Well, my second half marathon has come and gone by already! As I’ve said before, this training cycle went by really fast.
This half marathon taught me two things:
1) now matter how your training goes, your body can have a totally different idea come race day
2) running is a huge mental game
Before the race
I think my biggest issue for this race was the fact that my stomach was acting up for three days before the race and especially the night before the race. Let’s just say that the toilet and I made close friends on Friday night, which lead to an emergency run to the store for some imodium. It lead to me being a little dehydrated and feeling really nervous about the next day.
The race didn’t start until 10:40am, so we were able to get up at 7am and still make the hour drive to the race start. We car pooled with Nicole and her husband J, so they came to our house at 7:45am and we were off shortly after there. We arrived in Banff just after 9am, and had no trouble finding parking, which was one of my worries. We walked over to the race site, and picked up our t-shirts. It was weird as we picked up our numbers the day before, but had to get the shirts the morning of. We had some waiting around to do, and before I knew it, it was time to line up!
Pictures thanks to Nicole!
The race
The course was an out and back with a loop in the middle that we had to circle twice. The course itself was gorgeous as we were running along the golf course and were surrounded by mountains. There was ~1200 people running the half, so I was constantly around people, which was nice.
The first 10k of the race I was feeling great and running between 5:20-5:35 kilometers. Shortly after there, things started to go downhill for me. I think it was a combination of the heat (it was an unseasonal 29C that day), not enough water stations (there was three throughout the whole course), last night’s stomach issues and crappy roads with lots of pots holes and gravel. The next 10k were focused on not thinking about having no more water, being too hot and the cramp that developed in my side around 16k. That cramp was so painful that I could barely run, which meant I basically walked the last 3k of the race. I was so frustrated with my body and the cramp, that I did all I could to hold the tears in. I would try to run and my body quickly shut that idea down!
Finish line/after the race
Coming around the last corner, I told myself to run it in and it took all of my strength to do so. I ended up with a finishing time of 2:06, which was well off my last half, but not surprising considering how much I walked. I came 72/138 in my age group and 615/1133 overall. I crossed the finish line, met up with Mr.D and proceeded to cry. Not my finest moment, but I was so frustrated at that point.
If you can zoom in on this picture, I look so focused/ mad
Mr.D later told me that from the look on my face coming into the finish line, he could tell that I was frustrated, mad and about to cry. He knows me so well 
The race didn’t have any medals, but rather gave out free beer. Since I’m not a beer drinker, and Nicole & J had to be back in Calgary for a wedding, we left about 15 minutes after I finished.
Final thoughts
- making friends with the toilet the night before the race is never a good thing
- if that happens, make sure to drink a lot of water!
- running is a huge mental game. I let things get to me this race, and it beat me down.
- the course was gorgeous, but the road we were running on SUCKED at points. Dodging pot holes and gravel is never fun
- not enough water stations! Granted, no one expected 29C weather in the mountains in late September, but they could have used at least two more water stations
- more cheering sections were needed. They had two bands on the course, which was definitely not enough
- I’ll be back to redeem myself Melissa’s race
I hope Justin and Cruz spoil you rotten 
Feel free to leave three questions for me to answer too.
Haha.
). You are the perfect companion for cuddling and walking, well Mr.D is up there too! So excited to see you continue to grow, but don’t grow too fast. 