Starting Off on the Wrong...Shoe?

To change it up a bit, and in reality to make it a bit easier on ourselves, we decided to drive ten minutes today and run on the dyke at Matsqui Trail Regional Park, along the Fraser River.  No hills!

We got out of the car and Jake and Luna were all excited because this was a new place.  Meredith got the training app on her phone going, and we started walking.  All of a sudden there was a yell from Larry who was behind us.

Yep, he forgot to change out of his slippers before he left home!

We all had a good laugh, well except Luna and Jake who were probably wondering why, five minutes after arriving at this new and exciting place, that they had to get back in the car.

We drove home and just ran our usual hilly circuit around our four mile block.  There was a bike race taking place along one of those miles, so there was something a bit different to distract us, slightly.  

And in case you are wondering, no Meredith and I did not purposely go out and buy the same runners.  We each had our running style assessed by a different person, and they each decided that that model of runner would be the best one for us.

Raining and Running

We were under a rainfall warning for two days, and then we've had two more days of rain after that. Sometimes it actually stopped raining, and we even had a bit of sunshine (a very little bit) this afternoon.  Fortunately the dry weather today coincided with when we had to run.  I ran in shorts and a sleeveless top this afternoon, and I was still hot.  Doesn't take much exercise to get me over heated, and I can't function if I have too many clothes on.  Today was the easy workout of the week.  Didn't seem that easy though.  I have to remember that when I was training for the Sun Run last year, I went into the training in better shape.  I had been walking briskly between two and four miles most mornings.  This past year I didn't do any of that.  Well my knee felt so awful for so long that it just wasn't even doable.  So this year, now that we've got up to some longer times and distances, I'm struggling a bit.  Still able to do it, but it's hard.  So back to the rain.  We put off Tuesday's workout because it was pouring rain.  That meant we had to do it Wednesday, and it was still pouring.  I've got to say though, looking out of the window and imagining running in that pouring rain was worse than actually doing it.  On Wednesday we had to run a total of 55 minutes, plus three, one minute walks. I think we did 8.5 km, and did finally break the 7 minute per kilometer mark. (only because we didn't count the five minute walk at the beginning and the end).  My aim this year was to beat last years Sun Run time, but today I said I was just hoping to finish somewhere close to it.  Every time we run we include hills, so we are getting lots of practice at that.  What goes up must come down, and I've got to say, I do look forward to the downhill sections:)

At the airport, which is about 8 miles from here, there has been nearly 4 inches of rain since Monday night.  Monday afternoon I dumped out the Wyndson Farm rain gauge dog pool.  This is what it looked like this morning.  The sides aren't straight so obviously it's not a true depiction of how much rain we got, but no matter how you look at it, it's still far too much.

Made for some pretty sloppy walks through the bush

We can grow some good moss though

The fence posts wear wigs

But Spring really is on it's way.  We can hear the frogs croaking at night.

Although this spot, which I rototilled on Monday afternoon before the monsoons hit, won't be dry enough to plant anytime soon.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

After surviving and doing decently well in the Sun Run in 2012, we decided to train for it again.  It took a while for Meredith to get over the plantar fasciitis  she developed in the last few weeks of training last year.  Luckily she worked for a Podiatrist, and so was able to get some free custom orthotics.  After a month or so, she was feeling pretty good.  It took me longer to get over whatever it was that went weird between my knee and my hip.  I finally said to the chiropractor that I was going to have to go to the doctor, because it just wasn't getting any better.  He had checked my knee and how it moved, and thought that nothing was really wrong with it.  He suggested I go see a physiotherapist.  I did that, he went through a whole bunch of testing on my knee, and also determined it was fine.  He said that the issue in the knee was based in the hip, and gave me a set of stretches to do, which he said should sort it out.  I did them and it did mostly. Yay!

