2013 Crave Chick Chaser 5 Miler Race Report

Race number four of my 13 races in 2013 was a brand new race here in Calgary – the Crave Chick Chaser 5 Miler.  The girls got a four minute head start over the boys and then there would be Crave Cupcakes for everyone at the end.  It sounded like a lot of fun!

Since it was so close to Valentine’s Day I decided to dress as festively in possible with as much pink as I could find in my wardrobe.

I got to the race start at Tri It with just enough time to say hi to Cori and my teammate Sharon and to hit the bathroom.  Then it was time to head to the start!  Cori and I grabbed a quick picture and then we were off!

I didn’t have a plan for the race.  I just wanted to settle in to a pace, not obsess over it, and to keep the walk breaks to a minimum.  The majority of the girls took off down the pathway and I just hung back, trying to run my own race.  We were running along very familiar pathways to me, just along the Bow River towards downtown.

For a little background, the majority of my training runs for the Goofy Challenge were all around 12:00 miles.  When I said I wanted to get my old speed back this year I wasn’t sure how it was going to go.  My coach is encouraging me to not settle into the run all day pace I was used to for the Goofy.  Imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw I was running at a 10:10/mile pace!

After a mile in the first guys started to catch me.  One of the lead guys was awesome and telling every single girl he passed that she was doing a good job.  About a mile in I started to pass some of the girls in front of me.  I kept setting my sights on the next girl ahead and slowly making my move.  We hit the Peace River Bridge and turned around and I still hadn’t walked yet.  Now the goal became to see if I could just keep going and not walk.

On my way back I passed Cori who was feeling the rough effects of not enough fuel before her race.  We wished each other well and carried on.  I also spotted Dawn (aka Pink Chick) running towards me and she snapped a pic as she went by.

As I ran towards the Crowchild Bridge my legs were starting to tire a bit, but I kept telling myself I was running an awesome race, that I had less than a mile to go and I was feeling great.  I had hoped to run around an 11:00 mile and come in somewhere around 55 minutes or just under it.  I was blowing that expectation away!

The course was a little short but I finished in 50:25 and held a 10:10/mile pace!!!

I knew Cori was just behind me so I cheered her in.  We then made our way back to Tri It for our reward, a Crave Cupcake!  They were individually packaged in these cute take out containers!

Cori and I chatted a bit before she had to take off, then I hung around with Sharon and Deanne Jabs (race director for my first ever tri, the Strathmore Women’s Triathlon).  There were door prizes being given out and I won for my super awesome pink argyle Zensah compression socks!!

All in all it was a really fun race.  It was only $25 to register, the route was a little different from what we usually run at races in Calgary in the winter, plus we got cupcakes at the end!  I managed to hold on and save mine for after dinner on Sunday.  Let me tell you, it was delicious!

Thanks to the awesome sponsors for a great race – Crave Cupcakes, Tri It, Ridley’s, Bow Cycle and Community Natural Foods!  And thank you to Dawn and her husband Darren for all of the non iPhone photos of me along the race course!  You can see all the race photos on Dawn’s Flickr set.