14k with the Girls

Well - with them for 5 of it anyway :)

I had 14k on the schedule for today and two friends, Heather and JS, to run the last 5k with me.  I also had a course at 11am that I HAD to be early for, meaning coffee had to wrap up by 10.

That meant a 7am start for me to run that first 9k.

And things worked out.  I woke up with my alarm.  I got right up.  I managed to eat and dress and get out of the door without waking the girlies.  That hasn't happened in many a Saturday long run.

And, most of all, I had set myself an ambitious time goal for that solo 9k...I was meeting the girls at 8 so I had ONE HOUR to run the 9k.  One hour.  

So, I headed west.  The pathways were so quiet.  Not surprising.  It was a cold and misty morning and 7am is pretty early in April.  It's not often Calgary sees 100% humidity.  I pretty much had the paths to myself.

I was flying...and it didn't even feel like I was pushing that hard.  So awesome.  It is incredible to see my weekday workouts paying off.

I ran out to Crowchild Pedestrian bridge and crossed over the river.  Man was the bridge deck ever slick. I had promised myself a walk break once I was across the bridge.  Ended up walking across the bridge.

I turned around just before Tri-it and headed back - deciding to stick to the north side of the river on the return trip.

This is the same shot I took last week of the skyline...not so visible this morning.

And with just a couple of kms left to go - I had a super long break...because I had to try to take a pic of a BALD EAGLE ON THE RIVER!!!!  The seagulls were swarming everywhere and were chasing this guy until he landed.

It was also around here that my calf was seizing pretty bad so I stopped to stretch. Once I got the knot out - I pushed to my first finish...

I even had the Peace Bridge to myself.

And, best of all, I got back to Eau Claire in 1:02!!!!!  Considering I had a couple long stretch breaks out there and spent a good 4 minutes trying to snap a good photo of the eagle...I think this might have translated to a sub-60 10k...maybe I will be trying next week at the MEC 10k...maybeeeee.

Anyway - back to the story :)

Back at Eau Claire, Heather was already waiting and we just had to wait a few minutes for JS.  Soon we were ready to head out toward East Village for our easy 5k.  We kept the pace pretty easy and just chatted away the minutes.   Let's face it - that last 5k was all about the coffee...and the friendship.  

Such a great run!  Though let me tell you, it's sure hard to be sugar free at coffee - though I so rocked it...and it wasn't just because Heather is my nutritionist ;)

The Garmin Geekery: