Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/144909
THE PLAN IS CRAZY: to run a rural route from one Saskatchewan locale to another. It's why I'm standing here alone on this gravel road at dawn. The start line is the St. Laurent Ferry, one hour north of Saskatoon near Batoche. Beside me, a sign reads: "St. Louis 21 K," the distance of a half-marathon. Warmed up and stretched out, I'm off. • I've bumped elbows in road races with 50,000 other people. Today I run solo. It's just me and the long winding road ahead. Beautiful routes captured in running magazines tend to follow mountain trails or ocean-side paths. Saskatchewan, with more unpaved road than any province in Canada, has spectacular rural runs. To the east, green and gold fields shimmer in the early morning light. To the west, flat plains spread beneath the high, spruce-fringed banks of the South Saskatchewan. Farm dogs come out to greet me. Painted ponies gallop off at the sight of this two-legged creature trotting past. Ahead of me, a fox carries its lunch, a gopher, in its mouth. Mallards suddenly lift off from water-filled ditches. Hawks float overhead. I spot an eagle's nest in the distance. The only sounds: the coming and going of my breath and the tap, tap, tap of my footsteps. • The route has everything a runner could ask for: flat stretches, hills, curves and coulees. Though nature's slopes aren't tidily levelled off as those in the cities, the loose gravel underfoot is easy on the legs. Still, after 15 kilometres, a long hill nearly defeats me. Doubt creeps in. Can I make it to St. Louis? Then relief arrives in the form of a dramatic, two-km descent. St. Louis isn't far off. I can see my finish line. Near dizzy in the 26ºC heat, I'm reduced to a walking-speed shuffle. But this is no exercise in masochism. Inside, I'm beaming, nearly floating with runner's high. Stumbling into St. Louis, I end one of my most remarkable runs ever. It wasn't such a crazy plan after all. WESTWORLD p42-43_On_Run.indd 43 >> S U M M E R 2 0 1 2 43 4/13/12 12:41:45 PM