The Banff Calgary Road Race

I arrived in Banff the night before for this one. A couple of the hotels had special rates for race participants, which made it nice. But I didn't sleep at all, it seemed like. What kept me up, I don't know.

A personal best, I think - 22 km in 2:04. And what a great run! Weatherwise, it was about perfect for my leg. I showed up at the start line with 119 other runners bright and early, at 7:00 am at the Banff Recreation Centre.

I rather liked the small crowd at the start, because I got over the start line and on my way, right away.

By the time I got to the highway, the crowd had already thinned out, and I had only four runners behind me. This crowd was all serious runners! Still, I was on pace, a little over 10 kph.

So I just kept at it, with the few runners still in sight in front of me not really gaining, and the ones behind me dropping farther back.

Now, something happened at about the 50 minute mark. My speed jumped to over 11 kph, and stayed there for almost the rest of the run. I have no idea why, but things just became easier for some reason. And I managed to catch up to and pass four runners in the next 30 minutes or so. The sun even came out occasionally, and it was just a beautiful morning to be running.

It was a huge surprise to find myself at the park gate at 1:40. I didn't expect to be there by that time at all. But it was also a huge surprise to have to run another 20 minutes to get to Canmore proper, and the finish line.

But even then, I found a little more energy to make a strong finish, running at 13 kph over the last 800 metres or so.

The cheering section was loud and racuous.

And I made it!


Seriously, it was a fabulous run, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Today's run:
Distance: 20.23 km. Time: 1:52:01. Speed: 10.8 km.
Rest distance: 1.36 km. Rest time: 12:00.
Total Distance: 21.59 km. Total Time: 2:04:01.

Weather: Cloudy and 3C at the start, warming to 5C at the end, with hardly a breath of wind.

At the hand off, there was no team mate waiting. I had estimated it would take me about 2:15, so I was a little early. But the next runner was on her way within five minutes or so of my arrival. Then I caught a ride back to Banff and the hotel, had a quick shower (loved that part) and checked out. I met a couple of our team at the start of the sixth segment, and generally hung out for awhile.

Home after that, caught a bit of a nap, then down to the finish line (but forgot the camera!) Our last runner crossed the line at 10:29:10, plus or minus a couple of seconds, which I thought was pretty respectable.

I'll post a link to the official times when they are available.