10K Sunday

Scenes from a Run

Sunday’s run ended up being way more fun than I had originally thought it was going to be. One of my WOOOO HOOOO girlfriends who I’ve been running with for years, joined me for our 10K Around the Bay.

The day started off cold and overcast with Charlie Brown snowflakes falling. Little to no wind was evident, we always check the wind direction before heading out. It always determines my run route, we always start into the wind while energising for the longer run. It is easier to run into the wind at the beginning of a long run and finish up with the wind to my back.

GeeZen was here right on time, as always....a practice I really appreciate, then off we went. Today was an easy, restful, chatty (as always) run, no predetermined finish time using the 10 : 1 theory. The idea behind 10 : 1's for the longer distances helps to keep your body rested, allows for time to re-hydrate and helps prevent injury.

What is you ask? Well, you run for 10 minutes and walk for one. This is something you build up to as you build up your longer distance running abilities. You can use this any way you’d like, for example, when learning to run, you can walk one minute, run one minute....then build up to the 10 : 1 over a period of time, just makes good sense.

My good friend Marie asked, no, suggested, taking photo’s along the way, great idea M!! I had my camera strapped to my running belt, along with my bottle of Poweraide, Sharkies and I.D. (You should always run with I.D., just in case). I felt a little like a pack horse, but love the idea of photo’s. Not every run will accompanying photo’s, but I’ll try to keep up this new tradition while training for the Marathon.



We started off past our Catholic Church just before the first service of the day. (this photo is for Rudy)

There are many faces to this small hamlet. You will find humble cottages from the early days,

and some of the larger homes that are replacing our cottage community as the city encroaches upon us.

But, none the less, it is a unique area to live in, any season!

I have to confess, GeeZen took most of the photo’s today, I run with my contact lens’ in and they are for distances....needless to say, some pic’s we taken with a wing and a prayer!

The run was nice and slow and really fun, we chatter away about everything and anything and sometimes about things in our personal lives that we know will go no further.....what’s said on the road, stays on the road, rather like a snow or mud rut!

We were really enjoying the "new" sights during the 10K bay run, we really took more notice of our fabulous running route while looking for interesting photo shots for Marie. It’s funny what we just take for granted, it’s nice to run the same route as if you were a tourist.

Where we were running is a peninsula jutting out into the Ottawa River, three sides surrounded by water! Makes for wonderful scenery, but it also makes for rapid changes in the weather and wind conditions. Our last leg of our run was straight into the wind that was picking up. Brrrrrr, luckily we are both experienced winter runners, so thankfully we had "layered" up enough to buffer the winter wind.

This photo shows the "tree line" running across the Ottawa River to the Quebec side. Christmas trees are "frozen" into the river to guide the snowmobiler's across the "safest" part of the Ottawa River. This river is deep in many places with fast running water underneth the ice, making for danger if you don't know where to cross. Many, many snowmobiler's have taken the chance of crossing and have not made it.

Back to our run:

All in all it was a wonderful run with a great friend, Thanks for joining me GeeZen! Thanks for the great photo idea Marie!

Live life large, enjoy the journey, every step of the way!

Life’s fun it you don’t weaken!

Lily