All Downhill From Here

My hubby took this photo recently when we returned to our honeymoon beach.
Juls, my heart goes out to you, and your family is in our prayers.

I’ve been missing my Monday night runs for the last few weeks. Have you seen them? Could you send them back to me please?

In the meantime, at least until my kids’ outdoor soccer season begins, I’ll be running with the Gord’s group on Tuesdays.

If you’ve been missing any of your weekly runs, and have a hankering for a nice, gentle, riverside run, consider yourself motivated to come out and join us.

I talk a lot about how I enjoy running hills, and most of the time I do, but tonight? The hills sucked like a vacuum cleaner.

I ran over to the running store and gamely warmed up with the marathon group on the way to the hill. They were not doing little 400m hill repeats tonight, they were running all the way up to the 650m mark and I said to myself “Sure, why not?”

I aimed for a minimum of 3 runs up, and eked out 4. Thinking ahead to the K-100 this June gave me motivation to keep running all the way up.

I might have made it a 5th time, but my body hadn’t been too thrilled with the ones I’d done, so I headed home. The temperature dropped quickly after sunset, and I hadn’t dressed right. Besides, I don’t want to be too tired for the St. Pat’s 10k this Saturday, right?  Excuses, excuses… 

Even though I was darn tired and cold on the way home, I still kept on running. I marvelled at the fact that even though my run didn’t feel great, I was still doing it. The next one will be better.

Tonight I ran 8 x 400m hill repeats on the Hawkwood 3-minute hill.

It was a lovely night and I required neither coat nor mitts. I splashed through rivers of melting snow, but otherwise stayed out of the puddles this time. I saw 2 rabbits on the way to the store and one more zipping across a field near the hill. White rabbits don’t blend in well around here this week.

Tim and I chatted when I wasn’t totally out of breath. The last 50m of every single repeat were tough, but I ran ’em.

Oi. Hills – I love ’em, but they’re so demanding. Maybe I love them because they’re demanding? Ah well, they’ll make me strong. And they really helped me earn that post-run brownie, too.

Skin Stealer
by Shel Silverstein

This evening I unzipped my skin
And carefully unscrewed my head,
Exactly as I always do
When I prepare myself for bed.
And while I slept a coo-coo came
As naked as could be
And put on the skin
And screwed on the head
That once belonged to me.
Now wearing my feet
He runs through the street
In a most disgraceful way,
Doin’ things and sayin’ things
I’d never do or say.
Ticklin’ the children
And kickin’ the men
And dancin’ the ladies away.
So if he makes your bright eyes cry
Or makes your poor head spin,
That scoundrel you see
Is not really me –
He’s the coo-coo
Who’s wearing my skin.

Some coo coo totally trashed my legs on the weekend. Did you see my report about Sunday’s run? Where my legs had so much fun? Dang it, I’m starting to rhyme like Shel.

The point is that the quads and various other body parts registered stern complaints yesterday. Ooch. Funny, I don’t get stiff like that after the XC 8k races. Apparently 45 more hilly minutes than usual brought on a recovery challenge.

This weekend we have ONE more race in the CRR Grand Prix XC series, in which I will be totally nailing the 8k distance and securing a placement in the overall standings. As long as I can keep the coo coo from going totally amuck the rest of the week, of course…

The sun shone, a lot of ice melted, and I joyfully ran downhill forever in 9C/48F today. I ran in cooler breezes in Florida in shorts last month, but today I wore leggings. You never know – the weather can change real fast here in Calgary.

I started out on fairly flat terrain for the first 20 minutes (to post a birthday card). Then my run gradually flowed down Silver Springs Boulevard and even further down to the river level of Bowmont Park over the next 25 minutes.

Here’s an example of the view I had of Bowmont park before I descended to the bottom. Though I stayed on the paved path this time, I will be tackling more of the dirt trails here as the ice disappears from them later in the year.

I jogged, walked, rested, sipped Ultima and took a gel along the flat at the bottom. Note to self: Raspberry Clif Shots taste no less bitter than the Mango ones – ick. Go back to chocolate.

Shortly after the 8th km I turned around and ran back up up up home. The strange formations of the melting ice and slush on and beside the sidewalks amused me, and I let my mind wander.

A strange thing happened at about the 10th km – I started to feel good. I’d been having a pretty good run to begin with, but now I felt even stronger. Strange. Even after working my way back up out of the valley for 20 minutes (with a few 30 second walk breaks), even when I still had 3 km of uphill remaining, I tricked myself out of all remaining walk breaks and ran the last 4 km home in a row.

