The Big Run

Race # 6 under my fuel belt! Only 8 (or more) to go.

I did my best to get to bed early last night, and even watched TV in the dark, to start the calming process. Basically flipped around, watching snippets of the wedding and such. Oh, and what can only be described as the best episode, ever, of Criminal Minds. The one where the Reaper and Hodges square off...duel to the death. Makes me cry, hard, every time I watch it. And I think I still hold my breath during the fight scene. So intense.

The alarm went off at 6am, and I was thrilled to look outside and see dry roads. No snow or rain. Phew... The temperature was listed at 0C (32F), but there was a windchill of -4C and calls for scattered showers in the morning. What to wear, what to wear?? I went with my old standby of capris, long tech shirt with a tech T over top. No gloves (hot hands), hat (hate hats) or jacket, although I did pack one, just in case. Ate a bagel with PB & strawberries (the grocery store was out of bananas...seriously?!), a glass of milk and a quick cup of coffee. I left the house at 6:50, for the drive to the NW end of town, and Bowness Park. Bowness used to be a separate town for the longest time, before Calgary gobbled it up in the '50's, and it to this day retains that charm, with angled parking, and quaint little houses in big yards. And Bowness Park has picnic areas, skating pond (in the winter), walking paths, is right on the river for boating and tubing (in the summer), an old kiddy train, park, etc. That was the start/finish point for this rather challenging race. Calgary has hills, there's no denying it, as we're in the foothills, less than an hour from the mountains. But many of our races are focused closer to downtown, which are a little flatter. This race is all about the hills!! I've done this race since it's inception, missing only one year when I went to Vancouver in 2009.

Met up with E. from the clinic (who did awesome, by the way), and we both decided we were running how we felt. Training run, race, all out...we'd let the day decide what we did. I started with my usual race pace of run 3m, walk 1 minute, although sadly there were very few water stations on this race (only 3 in total). The route had changed slightly (we used to loop the park first) which made the turn-around a little further out than normal. We run through the neighbourhood of Bowness, before connecting with the Bow River pathway, and run east past Edworthy (where I do boot camp). Turn-around and a water station, then back west to the river point, where we turn and run up 53rd Ave. Turn at the little old church and enter Bowmont Park...or as we all refer to it as "Blood & Guts"...this is where there are hills...lots and lots of hills. Rolling hills, steep hills and curvy, windy hills! And this is where the wind picked up...but making it more pleasant was the wild crocuses growing everywhere (the grass, dry and brown from the long winter was shaded purple by all the flowers) and watching the eagles (or osprey...we couldn't figure out which they were) circling overhead, hunting for lunch. I admit I walked most of the hills...it's not that I was tired, it wasn't that I didn't feel well, I just didn't feel the running mojo. Wonder where it went?? I pushed my way through it, walked when I felt like it and ran when that mood struck...it helped that I had great friends cheering me on, as many from the clinic were either volunteering or out on their own training run, and screaming my name as I ran past.

I took a lot of time mulling about my mojo, and decided that I'm letting the stress of my life affect my running. That pisses me off! I need to get to Boston, and I'm not going to if I let every one around me bring me down. So that stops now. Not quite sure how yet, but I'm certain to figure out something!

I stopped briefly to remove a pebble from my shoe (leftovers from winter salting) and while I thought I hit start again, Mr. Garmin stopped tracking my run! I did restart it, but lost about 2km worth of data. I'll have to wait till the results are posted, but I think I crossed at about 2:49. Not my best, but not my worst. Rather than dwell on the time, I'll take away a lesson from today (de-stress) and focus on my next race, which is in 14 days!!! In Canmore...I thought today had hills! Uh-oh!!!

