I raced Winterstart this evening and it went pretty well considering the lame amount of running I’ve been doing during cyclocross season and then with swine flu and all. The race marks the end of the road racing season for southern Alberta and it seemed like a good chunk of the Calgary running community was out in Banff this evening to run. There weren’t a whole ton of really fast people out if you ask me, and I know that because I was listed on the first page of results out of 1200 runners (give or take). I placed 7th in the 40-49 age group which I have to admit is a personal best for the age group. I would have been 4th amongst the 20-29 crew if I had registered under my own name and age (My Dad acquired a racing bib from an injured colleague/friend on my behalf)

The route leaves the edge of the town of Banff and heads north/east along Banff Avenue towards Minnewanka and is pretty flat for 1.5 miles, it then turns up Tunnel Mountain road for 1 mile which is all climbing, some serious and some not, before turning around and retracing the route back to the start. The hill in the middle makes for an interesting course and an almost guaranteed negative split for everyone (~30 sec for myself). The temperatures were cool but not cold at the start and all was dry but the snow started to fall just as I was ascending the hill which made for a spectacularly beautiful run through the dark fresh mountain air. I ran 33:24 for the 5 miles (4:09 km pace) which my Garmin recorded as 8.2kms. It’s an out-and-back course so I presume they got the turn-around exact and the Garmin is wrong by 150 meters in this case, that’s typical if you ask me, it’s never as long as the Garmin says. The race is followed up by an all-you-can-drink party in the parkade of the host-hotel sponsored by Big Rock. What a deal!