Three weeks to go!

23 more sleeps, Mickey!!!

It seems like only yesterday we were 200 days away from our race, but this time three weeks from now, we'll be arriving in Florida!   We still have one more week of running clinic, we have a 20K to get through in training, and I need to find some sweatproof mascara and eyeliner, but I've been compusively checking our flights, the weather, where the cupcake shops are and even had my first "Disneymare" last night...I dreamt we went for lunch in Toronto during our layover and missed our connecting flight.  Yes, I woke up in a sweaty panic today, but I guess if I'm still not too worried about the run itself, then we're doing OK!

Damsel in Distress...again.

OK, there was no Snidely Whiplash,
I brought this on myself...

Hey, remember when I got lost in Central Park? Well, apparently this feat isn't limited to other countries, but can just as easily be done in my hometown! For my 8K run last week, I was trying to figure out where I could fit it in. Since we were going to the Flames game and the weather had been fantastic, I joked I should just run to the Dome, but checking the route, I saw our house to the nearby Glencoe (where Bryan was going to be anyways) was 8.2k...PERFECT!

Thinking ahead, I packed a change of clothes (including jersey, of course) in Bryan's car the night before and planned to meet him around 7:15 so I could freshen up and we could get to the game for 8pm puck drop. At home, I packed my cash, ID (and yes, I DID get carded for beer later, HURRAY!), phone and keys into my Coach wristlet, put that into a plastic ziplock (am not going to get lovely bag all stinky, thank you!) and then tucked it into my pocket. My first run with a Coach bag, am so fashionable! I headed off and since the whole way is a gentle incline, the kilometers flew by as gravity helped me on my way.

I was wearing my headlamp, so no fears of slipping on the last remaining bits of ice.  I learned the hard way that sometimes I couldn't tell the difference between "ice" and "6 inches of icy water" so my feet were soaked by the time I got to 14th st. Undaunted, I pressed on, I was nearly there and I knew exactly where I was! I was so proud of myself for being all organized and fun for doing this, and had even added a new song to my running playlist. (Turns out, I REALLY liked running to this song, and maybe ended up listening to it 9 times in a row?) Anyways, I get to the traffic circle as expected right around the 7.5K mark and sped up a bit, excited at how smoothly the run had gone and how very on time I was going to be.

A few minutes later I came to a steep hill with no sidewalk. Hmm...I don't remember a hill around here?  Fearful of being smushed by a car, I sprinted up the hill and turned left into what I thought (and was now really hoping) was the Glencoe...no such luck. I was in a cul-de-sac overlooking...something. Maybe Elbow? I'm not sure. I fire off a quick "I'm not lost" text and backtrack, confident I was only slightly off course. I run another half kilometer and still no Glencoe. I stop to squint at street signs that don't help me.  I run another half kilometer and realize I'm not sure if I should be running to bigger street numbers or smaller. Looking around, I realize I no longer know which direction downtown is, let alone East or West.  I'm so lost, I don't even know which direction to head to figure out where to go. Defeated, I call Bryan. He asks where I am. I walk to the nearest street sign and read them out. He starts laughing and says not to move and he'll be there in 5 minutes.

I take the opportunity to do some post run stretches and feel sheepish...when Bryan does pull up, he is still laughing. He continues laughing as he drives for nearly 5 minutes to get back near the Glencoe, at which point I'm laughing pretty hard myself. Apparently at the traffic circle, instead of going straight, I had made a hard left and been heading due South for over a kilometer...

In case you're wondering, Bryan =2, Felicity =0 and I will always carry a phone on any run I go on by myself from now on. Also, because of this lengthy delay, I had to change in the car on a side street before hoofing it to the Dome. I felt sorry for the people sitting in front of me who had to smell my stinky feet the whole game. But I tell you what, the hot dog and pint of beer I had at the game were great!

Two very different 18Ks...

Part 1: 18 kilometer run



Sunday I woke up feeling lousy. My stomach hurt and I was kind of stuffed up. And really tired, in spite of a solid 10 hours of sleep. I didn't want to run 18K, I wanted to go back to sleep and then eat chicken noodle soup (laced with, um, Imodium). The great (and terrible) thing about training as a trio meant I couldn't do that, I had to get up and go. Still feeling lousy, I drove over to the Running Room to join the group and we set out on what I grudgingly acknowledge was a lovely sunny and warm (for January) morning run. We started out running towards the mountains, which was straight into a brisk Chinook wind, which means I was in trouble immediately. I find running INTO the wind means it sucks the air right out of me so the first 2K which are usually a treat before I get all tired were tough as I wheezed my way West. We wound our way into some pretty posh neighbourhoods and I eyed their 4 car garages nervously, daydreaming of what would happen if I knocked on their door and asked to use their servants bathroom should it be required. Running was NOT improving my tummy, but we kept on trucking. Crystal had brought her awesome marathoner buddy for the run and was wearing one headphone, so she stayed slightly ahead with the lead runners and entertained us with her random karaoke (run-eoke?) Christi was foolish enough to lag behind and both keep me company and force me to keep up with the group so I wouldn't get lost. This meant she had 123 minutes of me whining to look forward to!

