I opened my eyes at 7:15 a.m. I jumped out of bed in a major panic. I didn’t set my clothes out the night before. I wasn’t 100 per cent sure of the location. I was screwed. But I took a deep breath and quickly got dressed. I ate a banana while I rushed around trying to get my act together.
I left the house some 20 minutes later. There was no traffic on the road so I was able to speed my way to the race. I made it with about 10 minutes to spare. Actually I think they started a little late.
I managed to get a few minutes of stretching in before we were called to the start. At this point I was happy that I opted to run the shortest distance (7.5). I was worried about my poor warm up. I broke the rule – the shorter the distance, the longer the warm up.
Brent & Yvonne were also racing. Nice to see they were just as nervous (but not as frazzled as I was). Sona was the official cheerleader.
There were about 100 people in the field for the three distances of 7.5k, 15k and 30k. Most of the runners were in the 7.5k. Maybe 4 people ran the 30k.
RACE
I lined up in the middle. I almost never line up at the front or the back. I am not that fast and I don’t want to have to navigated through slower runs to start my race. As always I was in danger of starting too fast. Since this was a shorter race than I am used to, I had pacing on my mind. Too fast may hurt in the end.
As soon as we got underway, I wonder what I got myself into. It was hilly to start, in the middle and in the end. We ran over rutted fields, jumped over logs and used ropes for part of the course. It was tough. The whole time I wished I had a better warm up. I was gasping for air for the first two kilometres.
At the rope portion, I was pushed off the rope by this guy I know. In doing so he even ripped my bib off. I was pissed. I know he was joking but it totally threw me off for most of the course. Why are people such jackasses?
I learned how the race got its name “Canyon Crawl” on the climb of 950 metres, the highest elevation of the race. It was pure hell. My poor legs were crying out in agony. This hill beat the crap out of me. Some 10 people passed me on this hill. I saw Brent behind me and that motivated me to keep going. I couldn’t have Brent beat me! (I’m Brent’s running coach). That was all the motivation I needed. We reached the top together. I gave Brent some of my water. Then I kept on running.
I knew once I got on relatively flat ground, I would be okay. Climbing killed my legs. There was still a lot of hills to climb and descend. This was a killer run. I’m glad I did it.
FINISH
Of course, I say I can do better. Don’t we all say that after a race? My stats: 20th overall. 9th woman. 2nd in age group (1st came in 6 seconds before me). I’m pretty happy with my standing. Judging from what I felt on the ski hill I thought I would be dead last. (Not that there is anything wrong with that). I am looking forward to racing this next year. Got to beat my time (and Brent of course).
I considered doing this one but I ran those hills for Mud Hero and wasn't prepared to go through that agony again. I probably would have ended up walking most of the steep up hill. Good job for finishing so well!