Calgary Marathon

Although I'd registered for the Calgary Marathon, I never intended it to be a target race. My original plan was to run it at my target pace for Survivorfest 24-hour which was just three weeks later, and I would be perfectly happy finishing the marathon in around 4 hours, providing I finished comfortably and without too much effort.

In the months leading up to the marathon, I felt terribly stressed by my training schedule which had lots of focus on doing my long runs at marathon pace. Since I started going through the menopause, trying to do weekly speed sessions, hill sessions, and long runs that included several miles at marathon pace has been far too much, and I haven't been recovering as quickly as I used to. I struggled trying to pick up the pace, which in turn really knocked my confidence. Initially, I honestly believed I could run around 3 hours 40, but the slower and more tired I got from hormonal fluctuations and lack of sleep, the more I lost confidence in my ability. I wasn't enjoying my training sessions, and I was starting to feel a huge disconnect from my running.

The week before Calgary Marathon, I ran 25 miles or so at the Lakou Backyard Ultra. Everything went swimmingly, my legs felt good, and I started to believe that maybe the marathon wouldn't be such a disaster or an embarrassment after all. I had sun 3.50 in my head, and I felt like that would be within my reach.

My friend Julia was visiting from the UK and she was registered for the half marathon. We'd both been much faster runners when we first became friends many moons ago - now we were both more concerned about a crappy run in Calgary, and in the days leading up to the race, we laughed and joked about how bad it might be!

I personally had ran in Calgary on three previous occasions, all when we'd lived in Calgary. Living in Leduc these days meant we travelled down the day before, staying overnight in Airdrie which meant a half hour drive to the start on race day morning. When the alarm clock went off at 4.45am, I was reminded why I'd not done the race for several years - I'm not a morning runner, and I resented having to get up so early just for a race.

Andy was up a stupid AM too and drove us both into the City, dropping us off at Victoria Park Stampede LRT which was about a 10 minute walk to the start. Parking was limited, we had both Wilson and Tillie with us (April has stayed at home with it friends Rhonda and Darrell), so having dropped us off, Andy headed back to the hotel to grab some breakfast and a little bit of extra sleep.

There were hundreds of runners heading towards the start line, so we joined them in our quest to find the baggage drop off and the portapotties, before we made our way to our starting corral.

Julia was in corral 5, I was in number 2, so after a quick hug and a photo, and wishes of good luck, we parted ways as we battled our way through the hundreds of runners and spectators to our starts area.

The race was due to start at 6.45am and it was nice to see the Calgary Tower and the downtown area covered in a golden glow as the sun started to rise in the sky. It was quite a cool morning with a gentle breeze - perfect conditions at that time - although it was going up warm up and would be around 20 degrees by the time I finished at what I hoped would be around 11 o'clock.

I wasn't sure where to position myself in the corral. I spotted the 3.15 pacer just a couple of rows ahead of me, and when glancing behind, the 3.30 pacer was a couple of rows back. Both of those were definitely too fast for me, so I worked my way further back as I didn't want to be one of those runners that gets in the way of the faster runners at the start. When I could easily run sub 3, "those" runners drove me nuts! The other problem was that the half marathon and full marathon runners were together, and I didn't want to get sucked into setting off to quick.

A few issues on the course meant a couple of minutes delay, but finally the countdown started, the gun fired, and the Calgary Marathon was underway.

This year, the event had broken records with more than 20,400 runners taking part, but I have to say that despite taking me 90 seconds to cross the start line, there were no bottlenecks and I was into my stride pretty much straight away.

Although the marathon used to be my favourite event, I haven't ran in a race of this size since I completed the San Diego Marathon back in 2017, and I felt like a fish out of water. I'm just not used to the crowds, I'm not used to people setting off so fast, and I really wasn't sure how to pace things, nor what pace I should actually be doing. Marathons are supposed to be long tempo runs but what was my tempo pace? I had no idea, but running at around 8.30 minute miling felt ok, so I went with that.

After a couple of miles, I really needed the toilet. Yesterday, I'd had a salad bowl takeout for lunch, and later that evening I'd had terrible stomach cramps and diarrhea. Following breakfast, I'd already been to the toilet three times, but it appeared that now I'd  started my race, my stomach still hadn't really settled down. The gurgling and the cramping lasted for at least another two hours, and I must have wasted a good five or ten minutes in the portapotties.

I couldn't remember the marathon course, but I'd been told it hadn't really changed much over the years. I knew it passed by the zoo, and sure enough, I heard the animals as we crossed the bridge near to the zoo, birds squawking and a couple of other animal sounds that I couldn't quite identify.

There was plenty of space for running, but there were also lots of people running with people they knew, and I did find myself having to weave in and around groups that were ahead of me if I wanted to pass. I also found it hard to stick to my own pace - faster people ran past me, their feet pounding the pavement and I'd find myself matching their rhythm which was sometimes much too fast. Then there were others going much too slow but I was unable to get around them and the constant variations in pace was driving me nuts, making me feel like I wasn't running my own race ... grrr!!

Things had started to warm up once we'd got going, and with aid stations every two or three kilometres, I was making sure to drink at every one. I was carrying my own gels so I was taking one of those every 5 miles, the contents making my hands sticky and my teeth a variety of colours despite washing them down with water.

