My Stampede RunDown

A year older than last years half!

A new age category than last years half!

Yet two minutes faster!

Yeehaw!

An appropriate theme for today’s race would have to be "forgetting"! This could be due to the "year older, new age category" thing but I would rather liken it to "due to not needing".

Our Mayor B was the race starter, horn blower today! The last time I saw him he was struggling along the Police Half Marathon route. It appears he makes a better starter then finisher!

Off we go!

I noticed the 1 km marker and saw I was on track even though with all the hustling and jostling. The next km marker I noticed was the 7 km one. I forgot to check for the others to see if I was on pace. Where did those 6 km go? That must have been when we ran through the Stampede Grounds. What I did notice there was the smell of pancakes cooking. I even detected they were smeared with a hint of syrup, butter and there was a cup of coffee on the side.

Being a 10&1 runner (for you non runners that’s run 10 minutes walk 1 minute, then repeat, repeat, repeat...and so on) my 1 is when I hydrate. I forgot to on the first two 1s but remembered on the 3rd 1. Part of the lost 6 km must have been when I was paying attention to the Rocky Mountain Goats when we raced through our Zoo. Why were they running! Imitating us? Maybe they are morning goats and have energy to burn around 7:30 am just like me.

The 54 minute time passed and I realized I forgot to gobble down my gel, so I had to take it on the run instead of on the walk. The next thing I realize 2/3rds of the race was behind me. As we approached the water station, a volunteer shouted out to us "take water". I needed that reminder to hydrate. I was forgetting to! I breeze by the station and take a drink of my own concoction instead.

Where were the kms going? I seemed to have lost a few more! I was distracted by the salsa dancers, the drummers in black, the encouraging volunteers, the motivating signs and then meeting up with the 10 km race folks and maneuvering around them. Before I knew it, I saw the "1 mile to go" sign. At that point my memory was restored. Just in time to remember all I was suppose to do from this point forward.

I remembered I could pick up the pace and I would still be O.K. I remembered to lengthen my stride. I remembered to pick of runners ahead of me one by one and leave them in the dust. I remembered to listen to the spectators roar down the home stretch, they would reel me in to the finish. I remembered to savour the last few seconds, to smile wide and I remembered to jubilantly raise both arms up high in the air in victory as I stepped on the "finish" mat underneath the "finish" sign!

The medal was placed around my neck. I looked at it only to see it blazoned with a bucking bronco. Yippie! Yeehaw! Yahoo!