Normally I travel on a Saturday and only take Monday off for a Sunday race. I was pretty excited to go back and visit Banff that I planned for an extra day. The last time I was there was on a road trip before I had even run my 2nd marathon. This trip was for me to run a marathon in Alberta. It would only be my 2nd Canadian province in which I've run a marathon. Québec was the only other providence when I ran the Rock n' Roll Montreal Marathon back in 2013.
Once again I flew out of LAX. I prepaid for parking via SpotHero at Four Points by Sheraton which has been one of my go-to spots. Apparently they had changed their gate system. I used to have to pull a ticket from the machine, so instinctively that's what I did when in fact, I was supposed to scan in the QR code that was provided by SpotHero. By the time I had noticed my mistake, I was already parked. Oh well, I will deal with that when I get back from my trip. I was able to grab the front passenger seat in a packed shuttle that was ready to leave.
I had purchased a basic fare ticket with WestJet. My seat was assigned during check-in. Fortunately I was given a window seat. However it was the row just in front of the exit row so I couldn't recline the seat. It was about a 3 hr flight out to Calgary International Airport. With Calgary being in the Mountain Time zone, I lost an hour, so it was about 1 pm local time when I landed.
Breakaway
After taking a few obligatory touristy photos inside the airport, I made my way over to the Dollar Car Rental counter. There were plenty of signs all throughout the airport directing you to the car rental area. Per the usual, I had reserved an economy car. However I was given a midsize Toyota Camry. After taking care of the paperwork, I was on my way. It took a while getting used to km/hr as I really didn't know how fast I was going.
Rental car
From the airport, I drove straight to the race expo held at The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre. I arrived a little before 3:30 pm thinking that they were already open. It took me a while to figure out that they weren't open for at least another 30 minutes.
Expo entrance
Instead of waiting there, I hopped back into my car and drove further into town to find something to eat. They had signs at the expo suggesting that runners go to banffparking.ca to find available parking. So with that website, I parked my car in the Bear Street Parkade. That parking structure had free parking for up to 8 hrs on the upper floors.
At first I thought about eating at McDonald's to save money, but then decided on checking out a burger place called, The Eddie Burger + Bar. Even though I got there right between lunch and dinner, the place was still pretty busy. Since I was by myself, I was seated at the bar. After looking over the menu, I ordered The Eddie Classic and upgraded the fries to poutine for $3 extra. The burger was pretty average. Not bad. It certainly wasn't that good to warrant the higher price for an average burger. I was thinking perhaps I should've built my own burger. The poutine was more of a "when in Canada" thing which I didn't really care for since I prefer plain salted fries.
The Eddie Classic with poutine
After settling my bill, I walked around town a bit. Before going back to my car, I stopped inside Nesters Market to buy some snacks and water. I ended up buying a bag of creamy dill flavored chips along with two 1.5 L bottles of water.
Snacks
Water
As I exited the market, I saw a nice looking doggy waiting outside for his or her owner.
I drove back over to The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre for the expo. It only took a few minutes to pick up my race bib and shirt. I stopped at one booth to ask about visiting Lake Louise and for restaurant recommendations. He recommended that on my way up to Lake Louise that I drive on the 1A instead if I wanted to potentially see some wildlife. The more scenic route would add about 45 minutes. He also recommended that I check out Moraine Lake. As for restaurants, he highly recommended eating at The Juniper Bistro on the other side of the highway. I asked him about getting a steak at Chuck's Steakhouse, but he didn't seem to be too familiar with steakhouses.
On my way out, I ended up talking to a fellow Californian that was also running the marathon. He was from the Bay Area. We asked a park ranger at the expo whether or not we needed to carry bear spray. She reassured us that the chances were really low to come across one. They would also be out there patrolling just in case.
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Before heading out, I made sure to get an obligatory picture at the Banff sign.
After I was done with that, I hopped in the car to go check-in at my vacation rental for the weekend. This would be my first time visiting the WorldMark Canmore-Banff. It was about 30 minutes away. I made sure to time how long it took so I would know when to leave for the race on Sunday morning. Along the way, I saw quite a few signs alerting the presence of photo citations. I could not tell where they would be taking the photos as I could not spot any stationary cameras. The check-in process was quick and painless without the arm twisting to attend another owner update presentation. It was nice to go straight to my room and relax. I was pretty tired from the travel, so I just stayed in my room for the rest of the night watching the US Open golf tournament on TV while eating the entire bag of chips in lieu of going back out to look for dinner.
