The Sticks and Stones Trail Race took place on October 12, 2024 at Christie Lake Conservation Area, in Hamilton, Ontario. The race profile describes this looped race as fast, rolling and runnable. This race was 5.3km loops, and I would do 10 loops to complete 53km.
https://www.happytrailsracing.com/races
I arrived at Christie Lake at 8:00am on October 12, 2024. It was a cool morning, about 10 degrees with the sun brightly shining. I checked in for the 53km due to start at 9:00am, we were handed our bib numbers as well as an awesome hoodie that I planned to wear post race.
There were runners mingling all around, and there was a fully stocked aid station set up at the start / finish line. There were also numerous picnic tables right beside the finish line where I could set up anything I needed to eat and drink throughout the race. I had a cooler filled with random snacks, and change of clothes and shoes if needed. There were actual full sit down washrooms at this race, which was also a great bonus, having used a few too many porta potties in my trail races.
At approximately 8:55am, runners started heading towards the start line, the 53km runners were mingled in with the 25km runners. (I did not realize this at the time), there were also 53km relay runners in the mix as well. There was music playing in the background and as the time count went down, I took one last deep breath, 3-2-1 and GO.
Some of the runners sprinted out to the front, and in my head I had to tell myself to just keep my own pace and stay in the race plan, as it was a long ways to go. The trail was beautiful, it was soft and rolling, and you could hear the spectators cheering as you ran out to the first short road section. The road section was downhill, and turned back into the trail. Throughout the trail you could loudly hear some cheers, and blow horns, which made me pumped up, and out of the trail head at about 2kms in there was a long bridge that went over the lake. The bridge was awesome because it was windy, as well as bouncy and you really felt like you were flying across. The bonus was, as soon as you crossed the bridge there was an aid station right there with smiling faces and tons of treats. Another good thing was, this was just about the halfway point of the 5.3km loop, so only a few more kms to go from there.
The rest of the loop was beautiful, there was a bit of an uphill after the aid station, and back into the forest with pine trees, and back around to another longer hill and around the other half of the lake back to the start line. You could hear the cheers from the start / finish line coming through the back half of the lake. I felt strong through the first laps, just getting my bearings and getting a feel for the course, since I still had 9 laps to go.
I felt very comfortable and perfectly at ease for the first couple of laps, coming through in about 30 minutes per 5km, I was a little worried it may have been a bit fast but despite that I was feeling good. Coming through on the third lap I could see the lineup of 5km and 10km runners. The bell went off for them right as I was crossing the line heading into my 3rd lap. I actually really enjoyed having the 5 and 10km runners with me because they were fresh and pushing it, and I was just kind of tagging along. A lot of them cheered me on as they blew by me.
At about the 6th lap, I was getting a little sore and getting in my head feeling sorry for myself, the small downhills were chewing up my knees, and I could feel my legs and pace dropping. I came through the 6th lap grabbed some gatorade, and asked for a shot of pickle juice. The volunteers repeated “pickle juice?” but gladly filled up my cup! A couple pickle juice shots, and some gatorade and I felt like I was back in the game. The 7th lap I felt relatively okay, and from there it was only 2 laps to go, only about 10km, and I could definitely do that. I didn’t stop a lot at the aid stations, only to grab gatorade and pickle juice. However, each time I went by the volunteers were so in tune with what I needed. I remember going through my last lap and one volunteer remembered and looked right at me and said “pickle juice for you this round?” It made me smile, they were even helping my fill my water bottle when my hands were a bit too swollen to open the lid.
The 10th lap, I was running on pure adrenaline, just knowing that it was almost over, and I had gotten through. The course was so well set up, that it was really easy to break the race down in my head, 2.5 km, half way, and only about 2.5km to go. When I got to the last stretch around the lake I could hear the finish line even though it was still almost a km away. I ended up seeing a guy in front of me and kind of just focused on his feet. I was tired at this point, but so close to being finished, and this helped distract me enough to get into a better rhythm. I ran up side by side, and we chatted for a few minutes, and then I said well I’m gonna try to go for the finish line now. I could see the finish was about 100m away. I started to pick up the pace, and to my surprise so did he! Well, that woke me right up, I had to dig deep and find another gear I didn’t think I had after running 52km!
There it was the finish line, I smiled as I crossed as the 2nd female runner across the line and 5th runner overall, 5:26.54 was my official finishing time. This was such a fun race with an amazing atmosphere. The volunteers were fantastic, you could hear their enthusiastic cheers as you were coming through, and I loved that you could basically hear the cheers all the way around the lake as you ran. I loved the course, it was fast, and so runnable. What a fun experience, I will definitely be back. Thank you Happy Trails for another wonderfully run race and fun adventure!