Finished, grabbed a juice and a banana (you could tell I was near the end, as most everything was being packed up already...Calgary has a very fast Half group of runners), and then met up with the cheerers at Angel's, a tiny "restaurant" on the Bow River pathway that sells coffee, ice cream, lunch items, and is open all year round. We sat and chatted, while I inhaled a really good breakfast sandwich of egg, bacon, gooey cheese, tomato, lettuce, mayo on a rosemary bun. Fabo and hit the spot.

I stopped at Purdy's for Mom (and somehow came out of Reitman's with $150 of new clothes for me!), and then drove to her place to drop off the chocolate, putter around, check out a few things before finally getting home around 3:30. Dragged my butt upstairs and had a little nap for about an hour.

Ate some KD for supper (hey, I ran a Half marathon...I deserve the KD! Don't judge!!) and am now sitting here feeling like I need something more, but I don't know what. I'll have some water and see if that's what my body is actually asking for.

I get to sleep in tomorrow (no 29km training run for me) but have decided to walk down and meet everyone for coffee/lunch later on. Running clinic is fun.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

Later,

All my fault

Yes, Calgary, I will shoulder the blame for the snow today...and the snow predicted for tonight and the snow for tomorrow. I know, some of you are like "what the fizzle, ma dizzle?!" but yes, it snowed today. April 28th! And all because of me. You see, while I haven't actually changed my winter tires yet (Tuesday, however) or put away my shovel or brush, I do have a race first thing Saturday morning. Mother Nature has decided that I need to learn how to run in snow...and only in snow. Oh, and a little ice for extra fun. So, be warned Calgary...it will (or should) snow again on May 13th, May 28th, June 11th, July 9th (don't mock...it's happened!) and August 20th. Although, technically, that race is in Edmonton, so maybe I'll just learn what heat stroke at mile 25 feels like! I'll probably be praying for snow. Add to that I had another appointment with Mom today, and every.single.time that I have had to drive to get her and go to an appointment, it's snowed, blowed and generally been a rotten day outside! Growing weary of it, I tells ya.

Because of the appointment, I drove to work this morning. I feel so silly driving 1.2km to work! Heck, some mornings I swear it takes as long to drive as it does to walk! And big surprise for me!! I forgot to fill up on my way home from running last night, and for that little oversight, I got to pay .05/litre more! WTF?!?! What did I miss??? But again, what exactly are we to do about it? I remember when I could fill my tank for less than $30...today it was almost double that. Sucks.

After the meeting with the lawyer, settling up some documents and stuff for Mom (I am a "ducks in a row" type person), we went to Jack Astor's for supper. I was craving a burger, and they do make a wicked good bacon cheese variety. I love a cheese burger that is shaved cheese, not a slice of processed or even a slab of regular, but shaved so it was all melty, ooey, gooey goodness. Yummo!

Got home and really haven't done much since. Tired, but too tired to go to bed, you know?? I thought I'd clear off a bit of the PVR (I heart Glee) so that I had loads of room for the Wedding. I'm starting recording at 1am and running it till 8. Last time (yes, I was old enough to remember) I was working nights and got off shift in time to get home and turn the TV on. Sadly, I was off work in '97, so I sat up to watch her funeral too. I am too old for such foolishness now...thank goodness for technology!

Later,

The need for speed

And so it begins...Calgary is in 5 weeks, so speed work was on the menu tonight at running clinic. Good luck, by the way, for all those runners headed to either Vancouver or California for Big Sur. You'll do awesome.

Back to speed work...as Evil Uncle Doug is running the clinic, and I've only learned Good Uncle Garrath's methods, I wasn't sure what to expect tonight. Imagine my surprise when EU Doug said it would be up to us...either Fartlecks or Speed laps. I'll take the laps! We warmed up with about a km run, nice and slow, before setting up at the start of our lap. It's about 800m, and gives us enough time/space to cool down and let the heart rate drop back to normal. Goal here is consistency (make the 4th lap as good as the 1st) and race pace, which for my little team is 6:52. Speed pace should be around 6:14, but I wanted to work the ladies up to it. The main rule in all of this, is no injuries!!!

