I've known about Sinister 7 for a few years and really wanted to do it.
In the summer of 2016 one of the OB/Gyn's I work with, excitedly approached me about this amazing race she found out about, Sinister 7. Had I heard about it? I told her I had and that I wanted to run it. She said she was going to put together a team and I had to do it with her and do a night leg because I worked straight nights.
The race sells out in minutes and I was pretty sure we wouldn't get in. I was so shocked when Caroline told me we were in. That's also when the doubts started; what did I get myself into...
Read the description from the website.
The race sells out in minutes and I was pretty sure we wouldn't get in. I was so shocked when Caroline told me we were in. That's also when the doubts started; what did I get myself into...
Read the description from the website.
"Welcome to the Sinister 7 Ultra — a race that may be the greatest challenge of your life. The 100 mile (161km) course will take you through the most rugged, remote and beautiful terrain in Alberta's stunning Rocky Mountains. With 6,400m of elevation gain across the course, this race will punish those who are not prepared.
...racers have 30 hours to complete the grueling event. The course is split into seven stages, each featuring a geographic and historic highlight of the area. The race's name is inspired by the treacherous Seven Sisters Mountain that looms over much of the course.Every year we get a lot of questions about Sinister 7 Ultra, especially about the difficulty of the race. So what are you getting into?
This race is f&%$ing tough. We hope that is clear and we don't want to sugar-coat it in any way. This race will beat you up. For some it will be the hardest thing they have ever done. We created this race to be a wicked hard challenge where you compete mostly against the trail and your own demons, hence the name.
There will be dead-fall to climb over. There will be creeks and bogs to cross. The trails will be wet - in fact some of the trails become creeks after it rains. You will fall on wet roots and rocks a few times. You will be gored by branches while running steep single-track. If you cannot finish the race in 15 hours, you will be running in the dark. There is also a likelihood that you will suffer some effects from high heat, and then quite possibly become hypothermic at night when the temperature drops. The sky can be clear with 35˚ Celsius, and then send biblical rain and hail a moment later. Every year this race puts a few people into the hospital. If you don’t keep your head up, you will also get lost. You will be in the wilderness and you need to be self-sufficient. To top that off, we won’t apologize if you suffer from any of the above.
....Your mind will give you a million reasons to quit, but you need to decide that it’s more important to keep going.
Does this mean that you shouldn’t come to the race if you are not in peak physical condition? No, not at all. If anything, S7 is more of a mental challenge than physical. What it means is that everyone needs to give every ounce that they have while they are at this race. Nothing else will get you through. If you are prepared for that, you will eat the S7 for breakfast. We have watched 14-year-olds smash records, and we have seen seasoned runners fall to fatigue. Your last best race time is totally irrelevant out here. You must be prepared to dig deep to get through the challenges this course throws at you."
This is not meant to discourage anyone - actually it’s completely the opposite. We want everyone to be realistic about what they are up against. We put together a great venue and it’s up to each person to get the most out of it, despite (or because of) the tough conditions. This race brings out the best and worst in people, and we want everyone to reach for their best no matter what happens. The reward is something that cannot be described. It comes in this electricity you will feel when you are at the race, and when you accomplish what you are after. That comes from you. You and the trail - that’s it. Now... are you ready?"
...racers have 30 hours to complete the grueling event. The course is split into seven stages, each featuring a geographic and historic highlight of the area. The race's name is inspired by the treacherous Seven Sisters Mountain that looms over much of the course.Every year we get a lot of questions about Sinister 7 Ultra, especially about the difficulty of the race. So what are you getting into?
This race is f&%$ing tough. We hope that is clear and we don't want to sugar-coat it in any way. This race will beat you up. For some it will be the hardest thing they have ever done. We created this race to be a wicked hard challenge where you compete mostly against the trail and your own demons, hence the name.
There will be dead-fall to climb over. There will be creeks and bogs to cross. The trails will be wet - in fact some of the trails become creeks after it rains. You will fall on wet roots and rocks a few times. You will be gored by branches while running steep single-track. If you cannot finish the race in 15 hours, you will be running in the dark. There is also a likelihood that you will suffer some effects from high heat, and then quite possibly become hypothermic at night when the temperature drops. The sky can be clear with 35˚ Celsius, and then send biblical rain and hail a moment later. Every year this race puts a few people into the hospital. If you don’t keep your head up, you will also get lost. You will be in the wilderness and you need to be self-sufficient. To top that off, we won’t apologize if you suffer from any of the above.
....Your mind will give you a million reasons to quit, but you need to decide that it’s more important to keep going.
Does this mean that you shouldn’t come to the race if you are not in peak physical condition? No, not at all. If anything, S7 is more of a mental challenge than physical. What it means is that everyone needs to give every ounce that they have while they are at this race. Nothing else will get you through. If you are prepared for that, you will eat the S7 for breakfast. We have watched 14-year-olds smash records, and we have seen seasoned runners fall to fatigue. Your last best race time is totally irrelevant out here. You must be prepared to dig deep to get through the challenges this course throws at you."
