So I guess it is time for another blog posting. While busy
with school and fiddle related everything-s at the moment, it is difficult to
sit down and focus on writing about running. I promise this will get better as
I have to spend less time worrying about school.
Anyways, it is probably old news by now, but Calgary has recently been hit by some pretty bad flooding. As a result, my training for the last few weeks has been extremely limited. My normal loop around the reservoir has been out of the question as I would have required a snorkel and floaties to make it through the back stretch around the Weaselhead. I managed an 17km run through our district but wasn’t overly pleased with the need to run on concrete sidewalks because the grass was over my knees in places, or the need to stop at the dozen or so street lights. I like a solid run, none of this stop and go stuff. I was still proud of the fact that I was able to knock off such a distance and only get lost twice (the cons of trying to get out a big number distance wise in a relatively small area). The week prior to that, as the flooding was just beginning I did my regular 10k look through our neighbourhood.
This past week I was away at the Leahy Music Camp in Lakefield, Ontario. Talk about exciting! I had an amazing time playing alongside and learning from Leahy, Natalie MacMaster, Matt MacIsaac, Andre Burnet, Tim Edey and Mac Morin. I wasn’t able to run but I walked a lot and made up for some running through dance. Don’t forget that a single round of the Highland Fling is equivalent to running a mile. Add all of my practice dances up and I still ran about 30 miles this past week. That’s beside the point however as it wasn’t counted towards anything….!
After returning home I played a quick fiddle gig at the Calgary Stampede on Saturday and worked on getting my hydration back up to par before my half marathon on Sunday morning.
I signed up for the Stampede Road Race half marathon in early May not knowing whether I would be ready for the distance or not. With all of the flooding we had experienced my original training plan had to be put on the back burner. Not only could I not complete my 20km loops of the reservoir (both sides), but I was also helping with flood clean up and ‘feeling the burn’ for other reasons (i.e., because I helped carry 4 feet of solid mud out of a basement because the ‘water’ was too thick to pump out…. You get the idea). Going into the race I was nervous! Big time! My longest run to date had only been 17km. I was still a few kilometers short of my target distance and didn’t know how my body would handle the added mileage.
Anyways, it is probably old news by now, but Calgary has recently been hit by some pretty bad flooding. As a result, my training for the last few weeks has been extremely limited. My normal loop around the reservoir has been out of the question as I would have required a snorkel and floaties to make it through the back stretch around the Weaselhead. I managed an 17km run through our district but wasn’t overly pleased with the need to run on concrete sidewalks because the grass was over my knees in places, or the need to stop at the dozen or so street lights. I like a solid run, none of this stop and go stuff. I was still proud of the fact that I was able to knock off such a distance and only get lost twice (the cons of trying to get out a big number distance wise in a relatively small area). The week prior to that, as the flooding was just beginning I did my regular 10k look through our neighbourhood.
This past week I was away at the Leahy Music Camp in Lakefield, Ontario. Talk about exciting! I had an amazing time playing alongside and learning from Leahy, Natalie MacMaster, Matt MacIsaac, Andre Burnet, Tim Edey and Mac Morin. I wasn’t able to run but I walked a lot and made up for some running through dance. Don’t forget that a single round of the Highland Fling is equivalent to running a mile. Add all of my practice dances up and I still ran about 30 miles this past week. That’s beside the point however as it wasn’t counted towards anything….!
After returning home I played a quick fiddle gig at the Calgary Stampede on Saturday and worked on getting my hydration back up to par before my half marathon on Sunday morning.
I signed up for the Stampede Road Race half marathon in early May not knowing whether I would be ready for the distance or not. With all of the flooding we had experienced my original training plan had to be put on the back burner. Not only could I not complete my 20km loops of the reservoir (both sides), but I was also helping with flood clean up and ‘feeling the burn’ for other reasons (i.e., because I helped carry 4 feet of solid mud out of a basement because the ‘water’ was too thick to pump out…. You get the idea). Going into the race I was nervous! Big time! My longest run to date had only been 17km. I was still a few kilometers short of my target distance and didn’t know how my body would handle the added mileage.
