I ran the Elk Valley Ultra on 25 July 2026 in Fernie, British Columbia. This was one of the most difficult, yet breathtaking and truly incredible days of my life. I came out with a time of 11 hours and 57 minutes, beating the 12 hour cut off by just 3 minutes to secure a finish that looked impossible most of the race.
While listening to David Goggins few days before the race, I remembered something he said about why he ran difficult races. He said it was because he could experience 10 years of life in 1 day – the ups and downs, things going wrong and how to overcome them and what you get from the experience. I really felt that in this race and the whole thing still feels like a dream that I have lived to me. Finishing so close was really a magic moment that felt incredible to experience. People often like to compare finish times, but for myself I wouldn’t exchange how things turned out with even the first place finish.
When everything goes wrong… Never give up
After running the Wildhorse Traverse, I had a break of about a month where I did not do much running. June was just normal running and getting back to things. I did not have a lot of training with a month to go for the race so I ended up pushing the next 3 weeks. I did peak at around 60 km per week, but it was just 2 big weeks that I had to get training in. However, I did make two key changes from my earlier race. One was that I strength trained more and I used my barefeet shoes a lot more to get the soles of my feet stronger as these were the things that broke down the most in my last race. One thing that really helps get through difficult moments in races like this is if you’ve got through them in your life because that part directly transfers over on how you deal with difficult moments.
I tried the course few days before and having met other fellow runners on the course, I took the advise of getting poles. I’m not sure I would have finished the course without them. Poles are a must if you decide to run this race, unless you really know what you are doing. I foolishly gave the poles advise to Tyler and Gavin at the hostel I was staying at the night before, but they ended up finishing 1st and 4th. I barely managed to get 2 hours of sleep the night before due to the heat and I got a ride to the start line from a kind stranger called Brian and it was off to the races.
The first part of the course was the toughest one, with 23.5km and 1500m of elevation gain going up and down Mount Fernie and then connecting onto the old growth trail, with majority of it coming in one section. Since this was a single course track and even though it had a time limit of 12 hours, I knew it was important to get off to a quick start before starting the climb. I did push and maybe even overextended myself a little, but I got to the start of the climb in 45 minutes.
Going into the main climb, I knew this is my strong section and I should do well. However I completely bombed the climb. I had way too many things in my backpack, especially too many food items and stuff and it badly bogged me down. I had really bad neck pain while climbing as a result. I thought I should try to power through everything I had, including shakes, bagels, protein bars, but all it did was it resulted in a painful stomach. By the time I finished the climb, I was around 3.5 hours into the race, meaning I was woefully behind what was required to meet the 12 hour cutoff. And I was feeling horrible with a really bad neck, still too much food in my backpack and a really upset stomach. I rested for a bit and soldiered on.
I had to quickly think of a strategy and quickly realised that I had to push the descent and somehow finish the first section within 5.5 hours to have a shot at finishing the race. I did still have a lot of problems and was very tired, but all those issues could be dealt with later I thought. I really pushed the descends to make it to the aid station in the next couple of hours. Besides, I could get rid of a lot of food, bear spray and I could gulp down some orange juice, change socks and I should be a new man. So that’s what I did. And quickly, as I did not have a lot of time to waste. After leaving the aid station, I realised I had 6.5 hours to finish the race, with 29 km to go, but I was done with the main climb. Even if I do manage to finish, I knew it was going to be very close.
Surviving the Middle Section
After leaving aid station 1, other than the really upset stomach, I felt oddly ok after gulping down the orange juice. I quickly did some calculations and realised that I need to finish the mid-section of the race that consisted of 12km and 300m of elevation gain in maximum 2.5 hours to have any shot of finishing the race within the cut off. Ideally would want to get there little earlier so that I can give myself little more leeway. The trail took me through the rail trail, Gorby trail, old growth trail and old growth trail.
Efficiency is really name of the game while running middle sections. You can’t burn yourself too much and need to leave enough juice for the end as it is a long race, but at the same time you really need to hit your cutoff targets so that you can have a shot to finishing the race. I really enjoyed this part of the race as there were not a lot of people at this stage and I could just focus on putting my head down and getting the mileage in. The Gorby pass section was simply gorgeous, with one of the best views I’ve ever experienced in my life. This section was fun and was a breeze, with most of it going through shaded sections and the afternoon heat had not yet kicked in.
At aid station 2 I didn’t spend much time, quickly getting my hydration pack filled up, powering through some fruits, changing socks after pondering for a while and just getting going as I didn’t have time to lose. As I made my way to attempt the final stretch, I had 4 hours 12 minutes remaining on the clock.
