I was 2nd on Saturday at the 2021 Alberta Provincial Cross Country Running Championships (8 km), after an intense battle at the end. It was dramatic and incredibly fun! I was in 5th spot for the first 2 km, then gradually worked my way up and caught up to 2nd place with about 1500 m to go. He was tough. He was stronger than me on the ups and downs.

There was a good hill at about 7 km, so I lost many meters again there. But I used the flats to my advantage - flat running is my strength. With 600 to go, he went hard and nearly broke me. I told myself "I didn’t work this hard to get in touch, for me to give up now”. He kept increasing the pace and I was almost maxed out, but then when I saw the finish line, we both sprinted all out. I had a tad faster legs on the last little bit and could squeeze by. It was a blast of fun! A race I will remember.

I will now most likely go to Ottawa for the Canadian Championships for Masters (Nov 27), and I'm also going there because I have to get a new Swedish passport at the embassy there. I am required to do it in person, so this way, I have 2 reasons to visit the capital of Canada.