All Downhill From Here

I went for a quick bike ride with Soccer Boy Monday night after supper. We had to keep it short, because the sun went down so soon. I took him on a couple of my running trails and we ended up walking the bikes up a couple of steep hills. He was much braver than I on some of the downhills.

Last night I ran with the Gord’s group. We started out in waning sunshine, heading East and South down to the river. Tim, Linda, Yolanda and I stayed together. I felt a little speedy last night so Tim and I ran up front. As we passed a bench near the homeless shelter where people often hang out, one of them called out to Tim “Don’t run ’em too hard, eh!” I joked with Tim that we should buy him a fuzzy purple fedora.

We yacked with Linda and Yolanda a bit, but after awhile I wondered if our pace was a bit too fast. I shouted back “How are we doing?” and Linda chuckled back “Let’s just say the conversation’s a little sparse back here.” We took a couple of walk breaks and before long Linda was saying that if Tim wanted 3 gals chasing him again he’d better get running some more.

We headed back over the Sunnyside train bridge to the sound of the river patrol gunning the engine of their stranded boat in a shallow spot. As we climbed a ridge back up to Crescent Heights, the sky was getting dark and all the lights downtown and in the neighbourhood below us looked beautiful. The temperature was perfect for running, the paths were dry, and we couldn’t have asked for a better night to be out. Not only did I felt pretty darn amazing towards the end, but I had to get to a bathroom soon, so I finished off the run at a slightly faster pace.

I wish I could order weather like that in bulk, and keep it just for running nights.

Today, I’m going to ride my bike to work, and maybe run home. I need to build a 4th day of running in per week if I’m to get serious about marathon training for next July, and Hubby often works Wednesday evenings. maybe if I run home from work it will still fit into my schedule. And I get some riding in, too. I plan on running down to work on Saturday to pick up the bike and bring it home. Or if it’s not raining too much I’ll ride it home from work on Friday and run back for the car on Saturday. It’s complicated, I know, but according to an online map, it’s only 5k to my work on bike paths and streets.