2025 plan and wish list

While I have been busy with the Basement Tapes routine, wishes and plans are afoot when it comes to actual races and training for them. 

*The start of the season will be Spring Trio in April. Whereas I did the 5k last time, I will do the 10k so as to take in even more of the Elbow River. 

*May will feature 2 races, starting with a 5k, Bumrun. The course loops around the University of Calgary. Most significantly of all, the start/finish is on the grounds of Foothills Medical Centre. Given how my life hung in the balance there 9 years ago, if any of the surgeons/doctors/nurses happen to be at the finish line, I may end up saying, "thanks for keeping me alive. I would hug you, but as I have just run 5 kilometres, I stink."
    At the end of May at the Calgary Marathon event which I have run countless times, I will take part in  the only distance I have never run there: 10k.

*Six weeks later, on the anniversary of D-Day, there is the Stampede Road Race. While that is where I once ran my 5k personal best, 19:15, it also has 10k and half marathon distances. Given the 6 weeks of training after a 10k, having run a 5 and a 10 beforehand, the half marathon is tempting. Whether or not I run the 1/2 is a decision for closer to that day. 

*There is a potential fly-away race. I will be visiting England at the end of August, primarily for my Dad's 80th birthday. During that visit, there is one evening race which is not too far from my brother's house. There is a 5k and 10k at Dorney Lake, which also hosted the rowing events at the 2012 Olympics. If I run this, I would be easy to spot in a Team Canada singlet. 

*Having returned to Calgary, there are 2 races in September which take place before I take off to get to China for the wedding of one of my wife's cousins. Dino Dash is where I did my comeback race in 2018. Instead of the 5k, I would run the 10k. 
    1 week later, there's a potential first time ever at La French Run. Organized by Alliance Française, most of it is along the Elbow River, a little further north than the route of the Spring Trio. 
    The wedding clashes with my favourite race of all, the Harvest Half Marathon. This will have to wait until 2026. 

*October features 2 races of several distances, although I am most tempted by that in the official title of both. The Calgary Police Half Marathon starts and finishes at Mount Royal University, takes in the Glenmore reservoir and includes the damn where the Elbow River (re)starts. The First Responders Half Marathon starts and finishes close to the Zoo and goes along Calgary's main river, the Bow. 

That is my shortlist of 9 races. I may not do all of them, and I might not even race my favourite distance, the half marathon. I will make a GoPro video after having run each of them. As I might grin at the finish line, I hopefully won't end up swallowing any flies. 

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