This is not meant to discourage anyone - actually it’s completely the opposite. We want everyone to be realistic about what they are up against. We put together a great venue and it’s up to each person to get the most out of it, despite (or because of) the tough conditions. This race brings out the best and worst in people, and we want everyone to reach for their best no matter what happens. The reward is something that cannot be described. It comes in this electricity you will feel when you are at the race, and when you accomplish what you are after. That comes from you. You and the trail - that’s it. Now... are you ready?"
I wanted to cry a little when I started reading more about the race and the fact that I would be running at night in the middle of the forest with cougars and bears. Honestly, I was excited and terrified at the same time.
Our team consisted of 4 OB/GYN's, 2 OB/GYN residents and myself. We were an all female team called Vagister7 and appropriate name for seven females working in women's health.
The race started Saturday at 7am.
The energy at the race was truly electric. It felt like the whole Pass was out volunteering or cheering people on. The volunteers were beyond belief. I've never seen so many people with such low body fat in one place.
I sat at the transition areas and watched the soloists come in and was brought to tears seeing these amazing athletes attempt the course on their own. Some had support with them that would greet them when they came in. They would feed them, change their socks. or clothes, fill up their hydration and encourage them on. Some people were unsupported and had to do it all for them selves.
The day was blistering hot and being up on the mountain with the sun beating on the rock took its tool on some of the racers and they came in pretty ragged.
Caroline was our first runner. After registering for the race she found out she was pregnant. She is so tough, she ran anyways and rocked it. She ran 45 minutes faster than what she had predicted. Her time was 2:25 hours.
Our team consisted of 4 OB/GYN's, 2 OB/GYN residents and myself. We were an all female team called Vagister7 and appropriate name for seven females working in women's health.
The race started Saturday at 7am.
The energy at the race was truly electric. It felt like the whole Pass was out volunteering or cheering people on. The volunteers were beyond belief. I've never seen so many people with such low body fat in one place.
I sat at the transition areas and watched the soloists come in and was brought to tears seeing these amazing athletes attempt the course on their own. Some had support with them that would greet them when they came in. They would feed them, change their socks. or clothes, fill up their hydration and encourage them on. Some people were unsupported and had to do it all for them selves.
The day was blistering hot and being up on the mountain with the sun beating on the rock took its tool on some of the racers and they came in pretty ragged.
Caroline was our first runner. After registering for the race she found out she was pregnant. She is so tough, she ran anyways and rocked it. She ran 45 minutes faster than what she had predicted. Her time was 2:25 hours.
Jen was up next and she flew through the course too. She was 30 minutes faster than what she had predicted, 3 hours.
Look what amazing surroundings Jen ran through.
Kayla was up next. She had a tough leg of the race. It's called Satan' Sac. It's hot and lots of elevation. It is rated the second hardest leg. It was particularly difficult this year because of the heat. The report Kayla gave us when she was done was not pretty. She said so many people were struggling. She tried to help were she could and encourage people along the way. I'm glad Kayla did this leg and not me. She ran her leg exactly as she predicted, 4.5 hours.
While Kayla was out running we all drove to Coleman and went out for lunch at the Rumrunner. They are known for crazy burgers.
Our team was doing great. We were either beating our meeting our predicted times.
Anna, our fourth runner was making great time (there was live tracking). She was set to come into transition around 730pm. When she didn't get to her next check stop, we told ourselves it must be a remote location so it just didn't upload. An hour passed, still no Anna. We were starting to get worried. I was the next runner out and I was hanging around the transition line so I could be ready to take the chip from her and head out. Another hour passed and we started to get really concerned. We talked to some officials and they hadn't heard anything. It was approaching 900pm and Anna still wasn't in. I was pretty concerned about her. Her partner was on another team and he decided he was going to start running up the course to see if he could find her when all of a sudden she came around the corner looking ragged. I jumped into the transition area and asked if she was ok. She said she wasn't. I told her to sit down. I wiggled the race chip off her ankle and yelled out to the officials that she needed medical attention and took off. I found out later that she had bad gastro up on the mountain. Let's just say she left her mark up there in several places. Anna is one strong woman. I don't know if I could have continued under those circumstance. Her time was 4.5 hours.