The Power of Now and Escaping the Mind Body Complex
At this point I would like to introduce a very special and powerful book I have been reading and some inner work I have been doing. The book is called The Power of Now. This book talks about how life can only be lived in the present, not in the past or the future. It talks about how life only happens in the present moment and your brain is the one that often forces you to live in the past or the future with thoughts and emotions.
A lot of times thoughts and emotions can be unconscious and getting those out from your system to truly live in the present moment can be difficult. This is because they are attached to your identity of what your mind has constructed or the ego. So to truly live and enjoy life in the present, you need to get rid of everything you have witnessed in the past or your future desires. Because both of these are constructs of the mind.
Life has to be lived in terms of what connects with your being or your soul and only at the present moment. To understand life deeply, it is important to understand yourself and increase your awareness. You can only take actions as per your awareness of knowing what truly belongs to you and the best way to do that is to silence your mind and through other practices like:
- Meditation
- Getting rid of bad unconscious habits/addictions like drugs, lust, doomscrolling, anything too pleasurable for senses. These numb yourself from experiencing reality to a deep level
- Extreme practices like cold plunge, sauna, cold showers
- Doing difficult, extreme physical activities like ultra marathons that push you beyond mind, body complex
The other thing that I’ve dabbled in is the idea of altered states of consciousness. What you experience as external reality is just a reflection of what you are internally. So the only way to magnetise what you want is to hold that charge internally. When you get past really difficult situations, that charge is permanently etched onto you. You feel it all the time and it’s something that never escapes you.
The Final Grind
As I got to the final stretch, the calculation was simple. 900m of elevation gain, 18km remaining with 4 hours 12 minutes to go, with us going through rail trail, stupid traverse and then down the hill onto the town roads to lead us back to where we started. After slowly making my way back on the loop, I started the real climb at around the 39km mark. I was really tired at this stage, but simply pushed on. The climb was perilous, never ending and the afternoon sun really bogged me down. I did see a bear in the bushes and a huge brown coated wolf, that was really one of highlights of this climb for me. I did have a nice chat with another fellow runner called Rob, who had to leave his friend behind because she DNFed at previous aid station. He looked like a seasoned runner and was the only one behind me who ended up finishing and he was behind me by a lot.
I didn’t get much chances to click pics. The last climb especially was really bad. I had around 1.5 hours to go at that point and was really questioning if I could make it because after running for nearly 11 hours I was really tired and everything in my body and mind wanted to give up. But I realised that in order to finish that climb, I could not think about how far I needed to go or what the time calculations looked like or how tired I was. I just had to put the next foot down with the same vigor as the last one and keep doing that until I could not and hope everything works out. There were no time calculations that I had to worry about because that would sort itself out(or wouldn’t), there was no point listening to how bad my body hurt and how much my mind wanted to give up. I realised this is what experiencing the power of now was like. Everything in my body hurt, yet I was at peace knowing that putting my next foot forward is all I had to do like the universe depended on it. It was very simple and there was nothing more to it. The outcomes will take care of themselves.
When you are detached from the outcome, you are completely attached to the excellence of the moment.
– Bhagvad Gita 2.38
I finished the climb with around 7 km and little more than an hour to go. The downhill was actually pretty brutal on my joints and my toenails, but I just pushed on, not thinking about the pain. Races like these really help you develop an unbreakable spirit. Even when difficulty comes in your life and it will, you never panic or worry because you have trained yourself to get through it. I knew this was going to be the fastest section I would have to run(other than the first hour) after running the whole day, but it was mostly downhill. I kept pushing at a pace of 10 min/km, which I knew would get me to the finish. I had run out of water a long time back and was really thankful to drink a few sips at a popup water station with 30 mins to go. Last 2 kms were tough because it was hard to gauge how far away I was and it was mostly through the city so had to navigate around people and things. Regardless I pushed and made it to the finish with little more than 3 minutes to go.
After the race, it took me a while to take in the very emotional experience that it had been. After completely bombing out on the first climb, it would have been so easy to have given up. But often there is value in chipping away, chipping away until you push things right to the finish and have the moment to grab it.
The days after the race, I felt strangely calm. I also noticed that extreme experiences like cold plunges were just easier for me and I just had a sense of calm that was permanently imprinted on my soul. I also felt extremely greatful for existence and that some strange power gave me this incredible experience that would be hard to even make up.
It goes without saying that I am very grateful and thankful for volunteers, Stag Leap running staff and every other participant for making this race truly special. The running community is what really makes these events amazing.