in it. Okay, yeah. I made some sort of stupid ass comment on one of their posts a few weeks ago, and they just asked for my address and sent me one for free, which is pretty cool. Yeah, and I was just like, oh, this thing's just for marketing. But no, I tried it out uh a couple weeks before I went to Central Star. I was like, oh, it actually works. If you keep it cool, like it actually keeps you cold. So with the ice bandana and it melting in the sun, and then that getting the shirt wet, I was I wouldn't say I was laughing during like three, but I was comfortable. Up on people, uh, whether they'd be relay racers or like other hundred mile soloists or whatever, and just making the comment, like, oh, like I thought I thought it would be a little bit harder on Satan's sack, and people are just looking at me like, what the fuck is wrong with you, dude? Like, it is so hot right now. Yeah, and I'm like, I'm gonna keep my mouth shut. But clearly my crew had done such like a good job of just like setting me up so I didn't overheat on that leg. Yeah, for sure. That was like I wouldn't say a guarantee for me that I knew I would make it to the end of the race if I got past leg three, but in my mind, it's like the heat and the amount of DNFs that take place on that leg alone. If I can just get through it feeling hydrated, feeling nourished like to an extent and not overheating, I'll be good. And yeah, I came, came, uh, came down from leg three and felt phenomenal. You know, I wasn't overcooked or anything at all. And then somebody told me, Oh, it was Laura. She's like, Yeah, Lake Four is super runnable. Sweet. Yeah, I'll make up some I'll make up some time on Lake Four. I get to Lake Four and I'm like, Laura, what are you talking about here? There's just like so many, it was very scenic. I loved four is nice freaking crazy, just massive waterfall and like like nice like switchbacks and like you know, like canyons and stuff. But there were so many parts of that that were like I was just tippy toeing down and just really taking my time because even if I was fresh, I don't think I could have ran it. So I was being extra cautious just to like not fall and like break or anything.

SPEAKER_03 46:18

Yeah, that once you just uh ascend the kind of the peak and you go down like the like that'd be like the northwest side or whatever. Yeah, that's yeah, that's steep.

SPEAKER_02 46:25

I'd say like the maybe the last three or four K or like you can get a nice little pace going there, yeah. On the gravel, yeah. Yeah, so I I definitely took my time on that one, just taking pictures and taking in the scenery as Stu said, uh, or suggested to do. Like five, um that one starts off nice and runnable. That's on like the road uh and leads you kind of into into the woods before you make the big trek in the leg six. Um that was kind of trippy because that was the first time I had really ran with a headlamp or ran overnight. Yeah. So I didn't see a whole lot of people on that uh in front or behind me. I thought there'd be like more like relay erasers and stuff, but it was just Was there uh was it wet as you got went up the the hill or was it had it dried up?

SPEAKER_03 47:15

I know I had went out there in June for some training and I only was able to get up about uh not not overly okay. I was about two-thirds of the way up the mountain and it was just snow I had to turn around.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

So yeah, but I'm assuming they mean there was some wet sections for sure, but like nothing that I would say that really like uh uh impacted my okay. Like with the like some hot spots on the feet or whatever, finding like a nice stream to like dip your toes into is like actually really relieving.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

Yeah. So and it's kind of it wasn't dark, I'm assuming when you climb that, or was it still a bit late?

SPEAKER_02 47:51

I started it and it was still light. Okay. Okay, the headlamp and the waistlamp switched on. And then uh yeah, I rolled in, rolled in from uh into TA5 around 12:30, and I took a I took a nice nice long break. I think it was almost 25 minutes or 30 minutes at the aid station. We had strategized to like try and keep it 15 minutes or less, but like seeing the crew and like actually talking to the people that crewed me and just feeling that sense of normalcy and like getting to like the chance to share a story or whatever, um, was kind of like a nice recharge. Um more than I think than like you know, mashed potatoes or like drizzling uh electrolytes would have would have done. Yeah, you know, because I did I don't know if you've ever ran uh leg five at night, but there's a section right before you come into TA5 where apparently that's where cows hang out. Oh, okay. So that's the one leg I have never seen is leg five. I'm coming over this ridge and I just I'm uh 17, 18 hours deep, 115 kilometers in. Um maybe more, and I'm just like I just see these three sets of eyes and I'm like, are those bears? Because race director, Brian's all just you know, put pretty huge emphasis at the pre-race dinner. Like every year people see bears not foreign. Like, make sure you have your whatever. Uh make sure you have your bear banger, your bear spray. And so I come over this ridge and I just see these three sets of eyes staring at me, and I'm just like, fuck, I'm cooked, I can barely run. I've never really used bear spray in my life or anything, and so I start backing up, going to reach for my bear spray, and my headlamp adjusts and it reveals what they are.

