How do I start this race recap? I don’t know whose idea it was to end a half marathon with a two mile mountain climb, but it certainly wasn’t fun. Ha ha! Over the weekend Cat and I ran in the Rocky Mountain Soap Canmore Women’s Half Marathon. For me, this marked the halfway point of my marathon training and gave me a chance to see where my fitness level was at. And while the website did say this course was more like a trail running course, I was unprepared for the terrain.
This race starts and ends at Canmore Nordic Centre, a beautiful location tucked amongst the mountains.
MILES 1-4
The first mile was hard for me because it started off hilly right away. The terrain was asphalt which was nice, but my bad calf/achilles tendon took a mile to warm up so the up and down slowed me up and I was in the back of the pack almost right away.
I must have looked crazy to the other runners because I am very good at leaning into downhills and letting gravity take me. There were a couple of steep downhills where I was practically sprinting only to stop immediately and walk up.
At Mile 3, I caught up to Cat who had stopped for a pee break and she and I ran my favourite part together- the downhill part! It was about a mile and half along the main road at a steady downhill pace. While chugging along at this stretch I felt like a rock start! In my head I was like “this is what real runners feel like.” My legs were given ‘er. I was breathing steadily, life was good.
And then at mile 4-ish, we started to head uphill again. And feeling like a badass went away.
MILES 5-7
So miles 5-8 were actually my best chunk of the run and I attribute that to one single thing- Espresso Gu Energy Gel. I actually had two of them, but one fell out while running downhill. At mile 5 I ate one and within minutes was I ever boosted!
I experienced a flow state for probably the second time in my life of long distance running. We were on a road, running at a slight incline and it was like my legs were moving on their own. It was fascinating. I felt like I was putting in no effort and yet my legs were just chugging along all on their own. It was truly amazing.
MILES 8-11
By mile 8 that flow was gone and I was back to dying. Part of this had to do with the change in terrain again. Instead of on the road, we were on a riverside walking path that had a lot of ups and downs. Then it was gravel. This was the part where I pushed myself physically. I did everything to distract myself and keep running. I was stopping to walk more and more frequently, so I would try to look out at the river, or pretend I lived in one of those riverside cabins I was running by. Anything to stay focused.
Around mile 9 things were flat so I just focused on chugging along despite the tight hips.
MILES 12- 13
And then the last two miles came up! Actually, I would say it was even closer to the last 2.5 miles- the way back up the mountain. I had done really well at pushing myself to shuffle along until we hit that hill. Then, it took everything I had to put one foot in front of the other.
What a slog! We started going up on a residential street then eventually transitioned to a single track dirt trail. It was hiking, at the very end of a half marathon. I laughed when I came to a spot on the trail with a super steep incline and just as I paused my music began playing “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips. I laughed out loud and told myself “Just hold on” and I made my way down the trail.
When I came around the corner to the last 200 metres of the course, I didn’t have anything left in me to even speed up and have a strong finish, so I slogged over.
THE TAKEAWAY
But you know what? I was still happy with my race. I finished in 2:49. My first half, Seawheeze, was a flat Vancouver course and I ran that in 12:38. And I ran the Banff half in 2:45. So really, the Canmore half was waaaaay harder and I only ran a little bit slower.
All in all- I am VERY happy with how I did. This also has me feeling better about running in July at the Deseret News marathon because that course is almost all downhill. With no uphills to tackle, i should be able to run pretty good.
SIDENOTE: CANMORE IS AWESOME
On a quick side note, I think Canmore is my spirit town. Everywhere you go, the people are fit, outdoorsy looking folks. The trails were humming with runners, bikers, and walkers. There was a guy on roller skis givn’ er up one of the hills. It’s really a place that attracts fit, healthy, outdoorsy people. I may need to move.
