And it was only -12C by the time I got there
So, we met up in Mount Royal with a plan to run out on the Elbow River pathway behind the Stampede grounds in a nice little out and back. Keeping a nice and easy pace - we had to be careful of the ice across the pathways (it was pretty thick in many places)
Seen on our run:
- Woodpeckers! It almost sounded like jack hammering in the stretch between Lindsay Park and Stampede. We even caught a glimpse of one high up but I didn't think to take a picture.
- Pretty much an entire men's outfit: jeans, shirt, one running shoe. I kept expecting a naked dead guy to turn up at every turn behind Stampede.
On the way back - I really had to pee, but this time of year there are no open washrooms and in that area there is not enough cover to drop trou. So, I endured and called it bladder training :P
Then, with just a few blocks to go, I said "Let's finish strong" and took off like a shot. JS was soon at my heels and we pushed it to the finish. I did need to back off a bit after a much too fast start, but we had a really strong finish and my garmin rarely slowed below 5:20/km. If I could really learn to use my long legs, I think I could smash all of my PBs.
This was my longest long run since Goofy. Felt good to get some distance in - even if it seemed a bit weird for my 10k training plan to start with a 10k long run.
Super lacking in photos today, but we got our Cori & JS shot at Starbucks where we had a lovely lovely latte and snackies.
Tastes so much better when you earn it.
The Garmin Geekery:
This looks a little on the slow side, but I really did boot 'er for the last 3-4 blocks. Pretty sure JS didn't know I had that in me! ;)
Holy crap Cori, that's pretty dodgy paths to run on, when you could have gone south to Stanley Park and maybe Sandy Beach. And there HAVE been naked dead guys found there. Just behind Talisman is a big time summer hangout for the homeless. There is a public washroom in Talisman that you don't need to pay to use. Why does the laps table show times , yet the graph shows times right on 6 m per K?
ReplyDeleteLOL - your comment made me giggle, Keith. I used to live in the beltline back in the mid 90's so there isn't much down there that scares me. I used to work just off this pathway when I worked for the City and have seen the seedy underbelly. It's pretty tame on Saturday mornings. We chose to go north because we have run the Sandy Beach route the last few times we ran out of Mount Royal.
DeleteAs for the times...ice patches and long walk breaks slowed the over all per km times. We were running pretty comfortable for most of this.
Love your post and the commentary too! Makes me miss my old stomping grounds but I agree, the area around the river at the Stampede Grounds/Lindsay Park is pretty seedy, even on Saturday morning. Good for you for getting out there, especially when it's still that cold!
ReplyDeleteCan't say I enjoyed the cold or ice today. If I didn't have a race it may have been a universal lazy-in in my house. Thanks for the heads up on naked dead guys, I will avoid that area going forward. Have you noticed how a training run can frequently become an adventure?
ReplyDeleteGreat run! It turned out to a much nicer day then they were forecasting. So glad the sun came out :)
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