Dawn on the Run

Sorry I’ve been rather tied up with volunteer stuff and now getting ready to head out on a trip to Seattle. We’re off to the NHRA Drag Races to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I still have some last minute packing to do so I’ve only popped in for a quick note. We are back on Monday so hopefully I can catch up on everything next week. I’ve got a ton of stuff to post about and more photos to share. In the meantime head over to my Flickr site to see my latest photos.

Again sorry for not being here much. Hope you are all having a great summer!!!

Saturday was a busy one. I was up early to putter around on my computer and then headed over to the Running Room for 9:45 to meet with with the “Women’s Only” running group to hear their chat but I had no plans to run with them as I had flyers to deliver.

The HSBC Calgary Marathon is July 6th and we still need volunteers. So as I do every year Nikayla and I set out about noonish to deliver flyers along Memorial drive from the Curling Club to Crowchild. We drove down and parked the car a couple of blocks over near 19th Ave. Then we walked several blocks handing out the flyers. We moved the car again and repeated the process until the complete route was done. It took us just over 3:30 hours and over 8kms by the time we were done. That includes distances up & down walkways as well as walking back to the car. I wore my garmin cause I’m a geek and like to know these things. The garmin was only going when we were walking, not during the driving…lol.

Near the end doing stairs was killing me so Nikayla did most of the houses with stairs. Acutually she was a lot of help and did a good majority of the houses, I just walked along giving her more flyers to stuff in mailboxes. I’m a good supervisor…lol and she loves doing it. I wish I had her energy. She never complained through the whole task and was still running even at the last few houses. What a kid. I however could barely stand.

We picked up a few things at the grocery store after and I needed the cart to hold me up…lol. At home I iced my knee which seemed to help but I’m still in a lot of pain. Sleeping Saturday night was easy for Nikayla, she fell asleep half way through this cheerleading movie we watched. I however tossed and turned all night trying to find a position to sleep in.

Sunday morning I was a tad depressed. I’m tired of a leg that does nothing but give me grief everytime I think it’s getting better. I don’t know what to do about my training, my running or the clinic I’m supposed to instruct at the end of July. I’m usually pretty positive but yesterday I just felt like giving up. Of course my size doesn’t help but well my luck with losing anything seems to suck and I’ve pretty much given up on that. I’ve lost the same 5 pounds so many times in the last two years that had it stayed off I’d probably weight 50 pounds…lol.

Four hours of sun probably didn’t help either as I suspect it may also be the reason I felt like crap on Sunday. No sunburn as I did have on sunscreen but it was super hot and even though we drank lots along the way in a lot of ways it was long a long half marathon without the distance. I think this is the last year I may volunteer to do flyer delivery. I’d of never made it as a paper boy…lol.

I am going to take the rest of the week off from running and I do have a physio appt later this week. By the way I do feel much better today and thanks to a few supportive emails from friends I’m not ready to quit..lol. How about you? You ever feel like quitting? If so, why and what snapped you out of it?

So is it go slow cause there are pedestrians ahead or is it "slow pedestrians"…lol. You know what?

“I’m slow. I know. Get over it.”

Thankfully the rain seems to be history. Yeah! It was really depressing me. It was so nice on Tuesday I even wore a dress and heals. Looked great but I found out later the heals were not a good idea. After work I rushed home, changed and headed off to meet up with my Calgary Roadrunner friends (and Karen). Just before I left, I let Xena out for a quick “P”. Then I grabbed her leash. She was in the house before I could blink…lol. The dog does love her walks/runs.

She was so excited as we drove off. At the park I put Xena on her leash and headed off to meet up with my running buddies. Hmm the leg didn’t feel right. A few steps fine then a few more and a weird twitch in the knee area. What’s up with that. Fine I would just walk while my friend ran. Not like I could keep up with any of them anyhow. Karen was late in arriving and didn’t show up until I had turned and was heading back from my short walk in one direction. We walked back to my car and put her stuff in the car. Then we headed back out to meet up with the others.

We met up with another runner who was doing more walking then running. She too was recovering from an injury. Her physio perscription was run 1 minute walk 5 for 5 sets so her and I walked together. Karen headed off to join some of the faster runners. After about 3kms I headed back to my car. I grabbed Karen’s backpack and my tote bag with the goodies for the BBQ. We found a great spot in the park and set up for the BBQ.

There was a great turn out and lots of wonderful food. We had burgers, hot dogs, smokies and even salmon along with chips, salad and so much more. Lots of food and lots of great company along with lots of sunshine made for a successful BBQ.

