Years of racing in review

My racing career started way back in April 2000 at the 10K Vancouver Sun Run. I was between third and fourth year at The University of British Columbia. I signed up for the race, didn't train because I hated running, and ran my heart out on the day all the time wondering what I was doing. And I'm pretty sure I committed the newbie mistake of wearing my cotton race shirt too. But as the race shirt had my team name on it I thought this was what I was supposed to do. I'll admit, I got into running, particularly races, not because of my own conviction, but because my friend Nikki was interested in racing. Together we signed up for a 5K just a couple of weeks later with our boyfriends (who both kicked our rear ends on the course). That 5K is still my PR - 30:28. Maybe if I ran more 5Ks I could beat it now, but I find it amusing that my first 5K race is still my best ever. By the end of the year the boyfriends were gone and I had four races under my belt - two 10Ks and two 5Ks.

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In 2001 I ran the Sun Run again, along with one more 10K and another 5K. After that I moved down to Laredo, TX which resulted in a major hiatus from running. Initially I wanted to find races to sign up for, but there were barely any nearby, and any ones I could travel for didn't seem to mesh with my days off schedule as I was working 11 days on, 3 days off at the time. I stopped running for several years, and it wasn't until I moved to San Antonio in 2005 that I slowly got into it again. Tally up a 5K and a 10K in 2005 for a total race count of eight.

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In 2006 my cousin's wedding in Vancouver happened to be on the same weekend as the Sun Run. Despite not running seriously at all I really wanted to get out there and do this race again. I had fun in the beginning, but ran pretty poorly in the last half and clocked my worst 10K run time ever - 1:18:12. Despite the horribleness of that race I somehow or other came up with the brilliant idea to train for a marathon. I think maybe it was because my quads didn't hurt the day after the race, and when I got home I found a post card from TNT in my mail advertising the Nike Women's race. I was keen on that Tiffany's necklace. I found my training program, stuck to it, and came out with an injury that sidelined me for a couple of months and nixed my marathon dreams. I wrapped up 2006 with another 10K and two more 5Ks. Total race tally is at twelve by the end of the year.

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2007 was the crazy racing year...thirteen races total.

1. March 17 - St. Patrick's Day 10K in Calgary - 1:07:03 :: This is a great race put on by the Calgary Roadrunners where you run two laps through the University of Calgary. The post race spread is one of the best I have seen - beef stew and Big Rock beer (beer for a fee) at the end.
2. May 5 - Go Red for Women 5K in Orlando - 35:23 :: This past year the race wound through Downtown Disney, Saratoga Springs Resort, and one of the nearby golf courses. Pretty good bling for a 5K.
3. May 6 - Minnie Marathon 15K in Orlando - 1:45:06 :: This race follows the last 15K of the Walt Disney World Marathon course. You start in the parking lot of Animal Kingdom, run along the highway past the Wide World of Sports, through MGM Studios, along the Boardwalk and through EPCOT. Training for a race longer than 10K, and completing it, felt like a great accomplishment.
4. May 27 - Calgary Women's Run 5.5K - 32:12
5. June 9 - Footstock 10K in Cochrane - 1:05:38 :: Another race with a terrific post race spread - pancakes!
6. June 17 - Banff Citizen's Race - 1:00:05 (5.8 miles) :: I remember the weather the most about this one - wow it was wet and cold! My trail sneaks still look terrible. It was a fun race, but transportation between the parking and the race start/finish was a bit unorganized.
7. July 8 - HSBC Calgary Half Marathon - 2:21:32
8. September 9 - Ryka Iron Girl 10K in Seattle - 57:56 (PR)
9. September 22 - Melissa's Road Race in Banff - 1:02:40 :: This is definitely one of the prettiest race courses around here. A good spur of the moment decision to race!
10. October 21 - Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco - 2:14:56 :: I absolutely loved this race - the scenery, the hills, the Tiffany's bling, you name it. I definitely want to run this one again.
11. October 27 - Tower of Terror 13K - 1:29:07
12. November 5 - Banff Winterstart 5 Miler - 51:30
13. December 9 - Catch the Elves 10K - 1:00:44

In case you missed any of them I have provided links to all my fascinating and riveting race reports where applicable. I've really seen improvements in my race times - especially my 10K. Over the years I've gone from someone who absolutely, without a doubt, hated running to someone who can't imagine not having that next race to train for. Besides going Goofy in 2008 we'll see what the rest of the year brings for me racing-wise. I'm always keen to travel for a good event, so if there are any races I should put on my radar, let me know!