SPEAKER_03 49:56

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:58

Three, three cows, yeah, and then like a little baby calf behind. Yeah, but I'm also so delusional. I have a video of it. I'm like, those aren't bears, those are those are horses, and I just kind of stroll by them, and then this lady rolls up uh, I don't know, a couple hundred yards behind me. She's like, Oh my god, oh my god, are those cows? And I'm like, Yeah, they're cows. You can keep moving, it's fine, just keep going. And that's when I realized, oh, they're not bears. I thought they were horses, they're actually cows. Yeah. Sweet, it's not. So yeah, I had a nice break and I told the story, told that story to the crew when I was at TA5, and they all laughed and whatever, but I was still in good spirits and feeling good. Uh, nice break, TA5, and then went out for the treacherous leg six. Yeah, uh, I think I started that at 1 a.m. And that was funny because you go through like a campsite to get through there. So, like, yeah, I had like these drunk dudes just roll up on me, and I'm like, Am I getting a jump in the middle of this race? They just wanted to chat. Yeah, they're just like they'd clearly been drinking beer around the fire for hours. Like they were just hammered and just absolutely stoked that I was willing to like just chat with them. Not like I could run away from them at that point. That's right. 18 hours into a hundred-mile race versus probably 12 beers deep for them at the campfire. I'd say we probably had the same run pace. So I chatted with them, and that was that was pretty funny. Um, then I got going on leg six, and man, that is just it's just gnarly. It's just a slight incline, as you know, and uh and then all of a sudden it just gets real, real steep. Yeah. And I had three backup headlamps at camp with my crew. And my crew did a really good job. Like that, my they're not ultra runners, they've never been to an event like this. They were just this task was just kind of sprung on them, and they absolutely murdered it. But somebody, or all of them, I guess I should say, forgot to put the backup headlamp in my pack. So I got about three hours into like six, and my light starts to flicker and then just eventually dies. And I'm like, oh no, this is this is how I'm gonna DNF, or like I don't, I didn't know what to do. Like, it's my first hundred mile race, first time running overnight. Like, what what's the play here? What do you do? So I'm just laying in the middle of the trail, just yelling, hey bear, you know, that that ongoing paranoia of running into a bear. Probably for about 10 or 15 minutes, and this lady, uh, who's her name? Ashley Jones, I want to say. Uh, she rolls up and she's like, Are you okay? And I was like, Physically, yes. Mentally, not bad. I've got enough hydration and all that, but my headlamp's dead, and I don't have a backup. And she's like, It's your lucky day, dude. Oh, nice. Reach into my reach into my bag. It should be I have a backup headlamp like right on the top. Oh, that's awesome. And uh I was just like over the moon. And she's like, I'll grab you now your name and your number, and I'll text you after the race, and uh you can just give it back to me then. Literally saved saved the freaking day. Because I didn't know what to do at that point. For sure, yeah. You know, if I didn't have the I didn't have the map loaded onto my watch or anything, so it's not like I could have kept rolling through the dark because I don't know what if I got lost.

SPEAKER_03 53:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

So and then the thought of like maybe I just nap until it gets light enough to keep moving, but then I I think if I did that, I probably wouldn't have made the cutoff. So just getting that uh backup headlamp was enough to like give me like a nice little spring in my step, got through leg six, which was absolutely treacherous.

SPEAKER_03 53:59

What did you think? Uh going I know lots of people get kind of get caught up going down the hill. You think, oh, I'm done the climbing, but then you go down that those big gnarly rocks with all the quad ruts. And yeah, how did you handle that? Yeah, honesty.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

I rolled out of leg six, literally yelling, I am never doing that leg again. Even if it's just even if I do the relay and that's the only part of that race I have to do during the day. I was just so mad, but also so happy that I got through it, all things considered. I think it took seven hours or something. Okay, uh, didn't matter. I was like, oh my god, I made it through leg six.

