So Close

The Calgary Marathon Festival was on this past weekend. Or, as I continuously call it the "Brisbane Marathon Festival" (wishful thinking?)
I entered the 10k.
As readers of my past blog entries will know, I originally had a goal time of sub-60, which took into account my minimal training this year. I then proceeded to get a sub-60min in my first 10k training run of the year, without hardly trying and carrying a backpack. So I sat down and re-thought my goals.
My previous PB was held at 54.00 from the 2012 Bridge to Brisbane. Now as far as I'm concerned, that PB has not reached it's expiration date yet, so I'm still good to go! But the question lay...could I get a PB in this race? Should I try?
The second question was easy: YES! I always try for PBs in a race. I'm the eternal optimist about my running abilities.
So with my wonderful Mom as my support crew, I lined up at the start for my first "race" race in Canada. (There was the MEC race of last week, but I didn't treat that one like a race).

Milling about at the start of the "Everyone Else" race (ultra marathon, marathon, half marathon). Exception was the 5k, which got ripped off with a rotten start time of noon.

I am still adjusting to the Calgary weather and opted for pants instead of shorts. At the start line, I'd decided that I sort of would have rather had shorts over pants. Oh well, lesson learned! It wasn't enough of a grievance to blame it for my lack of PB achieved. (Yep. I just spoiled the ending! No PB in this race).
The weather was, for all running purposes, GORGEOUS! I cheered on the marathoners / half marathoners / 50k ultra marathoners as they took off, and lined up.

I was one of the first people out there and hung back a bit. Then as it filled in I realized I'd accidentally seeded myself waaaay to close to the start line. As in, I was in the sub-50min group! I edged my way backward when another runner begged me to stop. I was wearing one of my Gold Coast race shirts which had the big bold letters of "FINISHER" written across the back and she said she wanted to watch it as her inspiration. Who was I to say no?
Out of the 3,053 runners in the race, who did I happen to see along the course but the 5 members of my triathlon group who were participating in the same race? I tell you what, the odds are not in the favour for that to happen!

 All  set to go in my high visibility hat.

I had a strategic plan to stick to that I had worked out ahead of time. If I ran at a pace of around 5.25-5.30 for the first 5k, I would only have to pick it up a little notch on the second half of the course (to around 5.20) to get a PB. Unlike previous races, THIS TIME, I was going to stick with the plan and start off slow!
So I did.

 ...And they're off!

 Shot of the leaders. I am not in this one.

 Random crowd shot. If you think you see me, you are mistaken.

The course wound it's way out of the Stampede grounds and through downtown. Our biggest hill was in climbing over an overpass bridge, but I could handle that. The race event was big enough (a total of ~10,000 people crossed the finish line) to draw a crowd of onlookers and supporters and entertainment, which is always awesome.

 Only in Calgary...do the horses come out to watch the race as well!

The first 5k went really well and I averaged 5.27min/km. And at the 6k mark I even managed to push my time to a 5.15 pace. But by the time that 6k marker hit, I knew I didn't have it in me for a PB.
And while PB is always the "ultimate" goal, I hadn't actually set it as my A-Goal for this race. I'd set an A-Goal as a sub-55min. So when I realized the PB wasn't an option, I re-set my focus to a sub-55min instead. It would have been easy at that time to settle for my B-Goal of sub-58min, but I just couldn't let myself slack off too much.
So I knuckled down, gritted my teeth against the pain and exhaustion, and kept going.

 Don't I just look like the picture of joy?

 Butt view...thanks, Mom!

Once again, my watch came up as saying the track was 200m longer than it should have been.
Once again, I have decided to trust the race directors more than my watch, and count the official time instead of my Garmin time.

Total time: 54.55min

Hooray! A-Goal achieved! It was a hard push at the end. And even though I didn't have my trademark "speedy" finish, I was pretty proud when I crossed the finish line in front of the Stampede Grandstand.

 Look, I'm a Pace Bunny!

 An awesome moment was watching the Maple Leaf gal run across the finish line* with some of the half marathoners. A part of me thought it would be really funny if she fell over, but she managed to avoid that particular embarrassment. 
*Note - she didn't actually run the entire half marathon!

The one thing I will say about the Calgary race; I don't think I've ever had so many race goodies! After I'd caught my breath and met up with my fellow triathletes, I grabbed one of each of the freebies and juggled them out to meet my mom, where we sat down munching the post-race snacks and enjoying watching my fellow racers cross the finish line.

Congrats on reaching 50 years, Calgary Marathon! Here's hoping I can join you for the next 50.

Eventually, we did leave. But with the sun beaming down, the music blaring over speakers, and people screaming and cheering and talking and laughing and the racers pushing hard to finish their own personal races, I could have stayed there all day.

But then, there's no sense messing with the tradition of post-race brunch!