My big decision was how to get there. I mean, it's close enough to walk, about 2 km to the start and finish lines. Would I be up to walking home after? And if the weather were to be icky, would I have to deal with a coat, or could I manage without?
I hopped in the car about an hour before. I figured if I got there early enough, I could get into one of the big parkades along 10th Avenue. But of course, the route went down 10th Avenue, and it also was on 1st Street SE and 5th Street SW, so all access to those parkades was blocked by the time I got downtown. Probably had been since the wee hours.
I drove away from the area, and every parking spot was taken. I still had plenty of time before the start, so I went home. And then I did what I should have done from the start, and treated it like a usual Sunday run.
So I went home, pinned my number to my vest, and strapped the timing chip on my shoe. Then out the door and down to the bluff, along the bluff to Centre Street. I ran along Centre all the way to the Calgary Tower, where the start line was. And still had fifteen minutes to wait before the start. It took about 12 minutes to cover the 2 km.
By the time I got down there, it had started to rain, just a light drizzle. There was a bit of a breeze, but it was screened by all the people around. I paced a little around the crowd, stretching calves at the curb.
About five minutes to start, I got into a place between the 5 min/km and 6 min/km pace signs and bounced a little to the music while an aerobics instructor type tried to lead the crowd through some warm up moves. By then the rain had turned to snow, and I think people just wanted to get going.
The wheelchair racers left first, and five minutes later the rest of us got the starting gun. Of course there was the usual surge forward a few paces, and wait, until those in front were able to funnel through the start, and then I covered the 15 metres or so to the start line, and off we went.
Down 9th Avenue, it was pretty crowded. This is a big race and there are a lot of people around. Traffic wasn't too constrictive though, and I was making pretty good time.
I noticed about then that with all the highrise buildings around, I'd lost contact with the GPS system. The darn thing said my pace was over twenty minutes.
At 5th Street we turned south, and the crowd filled the four lanes, even were up on the sidewalks in places. It was a bit of a blur.
I had intended to hold back some, not be so fast, and just enjoy the run, but I guess I'm naturally competitive, cuz I found I was pushing hard, and dodging around slower runners. For the most part there was room to maneuver but occasionally I would get boxed in by runners.
I remember crossing 17th Avenue, and then we were into a narrower stretch of street. I don't think it's narrower, but it always feels so when I drive that way. Most of my attention was on moving forward, and passing and going around others. They had split the road with 10 km runners on the right and 5 km runners on the left. At 25th Street, the 5 km runners went east and the crowd thinned a little.
On Elbow drive we crossed to the far side of the road, letting traffic have the western side. I tried to stay to the middle of the street as much as possible. The chambre of the curb lane was pretty sloped and I find that if I run on such sideways slopes for any length of time, my knees and ankles begin to complain.
It's a lovely part of the city, very nice to run through, but my attention was still on traffic. This is one busy and crowded race.
Just across the Elbow, we turned left onto Landsdowne Avenue, then Centre Boulevard, and on to 42 Avenue through Stanley Park. A total blur. I'm getting the street names from my map book cuz I don't know that part of town at all. At one point there was a walkway from 42nd Avenue onto 1A Street, with one of those posts in the middle that is supposed to prevent people from shortcutting by driving down the sidewalk. Wonder if anyone hit it?
This stretch was all up and down. Not big hills, but they pulled at the calves going up. At first they slowed me down a lot. At 34th Avenue, we went left, a long gentle climb. I felt much stronger on the uphill side and pushed quite hard up the three blocks or so to the top. We were on the left, and those ahead of us were coming back on the right.
Somewhere up near end of the street we reversed directions, and headed down the hill again, this time all the way to Mission Road, where we turned a hairpin corner to continue down hill toward 4th Street. More blur and surrounded by people. On the bridge over the Elbow, just before 26th Avenue, and older couple were walking against the runners, along the edge. Taking the chance to walk on the street instead of the narrow walkway on the bridge.
At 25th Street, we met the tide of humanity coming from 5th Street on the 5 km route. By now most of the 5 km runners were long past, but there are a huge number of people who walk the route. They were kept to the left side of 4th street, while us runners were on the right again.
About now I was having fun cruizing along near the pylons in the center of the street. 4th has that steep chambre toward the gutters too, and I needed the flatter terrain toward the centre of the street. Others were doing the same, so there was some dodging around each other.
Turned right at 11th Avenue and went for a block. Unexpectedly for me, we turned left at 2nd Street, and then right onto 10th Avenue, and then we were running past all those parkades that I thought I'd be able to get into.
We ran a few blocks to McLeod Trail northbound, around the corner and then under the tracks toward Olympic Plaza. Halfway out of the underpass on the far side were the mats that are placed at the finish line, so I started my final sprint. I crossed that line quite decisively. Except it was the finish line for the 5 km, I think. Nobody was slowing down.
I kept going with the rest, and then right in front of City Hall was the real finish line. The track narrowed quite a bit, so with dodging the suddenly crowded field, my crossing of the line wasn't quite so definitive.
I walked with the crowd down the street, past tables full of fruit and drinks. I grabbed a banana and wolfed it down, chugged a chocolate milk, and then looped back for another banana and chocolate milk. I wandered a while, looking for the volunteers who snip the zip strap holding the timer chip on my shoe laces, but finally asked someone where they were. Apparently we get to keep the chip.
At that point, I was cooling down and feeling a bit of a chill. So I shuffled through the crowd to its edge, crossed the C-Train track and ran through the downtown to the Centre Street bridge. Going uphill on it, I could feel the wind. I wasn't warming up much form my exertion, and even Nony's Awful Little Hill didn't warm me up much.
The Garmin said I'd run over 13 km, but given that it was 2 km to the start, that the race was 10 km, and the finish line was a couple of blocks farther from home than the start, I don't believe it. It was probably more like 15 km.
I don't know exactly when I crossed the start after the gun went off, but when I crossed the finish line, the clock was at 52:23. So my race time is probably around 50 minutes.
It was fun though, even with the rain and snow.
Ah. The official results are already posted:
My official time is 51:23 for a pace of 5:09.
I was 503rd out of 2284, 375th out of 1008 males, 39th out of 151 in my age group.
Pretty darn good finish!
L n K
As for the whole run, I'll post the bogus results:
Today's run:
Distance: 13.71 Time: 1:23:59
Average speed: 6.07 min/km. (9.79 kph)
Shoes: New Balance 769 (Blue).
Today's earworm: Wish you were here.
Weather: Light snow and 1C.
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