This year Larry decided to join us.  He did the Sun Run several years in a row, back around 1990. His best time was just over 43 minutes to run 10 km.  He hasn't run since then, and suffers with a bad back and shoulders, and just about everything else.  We didn't join a clinic this year, but are following the same program.  We all were wondering if any issues might resurface, or in Larry's case, just magnify enough to stop us from getting through the training.  So far so good though!  We are just about finished week seven in a thirteen week program.  We started a week earlier than we needed to, so will probably duplicate week ten.  All of us missed one workout, when a bout of Norovirus hit.  I missed another one when I torqued my knee, trying to kick Luna's soccer ball as I walked down the driveway.  I was able to ride the bike though, so went out on that instead.  

We've been lucky, and until today, hadn't had to run in any ugly weather.  A slight bit of drizzle a couple of times, but that's about as bad as it's been.   

Remember those signs of Spring flower pictures I took last week? Huh. Ever since then it's been a lot miserable and a lot wet.  Usually our days for running are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  Tuesday this week turned out to be quite wet, so we put it off until Wednesday.  It's best to leave a day between training sessions, so today was the second session of the week.  It's been pouring rain all day.  We have been issued a rainfall warning.  A few times today it looked like it might be clearing up, but it didn't last more than a minute or two.  By the time Meredith got home from work, it was as miserable as ever.  It was a debate as to what would be the best thing to wear.  I usually wear stretchy lightweight capris.  This time I wore leggings.  It worked out well.  Larry, who every other time has worn pants, this time went for shorts.  He was happy with his choice too.  Meredith wore her usual, with the addition of the cap.  I put the dog's reflective coats on, both to make us more visible, and to keep them a bit dryer.   The first mile or so was pretty miserable, we were running into the wind and rain.  Fortunately we are experiencing what is referred to as a 'pineapple express' (warm and wet weather originating out near Hawaii), so at least it wasn't cold.  After we turned the corner, it was much better, and actually overall it wasn't as bad being out in it, as it appeared it might be while standing in the house and looking out of the window.

Here's the Wyndson Farm running club.

Inspiration

I think I need some.  I seem to have hit a blogging dry spell.  It's not that I don't have lots to write about, I just got a bit waylaid, and then didn't know where to pick up and get going again, and it just seemed easier to let things slide.  

I saw this story on the news last night. (sorry, you have to watch a commercial first)

       

Talk about inspiring.  Or maybe it's kind of depressing, comparing this active, gung-ho, fit, 93 year old to how I feel myself.  Remember all that running I did, training for the Sun Run.  Haven't done a run since.  And that is not because I didn't want to.  I had some trouble with my hip and knee a few days before the run. The day of, the hip was okay, and the knee, well I could feel it, but it wasn't painful.  It wasn't painful running on it, but the end result was that I had really messed something up.  I gave it some time,  a lot of time, and it didn't seem to be sorting itself out.  I mentioned it to my chiropractor, who couldn't find anything wrong with the knee, but worked on my hip.  That helped.  The next time I went, I told him it wasn't much better, and I was going to give in and go to the doctors.  He said to go to the physiotherapist instead.  So I did that.  The physiotherapist also determined that the problem was stemming from the hip area.  He gave me some stretches to do.  You know how that goes.  I was a bit hit and miss with those, but they did help quite a bit.  Even though my knee now feels much better when I'm walking on it, I need to get back into that stretching routine so that I can really get it sorted out and get back to running.  I need to keep thinking of Olga.  

We Did It!

The Sun Run has come and gone.  I'm kind of sad now.  The build up over the last three months for this day's run....well we went there, did it,  got the t-shirt, and  I have one sore knee to show for it.  And if you want Meredith's input, it would be the same, except she is now hobbling along again on her sore heels (faciitis).

So here's how it all played out.

Got up at 6, showered, ate, and headed to Abbotsford to meet the bus that our running group was heading into Vancouver on.  We had a real Trucker Mama of a bus driver. (She used to drive the big rigs). She was a bit PO that she didn't know exactly where she was to drop us off, so basically she pulled over on the next street north of the starting line, and we all piled out.  The weather was cloudy, but before we got off the bus a big patch of blue sky appeared, so I did a hasty change of clothing underneath my sweatshirt to a sleeveless top.

                                                  Kind of like the girl's line-up and the boy's lineup.  

