Calgary Police Half Marathon 2018

The Calgary Police Half wasn't my best race, however I think I left everything I had there... Supper windy day and hilly course, and the fact that my lower back was bad for the prior 5 days certainly didn't help. I went into the race with some preparation, but with a few days having tight hamstrings and lower back pain... My stride was a bit off and confidence to push in the hills was down.
I signed up Maria for the 10k, which started just 15min after the half. So, my plan was to try catch her in the last 1k or 2 (which I did).

Ed Bickley was there along with Rick McDonalds and Jeff Nielson. We warmed up for about 5 minutes and the race was on !
I decided not to race this time with my drinks and since it was a cold day, I figured I wouldn't need much. I tried drinking on a few aid stations, but need more practice with the cups to be able to drink without splashing my self all over !

With a downhill start with around 2k and a tail wind I was feeling pretty good and had a fast pace. Then turned into the wind and the battle began ! I was drafting with a few other guys and it seemed like a good plan.

First 10k were around 00:40:20 and I was still felling good, although my plan was to ran 2x sub 40 10k, so I was off 25 sec.

At that point I took off my long sleeve t-shirt, but I am glad I didn't throw it away because as soon as I turned into the windy with 2c temp I had to put it back on @#$%

I picked up the pace but not for too long, I realized that those last 10 ks were uphill and into the wind, so I put my head down and hammer as hard as I could.

Last 3k is were tough, but I couldn't spot thinking about catching Maria before the end. I saw her with around 500mts to go and picked up the pace to try make her go faster, she saw me and tried to accelerate, but couldn't quite cross the finish line together. She did very well given the conditions and it was in fact her PB for the 10k.

I think that for this distance I will stick to electrolites in my belt and probably a get at 10k mark.





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