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Location: East Village, Calgary, Alberta
Weather: Pretty good considering we had a tonne of snow a couple of weeks earlier, 12°C
Festival Area: They had to deal with a smaller space then last year. X Warrior had their merchandise tent set-up and there was a coffee vendor as well but that’s all the room they had available.
Course Conditions: Paved pathway with only the “Sweat Zones” being off on the grass.
Course Layout: New location this year, which I really should’ve double checked before having to scramble over the morning of the event. Now similar to previous X Run’s the course was right along the river in downtown Calgary just a little further east this year which was actually a welcome change as it made for new scenery to look at. Similar to all X Run’s the course is a 5K with 10 optional bodyweight exercises stations, which X Warrior finally renamed from “Penalties” to “Sweat” zones. While a small change I think that was a smart move.
Favorite Sweat Zone: Last year was burpees, not so much this year. I enjoyed the break that Air Squats provided for reasons we will get into shortly
Favorite Aspect: Starting in the same location as the Resolution Run a few years ago they switched the direction from that event running east off the start instead west. Running through St. Patrick’s Island Park, I really enjoyed the change as it’s somewhere in the city I haven’t spent any time, so it was cool just to see all the work that’s been down in the area.
Race Synopsis: The X Runs are untimed and mostly meant for fun as well as pushing yourself. This year I had decided not to run this event months ago as I was planning on only running “real” races this year. But then my kids asked if they could run the kid’s lap again so I figured: “what the hell if I’m going to be down there why not run it”. Then inspiration from an OCR friend hit. He had recently run the Calgary Half Marathon in a weight vest, so I decided why not give it a shot for this event. It was less distance although the sweat zones would increase the challenge a little. After posting about the idea on Instagram it evolved into doing it to raise money for charity. We partnered with KidSport and were able to raise $600 for local kids to play sports. Now I just actually had to run in a 20-pound weight vest. Going in to the run my goals were pretty basic.
- Just finish
- Run as much as possible
- No missed reps at the Sweat Zones
I surprised myself as not only did I accomplish the goals, but I was able to finish just under 4 minutes faster than last year in the same event. All while wearing 20 extra pounds, which is a statement to my planning, consistency and training this year. The 80’s theme this year was also a fun change. Lots of very bright colors, mullets, and a good amount of thought into costumes this year to liven up the event an extra little bit. Fingers crossed for the 90’s next year and a possible OCR boy band team-up.
Scorecard
| Access | A |
| Course Layout | A+ |
| Incorporation of Site | A |
| Course Marking | A |
| Location | A+ |
| Overall | A |
Biggest Critique: 2 porta-potties for that many people was not enough, relatively small problem though.
Extra Shout-out: To the person who dressed up as Michael Myers and ran with very large prop knife, I found it hilarious. I’m sure others did not, although I’m sure some of them moved a little faster for a bit.
Lessons Learnt:
- Trust the process, little improvement daily continues to pay off
- Running in the weight vest was harder than I thought it would be, but not awful I was happy with my results
- Double check the location and don’t assume it’s in the same place every year, dummy
- Get ready for the Battle Axe next year as this will be the easy of those events by far
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