Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

I can't believe that we're coming to the end of February and already I've competed in 9 races! The good thing is that the majority of them have been 10k or less, and with being shorter races - most of them cross country - they've really helped to build a little strength, speed and stamina over the weeks. I'm starting to feel fitter and stronger and after what seems like a very long time, my confidence has finally started to return. Of course the other thing that has given me a new lease of life was turning 40 last week. Looking back to when I first became a lady veteran 5 years ago - or "master" as they call us these days - I was running at my best, and moving in to another age category gave me the motivation to chase new records and set new goals. Now I've moved up into the LV40 category, that excitement and anticipation has returned, and I'm eager to get out on the trails and roads to see how I fair over the next 5 years. My first test c...

Over the past few weeks, I've been feeling much more positive about my running - a combination of consistent training involving bouts of speed work and longer runs, as well as having a race plan for the next few months. Add to that the fact that 90% of my friends are runners, I guess that helps to motivate me somewhat! In the week leading up to the Nose Hill Cross Country, even I was pleased with how training had gone, and I was starting to feel the benefits of a more structured and focused approach. As with the majority of my races though, race day arrived and I awoke feeling sluggish, lethargic and not really in the mood, wondering whether perhaps I had overdone things having been feeling so much more positive and therefore enthusiastic. I didn't really know much about Nose Hill except that it was "up north" of Calgary again, and I figured that given the name, there would be some hill running  involved. Hills are not my strong point at the moment, so on arr...