Calgary Police Half RR

Hey,

Long time no see uh.  Been awhile since I last posted.  I dunno if I just didn't have anything to say, didn't feel like it, no time to do so?  Maybe a combo of all of those.  Anyways today I ran the first race of the year so I thought I should write up a post.  The Calgary Police half!!

I woke up around 6am, ate breakfast which consisted of some oatmeal and coffee.  I don't know if I'll ever drink coffee before a marathon or ironman, but it really helps when it's time to visit the poop fairy so for shorter races it's a must!!  nuff said!  Usually I'm deathly afraid of races, they mean pain and I'm a big wuss.  I like the challenge and do them for progression plus it's a great test to see where you are at as far as training goes.  But today was different.  I woke up strangely calm?!?!  I really don't know why, usually I'm freaking out.  I was nervous but not like usual.  I got breakfast done, coffee in tow and clothing set and headed out the door.

I arrived at the race quite early, which I really liked as I could sit for a bit and chill.  Then I went inside to make the necessary bathroom visit.  Eventually I met Curtis, and also happened to bump into Trevor Else.  That was good to connect with him again.  I don't think I'd seen him since cda in 2010.

We moved out like 10 min before the start and lined up a bit too far back for my liking.  I guess if I'd really wanted to and maybe I should have in retrospect.  It did kinda slow me down starting out.  But it also kept me from going out too fast.  For the first mile I was running in and out of people, I hit the lap button a few times so it would refresh my lap pace.  I had my Garmin first and foremost so I could monitor my start.  No wayyy am I starting out too quickly today.  So I kinda dialed in just under 7min pace, around 6:45ish and ran pretty comfortably.  The res loop is quite hilly and since I started a ways back I got to pass people all race long.  Even later on I kept passing people, I don't think I got passed once.  One person even mentioned how I must have missed the start or somthing because I came up on him quickly.

I kept the pace in the low 6:40s and even dipped a few timees into the 6:30s.  I like to coast the flats and downhills and push the hills.  That's the way I run, so every hill was an opportunity to pass someone else.  I went through 10k in about 42:40? I think?  Felt ok, little bit of discomfort, but that's to be expected.  Eventually we ran down the steep hill at the far end of the res.  I had planned on easing up a bit before the climb up, that way I could recover a bit before hand and not hurt so much on the climb.  It didn't workout that way.  I don't remember ever hurting so bad on the climb, I forget what the creek is called.  I wanted to walk sooooo bad, but I didn't let myself.  I think that was at about 15km.  I thought of the Calgary 70.3, I did walk a couple steps that day.  Not today, so I made it to the top.  They had bagpipes playing at the top and they were really loud!!  Deafening!!  Lots of people on the hill and at the top too.  Weaselhead creek!  That's what it's called, I just checked.  I saw a familiar face on the hill too, Chris somthing but I couldn't say anything.  I could see that he recognized me too, we both did a double take and I ran on.

At the top of Weaselhead I tried to recover, but I was sucking wind.  I musta looked awful.  I also knew I was well ahead of the 90 min mark so I thought I could ease up a bit.  I tried that a few times in the race, but every time I attempted to slow down a bit so that I could survive, the internal pace would crank it back up again.  After Weaselhead there is a long false flat downhill and I thought I was running slower but I think this ended up being my fastest mile, 6:35.  I kept watching the clock(Garmin) and thought I had plenty of time in hand.  Then the last mile coming in was the slowest, 6:55.  Really even pacing considering the rolling hills.  As I got closer to Mount Royal I realized I didn't have as much time in hand that I thought I did.  I just barely made it under 1:30, I think the course was a touch long, plus bad math while running.  lol  Good race overall, I hurt, but I didn't kill myself like other years.  I'm always happy if I can get under 90 minutes.  I think I ended up 27th overall, and 16th in my age group.  Tough age group eh??  And only got chicked once, woot!!