It's funny how things pan out -
how one thing can cause a chain reaction and lead into something else.
During the holidays I was busy
looking around for races in 2013, but it wasn't an easy task. One of the
problems here in Calgary is that races during the winter months are few and far
between, but as with the flowers in the spring, there is an abundance of races as
soon as the weather starts to warm up and the days become longer, making it
very difficult to make a shortlist of "must do's" throughout the
year!
I'm also one of those runners that likes a bit
of variety to keep me interested and avoid complacency - a mixed bag of long
races and short races, flat runs and hilly runs, fast paced and slow paced, on
road and on the trails. It's small
wonder that I've never really excelled at anything in particular but have tended to be mediocre at most race distances.
Anyhow, I was looking for a road 10k or half marathon
sometime in March/April to help me gauge how winter training had gone, when I
came across Run for L'Arche Half Marathon - a local race that starts downtown
at 10am so no need to get up at some un-godly hour, and with following the Bow
River pathway, I would be familiar with small sections of the course. It hit
all the right buttons, and so it was that I ended up registering for the race.
The following day, I received an
email from the race director. Normally I wouldn't read these emails straight
away as I'm likely to forget about them by the time race day comes around, so
I tend to leave them unread until a later date. However, for some reason, I
felt compelled to read this one, and boy am I glad I did!
A couple of days later, I found
myself running around Sikome Lake parking lot in Fish Creek Park, trying to find
Dawn (Race Director) and her coach and friend Don (Co- Race Director) ready to
meet up for a couple of hours running. It was early at 7am, it was still dark, and
it was about -10 degrees. I was also aware that coyotes wander around the park
even in broad daylight, and whilst they generally run away whenever I've seen
them on previous occasions, I didn't particularly fancy a confrontation with
one today with being on my own in the dark. Thankfully, a full moon shed a
beautiful silvery light on the lying snow so it was lighter than normal,
and although the dark shadows in the trees would normally have made me a little
jumpy, I wasn't really too concerned.
We had a fantastic run - Dawn,
Don and I - when I eventually found them, running for around 90 minutes or so
in the moonlight before catching the first light of day. I really enjoyed their
company and their relaxed manner, their enthusiasm for running, their sense of
humour, and the way they made me feel welcome. I'm really hoping that we will
be spending plenty of time running together from here onwards, and I'm looking forward to meeting the folks that belong to their regular weekend running group, as well as being a member of
the team for a 100 mile relay event to be held in June that I've volunteered for, assuming there's a
place for me,
Since doing the run with Dawn and
Don, I've gone back to planning out my intended races for 2013, and have
provisionally decided on the following:
January - Nose Creek XC Race and Twelve
Mile Coulee XC Race
February - Nose Hill XC Race and
Weaselhead XC Race, Frozen Ass 50km
March - Fish Creek XC Race and
Run for L'Arche Half Marathon
April - Spring Trio 15km
May - Calgary Marathon
June - K-100 mile Relay and
possibly Banff Trail Marathon
July - Stampede Half Marathon
August - Iron Legs 50 mile Trail
Race
September - Grizzly Panorama 36km
Trail Race
October - Grizzly 50km Trail Race
November/December - cross country
starts again!
It will mean getting the miles
in, it will mean teaching the old legs to run up hills and mountains, and it'll
mean doing some speed sessions to get a bit of pace back in those same old legs.
The main thing though is having a focus to give me the motivation to get out
running, even when the weather is freezing cold and snowy.
Talking of the weather, the
week leading up to Christmas was particularly cold with day time
temperatures no higher than -18 but feeling more like -28 with the wind chill.
It would have been so easy to stay huddled up indoors but I forced myself to
run home from work and I have to say that it has been wonderful running through
Fish Creek Park and seeing all the animal tracks in the snow and the mountains
in the distance. When I haven't ran home, I've done runs with my little dog
Wilson who has been more than happy to trot alongside me in his posh new
booties and brand new coat.
Things have warmed up this past couple
of days and we are now around freezing point which oddly feels really warm, so
today I set off on my first run of the new year. A group set up on Facebook by
UK friends has encouraged members of the group to set goals for the coming
months to help them stay motivated to run throughout the year. With turning 40
this year, I've set myself a goal of running 4000km which may sound simple for
somebody that used to run around 150km per week. However, those days are long
gone and I tend to run more for enjoyment now - covering 80km a week will
actually be quite a challenge for me these days.
Today's run was lovely and I
covered just over 14km on snowy terrain in gorgeous sunshine. It was a really
positive run - I felt really good, the sun was shining and the skies were blue,
and I felt very happy as I ran past the birds on the Bow River enjoying some
reprieve from the icy temperatures. I spotted a couple of coyotes out on the
golf course playing in the snow, and even they looked happy, and I saw a small
herd of deer in the woodland area scouting for food. It was one of those days
where all is good with the world and I felt content as I looked forward to 2013
with excitement and happiness. It's a year ago tomorrow that Andy flew out to start his new life here, and I followed a couple of months later - what a difference a year can make! So much has happened in that 12 months, but now, instead
of feeling like visitors in a foreign country, we feel at home,
and with new friends in the making, a new house on the horizon, and new
adventures planned once again, I have a good feeling that 2013 is going to be a
good year for us here in Calgary :o)
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