All Downhill From Here

It took me forever to get out the door for my long run today. I piddled around with e-mailing, commenting on other blogs and facebook pages, looking up knot garden patterns and grilled peach recipes. I don’t know why I always procrastinate so much – once I get out there I really do enjoy it.

My corner of Calgary is blessed with several natural prairie parks all strewn together along south facing slopes. Their well-traveled dirt paths are perfect for trail training and I don’t have to worry about being miles from nowhere when running alone.

In my own small neighbourhood there are at least four small hilly parks, two of which I climbed over today before I crossed a major road. One of these parks had a warning sign by the entrance, but I wasn’t too worried. I figured the critter would hear me coming and hide.

Once I crossed the road, I climbed up through a few blocks of suburban pavement and concrete to get to the next park, which led me up even further. I did a lot of walking on the steep parts. Once on top of the world, I could see for miles around. I trotted along the top, and then dipped down to cross a bridge into a third, bigger neighbourhood with bigger parks and even bigger hills.

In this view from the bridge, you can see a valley with trees in the foreground, with a big hill behind it. I made it up to this ridge, and then down through another valley and up to the ridge beyond that.

On the right is the view from the left ridge, of the valley and the hill beyond it.

It took me 70 minutes to get around the top of that last hill before I turned back, but I had the camera keeping me amused, and obviously I took several photo breaks. Eventually I worked my way back home down and up, down and up again, over the Edgewood bridge, and down, up, down, over the doggy parks.

I felt completely rewarded when I took this shady route through the trees before hitting the last km of pavement home again.

It wasn’t a hard-working training run, but it was a good one.

Yay for me, I made it to the CRR Club Night on Thursday. Yay for a dozen others, because we had quite a good turnout, including two newcomers. The weather was perfect for a nice, flat run along the river pathways, and even offered a gentle breeze once in a while.

Boo for me, because I totally missed the first ever CRR Track Night, the very next night. I somehow managed to leave it out of my week’s plans, and when Dawn called to remind me Friday after work, I was too disorganized and tired to go. Check out her great photo report. I hope they hold another one soon – it looks like fun!

Little Runner and I went to an old Bible camp where my mom used to bring me every summer. We had a blast. We were called to:

• Be lovable, and understand that everyone else is, too.
• Be Grateful
• Faith
• Love
• Share

We stayed in one of the old cabins (No. 13) by choice, so LR could sleep on the top of an old-style bunk bed. She spent every moment she was allowed to in the outdoor pool. It was a small group, only about 40 campers. We participated in nearly everything. Now that LR is older and I have more energy, we were able to enjoy camp more fully than other years.

Together with a few counselors and 4 other kids, LR and I canoed across the lake (about 50 minutes) for an Out Trip Tuesday after evening chapel. The sun set over the lake as we paddled. We toasted marshmallows and sang around a campfire, then slept on the ground under a lean-to made of tarps and a rope in the St. Margaret’s chapel yard. We canoed back in the morning before breakfast. Very cool. There were way too many mosquitoes, but we survived.

Sunday morning before we went to camp, I ran for 90 minutes along gravel roads and through a valley near my mom’s country home. At camp, I got up early to run on Tuesday and Thursday, for 40 minutes each. Wednesday we began VolleyFest, 4 teams of volleyball in a round robin tournament. We got 4th place, but played hard and came within 1 or 2 points of winning in several games (~8 games in 2 days?) and our team (called the Scrambled Eggs) laughed and learned a lot.

Now I’m back to work, and tonight we celebrate my son’s 15th birthday. I will likely be at the Roadrunners Club Night run this Thursday. Hopefully some new Penguins will come out with me and the Roadrunners 10k group next week. Please feel welcome to show up and tag along at either.

Due to the scarcity of my June and July long runs, I won’t be tackling the 29 km distance over Moose Mountain, as originally planned.

I do, however, look forward to gleefully bounding around the Telephone Loop 16 km portion once again.

You should come too, eh?

Last night the 10k group tossed around a few choices; 100m repeats on flat pathway, 4 x 1000m up and down a bi-i-i-g hill on a paved road, or the Douglas Fir dirt path, wooden steps, and gravel roller coaster trail. Of course, loyal reader, you know which one I subtly lobbied for, with success 🙂

Ernie and Yen set off ahead of Karin and I, and waited for us at the usual places. The ups and downs on the steep north slope of the river valley were blissfully shaded with lush summer growth. The elevation changes stretched out my tight legs. Some of the wooden supports for the trail had shifted, probably due to heavy rains earlier in the year. This made some footing especially challenging, which was fun.

We ran on the slope going eastward, then crossed the train tracks and ran back together along the flat riverside path at the bottom. I worked up some good momentum and just shut up and ran, as a long noisy train alongside us screeched and rumbled. It was a delightfully satisfying workout at just the right pace. I was feeling all baby bear as I headed home.

Then my darling Malibu refused to start. The battery was totally dead, and Hubby had to come rescue me. Looks like my alternator is kaput. Ah well, it needed a tune-up anyway. Hopefully the garage can fix it today before I go on another road trip tomorrow.

