Back to the roads - St Albert 10k

One of my mini goals for 2025 is to run a sub 45 minute 10km. My first attempt was made back in February when I ran the Hypothermic 10k - conditions weren't ideal for a fast running, and I ended up finishing in 46.59. I was happy enough with my performance on the day - a winter race in Alberta is no joke, especially when you have to deal with extreme cold and snow/ice underfoot - but I knew I could go faster in more favourable conditions, so was on the lookout for another 10k at some point. 

I had completely forgotten about the St Albert Road Race until I saw it being promoted in my social media feed. I had competed in the 10-miler there back in 2022, and having spotted that they offered a 10k, I thought this would be the perfect race to try again for that sub 45 minutes. 

The day before the race, we had lovely spring-like weather - beautiful sunshine, warm temperatures, and no wind whatsoever. But when race day dawned and I glanced outside of my bedroom window, there was a light dusting of snow, the pavements were wet, and the trees were blowing around in what looked to be a gusty wind. I really wasn't too bothered by the cooler temperatures and the cloudy skies, but the wind was a huge disappointment, especially as it's the only kind of weather than I despise. When arriving in St Albert and heading over to collect my race bib, the wind was exceptionally blowy, and I think I was already talking myself out of the sub 45 minutes as I didn't want to have that expectation, only to end up disappointed. To be honest, I really don't know how to pace a 10k race these days - I'm so used to running ultras and setting off much more slowly, the thought of a fast start and a pace that I have to try and maintain is quite scary. I also felt terribly out of place amongst the road running community. They were there doing a warm up, throwing arms and legs around and stretching things out, then running strides along the pathways to get their bodies ready to run fast. I meanwhile did a tentative warm-up and felt self-conscious every time another runner came by - I'm just not cut out for this kind of stuff anymore!

Although windy, I still hoped that I could at least run quicker than I did in February, and when the started at 10 minutes past 9, a small group of speedy, younger runners headed off in to the distance and I found myself in a pack on my own. 

I settled into a pace that felt comfortably hard and having glanced at my watch, it was a 7.22 per mile pace. That would be tight for a sub 45, but I thought that maybe I could make up some time on any downhills later on in the race. I recalled the course being quite hilly - not steep climbs, but long drawn out drags, and it appeared that I had remembered correctly. Thankfully I didn't seem to be slowing too much on those climbs, but the wind was really bothering me and I found the negative thoughts creeping in to my mind every time I was blown around by the gusts. I'd also been having a little trouble with tight glutes again - time to work on strengthening the hips! - and I was finding that they were tightening up considerably, even though my breathing and my legs in general were feeling pretty good. There was also one stretch of the course that seemed to go on forever - a long, straight road ahead where I couldn't see anybody else to chase down, and I found myself easing back on the pace, finding it difficult to find that extra bit of a kick to get this over and done with as quickly as possible. 

We eventually made a turn that ended the loop and I started to make my way back to the finish. With 2 miles to go, I had 15 minutes on the clock to hit that 45 minutes - it was possible, although I was running into a headwind again, and I wasn't even able to gain any advantage from the downhills. I was pusing as much as I could, trying to pump the arms to keep the legs turning over, but the finish line just didn't seem to be getting any closer. The 1st and 2nd place males from the 10-mile race came past me which gave me a bit of a boost, and by now, I also had more company from the 5k runners who were also heading back to the finish. We offered encouragement to each other which helped all of us to pick up the pace little. 

As I passed by the roundabouts by the curling club, I could see the finish line approximately 400m ahead. I took one last look at my watch which told me I had 90 seconds to sprint to the finish if I wanted that sub 45. I knew that it wasn't going to be, especially as my fasted mile had been a 7.15 earlier on in the race. but I did try for a sprint finish, crossing the line in an official time of 45.57. It wasn't as fast as I'd hoped for, but given that I haven't raced on roads in a long time, and I've not really done a great deal of speedwork on the roads, I was happy enough with the result. I was also 1st in my age group, so not bad for a 52 year old, and I finished 7th lady and 12th overall. It was great morning and I really enjoyed racing again. 

The St Albert Road Race is definitely one to do if you have the chance and at just $65 for an entry fee, you get a really well organised event and some great race day swag. Of course, it does mean I now have to find another 10k to try again for a sub 45-minutes, but that will likely be in the summer now. I've got a 100km trail race in 6 weeks time and I need to get myself ready for that in the hope that I can hit that goal. Time will tell but I already know for sure that I will give it my best shot, just like I always do.

HOAR All-Day Buffet ... 6 hours of snowy fun!