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| My fellow leading buddy. The other lady ran next to me most of the time. We alternated who was out in front but stayed together until we hit the big hill. What a great group of people to run with! We even chatted as we ran .... who knew? The nice thing was I even pushed my pace a little as well so it was really a good group to be with. I knocked 10s/km off my average pace to stay up at the front. It had me smiling for the bulk of the race which is always a good thing! A happy runner is a good runner! |
Start times were slightly staggered. There was a group of
runners and walkers starting at 7am and a faster group of runners at 7:30am.
Given that I was out of practice with only two runs under my belt for the
previous three weeks, I didn’t know what my expected finish time would be. I
thus decided starting with the slower group was probably to my benefit. I knew
I wouldn’t take longer than the 2h45m cut off time (if you were expecting to
take longer than 2h45m you HAD to start in this group), but I wasn’t feeling
overly confident about my ability to extrapolate on my 17km run time on a
relatively flat course (100m of elevation gain) to estimate my finish time for
21km on a slightly more hilly laden trail (i.e., one big hill being 250m on its
own and quite nearly vertical). Slow start it was!
I was actually really glad I had started with the slower group. The people were awesome and very friendly. We had good fun joking around and talking at the start line. I started strong and fell into my normal pace quickly. I was actually impressed because I lead the group until the 12km marker. There was another guy and a lady from the Bahamas’ and I that held a rather tight lead group right from the start gun. At the 12km point, the elite group leaders had caught up to us and passed us in a flash. Man do those guys have legs – they don’t run, they fly! One day!
The course was a bit different than my normal route around the reservoir. We stayed to the higher trails…maybe this was in part to the high water washing out some of the lower tracks? It was nice to have a change of scenery but also meant we had a bit more in the way of hills to contend with. Never the less, I think this is by far one of my favourite run routes around! After the steep descent into the Weaselhead area, signs of the recent floods were quite prominent. Part of the trail was sliding down the slope (marked off with bright orange pylons) and the bushes and trails were thick with mud. Had I been awake at 4am when I was getting ready for the race, I would have put on my trail shoes with better grips instead of my road runners! Whoops! The flat stretch along the marsh area was very thick with slippery mud. I am REALLY glad our little group had made it there just as the elite group was catching up. We had thankfully made it through the slime before the bulk of the people and thus probably made it through the slime before it got really bad. There were the odd dry patches amongst the mud but I can guarantee most of the 600m stretch was spent trying to catch ones balance before falling flat on ones face... unless you were lucky enough to have long legs that reached from dry patch to dry patch! I wasn’t one of the lucky ones and ran with my arms slightly out to the side and up trying to maintain my forward momentum and vertical stance.
I was actually really glad I had started with the slower group. The people were awesome and very friendly. We had good fun joking around and talking at the start line. I started strong and fell into my normal pace quickly. I was actually impressed because I lead the group until the 12km marker. There was another guy and a lady from the Bahamas’ and I that held a rather tight lead group right from the start gun. At the 12km point, the elite group leaders had caught up to us and passed us in a flash. Man do those guys have legs – they don’t run, they fly! One day!
The course was a bit different than my normal route around the reservoir. We stayed to the higher trails…maybe this was in part to the high water washing out some of the lower tracks? It was nice to have a change of scenery but also meant we had a bit more in the way of hills to contend with. Never the less, I think this is by far one of my favourite run routes around! After the steep descent into the Weaselhead area, signs of the recent floods were quite prominent. Part of the trail was sliding down the slope (marked off with bright orange pylons) and the bushes and trails were thick with mud. Had I been awake at 4am when I was getting ready for the race, I would have put on my trail shoes with better grips instead of my road runners! Whoops! The flat stretch along the marsh area was very thick with slippery mud. I am REALLY glad our little group had made it there just as the elite group was catching up. We had thankfully made it through the slime before the bulk of the people and thus probably made it through the slime before it got really bad. There were the odd dry patches amongst the mud but I can guarantee most of the 600m stretch was spent trying to catch ones balance before falling flat on ones face... unless you were lucky enough to have long legs that reached from dry patch to dry patch! I wasn’t one of the lucky ones and ran with my arms slightly out to the side and up trying to maintain my forward momentum and vertical stance.
