Rundle’s Revenge: The Full Report

I say this every time but I have to do more trail races. The atmosphere is always so chill and everyone is so friendly and encouraging. I drove down early on Saturday so I could spend the day relaxing and wandering around. Mostly I napped because the week’s noise caught up with me. I had a few beers at dinner with Cory and his family before hitting the pillows around 10 p.m.

Cory had picked up my race kit for me so I didn’t have to wait in the long line to pick mine up on Saturday morning. Moments before the race started someone told me that I had to check in. Ugh. They wanted to make sure you had your bear spray. The race started at 8 a.m. but we had to be there for 7:40 a.m. bear safety talk. I didn’t hear much of it because I was too busy chatting up other runners. (Carrying bear spray in an accessible spot on the trails is mandatory at the Canmore Nordic Centre.)

There were a lot of fit looking runners milling about. I didn’t recognize too many people. I think most people were from Calgary or Canmore. I chatted with Tina from Calgary who was also running the 25K. I seeded myself near the back of the start. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the front with the faster runners because I know I would want to start fast. I had to remind myself this is a training run. Take your time. Enjoy the run. Take mental notes. 

I knew this would be challenging so I did not want to go out and hurt another body part. I was slightly worried about my right hip/leg/foot so I was more cautious than usual. The first go was CRAZY. Hill after hill after hill. I think it was the worst bit of the entire race and I had to do it twice.

I took this picture after my first 12.5K loop. I think everyone was hiking up this baby. Thankfully I am a strong power walker. When I train for trail races, I also train power walking up the hills. I learned this little nugget of wisdom from Trail Runner Nation. I always try to walk as fast as I can so I don’t lose that much time. Chances are I am probably walking faster than I would be running especially at the end.

It wasn’t all hills. There were some lovely shaded spots. I found my mojo around 4K but as it turns out my Garmin was 2K off the distance. My Garmin read 27K at the end of the race which really screwed me up because I thought I was faster than I actually ran.

The terrain was a mix of dirt, gravel, some road and root filled path. I loved the downhill bits because I could make up the time I lost on the steep hills. That is until I got tired of the downhills. There was this long stretch that was horrendous. At one point I separated from a couple women that I was running with (more later) and I yelled “Go Deathracer!” It was quite funny! (I thought of you Amber Dawn Hunter!!!)

 
Somewhere along the end of the first lap and before the water station, I found myself leapfrogging with Jean from Lacombe and Terri from Kelowna. I met Jean when I first moved to Red Deer three years ago on the trail in Lacombe. She’s one awesome trail runner! It was great connecting with her. We chatted about trail running and races in the area. She ran Lost Souls last year so she gave me some tips.

Terri was great to chat with too. She was a strong runner. The three of us ran together for nearly the entire second lap. I left them on the flats and they would catch me on the uphills. You could tell runners were getting tired. Two women wiped out in front of me at this rooty section. I tripped A LOT. I managed to catch myself once and I wiped out another time. So much fun. The three of us all finished within a minute of one another.

I wasn’t in as much pain as I thought I would be. Yay! Sure my legs were screaming bloody murder but that was to be expected. I’m taking a lot away from this race. I definitely need to run more hills and more hills in the next two months. I sense another trip to Canmore in the near future.