Well who’d have thought it. We just happened to be passing through Calgary on the same day as they’re having a 10K running event. Maybe there’s more goes into planning these trips than I thought!
The night before the run involved a brewery visit to The ToolShed – great beer and a friendly barman. Luckily the thought of braving the elements the next day kept us in check.
I’m sure you probably know I’m a bit of a fair weather runner. Having only started running after we moved to southern California, my trails of choice are run under clear blue skies and dry, desert-like conditions. So Canada in April was going to be right up my street.
Whilst the local events we’re used to generally start around 7am before things heat up too much, up here in the frozen north we were treated to a leisurely 10am start. We realized why when we opened the camper door first thing to be greeted by drizzle and freezing fog. We could barely even see the Walmart sign across the car park!
Anyone would think they’ve held events like this before and know that’s about how long it takes for the fog to lift and rain to stop. And they were right. By the time of the race start at 10am, the fog had dissipated, the drizzle dried up and it was merely overcast. We also had a secret weapon up our sleeves – if you get parked up at the start/finish line in your campervan, you can have your porridge and coffee beforehand and stay toasty warm right up until ‘warming up’ for the race just before the start.
Even so, 40 degrees (or for the Brits, you can count on one hand the degrees above freezing), it was way chillier than we’re used to running in – layers required. A friendly and fun local event though, and Darren managed to pull a third place in his age group out of the bag. A great time but not great timing here, as he won a free brewery tour and tasting – for a brewery in Calgary.
Could there ever be a more perfect prize for my beer-loving husband? However, the campervan was calling us and it was time to say goodbye to Calgary and get some more miles under our belt. Destination: Banff & Jasper National Parks.
