2015 and Oilcreek 100 km report

Before I get to my Oilcreek race report, I feel like I should explain my journey to Oilcreek first.

My 2015 season was mapped out in the late months of 2014, and the early months of 2015.  I was excited, eager and scared straight to run my first 100 miler in June

2015 was my second year tackling the ultra distance. I trained smartly, consistently and hard.  I was pumped to kick off the season with a win at PYP. I love love love this local race.  

One week later, on May 2nd, I traveled in style with friends to NY state to race North Face’s Bear Mountain 50 miler.  Unfortunately, I came down with a cold and couldn’t get my breathing and heart rate to slow down. I finished the race {6th female, 10:24:43} but broke out in a fever, chills, nausea and dizziness a couple hours later.  Ok, so it wasn’t ideal, but it was over 10hrs on my feet and the experience was banked for my first 100 miler, right?!!

7 weeks later, healthy, fit and tapered, I travelled to the US once again.  This trip brought me to beautiful Dayton, Wyoming.  Staying with like-minded friends, I toed the start line with uncertainty but with respect and confidence.  Everything was going great and my 100 mile race was right on track.  I meet a new friend (Hi @Alan Lam!) and was having a great old time! Unfortunately, my feet swelled and I was forced to decide between continuing on or DNF’ing . Actually, it wasn’t a decision at all.  With shoes that were now way too small for me, I walked - and I use the world “walk” loosely  -  approx. 20 miles to the finish line. With many many tears later (and one panda bear later - OK, one hallucinated panda bear later), I crossed the finish line with Alan (who took care of me in those long hours) in a time of 32h15m.  I was the145th of 150 runners to come in and 5 minutes from being in last place*.  I win races; I podium at races and I went to Bighorn to do the same.  So I was completely humbled by the experience, but I am proud of my heart and my hard headedness of not giving up.  It was definitely character building.  You just never know what’s going to happen in a 100 miler.  There are a few things every runner should never forget: always respect the distance; always respect the mountains; always respect the trail!  

A short time after the race, I signed up to be on the Oilcreek 100 km waiting list.  I wanted more than one more race to ‘redeem’ myself.  I was over the moon to get into this sought out race.  

* Bighorn 100 Miler had ~50% dropout rate.

This brings me to July and August.  These months were primarily for recovering and spending time with my family.  I did however,  have my first go at an unsupported FKT (fastest known time) in Killarney Provincial Park.  The La Cloche Silhouette trail is an 80km trail in Eastern Ontario.  It is probably the most rugged trail in Eastern Ontario.  I haven’t posted my report on this FKT yet, so I won’t spoil it here, but I broke the 16 hour women’s FKT and finished my unsupported loop in 14h01m.  

September’s adventure had me travelling within my beautiful country to Golden, BC with my great friend Kat Tupling and awesome travelling/racing buddy Kendra Olsen. We got spoiled rotten by our host Alan Lam.  Thanks again for taking care of me Alan!  

I was very fortunate to be one of the Golden Ultra’s scholarship recipients.  This race did not disappoint.  Magi Scallion and her team did an amazing job planning and executing this inaugural 3 day ultra stage race.  With this race being 3 weeks out from my fall ‘A’ race, my plan was to trained through the race with only couple of days of rest prior to the race start.  The races were challenging in terrain and elevation and I finished in a combined time of 11h11m - 3rd in the open female division.  Unfortunately, I came home with plantar fasciitis my right foot.  Limping, in pain and disappointed, I poured my heart out to my coach, Coach @Mike Coughlin, about how I was doing emotionally and physically.  It was decided that training would be cut back and resting/rehabbing would become priority (thanks @Lisa Wilson).  My ‘A’ race was only weeks away, and I wasn’t even sure if I could go.  6 days until race day, I “tested” my foot with a 2 hr run in Collingwood with my friend Caitlin.  I committed to travelling to the race on Thursday, 36 hours before the gun was set to go off.  

With all of my heart, I wanted to end my season with a bang! I wanted to get my confidence back. I had no idea if I would succeed, but man was I going to try.

I travelled down with my best bud Craig Kingston. Craig agreed to crew my race and pace me for the last 27 kilometers.  I honestly don’t remember many details of the race.  My foot was sore from the beginning.  I thought it would be in my best interest to run as fast as I could, so I could finish the race as fast as I could and thus get off my feet as fast as I could.  I know this could have backfired with me blowing up, but fortunately it didn’t.  I forced myself to listen attentively to my audiobook.  The hours actually flew by.  At the 73 km mark (~ 9 hrs into my race), I turned off my book and started running with Craig.  Craig was so polite and encouraging.  We weren’t very talkative, but we knew we had business to take care of.  I’m happy to say, I pushed all the way to the finish line.  We even sprinted the homestretch once Craig saw the timing clock, rounding the hour. I finished in 12h00m03s; 2nd female and 5th overall.  I succeeded in finishing my season with a bang.  

Saturday, October 11th, 2015,  6 am start Oil Creek State Park, Titusville, Pennsylvania 11,026' elev gain - 31 hour limit

Unforgiving.  Historic.  Gnarly.  Do you have what it takes?  

Registration opened March 21st, ‘15 & sold out March 21st, ‘15. Wow! That is a huge statement.

Split 1

OVR 9th    Chantal Warriner    692    35F       2 Female        5:42:59.10     11:11/M

Split 2

OVR 5th    Chantal Warriner   692    35F        2 Female        8:29:20.00     12:08/M

Final Split

OVR 5th    Chantal Warriner    692    35F       2  Female      12:00:03.30     11:37/M

It is so important to me that people know how grateful I am to have my health and ability to do these amazing feats.  Believing in yourself is crucial.  The mind and body is an amazing thing.  Thank you to my husband Jeff Warriner who supports my crazy ideas. Thank you to my friends and family who continue to encourage me.  Thank you to my beautiful kids who light up everytime we talk running and enjoy the outdoors together.  Thank you Coach Mike who always believes in me.  Thank you Team Runningskirts for adopting me. Thank you Ultimate Direction, Icespike, Smartwool and Brooks Canada for allowing me to be an ambassador for your most amazing products.  I am so proud to be part of your teams.  Thank you @Kat Tupling, @Craig Kingston, and @Oliver Fischer for pushing me along! My training runs with you are some of most memorable runs of the season.  I am so fortunate to have you guys!

Cheers to these development years! Cheers to rest! And most importantly, cheers to planning 2016!   Thank you for reading!!

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