We were in the boys line-up I guess, but it was much shorter:)

We stepped off the bus, and we were frozen.  What felt like an arctic wind was blasting up Howe Street.  First things first though, we lined up at the portapotties, and then checked out the starting area.  There weren't too many people there yet, so we set off walking.  Anything to warm us up.  I was in shorts, with an old polar fleece sweatshirt that I was going to ditch once the run started.  We ended up going in towards the skytrain station and Granville Mall, where it was warm and wind free.  I ran up and


down the stairs a few times to warm up, and we did some stretches.  About 8:40 we headed up towards the start line with another stop at the portapotties, and their even longer lineups.  Squished ourselves into our starting section on Georgia Street, and waited and waited and waited.  We were registered in the  1 - 1 1/4 hour group, and were stood near the back of the pack.  Waaaaay off in the distance we could see heads bobbing after the starting gun went at 9, and I thought that we'd be moving in no time.  Ha, the only moving we did was in place, trying to keep our legs warm and loosened up.

Looking towards the start.

We were in the white group                                                                    Behind us

 Eventually we started to move, at a walk, and crossed the start line at 9:45.  We were running by the time we crossed the start line.  We tossed our sweatshirts over the fence, where there were already bags of clothes that had been picked up.

Almost at the start line

Very quickly we were running downhill, and made sure that we didn't get going too fast.  We were past the first kilometer in what seemed like no time at all.  One down, nine to go.  The course flattened out, and there were a few sharp corners which caused a bit of a bottle neck.  I think at one of them we had to sort of run in place a few seconds while everyone got round.  The walkers were supposed to stay to the right, but there were more than enough annoying ones that were walking down the running section.  One was fine, but get a few walking abreast and they created a wall.  For the most part though, in a second or two a hole was created and you could get past and keep going.  We were going a pretty decent clip for the first few kilometers, Meredith's heels were okay, but then somewhere between kilometer two and three, the pain kicked in.  We kept going, probably not as fast as we could on a good day.  Just before the five kilometer mark we hit the steepest hill on the route.  Meredith thought she was going to have to walk it, but she managed to make it up.  There was a bit of flat, and then over the Burrard Street Bridge.  We were past the halfway mark, and I felt pretty decent.  Meredith was feeling worse though.  Her heels had ramped up a few more notches on the pain scale.  She was starting to struggle, and around 7 1/2 kilometers she said she was going to have to walk, and she told me to go ahead.  

And like the kind, caring, concerned mother I am.....I ran off and left her:)

Between 8 and 9 kilometers,getting close to the Cambie Street bridge, looking forwards and backwards.  Runners and walkers as far as the eye can see

I picked up the pace a bit, it was mostly flat, there was a rockin' band playing under the Cambie Street bridge.  I even had enough energy left to put my hands over my head and clap along with them.  Up the ramp to the bridge, then there was a long stretch of mostly flat.  I picked up the pace a bit, the finish line was getting close.  Once I hit the downhill coming off the bridge, I really picked up the pace some more.  Now I really felt like a runner.  I was passing quite a few people, and I managed to keep that pace up to the finish line.  I felt awesome at that point...probably mostly because it was over:).

The finish line, next to B.C. Place

I found the end of the fence and got around it and walked back towards the finish line.  I had no idea how far behind me Meredith was going to be.  Thank goodness she was wearing a bright blue shirt, and not one of the ubiquitous Sun Run shirts, as it made it a lot easier to pick her out of the crowd.  

Poor girl, she had to hobble the last 2 1/2 kilometers.  She couldn't even walk fast.  She had a lady ask her if she needed a bandaid (she thought Meredith must have a blister).  She managed to run the last 20 feet or so across the finish line.  I finished in 1:07:17.  Meredith finished in 1:22:  Not quite as fast as I was hoping to do it, but I did keep running for that whole time.

Afterwards we trooped into B.C Place stadium, where we were offered juice, water, bagels, oranges and  bananas, and Power Bar products.  Some of the lineups were incredibly long, so we skipped those.

In the stadium.  The crowds had thinned a lot by the time this was taken

        Leaving the stadium to walk to the bus, I just about froze .  Here I am modelling the latest in runners gear, the garbage bag.  I had that packed  in  the pocket of my water bottle belt, in case we had to wait for the start of the run in the rain.

