Sunday countdown

Was gone to Vancouver for work all week, and while very eye-opening and enlightening, I was pushed very far outside my comfort zone.  Needless to say, still processing and am very happy to be back with my spreadsheets and desk tomorrow!  Details to follow, although the mantra was "what happens on the road..."

I don't feel good today though...not sure what it is, but hoping it's just tiredness catching up with me.  I was careful (read: obsessive) about taking Emergen-C every day...between Vancouver weather (wet), germ-tubes (aka planes), wonky schedules, no boot camp or running and less than stellar eating habits, it's lucky I managed to survive at all!  Maybe it's "Chinook Head" - what I refer to as the weirdness one can experience when a particular warm spell hits Calgary.  After all, yesterday's LSD was -6C and 97% humidity, while right now (at 8:48pm) it's still +7C and 45% humidity.  That's quite a change and sometimes the body just doesn't like it.

Speaking of training, I did manage to make it out for the planned 38km training run.  Last one at this distance before Frozen Ass, in exactly 22 sleeps!  And in exactly 23 sleeps, I will be 49!  Granted, it'll be the day after the ultra, so I'll most likely feel 149!  hehehe...  As mentioned above, it was a bit cooler than I expected, so I may not have been properly dressed for a 5 hour jaunt, with only 1 layer on the legs and two up top (shirt and jacket).  Granted, I did warm up (I always do) and my legs weren't as stiff as last weekend (when they were, for all intents and purposes, frozen solid) but I could have done with one more thin layer to ward off the chill.  We ran east for a bit, to add the mileage, and then pointed west, heading back out to Stoney Trail (the 30km run that turned out to be 33+).  Trouble is this time the river has made it impassible on both sides at 10th Street, so we crossed to the north side earlier (easier to cross with the lights, rather than jay-run), which is slightly shorter than the south side route.  After making it through the unplowed areas, made better by the recently packed snow (not so icey this time), we had doubled back through Bowness Park, and thought we'd all try J's trick of fueling up with a coffee and a muffin.  I tried what can only be described at the oldest, driest, most boring oatmeal raisin cookie, ever, and managed to choke down half of it.  I did add milk to my coffee and chug it all back, as well as topping up my water.  As we made our way back, D & J were way ahead, with MM and myself bringing up the rear (only 4 of us today).  Both MM and I decided early on that if we weren't done 38 at Eau Claire we were happy with that.  And so we finished at Eau Claire at 36.55km, or (gasp) 1.45km short.  S'all right.  I knew I was going out with my 5k peepers today, and would do that distance and more.  I could live with myself.

After refueling (usual...chocolate milk, fruit salad, egg wrap, coffee), I took off for another nail appointment (I just can't have nice things...broke off 3, right to the quick, within HOURS of each other...they are all now SHORT!), and then home to the couch.

Today was a 26 minute run with the peepers, and then running around with Mom.  Home for dinner of gnocchi, tomato sauce and cheese, and then laying on the couch.

Back to the normal grind tomorrow, but really looking forward to boot camp.  Oh boy...I get to set the alarm for 5am!!

Later,