We opted for 23K

Our Sunday run was to have been 26K if we were sticking to the schedule. As in previous reports I’ve mentioned many, many times our inclement weather which by the way is no different than many of our friends south of the border are experiencing.

My heart goes out to all of you and yes Bill, spring is just around the corner!

And yes, I did the bounce test to make sure I was good to go...it works, try it!

So with all due respect for the weather, we (our 5 hour group) collectively decided not to jump ahead to the 26K, but run our missed 23K from last weekend. This would keep us all on track for either the 30K Around the Bay on March 30th , but most importantly the ING Ottawa Marathon at the end of May. The more seasoned long distance runners went on with the 26K, but for us veritable marathon newbie’s, the jump in distance may have been too much, who knows, but we all comfortably ran the 23K.

Our route was mostly through subdivisions in town, but with the accumulation of semi-frozen and frozen precipitation (see I told you wouldn’t mention the "S" word), we ended up running for the great part on the side of the streets. Not that bad but not that great either.

While we were on the hunt for the usual pit stop, two standard size black poodles were looking over their 8 foot fence and barking at us. Yes, that’s how much of the white stuff has piled up in their backyard. I’m sure it is the first time they have ever seen over to this side of their domain!

The weather forecast was to be sunny and not too cold, however, we only got a glimpse of the full sunshine and the wind really picked up with a very cold windchill. So much so, at one point of our run we totally changed our course. We were on a main road surrounded by open fields, the wind was straight head on, between the wind and the crap and salt being kicked up from the cars and trucks we headed back into a subdivision so we could just catch our breath and be more comfortable. YIKES, it just seemed to be really windy everywhere yesterday!

The Long Slow Distance runs on Sunday incorporate 10 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking, that way we can hydrate, take our gels or carb boom energy gels which I really like (Note to self, buy another detachable water bottle for belt to carry my PowerAde along with my water ), Sharkies (my usual) , but for this run I tried some new Power Bar Sport energiser bar, Cookies and Cream, along with Chocolate Cherry Carb Booms....Yum.......for someone who doesn’t eat "junk food" I love these treats!!!!

Thanks you guys for giving me all this wonderful information and tips....I’m listening and thanks to all of you I’m learning!!! Who said you can’t teach an Old Dog new tricks....

The run itself was fine, my major concern was my groin pull from the other night and my right knee, but all was just great....whatever that little tweak was it seems to be gone...

All in all, I believe we finished up at 3:08 for a 23K, LSD, not too bad. I don’t know all the split times, my new Garmin that I purchased last week ended up having to be replaced. It was faulty, but the nice part is I could return it for a nice shiny new model.

This week I have 58K of running to do, which 13K are hills, GAH, tell me, does it get easier as you get older or am I a little late getting started? . . . hahahahah!!! Whatever the case, I’m really enjoying the long runs and all the great people I am meeting along the way . . . thanks everyone!!!!

Life's fun if you don't weaken, enjoy your journey one step at a time!

Later!

Lily