Weekly Update from the house full of sickies

Ok - maybe it's not a house FULL of sickies.  But when two toddlers are violently ill - it sure feels like it.  Yep - you guessed it.  Goober was hit with the flu around 2:30am on Saturday morning.   That meant my long run this week was all but cancelled.   I figured I would get it in if I could (if she stopped puking, of course) and, if not, then I would need to consider seriously scaling back any secret time goal I might be harbouring for my half in 3 weeks!

We spent the whole day yesterday snuggled up on the couch.  One big sick family.  My girlies are pretty much deadweight right now.  Neither of them will walk or talk.  I gauge how uncomfortable they are by the volume and duration of the grunting and whining.  I think Doodle is starting to pull out of it tonight.  We were laying on the couch and she was upset that Goober had claimed my lap so every time she kicked me, I'd grab her foot and pretend to eat her toes with great relish.  It wasn't long before a smile cracked (I'm amazed it didn't crack her face after the sourpuss look she's had for 4 days).

Anyway - at around 2pm today, Goober had been puke free for several hours so I made the call to sneak off to the city to get my long run in.  I really didn't want to skip it for a couple of reasons:

1) I am feeling like I am super un-trained for this half.  Not getting in my weekday runs has placed a TON of importance on getting in the long ones for me.

2) I really really don't want to start race season injured because I increased mileage too quickly.  The furthest I have run in this training has been 11K!  If I skipped this week, I have 16K on the schedule for next week (including my first 10K race of the season).   It is an injury waiting to happen.

Since I was running solo, I had my pick of locations, but decided to head to Glenmore Landing because it is closer to home, should hubby need me.  It was a bit cold so I didn't want to carry water so I split my run into two chunks...head north for 4.25K and then run back to the car for water and fuel.  Then - if no emergency calls had come in, I would do the last 6K running south/west. 

It actually worked out pretty well that way.   As I was running toward the walkway on the dam, there was a GIANT coyote loping around.   Some runners had stopped, scared, and I paused for a moment to pass the comment "That's one puppy I don't want for a running buddy!" then I carried on.  I think he was just looking for a packmate.  He didn't seem to have any interest in all of the people on the pathway.   It is always cool to see wildlife like that up close and personal in inner-city Calgary.   A bit scary too, because of all of the stories in past years of Coyotes attacking in playgrounds.   Had he looked menacing at all, I don't think I would have been quite so eager to run past him.

The break in my run was perfect - it allowed me to warm up a bit in my car and to guzzle my Nuun and down some shot blox.  A quick pitstop at McD's and I was on my way again. 

I found the remaining 6K were harder.  The hills roll a bit more in that direction and my pitstop had given my sweaty hat and gloves a chance to thaw so I was running with freshly re-frozen gear.   Not ideal.   I ran out to Oscar (the garbage can - I still don't know why they call him Oscar) and back again.  I admit, I didn't run all the way to my car.  As soon as the ol' Garmin said 14.5 - I hit stop and walked it in. 

All in all - an excellent run.   Faster than the last time I ran that distance, too.  I think a normal time for me to do 14K in is around 1:49.  This was at around 1:45.   Running in all conditions this year has certainly helped my endurance and speed.   It will be nice to see how it translates to a longer distance.

As for the rest of the week.  Between dealing with sick toddlers, I managed to get in the 30 day Shred video 3 times.   I already feel stronger and I am actually enjoying the video itself.  I found it makes my inner thighs really sore so it must be working the muscles I need for my distance running.  My inner thighs is where I am most sore when recovering from a half.  It will be neat to see if it helps when I am recovering in a few short weeks.  I plan to keep up the video, anyway.  It's only 25mins long and goes by super fast.

Now for the weigh in....I am down 15.5lbs since January.  45.5lbs total since Jan 1/10.   Yay me! :)  I am actually looking forward to taking new progress pics at the end of the month.