SPEAKER_03 54:34

Yeah, then you kind of probably had a bit of an adrenaline rush knowing you're you're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02 54:39

Yeah, and like the I mean Stuart Chutter told me, like I we discussed earlier, like just talk to the volunteers and whatever, and it was at like 5:30 in the morning, I think it was a checkpoint three on leg six, and I'm just sipping on soup broth and talking to this dude named Joey, I can't remember his last name. He's one of the volunteers, he had run it before, but he's volunteering this year. And we're just kind of watching like the the day just kind of happened. Okay, and I'm sipping on soup soup broth, he's sipping on coffee, and that's when I like really got it. That's when it just like kind of clicked to me. There was moments during the race where I was like, okay, I understand why people like this, but it was like being stopped. This dude is treating me like he's my best friend, even though we met three minutes ago and he poured me a cup of soup broth. I'm sitting there, this is the best thing I've ever drank. He's having coffee, we're watching the day unfold. I was like, okay, I fucking get it now. Yeah, I understand why people are all about this. I understand why Stuart Shutter's done 20 ultras in the last three years, you know, just such a magical community and such an indescribable, indescribable feeling. You know, I was 145 kilometers deep at that point, so almost 100 kilometers further than I had ever ran, and I just felt amazing. Awesome, you know, my body hurts, but like the feeling that I had in that moment was something special, you know.

SPEAKER_03 56:11

That's great, yeah. So and then you just had your last 15k to the finish, and yeah, 11k, I think 11 or 10k. Oh, 11k.

SPEAKER_02 56:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

Made it out of TA6.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

Uh crew was super stoked to see me, and they're all thinking, like, oh, it's 11k to the finish. So what are you thinking? It'll take you an hour because they're thinking of like what I would run like on the road, you know, for like a 10k or 11k. And I'm like, are you guys nuts? No, I've been up 24 hours. I'm not running this section in an hour. It's like I'll see you there in like 90 minutes if I'm lucky. And uh right before uh about three or four kilometers before the finish, I ran into another homie of mine named Jordan Zuck, who had like a massive knee surgery uh like three months ago, basically has like a bionic knee. He did the 50 miler, which started at 10:30 a.m. on the Saturday and had a has a 24-hour cutoff. And I ran into him. He was we were both going down a uh uh a decline, and I'd not seen a single person on Lake 7 at all. And he just kind of turned around and he looked at me and he's like, Shanks, what do you what are you still doing here? I was like, uh, I'm still running. What are you doing here? He's like, I'm still running. We both had just made the assumption that both of us had already finished. Oh, okay. So he was shocked to see me. I was shocked to see him, and he was like, My light blew up. I uh I don't know if I'm gonna make it. I'm like, dude, you've been running for how long? You're not you're not just gonna like give up now. Like, this is my first hundred milers, so I'm not gonna pace you. I'm gonna fucking book it to the end. But if I don't see you in the next 45 minutes, I'm coming back for you. Yeah, and he made it, I think, with half an hour to spare.

SPEAKER_03 58:01

That's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:02

So just little moments like that on the course, you know what I mean? Like, whether it be the volunteers, like people you run into or get to pace, it's just yeah, it's incredible for sure.

SPEAKER_03 58:12

Um, did your friend's knee is is he alright, like from no lingering effects or anything? I haven't really talked to him much.

SPEAKER_02 58:19

He was doing uh well, he made like a little bit of a family vacay. Okay, yeah, so I think they kept going west after the race. Uh he's still enjoying some downtime. Okay, so that sounds nice. So then in the next couple days, make sure he's done all right.

SPEAKER_03 58:32

Yep. So you were happy all in all with your result for your first hundred miler?

SPEAKER_02 58:37

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:37

Yep, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 58:38

I tried to emphasize to the crew like before I started, like, I don't want to know what place I'm in. Okay, I don't care if I'm in third or thirteenth, or as long as I am making the cutoff times, or like let me know if I'm getting close to like not making a cutoff. Yeah, that's all I want to know. Yeah, totally different mindset than being a road race. You know, you take 10 seconds to walk during a marathon, you're like, oh cool, my entire training block training for sub 250 is just I guess that's that. Yep. Where it's like, this is like you just want to finish. So I was hoping to make the 30-hour cutoff. Yeah. Um, for multiple reasons. I mean, one of them, so I didn't have to pay $3,000. But also just, you know, when you have a crew out there, you drag a bunch of people out, and they take time off work, they've stayed up all night, and they're changing your socks and washing your feet and shoving food down your throat. It just like makes you gives you that little bit of extra pep to to want to finish. And yeah, I couldn't be more stoked to make it make it across that finish line. No, that's great.

