All Downhill From Here

Tuesday night I jogged with Yo-go for 40 minutes past delightfully lighted-up houses on Crescent Road, overlooking the river and downtown. We met up with the Pink Lady and Coach, and brought goodies over to Gord’s house for a Christmas visit.

I had hot apple cider, some cheeses, walnuts, little ham-pickle rolls, salsa dip in mini pitas, and numerous homemade sweets. Then after all that I had a yummy chai tea with lots of foamy milk on top.

Someone had brought fresh gooseberries dipped in Callebaut white chocolate. The berries still had their leaves on, and they looked SO elegant! I’m going to have to try making those some time. The one I had was delicious.

40 easy minutes was not a long enough run to justify all those calories, but it sure was nice to kick back with the running group and have some good conversations.

I was supposed to run today, but kinda got caught up in Christmas preparations again. Nothing stressful, just tying up a few loose ends, but they took time.

I made Koloch today – Ukrainian Christmas bread. I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow, when I’ve got the pictures handy.

Full report to come later, when I get the pics up-loaded. Short story: The course was nice and dry, with lots of dirt trails and not as much ice as last year. We also had sunshine and no snowdrifts to hoof thr0ugh. I felt very sluggish towards the end, as my lack of training definitely showed through, but I had a GREAT crowd of Roadrunners cheering me to the finish!

I was not being competitive today at all, and had no qualms about stopping to take pictures or re-tie my shoelaces. It was a nice day and I knew the volunteers wouldn’t mind being out there that long.

I originally thought I was the last in, but I think I beat a couple of 70 year old men.

I had planned on taking a little step-back in my training over December, but it’s SO over now. I was going to keep the long runs a minimum of 10k and still get out there 3x a week. Well, I’ve been barely getting out twice per week, my longest run has been 7 km, and I am going insane.

I need to move more to feel better mentally and physically. September through November were my best-feeling running months ever in my life, and I need to get back that mileage (almost 100km/month). My body liked it. I liked it that I could run 10k without feeling tired. I liked it that I could run 10 miles every couple of weeks and feel that sense of accomplishment. I liked the routine of getting out in the running shoes regularly.

Christmas preparations are moving right along, but I have been experiencing some stress due to procrastinator-boy’s homework panics thrown into the mix. I really need the runs to help me let go of the stress. Besides, it is way too warm this week NOT to run (Canadian speaking).

Last night, even though I had groceries to re-package, laundry to do, fudge to make and presents that HAD to be wrapped for giving TODAY, I got out for a 5k run in the middle of it all. It was 6C/42.8F and there was an incredible Chinook wind blowing from the SW and I didn’t even need my mitts going out. I safety pinned them to my fleece and even ended up taking off the fleece after a km.

On the way back the wind whistled loudly all the way through my head until the tunnel connecting my ears felt raw. I put on the mitts mostly to keep my hands from drying out. I really need to keep more lotion going this time of year. I was able to pull my cap down on my head and just focus on the sidewalk a couple of meters ahead of me. It felt good not to be distracted by cars or lights, just focus on keeping the form and breathing steady and efficient. No thinking about anything else. Just Run, eh?

I would have gone further than 5k, but I have an 8k XC race Saturday, and didn’t want to overdo it before that. I’m not recovering from runs as easily as I was a month ago.

In the last km I got hungry and the image of peanut butter toast with banana sprang into my mind. It was a wonderful post-run snack.

Last night we dropped off the kiddos at their grandparents’ and went to Hubby’s wine making guild’s Christmas gathering. We sampled hors d’oevres and wines, even some cinnamon schnapps, and didn’t make it home until after 1 a.m. I only tried 3 kinds of red wine, a drop of the schnapps and a thimble-full of ice wine in 5 hours, but knew that this morning’s run would be a challenge. I like red wine, but it gets into my muscles somehow.

This morning I wasn’t very hungry for breakfast, but managed a little bit. I drank lots of water, picked up the munchkins from the family, and headed out into a beautiful sunny day. Late-morning sun reflected off the snow-capped Rockies, and I sailed downhill from my suburbian plateau. The way back up was not as pretty, as my legs did not want to work very hard, but I managed to find some semblance of a rhythm and made it back home. I kept the run short, close to 5.5 km, as I had some other things I was looking forward to.

I quickly assembled some beef stew in the slow-cooker, had a quick shower, and popped over to the Pink Lady’s for our annual Christmas Penguin Pedicure Party. Every year the Calgary Penguins have a few munchies and a good visit while soaking our toesies and taking care of some very important running body parts.

We also had a great gift swap, in which I managed to score a whole box of Purdy’s Hedgehogs. Lucky me!