“Just run to that utility box up there.”
“Nah don’t stop here, how about to that crosswalk.”
“Oh look, 4 more trees and there’s a little flat stretch.”
“Don’t stop now, only one more block to the lights. Rest there.”
“Green light. No stopping. Run to the next one.”
“Shoot, another green light. Walk on the other side.”
“You can’t walk here. All that traffic is sitting there watching you. Suck it up that last little hill.”
“Admit it. You like this last hill.”
“Do whatcha love, love whatcha do… Smooooth Operator….”
“Now the last km home is all downhill, Darlin’. Kick it in!”

The Clif Shot must have done it’s magic. Whatever – I splashed through the biggest puddles I could find in the last, 14th km and finished the run feeling strong and amazing.

This morning I brushed 2 inches of feathery-dry white stuff off my car, and many residential streets around here are covered in hard-packed shifty stuff the consistency of wet sand.

Before tonight the only running I’d done since before Family/President’s Day was the gentle trot behind Little Runner at this weekend’s race. I should have run Monday, but took a “Florida Wimp Out Recovery Night” and stayed curled up on the couch with the remote. I hadn’t done any true hill repeats since January, and tonight I paid for that.

I showed up at the local running store and joined up with the marathon group to do some hills. We jogged all together 20 minutes away to the bottom of a nice, gentle long hill for repeats, and set to it.

The sidewalk on which I ran was mostly snow-covered, but I’d worn my Yaktrax and didn’t mind. Others ran on the road, but I still have one more XC coming up this season, and the variable terrain is good for me. Heck, if I’m doing hills to build character, why not throw in shifty footing to build even more? Keep thinking about those big trail races I’m signed up for – that will get me up, up, up.

The hill was not a very steep one – not like the lung-busters I face on trail runs, but it did the trick. I was challenged, and I even liked it.

*  Yes, hilly trail runners are a special kind of crazy.  *

It took me over an hour to run to the hill, complete 5 x 600m repeats and run back with the group. Shoot, that’s 3 km of just going up and down – no wonder my cold knees were whiny. Then, just for fun, I stopped by the store on the way home and carried a 4L jug of milk the last km.

By the time I got home I’d been out moving for 90 minutes and I was frozen. And worse, as I warmed up, I ached all over. It took me 3 leftover chicken fingers, 4 toasty hot spanakopitas, a glass of milk, a cup of hot chai tea and a hot bubble bath to warm up. Brrr. I’m not in Florida anymore, but I’m happy to have my hills back.

I’m still fiddling with photos and a summary of our Florida holiday, but in the meantime I’ll tell you about my 11 y.o. Little Runner’s cross country race this weekend.

Saturday morning we picked up Dawn and headed down to the Glenmore Sailing Clubhouse. I hadn’t taken time to bake up something for the dessert table, so we contributed a box of McVities Penguin bars I’d found at Costco.

I registered Little Runner and I for the 4k route with a slight twinge of regret. This course is my favourite in terms of beauty, challenge, and just sheer fun, with the undulating roller-coaster type hills. I wanted to do the long route. I also need exactly one more 8k distance in this series to qualify for Grand Prix standings. Running the 4k would keep me in the running for an Ironperson (perfect attendance) award, but if I want to place in the standings, I’ll need a minimum of 6 x 8k distances. We’ll get to that later – I’m getting sidetracked from the munchkin’s race, here.

The sun shone, there was no wind, and we all started the race like a herd of turtles. Little Runner started out excitedly fast with the pack and I let her enjoy the rush. I knew she was going out too fast, but she would have to learn that on her own. When the pack left and she was out of breath, we took a few walk breaks and talked about running a little easier, to keep going longer. She found a trot that worked for her, and I followed along.

Dawn pulled ahead of us in that first stretch and kept a steady pace. She was good motivation for us, because the munchkin liked having someone in sight. When LR was tired of trotting, we’d pick a flag at which to walk, and run to it. Then we’d pick another flag at which to begin running again, and it worked almost every time. Sometimes we’d walk for two or three flags and sometimes we’d run past “walk” flags because there would be a downslope just beyond it.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen LR run so consistently before. Whee-ee-ee-ee down the hills we zipped! We got closer to Dawn on those, but couldn’t catch her on the ascents.

In the final stretch LR found her sprint and zipped right in. Dawn is notorious for her killer final sprint, but she had worked really hard out on that course, and the shifty snow underfoot held her back. I think LR was too light to sink in.

We cheered in some other runners and went back to the clubhouse for soup and goodies. Our Penguin bars disappeared quickly and we browsed over the standings for the series so far. I WILL be running the 8k distance next race, come hell or high water. The next one is a) the last chance in the series to qualify, and b) my age group is very thin on qualifiers. I could possibly place in the overall standings!