Perhaps Joy is the Reward: Characters & Events
Finishing the UBC Longest Day Road Race 10K, June 2013, two weeks shy of turning 51. Officially the fastest my body ever moved over a reasonable distance, self-propelled. (Photo Cindy Klassen)
Jenny Quilty (PJR cover endorsement) and me becoming trail runners on the 5 Peaks BC Cypress Mountain Sport Course in 2013. I was 51. (Race Photo: Rob Shaer)
Me & Fred, September 2013. I’m certain I would never have run a mile in my fifties if I hadn’t planted my skate blade on Fred’s stick blade back in March 2012. (Photographer unknown)
Gordon Flett (Mr. First Place) and me on the Buntzen Lake podium for the Male 50-59 season series awards for 5 Peaks BC, September 2013. The day second place was number one for me. (Race Photo: Rob Shaer)
Me and Cindy running our first Squamish50 race together: the Squamish23 in August 2014. The annual SQ50 weekend would take centre stage in our trail running lives from this moment forward. (Photo: Phil Klassen)
Our first shared trail race finisher medals. The running renaissance of our fifties was underway and from this point on we moved from the road to the dirt. (Photo: Phil Klassen)
Hugs help when you are way beyond your known physical borders on your first ultramarathon. Cindy meets me at Far Side Aid Station during the Squamish50K, August 2015. (Photo: Joel Ditson)
With 10 km to go in my first Squamish50K I didn’t yet realize how my mind was more important than my legs. But the look on my face hints that something was going on in there. (Photo: Joel Ditson)
Squamish50 Race Director Gary Robbins lends me some support at the finish line of my first 50K ultramarathon in August 2015. I don’t think I looked this beat up from a race for another seven years. (Race Photo: Scott Robarts)
With daughter Jeanette on Kala Patthar, elevation 18,500 feet, October 2015. Behind us, snow is carried off the summit of Mount Everest (Chomolungma, the Mother Goddess) by howling jet stream winds another 10,500 feet above us. The Himalayan landscape felt massive. (Photo: Dawa Sherpa)
Monument Valley 50K in Utah, March 2016. A happy experience in epic terrain, with special Navajo hosts, and my time was quicker than I expected. I was becoming an ultrarunner. (Photo: selfie)
At Torres del Paine, the final climbing day of our Patagonia O-Circuit trek in November 2016. Having the endurance capacity to successfully complete—and enjoy—the trek was the gift a reasonable level of fitness gave us. (Photo: selfie)
Ending my Bryce Canyon 50K in an ambulance with heat stroke, June 2017. (Photo: selfie)
Cindy finishing her 2017 Bryce Canyon 25K and looking great! (Photographer unknown)
My first Squamish50-Mile, August 2017. I was happy as heck all day. The 50-miler pushed my body into new territory and my body responded well to it. (Photo: Cindy Klassen)
Eating my burger at the 2017 Squamish50-Mile finish line. With a medal around my neck, I knew I had it in me to go farther that night. (Photo: Cindy Klassen)
At the finish line of the 2018 Squamish23 with friend, mentor, and co-owner of the Capra Trail & Mountain Running store, Solana Green (PJR cover endorsement). Running with Solana and Capra was making me better in many ways. (Photo: selfie)
Holding my not-to-be-used bib over my punctured and sliced belly, feeling robbed and beaten at the starting line of the River Valley Revenge 100K, June 2019. (Photo: Cindy Klassen)
Less than five months after my major appendix rupture, I was joyfully running the Javelina Jundred 100K in Arizona. (Race Photo: Howie Stern)
Proudly showing off my first 100K finisher buckle—earned twice in 2019. I cannot say enough about the fun Cindy and I had at Aravaipa’s Jalloween Party in the desert. (Photo: Cindy Klassen)
With Jen Barsky on the summit of Mt. Harvey, BC, August 2020. Chasing local mountaintops instead of race finishes during the “COVOID” of the pandemic when the requirements to train for future races disappeared and the motivation void needed to be filled. (Photo: selfie)
The Frosty Four. Jennie Woo, Didi Dufresne, me, and Jen Barsky. An important pandemic bubble. (Photo: some guy I tossed my GoPro to as we all kept our distance. Weird times.)
Eating Jennie Woo’s noodles at the last aid station of Jen’s 50 Miles of My Favourite Trails homemade ultra, July 2021. Jen found a way to overcome her pandemic race postponement and she gave us a special ultramarathon experience in place of an official one. (Photo: Derek Hemmes)
“Twin brother” and best friend, Glenn Janzen, and I celebrate our 59th birthday, July 2021. One year remained for me to complete my first 100-mile ultramarathon before age 60. (Photo: Sharon Janzen)
Solana Green—the consummate Capra cheerleader—meeting me in the deluge that devoured the October 2021 Squamish50: my chafing DNF and the loss of what I then felt was my last opportunity to capture a 50/50 finisher’s cap. (Photo: Annie Johansen)
Alley Vause-Jones leads me out on the first leg of my HomeRun100. (Photo: Cindy Klassen)
HomeRun100 Capra aid station 2 A.M. pacer swap. Kelly Young, me Cindy, Suzanne Pearce, and Karina Welsh. With 110 km complete, and a 50K left to go, I was about to enter the fabled 100-miler pre-dawn cave of suffering. (Photo: Sachi Jayawickrama)
Sachi Jayawickrama commiserating with me as I struggle through the early morning crash of my first 100-miler. A little less than a marathon to go at this point. (Photo: Jacquelyn Janzen)
Jen Barsky, me, and Jacquelyn Janzen with about 20 km left to go in my HomeRun100, 100-miler. Overall, Jen paced for 50 km and Jacquelyn for 62 km. How do you ever say thank-you for volunteer moments like this? (Photo: Jen Barsky selfie)
At the finish line it became 100-Miles of Friends. Steph Corker (PJR Cover endorsement), Karina Welsh, Kelly Young, Jennie Woo, Didi Dufresne, Jacquelyn Janzen, Cindy Klassen, me, Suzanne Pearce, Jen Barsky, and Sachi Jayawickrama. Only crew member missing is Alley Vause-Jones. (Photo: Tiff Gibson)
Four weeks before my second attempt at the Squamish50/50 I grabbed a hard-fought finish at the Buckin’ Hell 50K … a significant vertical challenge. (Photo: Scott Robarts)
Team Capra crewing the Squamish50-Mile, August 2022. Solana, Liberty, Annie, Suzanne, Amish, me, Jacquelyn, Karina, and Cindy. Day-one of the two-day challenge. (Photo: Solana selfie)
Gary Robbins awaits at the finish line of the Squamish50-Mile, day one of the SQ50/50, August 2022. I was destroyed like no race had wrecked me for many years. I kept repeating two things: “I don’t know how I’m going to start tomorrow,” and “I can’t finish what I don’t start.” (Photo: Scott Robarts)
In the starting corral of the Squamish50K, day-two of my SQ50/50 revenge run in August 2022. Jacquelyn, Kelly, me, and Karina were a mixed bag of agendas that morning. (Photo: Jacquelyn Janzen selfie)
“Blue, stay in the Matrix. Yellow, embrace the crappy reality of this race.” Ice collar from Cindy. Freezies from Jennie. Quest aid station. Just over 25 km left to go. (Photo: Jennie Woo)
Gary Robbins, Squamish50 Race Director, plunks a Squamish50 50/50 finisher cap on my head—the prize I came back to claim after losing it on my way to my 100-mile goal. (Photo: Scott Robarts)