Back on the bus by 12:30, and home just before 2.  Trucker Mama bus driver dropped us off at the fairgrounds where we had started.  The only thing was the parking lot was packed, as the Flea Market was in full swing.  She took us down a narrow aisle and tried to make the tight turn at the end to come back up the other one.  It involved someone getting out to make sure she didn't flatten a little car.  Some choice words were said about the drivers ahead of her, backing out of and waiting to get into parking spots.  It was rather entertaining:)

And some random blathering...

There were a ton of people that had entered themselves in the 'wrong' group.  Your timing chip gives you the correct time, no matter where you start.  Don't run in the 45 min - 1hr group if you are going to start walking in the first kilometer, you just get in the way of the runners behind you.

If you are walking, or have to stop running and walk instead, make your way over to the right where the walkers are supposed to be.

There were spectators all along the route, clapping, cheering, holding up signs, ringing cowbells.  I couldn't decide if I was in a parade or in a ski race.

Lots of music along the way, most with a real good beat, some not so much.

There was a guy running in flip flops.  He kept even with us for quite a stretch.  If he ran the whole thing, it makes me cringe to think of what the skin (or lack of it) between his toes must be like.

Meredith passed some poor person flat out on the ground, getting full CPR, people yelling, the ambulance arriving.  She said it didn't seem right to keep going past, but there was more than enough medical help there.  Hope he made it.

There were a few other people sprawled off to the side here and there along the way.

There were plenty of water stations.  Note to self, next time (yes, there will be a next time!), keep to the middle of the road near the water stations.  Too many people stopping suddenly to grab a cup, or suddenly cutting in front of us to quench their thirst.  We carried our own water.

The weather was just about perfect for me. The sun didn't come out.  Could have done with a bit more of a breeze, which I thought we'd get along the ocean, but we left most of the breeze behind at the starting line.

Just under 49,000 people registered for today's run.

PLACE		NAME	CITY	BIB #	TIME	PACE	CATEGORY	CATEGORY PLACE	GENDER PLACE
18147		Karen Brandson	Abbotsford	24685	1:07:16.2	6:44	F55-59	204/1096	7553/21497

Meredith works for the podiatrist again tomorrow.  He's always been asking her how her training is going.  She'll be hobbling around in the office tomorrow.

Now the hard part will be to keep up this running.

Two More Sleeps

Two more sleeps before Sunday's run.  I'd better make them good ones.  Well I'll do what I can to get to bed at a decent hour, and hope that hot sweats, weird dreams, and random leg aches and pains don't deprive me of a good night's rest.  Yeah, in my dreams....

I read in last weeks paper, in the Monday section devoted to the Sun Run, a wise person saying that 'you run the best run you can on the day of the race'.  She was referring to whatever things that could affect your peak performance.  Things like a upset child that kept you awake most of the night before.  The cold that seems to have come out of nowhere.  The hot sweats, weird dreams, random leg pains....hey that's me!

Words to live by.

So although I have big dreams of finishing around the hour mark, or just under, I'll just do the best I can with whatever I'm dealing with.  Meredith has already told me that I have to stick with her, unless she is having a bad day, and then she'll give me 'permission' to go ahead.    Makes sense, we trained together, and we want to run together.  (Well except I have a bit of a competitive streak, so I might be chomping at the bit, a bit...) She worked with a podiatrist on Wednesday and got a free diagnosis (faciitis) and advice.  So ice, orthotics, rest, anti-inflammatory and a topical.  She felt quite a bit better yesterday, and said she's running on Sunday no matter what.

I've completed every run in our training routine, even though there were a couple I should have missed early on when I had a bad cold.  The plan works.  I've gone from to a non-runner, to a runner.

  Monday's run was a killer.  It was a warm day, then it clouded over and got a bit muggy.  Then our group leader took us down into a park area, it was more like cross-country running.  We were down in the trees (still leafless) in a bowl, with no air movement at all, up and down little hills.  There was a killer steep trail to come out of there.  It is the only time that I had to walk when I was supposed to be running. I can't run in the heat.  If I keep this up, I'll have to be up at the crack of dawn to run in the coolness of early morning.

