Pleasant surprise.

It's always great when Peter offers to watch the girls so that I can get out for a run alone. After fighting a cold for the last week, I finally got out yesterday and it was wonderful. In the end, I ran a little farther and harder than I likely should have, considering I didn't run for six days, but it was well worth it. When the sun is shining, it's hard not to push yourself a little.


My good friend Brenda, whom I adore, accepted my invitation to run this morning. Brenda's kids are all grown (and hopefully for Brenda they are entertaining thoughts of starting families of their own!) and she's a retired nurse, so she is not only a wonderful person, but a wealth of experience and information. Plus, she is an inspiring and talented runner and is always a joy to run with. Can you tell I'm a fan? :)


I was fairly sure that none of my regular Running Moms were going to be able to make it today, but I was excited to get out for a run with a friend. So I was pleasantly surprised when Devon showed up with her adorable son Xavier (I hope I spelled his name properly). Devon emailed me last week with questions about the clinic, but I wasn't sure when or if she would join us. I'm so happy she did!


We headed out into the glorious sunshine, and made out way down to Dallas Road before heading through James Bay and back to the store. We ran intervals of ten minutes running and one minute walking and ran a total of forty minutes (forty-four including the walks breaks). You can view our route here. Devon told us she had been running four or five kilometres at a time, so our total distance of almost six kilometres was more than enough. ...Good thing Brenda was there to remind me that we needed to think about heading back; I have a habit of getting busy chatting and forgetting about how far we've run!


With the exception of missing my regular crew (Cristal, Christy and Adrienne), today was a fabulous day. Thanks to Brenda for coming out; I hope it becomes a regular thing. And thanks so much to Devon and Xavier; hope to see you next Wednesday!


No pics today, but here's an image I found online of the beach along Dallas Road:

Sunny race day.

OK, enough slacking off, right? Well, I haven't really been slacking off, but all our regular Running Moms weren't able to make the two runs this week, so I had nothing to write about. That's not exactly true... I never did write a race report for the Times Colonist 10K!


I have to begin by saying that it was a truly gorgeous morning. The sun was shining, the wind was nowhere to be found and it was actually warm, even for the 8am start time. I honestly can't remember a more perfect and lovely morning for a race. I haven't run this race in a few years and I was excited about the new route.


The amazing morning helped me get past the fact that the race start was extremely congested, bordering on annoying. It took me over two minutes to get up to the start line and when I got there, it was so crowded that I found it hard to actually run. I'm not saying I'm a super fast runner, but I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that I passed thousands of people during the race. Within the first four kilometres, I passed people pushing strollers, I passed walkers, I passed a few people who were breathing so hard, I was actually a little worried for them. The same questions kept running through my head, "How close to the front did these people start? Were they lined up right behind the elite runners?" Quite a few people passed me during the race and if I was annoyed, they must have been even more annoyed.


I spoke with a few different friends and they all had similar frustrations at the beginning of the race. A couple of them told me it took them over ten minutes to get to the start line! 


All quibbling aside, it's so nice to know that this race is only getting more popular. And for good reason; it was a fun race, a fantastic day and a great experience. I love the new course, but I have to say that I kinda missed seeing all the runners in the out-and-back, even though anyone who knows me knows I hate out-and-backs. Go figure.


I ran without the stroller, which was really nice (thanks, Peter!). I didn't go in with huge expectations, since I hadn't been training specifically for this distance, so I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up running a personal best. And of course, like any crazy runner, I started thinking that if I had had a better race start, I would have had an even better time... Silliness. I am very, very happy with the race and look forward to running it again next year.


Our Running Moms, Cristal, Adrianne and Christy all ran the race; yay! Christy pushed Elise in the stroller, Adrianne's husband Andy pushed Finn, and like me, Cristal ran without the stroller. Both Christy and Adrianne ran well and finished well, but Cristal had to stop and walk at around the 6K mark. She is such a trooper! Her knee and shin were causing her a lot of pain, but she walked the last 4K and forced herself to run across the finish line. Now she needs to rest and recuperate and hopefully get some much-needed physio and maybe even a new pair of shoes. I've been thinking about you Cristal; come back strong and ready, because I miss you and we have Half-Marathon training staring in June! ;)

I'm # 3111. You can't really see it, but I'm wearing "tattoo" arm warmers.