Sunday, February 6, 2011

Well as we get closer and closer to our goal it seems pretty important that we keep to our training schedule. As of late this has been more and more apparent in the ways we’ve been making these runs happen. One of the things we’ve been doing is running before work instead of after.. one big reason is that the wind seems to be less at this time of day, there are people who can join you PLUS you are finished for the day and don’t have to worry about the next run until tomorrow.

Run #1 - Princess Crys and I decided a couple of weeks ago to do our weekly 8km run in the morning and invited a fellow WestJetter and runner Alex to come join us. As per usual before the run, our running attire was discussed (ignored) and we were on our way.


Thank goodness for my new running gloves as no sooner than 10m into our run I hit an ice patch and went down in a surprisingly smooth fashion but with enough of a yelp to literally awaken a mouse from hibernation and create a few yelps from my fellow runners when it ran out on the sidewalk beside us. So now we have 3 heart attacks in 3seconds into our run and we must continue.


The temperature was great for running but as mentioned we dressed for the wind chill and all ended up being more than a little warm. Our route took us from Campus up to the Barlow running path I had used for my 18km to work, so I knew it was clear-ish. The problem was that the wind the night before had caused some pretty high snowdrifts on the path and with our best efforts we made our way knee deep through them and on occasion off the path until our turn around point then made our way back the same route to campus.


Run #2 – Let’s call this run, the ‘wet’ one. Princess Crys had worked the night before so Alex and I wrangled up Jason with jabs of him not getting up early enough to join .. and we all know how boys are when they are told they can’t do something. So Jason met us at the back doors.. and by meeting us, I mean he got there first, then when Alex arrived we started out.


Same 8km route but the weather was a balmy +7 with the wind being half of what it was the week before. Now this turned out to be a blessing and a curse.


Good times though.. we had just gotten to the intersection when a car came up behind us and honked, besides scaring the .. well you know out of us, I made a few ‘gestures’, no not those ones, just letting the car know there was plenty of room to pass us. Well we soon found out the car had honked to try to get our attention to find the Canadian North Hangar.. stunned silence. No idea, we replied and continued our run.

The path was a little slick in parts but mostly just wet in general. Luckily we had the headlights from cars coming up from behind us to let us know what was a puddle and what was just black asphalt. The new traffic circle was a little harder to maneuver with construction ongoing, puddles, and curbs but we managed to get to the turn around post (which I almost took out with our usual grab the post and do the gravity weeeee squeal)

Now the real problem was the return route .. with the headlights now incoming and the path not really that easy to see we managed to run close enough to each other that we all ended up dropping deep into the first puddle thus starting the sopping run back. This pattern continued through the traffic circle with sounds of running shoes being dumped into puddles and then the voice close behind it yelling “noooooo”!!


Make it back in good time considering it felt like an off trail run that we had just completed.


Run #3 – With Princess Crys on the injured reserve, Jason not wanting to mess up his workout regime and Alex willing, our third 8km in 3 weeks started and finished with little trouble. I had worn the coveted headlamp from Princess Felic and my Sight Night run and this turned out to be a fantastic help while trying to maneuver the puddles and construction. We finished the run 3miuntes faster than the last one and I’m sure our shoes were much appreciative of the lack of water intake compared to the last run!

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