Half & Full Marathon season is ramping up in Alberta.  The snow has melted, the weather is getting warmer, and the races are coming fastly and furiously.  Just last weekend we had 3 half marathons: Calgary Police Services, Edmonton Police Services and The 2nd Annual Spring Thaw.  I participated in the Spring Thaw with a good friend.  It was a fantastic race, where I set a new PR 1:47:00.  The race was well organized, scenic, and hilly.  Instead of tech shirts, this race gave out sunglasses.  That was an interesting twist.  Unfortunately, they only handed out medals to the top 3 males and females.  I encourage anyone visiting the site to tell us about any races they have ran.  Good or bad, give us your review.

The top 5 men’s and women’s half times have changed significantly.  The men’s second and third fastest times were set at the Edmonton Police Services half.  All five of the women’s fastest times were set last weekend. First at The Spring Thaw, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th at the Calgary Police Services half, and 4th at the Edmonton Police Services half.

We have now had 3,179 people complete half marathons in Alberta in 2012. Of these 1,651 were women and 1,528 were men.  Check out our race results page to download Overall, Gender, and Age Category standings.  See how you rank in Alberta this year.

Have a great week and keep racing,
Jeremy

For a while there I thought that Spring had arrived in Alberta.  Today we have gotten a mixture of rain, hail, and snow and I am no longer so sure.  There has not been any half or full marathons lately, and as such there are no new race results to report.

At this point everyone who is training for a Spring half or full marathon should be hitting their longest runs on the weekends.  Last week, my two running partners and I ran 36km and it had me thinking about how far your long runs should be.  Many people say that 32km is the furthest you should run while training for a full marathon.  These people say that after 32km your body starts to break down and any benefits from the extra kilometres are significantly reduced.  On the other side, I have heard that your wall will arrive at the furthest distance you ran in training.  So, if you run a 40km training run, then during your race your wall will be around 40km.  I have ran 5 marathons and have hit the wall in all of them.  During my last training cycle, the furthest training run I ran was 40km.  When I hit the wall in that race, I managed to break through it and continue to the finish.  In every other marathon I hit the wall and walked for the rest of the race.  I am interested in your opinions on how long is long enough.  Wait let me qualify that how many kilometres should you run.  Phew, I did not want this blog to go downhill.

I am racing the St. Albert 10 Miler this weekend.  It is a perennial favourite in the Edmonton area.  It is a premiere race that attracts many fast runners.  Last year, I finished in a time of 1h29m and that had me near the bottom of my age group.  Wow.  This year I am hoping to significantly improve my time.  I did run the course this week and was able to run it in 1h19m.  I was extremely pleased with this run, but alas it is only a training run, and we all know that anything can happen on race day.  So far it looks like the weather may break and be okay for the race, but this race has had hot and sunny one year and cold and snowy the next, so we will just have to wait and see.  If you are running the St. Albert 10 Miler, I would love to hear from you.  Let me know how your race went.

Have a great running weekend,
Jeremy

I do know that there were 213 half marathoners at the race and that some of them were pretty fast.  The top 5 men’s times in Alberta have drastically changed.  The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fastest times were all set over the weekend.  A special congratulations to Tom McGrath who now holds the 3rd and 5th fastest times.  The women’s top 5 times remain unchanged, but the 6th fastest women’s time was set over the weekend.

If you would like to see how you rank in Alberta this year, our Overall, Gender, and Divisional spreadsheets have been updated.

There are no other half marathons that we are aware of, until Sunday April 29th.  That weekend there are three, two in Edmonton and one in Calgary.  We will try to keep you updated on other exciting events during the upcoming weeks, even if it is just my random thoughts and personal running experiences.  Add your comments to make the discussions more interesting.

Jeremy

My regular running partner was out of town for the weekend, but we had introduced a new member to our group the week before, and he was able to join me.  This was my longest run since the Las Vegas marathon in December, and my new friend’s first 32km training run.

I am quite the talker when I run with someone.  I will go on and on about anything and everything.  People either love running with me or hate it.  I also, like to share the insights I have gained from running, usually when someone is struggling and has no breath to challenge my ideas.  Somewhere around 29km I began one of my sermons on running.

This friend had told me I could go on and leave him behind.  I told him that as long as I wasn’t annoying him to badly, I was going to stay with him.  As we grinded out those last kms, I started to realize that although running is an individual accomplishment, you can be so much stronger when running with someone else.  When I run a long run alone, I cannot go without my Ipod, but when running with someone, I rarely even have the headphones on my ears.  I can sit with a good friend at a restaurant and have trouble filling in the breaks in conversation, but I can run for three and a half hours with someone I hardly know and never run out of things to say.   Running alone I will constantly be checking my Garmin to see how far I have left to go, but while running with a friend I have gotten to 17km before I even check my Garmin for distance.  I could have continued on without my friend and finished my 34km at my targeted pace prescribed in my training schedule to best optimize my chances of achieving my new marathon PR goal.  I could have, but I didn’t.  Instead we took a couple extra walk breaks, slowed our pace down, and made it to the end together.  At the end he told me that without my help, he wouldn’t have been able to run those last kms.  I realized that although we have our own personal running goals, helping someone else achieve theirs can be just as rewarding.

Have a great week,
Jeremy

Last week was a quiet week as there were no marathons or half marathons in Alberta. 

