Fort Whyte Alive Twilight Run 2013 - 10K

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grimskot
Bill Crothers
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Fort Whyte Alive Twilight Run 2013 - 10K

Postby grimskot » Fri Aug 30, 2013 1:15 pm

Short version: beat last year's time by almost 3 minutes, despite higher temp &humidity. Garmin said 1:05:25. Awesome!

Long version:
Cloudy &light showers earlier in day. But no trace of that by race time. Temp &humidity kinda high for a good race: 21C/humidex 28, clear. Would try to run hard effort by feel, but not be too concerned about actual pace.

Race course is 2 loops: northbound loop, followed by southbound loop. Race starts at dusk, and it gets really dark out there away from the streetlights. Race fee includes headlamp, which everyone is required to wear. It is very cool, seeing all the headlamps stretching out before you on the open sections of trail. Especially when some of those lights start coming back. :) Some people went the extra mile so to speak, and wore additional glowsticks or running lights, which made it even more fun to watch. [Dug the woman with the dayglo tutu and blinking antennae :D ] There are some very cool photos available off the website here. None with me, of course, unless you count the wee figure way at the back of a crowd shot from the Interpretive Centre lookout tower. :)

North outbound leg: Trails 2-3m wide, so runners all clumped together at first without much chance to pass. Tucked in behind couple who were running comfortably hard pace. They pulled away during outbound leg. That was OK: I let 'em go while trying to keep my own pace. Leg ends with turnaround at top of big hill. Quite happy with how the hill went, tactically. Slowed pace but kept effort steady going up. Got passed by 2 sets of people. Hit downside &let gravity pull me. Flew by those same 2 sets of people, never to see them again. Sweet!

South return leg: Spotted woman several meters ahead wearing shiny plaid tights. [There's a reason I mention this.] OK, pace seems good, let's see if I can keep her in sight, or even catch up to her slowly without over-extending myself. That went well, until she pulled over for walk break. Fine, find another set of people ahead &repeat.

Hit the one&only water station along NE lake, around 6 km mark. Had to come to complete stop, because they didn't have any Gatorade cups ready. Gatorade was warm, too. Eh, made it easier to drink fast without spilling. :) Then back to running. Resumed previous pace.

South outbound leg: Doing pretty well. Garmin average pace indicated I had good shot at beating last year's time if I could hang on. Spotted that couple that passed me on north outbound leg. I think one of them had gone out too fast for conditions, 'cause I slowly caught up &passed them.

Now things got interesting. It's full dark by now. Came to fork in trail. Volunteer directed runners down left side, and warned us to watch our footing. This part was dirt single track thru trees, a.o.t. the wider limestone &gravel of the main trails. I heard couple ahead yell out warning: "Bridge ahead! Bear left!". I crossed bridge &found another fork. Could see that couple's lights off to left, so I cranked hard left at fork. It became unexpectedly challenging for a race in the dark: narrow &twisty, right along lake bank with sharp drop-off to left, and several branches overhang directly into the path. One of those branches clawed the headlamp right off my head. :shock: Great, now I have to find my headlamp in the dark, while worrying about runners behind me colliding with me. Luckily that didn't take more than a few seconds. Came to wide spot in track. Saw another runner down in the ditch to my right. Thought "Uh-oh, wonder if she's OK?" Right then, I caught my toe on a rock &down *I* went. Ouch. Runner behind us caught up &paused to see if we're both OK. We both were, with minor road rash in my case. So off all 3 of us went.

Eventually we got out of the trees. Hit a sandy stretch where everyone spread out &resumed their own paces. Found turnaround point, back on main trails.

