Banff Marathon (Race Recap)

Banff, Alberta

Sunday, June 19

Weather - Overcast

Last year I spontaneously signed up for the Banff marathon when my friend Heather shared that she had signed up. I haven't run a road marathon in a LONG time - the last one was CIM in 2016!

Race Day

I had set an alarm, but I woke up well before it went off. I had everything ready to go, just needed to get dressed and braid my hair and eat breakfast. I am back to struggling with eating early in the morning, so I forced down part of a bagel.

The race didn't start until the ungodly hour of 9 am, so we had plans to leave around 7:30-7:45 to arrive in Banff with an hour to find parking and use the bathroom. I was also on the fence with what to wear... temps were pretty cool, and pretty decent chance of rain.

Eventually I decided to just risk it and gave my jacket to Christian at the start. If I freeze, I freeze! (Spoiler, it was actually fine). We didn't have much trouble finding parking, and conveniently we were right across the street from a grocery store, so we used that bathroom first. We stayed in the car until about 8:30, but Summer was getting squirrely (first marathon for her!) and wanted to head over to the start. We found more bathrooms (that I ended up using twice) and then headed over to the start area.

Group shot!

After the DNF at Cocodona I had taken a full week off. Then once I got back into training I got Covid and took another week off. I actually did have as lot of pretty great runs leading up to race day, so I was pretty excited to see where my "road/flat" fitness level was. Based on how training was going, I had a goal of 5:00-5:15. The Texas girls were going to be doing run/walk intervals, but I decided I was going to be doing my own thing, and hopefully having a great day.

Let's gooooo!

There were more people than I expected and there were plenty of pace groups. I still have never run with one since the catastrophe at my 4th half marathon, so I did what I do best - start in the very back and go. Almost immediately, I realized that I seemed to be working VERY hard for what should be an easy pace (even for me). I cautiously backed off a bit, but I could tell pretty early that this was not going to be my "dream" marathon day. It's been over a week since the race, so I can't remember exactly how early in the race I started doing run/walk intervals - not even sure I made it to the first aid station!

I had been worried about being cold for no reason - it was a lot warmer than I expected it to me. I kept up with the run/walk and played leapfrog with a few different people (who I am sure were annoyed by my strategy, but whatever).

Some good things about this race - there were not a billion people. Most of the course is on a closed road, so it's plenty wide enough for out/back and passing, etc. However, these also ended up being negatives as well... I don't mind running alone, but there were very long stretches where there just weren't any people. The views kinda made up for it though!

There was a weird "loop" we had to do before turning around and heading back to town, and that was pretty soul sucking. I had seen Jen finally and she looked great and pretty cheerful. I was wondering how far behind me Melanie was, and she was closer than I expected her to be, so I imagined she would be catching up and/or passing me. 

We would later find out they had to do loop because there was too much wildlife activity past that point! I didn't see it, but Heather and others did - there was actually a grizzly bear right off the course!! By the time I go there I just saw the rangers hollering at a field...

The back half of the race was literally survival mode for me. I was tired, hot, and completely alone on the course. I stopped to use the bathroom around mile 17 and felt a bit better. My intervals of running got shorter and shorter, and I was desperately hanging on to keep my average pace under 12 minute miles. It sure was pretty though!

I wasn't expecting it, but did come across a heard of bighorn sheep! Luckily I see them somewhat regularly in Colorado, but there were some people in front of me that seemed afraid to walk by them. There were even babies!

FINALLY, it seemed like I was getting close. In the past, it always seemed beneficial to switch my watch to km because it feels like I'm making progress. However, in this race, the countdown seemed to be slow and dragged on FOREVER. Ugh.

When I finally got to town and saw the big Banff sign I knew I was really close, a km to go! I got really excited after crossing the train tracks when a volunteer yelled - "this way to the beer garden!" Wooo, I will run for beer!!

I had seen Jen and Christian at the finish line and immediately headed to try to find the beer garden. WHICH WAS A FREAKING LIE. I cannot believe a volunteer said that, there was literally NO beer at the finish, and every volunteer looked like a deer in headlights when I asked about it. Grrr.

Official time - 5:10:26

Garmin time - 5:10:48

Garmin pace - 11:56

Official 5K - 35:43

Official 10K - 1:15:52

Official 19.6K - 2:22:30

Official 30K - 3:51:20

Overall Place - 282/362

Gender Place - 96/145

Division Place - 16/19

Mile 1-5 - 11:37, 11:58, 11:36, 11:32, 11:19

Miles 6-10 - 11:44, 11:48, 11:52, 11:21, 11:57

Miles 11-15 - 11:40, 11:57, 11:42, 12:05, 11:19

Miles 16-20 - 13:50, 11:53, 12:30, 11:51, 12:43

Miles 21-26.2 - 11:32, 12:25, 12:24, 11:51, 11:56, 11:53, 9:39

Upon finishing, I went to the tavern across from the finish line where we had set up camp at the bar. I was getting ready to order a beer when I saw Michelle (and Heather!) who had dropped. I wasn't quite ready to eat anything, but the beer was delicious.

Thoughts:

• This was a fun experience! The weather ended up being pretty perfect, and I'm glad I didn't do anything crazy like wear long sleeves. I would have died.
• PLENTY of aid stations. I actually ended up tossing my water bottle around mile 20 because I was soooo tired of carrying it. They had gatorade (I think) and water. Maybe gels? Writing this too longer after that I don't remember.
• THIS ROUTE HAD SO MUCH WILDLIFE. I didn't see any of the bears. The Texas gals SAW A GRIZZLY and had to follow ranger instructions to safely get by. There were also black bears hanging out near the aid stations. This is a pic Summer took:

• The race shirt is cute - black, no year on it (because as I discovered, they just sell whatever shirts are left over at the expo the following year.
• Cool medal, but I don't like that all distances are listed on the medal. Without a year on there they should have different medals for other distances. At least the ribbon says marathon.
• Would I recommend? Yes, a thousand times yes! Just be aware that the course is not walker friendly and there is a 6:30 cutoff - that they were pretty strict about enforcing.