Last night's run I did on my own.  We had a big rain/thunder/lightening storm late afternoon.  I thought it had stopped raining about 6:30.  It was now or never.  When I stepped outside it was pouring again, but Luna and I went anyway.  It was tough, maybe partly because I'd been pushing wheelbarrows of manure around all day. I was having trouble with my left leg.  We were drenched.

This morning my left leg was worse, hip and back of the knee area. It would be related to my back, although my back feels fine.  I think it's slowly working itself out as I move around.

On Sunday I'll run the best race I can on that day.

PS -  I thought a little weight loss might be a side benefit of all this running.

Seems I thought wrong:(

The Gimpy, Limpy, Mind Over Matter Group

What a crew we have here.  Calli is gimpy, always will be, and no offense meant by using that term.  Perhaps the PC term would be physically challenged.  Jake is still dealing with his limping on and off issue, and now Luna has come up with something sore on her left front.  The last couple of days I noticed she was a bit iffy on it at times, and then last night, after actually crashing for a decent length of time, she was seriously limping on it when she got up.  So today we tried to keep her quieter.  Kind of like trying to tie down a tornado.  Took both Luna and Jake through the bush on leash this morning.  I made the mistake of commenting that it wasn't going too badly, mostly because Jake wasn't able to rush ahead of Luna, so she wasn't bucking at the end of the leash because she was left behind.  (I haven't been too successful at teaching her great leash skills)  No sooner had I said that than we crossed a fresh scent of something, probably coyote, and the bucking started in earnest.  She spent a lot of time in the house today, and she wasn't given access to any soccer balls.

Meredith has joined the limpy, gimpy group.  We joined the Sun Run training clinic together, we've done the other two runs each week together, every single one we are supposed to do , and now Meredith is having issues with her heels.  So much so that she decided that she was going to miss today's run.  So I had to go on my own.  I haven't done any of the training runs on my own until today.

 I'm official!

Remember at the start how I said I hate running.  I still hate running, the only difference now is that I know I can do it, but I still don't really enjoy it while I'm doing it.  I do like how I feel about myself after it's done. That feeling of success, the feeling of doing something that I once thought impossible, that smug feeling as I run down the road, and the cars pass me.  But no, I don't actually enjoy doing the running.  Running with someone else is easier.  It's harder to let yourself give in if the other person is still running.

 So I was a little worried about this morning's run.  I couldn't even take Luna with me to keep me company. The first running interval was 15 minutes.  I started out slowly, as the first interval is always the hardest.  It takes a while to get into that automaton kind of state.  Half a mile generally downhill, and then a mile uphill. The sun was shining. I was in a tank top and shorts.  Thankfully the air was still cool, as I fade rapidly if I'm too hot.  I knew I would be close to the top of the hill before the 15 minutes was up.  I managed to run all the way to the top before I checked the time, and I had gone one minute over.  I walked one minute, and then ran 14 minutes.  This time it was mostly flat and then some downhill.  Walked another minute, then ran 10.  That 42 minutes got me back to where I had started running, plus a little bit more.  According to Google maps, that 42 minutes got me 6.8 kilometers.  I'm kind of excited.  My secret goal was to run the 10k in about an hour.  At that rate I could.  Of course a lot of those 50,000 other people might get in my way.  Sure today was only 42 minutes.  On Monday we ran 50 minutes non-stop.  The Monday before that we ran 60 minutes, with a one minute walk after 40 minutes.  These last few weeks we have been told we are physically ready, it is just the mental part that gets in the way.  I think one of my biggest success of all these weeks of training was this morning's run that I did on my own.  We have one week and two training runs to go until the big day!