It's been a few days now since I completed Hill of a Race for a second time, and my legs have been very tight and achy from all of the ups and downs. As a result, I haven't really ran much this week, and even when taking the pups out for their usual walks, I've really struggled to keep up with them as my legs have screamed with pain with every step I've taken. I don't recall taking this long to recover last time I did the event and I'm not really sure what I've done differently, but then it doesn't really matter - I still have 3 weeks until my next race, and I'm pretty sure that all will be back to normal by the time I toe the next start line. This morning, I did do the parkrun in Edmonton, and despite the legs still feeling a little fatigued and tight in spots, I was pretty happy to run an average 7.32 minute miles which was much quicker than expected. I deliberately held back as I knew I would likely struggle at a faster pace, so to finish in 23.38 was very satisfying - I was expecting closer to 25 minutes!

First run of the week post HOAR ...
River Valley parkrun

But I digress ....

With Andy being away until Easter, I wasn't even sure if I would be able to do Hill of a Race as I don't like to leave the pups home alone for hours on end. Thankfully, some very good friends were willing to pop around to check on the dogs during the day which meant I was free to go gallivanting up and down Rabbit Hill Snow Resort for 6 hours on a Sunday in April. Although we'd had a good dump of snow again just a week or so before the race, the forecast for race day was glorious sunshine and double digit positive temperatures, so it was very likely that it was going to feel like a spring day, and the slopes were likely to get quite slushy and slick as things warmed up throughout the day. I decided that spikes wouldn't be needed but I would wear trail shoes to give me that extra traction - other than that, the plan was to wear just shorts and t-shirt, along with a hat and shade to protect me from the glare of the sun. I also took poles with me although I hadn't really intended to use them, but I'm so glad I took them with me in the end and I did use them for the vast majority of the race.

I arrived at Rabbit Hill with plenty of time to spare, collected my bib, and then dumped by bag close to the start/finish area so I had easy access to it for the duration of the race. I would be crewing myself this time, so I didn't want to waste too much time faffing around trying to find my things. I kept things minimal - spare dry socks just in case it did get really slushy and I needed to change, a couple of energy gels, and two protein drinks to keep me going. Other than that, I would use the race aid station at the end of each lap, and hopefully that would suffice for the full 6-hours.

With not being an A race for me, I wasn't really feeling competitive and I was just looking forward to getting my head down and seeing if I could match my 15 laps from 2 years ago. But then somebody said that gawd damn awful thing to me again that put me into flight mode - "are you going to win this again?" Here's the thing - I have NEVER won HOAR, I wasn't there to be competitive this year, and the comment actually upset me somewhat and made me want to go home. I find these kind of comments disappointing and frustrating, especially when I'm there purely to have fun and just use it for longer term race goals, but when I try to explain, it's met with a "yeh right!" ... drives me nuts! I tried to drag myself out of my gloomy mood, and by the time the race started at 9am, I was starting to feel a little chirpier and ready to go.

Waiting at the start and pondering choices! 
Credit: FOMO Foto

Most of the folks registered for the event this year seemed to be doing the All-Day Buffet 6-hour event, and there was quite the crowd at the start line. I stood near the back as I couldn't see any point in sprinting on ahead just to be first up the hill - besides, it would be far easier to run on snow that had been flattened down by everybody else, rather than me having to do all the work! As the climb started, pretty much everybody started walking, and I got into my usual power hike up the hill. It was still close to freezing at the start so there were some icy patches, and I found myself slipping on them a little as I tried to grip whilst those that had started with poles were making a far better job of scaling the climb. We were all pretty bunched up but as we reached the top of the hill and started down the slope on the other side, a lot of people went bombing off, taking advantage of that downhill.

Off we go! The first climb
Credit: FOMO Foto

I'm usually a slow starter in ultras, preferring to maintain the same pace for as long as possible during races, and I knew that whilst I was very likely close to tail end of the runners at the minute, I would claw back some of those positions in a few hours time. I settled into my usual rhythm and whilst I was already starting to get really warm, I was feeling really good.

As with any snow resort, you go down, you go up, you go down, you go up - and those ups and downs are steep! The second downhill at HOAR is exceptionally steep, and I recalled the sharp turn at the bottom being the worst part when I had done the race back in 2023. As I started the descent down the hill, I could feel the ice underneath the snow, so I put the extra weight on my quads to keep my balance and stay upright. But then all of sudden, my feet flew out from underneath me and I was sliding down the hill on my backside, unable to stop and going at a fair old speed. I wouldn't have minded, except I was sliding in the wrong direction and down below, there was a clump of trees that seemed to be getting closer and closer at a very fast rate. I panicked a little bit. I was sliding out of control, and now I was sliding sideways, making it even harder to stop myself. I'm not even sure what happened, but I came to a sudden stop and relief flooded through me. I had slid about 20 metres off course and now had to scramble my way back up the slope to get back into the race. I turned myself over and tried to stand, but no sooner had my feet touched the snow, I started sliding backwards again down the hill. I clawed at the icy snow and managed to stop myself going any further, then on hands and knees, I crawled back up the hill, feet flaying everywhere on the ice, my knees cut and bruised from the sharp icy bits that I had slid across.

