Race Review: 5 Peaks Golden Ears

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Back in January, I joined a Pay it Forward challenge, and my 'gift' from Brandi was this race entry!

I was nervous and excited come Saturday morning. I had felt really good at the orientation run a few weeks ago but my foot has still been giving me troubles. Cindy was also coming out to race with me so shortly after she arrived at my house, we headed out to Golden Ears, which is only about a 20 minute drive. I was particularly wanting to do this race in the series because it's pretty close to the community where I live in Maple Ridge, and there aren't that many races here so I definitely wanted to be part of it.

I hardly took any pictures so I'm certainly glad other people did, thanks everyone!

I wasn't really planning to run with anyone or go for a great time, I just wanted to get out there for my first serious trail run and make it to the finish alive!

Also, a little bit of advice: I tried to be cool and pin my bib to my pant leg like all the experienced trail runners, but apparently my running tights weren't made to be cool and I ripped a hole in my FAVORITE compression tights, so yea, don't try to be cool.

As we got going, I followed another running friend and went out WAY too fast! My first kilometer was just over 5 minutes.

Once we made it through the first water crossing and up the first few hills, I realized that I was incredibly short of breath for the beginning of a run. I looked back and there was Brandi, so I thought I'd just ease off and follow her the rest of the way since she is a more experienced trail runner than myself, but I sure was struggling for barely 2 kilometers in. This picture says it all...

Photo Credit: Rob Shaer @ 5 Peaks

The rest of the race was pretty much the same. Downhill: Run, try not to fall on my face. Uphill: No running, hiking and barely catching my breath.

Towards the end of the race, the fast Enduro runners had caught up and we were moving aside to let them pass every couple minutes.

What an awkward smile, but yay almost done!

Photo Credit: Robert Shaer @ 5 Peaks

Photo Credit: Robert Shaer @ 5 Peaks

We made it to the finish in 1:20:09, roughly the same time it took to do the orientation run. What I don't understand is I felt good during the orientation run and I felt like we were stopped A LOT, this was the total opposite for me and we came out with almost the exact same time. All in all I will call it a success for my first real trail race though.

I enjoyed the 5 Peaks event and Solana did a great job putting it all together. I'm hoping to volunteer at another one this summer and then (maybe) do the Whistler event in the series in August.

Race Review Summary 

Package Pickup/Expo:
No expo. Package pickup on race morning, went very smoothly other than the fact that my name was spelled wrong, oops Brandi lol!

Price/Value: $47.25 (Early Bird)
Pretty decent price for a local race. I'm a sucker for a medal and a race t-shirt but the souvenir is worth about $23 so that's a decent deal.
 
Aid Stations: 
One aid station on the sport course which had water and an electrolyte drink.

Course Difficulty: 
Hard. For me, new to trail racing, it was difficult. I hear the Enduro course has a much tougher climb so I'm glad I stuck with the Sport.

Medals:
No medals but you get an authentic Buff from Buff Canada, who is the new title sponsor for 5 Peaks this year. I really like this year's pattern. 

Pay It Forward Challenge

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Disclaimer: This is a non- reading/baking/running post, if that infuriates you, feel free to stop reading now.

Earlier this year, a friend on Facebook, Brandi, posted a pay-it-forward challenge and normally I'm not into sharing a ton of posts on FB, but I really liked the sound of this one, so I took the leap!

The challenge was relatively simple and within a very short period of time I had 5 people committed. Off I went in search of 5 unique surprises to send to some lovely ladies.

First up was a surprise for an old friend of mine, Alisha. We used to work together at Staples when I was in high school. She had just gotten engaged so right away I knew what to send her! She is very organized with notebooks and highlighters etc, like me, so I knew she'd love this.

A wedding planner/organizer binder.

Next up, was Tina who had mentioned she'd really be interested in this cookbook, so that was also a no-brainer! P.S. I also have this cookbook, I reviewed it here, if you haven't checked it out, I definitely would. Mmm I'm hungry just thinking about it.

Another friend, Renee, is training for a figure competition. Last Summer, I had bought a few pairs of Sox Box socks with the intention of doing a giveaway when I started CrossFit. I never did and they were still in the packaging and were just perfect for Renee, so that worked out great! I also made this framed inspirational poster for her.

 

Then, Nikki, who also has a blog and I thought getting her a personalized blog planner/notebook would be the best way to go! She's a list-maker like me :)

Finally, Amanda! I decided to send her a few of my favorite things! May Designs sent me some agendas and note cards to celebrate the fact they are now shipping to Canada, yay! I kept one of the agendas for myself, and sent this one to Amanda along with some note cards. As you may already know, Sparkly Soul makes my favorite headbands. Recently, Griffin decided to put a bunch of them in the built-in vacuum outlet when I wasn't looking... Thanks Griffin. I managed to rescue all but one. I ordered a replacement and a black one for Amanda, I hope she loves them as much as I do!

I really enjoyed the idea of this challenge. It was so simple. I tried my best not to just buy everything and either gift things I already had or make something like I did for Renee. I had intended to bake some things for people instead, but since a few them don't even live in the same province/country, that made things tricky.

Oh, and Brandi's pay-it-forward 1surprise for me was a race registration into 5 Peaks Golden Ears! Thanks Brandi!

Just by taking some time and organizing these 5 surprises, 25 more people will be impacted by acts of kindness this year! So what do you think, will you #payitforward this year?