Calgary Marathon (May 29, 2016) had a bright an early start of 7:00 am for the 50K, Full, and Half. Because of this, timing and arriving early is very important for this race. Trust me on this! (The 10 and 5K start later)

Many roads are closed for the race, but taking transit to the start line is very easy - especially if you take the C-Train. Many other runners are on the train too, so the excitement can help wake you up! There is also a lot of parking nearby, you just need a little extra time to get into the spots/lots.

Once at the event grounds, checking a bag was easy - plenty of volunteers ready to help. But, once I decided to go for one last washroom trip, this is where I started to lose time. I used the washroom (lineup wasn't too long inside the Grandstand building) and rushed to get in the starting chute, but there weren’t enough openings for me to enter near the pace bunny that I had hoped to run with. I had to go way back in the chute, entering where most of the Ultra runners were. Here’s where I’ll enter my biggest pet peeve of this race. Having the 50 KM, 42.2 KM, and 21.1 KM runners all starting at the same time is a bit chaotic - no corrals too! I’m not sure why the Calgary Marathon does this, but it does not make the race start very easy for the runners (especially if you're a little nervous).

Once I found an entrance to the chute, I TRIED to move up further but it was so packed that I couldn’t. Honestly, I was freaking out a little bit and here’s when I made one of my biggest mistakes of this race. Once we started and crossed the start line, I attempted to speed up to catch the 4:15 (finish time/my goal) pace bunny. Not a great idea and I believe I paid for this later in the race. I did manage to catch the 4:15 pace bunny and I can’t recall how long I was able to maintain that pace… I think around 20 KM, but then after that I was hot and had to slow my pace a bit.

The course was great and lots of people came out to watch/cheer, so that was a nice change from other smaller Calgary races. The day turned out slightly warmer than expected, so that did affect me a little bit. You never know what you are going to get on race day with Calgary weather!

I felt good for most of the race and kept it together mentally till around 30 KM. But, around 30 KM it started to get to me how I lost the 4:15 pace bunny and I kept wondering what my time would change to. Many rolling hills in the second half of the race started to slow me down a bit. I did lots of hill training and still the hills got to me!

The last push was difficult, but I did what I had to do to finish strong. There were some good crowds around for the last 2KM, so this helped with motivation and focus for the final push. Running into the finish chute at the Calgary Grandstand was a great highlight of the event. I raised my hands in the air and crossed that finish line as a proud marathon runner.

Overall, I’m pretty proud of myself. My chip time was exactly 4:25:00 and every KM was fought for. Calgary Marathon was an amazing experience with many lessons learned and I may tackle the course again in 2018... But I know I'll have to prepare even more for those rolling hills!

Pros:
- Great organization
- Easy access - transit & parking - race start in central location of city
- Pretty good expo with vendors, etc.
- Good crowds for most of the course
- Finish line in the Calgary Grandstand
- Jugo Juice sample at the end (good smoothies!)
- Mini-expo after race inside Grandstand building
- Lots of volunteers
- Pace bunnies/rabbits
- Pretty good course (I hear the Half course is nice and flat)
- There are some indoor/flush washrooms available

Cons
- 50K, Full, and Half all start at the same time
- 2016 race shirt was not the best (the year before the shirt was awesome!)
- Starting chute a little chaotic (arrive EARLY)
- Not a marathon issue, but if visiting Calgary you have to be prepared for any kind of weather (snow, rain, sun, cool, hot - you name it)