Weather and Hills

Saturday, October 3rd...what a lovely morning for a run! And so we did just that...

For those of you that recall, the 3rd was the Harvest Half Marathon, a nice, little UPHILL run through Fish Creek Park. I hadn't run this one in about 4 years, and the last time I undertook this half was post-flooding in Calgary and thus the route was very different. This year, the run, while very beautiful, was on an entirely different course than the one I did years ago. And again, I repeat, it was UPHILL. Ugh. It wasn't the physical toll of hills that was terribly taxing since I am religious in my hill training, however, hills on race day do require a bit of a different mindset that I didn't have right off the bat. It took me a bit, but I did eventually get there; like the sign in Boston said- "Mind over body, body over hill"!

I should also note that when my alarm went off that the rain was pouring down. Not drizzling or showering, POURING. And the temperature was hoovering right around zero which translates into rain translating into snow. This caused a moment or two of complete and utter panic in which I loaded up every single piece of running gear I own into my car on the off chance that I may have to sport some (or all) of it. The good news is that the weather gods did prevail and it stopped raining just before the run began and didn't start snowing until after the run was over. Thank goodness for small miracles as running wet equals complete and total misery for this girl!

I would like to point out that I was not alone in running this half...I had two lovelies running with me who had caught the running bug after completing the Calgary half way back in May! A huge congratulations is in order to both of these running crazies who took time of the mark they had set in the Calgary half; and on a much, much tougher course! Way to go ladies! You are both incredibly awesome and I hope you are taking a well deserved break from running. As for myself, I had hopes of getting under 1:30...but was going to be very happy with anything under 1:33, my previous personal best. And I clocked in at 1:32. Which made me smile. It was an incredibly HARD run in more ways than one. Besides the hills and the weather, wrapping my head around strategy for a half (TOTALLY different that marathoning) was interesting. I generally consider myself a slow starter and in the shorter distance there is simply no time to get off to a slow start! If you are pushing for a time then you really do have to push right from the start. There certainly isn't time to hold back for "finding your legs" as I often do in the full marathon. Anyhow- for my next half I will certainly train differently- push the pace on those tempo runs even harder and keep up with the speedwork, stairs and hills so my body is prepared to deal with the lactic acid build up it will face. Not that I'm unhappy with my race, that just is not the case, but I'm always thinking about "next" and the goal I have is to get under that 1:30 mark!

And so that brings us to today...and what is going on in my running word TODAY? I've only gone for 3 runs since the half. My hip is very sore and I am trying to remember that the body needs rest to recover and repair. Although since I lived the "all carb" diet over T-Giving I should think that I should be running a lot more. Mmm...pumpkin pie, cabbage rolls, perogies, stuffing, sweet and mashed potatoes...yes, that's right, ALL CARB! And lest I forget, I did eat a bit of turkey too!

I have 2 races scheduled in the next little bit, but I use the term "race" loosely since its much more about the fun in these 2 little jaunts! On October 24th I am running in Nike's Human Race, which is a 10k that you clock on your Nike+ system through your ipod. It was $25 to enter, $5 goes to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and you get a t-shirt. Also, on the the 7th of November is that fabulous little event we like to call Winterstart (see picture on sidebar) which is less about the running and more about the fabulous time I'm going to have with the fabulous people running with me. I can't wait!

And now I must work. At my regular job. Which is teaching and not running. WHAT? How did that happen?