Post Race Recovery and Back to England Old Chap!

 After the Iron Horse Ultra back in October, I took a couple of weeks off to re over from the race, and just enjoyed a bit of downtime without any pressures. I did a couple of parkruns with my pup Wilson, and even though he recently turned 14 years of age, he still loves to join me on my runs, even though we have to keep them much shorter and slower for him these days. Running with Wilson always makes me so happy, and I really don’t mind if we end up walking most of the route, simply because he’s an old boy now and definitely isn’t as agile as he used to be. I also did a parkrun with one of our other pups, April, and she ran much quicker and finished with a respectable 27 minutes as opposed to Wilson’s 38 – she is capable of going far more quickly, but she can be quite a lazy dog and can’t be bother to put in the effort sometimes, unless she really has to.

Edmonton River Valley parkrun with Wilson

River Valley parkrun with April

Whilst I haven’t really raced since Iron Horse, I did take part in the Warm Hands Warm Hearts Half Marathon back in November. This event is billed as a race, but really it is just a fun social gathering, where the Edmonton running community come together to help the homeless people in the city.  We’d had our first bit of snow by the time the event came around, so the trails were quite icy in parts, but I was happy enough to finish in just under 2 hours which is what I kind of expected given the conditions and the nature of the course.

The day after running the WHWH event, I flew over to the UK for a 10 day break where I was able to spend time with family and close friends. I’d been in the UK back in February but that was a frantic visit where I tried to accommodate everybody’s requests to meet up, whilst also prepping for my attempt on the Staffordshire Way FKT. This time, I didn’t want to be rushing around, and all I wanted was to see our parents and my brother, to go to the seaside (it’s been a long time since we’ve seen the sea with being in landlocked Alberta!), and I wanted to do a longish run over The Roaches, where I could say hello to our old pups Sam and Leo (we had sprinkled their ashes on the moors by the highest trig point), and to revisit places from my childhood, which included Dane Bridge, Castle Rocks, and of course Luds Church.

My memory of the route over The Roaches suggested that it would be a good 15 miles or so, so I was rather surprised when it only turned out to be around 10 miles – I guess I have a different perception of time and distance now I’m all grown up! It was a beautiful day to be running up there though, and it made me happy to rekindle all those memories from years ago. I had a little break by the River Dane where we used to picnics on our hikes years ago, and then had another little break at Castle Rocks where my brother and I used to do lots of rock climbing as kids. the rocks of course seem much smaller now but still wort ha climb for the views off the top. A little Robin came to visit whilst I was sitting on the rocks and I’m sure it was Sam and Leo who had popped down to say a quick hello. I then headed over to Lud’s Church and was still amazed by how it was formed – it was still just as damp and muddy and slippery as I remembered when climbing those stone steps!

Whilst over in England, I also got out on the bike with my dad for a little bike ride along the canal, and even had a snowy run over at Hanchurch Hills, a favourite place of mine from my time running for Trentham RC and whilst living in Stoke. Andy and I also made it to Blackpool to see the illuminations, and then we walked The Golden Mile, visited each of the piers, and even had a little run across the beach as the sun was setting, taking in the beauty of all those golden colours reflecting off the Irish Sea

Beach run in Blackpool

Bike ride with Dad

I was only away for around 10 days, and on returning home from my visit to England, winter had definitely arrived in Alberta, and things have been quite wintery ever since. I’ve always said that I do prefer this time of year – the colder, snowy weather keeps a lot of people indoors, so things are much quieter when I go out for my runs, or when walking the pups at the dog park. I’ve certainly had a few nice runs outdoors since the snow has arrived – cold yes, but I’ve been sure to bundle up to keep warm, and so far, so good. There was one day where it snowed for several hours and when it came to my evening run, there was about a foot of the fresh white stuff to run in, Everything seemed so quiet, I didn’t need a headtorch that night as it was so bright from the snow, and I was able to try out the Icebugs which I had bought last winter and I found them to be far more comfortable and not quite as big on my feet as I was expecting.

Beautiful moonlit nights

Night running in Alberta winters

Although I do prefer to run outdoors, when it comes to doing speed sessions in the winter months, I tend to head to the local recreation centre to either go loopy on the indoor track, or to use the treadmill. I think I’ve been there twice since I arrived back home, and both sessions have been pretty good, hitting fairly decent paces without feeling like I’m going to collapse. I’m certainly nowhere near as quick as I used to be, but I am hoping to get a little bit of speed back over the coming weeks as I do have some lofty goals for next year that I would love to achieve.

Winter running in Devon AB

Although I am already starting to look forward to next year’s racing season, I do have one more race to do, and that is Racing Dusk 20-miler which takes place on December 21st – the Winter Solstice  - down in K-country near Calgary. It’s been a while since I have ran out in Bragg Creek, and so I’m really looking forward to that in a few days time. It isn’t going to be fast, and I certainly don’t expect to podium, but if I can run close to 4 hours 30 minutes, I’ll be perfectly content with that. I shall of course post here once I’ve done the race, just to let you know how I got on.

For now though I do have another run to do, so I shall bid you adieu for now, and I’ll be back again with an update just before Christmas if I can find the time. Happy running, and happy trails my friends!