That’s it for my running/walking this week so far. My knee gave me so much grief on Tuesday I skipped Wednesday. Today I’m catching up on some computer stuff. Tomorrow I will run in the morning. After that I’m picking up Nikayla and we are delivering flyers along the Marathon route. It’s that time of year again where I gear up and try to recruit more course marshals for the upcoming race. The Calgary Marathon is on July 6th this year and we still need a ton of folks to help. Heh, if you’re in Calgary that weekend why not sign up online and help out. Free tech shirt and a chance at some great prizes for all those that show up.

I know I have occasionaly not blogged but the last week or so has hectic that I completely forgot to blog…lol. Heck not only did I forget to update my own blog, I completely forgot to post a “Photo of the Week” over at Complete Running. Thankfully they are very forgiving over there. Sorry Mark! I’ll try to make it up to you by finding a more fabulous then usual photo. Oh yeah, I’ll try not to let it happen again but ummm won’t guarantee it…lol.

As for myself since the Underwear Affair I’ve continued to run but as my clinic is over I’ve been taking it easy. Wait easy is what I’ve been doing all year…lol. I had planned on running the next day after the race but I am guilty of using the rain as an excuse to stay in bed and skip that run. Then on the Wednesday there was an after work gathering so again I didn’t run. Hmmm do we see a pattern forming. Close but no cigar. I managed to show up for a run on Saturday. It was only 3k but that counts doesn’t it? I ran again on the Sunday and again only another 3k.

As for the rest of this week, well that will be the subject of my next post. But heh, just because I forgot to post hopefully doesn’t mean you will forget to return here…lol.

My runners got a tad really muddy at the Soggy Underwear Affair. I was kind of mad at myself as I had worn my new ones which were still pretty white. I mean I had an older pair I could have worn but I foolishly wanted to look good. Looking good for more then 5 minutes was wishful thinking on my part, just as hoping my runners would stay clean. They didn’t!

There however is a happy ending to this story. I threw my messy runners into the was with a bit of bleach and let them do a presoak for about 5 minutes then ran them through a regular wash cycle. I let them air dry. The results…….well see for yourself in the proof below. Yeah, clean runners that look almost new again.

Yesterday was the Underwear Affair - a 5k Walk/10K Run Fundraiser for Cancers Below the Waist. My original goal was $1000 and when I surpassed that I bumped it to $2000 which I fell a tad short of raising about $1600. Some of the funds raised are not yet reflected on my donations page. Many thanks to those of you who supported me! And thanks also to those of you who just lurk about here as your support keeps me going.

Anyhow the weather here has sucked lately. It’s been raining, raining and raining. Yesterday was no exception. I had hoped it would just be overcast but no such luck. It was pouring as I dressed and redressed and it was pouring as we headed out the door. I packed a tote bag with a change of clothes from head to toe, plastic for anything soiled, blankets, towels, umbrella and rain coat. Oh yeah I threw in the sunscreen but that was just wishful thinking on my part.

We arrived early. Good thing. The parking lot was already filling up and no way I wanted to park my new car on the soggy mess that was field parking. Paved was much nicer. I changed again adding a warmer top, threw on the rain jacket and headed with hubby to register. There was mud and water everywhere. Yuck. I knew I should have worn my old runners, better yet rubber boots would have been perfect!

You can see the soggy mess here as a couple of young guys wait in the registration line up. Cool, they were wearing pink undies. Gotta love it. The brave fools ran in the rain without their jackets.

The ever popular, Tightie Whities, also returned this year.

Despite the nasty wet and cold weather there was still an awesome turnout - somewhere just under 1400 runners & walkers raised nearly a million towards battling cancers below the waist. One of my earlier clinic members, Leah was also there and a good friend Sarah. We had a bit of a wait before the run/walk was to start so I hung out, took photos and chatted with friends. There were a few vendors/sponsors handing out samples such as a yogurt drink, gum and oh yeah even some sunscreen…lol.

The outfits were good this year but unfortunately many were covered in plastic in attempt to stay dry. Many waited to the last minute to show up so the registration line got longer and longer. So long that it was outside and many had to wait in the rain. It was a sea of umbrellas. It would of made a great video for “Umbrella” by Rihanna.

All this rain made me rethink the 10k. I mean if I was faster, it wouldn’t be so bad and if it was warmer but 10k in soggy underwear meant likely an hour and a half or so for me. Not a pretty thought. So as much as I hated to do it I opted to switch to the 5k. I’m not one to make up excuses but no sense in making myself sick. I did check the results and do admire several brave souls that were out there for that long. The last runner finished at 1:32:09. Anyhow, they sent the 10k group off first. It was about 15 minutes late getting started. The walkers/5k group was up next and we headed out. Most had umbrellas. I braved it in just my plastic cape thingy which I had trimmed with pink duct tape. Yes PINK duct tape, cool, eh.

I can’t believe I was smiling in this shot…lol. Mind you, it really was pretty laughable and pretty crazy.