 |
| The whopper. Note how small the people in front of me are. This is from the half way point of the hill just after going around a hair pin turn. It's a gross hill at the best of times, never mind when you are on tired lefts and 14km into a race. |
Knowing I still had 1/3 of the race to go after making it
out of the Weaselhead I opted to walk up most of the whopper hill and had a
swig of my Gatorade to keep my energy levels up. Normally I would run the hill
but again, I was 4km short in my training and didn’t know what to expect from
my body as I neared the end of the race.
The stretch along the top of North Glenmore Park was beautiful. Overlooking the marsh area it was pretty clear most of the plant life was gone or covered by many inches or feet of mud. Nevertheless, it was still as beautiful as ever. Here the number of runners started to pick up significantly. Instead of being in our small group of 4 runners (we had another girl join us around the time we were in the mucky section), we were now in a group of many tens of runners. We passed the canoe club and the golf course before heading north again to cross over Glenmore Trail. Here I lost my run buddies as I don’t like to run on concrete. The overpass over Glenmore was concrete so I decided to take it slowly and speed walked my way up and over to the other side of the freeway. I could still see my run buddies only slightly ahead of me and figured I would just keep my pace solid until the end. At this point we had just reached kilometer 18. Still breathing… still standing. Sore, but still going!
Somehow I managed to make up a bit of distance on the home stretch and reclaimed 3rd for our group of slow-pokes. The final stretch of the race, the last part of kilometer 20 and the early stages of kilometer 21 brought us back into the athletic park. We had a small grassy incline to run up before getting onto the race track and crossing through the finish like corral gates. This is where I caught up with my lead group. I finished my first 21.38km race (half marathon) in a little over 2h and 10m. I am really pleased with my finish time as I was expecting to be somewhere around the 2:30 mark give or take a couple of minutes. I suspect if I wasn’t airing on the cautious side and ran the whopper of a hill and the overpass that I probably would have finished just under 2h. Darn! Oh well, there is always next time!
I signed up for this race as a challenge – to see if I could actually do the distance. I wasn’t expecting to be prepared and I was definitely not expecting to finish as strongly as I did. I didn’t sprint to the end like I normally do because my tanks were well and truly empty, but I did finish with a solid clip and I was still vertical!
After the race we had a Stampede pancake breakfast. I will tell you that was one heck of a welcomed treat! I stretched out on the grass with a couple of juice boxes provided by Oasis and a bottle of water while the kids’ races were getting organized. After a bit of stretching and taking my time to get back into a vertical position I joined the lineup for our pancake breakfast. OH YUM! The Lions Club brought out a truck, some grills and a group of volunteers to make breakfast for all of the racers and their families. Runners had the breakfast covered in their race fees, family members had to pay $5 – a very reasonable price for a yummy breakfast! We had pancakes, sausages and maple syrup a plenty. Cobs bread also had freshly baked scones of many different varieties to choose from. I loaded up with more juice and another water and joined my trail running buddy Greg on the bleachers around the track to much away on my breakfast and cheer on the kids as they ran between 300 and 1200m (ages <12m to 12 years). There were some future track starts in the making on the track if I had to hazard a guess. The kids races were followed quickly by awards, photos and a wrap up of the mornings events.
