All Downhill From Here

He is Risen!

In the morning I’ll probably be following around our risen daughter, making sure she leaves some goodies for her brother, and helping her decipher the clues the Easter Bunny left her as to where her basket might be. Right now the Easter Bunny is still deciding on the best hiding place.

We had a great time this weekend, baking cookies, decorating them, and playing Uno. Thursday we watched the newly released Chronicles of Narnia, which seemed allegorical enough to count for an Easter activity to me. We probably should have decorated eggs too, but the cookies were enough.

We’re going to the in-laws tomorrow for dinner, and I wasn’t sure what to bring for my contribution, so my ever-creative MIL suggested this very, um, interesting salad. I’m not sure how it’s going to taste, but it kind of looks pretty, and the recipe is in this Better Homes and Gardens book from circa sometime in the 70s. It’s got iceberg lettuce, boiled eggs, peas, bacon, swiss cheese and mayonnaise in layers, which we mix up before serving.

We all know Jon will be gorging himself into a chocolate-diabetic coma, what are you doing this Easter?

21 Km sounds so much further than 13 miles. Gotta love metric 🙂

Since Hubby is working on the weekend and had today off (therefore available for childcare), I traded in last night’s Thursday run for a long run today. I’ll make up for missing Thursday with a mere 10k around home on Sunday.

It was beeeeautiful out, with a fair breeze gusting up from the south. I ran along the Calgary river pathwayfrom Shouldice Park all the way to the top of the curling club hill (there’s a hill or two in the Police Half, have I mentioned that?), and then I ran back. I managed to “run” all the way up the curling club hill in 3 minutes, just before my watch beeped for a walk break. I was pretty happy about that.

There were lots of families, couples, all sorts of rollerbladers, runners, walkers, cyclists, strollers, training wheels, wheelchairs, skateboards, dogs, geese, you name it out on the path today. There were even a couple of kayakers on the river. I had my watch set for a 1 minute walk break every 10 minutes, and some of those intervals seemed to go way faster than others. I took a gel at 55 minutes and ate a Nutrigrain about an hour later. I drank my purple Gatorade during every walk break and was glad for the electrolytes, as it was warm and I was perspiring.

I amused myself by using the Calgary Roadrunner measuring dashes and dots along the pathway near Edworthy Park to gauge my speed. I determined that I was doing less than 3 minutes for 400 m, which extrapolated into less than 12 minute miles. Good enough for me. I had a song in my head about sailing, for some reason, and it was easy to hum when I felt like it.

About half an hour into my run I said hello to one of our Gord’s group runners who was sitting on a park bench overlooking the river. He was still peacefully sitting there on my way back 90 minutes later, and I stopped to chat for a few minutes. This would be my longest run this month until my race on the 30th; I wasn’t in a particular hurry.

After that I had about 3 miles to go. My legs were getting tired, but I took comfort in knowing I would be done soon. I tried not to let my form slip, as I didn’t want to mess any body parts up three weeks before a race. I finished in 2:40, which bodes well for a 2:30 finish at the race, I think. Once I stopped running back at the car my legs were very uncomfortable. I walked around a bit to cool down, but that didn’t seem to help, so I came home and had a shower.

Aside from overall achy legs, I’m feeling pretty good about my 21 km. No chafing issues (thank goodness I got THAT figured out), one minor blister on my right instep (how did that get there? so much for those socks), and no g.i. tract problems either (hallelujah!). I have to admit I’m not sure why I’m planning on training beyond this distance to do twice as much by July, but I’m sure it will come to me later, when I’m not so sore…

The Calgary Zoo recently announced a HUGE new exhibit to be built by 2010, involving an arctic environment with Polar Bears, seals and maybe even some beluga whales. The Zoo learned a lot about how NOT to house Polar Bears back in the ’90s, and is hoping to make this environment a happier place for the animals. The exhibit announcement is stirring up some controversy with animal rights folks. The Zoo is even planning on adding in an Antarctic spin on it, by hosting PENGUINS, as well. I wonder if the Penguin exhibit will be like this one in Bristol, or this one, in Malaysia?

Monday XT: Got out for a 25 minute brisk walk between transporting a kid to and fro and folding laundry.

Tuesday ORN: Ran from Gord’s down Centre St. and along the river to 14th St. at a fair clip with Krista. By 10th St. we were at Tempo pace and the only way for me to keep up was to shut up and run. Krista loves it when she can get me going fast enough to shut up.

We walked across the bridge to the north side of the river and then did 60 second on/off sprints back to Princes Island. The first 60 second sprint my legs didn’t get it – I couldn’t get them to go fast. After that they caught on, and by Princes Island I was flying!