I did race this weekend though.  I ran in the St. Patrick’s Day 5km/10km race in Edmonton.  This race was a little strange in the fact that it was held the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day and the morning after the time change, talk about confusing.  That being said, I did make it to the race on the right day and at the right time.
I have never raced a 5km, so I thought I would give one a try.  Most training schedules I am so focused on the final race.  I started to think, what if I get injured or something happens and I cannot race on the big day.  I would be disappointed to say the least.  With that in mind, I figured I would try to squeeze a number of races in on the way to my goal of the Red Deer marathon.
The weather was great on race day.  The sun was out and the temperature was above zero which was a plus, no pun intended.  This race was an out and back that started at the top of a hill.  The hill had a number of quick switchbacks that we were told reduced the steepness of the grade.
I had looked at the results from the previous year and felt that I may have a chance of placing in the top 10 to 20.  I started the race right near the front and, as always seems to happen, took off a little quicker than planned.  I did correct my pace quickly.  The path down the hill was not too steep, but there was some ice and a number of switchbacks to negotiate.  By the first km marker I was somewhere in the top 20 and quite happy.  I wanted to make sure each of my kms got a little faster.
As I reached the turn around point at 2.5km I had passed a few runners.  I had counted 9 people pass me in the other direction.  I was now in the top ten and feeling good.  As I headed back, my breathing was a little heavier, but I was still feeling good.  I passed 3 more runners before reaching the 4km marker. 
Most of the last km was back up the switchback hill.  I was now in 6th place and could see 5th in front of me.  He was about 200m away and just approaching the hill.  When he turned around to see who was behind him, I could see he was suffering and felt I had a chance of catching him.  I reached the hill just behind him and was able to pass him on the 2nd switchback.  I slowed a bit on the hill, but kept pushing.  As I crested the hill I could see 4th.  He was 200m from the finish.  I had no room or energy to chase him down, so I concentrated on finishing strong.  I ran across the finish in a time of 22:18.  This time was good enough for 5th overall and 2nd in my age category. 
Afterwards we enjoyed a big breakfast of sausages, french toast, yogurt, and orange juice.  The breakfast felt too classy for a race crowd.  It wasn’t a buffet, they actually table served us with covered dishes. 
After breakfast I headed home with a big smile on my face.  I am glad I chose to run additional races rather than solely focus on my marathon.

There are no half marathons in Alberta this week, but there are some other races.  I will be running the 5km race at this Sunday’s St. Patrick’s Day Run.  This will be my first 5km race and I am hoping to finish under 25minutes.  It looks to be a nice out and back course, with a nice downhill to start, which means we will rue it on the way back.

Thanks to everyone who has checked out the website so far.  Please provide me with any feedback on how I can make the site better.  What do you like or dislike?  What else would you like to see?

Another week has passed and another race is in the books.  We have now had 4 Half Marathons in Alberta.  The most recent being the Edmonton Hypo Half #2.  From all accounts it was a tough race.  Edmonton experienced a dump of snow on Saturday and I don’t think that the plows had cleared the streets yet.  One runner compared the conditions to running in the sand at the beach.  Unlike the beach, the weather was colder and they were not wearing their bathing suits. 
Even with the tough conditions the runners posted some great times.  The top 5 Men’s Half Marathon times for 2012 remain unchanged this week, but there was one change to the Women’s list.  Michelle Andersen ran a 1:33:56 which puts her tied for 3rd place. 
Congratulations to all who ran in the snow, you definitely earned your hardcore badge this week.
I would like to make everyone aware of a couple of facts about the results posted on the website.  I am compiling these results from the information provided by the different timing companies.  Not all of the information is available all of the time.  If you see any errors, let me know and I will correct them as I can.
Please note that the Lethbridge Hypo Half was not officially timed.  As a result, there are no results available to include.
The next race coming up is the Red Deer Hypo Half Marathon on Sunday March 4th.  Good luck to everyone participating.
Until next week,
Jeremy

Welcome to the Soul Racer website.  This site is your source for Alberta Half and Full Marathon race dates and results.  I am a passionate runner who loves statistics.  I know that I am not the only one out there.  Now you too, can dive in and find out how you rank.  How do you rank in Alberta? Overall? Gender? Age Group?  It is all here. 

I am a bit new to websites so there are many things I would like to improve as I go along.  Right now my results pages are Excel spreadsheets.  They take a little long to download and I apologize for that.  I am trying to have these spreadsheets posted directly on the website, but due to formatting issues, it is still a work in progress.

I have been running for just over two years now and have completed 5 full marathons, 3 half marathons, and 2 10 milers.  When I began running, I was 31 years old and 215lbs.  I played volleyball and slo pitch and felt that I was in shape and big boned.  As I began running I started to develop many of the common running injuries, including Runner’s Knee, IT Band Syndrome, and Plantar Faciitis.  I never changed my eating habits and ran my first marathon, Calgary 2010, injured and still 215lbs.  I only made it 26km before walking the remainder and finishing in 5h15m.  There were times during that race where I swore I would never run again, but by the next day I already was thinking of how I could improve.  From that point on I began eating healthier, exercising more, and I bought orthotics to relieve my plantar faciitis.  In the almost two years since that marathon I have lost 45lbs and have a full marathon personal best of 4h2m. 
I have read, own, and love the book Born to Run.  I am slowly working my way towards a more natural midfoot running style.  I am hoping that this will help relieve my plantar faciitis and remove my need for orthotics.  At this time I have currently worked my way up to 2.2km of midfoot running a couple times a week.
I am currently training for the Red Deer marathon on May 20, 2012.  I follow the Run Less Run Faster 3and2 training program.  I run 3 days a week and cross train 2 days.

I hope you enjoy my website, and if you have any suggestions, questions, or  just want to talk about running, you can reach me on Facebook, Twitter, or email me @ jerpowerhome@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting my site,
Jeremy