Anna, our fourth runner was making great time (there was live tracking). She was set to come into transition around 730pm. When she didn't get to her next check stop, we told ourselves it must be a remote location so it just didn't upload. An hour passed, still no Anna. We were starting to get worried. I was the next runner out and I was hanging around the transition line so I could be ready to take the chip from her and head out. Another hour passed and we started to get really concerned. We talked to some officials and they hadn't heard anything. It was approaching 900pm and Anna still wasn't in. I was pretty concerned about her. Her partner was on another team and he decided he was going to start running up the course to see if he could find her when all of a sudden she came around the corner looking ragged. I jumped into the transition area and asked if she was ok. She said she wasn't. I told her to sit down. I wiggled the race chip off her ankle and yelled out to the officials that she needed medical attention and took off. I found out later that she had bad gastro up on the mountain. Let's just say she left her mark up there in several places. Anna is one strong woman. I don't know if I could have continued under those circumstance. Her time was 4.5 hours.
I left transition just after 9pm. The first little bit was fairly flat and out in the open but as expected we started to climb.
This bridge was in the first kilometre or so. I was concentrating so hard, I didn't want to wipe out.
The flat part didn't last too long and we started to climb. The first part of the climb was on a communication tower right of way so it was a big cleared out area. After about 1.5 hours though the trail turned into a single track, dirt bike trail in the thick of the woods. This is were things got sketchy. There was a fun moon out but the forest was so thick it provided no light for me.
I wore a head lamp on my head, around my chest and some knuckle lights. I could see pretty good and the trail was very well marked, most of the time. I only fell twice, tripping over branches in the path. There were a few mud pits that were a bit difficult to navigate in the dark. I ran alone most of the time. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've had. I fell in love with trail running and night running. Time went by so fast. I alternated between just letting my mind wander and focusing intensely on what I was doing. Every time I crossed paths with a soloist I yelled out them,"You're amazing". I would love to solo this race but the reality is, I don't know if I have enough time in me to do all the things I want to do and add training for this too. I won't say no though.
My watch stopped working so I had no concrete information on how far I had run or how long I had been running. That was the beginning of the end of my relationship with that watch.
I tried really hard to not spook myself and did pretty good except when a runner came up behind me and his light cast my shadow on the trees. I thought my shadow was a bear and let out a scream then laughed at myself. This happened a couple times..
Remember the big late afternoon lunch we had? I thought I would be ok not eating a meal before I ran but with the delay in my start time I was getting really hungry. I had food with me and snacked on that. There were aid stations with every food you could want. The best was watermelon, The worst, which I thought would be the best, was any kind of chocolate. The snacks weren't cutting it and hunger was setting in. I've run many races being hungry so I knew I still had energy left in me and I wasn't too worried about it.
Having run so much, I'm getting pretty good at knowing how far I've gone and I thought I was probably getting close to the end. I came to a big downhill bank with what sounded like a roaring river at the bottom.This was the only place I could not see trail markers. I thought, there is no way I'm going down there and getting wet if thats not the course. I looked around but couldn't' find any markers. Finally another racer came and said it was the right was. I ran down, it wasn't that steep or far and jumped across the little stream at the bottom, no raging river. Shortly after that I thought I would hear the finish line but it just didn't seem to appear. Finally I got to the top of a hill, crested it and at the bottom was the transition area. It was around 1am and there were hundreds of people out and it felt like they were all cheering for me. I felt like an olympic star. The music was blasting and the announcer was yelling out, "Here comes another racer." I ran down the hill into the cheering crowd. My time was 4 hours, exactly as I predicted.
Ronke, who was taking over from me, wasn't in the transition area. I was yelling her name. I went to the announcer and asked her to call out to her over the speaker but she couldn't understand her name. She asked our team name, when I told her Vagister7, she just looked at me, like, "You have got to be kidding!" I don't think she ever called for Ronke or used our team name. Ronke finally appeared, got the chip and took off.
Ronke had the hardest leg of the race and I had a few hours to sleep, but first I needed to eat. Each transition area had tons of delicious food, so I filled my tummy and crawled into the back of my van to sleep for a few hours.
I woke up and it was still a bit dark. I was hungry again and a bit cold. There was a food truck with hot chocolate and hot dogs. I can't remember the last time I had a hot dog but at that moment it seemed like a gourmet meal. Even though the hot cholcolate was luke warm and was just powder with warm water and the hot dog was cold in the middle, the cheese sauce was "interesting" it was one of the best meals I've had.
When I'm at work, a couple of my co-workers get a hot dog every single night shift. I tease them about it and they tease me about eating healthy. I had to snap a picture of my 5am cheesy hot dog for them.
The flat part didn't last too long and we started to climb. The first part of the climb was on a communication tower right of way so it was a big cleared out area. After about 1.5 hours though the trail turned into a single track, dirt bike trail in the thick of the woods. This is were things got sketchy. There was a fun moon out but the forest was so thick it provided no light for me.
I wore a head lamp on my head, around my chest and some knuckle lights. I could see pretty good and the trail was very well marked, most of the time. I only fell twice, tripping over branches in the path. There were a few mud pits that were a bit difficult to navigate in the dark. I ran alone most of the time. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've had. I fell in love with trail running and night running. Time went by so fast. I alternated between just letting my mind wander and focusing intensely on what I was doing. Every time I crossed paths with a soloist I yelled out them,"You're amazing". I would love to solo this race but the reality is, I don't know if I have enough time in me to do all the things I want to do and add training for this too. I won't say no though.