What a great way to spend a Sunday morning. The weather was beautiful and absolutely brilliant for running. It was 13C when our start gun went off and 20C by the time we finished. The temperature increase is another reason I am glad I started with the earlier gun time! It was nearing 25C by the 2h mark of the second gun time. I wouldn’t have been too excited to run the inclines, the over pass and the long home stretch with limited shade in 25C heat.
Anyways, I guess that is it for now! If I am still in cow-town next year, I can guarantee this race will be back on my ‘to-do’ list for sure. It was extremely well organized and extremely efficient. The people were amazing! I don’t think we could have had a better day to get out and celebrate the Stampede. Come hell or high water!
The stretch along the top of North Glenmore Park was beautiful. Overlooking the marsh area it was pretty clear most of the plant life was gone or covered by many inches or feet of mud. Nevertheless, it was still as beautiful as ever. Here the number of runners started to pick up significantly. Instead of being in our small group of 4 runners (we had another girl join us around the time we were in the mucky section), we were now in a group of many tens of runners. We passed the canoe club and the golf course before heading north again to cross over Glenmore Trail. Here I lost my run buddies as I don’t like to run on concrete. The overpass over Glenmore was concrete so I decided to take it slowly and speed walked my way up and over to the other side of the freeway. I could still see my run buddies only slightly ahead of me and figured I would just keep my pace solid until the end. At this point we had just reached kilometer 18. Still breathing… still standing. Sore, but still going!
Somehow I managed to make up a bit of distance on the home stretch and reclaimed 3rd for our group of slow-pokes. The final stretch of the race, the last part of kilometer 20 and the early stages of kilometer 21 brought us back into the athletic park. We had a small grassy incline to run up before getting onto the race track and crossing through the finish like corral gates. This is where I caught up with my lead group. I finished my first 21.38km race (half marathon) in a little over 2h and 10m. I am really pleased with my finish time as I was expecting to be somewhere around the 2:30 mark give or take a couple of minutes. I suspect if I wasn’t airing on the cautious side and ran the whopper of a hill and the overpass that I probably would have finished just under 2h. Darn! Oh well, there is always next time!
I signed up for this race as a challenge – to see if I could actually do the distance. I wasn’t expecting to be prepared and I was definitely not expecting to finish as strongly as I did. I didn’t sprint to the end like I normally do because my tanks were well and truly empty, but I did finish with a solid clip and I was still vertical!
After the race we had a Stampede pancake breakfast. I will tell you that was one heck of a welcomed treat! I stretched out on the grass with a couple of juice boxes provided by Oasis and a bottle of water while the kids’ races were getting organized. After a bit of stretching and taking my time to get back into a vertical position I joined the lineup for our pancake breakfast. OH YUM! The Lions Club brought out a truck, some grills and a group of volunteers to make breakfast for all of the racers and their families. Runners had the breakfast covered in their race fees, family members had to pay $5 – a very reasonable price for a yummy breakfast! We had pancakes, sausages and maple syrup a plenty. Cobs bread also had freshly baked scones of many different varieties to choose from. I loaded up with more juice and another water and joined my trail running buddy Greg on the bleachers around the track to much away on my breakfast and cheer on the kids as they ran between 300 and 1200m (ages <12m to 12 years). There were some future track starts in the making on the track if I had to hazard a guess. The kids races were followed quickly by awards, photos and a wrap up of the mornings events.
What a great way to spend a Sunday morning. The weather was beautiful and absolutely brilliant for running. It was 13C when our start gun went off and 20C by the time we finished. The temperature increase is another reason I am glad I started with the earlier gun time! It was nearing 25C by the 2h mark of the second gun time. I wouldn’t have been too excited to run the inclines, the over pass and the long home stretch with limited shade in 25C heat.
Anyways, I guess that is it for now! If I am still in cow-town next year, I can guarantee this race will be back on my ‘to-do’ list for sure. It was extremely well organized and extremely efficient. The people were amazing! I don’t think we could have had a better day to get out and celebrate the Stampede. Come hell or high water!
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