Lynn Valley runner has a peak experience

When Lynn Valley's Hilary Ewart successfully tackled her second Knee Knacker Run earlier this year, one might have thought that running up and down our North Shore mountainsides would have been enough of a challenge for one year. Soon, though, she was determined to hit new heights - just a few months later, she was embarking upon a 100-mile race through India's Himalayan range.Hilary returned from her adventure in mid-November, having coped with the over 11,000-ft. altitude, rustic conditions, and some gruelling climbs. Did she love it? Absolutely. "It was such a new experience," she says. "You were constantly being stimulated. There were so many 'wow' moments - it was like the stuff you see in movies."Hilary and the 65 other international runners, including friends from the North Shore, travelled terrain that ranged from meadow, to jungle-like forest, to bare mountain ridges. A definite highlight was the dramatic scenery, says Hilary, and it just kept getting better throughout the five days of the 100-mile run; by Day Two, their vista encompassed all the highest peaks in the world. (For a participating journalist's day-by-day account of the run, visit here.)While it is a race, Hilary and her friends were more than willing to "waste" time stopping and taking photos and just absorbing their surroundings. The annual race organizer, Mr. Pandey, reluctantly records the participants' completion times, but insists that the experience is all about the journey, not the destination nor the time it takes to get there.Hilary, who returned with hundreds of photos and an even greater number of unforgettable memories, couldn't agree more. We'll look forward to hearing where her path leads next!