Rundle’s Revenge – a race around a course at the foot of Mount Rundle, at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Riding the loop on bike the first day, then running the same course the next day.
There were a few different course options: I opted for the middle length, with the relatively sane 50km bike and 25km run. The crazy people biked 100km and then ran 50km the next day (no females actually completed both). Lots of people just did either the bike or the run, but not both. Also a relatively sane option.
It had been raining and raining the week beforehand, so the course was lovely and muddy. I strangely enjoyed the mud, as it didn’t really slow me down much, but it did slow down all the people who would have been riding faster than me. And there’s a strange pleasure to be had in a muddy course (provided it’s not so muddy that your bike wheels no longer turn).
I spent most of Saturday afternoon eating several lunches and then several dinners, before piling up some snacks on my bedside table in preparation for running at 8am on Sunday morning.
All of the eating seemed to pay off, and I was feeling suspiciously energetic as I ran up the first hill and into the cloud. Tired legs, but somehow I convinced them to keep running. They enjoyed the muddy course too, and I spent a good chunk of my time pretending to be a bike as I zoomed along the muddy single track. The first lap flew by – except for that last climb into the stadium, which was then followed by the first long climb out of the stadium. The middle of the loop was always pleasant enough, being mostly downhill, and by the time you arrived back at the final uphill grind, well, you were nearly done by then.
Who would have thought you could have so much fun playing in the mud? The question now is, do I want to try and do the full length version of the event next year…
