The First Race of 2012: The MEC Bow River Run

My day started at the crack of dawn. I ate a bagel with cream cheese and an apple, and then drank some tea. I played some music and washed some dishes. I looked out my window, sun shining through, and noted that it was going to be a beautiful day in Calgary. And thank goodness the weather was perfect because today was my first run of the season- the Mountain Equipment Co-op 10k Bow River Run. Yay! Dressed in my running attire, hat, gloves, and running playlist with the likes of Timbaland, Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson, and of course, Beyoncé, I was ready to go.

The race started in Edworthy Park South, which is not too far from my place. Once I arrived, I started seeing the other runners. There’s nothing like an early morning race when the air is crisp and runners are warming up, eager for that “gun” to signal the start of the run.  (I quote the word “gun” because there was no gun. I think they yelled “go”, or sounded a horn). Shortly afterward, I met up with my friend Sony who was running the 5k. In her words, we were ready to chic-chic-pow this thing.

What was cool about this race is that it was only $10 to register. MEC’s goal was to offer a low cost, fun, community race. And that they did. There was no chip timing, which would have increased the cost, so they went with the “old-school” timing of recording your time manually at the finish. And it was a small race with a maximum of 300 participants. Even with the $10 registration, they had post-race cookies, energy bars, water and coffee. Awesome.

Just before 9 am, the runners gathered at the start line, and before we knew it, we were off. I knew the race map quite well. When I do train, Bow River is my favourite place to run. Sony and I paced well at the start, and then I was on my own for the 10k. The 4s and 1s pace has been working well for me following some knee concerns, so I decided to stick with that. I knew I was in good shape when I hit the 10k turnaround at 30 minutes, and according to Runkeeper, I crossed the finish line at 58 minutes. (UPDATE: My official time was 57:24.73). Under an hour was my goal… yes!! And great job, Sony :). We certainly did chic-chic-pow this morning.

I love morning races. I always seem to forget the sense of having completed so much by mid-morning. Now that the Bow River Run is complete, my next run is the BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon, two weeks today. “Yikes!” really does understate how I feel about running 21.1k. Somehow, though… I got this!