The first 10k or so of the race was shared with the half marathon runners, and on the out and back climb that gave excellent views of the City, it really highlighted just how many people were in the race. I kept checking those running the opposite direction behind me, just to see whether I could catch a glimpse of Julia, but there were so many people that I don't think I would have seen her anyway.

Although it was still early on a Sunday morning, I was impressed by the number of spectators lining the course. The support out there was incredible, and I heard people calling my name several times, aided by the fact that our names were on our bibs. There were also choirs on the course, bands and soloists playing music, cultural dances by the different cultural communities, and it all reminded me somewhat of a slightly smaller version of the London Marathon. I'd done Calgary before, but I cannot recall it being so well supported in the past.

Around about the 10km mark, the course split, with the half runners turning to head back to the finish line. I was still running around 8.40 pace and feeling ok, and my tummy was starting to settle a bit by now. I knew I was already way off my hoped for finishing time, so I just aimed for the sub 4 hours finish and tried to.maintain the pace.

After the split, I was hoping there wouldn't be quite so many folks around me, and whilst things did thin out a little, I still seemed to be amongst the main pack of runners. We now faced an out and back section before we too were able to head towards the finish line, and it became a mind game for me as I counted down the miles.

The course so far had been mainly flat with just one decent climb of around half a mile, and this continued for the next few miles. It was also a long, straight stretch of road, and it was a good five miles before we finally turned off into the residential area. I found myself in a small group of runners and we kept trading positions as we ran along. I was now starting to walk through the aid stations, making sure I was taking on board enough fluids as I was certainly sweating my now. There were a couple of runners that collapsed in front of me, whether from exertion or heat I don't know, but it was a stark reminder of making sure you stay hydrated as the marathon distance is still a beast, no matter how well you've prepared for it. It's always a little unsettling to see others struggling, but also reassuring to see how fellow competitors look out for eachother, and how quickly the first aid team and paramedics get there to take care of those needing assistance.

After about 5k on the out and back, I was getting impatient to get to the turnaround. I was starting to get bored and struggled a little mentally, and I was ready to turnaround and head for the finish. I knew it would only be another 15 or 20 minutes of running before I turned around, but time was moving very slowly and it felt like it was taking forever. I hadn't really slowed very much at all, my watch still beeping fairly consistent km splits as I continued to make progress. The fact that if got my watch set to miles but forgotten to switch the auto lap back to miles was driving me nuts, but on a positive, the km were being ticked off far more quickly that if I'd still been in miles.

One of the nice things about the course was that you did get to see the runners heading back in the opposite direction, including the lead runners who were absolutely flying. I found myself getting despondent watching them speeding by - that used to be me, being one of the front sub 3 runners back in the day, and now I was a mid pack mid runner whose goal was over an hour slower than my PR. That's been hard to accept, but I had to keep telling myself that at least I'm still running after all these years.

A few more turns on the back streets, a wonderful choir singing uplifting songs, and I finally saw the cone that signalled I would shortly be on way back toward downtown Calgary, and heading for the finish.

It's funny how my mindset changed now I was heading in the opposite direction. The fight in me returned again, I started to pick up the pace even though it was still just a shuffle, and there was far less walking through the aid stations. I also noticed that I had started passing lots of other runners who were now struggling, and this helped to motivate me and keep the momentum going. The spectators were still out in force, and I was still getting so much support as strangers yelled my name and shouted encouragement. It really was amazing.

I'd been pootling along at a fairly decent pace, and on seeing the 37km marker, there was just 5km to go to the finish. I'd noticed how the numbers of runners had increased again as I started to catch the tail enders of the half marathon, and we all just kept shuffling along, willing that finish line to come sooner rather than later. Passing through the downtown area, there were a couple of bumps as we ran under some of the overpasses, and then we were running past the Cowboy Cansino near to the stampede grounds, passing by the starting corrals that we had stood in just a few hours earlier, whilst in the distance, we could hear the commentators at the finish line.

I tried to recall the course map and I knew it was just a case of crossing the bridge over the river and then a final 400 metres or so to the finish line. Checking my watch, I thought that maybe I could run the sub 3.50 I was secretly hoping for, but the pathway was going on for much longer than anticipated and I started to wonder whether I would even finish under the 4 hours. The voices of the commentators were getting louder, the cheering of the spectators sounded closer, I found myself amongst a small group of about 10 runners, all of us increasing our pace slightly as we round the bend on the opposite side of the river in anticipation of seeing the finish line.

Making the right turn, I could see the loud speakers about 400 metres ahead, but I could not see the finish line gantry. Where the heck was it? I quickly checked my watch and saw the minutes ticking away, and put in one final surge in the hope that the finish would be just ahead. Finally it was there, and I crossed the line with relief, and official time of 3 hours 55 minutes exactly. I felt pretty good - not fresh and I could certainly tell I'd ran a few miles, but I felt good. I admit to being somewhat disappointed with my time, but given everything that has been going on recently, I really couldn't have expected anything better. I collected my medal, grabbed some food and drink, and headed towards my pickup point where I would meet up with Andy and Julia again.

Following the marathon, we headed to Banff for an overnight camping trip, sharing marathon stories around teh campfire whilst having a beer, the sun setting on a beautiful evening in the mountains. It had been a good day, I'd had an okish run, and I could now go into Survivorfest knowing that I had a few long runs under my belt which would hopefully help with hitting my race goals on the day. I guess we'll know on  June 13 whether I had done enough :)