Bob Mann: 2022 Saskatchewan Marathon

Sun May 29, 2022

On Sun May 29, 2022, I ran my first marathon outside of the United States. Until this point, I had run in each of the 50 states once, and then for a second time in Alabama and Indiana. I finally decided that while I work on a second round of the states, I might as well start running in each of the provinces of Canada. So I registered for the Saskatchewan Marathon in Saskatoon for Memorial Day weekend. Saskatoon might seem like a rather random place to choose for my first Canadian marathon. I chose it partly because the timing worked out well, and plus I just like to say "Saskatoon".

My plan was to fly out to Saskatoon on Saturday with a layover in Toronto. I got a text on Thursday that due to impending inclement weather, my flight to Toronto was already cancelled. I called Air Canada and got booked on a flight to Toronto on Friday. That would require me to stay overnight in Toronto, like I did in Atlanta on my my to Alabama. On Friday morning, I got a text telling me that that new flight was cancelled. So I called Air Canada and got changed again, this time to an earlier flight for that afternoon. Thankfully that flight did happen, albeit delayed by a few hours. So eventually I did get in to Toronto that evening, rather late. I booked a room at an airport hotel, slept for a few hours, and then flew on to Saskatoon early the next morning.

I had plenty of time to kill in Saskatoon the next day. I picked up my race gear from the expo and saw some of the town. Saskatoon is a bigger town that I had been expecting, with a population of nearly a quarter million people. I took a short easy run around town, then I had dinner and went to bed quite early to rest up for the race.

The weather was terrific for running on race morning. Cool and cloudy. Not cold enough to snow like at my previous race. But still quite comfortable. The race was fairly small. About 150 runners in the Full Marathon and another 500 or so in the Half. The two races ran together for almost the whole distance of the half on an out-and-back course. After the half was complete, the rest of us rather another out-and-back that used some, but not all, of the same course again.

The start and finish area was at a park on the outskirts of town. For the first time in my running career, the National Anthem I heard was not the American anthem, but "O Canada". The race began at 7:00am and we were underway.

As is often the case with me, the second mile was my fastest of the day, at 9:20. From that point on, I just kept getting slower and slower. My last mile under 10 minutes was Mile 7. Of course, since this was Canada, the race was measured in kilometers. The overall race distance was billed as 42.2km instead of 26.2 miles. But my Garmin still kept track of things in miles. There was no indication of the halfway point, but based on the position of the 21km sign and the 13 mile beep from my watch, I reckon that I passed the halfway point in about 2:10. That might be slightly slower than I had been doing lately. I'm not sure why, since I had been feeling quite good. Perhaps it's just a sign of my ever-advancing age. Plus, I did just complete another marathon about a month and a half ago. So maybe I wasn't quite fully recovered. No matter. It was certainly still a reasonable time, and I was confident I would make it through the second half.

The crowd of runners thinned out in the second half, as is typical. My pace continued to slow. The last mile I completed in under 11 minutes was Mile 17. By this point, I was incorporating walks into just about every mile. For some reason, my right knee started to feel a little cranky at about this point. It was slightly annoying, but nothing that would prevent me from finishing the race. I managed to keep going slowly and steadily. Only Miles 24 and 25 took me longer than 12 minutes. So I never completely bonked and death marched to the finish. My final time was 4:43. While that is among my slower marathons, it was really only a few minutes slower than I had been in most of my recent ones. In fact my last 6 marathons have all been between 4:33 and 4:43, so I guess I've found my zone there. And I'm fine with this. I'm certainly not speedy any more. (Well, I guess I never really was). And I assume that as I get older, I will keep getting slower and slower. But no matter how long it takes, I am just happy that I am still able to get these races done.

The Saskatchewan Marathon was a nice, low-frills event. It had a scenic course that spent a lot of time running within sight of the South Saskatchewan River. There wasn't much crowd support, which isn't surprising for an event this small. Later in the day, I went to a couple of bars around town and talked to some people who didn't know there was a marathon happening in town. But even though the event wasn't a big deal, I found it to be a fun race. It was a nice way for me to knock off my first Canadian province.

By the way, my bib number was 99. It didn't even dawn on me that 99 is an important number in that general part of Canada. It was Wayne Gretzky's uniform number, and Edmonton is only a few hours away from Saskatoon, so I'd imagine there'd be plenty of Oilers fans in Saskatchewan. On race day, I got quite a few comments on the number, and I was called "The Great One" by multiple spectators. While I certainly realize that it was quite facetious, it was still nicely flattering.

I flew home the next day, and thankfully the return was completely uneventful. As of this moment, I don't know what my next race will be. I have no firm plans as to when I might return to Canada, but I am thinking that it might be a once-a-year thing. And the months from late-Spring into Summer are probably a good time of year to run up north. So perhaps a year from now, give or take, I will try for my second marathon in Canada.

And now the photos. Click any image to enlarge.