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| Team Bunstock |
So, the ante was set, the chips were in, and now the deal.
The Underwear Affair, 10k run, 5k walk, in support of cancers below the waist. Historically features some crazy costumes and general merriness.
Of course, while running and raising money for charity is all well and good, it wouldn't be complete without a little competition.
A gentleman at my work, Dustin, was also doing this event. His fitness background currently involves crossfit, and somehow it became a cyclist vs. crossfit thing. The loser was to pay $50 to the winner's charity page for this event, as well as treat said winner to a beer after the race.
While I was extremely confident (maybe a bit cocky?) leading up to the race, I had a moment of self-doubt on Thursday, when, after a laboured and slow run at lunch, I realized it had been 2 weeks since my previous run, and only the 3rd run all month. All my efforts have been put into cycling miles, so it's not like I was fresh either!
In fact, following my race on Wednesday, I put in 5.5 hours of cardio on Thursday and Friday. Much of it was at recovery pace mind you, but when I awoke this morning, I sure didn't feel recovered.
So, we mustered at Max Bell arena, and after a day filled with clouds and at times heavy rain, we pleasantly encountered a gorgeous afternoon! So instead of staying inside and maybe hydrating or resting we all stood outside in the sun, basking!
I think we were out there for nearly an hour and half before we corralled back inside for the start.
Yes, bizarrely, the start/finish line for the race was actually inside the arena. Damn, that is gonna f*** up my garmin is the first thing I thought.
Sure enough it did. No matter, we all gathered right close to the front for the start, and Melissa tunnelled her way through the crowd immediately. Darryl and I did our best to side step the masses, and after the first km it thinned out enough on the pathway toward the zoo that you could easily run at your own pace.
I took it conservatively for the first half, ready to pounce if Dustin caught up and passed me. I was sticking to my target average pace of 4:30s comfortably. (the previous Thursday I averaged nearly 5:00 kms, so I didn't want to go out too hard today). So funny, seeing the guys at the 2km mark stopping and gasping. Dude, you really thought you could sprint a 10k race?!
There was a decent headwind going out and I felt I could really turn it up on the return, so after the turnaround and dialed it up to ~4:00 kms. Saw Dustin way behind, knew Darryl was in the top 5 and I wasn't terribly far behind. Started passing more guys like they were going backward. Amazing what a difference that 30sec pace change makes!
At the end of the zoo, I caught a guy with a fake ass on his shorts and a name tag like pedro or something. He was running pretty good and him and I took turns running in front. We approached the overpass on Deerfoot and saw a couple guys up ahead, looking pained. Told ourselves we'd reel them in. Sure enough, as the elevation dialed up, these guys collapsed.
Pedro passed me early on the final climb and it took a lot just to keep him within 10 feet. Halfway up a camera man ran down and followed us for about 50m. Nearing the top of the climb, I caught Pedro and blasted past him. I thought the finish was right there, but turns out we had to run all the way around Max Bell. Legs were fried and screaming but I was NOT going to let Pedro pass me at the end...
Held him off and nearly took out some girl at the finish line (walker?)
Strava time says 41:29. Garmin says 41:15. It also missed the first 400m, so I don't know.
Results posted at the arena had me at 14th place, but it also showed 3 girls beating me and I know for a fact there were none ahead running, because I passed the 2 girls that got trophies for 1st and 2nd.
So, I'd like to think I came in 10th or 11th... not bad, there were something like 900 people registered, half of which were just walking the 5k.
I guess they'll post the official results soon, but I have my doubts about the accuracy. Weird since they used a chip system.
Oh well, still had a blast and was pretty impressed with my run despite my lack of preparation for this race!
[EDIT] Official Results seem to be a bit of a problem for this event. They do finally have them posted, but there is something very wrong between chip start time and weird finish times, as well as a couple of women injected to 1st and 2nd place that shouldn't be there.
I took those 2 outliers out, grabbed the top 20 men and women and sorted by finish (gun) time, which looks ok for that sample, and here is how that top 20 looks (probably can subtract 3 minutes from the actual times posted though):
- Steven, Griffith-Coc 37:48.60
- Jason, Dyck 41:08.00
- Alex, Harmer 41:10.30
- Darryl, Penner 41:41.50
- Greg, Medwid 41:54.80
- Brad, Bevill 44:05.30
- Mark, Staples 44:34.20
- Reinier, Paauwe 44:46.00
- Terry, Arsenault 44:58.30
- Patrick, Zeiler 45:10.90
- Shay, Dodds 45:18.10
- Scott, Rose 45:33.10
- Andrea, Rice 45:57.50
- Henrik, Pedersen 46:14.80
- Peter, Walls 46:19.90
- Melissa, Currie 46:23.30
- Adelino, Tanedo 47:15.70
- Clayten, Wenaas 47:16.60
- chad, bailey 47:22.20
- Kevin, Murphy 47:35.60
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