Running 18k Ensemble

Given last week's lonely run, I got wise and went in to the Running Room to find out where the half-marathon group would be running from. It's a good thing, too, because they were running from a mildly obscure area in the River Valley, and starting an hour earlier.

Waking up at 6 a.m., I really did consider just running on my own, and stealing the extra sleeptime. However, I really didn't want to do the whole run on my own again, so I got up, ate my bowl of Cheerios and a slice of toast with peanut butter, and drove down to the starting site.

I started out rather slow, to maintain pace with someone who hadn't run since the 12k weekend. During the first 5km, we went down roads, into ravines, and down gravel hills that I dreaded coming back up. I kept up the chatter, as my running companion seemed to find my patter absolutely interesting - or she couldn't catch enough breath to interrupt me.

Right around 5km, my running buddy decided to head back, and conveniently, there was a bathroom stop just around the corner. Even more conveniently, the city employee had just arrived to open the locks on it. However, despite the five adoring women thanking him profusely, he did not seem terribly amused. I hope he remembers us fondly, because we sure will.

Anyways, continuing on, through the swelling hill-ettes and along the paths, we made it to 9km, and paused long enough to wait for everyone to catch up. By that point, I was extremely glad we'd started early, because despite the trees and the River Valley, the sun was hot and the mercury was rising. It was, of course, at that point that the rest of us discovered that the lead-pack had gotten lost twice. Whoopsie! However, we were close enough to downtown that I would have been able to find my way home (or at least given Ragnar enough direction to pick me up).

We headed back, and I was quite pleased that, not only were my knees reacting ... reasonably well, and my hip wasn't paining me nearly as much as last week. During the run back, it was time for more runners and bikers to be out, and I saw an example of bad road courtesy: a road biker was heading towards us, and shoved a walker out of the way, to the ground (though whether there was actual contact, I didn't see). He then took a moment to look back, but continued on his way. Mitigating circumstance: the walking group was not sharing the road either, and looked like they could be working off last night's hangover. Bad karma all 'round.

We stayed to the path on our way back, and I was not taking as many GU energy gels as I had expected. Speaking of GU, their Chocolate Outrage and Peanut Butter gels are pretty tasty. I just know I can't be the only person to think there needs to be a Chocolatey Peanut Butter Explosion.

Anyways, it was during the last 3.5km that I started really watching my watch. We were still going up and down hills, and my knees were letting me know about it. And just as we got to the end... Stairs. The dreaded River Valley Stairs loomed before me. The last time I had seen these stairs, I'd nearly puked, and I hate puking. But I did them, and found that, despite having elapsed nearly 17km already, I did the stairs with relative ease - my lunchtime runs in the Valley, doing similar stairs, had trained me well.

We were pretty close to the end, and I managed to burn some extra by finishing fast and strong. I like doing that. It makes me feel like it's a piece of cake, and the last 18km was de rigeur.

Post-run, I enjoyed a raspberry protein shake, and a nap. My knees and left hip feel pretty comfortable, though respectably tired. It feels like a job well-done, and we shall see what next week entails.

Speaking of my hip, I am debating between going to get it checked out, and leaving it be before the big race. This week will be the big decider.

Running 18k Solo

You would think I'd learn after one lesson and call to see where the running group is at, but as I may have mentioned, it takes a few times to get through to my cognitive processes.

But no - I got to the Running Room this morning and discovered that the half-marathon group was doing their 18km run out of St. Albert. Again, it was then too late to drive to St. Albert, so I said to heck with it, I'll do 18km on my own.

I stopped briefly at home to bolster my resources and check out a new route.. The last version involved road-side running, which I dislike for safety reasons. This new route was all side-walk friendly, and involved some paths that I'd traversed a few times. I explained my route to my boyfriend, and set out.

In the first loop through Lago Lindo, I already felt the need to use the bathroom, but shrugged it away until later thought. I had a pace of around 6:45min/km, which was alright. The breeze was cool, but the sun was hot. Thankfully, there was a 7-11 who gave me succor (and by succor, I mean air conditioning and the bathroom key).

