Calgary Marathon 2025 pacing Zhaheed for a BQ

 

Race report:  this is not as elaborated as Ed’s The Magnificent race report, however before all the memories fade I am sharing them with you… 

After picking up Christina, Yuriy and Zhaheed at around 6:20 we all headed to Curtis secret parking spot near the Stampede Grounds (free of course).

 

Brisky walk to the start line and bathroom break. Before we knew it we were taking selfies with the Legend “Sir Ken Young” 18:51 5K record holder, yes you heard that right “Sir Ken Young”, because it wasn’t enough winning the 5k the day before, he also woke up early enough and bike 30kms to meet us. Oh yeah, there was a guy “Darryl” that looked exactly like Eagle running the half distance 1:38min.

 

 
Of we went and fighting to keep our 4:30 planned race pace we managed to pass the crowd and get in a good rhythm.
K7 and we have the first gel and Zhaheed said “I am ready for another 7k”… on pace with Princess right beside us trying to pull away we managed all the first hills of the day..
We saw Polly cheering as we passed through Downtown. Christina was running so casual that she even had time to grab her phone to take some pictures..

K14 and the next gel was in !! Ready for another 7k repeated Zhaheed.

Half the distance was right on time 1:35:00 and we were soo happy, Christina pulled off at Edworthy and the pressure was all on us to keep the pace to the finish line.
As I am checking out a hot blonde 👱 on the curb, slowly look up to make eye contact and surprise !!!  it was Jessica ! OMG what a pleasant surprise, she sprinted and gave us a popsicle !!!

We turned around at k28 and had the 4th gel in, I am ready for another 7k Zhaheed said… 32k and there she was, the hot blonde 👱‍♀️ again capturing everyone’s attention and distracting racers.. :-)) We saw Yuriy coming and at the point he was looking pretty good.
Zhaheed at this point was pretty much turning himself inside out, I have never seen someone suffering this much, so proud of him!! he didn’t walk a meter! Pushing so hard to keep a good pace and not giving up. 38k or so and we saw our Yoga instructor Leslie at the water station and that gave us the last boost we needed !!@&&&
Our focus was on a guy with orange t-shirt, let’s catch him Zhaheed, I know we can.. Took us 3k to catch the guy, but we did !
The last 3k were still painful, but with the finish line on sight.

We managed to keep going and without walking passed yet another 2-3 guys that were in front of us all day…  Good work Zhaheed!
After the Race he threw up twice ! His wife had to carry him home and slept all afternoon… I am pretty sure he gave it all he had !!! 3:18:20 is 20min faster than his PB !!