A Sense of Belonging at Last :o)

It's now been 3 months since I left the UK to start my new life over here in Canada, and after a few wobbles in the early days, I can finally say that Calgary is starting to feel more like home and I am at last "living the dream"  that started back in the year 2000, when Andy and I first visited this wonderful country. Since then,  we've had several adventures here during holidays spent in the nearby mountains, and I have a sense that there are more to come now that we are finding our feet and meeting more people.

It seem like ages ago now that I did the Calgary Marathon, and yet it's only been about a month, but in that time, I've started my new job as a Documentation Specialist, which has really helped to ease those feelings of isolation and loneliness.

I'm actually working in the same offices as Andy, but things are working out well as we have a firm belief that work and home life are two completely separate entities. I work with a small albeit friendly and conscientious team, and now that I've settled in and am starting to make a difference, I'm feeling positive about being in the role long term.

One of the things I especially like about the job is being part of an international team, with work colleagues coming from Kazakhstan, Switzerland, India, Britain, Spain, France, the Far East, with surprisingly just 2 or 3 of the team actually being Canadian, and whilst it's unlikely that my role will take me much further than HQ in Montreal on business, when you consider that Montreal is a 4 hour flight away, it makes you realise how huge Canada really is. Since Wilson's injury a couple of weeks ago, he too has been coming into the office on a daily basis and has been a complete hit with the team. He generally spends the day sleeping under my desk although he is frequently spoilt with doggy biscuits and Baby Belle cheese.

I really am enjoying the job and whilst it's fantastic seeing the Rocky Mountains in the distance through the office window on a daily basis, I do sometimes find it frustrating sitting at a desk on a bright sunny day whilst yearning to get out there and explore those mountain trails.

Running wise, my current main target is the Edmonton Marathon on 19th August, and for the past few weeks, I've been following a marathon schedule which will hopefully get me running a faster time that I did in Calgary a few weeks ago. I was a little concerned that starting work would mean less time for getting out on the roads and trails, but thankfully that's  not the case, and I'm finding that I'm making time for my runs, sometimes running later on in the evening, or even running the 7 or so miles home from work along the Bow River Pathway.

The good news is that I am starting to feel much fitter and stronger with the easy runs  starting to feel more easy, and my faster paced runs being more on target. I wanted to put my fitness to the test a couple of weeks ago, and was hoping to run the Millarville Race to the Farmers Market Half Marathon. Unfortunately, Andy had spent a week in Montreal and Philadelphia and was due to return early hours on race day, but electrical storms over Calgary during the day meant several flight cancellations which impacted on his return flight. He didn't get back until 3am and  with the race due to start at 7, there was no way I would be able to run a race on just 3 hours sleep and do myself justice. It was disappointing and I did feel somewhat frustrated as I really had been looking forward to it, but I just had to accept it wasn't meant to be, and be thankful that I had pulled out due to unforeseen circumstances rather than through injury.

To compensate for missing the Millarville Race, I have since entered a 10km race down in High River on Canada Day - 1st July - and I'm looking forward to having a good blow out before the Stampede Half Marathon the following week. Shortly after that, I fly to the UK for a couple of weeks to visit friends and family and to catch some of the Olympics. I've also got a few races planned in during my visit, and it seems so strange thinking that I will be running the likes of the Dovedale Dipper and Staffs Knot 5 - races that I've done several times and are so familiar to me and yet sound so alien and distant to me now, having experienced racing over here.

Whilst most of my training has been on the tracks and trails around Fish Creek Park, I'm lucky that I've met up with Alan Lam a few times to do some speed sessions. He's far quicker than I am, but it helps trying to hang off the back of him on each of the reps, making me work harder and hopefully helping me to improve in time for the marathon.

Alan and a few of his friends regularly meet up for daily runs in the mountains, and a couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be invited to go along with them early on a Sunday morning, and to do a bit of proper mountain trail running. The plan was to run approximately 30km altogether, taking in Cox Hill and following Jumping Pound Ridge before descending back to the parking lot. I'd looked at the route on the internet a couple of days before hand - it looked very impressive and I couldn't wait to get out there with the others and give it a go.

I'm terrible with names, but there were about 8 of us altogether,  along with Moxie the dog, and I can honestly say that I had never met such a lovely, crazy (!) but friendly bunch of people, all of them making me feel so welcome.

"The Gang" - great bunch of folks on a June day at the top of Cox Hill
with fantastic views of the Rockies (thanks to Alan for the photo!)

We'd had some pretty heavy rain for a few days leading up to the run with some intensive electrical storms, and this particular day, the sky was dark and threatened more of the same. These guys are experienced mountain runners and they were a little concerned about being exposed up on the ridge in poor weather, but figured we'd give it a go and see how it went.

The trail up Cox Hill was hard work, climbing some 2000' in just 3 miles or so, and as we climbed higher, we eventually hit about 2 feet of snow that had fallen overnight. It  was hard going in the snow, but despite it being almost the middle of June, for me it was beautiful and I loved the excitement of being so high up in such wintry conditions. The summit was at about 7000' and the magnificent vistas from the top certainly made the climb worthwhile, but being slippery underfoot and with ever darkening skies we made the decision to turn back and cut the run short. Although we only covered about 12km in total, I absolutely loved the experience and hopefully there will be more of the same over the coming months.

Heading back down from Cox Hill (thanks Alan for the photo!)

Having spent some time with true trail and mountain runners, we'd been chatting about the different trail races throughout the year , most of them being ultras. After my dismal performance at the Commonwealth Trail running Champs last year (I blame it on a Mediterranean Cruise 2 weeks before, and all the stress preparing our move out here), I'd made a decision to avoid ultra running at all costs as I really had lost my touch. However, talking about some of the trail races near to Calgary whetted my appetite for distance running once again, and I found myself looking for trail races of 50km or more.

Scouring the internet, there are so many to choose from, but the popularity of ultra running on the trails over here means that races fill up quickly so I found to my dismay that many of them had already been oversubscribed. Thankfully though, I did find the Grizzly 50km Trail Race, starting in Canmore in October and before I knew it, my finger had hit the"Register" button, and I was in!  I figured this would fit in really well as it is after the marathon and gives me plenty of time to build up some endurance again, and do some hill work in readiness for the amount of climbing involved in the race. Although doing the race for the sheer enjoyment, I am also hoping that, with the World Trail Running Championships being held in Angelsey next year, the GB selectors will consider me for the GB Team based on my performance in the Grizzly along with some of the other mountain/trail races I'm hoping to do. The Worlds will be held in Newborough Forest - the same venue as the Commonwealths that I did last year - and the terrain is extremely tame compared to what I'm likely to face over here, so I'm hoping for some decent races to gain selection so I can go and prove myself over in Anglesey, and lay some demons to rest.

In the meantime though, I'm taking my running a day at a time and for the first time in a very long time, I'm enjoying my running adventures again, exploring new routes and finding new races. It's taken a bit of time, but at last, I finally have a sense of belonging and purpose here in Canada :o)