Long Run Day

This has been an interesting weekend. Saturday we were supposed to have foster care training but it was cancelled. Too bad no one told us, so we were up by 6 and had all the kids up and out the door by 8:30. Once we figured out that there was no training that day we decided to make the best of it and head over to the science centre for the day. We only have 5 kids because our two little girls were with Grandma. She was driving them to ballet and then taking them out for the day. The science centre was great. We had a nice time and headed home around 1:30 or so. Kyle got in his long run and I headed out the door to shop for boots with my sister. The funny part for me was that last year I was looking for boots and I had a had time finding boots that would fit over my calf. This year I had a hard time finding boots that were tight enough around my calf. I am so grateful every time something like this reminds me that all of the hard work I have put in actually made major changes in me.

Sunday we headed to church like always, only like Kyle already posted Joey had an accident and had to be rushed to Children's Hospital to get put back together. I was so thankful to see him come back into the church by the end of the service. He looked bad but he was happy and running around. Finally we headed home, both Kyle and I were still shaken up and feeling overwhelmed from the accident. It is unbelievable how much a head wound bleeds and really I don't think any parent wants to see blood pouring out of their child. We served lunch and put Joe down for a nap. The little girls had a birthday party to go to and I was planning on running while they were there. I felt guilty even thinking about running when my little guy was hurt but Kyle assured me that he could handle Joe and that I really should run. Thank God for a husband who is supportive of my running. He knows when to push and when to back off and he has been instrumental in my running so far. I dropped the little girls off and headed out for my run. A few of the parents at the party asked me about my water shoes, I was dressed in my running gear. Some strange looks when I said that I wear them because they have no support and let me feel the ground. I number of people also commented that it is crazy to run when it is so cold. At -20°C with the wind-chill I guess I could agree but part of my mental game with training right now is to remind myself that the race is going to be cold, probably much colder than -20°C and I need to get used to it.

My run

I ran 6.11 miles in -20C and I really wasn't cold at all. The sun was shining and I was thankful that I was out running, thankful that this is my life, that I am fit and active and that this year I am not going to go stir crazy in the winter because I am going to get out and run even if it's cold. (well I hope so at least) I ran an out and back on the bike path that runs North to South through Calgary. It is a familiar path and actually it is the path that I did a lot of my long runs on while training for my last half. I was able to run home from church on Sundays and get in anywhere from 7 - 13 miles depending on where I started and how I looped around to my house. The path has been under construction for the past few months and I am happy that it is finished now. I am looking forward to my first run home from church, possibly next week. Anyways the run out was warm so I took off my windbreaker shell. With the sun shining down it was lovely. After the turn around the sun started to go down and I was starting to get a chill so I pulled my windbreaker on again and continued to be warm. Really, I was warm the whole run. I didn't feel cold until I got back into my van after the run. I was sweaty and now freezing. I stopped at my church to change and then headed to Starbucks for a recovery Peppermint Mocha. I picked up the girls and headed home. All was well at our house. Joey was running around like crazy, not seeming to be bothered at all by his head wound. I had a bath with epsom salts and relaxed the rest of the night. So long run #1 is in the books. Only 11 more to go until the Hypothermic Half. I am really looking forward to each run now and hoping to continue to run even when it gets much colder. This was a crazy wordy post, thanks for reading if you made it this far.

Joe at home colouring while waiting for lunch.

Joe being silly at bed time. 1 soother is good so 2 should be so much better.