Samantha Kasdorf finished the gruelling 100 km race in just over 14 hours

Samantha Kasdorf took the mantra of "just putting one foot in front of the other" to cope with the death of a loved one further than most.

The Prince George runner crossed the finish line of the 100-kilometre San Joaquin River Trail Ultramarathon over the weekend, placing second among women in the California race with a time of 14 hours and three minutes.   

"I run because I know things don't last forever," said Kasdorf, 30.

Her fiancé, Cody Scheuerman, died in January after a two-year battle with cancer. Kasdorf turned to running as a form of therapy.

"Running became a really healthy outlet for me," she told Carolina de Ryk, the host of CBC's Daybreak North.

"[Cody] was very encouraging, always pushing me to challenge myself."

Kasdorf was originally planning to run a shorter, 80-kilometre race, but it was cancelled due to the wildfires in California.

She wasn't about to let that stop her, though. At the last minute signed up for an more gruelling challenge: a 100-kilometre race thread through rocky, uneven terrain with an elevation gain of more than 3,600 metres  — which is higher than some peaks in the Canadian Rockies.

'His zest for life carried me through'
Throughout those hours of slogging up the mountain, and in previous runs, Kasdorf often thinks about her fiancé, who was also an avid outdoorsman and athlete.  

"Tears definitely fall in every race that I've run this year," she said.

"I have lots of ups and downs and his zest for life carried me through the toughest moments of those races for sure."

Kasdorf takes comfort in training and the long distances she runs.

"It makes me feel very alive," she said.

"I realized just putting one foot in front of the other is all I can do."