Watch me go! Weeeeeeee ......
Credit: FOMO Foto

I'm not going to lie - that knocked my confidence for the remainder of the race, and even afterwards when I was scaling that section with poles and things had softened somewhat, I was still extremely cautious on that hill!

After the dramatic fall and slide, I managed to get back into the race, and as I came to the end of the first lap, I took off my jacket, grabbed my poles, grabbed a drink, and set off on my second loop. By now, I was pretty much at the back of the field, but I didn't really care - I got back into my groove, and just put one foot in front of the other, and kept things moving.

As the race progressed, I did find myself in my own space and just doing my own thing. After the first 3 laps, I lost count of how many I had done, and I was now counting the time remaining on the clock and calculating how many laps I could still squeeze in rather than keeping track of how many laps I had actually done. I had absolutely no idea what position I was in in the ladies race, but I did know that there were certainly a few speedy ladies likely still ahead of me, and whilst none had lapped me from what I could tell, I never really saw them whilst I was out on the course. I had no idea if they had stopped, or whether they had taken a break and I was now ahead of them, but that kind of made it more interesting for me - not being concerned about race position, and just purely focusing on doing my own thing.

Knuckle down and crack on!
Credit: FOMO Foto

The support from the spectators and the volunteers was amazing, and as things were heating up, I was making sure that I drank a full cup of something at the end of each loop. I also drank one of my protein drinks, had two energy gels, a bit of watermelon and some cookies, and some potato chips, but other than that, I don't really recalling eating that much food. The good news is though that I still felt that I had the energy to tackle the hills so I knew that I was getting the calories I needed to keep going - given that each lap was only around 2.5km, just drinking a cup of Coke or Ginger Ale on each lap was likely giving me the calories I needed - anything else was just a bonus.

I'm one of those people that doesn't really listen to music when I run, but when asking for special musical requests, I said I would love to hear some Robbie Williams, so imagine my delight when running down the hill on one of my laps, I could hear Robbie being played on the sound system. I was over the moon, and it definitely motivated me as I tried to sing along whilst starting my next lap. This occurred a few times during the race, and every time I heard that familiar song, it put a spring in my step and made me smile - thanks so much to Laura!!

Singing to Robbie!
Credit: FOMO Foto

Things were definitely starting to warm up by midday, and the reflection from the sun on the snow was bright. I could feel the sunburn starting, but stupidly forgot to put on the sunscreen - geez, I would no doubt pay for that later on tonight, when hopping in the bath to get cleaned up. The snow was also starting to melt a little and there was far less ice underneath. Instead, it became wet and slushy, slick in places, but for me, it made it far easier to slide down the hills and get better traction again on those really steep bits. 

By the time we had been going for 5 hours or so, I had already started to gain on or overtake some of those that had gone off much quicker at the start. I still had no idea what position I was in, I still didn't know how many laps I had done, but with an hour to go, I sensed that maybe I would finish with 14 or 15 laps again, and that would for sure put me somewhere near the podium, especially as the ladies race has been won with 14 to 16 laps in previous years. 

Just keeping it going
Credit: FOMO Foto

As I came down the hill on lap number whatever it was, there was 22 minutes remaining on the clock. I'd been doing 23 to 24 minute laps, but I figured that I still had time to squeeze in one more lap, so having stopped to grab a quick drink, I started my final ascent on the snow hill. The muscles around my knees and in my quads had started to cramp a little, and I knew that I needed salt. I was desperately hoping that they wouldn't cramp up on me on this final lap, and I really wanted to complete it. I pushed up the hills, ran the downs as fast as I dared, slipped and slid through the slush, managed to stay on my feet on the turns to go back up again, and as I hit the summit of the final climb, I still had 4 minutes on the clock to hit that 400m of pure downhill - I knew then that I was going to do it.

Heading out again ...
Credit: FOMO Foto

I finished my final lap with 90 seconds remaining and I was happy. I'd given everything I had, had tried not to waste time, and had had a jolly good time out there. It was only afterwards that I discovered that I had finished with 15 laps, and had missed out on being crowned Queen of the Hill by just two and a half minutes. I had no idea that the leading lady was only a couple of minutes ahead of me, and whilst it is definitely easy to say in hindsight, I'm pretty sure that if somebody had told or if Andy had been there crewing me, I would have chased her down and made that final lap exciting for everybody, deciding the race winner in those final minutes. As it was, I was oblivious, and that's ok ... grrrr :)

Finished! Picture thanks to Faye Lowther

It was only when I had finished the race that my legs went in to shutdown. They were terribly tired, I could barely move them, and when I did, I could feel the cramps starting. It made me laugh! I went and grabbed a burger and an ice cold drink, and enjoyed the post race atmosphere along with everybody else, before heading back home to the pups.

It had been a super day on the slopes despite the earlier hiccup, and although I had scratched and bruised knees, blistered hands, achy legs and terrible sunburn, I'd had tons of fun. I'm sure that I will be back to do it all again, maybe next year :)