Off we went, and hit our stride at about 6:20. Even my heart rate has settled down a bit (I've been eating Cheerios to try and scrub the last of the smoked meat out of my veins!!!), capping out at 174. No more 180's for me! Lap 2 was a little slower, but man, we had a wicked head wind to contend with...still nice pace of 6:23. Lap 3 felt good, and roughly the same pace. In fact, the girls ran ahead, as I was chatting with someone, and I managed to catch up (okay, they were about 5' ahead of me at the end). Last lap and it felt as good as the first. Finished with a nice slow run to cool down, although after the speed work, it feels like you're walking! Overall, our average pace was 6:57, including the warm up and cool down, which rocks da house. Bring on next week. Maybe we'll try the Fartlecks for fun, as the others ran a 7km course, with the intent of hitting speed pace for 200m at a time, for a total of 10 times. Sounds kind of complicated...I like having a set route/distance to follow.

One pint tonight, watching to see if Montreal would continue on in hockey (they are not...sad) and then dropped a friend off at her bus and chat, chat, chat. Home now, and really should be in bed but felt I must update here first. Oh, and while I think of it, wicked good, fast dinner tonight. Boil beef (or chicken or whatever) tortellini till done, and toss with a tablespoon (or gob) of light cream cheese and Greek salad dressing till the cheese melts. OMG, so good...I want more, but I'm out of tortellini. I may have to try it with the gnocchi I have in my fridge tomorrow!

Okay, time for sleeping.

Later,

New Runners

I decided it was time for a new pair of runners, and since I still have my mad on with Asics, I went with Saucony this time. Yesterday I walked over to the local gym (Talisman) and ran on the indoor track. Man, I HATE running indoors!!! It's hot, it's humid (Talisman has a huge pool) and it's BORING. Around and around and around I went. But I ran for 20 minutes, went and ran up and down the fire exit stairs (5 x 18 steps each direction) before returning for a final 10 minutes on the track. Ended the day with a last blast at the stairs, just to make sure that my toes weren't pounding into the toe box. They felt good, so today we went outside. Typical Tuesday tempo run, but none of us were feeling the speed, so we settled for a consistent steady run instead. However, I shut off Mr. Garmin to adjust my shoes and forgot to turn him back on. Boo... Asking one of the others in the group, it appears we did 6km in about 44 minutes, or a 7:43 pace.

Food today was good...cheerios and almond milk for breakfast, fresh fruit salad for snack, and the last of the Easter dinner from Sunterra, salmon and a wild rice pilaf with barley. The salmon was fabulous and the pilaf was tasty and interesting. Add the last of the carrots, snap peas and sweet potato and I had a well rounded meal.

Dinner was a whole wheat bagel ham sandwich, toasted with some cheese and tomato. Fast and simple as I was running late for run clinic. After clinic, and a quick coffee and a gab, I came home to steam clean the carpets in one of the suites. Better to do in the bright daylight, so I'll go over the floor tomorrow afternoon before returning the unit to the store. Why I try to crowd everything together all at once is beyond me, but I do appear to work better under pressure. Speaking of...time to find something for lunch tomorrow and go make it. I'm trying to start getting a more consistent amount of sleep, water and proper food before Calgary (5 weeks and counting) so that I can kick this one to the curb!

I do have another Half on Saturday, and oh, boy, they're calling for snow on Friday!! Seriously?! When do I get to run a race WITHOUT snow to contend with????? Grrrrrrrr!!

Happy thoughts...only think happy thoughts. Here...crocus' from my garden, doing their best to put a smile on my face.

Later,

Garde Manger

I am a Food Network geek. I admit that. I love almost all the shows on there, save for the silly decorating shows...I watch the Food Network to learn about food, not about how a restaurant should decorate. Please stick to Home and Garden for that. Anyway, one of my favourite shows is Chuck`s Day Off, where Chuck Hughes cooks for various guests on his day off from his restaurant, Garde Manger. Once I knew I was going to Montreal, I had googled the address and wandered around Old Montreal till I found it!! And it wasn`t easy...

