Race Report: 2013 Calgary Run for Water 10K

Today was the Calgary Run for Water.   They had two distances you could choose from - 5 & 10k - and after how fun this race was last year, I had once again registered for the 10k.
I picked up my race package on Thursday night.  Along with the race shirt and bib, there was a handful of jolly ranchers, a pencil and POPCORN!  Woot!

The shirts for this year's race were the same mesh material as last year.  Fits fairly well too.
It has been a hellishly hot week here (for me anyway - I don't understand why so many people have been complaining that we didn't have a summer...all I remember is HOT HOT HOT), so I was actually excited when I saw 13C and raining.  Maybe I'm broken, but, for me, this is PERFECT RUNNING WEATHER!!!

The app finally got it right!

I showed up fairly early at Eau Claire, though I didn't think I actually knew anyone running it.   As luck would have it, Katie was there with the TNT team so I had someone to visit with to kill time before the race.
Closer to go time, I wandered outside to check out the staging area.  Just like last year, there were sponsor tents and food tables, bouncy castles for the kiddos and a stage for the entertainment.


They have tried really hard to create a festival-like atmosphere for this race.  It's awesome.  Even despite the damp day, everyone seemed to be in pretty high spirits.
At around 8:45, they had the warmup...unfortunately once again it was one of those dancey aerobics ones that I trip over myself every time I attempt (I really sucked at the 80's), 
so I decided to wander quickly back to my car to see if I had a hat in my run bag. No-go.
By the time I got back to the start line, it was time for the 10k people to line up.

The rain was still barely a drizzle, but it was enough to be annoying on the ol' glasses.
Last year, the start corral was so crowded.  I can't remember if they started both distances together or not, but this year was much sparser on the 10k start.   They had pace groups to help people seed themselves and there was a great deal of whitespace around everyone.  Makes me wonder if people bailed because of the weather.
The race soon started and I was off like a flash.   I had set myself an unofficial goal of sub-60 for both of my weekend races and I was feeling really good at the quick pace I was keeping.
The race course that I loved so much last year, had to be changed due to the flood, so it started off toward Edmonton trail, crossed over the bridge there and pointed westward.
Even at 3k, I was still clipping along and feeling good.  I took a brief walk break and carried on. We crossed over the river at 10th street and continued westward.   At 5k, I was under 30 mins and on pace for that sub-60.

iPhone in a baggie...blur galore..

At around 6k, I started to feel it - the fact that my legs had been taking it easy for the past few weeks as my calf healed.  No calf pain at all.  No shin pain.  No compensating knee pain. But the legs were tiring fast.   Walk break.
I was going to be close on the goal, but I had to cut myself a bit of slack and acknowledge that I haven't been pushing myself in speed or hills much recently as I healed.   But I wasn't going down without a bit of a fight. I still planned to work for it.  I revamped my goal to "comfortably hard" and kept pushing.
8k.  9k.  Another walk break.  One runner who had been my unwitting pace bunny as we leapfrogged along, called out "Don't Quit Now! We're almost there"
So I kept it short and then passed her again and blasted through the last kilometer.
I crossed the finish line in 1:01:34 on my Garmin.


Chip time: 1:01:33
I claimed my medal.

Grabbed some food and gave myself a mental high 5 for pulling it out and adjusting when I knew I had to.  Besides...I still had another 10k to run this weekend...

You can totally tell I exerted myself by how
prominent the Klingon vein on my forehead gets :P

Oh - and I gave the lulu tank another try with a higher cut bra this time and no belt and liked it much better.  No fighting with it at all.  I'm still not happy about the reduced quality in the tank, but at least I will get some wear out of it this way.
The Garmin Geekery