North return leg: Only km or so left. Breathing hard, but I think I got this. Increased pace wee bit more &passed few more runners. Including the woman with the shiny plaid tights. Wait... when did she pass *me*?? Hit the last turn before the finish line for quick side loop past the floating boardwalks. Think I heard someone behind me, about to pass. Had wee bit left to give, so I dug deep. Never did let them pass. :cool:

At finish line, Garmin said I beat last year's time by almost 3 minutes. Nice! Felt like I had a really good strong race. As I was standing in line for post-run chow, I heard several runners complaining that the race felt long. One or two even said it felt like an extra 0.5 km. That's when I realized: when I turned onto that side trail thru the trees, I had probably left the measured course. And I wasn't the only one, since we all tended to follow the lights of the people ahead. [The legend of the Manitoba Trail Lemming continues! :) ] Didn't think I remembered that bit from last year, and now I think I know why. That might also explain how Miss Shiny Tights got ahead of me without my realising. :)

Final note: post-run food was wee bit unusual. Race kit included coupons for DIY s'mores kit and a smokie. They also offered bananas, juice, chocolate milk and bannock of all things, but you had to pay extra for those. You could choose between a regular smokie and a vegan hotdog, but weirdly neither came with a bun. It was literally just a smokie, in one of those funny paper trays. There was ketchup &mustard too, if you can imagine putting that on a naked smokie. [Which, I must confess, I did. :) ] Wonder if they just ran out of buns, what with all the 5 km racers finishing first. Plus, you really had to search for water in the food area. The area was small and crowded, the water jug wasn't well marked, and the water was warm. Not the best thing after a hard 10 km race in that heat &humidity. But that didn't stop me from having 3 glasses worth. :)
Plan for 2016:
Jun 25: St. Malo Triathlon - Sprint - done
Jul 16: Morden Triathlon - Sprint - done

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barebuns1
Bill Crothers
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Re: Fort Whyte Alive Twilight Run 2013 - 10K

Postby barebuns1 » Fri Aug 30, 2013 10:38 pm

It sounds like an interesting night race. Why would they have smokies but no buns? I am guessing they ran out. They probably were not expecting so many crazy night runners. :)
If you have to ask me why I Run, You probably wouldn't understand!

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Ken B
Lynn Williams
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Re: Fort Whyte Alive Twilight Run 2013 - 10K

Postby Ken B » Mon Sep 09, 2013 5:30 pm

Nice report. Thanks. :)

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Robinandamelia
Jerome Drayton
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Re: Fort Whyte Alive Twilight Run 2013 - 10K

Postby Robinandamelia » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:49 am

Congrats!!

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Habs4ever
Kevin Sullivan
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Re: Fort Whyte Alive Twilight Run 2013 - 10K

Postby Habs4ever » Tue Sep 10, 2013 12:38 pm

Great job! Way to beat last years time.
I wanna live like there's no tomorrow
Love, like I'm on borrowed time
It's good to be alive, yeah....Jason Gray

Running is a conversation with your body. Sometimes you listen and sometimes you tell it to stop whining and do something. - Ian

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grimskot
Bill Crothers
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Re: Fort Whyte Alive Twilight Run 2013 - 10K

Postby grimskot » Tue Sep 10, 2013 10:56 pm

Thanks, all. I've done this race twice now. It's so different, racing at night. Definitely gonna keep it in mind next year.
Plan for 2016:
Jun 25: St. Malo Triathlon - Sprint - done
Jul 16: Morden Triathlon - Sprint - done

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gnu
Jerome Drayton
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Re: Fort Whyte Alive Twilight Run 2013 - 10K

Postby gnu » Wed Sep 11, 2013 4:30 pm

What an adventure! I love how you beat last year's time despite the detour ;)

So weird that they charge extra for basics like bananas but give you a free sausage. I would be all over the s'mores! :lol:

Loved your report, thanks for sharing!

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grimskot
Bill Crothers
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Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 4:58 pm
Location: Winnipeg, MB

Re: Fort Whyte Alive Twilight Run 2013 - 10K

Postby grimskot » Thu Sep 12, 2013 12:45 pm

Thanks, gnu :)
Plan for 2016:
Jun 25: St. Malo Triathlon - Sprint - done
Jul 16: Morden Triathlon - Sprint - done


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