Brent Kearney

My last post on this subject mentioned that I developed shin splints prior to my first race, which was on May 20th. The injury was very minor – the following day I had no pain, and I stuck with my decision to stay away from running until the race. I took up swimming laps (hard!) and cycling instead. I think that it worked OK, in terms of aerobic fitness, but in the final 2km or so of the race, I started getting cramps in my calves. This forced forced me to slow down considerably, adding minutes to my time.

The race itself was a lot of fun. I got there an hour before the start time, and there were throngs of runners standing around stretching, there were sponsors setting up their tents, and merchandising their products. The Ski Patrol was there, loading their first-aid supplies onto mountain-bikes. Rock music bellowed from a sound system that was powered by a portable generator. The music, the sponsors and all of the anxious runners created an exciting atmosphere.

The registration line-up went fairly quickly, and I received my number sign, which I had to pin to my shirt. That really annoyed me — high performance, breathable sportswear isn’t cheap, and now my Arc’teryx base layer has 8 holes in it. The race didn’t start on schedule, which was also disappointing. It was quite windy out, and a bit chilly. I had been running around getting warmed up in preparation for a 10:00 start time, which was described on the schedule as, "10:00 sharp". We didn’t get started until about 10:20, and I had to go back to my vehicle, down the road, to get extra clothing to keep warm in the cool wind.

The 5km race started at around 10:10, only 10 minutes before the 10km race. This meant that fast runners in the 10km race had to deal with passing the slower runners in the 5km race. Not the best setup. They should have staggered the races by 30 minutes to avoid congestion, and probably discouragement for the 5km racers who were passed.

Having been my first race, I didn’t know where I stood, competitively, so I choose a spot in the middle of the pack of 141 competitors to start. The starting line, also the finish line in a 5km loop, was at the top of a big hill. This made for a cruel push right at the end of the race. After the starting gun, the pack of runners started on a slow pace, which increased only slightly as the path ran down into a forested valley. It was a very dry day, and the dust kicked up by the running crowds made it difficult to see and breath, until we got into the forest, where the path became narrow and covered in roots and rocks.

After a few minutes, I realized that the pace wasn’t going to pick up, and so I started passing people wherever I could. This proved to be a difficult task on the single-track trail. There were trees and rocks on both sides of the trail, making opportunities for passing scarce. Only a minute into the race, some people were standing in the woods off to the side of the trail, letting crowds of faster runners go by. I suppose that they choose to start at the beginning of the pack, realizing their mistake after dozens of faster runners were tripping over them trying to get by.

I had to constantly “brake”, keeping close eye on the heels of the person in front of me, for fear of tripping both them and myself, which in the tight line of runners, would have resulted in high-speed game of down-hill twister. The trail ran south-east into a valley bottom, where it crossed small streams over rocks. It then continued south, uphill out of the valley, and turned east again, on a gradual uphill slope. I found that the best places to pass were on the steeper uphill parts, where nearly everyone slows down, some to a walk. This required bursts of extra energy, but I could often pass 6 or 7 people in one short uphill distance, so it was an effective strategy, despite the required recovery period afterwards.

I also found that I had a big advantage over other runners on down-hill sections of trail. Throughout the entire 10km, I didn’t see anyone who ran as fast as I downhill. Perhaps it was my very active winter of aggressive downhill skiing that developed muscles well-suited to the task, or maybe it was a psychological thing, and people were afraid of twisting ankles or not being able to react fast enough when sprinting down trails. In some places though, my desire to accelerate down-hill was a disadvantage, where there was no room to pass, and those in front of me put on the brakes. I literally tripped over one of them, stumbling to the ground.

It took about 4km before I felt that I was “out of the crowd”, and I could run at my own pace. I probably made the most gains in the 3 or 4 km following that, over a gently sloping east-bound trail, that turned north, and then west again, into a much steeper climb for about 1000m, then down again, and then back up a final steep pitch. I crossed the 5km finish line after 21 minutes, and I was thinking at the time that had I been running the 5km race, I would have been very competitive. I was pacing myself for 10km though, thinking that the last few kilometers would probably make the biggest difference.

The second lap was much easier as far as crowds go. I think that I was far ahead of the slower runners, and gaining on the faster ones. Until my calves decided that they had had enough, and shot some searing pain signals up to my brain. I ignored them as much as I could, but eventually I had to stop and stretch, then resume at a much slower pace then I wanted. Numerous people passed me, and the minutes piled on.

I still had a respectable finish though, for a first-time race runner. I was in the top 3rd overall, at 41st place. I was 14th in my age & gender category, out of 42. My time was 48:23; the best time in my category was 39:17 and the worst was 1:09:12. I think I could have improved my time by at least 5 minutes, had I started near the beginning of the crowd, and had my calves held together for another couple of kilometers.

The official results are here.

My next race is this Saturday, at Sibbald Flats. It was sold out when I registered — there is a 150-person limit, because the course goes through an ecologically sensitive area — so I’m on the waiting list. Whether I run in the race depends on registered runners not showing up. They tell me it happens a lot, so I’m hoping to get in.

On race-day this time, I’ll do a few things differently. I’ll ask the organizers for an honest estimate of the start time, before I begin my warm up. I’ll get as close to the front of the pack at the start of the race as I can — although, I’m sure that I won’t be the only one vying for this position. I’ll push fairly hard right at the start of the race, to get out in front, and then try to keep pace with the faster runners throughout the race. I’ll also bring my own water bottle for after the race — it was difficult to find water at the race, and my cramping calves could have been due to dehydration. From now until Saturday, I’ll be drinking as much water as I can stand.

My resting heart rate right now is 56 bpm. :)