Extra long weekend!

This past weekend was the Family Day holiday weekend in Alberta...a made up day to give us a holiday in february I guess. Hey, no complaints, I'll take it! Aside from it already being a long weekend, I had my scheduled friday off as well! Sweet! Andrew and I joined about 12 of his friends on a ski trip in Golden, BC at Kicking Horse Resort. For some reason I didn't take any pictures on this trip but here's a picture I found of the house we stayed in right on the hill...sigh, so beautiful...it's for sale and can be yours for only 1.2 million dollars...eeek!!!

We left Calgary on thursday afternoon for the fairly short 2.5 hour drive to Golden. It was a beautiful warm day in Calgary...perfect for a road trip! :) The drive flew by and we were there in no time. It wasn't long after we arrived that I started on my first beer of the evening...and then another...and another...uh oh...yeah, I think everyone was pretty excited on the first evening there and we all had a wee bit too much to drink! That and spending some extended time in the hot tub with 12 of your new best friends might have something to do with it :) Needless to say...I was not feeling too hot on the gondola the next morning. On a good day a gondola often makes me feel queasy...so being hungover on top of that was not a good thing!

On friday night after a good day of skiing off the hangovers, a feast was prepared. Andrew just happens to have a turkey deep fryer and he brought it along. So there was turkey, stuffing, carrots, yams, and more. Delicious!!! That and an earlier bed time with minimal drinks had me waking up early and ready to go at 9 for ski day number 2! After skiing was more of the same...some hot tubbing, some drinks, some great food and company....

Sunday we woke up and started on the long clean up process as we had to be out by 11 that morning. Once that was done we all headed to the diner in Golden before heading back to Calgary. When we got home I was pretty happy to see Logan. My good friends Leanne and Jason were kind enough to take care of him all weekend. Stupid me never though that the kennels would be booked up over the long weekend! Apparently Logan behaved very well and I'm pretty sure he didn't want to leave! His best friend Charlie the Westie lives there and i'm sure they played all weekend. Here's a pic of Logan on his last night there actually jamming himself in Charlie's bed where he apparently slept the entire night! Too funny.

On "family day" Monday I managed to fit a 19km run into my busy day of watching the Olympics. I think watching that before my run got me all fired up and it ended up being quite a speedy one. I loved it! Other than that, it was a very relaxing day with much of this....

Sunshine at Sunshine!!

I never thought I'd ever ever hear myself say this...but i'm actually starting to fall in love with skiing...OMG!! :) What the heck happened to me? I've always liked to ski...key word being *liked*...but I was just ok at it...I could manage to get down some blue runs without killing myself and that was that. I never cared too much to buy ski gear as I never thought I'd go often enough and because I wasn't that great at it I didn't really see the point. So far this year I've gone skiing more than I ever have in a season...and winter's not even close to being over! Every time I go skiing I see big improvements whether it be in my technique, being more relaxed as I ski, or in my confidence to try harder stuff...and saturday was no exception!

I couldn't find anyone to go skiing with this weekend but I really really wanted to go. The more I thought about it the more I realized...why not go by yourself?! Great idea! I woke up bright and early at 6am on saturday initially thinking...ugh, I had such a crappy sleep...maybe i should just roll over and go tomorrow? After about 15 mins I finally got up to get ready and started to get excited! I decided to head to Sunshine for the day as they've had the most snow in the last week compared to Lake Louise...also if Lake Louise doesn't get any snow they seem to be super icy which I hate!

I wasn't sure what the weather was supposed to be like at the hill...and as I left a cloudy foggy Calgary that morning I thought Banff would be the same...And when I got to the hill it did look the same! But as I took the lift up to the very top, we broke through the fog and it was amazing up there! You can get an idea of what I mean with the fog situation in some of these pics I took. Eventually it all burned off and it was an awesome warm bluebird day!!

Sigh...St.John's...my home...soooo far away!

You can just barely make out one of the ski lifts breaking out of the fog...

