A couple of weeks before the River's Edge Ultra, a post appeared on the Leduc Runners page about a community event in Calmar that was being organised to raise funds for outdoor recreation in the town. It was billed as a fun packed day with lots of family activities, a vendor market, live outdoor music, food trucks and a 6 hour run open to anybody, with the goal being to run a combined distance of 1000 miles. I didn't really give it much thought, but then a couple of friends said that it sounded like my kind of thing and before I knew it, I found myself registering to take part.
The event took place just one week before REU but I had said to my coach Paul that so long as I didn't go too fast, I thought that a marathon or a 50k within that 6 hours would be feasible, and hopefully it wouldn't take too much out of me for REU. He agreed, so I set a goal to run for the 6 hours at an easy, leisurely base, as final preparations for River's Edge.
We're still in the process of working on my basement, so Andy wouldn't be there in Calmar. I decided to take our small beach tent as my self-crew zone, throwing some spare clothes, food and drinks, and my small camping chair in there so I had access to them for the whole event. Andy had helped me to set things up in a quiet corner on the day, and once done, he headed off home whilst I hovered in the start zone waiting for the event to start.
Although the official start time was 9am, you could start running at anytime within that 6 hour window, so there weren't too many people about when things got going. A group of young teenagers went sprinting off ahead, and I found myself on my own, not really knowing which direction I was meant to be going. The youngsters were a good couple of hundred metres ahead of me but I could just about still see them, following them along the road before turning right across the grassy field and heading back towards the start zone. I was running an easy 9 minute mile, give or take, and I finished my first lap in around 8 minutes with just three quarters of a mile on my watch. I was somewhat surprised that we were 400m short, but the fund raising was based on the number of laps rather than distance ran, so I guess it meant I had already contributed my first $10 to the tally.
Heading out on lap 2, a couple of other runners caught up with me, and a lady told me that she was using me as her pacer. I didn't mind - today was definitely not about racing and was more about helping the community, and so we ran together for a short while before she disappeared into the distance. On that second lap, there were a couple of marshals that had come out on the course, and this time, we were directed to do a loop of the grassy field rather than cutting straight across - we had gone wrong on that first lap, taking an unintentional short cut. Although we had all gone wrong, I personally felt like I had cheated, so I was sure to add another 400m to this lap just to be sure I had an honest result later on in the day.
For the next few hours, I kept a consistent 9 minute mile pace, only stopping at my small beach tent to grab gels, chocolate and drinks every 3 or 4 laps, or approximately every half hour to 45 minutes. A few more people had now joined the crowd, whilst others had already left and called it a day, but I had company every time I set out on a new lap. It was definitely a community event with families running together, toddlers running, teenagers running as a team, grandmas and grandads were out walking laps with their families, and even local charity groups and the local police force did a few laps to help raise that much needed funding for outdoor recreation in the town. At the end of each lap, the entertainment zone was full of people listening to the live music, or children playing on the bouncy castle, whilst others were wandering around the vendor market. I meanwhile just kept running those loops, feeling relaxed and happy as my count increased.
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| Picture thanks to Run.Bike.Play Calmar |
Having reached the marathon distance in around 4 hours, I decided to just keep on going. my legs felt ok, I was still refuelling well, and Andy wouldn't be here for another couple of hours. A couple of male runners asked how many loops I had now completed and they were extremely encouraging when I told them and continued running. Things had by now warmed up quite considerably and I was needing to drink a little more than earlier in the day, but my pace had barely changed, and I was still knocking out those 9 minute laps.
The five hour mark came and went, and I had by now covered a little over 50km. I had said that I was going to stop at 50km, but things were still feeling good, and I still had around about an hour to add more dollars to the fundraising total. I had a drink, took in some food, and then headed out once again. There were still people out on the course, and as 3pm started to approach, some were starting to walk a little quicker, others started to jog, hoping to add another complete lap to their total.
I checked my watch - I had 10 minutes still to go, and with 35 laps already in the bank, I knew I could probably squeeze in one more. I headed out, feeling relaxed and happy, and it was giving me some confidence that so long as I didn't do too much over the coming week, I could go into River's Edge Ultra next weekend feeling fit and healthy.
I ended up with 36 laps or around 37 miles by the time I had completed the full 6 hours - the next closest person had set a distance PR, running just over the marathon distance, and I was really happy for them.
I had gone into this event knowing that the record was 24 laps - i think 3 or maybe 4 of us exceeded that this year, with my 36 laps now being the total to aim for next time. I hadn't realised that there would be prizes, but awards were given out to the top lady and gent, and I was called up onto the stage to receive my prize Nurtured minds Retreat, which was a health retreat day out at nearby Warburg, which I'm sure I will find extremely beneficial once my racing season is fully complete.
It had been a super day, and the final total raised was $16,500, an incredible amount for Calmar which I believe was higher than last year's total, and I was so happy to have been a part of it.
Following the event, I was ravenous, and we had a burrito to curb the appetite, and I drank a gallon of water to quench my thirst. Other than that, my legs felt pretty good despite having completed more miles than I had intended, and I had good vibes that Rivers Edge Ultra 100 mile race the following weekend was going to be a good one too.
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