Well, Stuart and I headed out early from work to get to Lethbridge and pick up his race package. The drive was uneventful for once and we got there in good time. The big L is growing, but it's still a pretty straightforward place, so we found Runner's Soul and then the hotel without a problem.
We unloaded all the gear and went out to find some dinner. As usual, carb-loading was on the agenda, so we found the local BP's. Just as we were leaving, the clouds opened up with some seriously pounding downpour - it didn't last long, but any poor guys out doing the 100km or 100 miles would have been suffering.
When we got back to the hotel, Stuart settled in for some serious pre-race checking and re-packing of all his gear, while I reminded myself why we don't pay for TV. He did manage to work out enough jitters in time to go down for a soak in the hot tub, which was great. We talked to some guy who's been stuck here for 6 weeks on a job. Apparently, the hotel hosts 2 or 3 weddings every weekend, so I don't even want to think about the fashion horrors he's been exposed to. We also chatted with another 50km runner and his wife, exchanging battle stories and all.
We turned in to the rather flat bed early, to get a good night's sleep before the race. Stuart's alarm went off at some ungodly hour and I put the pillow over my head while he had breakfast. Eventually, we were all vertical and about as ready as possible, so we went down to the race start for the meeting. It was overcast and the ground was wet, but it wasn't currently raining - so it was a bit surprising when the tent was closed and dark and there wasn't a soul around. We went in the back door to the hotel and tripped over the meeting in one of the ballrooms. We'd missed the big announcement, but what it boiled down to was: the trail was too dangerous, so they'd cancelled the 50km and pulled all the other racers off the course.
Those of you who've been in this part of Alberta are probably familiar with the terrain. When dry, the clay is fairly firm and a bit powdery; however, when it gets wet, it's basically becomes a frictionless surface. Not good footing for a lot of up and down. They race website does specify that in order to avoid excessive environmental damage, there is an alternate "rain route", but we still haven't found out why it wasn't used.
So, a whole lot of runners who'd been up before the crack of dawn grumbled a bunch and went back to bed. It was too late to cancel our hotel rooms and get our money back, and the race "awards breakfast" will go as planned tomorrow morning, so we stayed around. At a much more reasonable hour, we got up and went to find breakfast. Listening to conversations in the restaurant, it sounded like a lot of the runners on the trail were dealing with incipient hypothermia, in addition to the treacherous footing. I can't wear Stuart's beloved wool, but unless you're allergic like me, I don't think there's any excuse not to!
We've had a pretty relaxed day - we visited the Japanese Garden, bought new pillows for the new bed and went to see "Kungfu Panda" (which was surprisingly good - another for the DVD list.) We just had some mediocre sushi for dinner and we have a lovely evening of Saturday night tv and hot tubbing planned.
I'll get back to you later with any new info from the race breakfast...
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