Race Recap: Calgary Game of Life

I wore bib #3312. I pinned it on my running skirt. Yes, my “skirt.” This was the first time I ran in a skirt for a race. I felt pretty. The skirt was black with a touch of pink on the lining and on the waist band. I wore the skirt a few times already so I knew it wouldn’t annoy me while I ran. I also wore my fluorescent pink compression calve sleeves. Hands down I was the best dressed!

The 10k started at 10 a.m. so @suzesilver and I left Red Deer around 7 a.m. Her 5k race began 10 minutes after our start. We arrived with lots of time to spare. There were a ton of people milling about so we chatted and stretched. We even caught up with John Stanton for a few minutes.

There were about 350 runners registered for both events. I was a little nervous. It’s been so long since I ran a short distance race. I had the nervous belly. I must have visited the toilet about five times.

With only a few minutes before the race started, everyone was standing on the sidelines. No one was lined up. For a brief second, I thought I was the only one registered for the 10 km. Because I am so impatient and wanted to run, I turned to the two people standing beside me, “Isn’t anyone going to line up?” A fast looking girl said, “let’s do it.” So the two of us lined up and within a few seconds others followed.

The 10 second countdown began and I found myself dead centre of the starting line. I looked to the girl beside me. She looked fast. On the other side was a guy who looked even faster. What the hell was I doing here? Too late to move back.

Go. I turned on the iPod and went for it. I was in the lead pack for about 30 seconds. The two runners beside me took off with lightning speed. Straight away I was passed by about 5 or 6 guys in red shirts. I kept to the side and ran. I didn’t try to catch up to anyone. I just ran.

At the 1 km marked, I glanced at my watch. It read 4:30. Oh, oh. I needed to slow down. At the 2 km mark I was about 9 minutes. Still too fast. Remember I wanted to run a slower first half and pick up the pace in the second half. Clearly I was on my way to doing the opposite.

I was even counting the number of women who passed me. Another bad move. The top three women get sneakers. I counted two right away. When a 3rd and then a 4th passed me, I gave up my lofty goal of snagging those sneakers.

Eventually my pace slowed. As much as I could, I tried to maintain an even pace. I wanted to stop so bad at the 5 km for water but I kept on. At the 7 km mark I was at 36 minutes so I knew if I kept up an even pace I would be just shy of hitting my 50-minute goal. My legs felt good. I felt strong. The rest this week did my body some good. I was a little worried about the after effects of CrossFit. Thankfully I wasn’t sore. The extra stretching on Saturday did its trick.

Despite starting too fast, I was so excited to be out on such a beautiful morning with such a great group of people. Calgary is such an active city. It was nice to see so many other people out enjoying the trail along the Bow River.

I found myself running alone a lot despite seeing so many other people on the trails. I’m so glad I brought my iPod. There were times when I just wanted to take a breather.

The last three kilometres were brutal. I was so done. I wanted to finish strong. I dug deep and I ran hard into the finish line. I hope the cameras caught my determination. John put the medal around my neck. He laughed and said, “when you catch your breath, be sure to put your bib number in for draw prizes.”

(I didn’t win a door prize. I never win a door prize.) @suzesilver was at the finish line with her medal. She ran her first 5 km race. She did amazing! I am so happy for her.

After the race a few people came up to me to say they followed my compression sleeves to the finish. That’s was funny.

Anyway I didn’t make my 50-minute goal. I ran 51:26. I’ll take it. I was pretty happy because I was super worried. I was the 5th woman, 1st in my age group and 23rd overall. No sneakers for me. I did get a water thingy for being first in my age group.

The girl beside me at the start? She won the race in 39 minutes. The guy finished a minute after to take second.

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Next up …. more training for the Calgary Marathon (May 27) I have 27 days to get ready. That means this week is all about speed and tempo runs. On May 21, I will run another 10 km race. My goal for this race is 48 minutes. I feel pretty confident.