Then I started through Castle Downs, ran by the dude with the gigantic Great Dane again, past the church, and down Castle Downs Road. As my boyfriend had worried, I was starting to get low on water, so by kilometer 11, I stopped at the nearby Subway (eat fresh!), and was able to get free cold water from their drinks fountain. It was around this time that I remembered GI Jane and the recitation, "A bird will drop dead from its tree, without feeling sorry for itself." Imperfectly remembered, probably, but the sentiment kept me going.

By about 10:30 a.m., it was getting quite warm. My left knee had ached on and off for a while, but I concentrated on exactly how my foot was falling. The 16th kilometer was on a bit of an uphill, but I powered through that, but right around 17.5km, my knee started trying to buckle every 200 meters. Well, that wasn't going to get my run finished, so I used a Granny Weatherwax tactic: "But her voice wasn't faint and she wasn't swaying, Nanny Ogg could see, because Granny Weatherwax's body was in the grip of Granny Weatherwax's mind." (Lords and Ladies, Terry Pratchett)

The saying goes that 90 per cent of running is mental, and this really proved it. My knee continued to come close to buckling, and every time it did, I kept thinking it as a strong joint, moving forward. It did work, but as I came close to the final turn, walking was very tempting. As I hit the 18.01km mark, I was very very happy to mark this run as 'complete'.

And next week, I will indeed be checking where the hell the running group will be!

My Week In Running

I discovered a lot of new things in running this past week:

1. BC has a lot of hills. Sweetie and I did our 15km long run on Saturday, as we were planning to drive home on Sunday. This began with a big downhill, which meant on the return, there would be a big uphill. However, it was a nice run, fully enjoyable time with Ragnar, and I was able to enjoy the beautiful near-countryside of BC. Weird thing seen: a couch in the ditch.
2. Podcasting: I've heard of podcasting, but never figured it out until I needed something, anything, to block out the Flames of War podcast Ragnar was listening to. So I hooked up to Geeks in Running Shoes, which is a couple of self-proclaimed geeks who are recording their continuing efforts in making running a norm in their lives. They have guests, they talk about their race results, and they're super-nice: one already responded to me on Twitter! They also led me to the Slow Runners' Club, which espouses a joy in running and racing that is based on having fun, not racing for time, personal bests, or a win. Also, running while listening to podcasts? Not awesome, because you may have to laugh too hard.
3. Upon returning to Edmonton, it was, as my sister had described it, as hot as the seventh level of Dante's Hell. Constantly 28-30C, and humid to boot! Fortunately, I had lived in Ottawa, so this humidity was a mosquito's bite compared to some I'd experienced, but it made me start running in the morning again, because running at noon was torturous.
4. Which I did, actually, because I hadn't woken up early enough Thursday morning (the invasive heat and resulting two-hour thunderstorm broke my sleep too much). In deference, I brought a bottle of water with me, and took more walk-breaks than usual. It was a light 5k, but ended up taking a bit longer than usual.
5. Speaking of torturous running and podcasting, one of the topics that Geeks in Running Shoes covered at one point was Ultra running. This was very interesting for me because my boss runs ultras, and Ragnar is getting into them. As a matter of fact, Ragnar is training to participate in the Canadian Death Race (my boss is also training for this, but I'm not his pit crew). Listening to GiRS's podcast, I got a sense of what Ragnar will need on his run in the Death Race: yes-or-no or other equally simple questions, like "Are you peeing? When did you last pee? Are you drinking water? Electrolytes?" Quadratic equations are right out at a time when someone is concentrating on one foot in front of the other.
6. Last but not least, I really hope the wildfires in northern Alberta die down fast because I want everyone to be safe, and I want the air in Edmonton to clear up - right now, it's a disturbing yellow-peach colour during the day, stings my eyes, and doesn't feel healthy in the lungs. I wanted to go rollerblading tonight, but maybe I'll wait for a clearer day.

And that is what I learned.

Addendum: Dear hip, shut up. Just because we're turning 30 tomorrow does not mean my warranty has run out. Stop whining. You just have two more half-marathons to do this season. Quiet.

Stanley Park Seawall, Vancouver, BC

Today, I woke up after Ragnar had to go, and I didn't really feel like running. I knew we would have a long walking day with Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium.

