I once mentioned to my good friend Josh that “some day I think I would like to try running an ultra-marathon”. It was mostly just a passing thought but Josh interpreted that it meant he should sign us up for an ultra-marathon. And Josh, being Josh decided that not just any ultra-marathon would do, he signed us both up for the Beaver Flat 50 which claims to be “The best worst thing you’ll do in September”. Side note, some say my assigned bib number will give me special powers to finish the race. I have no idea what they are talking about?So thanks to Josh, here we are standing at the starting line. All these people, myself included, don’t realize that roughly 20% of us will not even finish this race. It is called Beaver Flat, how hard could it possibly be?And away we go!! Okay, seems to be a bit of a steep hill to start, but no problem I was built for this! It can’t possibly all be like this… right? Years of summit selfies for training, I’m not at all worried. If you look back in the top left hand corner of the picture, you can see the white tent at the start line. It is “only” a couple KM away at this point. In a race like this, 2km is nothing…. Or at least the first 2Km is no big deal. This is Josh in front of me, the guy whose dumb idea this was. Normally, Josh would be right out in the front of the pack, he is that fast, but today he was hanging out with me. My goal for today was simple, no injuries. Even finishing was not mandatory for me, just not to get hurt.Seems like an easy goal to me. Looking ahead along the ridge at where we are heading. Why my no injury rule for this race? Because I’m supposed to get on an international flight just days after the race. Getting hurt would be very costly. So I’m taking it very easy, slow pace, watching where I place my feet, trying not to be distracted by the scenery. Here we are, back down at the river. We went up the ridge, ran around a bit, then back down to the river. Perhaps the race name Beaver Flat is a bit of a joke? Are we going up and down this valley all day? What the heck Josh??!!And heading back up the hill again, Josh just ahead of me. Rumor is he is a running machine but has no face, we will never know for sure. The morning was cool and cloudy, which was the perfect weather for this kind of ridiculous activity. I secretly hope it stays like this all day. Which of course, means it wouldn’t. Around this time Josh was tired of my no injury rule, gives me a fist bump and takes off at a pace that can only be described as not-human.See the runners scrambling up the hillside? I kept thinking that all the other runners had cool tattoos. Only to realize it was just mud from the trail splashed onto their legs. This race is tough, very tough. Not only is the terrain unforgiving, steep, muddy, and loose, but the stats for this race are pretty wild…. Distance wise, this is an ultra-marathon, which means longer than the typical 42.1Km marathon. Today we will be travelling 50Km on foot. Running on a trail is also more difficult and energy consuming compared to pavement. Great idea… Josh!!But that long distance is arguably not even the hardest part. This race officially has 2300 meters of hills to climb. That is almost 8000 feet of elevation to both gain, and lose. Here you can see the people ahead of me grinding up the next steep climb. This would happen, again, and again, and again. Here is the elevation profile from my GPS watch. I was warned when I checked in at the desk “You must train in the Rockies, you may think Saskatchewan is flat, the elevation gain is real man”. This also means this race is part of an exclusive club, a stupid club, called a skyrace, which is an ultramarathon with elevation gain of more than 1200m. Back up on top of the ridge. The trail seems to go on forever, mainly because it does. Or at least it feels like it does.As the day goes on, the runners spread out more and the sun comes out. This valley is hot, unbearably hot. I’d love to tell you how much liquid I drank, but lost track, well over 6 liters and didn’t pee once. I almost stepped on a snake. There are cactus everywhere, which I did step on more than once. I decide that doesn’t count as an injury and keep running.Now beyond the half way point, 30Km done, “only” 20Km to go. You observant folks may have noticed there is still a hill behind me, which means this isn’t a true summit selfie. You are right, but your mind starts doing weird things after running up and down hills for hours on end in the unforgiving sun. I have decided this is the summit anyway. The guy in front of me says he feels like vomiting, but not to worry because that is normal for this race. WTF did you sign me up for, JOSH!??Occasionally, the trail would drop down into a valley. A nice flat valley and a break from the constant climbing. But the trail designers would have you fooled. If you look closely on the right, you can see the trail grinding right back up the ridge again. Around this point is where things get a bit more, interesting. The race has check in points where they will conduct a coherency check and have the right to remove you from the race if they feel you are no longer thinking straight. At 30Km a team of volunteers provide you with a bag that contains a spare pair of dry shoes and a fresh t shirt. Huge shout out to the volunteers that refilled my water, helped me switch out my sweat soaked shirt and even offered to tape up my destroyed feet. For the record, I taped my own feet up. With dry shoes, I was ready to get back on the course and in true form I stepped right into a muddy, wet swamp just meters after.This my view after passing the last checkpoint and coherency check before the finish line. Good thing they don’t know about my summit selfie faux-pas. I now “only” have 7Km left to the finish line. But of course, the route goes back up the tallest ridge in the distance. Muscle cramps become something you just have to live with. A guy on the course tells me that if a large blister pops on your foot, “after 15 minutes it doesn’t hurt as much anymore”. Great! Something to look forward to!!By now, I thought I would be heading down one last time into the valley. But if you look at the picture very, very closely, near the middle you can see a dot on the distant ridge. That is a person. A person in the race. This means before I can finish, I am going back down the valley again, over the two closest small hills, then hang a left, uphill again and traverse the entire ridge left to right. This is heart breaking, but at least the end is in sight. I think I can do it, maybe.The very last traverse along the ridge from the previous picture. I caught up to the guy in the photo. He was very excited as this was his third attempt at this race, he didn’t finish the previous two times. We can both see the white tent near the river. That is the finish line, “only” 2Km away. Did we both make it?Of course we did! And why didn’t I take a finish line picture? I had more important things on my mind, like eating tacos, having burnt well over 4000 calories during the last few hours. And even though Josh is full of terrible ideas, he was waiting for me at the finish line, already thinking about what is next. I on the other hand, have decided I’m never running again. Just like after the last marathon.Huge thanks to the volunteers that run this event. It really is the best worst thing you can do in September.
4 Comments
ted · September 17, 2025 at 1:54 am
Phenomenal accomplishment!!!!
Shawn · September 18, 2025 at 1:41 am
Thank you! 🙂
Christine · September 17, 2025 at 2:12 am
They should have hired you for the new Stephen King movie “The Long Walk”. Thoroughly enjoyed your narrative with your sense of humour.
Shawn · September 18, 2025 at 1:42 am
I think the movie wouldn’t be as scary 🙂