Svelte :)

Some extremely hungover Aussies I met at the top

Looky Looky...no blue runs for this girl!!! :)

Surprisingly skiing by myself was actually pretty great...I got to bypass the massive gondola line up when I first got there as I went into the singles line and passed everybody...the same thing happened all day long in the lift line-ups...just got into the single line which was usually empty and passed everyone! I don't know if I've ever continuously skied so much in one day! My legs were exhausted by the end...and it didn't help that I had a really tough leg workout at the gym on friday!!

On sunday I had planned to get up early and run with the group to get my long run out of the way nice and early. But I was exhausted from skiing all day and then going to a late movie on saturday night that I decided to sleep in. I only had to do 15km...but for me not running more than 8 or 10 km in the past few months, it felt like an eternity...well, I think mostly because it was pretty cold out there! Usually -9 doesn't feel bad at all but there was windchill and Calgary has had this ice fog for a few days now...makes it feel sooo much colder. At the end of the run my legs felt super numb as if I'd been running in -30! Anyways, I was just happy to get the run in and not wimp out because of the weather!

I had promised Logan all day that we were still in fact going to the dog park that day. And after I had a hot hot shower and got warmed up, I took him up to Edworthy park to get his run in! He had a blast and met a lot of dogs to chase and be chased!

Less than 3 months....

Ok ok...I KNOW I'm jumping the gun here and getting a little too excited by my foot's progress...and perhaps even jinxing myself but....

Deb Russell is now Registered for Calgary Police Half-Marathon

I can't help it! This is one of the races I've been planning on doing for a while and I haven't raced it since 2007. Oh my...i've got less than 3 months to prepare...the race is April 25th! I highly doubt there will be any PBs going on so I should just settle on being happy to race again eh?

Registration opened on saturday and this race sells out FAST...and I briefly thought about signing up that day and then said nah...no point in doing a race so soon. I decided to check today if there were any spots left and there were so I said screw it! If something happens and I can't run it then it's no big deal as it's a very easy race to sell your bib for!

This is going to be kind of interesting for me as I've never really trained for a half marathon...or the shorter stuff! Usually i'm in the middle of marathon training or something and just decide on a whim to do a half marathon or 10km as part of training. I guess I'll try and approach this race differently!

I think partially the reason for deciding to sign up afterall is the great runs i've been having...i'm so pleased with my foot!! Sunday was my longest run so far...11km and I felt great! Tuesday I ran 9km with half of it at tempo pace...then last night I joined the group for a 10km tempo run which was fun! I miss running with a group...it was me and about 10 guys...it definitely suits me best to be running with a faster crowd as I definitely push myself harder!

Wahoo, i'm officially training for a race again!!

Barefoot running anyone?

While on my run at lunch today (second run this week by the way...and still without foot pain!) I was passed by a guy, wearing these funny looking shoes that immediately made me think...another one of those runners trying to get into the barefoot running trend. Now i'm not knocking the whole barefoot running thing or Vibrams 5 finger shoes (even though I think they look ridiculous)...and I do understand the concept and why it might work for some etc but I have to admit i'm definitely not convinced...

Towards the end of my run I caught up to him and passed him but could hear him not close behind. As he caught up to me he asked "how was Boston" since I was wearing my Boston jacket...I almost cringe when I wear that jacket and get that question on the path...because it's always by a smirking guy...as he's passing me...and then for some reason I feel like I need to prove myself or something. Dumb. I know. But I digress...

He started chatting to me about running...marathons...how he's doing ironman this year...and somehow started talking about the book Born to Run (which I own and have still yet to read...it's next in line though after my current book) which led to the conversation of barefoot running. Today he was wearing water shoes...or aqua socks if you may...to allow him to not heel strike and strike more mid sole etc etc. He actually got quite into it and even stopped mid stride and started jumping up and down to show foot strike etc while other runners passed us and looked at us as if we were nuts...while in my head I was shouting, I don't even know this guy!!! lol Just kidding...kind of...but it was pretty funny and it did make for an interesting lunch time run :)

Anyway...while he further enlightened me on barefoot running today...I'm still more than sure that I really do love my nice comfy runners and have absolutely no desire to ever run barefoot...

NYC update!

