It's now been a week since my arrival in Calgary, and although there are some folks that I am missing quite a lot, I'm already starting to settle into the Canadian way of life.
Before I left the UK, I managed to squeeze in a couple of races including the Midland Road Relays and the Mow Cop Hill Race, both of which I enjoyed.
The relays were held on the Saturday at Sutton Park and the Staffordshire Moorlands ladies had a strong team of 6 donning the pink and black vests for the Moorlands. Following strong runs by all of the team, we ended up finishing 6th team - a brilliant achievement and the best position ever by the Moorlands ladies. For me, it was quite emotional as it was my last outing for the team for a while. I wasn't expecting to run particularly quick over the 5km course, but got a confidence boost when I ran my leg in 18.56 by my watch but was unfortunately rounded up to 19 mins officially.
On the Sunday, having been doing lots of off-road running recently, I entered my last fell race in the UK - the Mow Cop Hill Race. This event has only been going for 3 years, but seemed quite popular and included climbing of 1300 feet over 6.5 miles around Mow Cop Castle and surrounding countryside. It was a beautiful, warm sunny day and I absolutely loved the course which included climbs over fields, over rough terrain around the castle, across boggy fields, through woodland and parts on the road. I wasn't really expecting anything results wise, but I found myself gaining on the leading lady and before I knew it, I overtook her and was storming away strongly. For the first time in a very long time, my competitive instinct kicked in, and there was no way I was going to relinquish my lead. After the second climb up to the castle, I knew that the second lady wouldn't catch me as it was all downhill to the finish, so having checked my watch, I now focused on whether I could break the ladies course record which stood at 55.46. I eventually crossed the line as the winning lady in 53.59 - I was over the moon! It felt so good winning my last UK race, and with it being a fell-race, it made it even more special and gave me a positive outlook for new racing experiences over in Canada.
 |
| Perpetual Trophy - left behind in UK to ensure the next winning lady gets it! |
And now, sitting here in our house in Lake Chaparral, it's hard to believe that just over a week ago, I was watching all of our belongings being packed into boxes and loaded onto a shipping container, whilst Wilson was once again being driven down to Heathrow for his third crossing of the Atlantic. Wilson thankfully arrived in a much better state this time, whilst our belongings left Liverpool docks on 8th April and are expected to be arriving in Calgary sometime next week. I have to say that I'm getting impatient for our things to arrive as it'll be nice to have some familiar things in the house - plus I miss my full running kit and of course all of my books of which there are several hundred!
Since arriving here, I have experienced twinges of homesickness, particularly when Andy has been out at work and I've been left to ponder my own thoughts. The thing I miss more than anything is having those special close friends and family nearby, where I can pop round for a coffee and a chat and share a laugh. Thankfully the neighbours here in Lake Chaparral have been very welcoming, and even Wilson has made a couple of new friends including a huge Great Dane - although there is some confusion whether we are actually speaking English thanks to the Stokie accent!
I have been keeping myself busy though by applying for jobs and taking Wilson on so many walks that he's absolutely shattered, and of course I've been going out for runs.
Job wise, there is tons of work available with companies crying out for staff, so hopefully it won't be too long before I find work. I've applied for "professional" jobs in the main, although there are a couple of others that I've applied for mainly due to job satisfaction rather than the pay, including dog walker/pack leader at a local boarding kennels, and a position as a personal summer coach at the Canadian Olympic Park thanks to my UKA Coaching License that I currently hold.
My running has also been a great way of getting out of the house and exploring the City, and I've already done a fair few runs since my arrival. My initial routes took me around Lake Chaparral and were mostly on the roads with a couple of miles across fields. However, knowing I have a marathon to run at the end of May, I need to build up my mileage and so plucked up the courage to go further afield and ended up at Fish Creek Provincial Park.
I already knew this park covered a huge area of Calgary, but having explored the area, it's truly amazing with the cycle tracks and trails going in all directions. Thankfully I didn't get lost but on a very mild and gloriously sunny day, I covered a little over 12 miles and felt so excited at having the opportunity to be here and to live here. Via the wonders of Facebook, I'd also been given the name of a local runner who knows Calgary very well, and it's been great getting some tips on routes from him, and hopefully we'll get the chance to finally meet up next week for a run.
As if having such fantastic running routes nearby wasn't enough, I started to browse the internet for races in the area, and there are so many to choose from!! Not wanting to race every week, I narrowed it down to one race a month for now (at a minimum $40 per race, they are actually quite expensive, but then there are more prizes and goody bags/technical t-shirts at them all!), with distances of 10km on the trails up to the marathon on the road. Most of those I've entered are half marathons, but I now feel that I have a focus and a goal and have the motivation to get out and run every day even more so. I'm certainly looking forward to the races, particularly the Stampede Half in July as I reckon this will be a fantastic event with it being the centennial of the Calgary Stampede - being cowboy country, I might even dress for the occasion too!
Wilson has been an absolute gem and given me even more reason to explore as he is really loving his Canadian Adventure. The only hard part is that he's used to running and playing off-lead, but most areas here request dogs be kept on leads. He's still a little too mad to go running me so he needs much longer walks each day just to tire him out and get the same amount of exercise. We've been lucky in that a friend of ours has asked us to look after his house over in Bragg Creek which is in proper wilderness country, so we've been able to take Wilson for good walks around there. The problem is that it also attracts a lot of wildlife and there have been cougars in the area recently, whilst deer frequent the area all the time. Being whippet x collie, Wilson does like to give chase, so much so that he disappeared for 20 minutes yesterday having chased 6 deer in to the forests. Despite all the shouting and whistling, there was absolutely no sign of him which was quite stressful. He did eventually come back, panting like mad, sopping wet and cold, but looking extremely happy and pleased with himself - thankfully the deer were fine and returned an hour or so later to feed in the garden.
So despite the early pangs of missing home and certain people every so often, I feel that I am settling in well and am looking forward to a future here in what I consider to be a fantastic country. Hopefully at some point later in the year, family or some UK running chums will pay us a visit and I can share some of the beautiful trails and walks with them.
For now though, I have the MEC Bow River Run 10km race next weekend so I'd better get off my ass, and get some speed work done!