Race Weekend

Hmmmm, where to start. Friday night we headed out to Medicine Hat, we didn't get there until 1 am! That's waaaaay past my bedtime. Thanks to Dave and Becky for letting us crash at their place :) I stayed up for a bit visiting with Dave, he and Chad had busted out the beer and so I headed to bed.

It was pretty funny, the voices started out quiet and as the beer kept flowing so did the voices! Chad came to bed at around 4am (not so quietly...he hasn't had beer in awhile:) Once he managed to get to bed I was able to fall back to sleep. We got up around 9ish I think and visited with the family for a bit. Logan (Chad's cousin) really wanted to come with us and we weaseled him into the race as well.

Off to the races....we met up with Luanne and got our race packages (which she so nicely picked up for us!). When we got to the start of the race I discovered that they had changed the 10km race route :( What is more fun than running up a giant coulee once???? Having to do it twice! Oh well.

The race was 2 loops, I started out having a hard time getting around people. I should have started closer to the front because the first 2 km I was trying to get past people! We ran down into the coulee and did a loop at the bottom and headed back up. I was feeling pretty good until about 4 km in. Then I started to feel crappy. My first 5 km I was at 25 min. I tried to maintain my pace, but by the time I got back down the coulee again I had to slow it down a bit. I made it back up fine and I ran as hard as my legs would let me for the last 2 km. I finished in ~56 min (there was no official time). I didn't pace myself to well through out the race, I went out too hard and then couldn't finish the way I wanted to. Believe you me I was a hurting unit by the end! I have learned my lesson!

I found the gang once I finished and found that everyone had a pretty good race. Logan seemed to really enjoy running with Chad, I think we might have another runner in the family! Chad seemed to think that I placed because not very many people finished ahead of me. I thought he was loosing it since I didn't think I had a good race. We were sitting on the bleachers refueling, while they were announcing the winners....and Luanne's name was called. She won 3rd place in her age category. Yeah Luanne! We continued to hang out and sure enough Chad was right....I also won 3rd place in my age group!

After the race we went out for lunch and then headed back to Calgary. Once we got home we relaxed for a bit and then went out for dinner with some of Chad's family from Regina.

On Sunday I was awake at 7:30 for the CPS 5 km! With a little soreness I rolled out bed and headed to the race quite happy that I was only watching. We met up with Peggy and Terry (Chad's clients) and they were off and running. Chad came in at about 25 min and Peggy 40 min I think. All and all a good racing weekend. We hung out at the finish line for awhile to watch some of the 1/2 marathoners come in. We knew a few more people racing so we were on the lookout for them! When we couldn't find anyone we decided to go and get some food for Chad and head home.

I was pretty tired so I decided to have a little nap. I woke up awhile later and procrastinated going biking for as long as I could. I tried to convince Chad to go and get his bike but to no avail....I was on my own. I sucked it up and headed out. I went out to Crossfield, geared up and hopped on my bike. It took me about 5 min to realize I forgot my HR watch at home and I need to replace the battery on my bike computer. I had no heart rate, no timer, no cadence, no distance.....a big WHOOPS there. I had my cell phone so I checked the time and kept going! I went out to Madden, then turned onto Symons Valley road. Faced a bit of a headwind along there and I was happy to turn around! Headed home, had a good ride...nothing exciting to report! I did about 2.5 hours and 65 km I think!

My legs were DEAD after that ride. I felt good before I went out, just a little sore but I was a hurting unit last night. It has been awhile since I have been so happy to go to bed!

I have some pics of the weekend, I will update those later on tonight. All n' all a good weekend! I think Chad is going to pick up his bike next weekend. I am super pumped....not too sure where we are going to ride but it is gonna be fun!

Happy training everyone!