All Downhill From Here

Once upon a time I ran downtown by the river (Thursday this week), and it was lovely. The sun shone and there was a light breeze. It was not too hot and not too cold.

I ran mostly on the dirt path beside the paved path. It was not to soft and not too hard. Goldilocks would’a loved it!

After the first couple of miles I settled into a pace that was not too fast, and not too slow. I kept it up for five gorgeous miles, west to Crowchild Trail, east to Prince’s Island, and then back to the meeting place. I went just far enough.

I sat out on the patio that was not too cold, and noshed on a plate of nachos with jalapenos that were not too hot. I even cooled down with a honey brown beer that was not too warm. The company was friendly and entertaining, a mix of veterans and beginners, trail lovers and a track enthusiast, old and not as old.

I came home to a bed that was not too hard and not too soft, and slept like there were no scary bears for miles and miles. Let’s hope that tomorrow I don’t meet up with any bears and go on to live happily ever after.

I love the first day of summer. Today the sun is shining, the trees are fully leafed out, flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and I get to run on solid ground.

The last two Tuesdays I’ve run with two different new runners. It is fun to hang out with beginners, and hopefully encourage them to keep at it. Eventually, I think some of the beginners will return on the same night as each other, and see that I’m not just making up stories that other beginners exist.

This Tuesday we had a nice pot-luck, post-run weinie roast. There was a lot of picnicky food and we all enjoyed spending some time together in the same place.
Tonight is the monthly Club Night at 6:30 downtown, which has had low attendance the last while, despite notices being published on the Roadrunner’s web site. I’m looking forward to a nice 5 mile jaunt along the river (depending on who shows up) and some good company afterwards.

Karen’s butt has not been getting out there. Karen’s feet and legs have sorrily neglected to carry Karen’s sad body outside for runs, and Karen is suffering so much that she has begun to refer to herself in the third person. ‘Nuffa this. She now declares it GKBOT week.

* Get Karen’s Butt Out There *

Tuesday, Karen will run with any new runners who show up at the CRR meeting place, and then she will celebrate with other Calgary Roadrunners by consuming food roasted over an open fire.

Thursday, Karen will run yet again, along the beautiful Bow River pathways downtown, and then she will celebrate with other runners by consuming a beer, and probably some food.

Saturday, for most of the day, Karen will cheer on the Blue Paper Clip team and others at the K-100 race in the beautiful mountains of Kananaskis. Then she will run Leg Nine as quickly as her legs will carry her (her heart is beating just a little faster as she thinks about it). Shortly after that, she will celebrate (do you see a pattern emerging?) with other runners by consuming delicious rewards and happily socializing as she camps overnight in the mountains.

Karen realizes that all of this post-run celebrating will not help her lose weight. Thankfully, losing weight is not the point. The point is to Get Karen’s Butt Out There. She thinks it’s going to be a huge success.

Friday morning I got up at 5:00 a.m. and took myself out for a 4k jog. This is totally out of routine for me – I’m an evening runner – but it needed to happen. Friday night I went to Little Runner’s school play.

Saturday morning I was sad to hear about an on-line friend, Terence, who passed away this week. I’d never met him or heard his voice, yet many times over the last few years he made me laugh with his cheeky jokes.
Saturday afternoon I took Soccer Boy to a game (he and his team played very well). Yesterday Little Runner and I watched horses jump at Spruce Meadows while Hubby and the boy worked on our new back yard fence.

Somewhere in there I should have managed another run, but didn’t. I’ve got to write some distances and times down on the calendar before my training totally derails. Tonight I’m out at another soccer game (13 more to go this season) and then tomorrow back out with the Roadrunners.

If you’re looking for some fun running reading, pop over to Dawn’s blog – Yay Dawn!

Sunday it was hot and sunny and I took Little Runner out on my run with me. She rode her bike while I jogged alongside, and we did a playground tour. A few of the playgrounds in our neighbourhood are right beside wild monster-hill parks, so she would play on the equipment while I climbed up the dirt trails nearby.

A couple of times she left her bike below and climbed up the hills too. It made it more fun for me, not just because I had company, but because she reminded me to take a child’s perspective. We both enjoyed gushing “Whoa!” at the tremendous views, and we admired the buffalo beans and buttercups covering the grassy tops. We were very sweaty when we got home, and rewarded ourselves with big slices of watermelon.

Tuesday it was still hot out, but much muggier. Rain was predicted for the evening, and by the time I showed up with the Roadrunners at 6:30 there were big heavy clouds forming. Very few runners turned up – I attribute the poor attendance to storm warnings. It wasn’t raining yet, however, so 7 of us started the workout.

