How to create your own nightmare in a few easy steps:

1. Select a route, and distance punishment of your choice.
2. Find a few beleaguered friends to join.
3. Run like hell.

All joking aside. It might be that simple? Coming back from an injury, I have been eager to get some mileage under my belt. Ambitions of larger projects next season have me keen on trying to get at least one more ultra in the books this year.

Given that we are at the tail end of the summer and most of the local races have come and gone, as well as the jigsaw puzzle of juggling the school year starting up again for the family, I decided to change up the format a bit. A “choose your own adventure” approach.

Living in Richmond BC is the equivalent to living on a chess board. Flat as flat gets. In fact, flat and under sea level. Richmond (Lulu Island) is surrounded by a perimeter dyke system that prevents us from treading water on a daily basis. This dyke (or at least most of it) is also a very popular walking gravel path for many dog walkers, cyclists, and runners. Kilometers and kilometers of uninterrupted trail. No continuous stopping at intersections, crossings major thoroughfares. Just pathways and nature.

It is here where the DIY Ultra potential makes sense to me. So I mapped out a 33(ish)km route. The idea is running 3 loops within a 24hr window. That’s the easy part. The challenge now is finding some friends and fellow runners to take part in this project, and hopefully have everyone finish, not die, and still be willing to speak to me afterwards.

Still with me so far? The ground work is laid, I’m hustling to get a few more folks involved, deciding on what bushes to stash the Gatorade and Colas in, praying to the weather gods, and hopefully everything comes together for the inaugural Richmond 100 Classic. Aiming to kick off 6pm September 26 2025. Let’s go!