How Jurassic Park failed me

Yesterday it hit 24C in mid October in Calgary. This morning when I woke up to go for my long run, it was gusting wind and flurries, temperature 4C. I know I harp about Calgary weather a LOT on this blog, but seriously, this is crazy. Maybe if I had my fellow princesses, then MAYBE I would have gone for a run outside.  But I draw the line at running in the dark, cold, wind snow by myself. I did think about scrapping the run altogether, saying go back to bed and I can always do it Monday.  Then I realized if I didn't do it now, it wasn't going to happen at all. I'm great at lying to myself. So, inside on the treadmill it was. 

I used to love the treadmill.  Running in place while watching TV or movies was great, so I thought.  Now I've really come to hate it, and hate it I did this morning for 6 whole miles.  I put in Jurassic Park to cheer myself up, but it didn't come close to a good long run out by the reservoir or the airport or anywhere that wasn't just staring at the same 4 walls. In fact, the movie was...starting to look like it was 20 years old.  What was with all the high waisted pants? Marky Mark was 20 years ago, but he's still awesome! And for probably the first time ever, I started thinking the whole premise of the movie was stupid and implausible. I bet a T-Rex would eat more than a single goat for lunch.  And I bet scientists would know when they were splicing frog DNA that the species can switch genders, that seems like a pretty stupid mistake. 

Sorry JP, I think this is the runner's low talking

I was so busy being angry about running on a treadmill I couldn't enjoy the movie at all, but nor did it distract me from my task at hand.  I get sweaty anytime I run, but running inside on a treadmill is the very worst, I was DRENCHED when I was done.  My headband was actually heavy when I pulled it off, and my shoes were soaked.  Also, I realize now that 6 miles is actually 9.6K, which means I ended up running an extra half kilometer because I can't do simple math!? GRR!!

I'm not saying treadmills are useless, I like them for speed intervals and hills and for sometimes just mindlessly watching the Food Network (yes, I love to watch bacon fry while I run, don't judge me) .  And yeah, they will sometimes beat the heck out of running in the snow or paying a $15 drop in fee to run laps at your local rec center, but I just didn't enjoy my run at all today.  I won't dwell on it, because it's done and next week's run will be outside for sure.  On the bright side, now I won't have to run on Monday with a hangover.

It's all about support

Ok, I know I've said before that I believe support is such a quintessential part when deciding to start a training program for a half marathon.. it’s would be just so easy to throw in the towel and stay under the covers if you didn’t have Felicity and Crystal’s voices in your ear urging you out of bed at 4:45am to make sure you aren’t late for your 5:45am run! Thank you for that ladies.. I mean it!

This all being said where ever you are and whatever you are doing.. the effort must be made to keep the training schedule up, and I’ve been kinda bad at this. So having the long run on a weekend where the goal is to see how much turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie you can fill yourself with, support is even more important. I was home in Sherwood Park this past weekend for Thanksgiving and upon arrival had said to my sister that I HAD to go on my long run while I was here (nothing like handing over that responsibility to someone else so there is someone else to blame if it doesn’t happen .. I know, I know.. this is wrong). With this knowledge, she still offered to join me and even asked her sister-in-law Mary-Jane to join as well. With seven children between them, having to organize childcare, decide on a time and make it all happen seemed like an impossibility but it all came together on Sunday morning.

Now it must be said that my sister has not run in months and Mary-Jane just spent a week in Disneyland with no exercise but walking the parks till they dropped (not easy, but not running either). We weren't exactly the perfect threesome given my current cold in the chest situation.. but we weren’t going to let that stop us. With the route scouted, running clothes on, we headed out for our run surrounded by a scenic route with the amazing fall colours, a perfect running temperature and great company.

We fell into a good pace for all and just ran and talked around the loop with the occasional kilometer update to keep us going. We finished at 6km exactly outside my parents place and were pretty proud of our accomplishment. My sis never thought she’d be able to do it without stopping but we ran the whole way and now she is even considering doing this more often (Leigh-Ann, it’s in print and on the web.. now you HAVE to do it ;). Mary-Jane I have to thank you for the running tips, for coming out to run and for convincing us to go to Timmy’s afterwards! Yay, a sense of accomplishment AND a steeped tea to boot!