WorldMark Canmore-Banff
US Open round 2
Saturday 6/15
I was planning to get an early start and head up to Lake Louise for a morning hike/jog. However I slept in a bit and didn't head out until about 7:30 am.
Each day's morning view
It took a little over an hour to get up to Lake Louise. There was a bit of road construction going on that added some time to the drive. As I got closer to Lake Louise, I noticed that there were a lot of signs for remote parking and shuttles. I ignored them and went all the way up to the parking lot at Lake Louise. A parking lot attendant checked to see if I had a national park pass before letting me through. I pre-purchased mine online prior to my trip at the Banff-Lake Louise website. I bought a day pass for 3 days. Unfortunately the lot was either full or reserved for tour buses as I was routed right back down the same road.
I pulled into the first small parking lot on the North side of the road. It was at the Great Divide Trailhead located at corner of highway 1A and Lake Louise Dr. The lot was about half full when I got there. I asked the parking attendant if there was shuttle service up to Lake Louise. He informed me that there wasn't any because it was just a short walk up to the lake.
The Fairmount Chateau Lake Louise
Lake Louise was just as beautiful as I had remembered. The photos that I took certainly did not do it justice. You just have to see it all with your own eyes. However one thing that was noticeably different was that it was much more crowded compared to my last visit!
Lake Louise
After taking a few pictures of the lake, I took off my jacket and started my hike up to Lake Agnes. My plan was to hike up and run down. The higher I went, the greener the lake looked.
Mirror Lake and Bee Hive
Waterfall from Lake Agnes
Lake Agnes
Once I reached Lake Agnes, I walked up the hill to use the restroom. However there was a long line, so I turned around to head back down. I briefly spoke to a guy in line who was wearing an older Rock n' Roll Seattle Marathon shirt. I thought maybe he had run in Seattle as well just last weekend. Turned out, he did not.
I had originally planned to come back down on the Southern end of Lake Louise, but that trail was a bit too steep for my liking especially since I was wearing my regular road shoes that had close to 500 miles on them and had very little tread left. The last thing that I wanted to do was to get injured the day before the marathon. So I headed back down the way that I came up. For the most part the run down was fun, but I was feeling the same usual discomfort in my right arch and my left Achilles. I even bumped into my friend, Deo, who would also be running in the marathon tomorrow.
A bit too steep going down the other way
Nice bench
Horsey!
When I got back to the Fairmount Chateau Lake Louise, I started looking for a restroom. Unfortunately the ones inside the hotel were for guests and restaurant patrons only. I went looking for the general public ones at the parking lot. The restrooms at the lower lot were closed for renovations. There was a sign saying to use the ones in the upper lot. The urinals might have gotten quite a bit of usage as several of them were not draining properly. Too many tourists! :)Relive 'Lake Louise'
After taking care of that, I walked back down to my car for the drive back to my vacation rental. When I got back to my car, I saw that the lot was packed full and was closed off with cones. The parking attendant moved the cones for me to get out. On my way out to the main highway, I also saw that the road up to Lake Moraine was closed. I guess they were full up.
Along the way back, I stopped at Banff to eat lunch at McDonald's as well as to pick up some snacks. Once again, I parked at the Bear Street Parkade. From there I walked over to McDonald's. I used one of the kiosks and ordered their fish & chips. It was nowhere near as good as Ivar's Fish Bar, but it was something unique as I've never had them at a McDonald's.
McDonald's
Fish & chips
After I was done with lunch, I went back to Nesters Market to buy a cold drink and some snacks. I ended up grabbing a box of Wagon Wheels and a root beer. The Wagon Wheels were basically the same as my favorite cookies, Mallomars. Unfortunately when I went to pay for my items, my credit card was declined. I normally don't have to notify my bank when I travel which always leave the possibility of the bank locking my card. I didn't do it for my trip to Tokyo and the card was fine for the duration of my trip. I tried to see if I could unlock my card using the mobile app, but it wasn't working. So I ended up calling the toll-free number to get a live representative to unlock my card. It ended up being a 6 minute call at 20 cents per minute with my cellphone service. Next time I'll be sure to notify my bank especially if it's an international trip.
Game of Thrones Oreo
After getting back to my room, I got cleaned up and vegged out for several hours before it was time to go back out for an early dinner. I drove over to the nearby McDonald's to pick up my usual pre-race food. There was quite a bit of traffic at this location with cars and people everywhere. I ordered the Mighty Angus Burger and medium french fries using one of their kiosks. Once my food was ready, I took it back to my room to enjoy while watching round 3 of the US Open.
Mighty Angus Burger and medium french fries
US Open round 3
Before going to bed early, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. For this race, I went with the 100 Marathon Club jersey.
