The Running Diva

I flew to Calgary on Friday night and as soon as I came off the escalator, I was greeted by Er who immediately plopped a cowboy hat on my head. She was decked out in a cowgirl dress, complete with a belt-buckle, cowboy hat and boots. Welcome to Calgary during Stampede week! Everywhere I looked people of all ages were wearing their western gear…the entire city enthusiastically celebrates the Stampede so it’s hard not to catch the vibe yourself…I wore my hat driving all the way back to Er’s place!

Saturday morning I ran a very easy 13 minute out and back. I was breathing hard even at an easy pace …sheesh! Luckily, I have run in Calgary before and was expecting to feel wonky so no big surprises there.

Er, Pete and the girls took me to one of many, many free Stampede brunches available to the public the mornings of the Stampede week. Apparently, most companies and business owners in town put on at least one stampede party or event and that may include a flap-jack and pancake breakfast. We went to one at a small art gallery where they served orange juice and champagne, chocolate chip pancakes with real maple syrup, fruit salad and other tasty breakfast treats…Mmmmm!

I was pretty bagged from my big morning run and from coming off he sugar high from the healthy chocolate infused pancakes (I think I had six!) and since we were going to go to a stampede party in the evening I decided to take an afternoon nap. This was after creatively intense arts and crafts session with Miss O. We made Mommy a birthday card, complete with pom-poms,  stickers and glitter glue…shhhh….we had to keep it a secret.

The party we went to in the evening was held outdoors in the parking lot behind the opera centre. As it happens, the parking lot has the best view of the city. Nice for the parking lot.  This event was hosted by a law firm Pete worked for a while back and it was just incredible. There were over 1000 guests, lot’s of free food and booze and a live country and western band who are Juno award winners, whose name I cannot remember….if they were opera singers I would have made the effort…sorry Syl. Er lent me some cowgirl accessories to wear including boots and a buckle so I wouldn’t look too out of place (my western-wear wardrobe is apparently lacking!).

The next morning was a brutal 5:45am awakening. As I hit my alarm I thought to myself, ‘Dear gawd, I will actually be running a warm-up in just over an hour’. Er insisted on coming to watch the race despite the early start. I did a good 25 minute warm-up along the river and bumped into fellow islanders Merm, Trevor and then Shauna as I was doing some strides. Merm gave me some great advice to not run the first half too hard. ‘No chance of that happening’, I thought.  He also said that I would likely feel really horrible right around the 7km marker…great.

We had a perfect morning for the race. Very little wind and slightly overcast. I had decided the day before, after my oh so sprightly pre-race run, that I would treat the race as a tempo workout. This was my pathetice way of assuring I would not run so hard that I would fall over dead at 6km and to not be horrified when I saw my finishing time. It was a very good plan/scapegoat. Even at tempo pace, I was breathing pretty hard. I ran steady until 5km and had the dumb idea of trying to pick it up to race pace but within a minute I was panting like a dog so I eased back again. I held a steady pace right to the end and was glad it was finished! 

Er’s reaction to the race was hilarious! She was so thrilled to see me run. I was trying to appear happy having just run one of my slowest times in a couple of years so she wouldn’t be disappointed. Ha! She really loved the atmosphere of the race. I loved her reaction!

Shauna had a great run and seemed pretty pleased! We did a warm-down together getting in a good 30 minutes and then Er and I had to split to get back to Pete and the girls…not before a pit-stop to Café Beano first though!

Turns out, Pete and the girls were still sleeping! Good thing too, because Pete needed a sleep-in!

The afternoon was spent at another brunch, followed by a late-afternoon snooze and then my flight home. I was so lucky to have gotten a chance to hang out with Re, Pete and the girlies! It was definitely worth the agony of the race!

Juice picked me up at the airport and when I got home he had a gift on the counter waiting for me…the latest Garmin Forerunner!