Since writing my earlier post today about the NYC marathon I just decided to check my online status for this race...i'm happy to say it's now changed from "in lottery" to "....

Marathon registration status: Accepted

Yay! I'm super pumped!!

NYC Marathon?

Yesterday I submitted my entry for the NYC Marathon on November 7th. For women under 39 to qualify for guaranteed entry and skip the lottery process you need to have a marathon time of 3:23. You would think that means I'm automatically in but the form is silly...you apply on the same lottery form as everyone else and it has a little spot that says if you're applying for guaranteed entry then put in your marathon time and which race you qualified in. I've heard of people still getting rejected even though they "qualified" as they had just been thrown into the regular lottery.

After applying my status says "in lottery" and it was suggested to me to email them about it, which I did. I'm impressed that they wrote me back so quickly and said to give them a few days to verify my time and if I don't see a change in my online status in about 10 days to let them know. Soooo...i'm hoping that means it won't be a problem and i'll be in! If for some reason I get rejected them i'm going to look at running Chicago on Oct.10th, Seattle on Nov. 28th, or Vegas on Dec. 5th.

While I thought that I was getting sick of road races after all the fun trail running and racing I did last year, I'm actually looking forward to another road marathon in the future. I have a pretty hefty time goal I'd like to achieve and I definitely think I can do it (am gonna keep that time goal to myself for a while though sorry! :). I still plan on doing tons of trail running this summer and a few trail races i'll be focusing on once i'm back full on running again!

In the mean time, i'm still working on getting rid of the plantar fasciitis. I took 2 full weeks off and since then I ran 2 short runs last week completely without pain. I've been waking up every morning with virtually zero pain which is amazing...I think i've gone the last year with always some form of pain in my heel in the morning! I'm itching to get out there on long runs again but i'm holding back and will stick to the shorter runs for now. I'm actually a bit scared to increase the distance and have the pain come back so i'm going to settle on just being happy to get out there and run pain free...no matter how short the run is!

I LOVE my new skis!!

Yesterday Andrew and I went skiing up at Sunshine and I got to test out my new skis!

They had about 30 cm of new snow in the last week so I was excited! My skis are wicked and it was definitely one of my best purchases to date :) I've never owned a pair and the thought of not having to rent anymore either makes me super happy!

Aren't they beautiful?

Anyways, i've already skied more this winter than I think all of last winter and I can tell that i'm already getting better. Hopefully that means at this rate I should be significantly better by the end of the season...then on my way to some sweet backcountry skiing next winter :)

We had a great day yesterday and I even skied some shorter black diamonds...I know, retarded right? I'm usually terrified of the harder stuff but it always looks easier to me when there's lots of powder...i.e. softer landing if(when) I fall...and the powder slows you down which is nice since I get a little freaked with speed sometimes! I just hate feeling out of control!

We had the gondola all to ourselves on the way up!

I like skiing with Andrew...he's a really good skier and I find i'm more likely to get out of my comfort zone and try some harder stuff when I go with him (lucky for him he grew up close to Marble Mountain on the west coast of Newfoundland, and some pretty good skiing.)

I'm super pumped as this is my week with friday off (I work a compressed work schedule to get every second friday off) and a bunch of us are heading to Lake Louise for some skiing :) It's great when you get to go during the week as there should be hardly any lift line ups! My friend Leanne only gets one friday off a month with her work so it's sweet that we're both off at the same time this month!

On the running scene...my foot is feeling better and I've been able to go the whole day walking around without pain like I used to get. I've been waking up many mornings now with little to no pain in my foot which is shocking as usually it's at its worst for the first steps after getting out of bed! I bought the Strassburg Sock last year when I went through plantar fasciitis and while it's kind of a pain in the ass to wear when you're sleeping, i've been making myself do it each night. Seems to be helping! It's a weird little thing but the theory behind it makes sense...pulls up on your toes in order to keep your foot flexed all night and therefore lengthening out your fascia...

Anyhow, that's about it in news for now! 3 more days of work till another ski day :) Then I have tickets to the Banff Mountain Film Fest on friday night...saweet! Have a great week!