Flat runner
Sunday 6/16
Even though the marathon was scheduled to start at 9 am, I made sure to get to Banff nice and early since the 10k started at 8 am. The last thing I wanted was to be stressed out looking for a parking spot. I was parked at a nice spot right next to the stairwell in the Bear Street Parkade by 7 am. Since I had almost 2 hrs to pass, I walked down to the Bow River Trail to check out some of the beautiful scenery.
Bow River Trail
I walked over to the start line was over at the corner of Caribou St and Bow Ave to catch the start of the 10k. Then I walked over to the finish line area which was in the Central Park parking lot just off of Buffalo St. I found a spot to wait for the first place finisher to cross the finish line. The start and finish lines were the same for all of the races.
Start line
Finish area
Beautiful doggy
After the winner came through, I headed back to my car to get my stuff and head over to the start line. Right next to the start line was the Abegweit house which was the home of the Crosby family. This residence was part of the 8 heritage buildings located on the Whyte Musuem Grounds. I checked out the exterior before meeting up with a couple of Marathon Maniacs for the pre-race photo.
Marathon Maniacs pre-race photo
From the start, the course headed North on the Bow River Trail which took us up to Vermilion Lakes Rd. After running past the Vermilion Lakes, we crossed underneath the highway over to the Bow Valley Parkway (1A). Here we would run a long out-and-back with the turnaround at about mile 12. A lot of the scenery was incredible and awesome to see. I definitely had to resist stopping to take more pictures. The final race instructions did caution against stopping for photos during narrow spots on the course or risk disqualification.
Bow Valley Parkway
Sawback
Winner already heading for the finish line
Deo!
The race did get quite warm in the second half. Once we return back to the town of Banff, it was about a 2 mile run around town dodging tourists. It was however nice to cross the Bow River via the pedestrian bridge. After recrossing the river and reaching the museum, it was just a short run to the finish line. Unfortunately I was cramping up, so I kept having to walk despite the encouragement from the volunteers and course marshals.
During the race especially in the late miles, it helped a bit to be distracted while collecting stamps from each aid station.
Did you get your race number bib stamped on the run course? If you would like to be part of the Interpretive Station Passport contest, please submit a picture of your stamped race bib representing the wildlife, natural and historical interpretive stations/themes of Banff National Park along with your full name. Any bib with at least one stamp is eligible for entry. For each stamp on the bib, you will receive one ballot in the draw to win one of the following prizes:
-Free VIP Entry, any distance in 2020 Banff Marathon
-A Banff Marathon commemorative clothing package
-Banff National Park commemorative souvenirs
Interpretive Station Passport Contest
Finish: 5:14:03
Click here for my Garmin data.
I was hoping to finish in under 5 hours, but that was the best that I could do given the circumstances. Even though it's a cutback year for me with the number of marathons that I plan to run, this was the third marathon for me in as many weeks. Thankfully my next marathon won't be until October when I run the Long Beach Marathon.Relive 'Banff Marathon'
After crossing the finish line, I got my finisher medal. There was a bunch of post race goodies just down the finisher chute. I was only interested in the chocolate milk as I don't usually feel like eating anything solid just after running a marathon.
Finisher medal
Finish line medal
Chocolate milk
I hung out by the finish line area, cheering on the runners while drinking my chocolate milk. I was able to snap a few photos of my fellow Marathon Maniacs coming down the final stretch.
Finish line waiting for my friends
After I was done watching my friend Deo cross the finish line, I went to use the park restroom before going over to visit the Banff Park Museum. I happened to bump into another friend while in the restroom. One of the perks for this marathon was complimentary admission into the museum during race weekend. My friend decided to join me in a quick tour of the museum. Upon entering the museum, the guy at the entrance cautioned us to not touch any of the exhibits as some of them were over 100 years old! All of the exhibits spread across 2 floors were pretty cool to check out. We had to be careful going up and down the stairs having just run a marathon.
Banff Park Museum
After we were done checking out the museum, we decided to get a late lunch at McDonald's. Since I was pretty impressed with the Mighty Angus Burger yesterday, I decided to order it again, this time as a combo meal. For my drink, I got a vanilla iced coffee. After we were done eating, we went our separate ways. My friend was staying in Banff.
Mighty Angus Burger combo meal
Back at my room, I got cleaned up and caught the final round of the US Open. While watching, I checked into my flight home. Once again I was assigned a window seat which is my preferred seat. I guess I didn't have to worry about getting a middle seat.
