Yesterday was the first race of the 2007-2008 Calgary Roadrunners XC Race Series. The first in the series is held on the trails just east of the Canadian Olymica Park (COP). We got lucky with the weather as the snow that was forecast never happened. YEAH!!! Instead it was a gorgeous fall day. A little on the cool side, but perfect for running a race.

My family and I arrived plenty early or so we thought, but the parking lot was already pretty full. Of course that means a great turn out for the race. I’m guessing we had a turnout of well over 200 runners of all ages. I managed to bring along my daughter (Carrie) and little Nikayla. This would be Carrie’s first XC race and she was a tad nervous but excited. Nikayla was excited and said “If I get tired, I can always jog for a bit”. Remember, she’s 6…lol.

We walked down to the center and used the bathrooms then headed up to register for the race. We found Karen and other friends to visit with before the race. Gabino and his camera were also there to capture runners doing there thing before and during the race.

Nikayla stood on the medal podium for a photo shot. Perhaps it was an omen of things to come later, but you’ll have to read on to find out what I mean.

The Family Fun 1k was the first race. This one is just a short out and back.

Next the 8k gang heads off.

It’s a short downhill and trust me a very very long uphill off into the trees.

About 5 minutes later the rest of us head of on what was supposed to be 4k. Mr V told me later it was more like 4.66k

The first part of the course is pretty much uphill. It’s just hard to tell how much uphill as it’s disguised by trees and the odd short very short flat piece.

We do eventually reach the top and then make our way downhill winding through trees and fields. It’s a beautiful run, especially with all the fall colors. Of course what goes down, yes, goes back up again. *sigh*. Somewhere in there the 8k runners weave back onto and off again on the 4k section. That’s kind of a good thing for me as that way I don’t feel totally alone out there….lol. Oh yeah, Carrie and Nikayla are now several minutes ahead of slowpoke Granny. They are one of the specs in the middle photo below.

The next uphill stretch is always interesting. There are stream crossing, some with bridges, some with stones, some to leap and some to run through. I hear Nikayla ran through em all. Somehow I got lucky and managed to keep my feet dry. Good thing as I realized later I did not bring spare shoes, silly me.

On the right below, Karen catches up to and passes me. She was doing the 8k. Now Karen is faster then me but seldom laps me in a race. I blame this on the fact that it was a tough course, it was also over half a km longer then it was supposed to be and heh, she had a 5 minute head start. I’m the one that needs the head start, eh.

Kathy, the photographer for Calgary Roadrunners, got some great photos of us out on the trails. Below you see Granny (me), mommy (Carrie) and little Nikayla.

From what I hear Nikayla and Carrie stayed pretty much together for most of the race but at the end she took off and beat her mom by several seconds with a time of 48:54. Carrie crossed the finish line at 49:15 and I crossed the line some 10 minutes later at 59:18. Heh, my only goal was to beat an hour and I did so with seconds to spare. Nikayla showed off her minor scrapes for the camera.

On the way to the to the school for soup and cookies, Carrie remarked “that was a tough one”. Nikayla echoed “that was a tough one, NO!” We all laughed. For this race awards are given out and how cool is that, Nikayla took 3rd place for her age group 9 & under. The medals are handmade by the kids at the school. I managed to win a pair of shoes and while Carrie didn’t win anything Alan at our table gave her the shirt he won as he really didn’t need it.