Narrow, unassuming street leads to doorway, with nothing to indicate that it`s a restaurant. In fact, I walked past it several times, before I realized that this was Nirvana!


Once you pass through the door, you are greeted by the sign, letting you know you`ve found the right place.


Push past the black velvet curtain, and you enter a sweet little restaurant that is packed. They were taking reservations into May and June when I was there. I was seated at the bar, after all, I was dining alone. I did announce that I was a Foodie Geek, and that I was taking pictures! They were awesome about it.

This is James and Zoe...James was the oyster shucker slash DJ and was also on Chuck`s team when he travelled to New York to battle on Iron Chef, beating the infamous Bobby Flay! Yay Team Canada!!!! James was fabulous and spent the rest of my evening there answering my bazillion questions about the biz, food, fame, Iron Chef, Montreal. Zoe was the bartender and recommended a lovely wine to go with my meal. Unpretentious and very friendly...that described everyone I met there.


During a quiet period - it was short - James took me back to meet the boys, and showed me how they reconfigure the kitchen for the show, where the cameras go and who else went to New York - dude in the red with his back to us. Sadly for me, Chuck was away in LA but James made up for that by being so darn nice.


The evening started with my wine (a lovely Riesling) and toasted breads with a sweet, caramelized onion cream cheese.

When in Rome, you have to have the infamous Lobster Poutine - I personally think that`s what won the judges over in New York - which was in a word DECADENT! It was rich, it was gooey, it was delicious.

Then, on Zoe`s recommendation, I had the duck breast with fois gras, mushrooms and rapini. There were also fingerling potatoes hidden underneath. The duck was perfectly cooked, the fois gras melted and the vegetables were just what was needed to cut through the richness of the duck. Again, my Riesling was delightful with the whole meal.

Somehow, I still had room...where I don`t know, but room anyway. After going down the list, I settled on the traditional Quebec dessert, which I cannot remember how it was spelled, but it boiled down to white cake baked in maple syrup till the cake was done and the syrup was caramelly goodness! Served with a gob of vanilla ice cream...it was HEAVEN.

I left the restaurant several hours later, pleasantly full and happy to have had such a wonderful evening. Again, I recommend this place to everyone and anyone, and when I return to Montreal, I will eat here again. And hopefully get to meet Chuck himself this time.

Cute but...

But worth $698...I think not.

Quebec City, a pictogram

Did I mention that the Queen E is not only centrally located in Montreal, attached to the underground shopping malls and only a $38 cab ride to the airport, it is also right on top of the Central Train station, and therefore very convenient to get to Quebec City.

While it was a cooler, damp day, I still had a lovely afternoon of wandering around, after my 3.5hr train trip through the countryside.

The Grand Dame...Chateau de Frontenac. She rises over the entire city, and proved to be quite the hike to get to her. But all my walking offset the ham & swiss crepe I had for lunch, as well as the smoked meat Reuben I had for supper that night!



Again, as a Calgarian, living in a baby of a city (oldest building around here is maybe 100 years, and we tend to have the ``it`s old, so tear it down`` mentality about us - hugely sad).

The wall that winds its way through Old Quebec. Most of it was closed due to snow, ice and general restoration work.

Loved the narrow streets.

Provincial Parliament building.

More narrow streets. I walked A LOT!!

Old churches everywhere.

So picturesque.

Two fabulous murals...the one on the left depicts famous Quebecois throughout history, while the right side depicts typical living way back when.

Lots of hills and stairs in Old Quebec. In fact, just saw a race for the Staircase Challenge in June. Too soon...maybe next year.

Irish influence everywhere in town. Finished my day in one such pub, hoisting a pint and enjoying cheese and bread. A fitting way to leave Quebec, I feel.