Running Loose

Yesterdays's run went well.  We were late getting started, as we both forgot to eat our breakfast early enough.  Turned out that the timing was good though, as although it was raining lightly on the ten minute drive to the dyke, it didn't rain noticeably while we were running, but started again right as we were finished and were doing our stretches. Couldn't have worked out better.  Started off with Luna off leash.  We are in a regional park, and yes, she's supposed to be on leash.  There wasn't a soul in sight, and once we got running she stayed on the top of the dyke with us.  Eventually we had to go down on a trail that was closer to the river, to pass by the sewage treatment plant.  The wind was blowing the wrong way:(  We stayed on the lower trail once we were past and into clearer air.  We spotted our first people, heading our way, with a dog.  Luna was still off leash, and so was that dog.  As they got closer they shouted that the dog, a small Sharpei, who was coming ahead to greet us, was friendly (don't they all say that?).  I just told them that Luna would tell him to get lost, which she did. I had planned on putting Luna on leash, but left it a bit too long.  Just after that a quad with two people on it appeared around a bend in the trail.  Busted!  I knew it was the parks guys, so quickly fumbled around and put Luna on the leash, and they just smiled at me as they passed.  Not sure what happened when they caught  up to the other couple.  Further along when we got to the parking lot near the Mission Bridge, we made a 'Pit' stop.  And then the Sharpei came running out of the trail we had been on.  He was running around like he was lost, I tried to call him to us but had no success.  We were at the halfway point, so just started running back down the dyke.  We did eventually come across the dog's owners, and the dog had run back down the trail and joined them just before we got there.  The guy said that the dog had just suddenly taken off, and even then, after he had come back, he wouldn't come close enough to be caught.  Leashes were meant for dogs like that.

We were happy with the run.  Meredith had been having some knee pain.  After watching The Perfect Runner, she was trying to run less flat footed, and more on the balls of her feet.  She said her knees felt pretty good at the end.  7.4 kilometers in 40 minutes of running, and 14 minutes of walking.

This morning it wasn't raining, it was snowing.  Then it turned to rain, then there was snow mixed in.  Global warming, wherefore art thou?  Must be back east....26 C predicted for Winnipeg today, and 23 C for Ottawa.  That's above zero, not below.  That's summer weather.  My sister is coming out from Ontario next week, hopefully she'll bring a bit of warmth with her.

Rambling Randomly

I am fed up to here (holds hand at neck height) with rain.  It's been raining just about every morning for what seems like weeks.  I know it's not, but it seems like it.  Actually, I do remember seeing some blue sky one morning not too long ago when I got up, but by the time I got outside it had disappeared, and guess what, it was raining again.

Here's two pictures taken taken late Thursday afternoon, within a minute of each other.  To the west it has cleared up, and the sun actually shone for a bit, and to the east is the storm that has just passed over, with it's rain, hail and thunder.  Apparently Jake glued himself to Meredith's leg in the kitchen while the thunder rumbled.  I was off to the west, enjoying that sunshine, sort of, and looking at the black clouds to the east and wondering if they were dumping on our place.  

  The blue sky didn't last long, and a couple of hours later, as the sun was setting, we got this rainbow.  It disappeared into the clouds in the middle, and the right side was not as bright at the left, but it was the full thing.

  

Sure, Spring is coming, the grass is growing, the crocuses are blooming, and the daffodils are almost there.  But the temperatures are well below seasonal normal, we had snow on Wednesday, and we have had so much rain that the ground is sodden and still cold.   I started a some kale seedlings in the house.  They are in a south facing window, but are already getting leggy, so I want to move them out to the greenhouse.  Before getting the benches set up in the greenhouse, I wanted to power wash it, inside and out.  This afternoon I dragged the powerwasher out, filled it with gas, gave it a couple of pulls to make sure it was going to start.  Yay for Honda engines.  Then I hooked up the hoses, got the ladder in position, got my rain gear on, and started it up.  I couldn't get any water out, grrrr.  In the end I took the whole nozzle assembly apart, flushed it, and got the water moving through, but then there was no pressure.  It seemed like the pump wasn't working.  I'll have to see if I can get David to have a look at it.  I spent an hour and a half fiddling around with it, accomplishing nothing, so was feeling  just a leeetle pissed off. 

 Normally I would have potatoes planted by now.  The fruit trees aren't all pruned yet.  None of the garden has been rototilled.

I started writing this Friday night.  It's now Saturday morning.  Despite seeing stars out of the window as I was going to bed, guess what, it's raining again.

