This was the first time I have ever participated in an event with Calgary Corporate Challenge (aside from the blood donation drive). I wanted to run at my old job last year, but was too late by the time I knew about it. This year, I spent MONTHS trying to find out who our CCC contact was so I would be certain to not miss out!
It was also nice that it was free, chip timed and included a free t-shirt (though I can't post a pic, because I don't want people to think I am a spokesperson for our company.) Shortly after I registered, I discovered my friend Katie (from TNT in 2010) was also running for our company so I was excited to see her. As it turned out, we ended up carpooling together after hearing parking could be an issue.
So - we had to meet up with our team captain at 7:30 and the race didn't start until 9. It was pretty easy to find our captain and once we had our shirts and everyone else had arrived, we headed inside to pick up our bibs and get registered.
Only a few peoples times counted toward our team - the rest of us were deemed "fun runners". So when we went to the registration table for our division - they only cared about the official runners and shunted the rest of us over to the side to get our bibs. This was a gong show...we basically just signed a waiver and then picked our own number...they never associated the number with our names.
I was Fun Runner 2164.
At 9, they lined up the official runners and sent them off first - and made sure to keep telling us fun runners to stay out of the way until it was our turn.
After staged starts of the divisions - finally we could go. So we started around 9:15. Me and Katie at the start. This would be her longest run since having her baby 3 months ago.
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The course started at Central Memorial High School and went out toward Glenmore Athletic Park, through the park and onto the pathways. Then is headed out past Rockyview Hopsital and turned around before the hill into the residential and down along Glenmore Trail, through Lakeview and up over the bridge and on to the finish, back at the high school.
With this crowd, we were a bit skeptical about the areas on the pathways where we would be doubled up with racers in both directions. As we were approaching Rockyview - this guy (who it turned out was a race day nemesis of both of us) was quite rude as he passed us so we decided there was no way we would let him beat us. After the turnaround, we left him in the dust and kept him in our rearview the rest of the race (until he vanished from sight)...it was quite satisfying.
As we were approaching Glenmore Trail again, who should be running the opposite way, but Anna and her sunday running buddies - out for their long run. I high fived them all and kept going.
Katie and were both running comfortably and strong. I barely felt like I had sped through the same distance yesterday! After the overpass over Glenmore, the course flattened out to the finish. When we came back out onto 50th Ave and saw Katie's hubby - we knew it was almost over. Katie grabbed her dog's leash and we took off for the finish with the pup.
and we crossed the finish in under 1:07...right on goal. And had a great run and chat in the process. It was awesome...even without a medal at the finish. lol
Garmin Geekery:
I looked up the official time that they clocked on my bib...and they said 1:07:43 - a minute slower than my Garmin...so they must have been recording clock times.
Despite the seemingly disorganized package pickup and feeling like we were second rate citizens because our times weren't "official" - my first Calgary Corporate Challenge 10k was pretty awesome. I finished strong and I had a great time running with Katie! If your company participates in the challenge, I'd say it's a race worth doing. It's certainly worth the price of admission!
Wow great job on two races this weekend and meeting your time goal! Awesome job!
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