US Open final round
Since I ate a pretty late lunch, I didn't go back out for dinner until about 8 pm. It was still really bright outside. Along the way back to McDonald's, I stopped in at the Safeway to pick up some water. If I ever return to this area, I will definitely have to buy groceries here and just cook my own food back at my room.
Safeway
More water
I think I was pretty zonked out from the marathon because I ended up ordering the fish & chips and medium french fries. I totally forgot that the fish & chips already came with fries! Good thing McDonald's fries are my absolute favorite! :)
Fish & chips and more chips
Since a new movie called Angel Has Fallen is set to come out later this year, I thought I should start watching the two movies that proceeded it. I went over to the movie rental room and was able to find Olympus Has Fallen which was the first installment.
Yikes. That was a hot mess. No wonder I didn't bother to watch it when it first came out in the theaters. If it is more of the same, I'm not sure that I would want to sit through the next one, London Has Fallen. It was kind of like the first Die Hard movie, but with a very weak and unbelievable story. Everything was just way over the top.
Horrible movie
Monday 6/17
With a 12 pm check-out time and an early evening flight home, I was able to sleep in. I took my time getting ready and packed for the trip back home. I spent most of the morning watching the Toronto Raptors' victory parade. Kawhi Leonard was one of my favorite players back when he was with the Spurs. I was glad that he won another championship even though I don't follow the NBA anymore.
Toronto Raptors' victory parade
Later on, I switched over to watching the FIFA Women's World Cup match between South Africa and Germany. After having watched the English Premier League and Bundesliga, it felt like I was watching football in slow motion.
FIFA Women's World Cup 2019
I didn't check out until it was almost noon. I hopped on the highway and headed for Calgary International Airport. My plan was to stop at a McDonald's near the airport to eat lunch and to fill up the gas tank. Thankfully there was a gas station conveniently located right next to the McDonald's that I had picked. Once again I ordered their Mighty Angus Burger combo meal with a vanilla iced coffee. Yes, the burger was that good that I ordered it for a 3rd time this trip! I was definitely lovin' it! :)
Mighty Angus Burger combo meal
After I was done eating, I drove the car over to the Petro-Canada gas station. For some reason, the pump wouldn't let me pay at the pump with my credit card. It wanted me to go inside and see the cashier. I haven't had to do that in decades. The cashier asked how much I wanted to put in. I figured that $20 would be enough since I didn't do too much driving. It was hard for me to tell how much the price of fuel was as everything was in Canadian dollars per liter. The pump automatically stopped once it reached $20 and was enough for the fuel gauge to read full. That's good enough for me.
Fill 'er up
After dropping off the rental car, I entered the airport at around concourse B/C. From there I walked over to concourse E. Along the way, I saw a sculpture of a huge head. It turned out to be the "Big Head Sam Livingston" sculpture.
According to Wikipedia:
"Samuel Henry Harkwood (Sam) Livingston (4 February 1831 – 4 October 1897) born in Ireland, he came to Canada following an unsuccessful venture in the Californian gold rush of 1849, and eventually found his way to Jumping Pound, North-West Territories, in 1873 where he opened a trading post. He was going to settle near the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers in 1875 but, when the North-West Mounted Police arrived and established Fort Calgary, Livingston and his family moved further up the Elbow River to the current location of the Glenmore Reservoir. When the Glenmore Dam was built and the area flooded, part of the Livingston house was preserved and now stands at Heritage Park. Sam Livingston was an important man to Alberta's history. The Glenmore Reservoir gets its name from Sam too; Sam and Jane started a school on their farm that Sam named 'Glenmore School' after a place in Ireland. Glenmore is a village in County Kilkenny and quite close to his birthplace in County Wicklow."
Big Head Sam Livingston
Going through security and immigration was pretty quick and painless since I travel light and had nothing to declare. I had a few hours to pass before my flight, so I found a spot near my gate and took out my iPad. It was actually pretty stuffy in the terminal. I'm guessing their A/C wasn't working. There was a lightning storm that went through just as it was almost time to board the plane. The rain was really coming down along with some awesome flashes of lightning. We had to wait for the storm to pass before our plane could leave the gate as the ground crew outside had to seek shelter.
The plane landed at LAX a quarter before 8 pm. Since WestJet flew in and out of terminal 3, I decided to forego waiting for the hotel shuttle and just walk back to my car. Before going back to my car, I stopped by the front desk to get an exit ticket as I had failed to use the QR code provided by SpotHero when I entered.
Along the way home, I stuck to my usual routine of filling up the gas tank and buying a few burgers at the McDonald's.
