Weekly update - still kicking...

Like many others it seems hard to find enough time to run, fit in your regular or irregular life and still find time to blog about it. Hopefully I can be more regular soon but I'd better be careful what I wish for (see my Friday run report) and perhaps some upcoming holidays will free up some time to do things that have been left at the wayside.

ORN's - sticking to the schedule like glue but have had to do a bunch of 'cut and pasting' with rescheduled workouts over most of the week. The only runs that got done on the day planned was the 1st run of the week on Sunday (18 already reported on) and the last one today which was an easy 6 miles turned into 7 to make up a missing mile (I'm really weird like that).

Tues - easy 6.2 miles at 8:05 pace instead of 10 because work meetings interfered and had to get my lunch hour run within the alloted 1 hour (go figure). Also biked to/from work all week and got a few sessions of situps and pushups so the rest of the body gets exercise too.

Weds - easy 10 miles with 10xstrides instead of 14 because work again interfered, gotta figure out a way to not have to work or something, but at least I was able to work in an extended 85 minute run. Slow pace today with hot sun and had a bottle of gatorade and one of water along. The strides felt good and it's nice to get the leg turnover going a bit on these.

Thurs - took the day off so at least work couldn't interfere and got in a nice 10 miles that shoulda been 12 but... during the run I stopped at the garage. They said they'd fix my van's air conditioning IF I could bring it in within the next 30 minutes (like now) otherwise it'd be weeks. So the run got cut short but the AC will be welcome with all the driving planned over the next few weeks and months. Then packed up and off for a quick trip (4.5 hr) up to Bathurst to visit my Mom who is not well and the real reason I took a few days off. Steph came along too as she does not get alot of chance to see her with her work, school and lack of transportation.

Friday - up early at the cottage on the beach that my sister kindly made available for my visit. Shoulda taken a few pictures to post because it has a beautiful view and private beach access on the Chaleur Bay on Salmon Beach. As some of my regular readers know I'm not much of a morning person or morning runner but can manage to get the runs in when I have to. All it usually takes is getting up a little early for a light breakfast of cereal and coffee and after all 'systems' have been flushed out, then it's usually good to go. So I was off down the road feeling pretty good ... but not for long...

(non-runners may want to skip this next paragraph or at least hide your eyes and ears)
I got less than 1/2 mile down the road and knew I was in trouble. Turned around with the vain hope of making it to the cottage bathroom but it was not to be. At least the traffic was light and there were ample bushes and trees along the highway and so it was down into the woods and barely had time to drop the shorts for the explosion. The mosquitoes had a nice feast while I tried to clean up with the bits of toilet paper in my water belt but felt much better after that.
(ok, non-runners can look now)

Ended back at the cottage to clean up and started out again feeling much better. Turned out to be a wonderful 14.8 mile run finding access to the converted railway to trailway where I did most of the run. Also did a couple of out and backs on access trails to the highway which I'd missed on the run out to get my bearings. Nex time I'll know how to get to the trail more easily. The trails and highway was completely deserted with nothing encountered except for a couple of frightened rabbits. One was kinda cute in the way he stayed crunched down pretending to be a rock, that is until I noticed this rock had fur and then he bolted. Drank 2 bottles of gatorade and finished off the run along the secondary highway with very little traffic. Then the best part was finishing the run with a cool dip in the cold ocean. I didn't swim long but the water felt great on the tired legs and felt very refreshed afterward (wish I had a pic of the beach area).

Saturday - today was just a short easy 7 miles with my virtual running friend for company and to try to make me go slow. Didn't happen! Ended up running 8:15 pace instead of the planned 8:30 and it still felt like tripping along slow.

Total for week 4 of 18 of The Plan was 64 miles as scheduled and all is well with the body except some lingering tightness in the achilles. On tap is a long run of 19 on Sunday and am thinking of doing the Canada Day 1/2 marathon in Grand Bay/Westfield next weekend.

And oh yes, it's only 98 days to Wineglass! Time waits for no one!!