Then, just for fun, I ran all the way up the Curling Club hill while Krista did the stairs. It is amazing what tiny steps I took on the way up, and that I still managed to think of it as “running”. My legs were very confused – first I asked for tempo, then sprints, then a HILL, too? Hey, the Police Half this month has hills, and I have to just “get over it”!

After dropping off my son at a soccer referee training course, I quickly popped into a Running Room store to pick up some gels on my way downtown. I ran about 18 ish km using the same loops that Sylvie and I did together last week. As I was heading east towards 14th Street, Nancy caught up with me and did about half a loop with me. We had a nice conversation and then I was on my own again for the last hour or so. I ran 10 minutes and walked one, occasionally extending a walk break to eat my gel or a cookie, and skipping one occasionally to make up for it.

There were some geese settling in along the river, and I saw a pair of ducks as well. Lots and lots of exercisers of all kinds were out moving and grooving.

I felt pretty good through the whole time, and am not dreading next week’s 20 km run at all. Sure I’m a little creaky now that I’m done, but I’ll recover soon enough. No blisters, no sore feet (2nd long run in the new shoes), very little chafing. If I do the Police Half on April 30th at this pace, I should finish in about 2:40ish. I might do it faster (I’ll be racing), I might do it slower (today’s run was flat, there’s hills in the Police Half), but I’m quite happy with my effort today. I will keep up the hill training over the next month!

Tonight I’m off to volunteer at a new Calgary Roadrunners Race, the Runny Nose & Frozen Toes 6k. I’m looking forward to it!

Yesterday it rained off and on, but by supper time there was just a pretty, foggy mist hanging around. I ran out the door and hightailed it to the corner store to meet my new running buddy, I’ll call her Serendipity. Apparently she couldn’t make it, because I was only 1 minute late, and hug around for the next 9. It felt kinda weird, loitering around outside as folks came and went, and I thought up all sorts of reasons why she wouldn’t come.

1. She’s shy.
2. She’s forgetful.
3. I’m forgetful? I got the wrong time?
4. Her work shift changed, or she had a prior engagement she’d forgotten.
5. She’s not feeling well tonight, or she injured herself.
6. She thinks I might be a psycho laying a trap for her.
7. She’s a psycho laying a trap for me.
(this made me surreptitiously size up everyone coming and going from the store)
8. She’s not an innocent neighbourhood runner after all, she’s a spy, or in the Secret Service. (I’ve obviously been watching too many suspense-thrillers)

Well, she could at least have e-mailed me, or commented on the blog. After all I told her about my blog, and how to find it…
oh no!
What if … (oh horrors) what if she doesn’t have internet access! I might have lost her forever!

Oh well. I still had a run to do, so I ran up and down my 2 minute hill 6 times before taking a nice, long cool down jog home. The 2 minute hill took me more like 2.5 minutes each time, but I got ’em done. It was kind of nice to be doing the hills in daylight.

Tuesday night we were threatened with rain, but it didn’t happen and we had a nice, dry run east of Centre Street. Krista set a blistering pace right from the get-go and led the whole way. I ran with Tim for a while, then Sylvie and another friend who ran with us at the Oval a few times this winter. We went east along the river pathway, up and over the Bridgeland train station, and then north, up through the neighbourhood and UP UP UP to 7th Avenue and back to the store. I almost caught up to Krista by Edmonton Trail, but the light turned and I felt a dire need to breathe rather than run through it. We didn’t go very far, but the big hill and trying to keep Krista in sight made it a good tempo run.

Yesterday it RAINED. Not a ton, but the smell of it was wonderful – so different from snow. I ended up baking the evening away instead of dragging the kids out for a walk. Probably should’ve walked, but am very satisfied with the 3 banana loaves and 1 batch of orange chocolate chip muffins I produced instead. I’ll get out tonight, rain or shine.

Shortly after the Flames vs Coyotes hockey game started I tucked Little Runner into bed and the Boy and I watched the game together while waiting for the Man to come home from his late shift. The Boy isn’t really allowed to watch t.v. on weekdays, but I consider hockey-watching a part of Canadian culture that should be encouraged. Despite the Flames excellent playing, I still could barely keep my eyes open until 10, so tucked myself into bed for the 3rd period and read about it this morning.

I’m going up north to another family wedding in the last weekend of May, and need to run about 20 km that weekend. I could just measure out a route along the road near where I’m staying, but looky here! There’s a RACE that weekend!