Catch the Elves 10K

I honestly could not have asked for better weather for Sunday's race (at least in December anyway). It was about -5 deg C (23 deg F) or so and sunny, not too windy either. The race start was at 10 am so there was a bit of a chance for things to warm up. Since the race was being run for the Muscular Dystrophy Society the chip timing folks were only out for the one day instead of the charity paying for them to be there all three days of packet pickup and the race. The chip pick up was effortless the day of the race. It took about 30 seconds. I had company at this race as Neil was running his first race ever, although we opted to run separately. Apparently I have this effect on people - hang out with me and you will want to sign up for a race. The race start was a bit confusing as we couldn't hear the lady yelling into the megaphone very well, so when I thought it was time to start, really they were just shuffling all the runners from the finish area to the start line. There were four or five elves all running at different paces with bags of raffle tickets and they were given a one minute head start. The first half of the race went okay, but I may have started out a bit fast. I hit the 5K mark at about 29:44 so in theory I could have gone sub 60:00.... I started to slow down a bit though after this point. About 6 or 7K in I started chatting with a lady next to me wearing a shirt that said "Team Connor" on it. There were about 140 people or so at this race wearing these shirts so I was curious about it. Connor is a 4 year old boy who has just been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and his family and friends rallied around to raise money for the charity and run the race for him. It was pretty inspiring. This lady and I were running a similar pace so we settled in and kept chatting which probably helped me to not slow down even more. About 7.5K in I finally caught my first elf who was hiding behind a tree... Steps from the finish line I caught my second elf, so a couple more raffle tickets were added to the pot. I didn't break 60:00 - I finished in 1:00:44 - so close...

Neil hadn't finished yet so I grabbed a water and waited around the finish line for him to come through. Once he crossed the line we grabbed some Good Earth coffee (good stuff) and a burger and went indoors to eat and warm up.

Afterwards we hung around while they drew for door prizes, but even with nine tickets we didn't win anything. All in all it was a fun race. The food at the end was great, but there were no water stops along the way which is my only complaint. In the future I would bring water with me then.

Next up - a year of racing in review!

Getting ready for the races

It sure looks mighty cold out there, doesn't it? Truthfully the weather has been so gross that even if I wasn't swamped with work it might have been a tad difficult to convince myself that running outside really is fun right now.
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I have a group run all set for Saturday for my 8 on the 8th race. I have a start time and a location (but I'm a bit sketchy on the route). All I need is to be properly kitted for said race, so I hopped on over to Non-Runner Nancy's blog to get my free race shirt. It was free, and even comes complete with the man inside I believe. I wonder if he does laundry and vacuums?

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Sunday is the Catch the Elves 10K. Unfortunately I don't think that they are Keebler elves, but the more you catch, the more raffle tickets you get and the better your opportunity for door prizes. I like prizes..! And after the race is a BBQ, so how bad could that be? And the best part about it...it looks like we are warming up! Here's hoping the weatherman is correct on this one. I have a red top and a green hat to run in, so I shall look suitably festive for the race.

My apologies

My apologies on having nothing new to report. Okay, I went to Fit Ball on Monday, but otherwise I don't have any running activity to report. And I don't even have anything that great that is non-running to talk about. My life is work right now, so despite the fact that I have my running gear sitting in a bag underneath my desk I highly doubt that I will get any running in until this weekend. Saturday I have a running date at Glenmore Park (in the daylight this time, thank goodness) so that will be the site of my 8 on the 8th run. Sunday I'm still aiming for 7 miles on my own before running to catch as many elves as I possibly can at the Catch the Elves 10K.

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Okay, break time over....back to work...

Wednesday Running and Another Race...

Yesterday I hit the pathways downtown for a 4 mile run over lunch. It was another sunny day and 4 deg C (39 deg F). I am so happy to say that this run felt so much better than Monday's. I ran faster and it felt easier. I had a snack before heading out so there was no rumbling in my stomach which I'm sure helped. All in all, things felt pretty good. Today is a busy lunch hour. Instructor S has a table at a craft fair nearby to help raise funds for TNT. I'll head out there and see if I can support her in any way. After that I'm going to aim for another 4 miles on the pathway downtown and fingers crossed it feels just as good as yesterday's run. I keep passing this donair place on my way back to my office that smells amazing... I think today is the day to try it out for lunch.

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And...because I can't let the year end without just one more race...I've signed up for the Catch the Elves 10K Run for Muscular Dystrophy on December 9. I have 13 miles to run that day, and since the race doesn't start until 10:00 am I'll get out, run 7 miles, then finish up with the race. It sounds like a blast - catch the elves and get raffle tickets. The more tickets you get, the better your chances are at a door prize. The event is followed up with a post-race BBQ. If anyone else in town here is interested in signing up, let me know! The first 400 people to register get a tech shirt.