I ate a rushed breakfast of quinoa and a banana. I gulped some water and got on the road early. I wanted to have a parking spot close to the finish/start. When I arrived there were lots to choose from. Tara arrived a few minutes later and we made our way to the start together.
Along the way I ran into a few people I knew including Judy from Grande Prairie. I saw Bill and his wife right away so I gave them their race kits. Time went by very quickly and the next thing I knew I was lining up at the start.
We started at 7:45 a.m. (15 minutes before the half-marathoners and marathoners).
I turned my Garmin on and switched it quickly to metric. I wished Tara a strong race. I hit play on my iPod. And we were off.
We ran straight on 55th Street and turned east on 45th Avenue. From there we ran straight and took a sharp left on the Waskasoo Crescent before entering the trail system along the Red Deer River.
I glanced at my watch when we reached the Taylor bridge. We were at the 3k mark and I was at about 13 minutes. I was feeling pretty good. There were a lot of hills to start so that kept my pace in check.
We did a loop around the Bower Ponds and below the Taylor Bridge. We ran past the BMX track, Lions Campground and my apartment building. I felt pretty strong. At the 5k mark I was at about 23 minutes. One of my CFE coaches was at the waterstation there. I instantly thought … geez I hope my form is okay.
There weren’t a lot of runners in sight. I tried to keep pace with a woman about 400 metres in front of me. I always like a target to chase. The route was really hilly at this point. I knew there were still a lot of hills to challenge my quads. At the 67th Street Bridge, I gave it my all and kept going. We had a sharp trail off the bridge and back into the trail system again.
Here was when I lost my stride. I got caught up with hundreds of marathoners and half-marathoners running below the bridge. Talk about annoying. I like to use the down hill to my advantage. Instead I was weaving around people as I tried to keep my pace for the final 2 kilometres. It was really frustrating. Finally I made my way through the crowd of runners and to the turn off point for the 10kers. I was a greeted with a sign that read, One mile to go. I glanced at my Garmin. That seemed off. Turns out our 10k course was actually a 10.5k course.
I tried to shrug off my crowding frustration and get it done. I ran up the Michener Hill. My boss, Carolyn, was at the top snapping photos. I said hello and ran easily down the hill.
Crossing the finish line, I tried to smile and keep my head up. I hope the photographers caught it.
Overall I am pretty happy with my pacing for the race. I didn’t start too fast and I kept an even pace for most of the 10 kilometres. I was slightly annoyed that the 10k racers did not receive a medal. Only the marathoners and half-marathoners received the hardware. I was disappointed. Talk about cheap. I love my medals. Anyway this was a HILLY course. I ran up and down hills, up and down bridges. It’s a wonder my quads weren’t screaming bloody murder. I barely caught my breath from one hill when I was running up another.
Here are the final numbers: My time was 52:11 and my pace was 5:13. I finished 24th out of 315 runners. I was 7 out of 95 in my age group. I was 11th out of 234 women in the race.