Like the Evil Witch, this only looks good on the outside

 After a few KILLER hills, I was actually whimpering out loud. I didn't sign up for this!---wait, yes I did. After running up a dirt road hill, we reached what I can only assume was City limits, so we mercifully paused for a photo op. I made the mistake at this point of checking our distance, and was crushed to see we weren't even half way. We still had a few kms before we were even halfway. At that point, if a taxi had pulled up, I would have quit and gone home. I was tired, I wasn't feeling good, and at no point so far had I hit a running groove: basically every minute was feeling like torture and I was not having fun. But, no taxi (or bus, or rickshaw or donkey) came to save me, so on we went.

I'd like to say things got better at the halfway point, but they didn't. I whined for the next hour or so as we worked our way around Signal Hill and Richmond. Sorry Christi, and thanks for putting up with me! At one point, I got a stabby pain in my foot so sudden and severe I shrieked and dead stopped. I limped along for a few minutes until the pain subsided, and it hasn't come back since. We finally made it back to the Running Room only to realize we were still a quarter of a km off the finish, so we had to run over to the Best Buy and back, twice passing the others doing their cool downs. I was so relieved we were done, I wanted to lie face down on the icy pavement for the rest of the day. But then I would have missed what happened next...

Part 2: 18k....that's 18000 calories consumed, people

Now, the only reason I pushed through the run was under the promise of Pannenkoeks. We peeled over to the restaurant to get on the waiting list, stopping only to grab a jug of chocolate milk to fight off the post-run DTs. Noticing the "No Outside Food or Drink" sign on the door but not wanting to wait in the cold, we huddled around the curio cabinet, surreptitiously swigging and passing the jug around like bad high school kids at the mall with a mickey swiped from their parent's stash. When we were sat, we apologized to our server about the milk (we're not bad kids, we totally felt guilty!) and instead of being mad, she brought us sample sizes of their own chocolate milk which she claimed was the best in the city. After trying it, we couldn't argue. She also brought us extra cookies with our tea because "we looked like we needed them". HOOORAY!

Things only got better from there. We decided since 18k was so much more than 16k, we needed to split 4 between the 3 of us---2 savory and 2 sweet. We opted for their feature: grilled chicken, Anjou pear, maple glazed pecans and Gruyere, along with a repeat of the awesome one from last week: potato, bacon and cheese. Then we sat there unable to concentrate on a subject for more than 10 seconds until the sweet, sweet nosh arrived on our table. After some hasty pannenkoek math, we dived in to what can only be described as heaven on a plate. Not only was it excellent, but we were seriously tapping into empty carb tanks at that point. I could almost feel life and happiness flowing back into me as I alternated bites of each, pausing only to slather the potato one in sour cream.

No, I can't believe Crystal left a cookie either!

Before we knew it, we were staring at empty plates...but not for long. Moments later, our dessert pannenkoeks arrived. One was banana Nutella with ice cream AND whipped cream, the other was the cinnamon bun one (sugar and cream cheese frosting) with added baked apples and maple pecans. At this point, I was so excited, I had to put my head in my lap to avoid passing out, so Crystal and Christi divvied up the goods. Again, sweet sugary joy coursed through ourveins as we mainlined our dessert.

That's what I call a money shot!

Eventually we flatlined, so full we actually left traces of Nutella on the table. All we could do at that point was rush home for showers and serious couch time, both of which were well earned.

 

This folks, is what running is all about...through perseverance comes great rewards!

Note the crazy looks in our eyes...

You did what?

I RAN TO WORK?!?!?

Since the other princesses ran their long run on Saturday.. I had to make my effort and make sure I did the same, especially with the Chinook that blew in and brought us some pretty spectacular running weather. In order to make up those kilometers I chose to run to work. No for those Calgarians that means running from 17th Ave and 14th Street to the to the airport for those who are not, it means a 18.36km run. Now this is not an endeavor one wants to do in the dark of morning and especially not by themselves. So in casual conversation, I asked my friend Chuck to run with me, not expecting him or anyone to say yes… but he did and thank God for that.

So after some serious planning (leaving cars and clothes at work the day before, arranging rides home, etc) I started the morning by picking Chuck up at 6am then bringing him back to my place for our starting point. Running wear was the second most serious plan to organize so made sure we had the running belt filled with Gatorade, the headlamp on for the dark parts of the trail and luckily most of the run took place on city running trails so we avoided traffic and hit the trail within the first kilometer.

Now as we started our run, Chuck mentioned that he had segmented the run into 5 segments so that it wouldn’t seem so long – My place to Memorial Dr - Memorial to Deerfoot - Deerfoot to the pedestrian bridge - Bridge to 19^th - 19^th /McCall to WestJet.

Segment 1 My Place to Memorial – A few hiccups during this leg including the river overflowing under Centre Street and me totally wiping out on the ice then after picking myself up and wiping myself off, the ice started cracking under our feet.. Chuck actually went through the ice and soaked his foot. This lead to us having to jump on the fence and shimmy our way to the other side of the now cracked ice. Kinda scary..

