Two weeks ago I participated in the Banff Jasper Relay (BJR) with a group of my coworkers from the University of Calgary. The 258 kilometre race is a fundraiser for the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada and is dubbed “The Most Beautiful Relay in the World” which is a claim I wouldn’t dispute. If you’ve never driven the incredible winding stretch of road between Banff and Jasper then it should be on the top of your bucket list. While I’ve made the drive before, experiencing it in the context of the relay was a new and incredible journey that I won’t ever forget.

If you aren’t familiar with the race, it’s a 15 leg relay that is run in one day. Runners complete legs that vary in distance from 14-20 km, and in difficulty ranging from long and flat to sloping downhill passes to grueling uphill ranges. In order to complete the race in daylight there is a south and a north section which are started at 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. respectively and are run simultaneously. While it is not a relay in a traditional sense where each runner is tagged off by their teammate, you still get the feeling that you are part of a team with support cars assisting you along your route and a celebratory pasta dinner at the end of the day.

I was recruited to join team ‘Thighs High’  by my coworker Casey soon after I started training for a marathon in February. It took a lot of persuading on his part because at that time I could hardly run 5km, nonetheless 20km and just the thought of running 20km was terrifying. After reading everything I could find about the race, analyzing the routes of the four legs left unassigned, and speaking with my marathon training coaches I made a decision. My coworker won and I wrote my name down on the sign-up sheet on the lunchroom kitchen fridge. I took the last leg of the race, leg 15. It’s a relatively flat 19.6 km route along Highway 93, which ends at the race finish line in Jasper.

As the race got closer and closer I got more and more nervous about it. If I am honest, I wasn’t confident about completing my leg. After getting over a worse than usual sickness and going through a really tough death in the family, my training had been thrown off more that I would have liked. I gained a little of my confidence back after having a good race during the Calgary Marathon just the weekend before; however, my leg for the BJR was twice as long and almost 5km longer than the longest run I had completed to date. If I was running the race just for myself I probably wouldn’t have felt so scared, but when you are part of a team then it feels like the stakes are higher and the pressure is on. I don’t like letting people down!

Since I knew I had to taper my training after the Calgary Marathon 10k I spent the week before the race focusing on keeping a strict diet and catching up on my sleep in an attempt to give myself any extra edge I could.

Finally the race weekend was here. I traveled to Lake Louise on Friday night and met up with the teammates I was bunking with for a pre-race dinner. Yay carbs! Then we all got settled into the condo we were renting and after hashing out a few last minute race-day details we headed for bed. I often don’t sleep well the night before I have a big event but since my leg of the race didn’t start until 6 p.m. and I knew I was able to sleep in I wasn’t really worried about it. Until… insomnia hit and I was still lying in bed, wide awake at 3 a.m. Knowing you need to sleep but being completely unable to is the worst feeling! It was four in the morning by the time I shut my eyes but since some of the people I was staying with were running early legs they started getting up at 4:30. Needless to say, I was glad I had slept well the week previously as sleep was not something I enjoyed the night before the race.

The next morning, following my sleepless night, Casey and I took off for the start of his leg. I was driving a support vehicle for him and then together we supported the next three runners during their legs. All four of them had amazing runs with Casey placing fourth on his leg and Dale coming in first on his. Their success made me feel a little better about the challenge I was about to face. After seeing our last runner to his finish line we started on the 130km drive to the start of my leg (did I mention the race is 258km long?!). After a much needed nap in the car it was my turn. I put on my bib and the required lovely yellow safety vest and I warmed up, knowing there was nothing else to do but run. We were being forced started at 6 p.m. and since it was the last leg there was the better part of 56 runners all starting at the same time.

Here is a short account of my race told through my inner monologue:

3…2…1…. GO

Start line: Whoh, where is everyone going? Are they going to run that fast the whole time?

2 km: *Looks around, sees only one other runner* I guess they ARE going to run that fast. New goal: Do NOT come last!

4 km: I’ve met a new friend. Her name is Laura. We are holding strong at the VERY back of the pack.

5 km: Thank God for Laura.

8 km: Why is it still 25 degrees out here? It’s almost 7 p.m.!

9 km: Casey stops to give me water and tells me I am almost there. No I’m not! Jerk.

10 km: There is no way I am finishing this race. Maybe I’ll walk a little.

11 km: I tell Casey I am not going to make it. He says I am.

12 km: Laura has gotten ahead of me but oh look, someone up there is slowing down, maybe I can catch them!

13 km: I passed someone! I am the king of the world! *Do a little happy dance* Here comes a second wind! *Passes two more people*

14 km: Just keep running, just keep running – sung in the voice of Dory from Finding Nemo

15 km: The legs will do what the arms do, the legs will do what the arms do…

16 km: Oh hello Mr. Elk! Please don’t hurt me

17 km: I am LITERALLY going to die.

18 km: Seriously, are we there yet?

19 km: Finally I’ve reached town! But WHY is there a hill so close to the end of this race?!

19.5 km: Longest half of a kilometre of my LIFE!

19.6 km: Oh look there’s my team! They are running with me! I am gonna sprint this last bit!

Cross the finish line! – Sit on the curb in suffering for several minutes.

I wish I could tell you I came to more profound conclusions during my race but what you just read is pretty much it. Feel free to let me know in the comments some of the things that run through your head while racing.

In the end I finished my 19.6 km in 2 hours and 7 minutes, which I am quite happy with. I placed 52/56 runners and our team placed 16/29 in our division and 32/56 overall. It was such a great weekend and was topped off by a post-race party in Jasper and a beach day in Jasper on Sunday. This race is already in my calendar for next year!

One more thing: I realized that despite being nervous about the race and having my training somewhat interrupted, the training I AM doing is working, and I am surprising myself every day. This weekend we did a 150 minute run and I completed 20.5 km!