All Downhill From Here

Before I get into the details about all the fun we had at amusement parks and even visiting friends in Florida, I’ll post my Obligatory Running Notes. 

My family landed in Orlando, Florida late on Monday, February 12th and we walked around Disney’s Magic Kingdom most of the 13th. Our cheap motel was right next to a really big orange landmark on the main road of 192. I have a history of getting lost on vacations, so I cautiously ran only along 192 for these solitary outings.

By 7 a.m. Wednesday the 14th it was  warm and sunny so I happily headed out in shorts and a long sleeved tech shirt. I ran/walked away from the motel for 15 minutes. Then I tied my shirt around my waist and came back for breakfast and another day of walking – Seaworld this time.

Friday morning I ran away from the motel west into the cold wind for 25 minutes, then turned around and did 8 x 30/30s on the way back before jogging the rest of it in. It was so chilly that I actually sucked my hands back into my long sleeves for the first 15 minutes. The breeze was invigorating though, and thinking of it that way made me smile. Crazy Canadian, running in shorts in such a chilly wind… 

30/30s are an exercise where I run fast for 30 seconds, then jog at half that speed for the next 30. It usually takes my legs a few minutes before they catch on and truly go as fast as they should. The speed felt really good, and alleviated some of my disappointment that there were no hills to be found nearby.

Sunday, February 18, I dragged my sorry tired rear around a little amusement park near the motel. Four out of five days of amusement park walking and Friday’s 30/30s must have been harder on me than I thought. I didn’t fuss about my slow pace, and did a lot of walking in that 38 minutes. The palm trees were tall and glorious, the sky was blue, and the sunrise on the clouds was lovely. Oh yeah, and I was moving along dry ground – how could I complain?

 I’ve just flown home from a holiday in a land with sunshine and palm trees. Yes, I did run a few times. No, there were no hills to be found.

More details later – we packed quite a lot into our 10-day trip.

Tonight I was late getting out the door for my run because I couldn’t get my right Yaktrax on my shoe. It kept doing the rubber band thing and flying *boing* across the foyer. Funny, but not helpful.

I needed the Yaktrax because, well, remember all those puddles I jumped in Monday? Yesterday they all froze solid, and since then the angels have been having pillow fights all over creation. All the trees are white and frosty, and I keep having to brush fluffiness off my car. It looks gorgeous out there, if you can take your eyes off the slippery terrain for a second.

I did get to the Running Room in time to say hey to Tim and learn that the 10k and Half M groups would be running 6k up around Hawkwood together. We went up the Nose Hill Drive hill to the lights. I have to give that hill a more macho name, because it is BIG. 

We ran across the top of Hawkwood and then wound back down, down, down into my neighbourhood. There was a LOT of lovely gentle downhill on the way back, which happily made up for that hard uphill at the beginning. I should have enjoyed it more, but my stomach gave me some grief and I had ditch Tim to stop by the 7-11 on the way back. He wisely stuck with the group so as not to get lost. Sorry, Tim!

I felt a little better after that on the way home, but I’m glad I stopped when I did. Sometimes runners’ tummies are just like that. It was still a good run.

Heck, tonight I splashed through puddles so big I got my knees wet. I could have picked my way over ice and snow around the sidewalk-wide, 4 foot long puddles, but I didn’t see the point.

One of the great things about Calgary weather is the Chinooks. Late last week I was shivering while shovelling my sidewalk; tonight I was running around without a jacket with all that snow going splish under my feet.

Some of that snow went splish. Some of it was packed hard and hadn’t melted yet. That stuff was slick. I got a good core/balanced-running workout on some big glossy stretches.

The BEST part was the puddles! I didn’t avoid them at all. They were way more fun than the ice. The cool water woke up my feet and gushed in my shoes and made me grin with childish glee. Wheee!

I enjoyed myself so much I went the long way around my block when I got home, for a total of 7.3 km. Warm fuzzy socks and sweat pants always feel even better after a wet-footed run.

Sunday we set a pot of beef stew going in the slowcooker and headed off to the mountains. There was plenty of snow at our favourite location, Sawmill Creek in the Kananaskis. It was windy, so we spent most of our time bushwacking through old forest over sugary big drifts. The snow was really soft and dry in the woods. Nearer the parking lot it was windblown into harder drifts.

We brought the usual lunch along (koubasa, crusty bread, cheese and apples), and even found a fairly comfy log on which to sit and eat.

We have no idea how far we went, because we didn’t follow the trail. The nice thing about bushwacking with snowshoes is that it’s hard to get lost; just follow your own trail back out again. Usually it’s more difficult going off-trail, because there are lots of fallen logs over which to climb. Yesterday the snow was SO deep we didn’t have many of those challenges, and we wandered willy nilly.

We hiked around for about 2 hours or so. The fresh air was great! Little Runner and I had a very nice nap in the back seat on the way home.

My friend Dawn has a great way of cheering me when we do snowy double-loop races together. She leaves me snow angels and little hearts drawn in the snow. Yesterday on my run around the neighbourhood it looked like she’d gone out and done my route ahead of me! Of course she hadn’t – she’d been at home in her own neighbourhood, but I found lots of signs that made me smile out on my route anyway. I was so encouraged by them that I stopped by the house and brought the camera around on my second loop.

In the first kilometer I found a snow angel. Aw! I was so enamoured with it that I wrote a big heart beside it with my feet. Further along there was a little heart drawn in the snow, but I forgot to take photo of it. I left a couple of my own snow angels and hearts for others to enjoy too.

I did catch these stars (in my camera).

Calgary is such a friendly place, even the fences wave hello.

I didn’t make my goal of 12 km; just eked out 11, but I’m fine with that. The camera slowed me down considerably, mostly because I stopped to take the photos, but maybe they’ll get YOU out the door for some fresh air.

Me? I’m going snowshoeing in the mountains today.

Whether we’ve got six more weeks of winter or not, there’s still fresh snow and ice out my front door, and somebody wrote “12 km” on my calendar for today. Who did that?

I’m going, I’m going… While I’m out there, I’m going to be thinking of Genevieve at the South Pole. I’ll be counting my lucky snowflakes that I get to run in glorious warm sunshine and only -12C/10F.

Everything is relative; dig up your inspiration wherever you can, eh?