Hope it dries up by 10am.  That's when Meredith are going out for our training run.  We've done a few runs in the rain just lately. Light misty rain is fine, it's a natural coolant.  Heavy rain not so much.  Today we do our 5 minute warm up and cool down, and 40 minutes of running, split into 10 minute segments with one minute of walking in between.  On Monday we did 55 minutes of running, in 10, 15, 20 and 10 minute segments.  I survived.  My legs were dead at the end of the last 10 minutes, but after doing the 5 minute walk at the end, they felt 'normal' again.  I walk away from those Monday night runs feeling so proud of myself.
On Thursday night we watched an interesting program.  It was called The Perfect Runner.  How as a biped, man evolved into the perfect endurance runner.  How early man used to run his prey down, using endurance, not speed.  If you've got 45 minutes to watch it, it's really quite interesting.  It makes me want to run more, and I feel excited about this morning's run.  We are going to the dyke along the Fraser River, which is not the one where we usually walk the dogs.  It is flat of course, but the footing will be a bit uneven, which brings it's own challenges.  Quite often, for whatever reason, Meredith or I seem to struggle with the Saturday run.  We ran hills on Monday and Wednesday, so flat will be a nice change today.  The Sun Run is four weeks tomorrow.  I'm starting to feel excited.  The organization that is putting on the running clinic has rented a bus.  It costs us of course, but it's easier than trying to get into downtown Vancouver with 50,000 other people early Sunday morning.  I'm hoping that morning dawns cloudy with a nice cool breeze. It'll be here before I know it.

Chariots of Fire

Click below for the music.  I've always loved that music.

And actually, if we'd wanted we could have taken our shoes off and run through the water and sand too.  We might not have been able to feel our feet by the time we were done, but that's just a minor problem.

Meredith and I were in White Rock today for a couple of other reasons.  Since it was also one of the days that we do a training run, we figured we'd change things up a bit and run along the promenade at White Rock beach.  We were lucky, the day that had started out sunny, then turned to rain and wet snow, had conveniently cleared up again by the end of the day.  It was lovely.  

We started out by having a laugh over the parking sign.  I suggested that we not pay for a ticket at all, since Feb 29th was not actually included on the sign. Then I thought that they might be able to get us with the 'Every Day' line.  Then down at the bottom where it says the hourly rate, since we were still in February, we just paid the $1.00 an hour and not the $3 an hour it goes to on March 1.

The view was wonderful.  The light was brighter than is suggested by the photos, but they were taken with Meredith's phone.  There weren't a lot of people walking, and we only saw three other runners.   After we got going a little bit, we looked at everyone else as seeming very overdressed, as we quickly shed our jackets and were down to a t-shirt.  It didn't take long for us to get our jackets back on once we were finished though, as the sun was down by then, and the temperature was dropping quickly.

This bear statue was called Grizzlee, and was donated to the city by a father in remembrance of his son, Lee.  That was the start and finish of our run.  We did a few stretches, here's me looking a little odd doing an illiotibial band stretch at the end.










Overall, the run training is going great.  We started with intervals of one minute running, and two minutes walking in the first week.  We are now in our seventh week, and have moved up to ten minutes running, one minute walking, repeated four times.  That was what we did on Monday night.  Monday is always the hardest run of the week, Wednesday is quite a bit easier, and Saturday's run in somewhere in between.  I was a little worried about this week, as we had moved up from doing 5 minute runs the week before, but it went amazingly well.  Maybe it was because I finally seem to have got rid of the cold that I got three weeks ago.  There were a couple of nights at least that I probably shouldn't have been running, but I did it anyway.  I felt wonderful after Monday's run, just so proud of myself, who I always considered as being a non-runner, to have come through that training session feeling so good.

Last night we went to a free assessment night.  A whole whack of physiotherapists assessed our flexibility, muscle strength, muscle tightness etc.  We came out of there with some good exercises to help us, and had our feet and movement assessed and bought ourselves new runners.  We both needed them.  A funny coincidence though, we were assessed separately, and not by the same people.  We each tried on multiple pairs, and when we met at the checkout, we were buying the exact same pair of runners, only a half size between them.  Six more weeks to go, to the Sun Run on April 15th!