Fast forward past the traffic jam to Vancouver, getting somewhat lost in Stanley Park, and the Aquarium, as lovely as it was. Ragnar suggested we get out the rollerblades and since it had been years since I'd last rolled, I was excited and nervous all at once.

You can imagine that it started out badly. The car, our starting point, was parked on an incline, and I was nervously clutching at Ragnar. I did land on my butt once. However, once we got down to the actual sea wall, it was pretty straight-forward, with some curves. As I continued on, I gained confidence and speed. Through children and runners and other rollerbladers, I made my way through. It really didn't feel like a cardio work out, and perhaps at the speed I was going, it wasn't a huge cardio effort.

Blading along the Seawall was amazing. Sheer stone to our left, sea to our right, it was a beautiful day to be out there. Sunscreen was an absolute necessity, but so worth it. Ragnar estimates we went about 8km, but I was having so much fun that I didn't notice. We saw boats coming in, seaplanes taking off, and the diversity that is Vancouver.

After we landed back at the car (no other traumas to my self), Ragnar and I went for ice cream. Worth it!!

Sometimes, Indoors Isn't Hell

Hey, everyone,

I'm writing from British Freakin' Columbia. I'm celebrating because I can now say I've been in BC, more than driving through a corner, or stopping through the airport, or spending a few days in Victoria (which seems to be a world unto itself).

Last night, after about nine hours of driving, as we lay in our hotel bed, my legs were going through the usual haven't-run-in-a-week jiggles. Which is funny because I ran on Sunday, but apparently nine hours of sitting in a car equals three or so days of not-running, so who's counting?

Anyways, I got up and hit the fitness room at the hotel this morning. Admittedly, fitness room is a bit of a stretch for a title, because they had an elliptical machine, a stationary bicycle, and a treadmill. I hopped on the treadmill for an intended 30 minutes, but then as I was going on, did the math: if two miles is 3.2km, what is three miles? Close to 5km.

The pace I was hitting was not a challenge, so I decided after the first 30 minutes to let my boyfriend sleep a little longer and run until I hit 5km. Let's just say, worth iiiiit! I felt great coming off the treadmill, my legs didn't bug me until just now, and my hip, which has been worrying me, has stopped pestering me for the day. The best part was, the room was so warm that I had to take my shirt off... and spent a few too many minutes of the run, watching my newly svelte self in the perfectly placed mirror! Hard work success!

Then, funny story, I went to dinner with the boyfriend's family, and his grandmother had been kind enough to buy us a basket of fruit. But someone had misunderstood her, and cut up the fruit onto a huge fruit platter! So now we have enough fruit to make some great snacks!

The boyfriend will be heading out for a run at a faster speed than me tomorrow morning, so I will have to find my own pace and route. Some time this week, we will be going to run around Stanley Park and the Sea Wall, and then on Saturday, we'll do 16km.

Ahh, vacation. C'est la vie!

Running in the Rain

As I take a break from packing for my visit to BC and my boyfriend's family, I reflect on this morning.

I got up and debated not going on my 16km run. Then I got breakfast, and figured I might as well.

It looked sunny enough, and as in my past few posts, if it looked like rain, it generally wasn't. So you can imagine that, as I looked out and saw clouds, I generally presumed it wouldn't be too bad.

We started off at a slower pace. My slower running buddy was there, and, loathe to leave one man behind, I stayed with her. We had gotten to about 5km in the route, and the heavens opened up.

At first, it was a trickle, but then it quickly became a downpour. My running buddy and I stopped for a bathroom break at Starbucks, and I debated calling my boyfriend for a ride home. But no, my buddy said, we started this, and she would finish this. And I said, if she can do this, so can I.

We kept running on. I turned off my Garmin when thunder started ringing, but I didn't see any lightning. Still, better safe than sorry.

Long story short, it was a pretty easy run over all. When we got in, other people from the half-marathon group clapped us in - I love that feeling. It certainly made the wet shoes, the shorts threatening to drop, and the mosquitoes feel worth it.

Then I hopped in my car and scrambled back home to get out of my clothes and into a very hot shower.

Next week will be 16km on Saturday in BC - looking forward to it!

Happy Canada Day, everyone!