Pictures to follow later. Now it’s time to settle in for the Survivor Vanuatu Finale.

Last night we dropped off the kiddos at their grandparents’ and went to Hubby’s wine making guild’s Christmas gathering. We sampled hors d’oevres and wines, even some cinnamon schnapps, and didn’t make it home until after 1 a.m. I only tried 3 kinds of red wine, a drop of the schnapps and a thimble-full of ice wine in 5 hours, but knew that this morning’s run would be a challenge. I like red wine, but it gets into my muscles somehow.

This morning I wasn’t very hungry for breakfast, but managed a little bit. I drank lots of water, picked up the munchkins from the family, and headed out into a beautiful sunny day. Late-morning sun reflected off the snow-capped Rockies, and I sailed downhill from my suburbian plateau. The way back up was not as pretty, as my legs did not want to work very hard, but I managed to find some semblance of a rhythm and made it back home. I kept the run short, close to 5.5 km, as I had some other things I was looking forward to.

I quickly assembled some beef stew in the slow-cooker, had a quick shower, and popped over to the Pink Lady’s for our annual Christmas Penguin Pedicure Party. Every year the Calgary Penguins have a few munchies and a good visit while soaking our toesies and taking care of some very important running body parts.

We also had a great gift swap, in which I managed to score a whole box of Purdy’s Hedgehogs. Lucky me!

Pictures to follow later. Now it’s time to settle in for the Survivor Vanuatu Finale.

If you don’t like the weather in Calgary, wait 15 minutes. Or, if you do like it, get out in it quick, before it passes.

At 8 this morning the temp was 3.4C/38.1F and looked just ducky for a run. I was dressed to run, but needed to eat some breakfast. By the time I finished my toast, coffee and newspaper, the temp had dropped to -1C/30.2F and the wind was blowing the BBQ cover around the deck (what’s it doing off the BBQ?).

Now we have a full scale blizzard in effect 90 minutes later, and it’s -2.1C/28.22F, with the snow whipping sideways.

If it were a XC race day, I’d be out there with my race reds and jingle bells on. Since it’s not, and I can still do my weekend run tomorrow…

I’m going shopping.

Last night I had planned on going Christmas shopping, but I my sludgy sinuses were acting up with the Chinook weather. I took some acetaminophen and the pain went away, but I still felt tired and not capable of thinking clearly enough to make meaningful Christmas purchases.

I felt VERY capable of running a few miles, so I changed into my running clothes and ran down a big hill to the Y and back. Most of the sidewalks had been cleared and I was easily able to run around the ice patches. The 1C/33.8F breeze was so lovely and warm, and I felt much more lively after my run.

I happily hopped in the van, went and picked up Social-Butterfly Boy from his event, and then curled up in front of Survivor with some chocolate-covered cherries.

Can you tell I’ve been Christmasing hither and thither, doing the super-soccer-band-mom thing with holiday preparations on top? It probably isn’t really obvious, but that’s where I’ve been the last few days.

Last night the Pink Lady, Yo-go and I showed up at Gord’s for our weekly Tuesday night Penguin run. It was a tad chilly, at about -17C/1.4F, with a wee breeze. We headed west of the store, down the curling club stairs, over Memorial Drive and west again to 14th St and back. It was probably the coldest run we’ve done this season so far, but there will be colder yet. The air was rather invigorating, once we got going.

Yo-go and I started out at quite a clip. I think we were trying to out-run the cold feeling. We started out into the breeze, so our faces went numb almost immediately. I countered it bravely by talking incessantly, until my lips felt almost normal again.

My legs were quite happy with the pace, but I ended up doing the same thing I did on Saturday, legs happily clipping along, cardio system telling me to slow down. I still managed to blather on and on, so I couldn’t have been running that hard.

Even before we reached the bridge I was quite damp under all my layers. I didn’t need two pairs of red mitts – should have left the under-liners in the van. I was wearing thin leggings under lined windpants, my long-sleeved tech shirt under a regular T, with a v-neck fleece and then my lined windbreaker over top. I had a red fluffy scarf around my neck, but not up around my face, and a red toque to top it all off. I ended up un-zipping the windbreaker after a while. My legs were just right.

Pink Lady told us she planned to run to 10th St. and then return on the same side of the river, so we didn’t cross the river at 14th St., came back on the same side, and went back up Centre Street. Where did she go? She must have done a really short run? When we got back to the store she wasn’t there – she’d gone over to the other side of the river after all! 🙂

Overall the route had icy patches, but the river pathways still had a lot of dry pavement and we were just careful under the bridges. I don’t mind ice as much as I mind knee-deep snow for running.