I ended up running (and walking) without my glasses as it was raining so hard they fogged up and well I don’t have wipers on them…lol. Thankfully I can see well enough without them but barely and really had to watch it to avoid puddles and mud.

This puddle was pretty nasty. Smart girl in front of me had rubbers and an umbrella.

Despite the weather I did okay time wise. My Garmin tells me I did it in 46:41 which all things considered really isn’t too bad. I did walk more then I usually do but well without the glasses I had to slow it down a bit…lol. Gun time was 51:04 which was cause the clock started when the 10k group headed out.

Here’s my soggy finish. I took off the rain gear for the home stretch. I was feeling hot by then…lol.

We hung around after to see who got awards for costumes, funds raised, etc. The crowd thinned pretty quickly. I did see Sarah after. She was soaked through and through. Oh yeah, I managed to get my usual shot with a man in uniform…lol.

We headed home around 9ish pm and grabbed some food from Subway on the way home. I had a hot bath later to try and warm up. Unfortunately the hot tub is out of commission for a bit. Needs a new pump. That’s it for my weekend of running. So how was your weekend?

Remaining photos on my Flickr site.
Race results.

Last night hubby dragged me off to see Iron Maiden. Now I say dragged as metal is not my fav choice of music but heh, I’ve been to see almost every other band he’s wanted to go to so what’s one more.

To my surprise, I really enjoyed it. They rocked! The stage show, the songs, the crowd, AWESOME!

More photos on my Flickr site later.

This morning was another beautiful day for a run. Even though my clinic was over I chose to head over to the Running Room for the usual 8:30 practice run. I didn’t expect any of my group to be there so I wasn’t surprised not to see any of them. There was still a good sized group of runners doing various other workouts. I chose today to start my nagging for volunteers for the Calgary Marathon. Oh yeah, live in Calgary or visiting on the July 6th weekend, then we could really use your help. Volunteer online @ CalgaryMarathon.com.

After all the announcements the groups headed out. I opted to try and do however many sets it took me to do about 7k. I didn’t have a planned route I just let my feet and garmin tell me where to go. As this was technically an LSD for me I did an easy pace not wanting to injure myself. After all my 10k is next Saturday, yikes! It was already pretty warm so I was thankful I found some shaded spots to run for the last km or so of my run. I managed to do do 7.07km so goal for the day accomplished.

Some of the other runners finished up when I did so we got some drinks and bagels “to go” from Tim Horton’s and sat in the park behind the store to eat / drink our goodies. We had a great chat sharing running stories, etc.

After my run and “picnic” I ran a few errands getting last minute items for my costume for next weeks race. Then I headed home. Somehow I found the energy to rearrange furniture and do some much neglected cleaning around the place. Later I made some lunch and relaxed for a bit. All in all it was a great day. So how was your weekend? Did you run? Did you do anything else?

Saturday was race day for my second clinic with the Running Room. The race - Race for Pace Kids 5k. I wasn’t racing. My role for the day was “coach” and of course “team photographer”. However, if you check my flickr photos you will see I photographed not just my runners but pretty much the whole dang race…lol. Heh, digital doesn’t really cost me anything and well my flickr site is paid for, so why not. Of course weeding through some 380 photos does take time.

Anyhow as coach I still had to be there early so I was up at 6:30am. I still didn’t manage to get away from the house as early as I would like to and arrived at the race site by 8:30. A tad later then planned which didn’t help with finding a parking spot. Thankfully there was a strip mall across from the park with lots of room. A short walk to the race start and I started looking for my runners. I found two ladies quickly and found the rest waiting in the potty line. It was the first year for this race. They didn’t expect a lot of runners so they relied on the park’s public toilets. There where only 3 toilets which made for some long lines. I chatted with the runners while they waited.

Before we knew it the 10k runners headed out and it was time for the 5k to line up. Two of the ladies I had taught in my first clinic had already left as they were running their first 10k. I got on the other side of the start line to take pictures. 5,4,3,2,1 and they were off. Once the runners were on the way I made my own trip to the potty. No lineups now…lol.

Runners started coming in and I started taking photos. I snapped shots of nearly everyone as they finished. My first lady to finish was pushing a stroller. I had offered to take care of her child while she ran but she did awesome even pushing the stroller. I watched for each runner and managed to get good photos of almost all of them. Unfortunately one came in behind a crowd of others and that didn’t work out so well for pictures.

After my 5k runners finished I continued to take photos as I wanted to see the two 10k ladies finish as well. I got a great shot of one of them but again there was a crowd for the second runner. Oh well. After that we wondered through the crowd and waited for them to draw the prizes. No prizes this time. Wait I take that back, the best prize of all was seeing them all finish.

It was a gorgeous day for a race and a glorious day for my runners. Congratulations to the races and also to the runners in the group that chose not to race. You did it, you are runners and I look forward to seeing you out there running.

Race Results