It’s a 5 person relay over a marathon distance, so I’ll need a little help. If I do 2 legs plus a little extra to stretch my run to 20km, I’ll still need 3 other people to run the other legs – 3 other people who don’t mind teaming up with my pokey 7 min/km or 11.75 min/mile pace. The distances are very manageable, at under 10 km each.

This doesn’t look like a particularly elite kind of race, thank goodness, despite being quite low-key. These photos from last year’s race, of regular-looking runners like me are very comforting. I wonder what last year’s results were. The fee is a mere $100 per team if we sign up before May 15 – what a bargain!

So, my dear Albertans (or anyone else who’d like to come), who’s in?

Just for a second? Because if I made you do a double take or even smile at my attempt, I’ll take it.

I rarely ever play jokes on April Fool’s – I can never think of something that would be good enough, and then I can never keep a straight face. I figured a picture would do for here on the blog.

I did manage to keep a straight face long enough this morning, though. I had arranged to meet a couple of running buddies at 8 a.m. for a long run, and showed up wearing a borrowed air cast. Nancy and Sylvie were very good sports about the whole thing. Nancy arrived first and didn’t know what to say, but I couldn’t keep from laughing, and she caught on pretty quick. When Sylvie got there and saw my crutches and cast, she was sooo sweetly empathetic. “18 k is going to be a little harder for you today, eh? What happened?!” Nancy and I looked at each other, I looked at my watch and decided that lying for one minute was all I could do. April Fool’s! Sylvie nearly pushed me off the bench. Then we had a good laugh, I took my props back to the car (I’m HEALED!) and we went running.

I thought Sylvie might make me pay for my shenanigan by pushing the pace, but she sweetly trotted alongside and we chatted away.

After the first 10ish km Nancy took our coats and headed into the Y to clean up and visit the sauna while Sylvie and I did another 8 km. Joanne met up with us by starting later and running our loop counter-clockwise (we told her we’d be running clockwise), and kept us company for the last 35 minutes or so. We had fun telling her about all the excitement she’d missed, and now I don’t know if she can trust us.

Nancy met up with us after we finished, right on schedule, and we headed over to the Good Earth Cafe for brunch. I had a great run, laughed a lot, and didn’t ache very much at all towards the end. I did feel like I had been working, but it was very manageable.

It was beautiful outside last night – the thermometer read 7C/45F and the ground was dry and inviting.

Last night the marathon plan said 10 km, 6 km of which should be at tempo pace. While I haven’t been diligent in following the schedule exactly so far, last night I did my best. I have a 5 k loop with a couple of hills in it and managed to do the first loop in 35 minutes. My big, 2-minute hill came up at around 23 minutes and I took a couple of small walk breaks just before and after it. Ugh.

As I started the smaller hill towards the beginning of my 2nd 5 km, I felt much more warmed up, and by the time I was sailing down the other side I spotted a runner up ahead who looked very much to be going my speed. I put in a little extra effort (hey, I was supposed to be running at tempo, eh) and caught up to her. She must have heard my noisy feet and loud breathing and pulled to the side so I could pass. Instead of running on by (wouldn’t have gone much faster without a finish line ahead), I introduced myself and we exchanged the usual pick-up lines. I have to admit they sounded hokey (like picking up someone in a bar) as I ran them through my mind before we said them, but we said them anyway…

She: So, have you been running long?
Me: Oh about 6 years.
(pant pant)
Me (realizing there’s another answer here): but tonight I’ve only been going 45 minutes so far. You?
She: I’ve been running for about a year. Are you training for anything in particular?
Me: Police Half next month, then my *first full marathon* this July! and I keep in shape over the winter with the cross-country series (bla bla bla about how I love the XC series…)
She (duly impressed): I play indoor and outdoor soccer.
We also talked about her occupation, education and general, who-we-are stuff.
Me (also impressed, after babbling on about my son’s soccer activities, kids, life in general): You know, if you usually run around here on Thursday nights, I could use a running partner.
She: That would be cool!
Before we parted ways we set up a place and time to meet next week. Not at either of our houses, of course, because neither of us actually know each other, and we’re responsible women who use safe friend-making practices, eh?

That little bit of conversation cheered me up immensely. I tackled my 2-minute hill a second time with vigor, and felt so good at the top (?) (!!!) that I took no walk breaks and flew all the way home. I made it with barely negative splits, in 1:09:50. I even did 10 each (count ’em) push ups and crunches as part of my post-run stretching, before bathing and curling up in front of Survivor: Exile Island. My legs really didn’t mind this Thursday so much at all.