I was up at 6:45 AM and had two cups of coffee plus two toast with almond butter for breakfast. Then we headed for the race in Terwillegar Park in Edmonton’s North Saskatchewan River Valley. Marilyn was a volunteer so we got there early. I got a 5peaks hat, some Kicking Horse coffee beans, and a race bib holder. The weather was great, not too hot, peaking at about 21 C, and sunny.
The race started at 9:15 with the Sports runners starting at 9:30. The sports runners run one lap of ~8 kilometers and the Enduro runners run two laps, so I got to run those nasty hills twice. For the first time no Sports runner caught up to me during the first lap. In previous races, the faster Sports runners usually passed me before I got one lap in even though we started 15 minutes earlier. I didn’t see any sports runners at all during my run.
So how about some pictures? OK.
Kamren Farr, Race Director for 5peaks holding a Canadian Flag.
The starting chute area.
Early morning in the starting chute.
The Enduro runners are off to a good start!
That's everyone!
They run, therefore they are.
When the race started I had to pee again, but as usual I was at the back of the pack starting out so once we got around a corner and over a hill, being the last runner, I was able to dart off into the woods and, well, you know! I was DFL until about the 6 or 7 kilometer mark when I caught up to and passed a few people. On the second lap, I caught up to more and passed them. Then in the distance I noticed more runners that I was catching up to. Although blowing by them was tempting, I’m not that good at it and so I restrained myself and I kept telling myself to stay the pace and run my own race. But there comes a time when you look up and suddenly find yourself on the heels of another runner and I just blew past them. There is this one long downhill section where it was a lot of fun tp just let gravity take over and I was just flying. Fortunately it very near the start line before taking off in a different and flat direction, so I got to look really good for the crowd at least twice!
Downhills are a lot of fun!
I'm getting this water! MM is a volunteer at this water station and took these photos.
So on my second lap I slowly gained ground on what turned out to be aan older than me runner and we sort of traded places a few times, dogging each others heels for a while. Near the end of the race, with only about a kilometer and a half or two to go, one is pretty tired and basically a lot of us gravitate towards tunnel vision and we don’t have enough oxygen in our brains to be really aware of where we are. It’s pretty easy to miss a turn and that is what this older runner did twice. That would have been a bitch if he were to go off course so near the finish! Fortunately I was right behind him and I had to yell at him pretty loud and let him know he was off course. I showed him the right turn to take and he was grateful. As I said this happened twice. The second time was happened later coming off a long downhill wooded area and onto the flat within view of the staging and finish area. Looking up the man saw the finish line and began veering off course toward it until I steered him right again.
Running heel to heel, I passed him with about 750 meters to go and also passed a few other finishers so that I finished pretty much alone, I think, although they came in behind me just a few minutes and seconds later.
Me approaching, with Kamren's mom in the hat giving support.
Almost there, but I won't catch this finisher!
Finished at last!
So I felt pretty good. I gave it my best, and I’ve got myself a significant new PR. Still, I am a half an hour too slow to place in my age group because the competition is strong. There are a lot of really fast and fit runners in my age group of 50-59. However, I did really well, partly from training, but mostly because I have lost at least 10 pounds, being down to 174 pounds now from my previous standard of 185. I think placing next year is doable, especially if I reach my goal weight of between 150 and 155 pounds.
I may never get there, but believe it or not, the process of trying is a lot of fun.
