Mouse in a Maze

Yesterday was our Five Hour Group 26K run. Most of the other Marathon runner’s took the 19K route. They had run the 26K last week. As previously mentioned we are one week behind in our training due to the weather.

So, the three marathon newbies started out with our route in hand, Garmin’s set and off we went.

Temperature and wind played a huge factor in our run route. Again it was really cold, when I left the house.

My thermometer was registering 11 degrees F with 30mph winds and a wind chill of FREEKING BLOODY COLD!!

Yes, the temperatures are in Fahrenheit just so our American friends can see how hardy or block headed we Canuks are.

We started off in one of the subdivision just so we would not have to spend so much time down the road with the open fields on either side of us. However, we had to end up on that road just to get us back into the main subdivision where we were going to do the majority of our distance.

I felt like a mouse in a maze after awhile. Up and down streets where the houses all look the same, passing the same stores and same recreation centres loop after loop....but it beats running out on the main streets where it is so icy and windy.

Have you ever had one of those runs where things happen in three’s? Well I did...early into the run I wasn’t concentrating and ended up tripping over a chunk of ice, what a klutz, I almost did a complete swan dive to the pavement but luckily I managed to right myself.

This seems to be a habit when I run in the winter. Maybe my legs are just too cold, or as admitted, I'm not concentrating.....then after a pit stop, I was having a sip of my sports drink when the container slipped from my mitts, hitting the pavement and shattering the top. Another sports moment as drivers are shaking theirs heads, probably thinking to themselves, what the heck are they doing out in this cold???

No biggy, I’ll just get another drink on my next loop back and chuck my broken container that I got when I was in Arizona. So I pick up a new sports drink after one of our many loops and proceed to drop the lid of the new drink onto the slush and crap that was accumulating on the street. Oh well you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die!

Small stuff, but when you are really cold and running in the wind for 26K, it can start to grind on you.

We got most of our run done and had to head back to the store where we had parked our cars.

Being Easter Sunday the store was kind enough to open up for the regular runners so we could have a warm place to congregate, stay warm and have a pit stop before we all headed off on our respective run. Thanks so much!!

By the time we returned they had closed early so they could enjoy a family day.

We in turn just headed for our car's, with a quick hug, a high five and a Happy Easter, we headed home to warm up with a hot Epsom salt bath, well that's at least what I did.

Now I have to fess up here a little, the photo's of the penguin's and the runner's at the turn around are not mine....I, in fact, stole them from K.C. Stine's blog Running on Empty. The photo's are from a friend of K.C.'s who ran the Antarctic Marathon...check it out on K.C.'s blog.

Can you believe that the temperatures were warmer there than what we've been running in all winter, granted, it was their summer!!! K. C. is relatively new to blogging and has expressed a keen interest in training for the Tinman Triathlon. I'm sure he'd appreciate any pearls of wisdom you could toss his way!

Anyway, when I got home and checked my Garmin, we were running for just over 3 hours and 38 minutes not including our pits stops and having to walk on sheer ice of quite a distance.

Next Sunday is our 30K Around the Bay . I'll let you know how all that goes down...but I'll be "talking" with you before we leave on Saturday!

Enjoy your journey one step at a time!

Lily