Canmore XTERRA race report.

Overall female finishers Danelle Kabush, myself and Kelly Geisheimer
Rob----had an close encounter with a fun section call the Coal Chutes!
Finally, a little to say about the highly anticipated Canmore XTERRA last weekend!!
I have been looking forward to this race, as I don't actually compete in very many XTERRA events!
2 years ago, I won the inaugural Canmore XTERRA, and last year came in close second to Danelle Kabush. The second place finish last year got me pretty stoked, as Danelle is an amazing XTERRA athlete, having placed second at Worlds in the past!
She was 3 months post baby last year!! Crazy, she is amazing!
I went to the race without kids and husband this year, leaving them with some good alone time, and traveling with a friend, Rob who was doing the race as well.
With just me (and the race) to think about, I was pretty relaxed and feeling good about the race.
THE SWIM!! 1000m
Yeah me!! Finally had a decent swim! 2 minutes faster than last year, which in a 1000m swim is a good improvement.....actually was hoping for one minute faster, but I will take it!!
It felt like a pretty crazy swim out there!! I guess with a bit faster swim, puts me in a different race, there are actually other swimmers around me, I am not alone at the back anymore, it was awesome!! People in front and on both sides the entire swim!!
The Mountain Bike 22km
A faster swim also makes for a different race on the bike, not as many riders to pass, and more back and forth with the guys, it was super fun as well, and I felt like I had a great ride out there!
The descents went smooth (well as smooth as they get on my Orbea ht) felt good on the climbs as well!
I was able to catch all the girls before the end of Lap 1 (with Kelly Geisheimer being the last one, she has a super strong ride, and has an incredibly fast swim)
I finished Lap 2 without catching Danelle......and not knowing where she was, but knowing I would never catch her on the run!!! She is super fast!! I was just hoping that I wasn't too far back....boy was I wrong....
The Trail Run - 8km
Lap 1 of run felt good, I was testing my ankle a bit, hoping it would hold up, and it did, so I tried to push is a bit more, The first half of Lap 2 felt better, but felt myself slowing down after that :o(
I was just running hard, hoping nobody else would catch me at this point!
I was very happy to reach the finish line in second.
My Uncle Ken had come to watch, nice to have someone there watching! I asked how far back I was......the look on his face said it all :o)
He guessed around 10 mins....ugh!! Awful, imagine my disappointment, when I found out it was actually 15 minutes!!
I finished in 2:35
10 minutes faster than last year....the course was a bit drier, but happy with an improvement for sure!
2 weeks until XTERRA Nationals in Whistler, I was contemplating switching Cats, but will stay where I am, I am not the fastest out there, not as fast as I wanted to be this year....but I am hoping for a good strong race there!
Thought about not going to Maui for Worlds, but since that has been my goal for the entire past year, seems kind of like quitting to do that, and with a couple good months still to train, and hopefully get my mountain bike to where I think it should be, I will be doing it!!