SPEAKER_03 59:46

Yeah, you had a good good time. I'm glad you did.

SPEAKER_02 59:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:49

What do you have next coming up? You gotta still decompressing, I guess it's only five days ago now, but uh yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 59:57

QCM, I got into that. They opened up 50 more spots, thankfully. Okay. So um I potentially might have uh a bit of a stress fracture in my left leg, so I'm gonna try and get that sorted out in the next couple days. Uh oh, I've never had one before, so I don't know if I'm just exaggerating or you know, just overthinking things because I'm such a go, go, go, like train, train, train kind of guy. In the last couple days, I've really done not a whole lot of anything. Yep. Which has been very nice. So I don't know if I'm just overthinking that. But uh as long as I'm good on that, then yeah, I'll do the QCM. I've got a bid for Chicago again, um, which I don't know if I'll do because prices on everything have just gone up so much, even compared to last October. But uh just I don't know, daydreaming about what my next like big big race would be. I've got nothing in the calendar, nothing set in stone. My crew had such a good time that they're already planning next year for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:52

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:53

Um, and they want to do parts of them want to do like the relay as well. So that's super cool to see. Because when you drag people out that aren't really familiar with this type of event, um you don't know uh if it's gonna be a terrible time for them or or what, but they yeah, they loved it enough that they're already chatting about next year.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:13

Awesome. How might how big was your crew?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:15

Uh started off with three, then it walked to five, then Laura, Lise, Curtis, uh Lise's child, and Laura and Curtis's child came out. So then it grew to ten. Oh, jeez. And then Francois uh joined them. Okay, just eleven people.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:36

No biggie. Yeah, that would be good motivation. You can't can't let eleven people down.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

Yeah, so yeah, we'll see. I mean, uh, it's definitely not a one and done.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:49

Is what I'm saying, I guess. I just uh I guess I'll have to consult the wife and see uh what I'm allowed to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:55

Yep, yeah, yeah, and there's so many awesome races in North America, you never could never run out. Do you uh aspire to do like one of the big like the Western states or UTMB or one of the big famous races? Are you still you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:07

I I'm sure I'll get there at some point. Yeah, but like for me to say I want to do Western states after doing one ultra, I think it's kind of like somebody running the QCM and or running one marathon and being like, I'm gonna do Boston now. Yeah, which is a great goal to have, but I feel like you should kind of build yourself up before you before you you get to that point. For sure. So I'm if we have this conver if we chat about this type of stuff in a year or two years from now, I'm sure I'll be gunning for it. But right now it's just too early to say I'm just gonna need to uh get my feet a little bit more wet before uh I uh put too much of an emphasis on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:48

All right. Well, congratulations on your first hundred miler and thanks for uh coming by today. Of course. Anything else you wanted to add, or do you think that's good? Somehow, no blisters.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:59

Yeah, oh cool. No blisters, no lost toenails, no nothing. Oh, that's awesome. So got got a good pair of shoes. Like I said earlier, I'm lucky with when it comes to injuries, minus what might be happening to my left leg, but the fact I have no blisters, mind blown. Awesome. I was I was upset I didn't have you know a good Instagram photo of just some dirty, gross feet to post. Yeah, they just look normal. So yeah, well, that's good.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:26

Well, what kind of shoes did you wear?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:28

Uh I went with uh it was a bold choice because you I didn't see a single other person there with them. Uh Nike Ultrafly uh Trail 2, I believe. Okay, nice. Um the grip could have been a little bit better, but the toe box was sensational. Yeah. Like just there was so much wiggle room for uh for like when your feet starts start to swell up, or you know, for just pounding like long, long sessions and miles. I hate them at first, but once I got them broken in and I started flying up and down Douglas Park Hill, like you know, or or if I was taking it easy, didn't matter. I was like, these feel absolutely phenomenal. So awesome. A little bit pricey, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:12

It's worth it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:14

All right, awesome. Well, thanks so much, and uh we'll see you soon. Hell yeah, thank you, yeah, no problem. You have been listening to the Saskatchewan podcast. Please subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to pods, and remember to get in touch at jasontburns40 at gmail.com for suggestions of who you think may make a great guess on this podcast, or for commons in general. And as always, thanks to this wonderful Canadian band, The Burning Hell, for the use of this among holidaymakers. Check them out at theburninghell.com. And until next time, keep putting in the work.