Canmore!

I had a glorious weekend!

On Friday, Matt and I went to Canmore with Kaitlin and Jordan (his cousin and her husband) to stay at my dad's condo out there. We all ran the Canmore Rocky Mountain 10k on Sunday, but we decided a weekend away would be nice. We had such a nice, relaxing Saturday, (and we had the most delicious savory crepes from "divine cravings" ever!) and then we were all up and ready to run for Sunday morning.

None of us had really put in the training we had hoped, but we were excited nonetheless. This was Matt's first race ever, so he was nervous. His goal was to beat Kaitlin. Kaitlin and Jordan had run the HSBC 10k in the spring, so they were just hoping for some PRs on this race. I, well, didn't take my training as seriously as I could or should have, but I was hoping for a PR since the last 10k I ran was my first race ever!! I finished that one in 1:01 and I just hoped that I would be faster. I didn't have high hopes, that's for sure.

First off, the race course was amazing. It was partly around the neighbourhoods, and partly along the river and on this cute little forest path. I felt so relaxed and so peaceful throughout the race, which is a first for me! I usually suffer most of the way. I did get a stomach cramp as soon as the race started, and I struggled with it the whole time, but it wasn't crippling like some of the ones I've had while running. I'm not sure why I had it, so I'm going to have to investigate, since it seems to be a pattern. I also haven't ever run a part road/part trail race, and it was quite nice on the legs, I must say.

As for the results, they were also amazing. When I went to put my watch on the morning of, I realized it was dead!! I wasn't planning on bringing my iPod since I wanted to be "one with nature", so I was a choked about my watch. I decided to just wing it and go without anything. I do take little walk breaks when I run so I decided to break for about 30 seconds every 2 k ish or at the water stations and hope for the best. Well, it worked! I had no clue what kind of pace I was holding or how long I had been running, and I crossed the finish line in 52:14!! I couldn't believe it! I haven't run that fast (or so I thought) ever!! I may be underestimating my skills because my nike iPod plus isn't calibrated properly, so I'll have to check on that.

Anyway, back to the results. Matt crossed in 58:53, which he was happy with, especially for a first race. Kaitlin finished in 1:00 on the nose, and Jordan crossed in 1:16. Both of them got significant PRs, and they were very happy. The course itself was very conducive to PRs, since there was no trace of even a slight incline anywhere. It was SO flat. I suggest to anyone if they're looking to run a first 10k or half marathon, this one would be a great one to do. Unlike Kristen and my first half marathon that was full of hills, this would be a little less challenging.

After the race, there was free beer (sad for me, double happy for Matt), kicking horse coffee, fruit and bagels. We then walked off our stiffness around Canmore, getting some more coffee, and went back to the condo for some relaxation. The rest of the afternoon was nice since we all had the post race high! You could tell we were all just so pleased with ourselves.

My mum and her friend Leah also did the race, and they also did well. My mum hoped to walk the 5k in under 50 minutes, and she ended up finishing in 38 minutes!! Leah ran it in 33! Yay for them!

All in all, it was a huge success. Matt also loved his first race experience, so we're hoping to do some more in the near future. I was so proud of him for hanging in there and doing SO well after not having run much leading up to Sunday. Good for us!