The plan for the night was a short 4 x 800m intervals, which we accomplished right after a 15 minute jog to warm up. We kept close to the parking lot, especially when the clouds became ominously darker and it started to rain in the last two. At first the rain was a teasingly light sprinkle. We were already dripping sweat from the effort in the muggy air, and the rain barely cooled us down. By the time we finished all four intervals the rain became deliciously refreshing, and we grinned as we encountered other runners out there. By now it was pouring, combined with thunder and lightning, so we did a very short cool-down jog straight to our cars.

It was quite the storm.

Sunday it was hot and sunny and I took Little Runner out on my run with me. She rode her bike while I jogged alongside, and we did a playground tour. A few of the playgrounds in our neighbourhood are right beside wild monster-hill parks, so she would play on the equipment while I climbed up the dirt trails nearby.

A couple of times she left her bike below and climbed up the hills too. It made it more fun for me, not just because I had company, but because she reminded me to take a child’s perspective. We both enjoyed gushing “Whoa!” at the tremendous views, and we admired the buffalo beans and buttercups covering the grassy tops. We were very sweaty when we got home, and rewarded ourselves with big slices of watermelon.

Tuesday it was still hot out, but much muggier. Rain was predicted for the evening, and by the time I showed up with the Roadrunners at 6:30 there were big heavy clouds forming. Very few runners turned up – I attribute the poor attendance to storm warnings. It wasn’t raining yet, however, so 7 of us started the workout.

The plan for the night was a short 4 x 800m intervals, which we accomplished right after a 15 minute jog to warm up. We kept close to the parking lot, especially when the clouds became ominously darker and it started to rain in the last two. At first the rain was a teasingly light sprinkle. We were already dripping sweat from the effort in the muggy air, and the rain barely cooled us down. By the time we finished all four intervals the rain became deliciously refreshing, and we grinned as we encountered other runners out there. By now it was pouring, combined with thunder and lightning, so we did a very short cool-down jog straight to our cars.

It was quite the storm.

Sometime tomorrow (Sunday) morning, send some energizing, encouraging thoughts towards Dawn, who will be running the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego. I will be virtually cheering her along, especially on the hills.

In other news, I did get in a run on Tuesday this week. Cherie, one of our new Penguins, joined me on the pathways behind the regular Roadrunners and we had a nice chat while we jogged along.

The rest of the week was a wash as far as running, but I did attend an open house for Little Runner’s new school, her subsequent  soccer game the same night, and Soccer Boy’s final band concert. I also managed to shop for 2 weeks’ worth of groceries and taxi’d Little Runner across the city to a birthday party.

Tomorrow I hope to get out and run some hills for Dawn while she races. Go Dawn Go!

Confession (sorry Mom): This weekend I could have driven up to Red Deer to gather with the rellies for my auntie’s birthday, but had prior plans to attend the quilt show here in town with my visiting brother and his wife. Brother had to cancel, and he very nicely did so in time for me to revert to the Plan B, the birthday party, but I didn’t. I forgot all about it until late Friday night, and didn’t have the desire to rearrange life for a drive north.

Confession: Soccer Boy had a game in Cochrane Saturday, to which I had assumed Hubby would take him. Hubby forgot about the game, and chose instead to start replacing our fence. Though I’m grateful about the fence work, I grumbled that Hubby would choose it over kid time.

Blessings: Not that I mind watching my kids play soccer. I like that part. Bonus? The sun shone. This must have been the first game this season where I didn’t have to wrap up in three fleece blankets or even a jacket field-side. Extra-wonderful bonus? I got to snuggle with a 2? week old sleeping infant for the entire second half of the game! And a lady bug landed on my shoulder. Life does not get much better than that.

Back to confessions again: After Tuesday’s speed workout I tried to ignore the repercussions of a) neglecting to take the post hard workout cool bath and b) lying around the rest of the week. I should have gone for an easy jog Thurs or Fri to work out the lactic acid. The acid sat there quietly and painlessly in my muscles until Sunday, when I finally extracted my head from Youtube and Facebook and hauled myself out the door.

Lead legs 😛 Served me right. It took me a good 40 minutes of hiking, interspersed with brief burst of sluggish running, to actually find a groove. The groove lasted about 2 minutes on a downhill stretch of trail.

I knew not to be lazy. I was still lazy anyway. Ouch. Hopefully the memory of sore, heavy legs will remind me not to do that again..

Confessions: Since I left my run so late in the weekend, I never did get to the quilt show.

Blessings: I did follow up the lead legs run with a sunny afternoon walk to the 7-11 with Little Runner, for slurpees and Cheetos. Hang on, is that a confession or a blessing? Both, I guess.