Segment 2 Memorial to Deerfoot – down one segment onto the next. Our only hiccup here was that fact that it said that that path was closed on the other side of the bridge, we figured it was due to high water (aka ice) so not wanting to repeat our last series of events, we crossed over St. George’s bridge, climbed the hill to the zoo then made our way through the parking lot, construction and snowbanks to the path by Deerfoot…

Segment 3 Deerfoot to the Pedestrian Bridge – this segment there was nothing but figuring how far we’ve been, how far still to go, oh and of course how to get up the big long hill by the golf course. This is usually where Chuck would leave me in his dust on his bike, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when he did it while we were running too. Oh well, I had to save something for the last 6km so let him go…

Segment 4 Bridge to McKnight (INDUSTRIAL) – this was the least favourite part of the run. The path took us all the way to 19^th, then it was running on a four lane road (two each way), without a sidewalk and no streetlights just before dawn with reflective gear but nothing the semi’s and cars could actually see. This was terrifying and closer to the end so it seemed never ending.. but it did end, finally on McNight!

Segment 5 McKnight to Campus! – Legs are getting heavy by this point, but campus is in sight! We finished our 18.36kms at the corner at Barlow and walked it in! So excited to have finished this monstrous run and celebrated with a ½ hot shower at campus before heading out for the day!!

Shout out to the WestSiiiiiiiiiiiiide....Rec Center

We ran 18k on Saturday. That's right, just 3k short of a half marathon.  Oh, and it gets better.  We ran it INSIDE.  That's right, when we got up on Saturday morning to eat toast and drink Gatorade, the thermometer had dipped to -32C. Now, we've learned that we can totally run in the cold, but this was going to be nearly 10C colder than ever before, and would have been for a full two hours.  Ever prepared, we had a backup plan to run inside at Westside Rec since it featured a 425m track and was near both our houses. We met in the parking lot in our capris and dashed inside before our calves froze, grumbling about the injustice of having to pay $13 to go run in circles when all we really wanted to do was run along the river on a snowy day. Stupid boring inside run we had to pay for! Stupid outside weather being too cold!

Take a Midol, Mother Nature

Pretty much as soon as we walked inside, I felt like I owed the Rec Center an apology. It was AMAZING!  It had  a giant pool area with wave pool, lazy river, wading pool and waterslide set inside. The other pool area had a lap pool and diving pool. Looking up, we realized the track went all around the center, and WASN'T AN OVAL, which meant that even though we would be running laps, they wouldn't be in the same circle over and over.  We peeked into some of the classrooms and they were bright sparkling rooms filled with brightly colored weights and mats and upbeat music. When we went upstairs, we were dazzled by the number of strength training machines we'd never seen before as well as hockey arenas and indoor skating rinks complete with trees and giant firepit in the middle. We were almost speechless! (almost)

Getting ourselves prepped to run, we asked a nearby staffer how far the track was. He directed us to the chart and our hastily done in line math was bang on, we had to do 42 laps to get in 18.2K. The guy noticed our concern about losing track of our laps and offered us a counter we could click after every lap and not lose track. There was a table where we could leave our drinks and so after a quick stretch, we started from there. We were off!

I think we spent the first 3-4 laps exclaiming over new things we saw.  This track was pretty much the best we could hope for running laps inside; it was shaped like a clover leaf so you didn't just see the same people over and over again and it kept things a bit more interesting. Plus, the shape of the track meant you kept running by all the different parts of the center.

We watched some middle aged guys work out with their trainers, sprinting down the 40 yard track set up on one side, or else doing these loopy squats under the handrails. Click!

We watched these adorable little kids at hockey practice all skate around in matching Iginla jerseys for ages. Click! Click! Click!

We were lapped a few times by a guy in those weird "naked" shoes that are all the rage.Click!

We passed a woman jogging in jeans and hiking shoes a few times. Click! Click! Click!

We soon noted that the 3 leaves of the clover shape each had their own "feel". The first one was really quiet, the second one nice and cool and the third one kinda hot and stuffy. Click!

We marvelled over the whippet thin woman who was on the stairmaster for the first hour. Click!

I got to pee in a real bathroom and not behind a bush or in the snow. Click!

We admired a woman walking laps with a baby peering out of his snuggie strapped to her chest. Click!


We watched a little old man walk quite a few laps clutching his Tim Hortons and wished we had one too. Click! Click!

Without even realizing it, time was flying by!  Before we knew it, we were counting down the last 10 laps, and before long, we were DONE!  We squealed and high fived and got the nice guy who had given us the clicker to take our photo. We felt good!



You can't fake this kind of authenticity, you know



Crystal: "piff, 18k, no problem, we could totally do 3 more for the half!"
Felicity: "for sure, no problem!"

....pause....

Felicity: "ummm, but we're not going to, right? We're done?"
Crystal: "oh, yeah, we're done, I just meant we COULD do the other 3k for race day"
Felicity: "Whew!"

Still smiling after 42 laps! And the guy behind us posed too?

Sadly, we both had to dash off without getting to try out any of the crazy new stretching or situp machines we'd been eying or go for a quick dip in the pool or hottub, but happily, it was because we both had massages booked that we had to get to.  I'd be happy to go back there and spend an entire day there testing everything out!