5 hours in the Life of a Pace Bunny

The Frozen Ass 50km is held annually on Family Day, and since my arrival in Calgary 3 years ago, I have competed in the race every year. Being an out and back course, it's not exactly the most inspiring of routes, and with the added bonus of being held in February when the weather can be bitterly cold and the pavements snowy and icy, strangely enough the event isn't on everybody's bucket list of "must do"races. Yet it is a great, low key race that is extremely well organised with fantastic volunteers, and having won the ladies race for the past couple of years, it has become a part of my life as a runner.

I wasn't intending to run it this year - getting the long runs in during the winter months in Calgary can frequently be challenging to say the least and running indoors on the treadmill for 2-3 hours can literally drive you bonkers - besides, I had been purely focused on running the London Marathon as my first major event this year. My training hadn't been tailored towards a 50k in mid-February, and I've been concentrating more on strength and speed in recent months rather than building endurance, but when I heard that my great friend Michelle was hoping to run and she would love to go under 5 hours if training went to plan, I offered to pace her on the day if she had no objections. And so it was that I entered Gords Frozen Ass 50km for the third consecutive year.

I'm not going to deny that going for a hat trick of wins would have been fantastic but when asked by so many people what my goal was going to be this year, I calmly replied that I had the honour of being a pace bunny for Michelle, and that helping her to achieve HER goals was far more important than me winning another race.

Being a pace bunny is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I knew that I could comfortably run 50km in under 5 hours, and whilst I had every confidence in Michelle, I didn't want to put her under any pressure prior to the race. She was already nervous without me making things worse, so whilst we  intended to set off with a target time in mind, our real goal was to get around in one piece and to enjoy it. 

Amazing Friends before the race :-) Photo Credit Olivia

Whilst I knew that Michelle was prepared to aim for sub 5 hours, I also knew that she wouldn't be too disappointed if she didn't make it, but I still felt like I had a job to do and I desperately didn't want to let her down. When it comes to pacing myself, I'm usually pretty good as I know my limits and how far I can push myself - I also know when I'm slacking and when I need to give myself a good kick up the arse!

With Michelle it was different. She had only ever done a 50km trail race before so we had no idea what pace a road 50k would need to be. She had ran a 3.58 marathon back in Edmonton last year, but that was on a flatter course during the summer months and although we could use that as a guide, it could mean that we set off far too fast and we faded in the latter stages of the race. In the end, we agreed to run around 5.50km pace which would give us a finish time of 4 hours 55 minutes if we could maintain it - the next few hours would be the test! 

I won't go into any great detail about the actual race as there is only so much you can mention about an out and back 12.5 km lap that we had to do 4 times. What I will say though is that the outward section was extremely windy and pretty cool, the pathways were still quite icy in places, there was about 100m of the route that involved running off road due to construction and with each passing, it got even more muddy and slippery, the great part about an out and back course is that you get to see all the other runners and get loads of cheers and encouragement, and it also means you get to see the awesome volunteers more than once just in case you forget to say thank you!

We started extremely well, we were both feeling relaxed, and we completed our first lap in 57 minutes - almost 3 minutes ahead of schedule - so we knew that we could afford to slow things down if needed.

Our second lap was only slightly slower, and we passed halfway in 2.28. That certainly gave us a good cushion for doing the sub 5, but I could tell that Michelle was starting to tire and I knew then that it was going to be tough for her. 

From then on, I'm surprised that I didn't finish with 2 black eyes! Our pace was starting to slow slightly, so I tried to encourage Michelle as much as possible - "just keep doing what you're doing", "no need to speed up, just keep it going", "come on Michelle, just another 2k to the aid station, then you get a rest and some food", "focus on that chap in front, just focus - we're going to pass him in the next 10 minutes or so", " breathe Michelle, keep the breathing controlled, that's it, nice and relaxed", "make sure you eat and drink at the next station, get some energy in you", "think of running with Brandy, Brandy is pulling you along, just imagine Brandy pulling you", "Glady will be at the next aid station and he's going to be so proud of you".