My watch stopped working so I had no concrete information on how far I had run or how long I had been running. That was the beginning of the end of my relationship with that watch.
I tried really hard to not spook myself and did pretty good except when a runner came up behind me and his light cast my shadow on the trees. I thought my shadow was a bear and let out a scream then laughed at myself. This happened a couple times..
Remember the big late afternoon lunch we had? I thought I would be ok not eating a meal before I ran but with the delay in my start time I was getting really hungry. I had food with me and snacked on that. There were aid stations with every food you could want. The best was watermelon, The worst, which I thought would be the best, was any kind of chocolate. The snacks weren't cutting it and hunger was setting in. I've run many races being hungry so I knew I still had energy left in me and I wasn't too worried about it.
Having run so much, I'm getting pretty good at knowing how far I've gone and I thought I was probably getting close to the end. I came to a big downhill bank with what sounded like a roaring river at the bottom.This was the only place I could not see trail markers. I thought, there is no way I'm going down there and getting wet if thats not the course. I looked around but couldn't' find any markers. Finally another racer came and said it was the right was. I ran down, it wasn't that steep or far and jumped across the little stream at the bottom, no raging river. Shortly after that I thought I would hear the finish line but it just didn't seem to appear. Finally I got to the top of a hill, crested it and at the bottom was the transition area. It was around 1am and there were hundreds of people out and it felt like they were all cheering for me. I felt like an olympic star. The music was blasting and the announcer was yelling out, "Here comes another racer." I ran down the hill into the cheering crowd. My time was 4 hours, exactly as I predicted.
Ronke, who was taking over from me, wasn't in the transition area. I was yelling her name. I went to the announcer and asked her to call out to her over the speaker but she couldn't understand her name. She asked our team name, when I told her Vagister7, she just looked at me, like, "You have got to be kidding!" I don't think she ever called for Ronke or used our team name. Ronke finally appeared, got the chip and took off.
Ronke had the hardest leg of the race and I had a few hours to sleep, but first I needed to eat. Each transition area had tons of delicious food, so I filled my tummy and crawled into the back of my van to sleep for a few hours.
I woke up and it was still a bit dark. I was hungry again and a bit cold. There was a food truck with hot chocolate and hot dogs. I can't remember the last time I had a hot dog but at that moment it seemed like a gourmet meal. Even though the hot cholcolate was luke warm and was just powder with warm water and the hot dog was cold in the middle, the cheese sauce was "interesting" it was one of the best meals I've had.
When I'm at work, a couple of my co-workers get a hot dog every single night shift. I tease them about it and they tease me about eating healthy. I had to snap a picture of my 5am cheesy hot dog for them.
Ronke is an amazing runner. I want to grown up to be like her. She finished her leg in 4 3/4hours.
Ronke came in and our last runner was off. The last leg is the shortest, 10.9km, so we had our shortest runner do it, just kidding Meriah.
Meriah got a little lost but rocked her leg in 2 1/4 hours. Her boys are so cute. The were waiting so patiently at the finish line. When they saw their mom come they both jumped in and crossed the finish line with her.
Meriah got a little lost but rocked her leg in 2 1/4 hours. Her boys are so cute. The were waiting so patiently at the finish line. When they saw their mom come they both jumped in and crossed the finish line with her.
Our total time was 25:15.We were 12/25 female teams, 120/206 teams.
A female was the soloist winner , she finished in 18:54. I can hardly even understand how that is possible.
A female was the soloist winner , she finished in 18:54. I can hardly even understand how that is possible.
I am so blessed to have great colleagues. They are a crazy bunch of women, whom I am fortunate enough to call friends. I have so much respect for each one of them. As I got to know them better over the weekend that respect grew.
I have reflected on this race many times. Why did it impact me so much? I think there were several things:
-running with an all female team
-doing something even though I was terrified to do it
-the race director has something special going on, grassroots, genuine and it was felt in all aspects
-the soloists-each one of them was an inspiration to try harder, go further, push more
-community-I want to create this in the various communities I'm part of
-volunteers-I need to give back
I'm looking forward to what this year's race brings. One thing I know is I will face my fears again and push harder.
I have reflected on this race many times. Why did it impact me so much? I think there were several things:
-running with an all female team
-doing something even though I was terrified to do it
-the race director has something special going on, grassroots, genuine and it was felt in all aspects
-the soloists-each one of them was an inspiration to try harder, go further, push more
-community-I want to create this in the various communities I'm part of
-volunteers-I need to give back
I'm looking forward to what this year's race brings. One thing I know is I will face my fears again and push harder.