*Editor’s Note* The alternator’s fine, the battery was just too far gone to charge up again. Yay for Nikkon’s garage on 4th Street, who fixed it all up for me in short order.

Last night the CRR 10k group did some friendly speed training along the pathway by the river.

Friendly, meaning:

• We all warmed up at close to the same conversational pace together for the first mile.
• Instead of running 8 x 400m repeats, we ran hard in 2 minute bursts 8 times.
• We all rested together in 2 minute breaks between the bursts.
• The faster ones walked back during the rest, while slower ones walked forward,
• So we all could catch our breath and grunt encouragement to each other before taking off together each time.
• We all cooled down together at pretty much the same pace, with Davey chatting merrily beside me in his charming scottish accent on the way back.

I just about kept up with Karin for the entire first two speed bursts, but I have not been training much lately and it showed big time. I kept a good cadence, but my steps got smaller and smaller and she got away on me in the next ones.

I told myself to lean forward. to relax. to let imaginary strings pull my knees forward. to breathe without forcing it. I consciously had to remind myself to breathe IN during the fifth one.

It was not easy at all, but the good thing is that I was reminded of the single most important thing that makes running easier for me; running more. My sparse training of late made last night hard. I have to get out there more. I am enjoying the challenge of keeping up with this bunch.

To facilitate the running more part for at least this week, I told Karin I’d come out and run hills with her Thursday. I will.

My summer is blazing merrily along, even if the runs are few and too far between. I had thought that between my kids’ soccer seasons I’d spend more time out running, but I’ve let other distractions interfere. Litany of lame excuses below:

Last week instead of the Thursday CRR Club Night my family had dinner with my employer and his lovely wife at their home. We discovered a mutual affinity for good scotch and port, which I strove mightily not to abuse. I’d thought maybe I’d head out the next morning for a run, but succumbed to my siren pillow.

On the weekend I drove up to the parental units’ acreage near Camrose to retrieve my daughter, whom I’d abandoned there the weekend before. I gabbed and hugged and even enjoyed church again, but running did not happen.

Tuesday came, and y’all know I ALWAYS run on Tuesday nights. But (there’s that excuse word again), but someone had given me free tickets to a pre-screening of Stardust. And Dawn agreed to come with me. We had a blast! It kind of falls into the “Princess Bride” kind of genre. It was whacky, fun, warm-fuzzy romantic, with several “what the!” plot twists and hammed up craziness. I have a few more free tickets to two more pre-screenings on August 8 & 9, if anyone is interested. I’d go again myself  (It was that much fun!), but I’ll be camping that week. Life is too serious. Go see this movie and laugh!

ORN (Obligatory Running Note): Wednesday morning, post movie, pre-work, I did actually run. The force of gravity was incredibly strong that morning (did you notice?), but I tuned out the siren pillow and lifted my toesies over dirt paths through hilly parks in my neighbourhood for ~6 km.

It had rained during the night, which left fresh puddles and a refreshing fragrance in the air – yay! Tall grasses bowed over the dirt path and lashed my legs with a delightful coolness. I startled a very quick baby jackrabbit out of a thicket and felt like a big bumbling harmless monster.

Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
Chirping robin, budding rose,

Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
Gentle showers, summer clothes,

Here comes summer, Here comes summer –
Whoosh – shiver – there it goes.

– by Shel Silverstein

Once upon a time, way back when I started running, Linae did, too. We met in an on-line Penguin running group called The Courage to Start, and eventually graduated to Penguin Athletes. We shared similar stories back and forth about our running efforts and connected in a really cool way.

When several of us Penguins headed to Tampa for the Penguin Winter Carnival and Gasparilla races a couple of years ago, Linae came out to cheer us on at 0:dark:30 in the morning (see left). She brought her bike and showed up at several corners on the route. She and Shawn and Joe hosted a barbeque for us in their home when my family visited them in St. Petersburg last winter. She is one awesome woman.

Today Linae is defending her doctoral dissertation. Some friends and I are having an on-line party to celebrate this very special occasion for my buddy, Rockin’ Girl Blogger, feisty triathlete, and awesome human being. Head on over to our congratulations blog-card, join the party, and give her a big hand!   

Tonight some Roadrunners and I ran the same 8 km loop by the river as last week. Greg and Fred ran on ahead and waited for us at the Crowchild bridge and the railroad crossings.

Carla and Karin were there, and since they were in recovery mode I actually ran with them, though it took some effort. They chatted about recent events, which nicely enabled me to just shut up and keep up.

I found myself looking at the path just a few meters ahead for much of the run, but something I read earlier today reminded me to lift my head sometimes to admire the seasonal flowers and the green foliage everywhere. Our riverside paths offer so much beauty, but sometimes the effort required to keep running pulls my focus inward. I was glad I used those moments to take in summer and savour it a bit more.

It was cloudy out, which offered some relief from the hot sunshine, but it was still warm and muggy. I was, once again, totally soaked by the time we finished. I drank my entire water bottle again, and headed home for a late supper.

Gratuitous Club Note:
If you’re around this Thursday, July 19, remember that the CRR is holding its Club Night. I’ve got another commitment, but that doesn’t stop you from showing up, running a few miles and lifting a cool one in my absence. I know of a couple of other members going. Go meet them!