Race Review - Hypothermic Half Marathon!

When I woke Saturday morning, shockingly my phone home screen told me it was -38C outside.  Thankfully (it is all perspective), it was only -26C with windchill.  -14 without.  Maybe my phone was trying to do me a favor by shocking me with absurdity first, so that -26 seemed sane.

I bundled up as best you can bundle up in running gear with knee high compression socks, wind protected tights, more wind pants on top, an outdoor hoodie, plus arm warmers, and a wind jacket.  Not to mention a balaclava, running toque, and my hoodie on top of it all.  I was kind of warm.  The race started at Fort Calgary, and I was glad we did a loop around the building, before heading out to the river.  I stopped at my car and grabbed another set of mittens.  This looked a little absurd, given I was wearing mittens, and the knit pair I grabbed were gloves.  Looked like a blown up latex glove over my hand!  It took until 11K before I started warming up.

The race followed the river, out to the NW, then back towards downtown again, turning around at Edworthy Park.  From the get go, all of the kilometer markings were out, by about 1.2.  It turns out that first loop around the Fort wasn't necessary, as it gave us a finishing distance of 21.7 according to my Garmin.  Concensus along the route that everyone who was running with a GPS was ahead of the markings.  My younger brother was running in the afternoon, and I gave him the heads up about the first loop.  He and another front runner decided to skip it, and their total distance was 20.9.  Much closer to the 21.1K half marathon distance.

Cold weather aside, I wasn't much impressed with this race.  The registration cost was $65 for early bird, and $75 afterwards.  The website had no information about race route, course support, or results afterward (my brother e-mailed the race director to get them).  There was only one aid station which was at the 10K mark.  The brunch at the end also left something to be desired serving eggs, sausages, buns, fruit crisp, fruit salad, and potatoes.  Additional brunch tickets were going for $30.

Goodies provided to us in that cost were a pair of running gloves, a running toque, and the finishers medal.

I picked this race as I had run it in the past and thoroughly enjoyed it.  But the venue and organizers have changed, and I was left disappointed.  This just gives me the opportunity to try something new!

I ran the race in a finishing time of 2:15:14 which I'm really pleased about as I was aiming for a 2:15 finish.  When my watch clicked over 21.1 I was at 2:12.  I placed 9/40 in my age group, and 34/140 women.  72/216 total runners.

Next up - the Calgary Full Marathon - eep!  The kilometers start getting longer in two weeks time.  Nervous and excited!