I wasn't sure if I was saying the right things, I was conscious that maybe I was talking too much and putting Michelle off, conscious I maybe wasn't talking enough. I was constantly checking my watch, knowing that so long as we didn't go any slower than 6.00 km pace, we would still break the 5 hours. 

We lost some time at the aid stations, but it was more important for Michelle to refuel and I could tell when the gels and energy drinks were taking effect as she started to look more relaxed and was speeding up again.

The final lap finally arrived, and we had 75 minutes to the magical 5 hour mark. It was still extremely windy on the outward leg and I could tell that Michelle was in some sort of discomfort and yet not once did she complain, not once did she feel the need to quit, not once did she start to doubt herself. She kept pushing onwards, smiling when she could, and trying more than ever to fight the fatigue that by now was inevitably causing her to slow even more. We went through the marathon distance by my watch in 4.11 and I frantically tried to mentally calculate what that would mean in terms of finishing time - "8km still to go, 8 x 6 min km pace is 48 mins, lose some at aid station and on the hills towards the finish, oh no!!!! We've got 49 mins - this is going to be sooo close! Can't let her down but it's going to be so hard, oh God, she's going to hate me, but we have to push hard."

I tried not to let Michelle know how tight it was going to be and just kept telling her "we can still do this, come on, we can do this!" It hurt me immensely to see how much Michelle was struggling by now and I just wanted to break down and cry as I felt like I was being so cruel, but she kept going, she didn't stop, and when husband Glady started to run alongside with around 3km to go, she had both of us pushing her onwards. 

We were in to the final km, my watch was on 4 hours 54 minutes, we had just 6 minutes to break 5 hours, and I knew that it finished on a hill. We had been averaging just under 6's for the past couple of km, so by now I really was yelling at her, my good manners gone out of the window as I urged her onwards - "800m to go, come on, push, use the downhill to speed up, 600m to go, come on, we are nearly there, we're going to break 5 hours, 400m to go, come on Michelle, push!, 200m to go, come on, absolutely everything you've got, come on, push, come on, use the arms", and turning the final corner to head up the steep hill to the finish with about 120m to go, the clock was ticking away and we had less than a minute to finish in. I was praying that the course wouldn't be long, I was praying that it was bang on 50k or slightly short because I knew that I would feel extremely bad now if Michelle didn't do the sub 5 despite the immense effort she had put in.

As Michelle crossed the line just ahead of me, I stopped my watch on 4 hours 59 minutes and 45 seconds - she had done it with 15 seconds to spare,and I was overcome by a wave of emotion and the need to have a cry. I was bursting with pride for Michelle and no matter what she says, she was the one that ran that time, despite the pain, despite the tiredness, despite the wind and the hills and the mud and the ice, despite the cramp in her legs and the numbness building in her feet. - celebratory huge hugs all around!

Both super happy and proud of the result :-)) (Photo credit: michelle and Glady)

If that wasn't enough, several other friends also had amazing runs in their first ever ultra, and in the canoe club afterwards, it really was cause for celebration as we tucked in to pizza, soup and cake.

Very happy and proud Michelle, a proud Del and a super happy Olivia
who ran her first ultra today :-)) (Photo credit Olivia)

The ladies winner this year ran 4.34 compared to my 3.56 and 4.06 in previous years, and whilst there was a possibility that yes, I could well have won for a third year in a row, no amount of winning could replace the feeling I had when seeing Michelle achieve HER goal - the joy on her face, the obvious pride and love shown by her husband Glady, the joy from other members of her family and friends, and the look of disbelief and the realisation that yes, she had done it. Even now as I write this, I am welling up with tears and full of pride for Michelle - not only is she a super friend that I absolutely love to bits, but she's a truly inspirational athlete - she just needs to realise that now and be proud of what she herself has achieved.