Last Chance Half Marathon

This is the last big one of the year, hence the name. I was there an hour early, such is my jittery nature. I spent most of that time pacing, stretching, going to the bathroom.

Five minutes before start time, I was out there jogging down the street and back, jumping up and down a little. It was a bit chilly, but not particularly so. I had enough adrenaline to keep me warm until start time. After the gun went off (or somebody yelled, "go!" - I couldn't tell what got it going), it took about half a minute to get to the start pads, and then after that we were out and west down the promenade from Eau Claire.

The path was clear for the first three kilometres or so. Just past 14th Street is when the ice started. It really wasn't too bad, and it was not much different than when I used to run in winter in Fish Creek park west of Macleod, a couple of years ago. What made it hard to run on, was that the temperature was close to melting, so it was almost wet ice in places.

I managed quite well, though, and passed the first water station at 14th Street on the north side. They were a little short of volunteers for this one, I think. There were only two people at the water station, and they were a little overwhelmed.

Out from under the 14th Street bridge, and there's a bit of a downward slope for less than a hundred metres, and I slide down it on the ice. It wasn't really slippery, so I could control it easily. And then good running to 10th and beyond.

At Prince's Island, my GPS was just over 40 minutes, so the Resolution Run should give a PR on eight kilometres, if I can do that pace again. Thinkin' ahead, dontcha know.

Just past Centre Street, I saw the only casualty due to ice. A guy in front of me went down, but not hard at all. He was up and running again by the time I got to him.

The dips under Edmonton Trail were treacherous, so much so that a volunteer was there to warn us of the ice. I slid down the first one, but it was a fabulously long slide, and I had some fun in trying to maintain control and to stay upright. The second one I just went around it, onto the ankle deep snow on the grass.

I found myself on new paths, once we got to the zoo. I had tried to run this way last year, in preparing for the Calgary marathon, but much of the path system was closed due to flooding after all the rain we got back then. So this was pretty cool. At one point I looked left into the cougar's cage and right, across the river, into the lion's cage. Neither was out in the cold, though.

There's a suspension bridge that crosses the river giving zoo goers another way across the river, and right under it, I hit the nastiest ice of the day. It wasn't obvious, I wasn't ready for it, and I flailed a bit in trying to stay upright. Mercifully it was a small patch, so I hit pavement pretty quick after I started sliding, and managed to recover. I could feel my shoulder for awhile after, though, after flinging my arms out for balance.

Once past the zoo, we were also past the plowed paths. The ices was no longer a problem, but the snow was soft and difficult to run on, like running on dry sand. I think I maintained good speed, but I was beginning to feel my knees, ankles and hips by the time I got to 17th Avenue.

We crossed the river there, and looped around under the bridge, continuing south to the bird sanctuary, where we turned around at the last water station. Paths were clear for the rest of the way, and by then, at about fifteen and a half km, it was pretty much head down and keep slogging.

About the only thing that I noticed after that was how much gravel was on the path. Some of the bigger stones felt a little sharp through the soles of my shoes. Once I passed Sein Lok Park, at about half a km to go, I did my usual: lengthen my stride and push hard. I passed a few people toward the end, and crossed the finish line around 1:53.

Then I chugged the bottle of water they handed me and headed for the buffet inside Eau Claire Market. Big trays of penne and tomato sauce, ravioli in cream sauce, gobs of salad, and huge trays of fruit slices and sweets. Since I'm always ravenous after a long run, I made a fairly respectable pig of myself.

Today's run:
Distance: 19.62 km. Time: 1:43:36. Average speed: 11.4 kph.
Rest distance: 1.41 km. Rest time: 11:00.
Total distance: 21.03 km. Total time: 1:54:36.

Shoes: Saucony Grid Phoenix (Yellow) I gave the blue ones a rest since they're pretty much at end-of-life.

Weather: Mostly cloudy and -1C, warming up a little, to 1C. No wind, so very nice running weather.