Winter in the Mountains + Spring in the City = Happy Deb!

It seems that the mountains haven't gotten any new snow in FOREVER. So when Sunshine got 20cm of new snow last monday, I knew I was definitely going skiing on friday! Friday just happened to be my day off as well as my friend Leanne's and she definitely didn't need convincing to go skiing either! As soon as we entered Banff National Park....we had literally driven into a winter wonder land. It was like night and day...it was now snowing and it had been for a while that morning...and continued to do so all day as a matter of fact. I was like a kid on Christmas morning when we parked and got our ski gear ready. I was trembling with excitement...a powder day!! And it did not disappoint...I think it was the best ski day for me all year...i had soooo much fun. I never get to ski in powder...sigh. Here are a couple of pics from our day...

Leanne, not falling...but just deciding she needed to give her legs a break and have a little lie down

Happy skiers!

Me...enjoying some snow angel time!

Back in Calgary, a chinook had blown in and we came back to 14 degrees C!! What a difference! The rest of the weekend was quite nice but pretty windy and not as warm as Calgary has been used to lately. I still managed to get in some pretty good runs...a 14km on Saturday and a 22km on Sunday...although it felt like no matter what direction I ran, I was always fighting with the wind.

Running has been going well and my foot seems to be dealing well with the added mileage...last week I ran 49km total which is the most i've been able to do in a really long time. So i've been pretty happy about that...especially as my long runs will continue to get longer and longer from here on in. Did I mention that I signed up for the Rock n' Roll Seattle Marathon on June 26th? It's official! I'm excited and i'm really looking forward to it. I've never been to Seattle either and have always wanted to go!

Aside from the running and skiing lately, i've been spending some good quality time with my dawg. We've been going on some pretty massive walks after work and hopefully going on many more dog park visits too at night now that it'll stay lighter longer in the evenings!

Seattle?

For some reason I find myself dreaming of road races lately...mainly the marathon. I really don't know why...because everyday that I run, I dream about running on the trails again soon and all the kick ass runs I want to do in the mountains....as our weather becomes more and more springlike. Strange, I know. I guess I'm not a huge of fan of training on the road...but do love a good, fast road race and improving my times.

So for those of you who are strictly trailrunners and pretty much shun the road running scene...I apologize for this post...maybe you should move along and come back another day! My brother is one of those people...likes to jokingly call me a road runner as he's definitely not a fan and is all about trail for sure...but who got him hooked on trail running last summer? Yeah, that's right! Me! :D It's pretty wicked actually...he has several ultras lined up for this summer and even informed me that maybe we should do Transrockies again sometime. Whoa! After his sick summer of trail racing he's got coming up...I might end up out of his league as a partner for that race, but who knows.

And why the heck am I thinking about road races right now? I dunno...I guess i'm not really mainly a road runner or a trail runner...but am liking to do both. And right now I'm really wanting to run a marathon...and not just run it just to do it...but to run a fast one. I've had mild success in both trail and road races so far...with most of it all happening last season....and after the Okanagan marathon last fall with my fastest time yet, I find myself really wanting to keep improving my marathon time and get even faster. Not sure how possible that is and when I'll possibly stop setting PBs in the marathon but I really hope it isn't anytime soon. I'd really love to one day break the 3 hour mark...and even though i'm "only" 12 mins off...I think that's probably pretty significant and not sure if there's any possibility of me doing that! Who knows?!

On that note, i'm starting to think about doing the Seattle Marathon on June 26th. I'm already well into training for it as i've been training for the Police half marathon that's at the end of next month. I definitely plan on doing a significant amount of trail running this summer and have some good races lined up...but not sure if there will be any ultras in there...that might have to wait another year. Seattle is not a definite thing yet but i'm giving it some serious thought. I guess it depends on how well my foot progresses over the next while and how it feels during and after the Police half. It's doing well so far and allowing me to get in some good mileage lately.

K, that's it for now!

Ghost Runner

What a gong show it was trying to register this morning for Melissa's 22km Road Race in Banff this September. Registration opened at 7am and I knew it would fill up quick so when I got to work at 7:30 I tried to sign up...no dice. The website was giving me errors and I was having all kinds of issues. I assumed it was because of the volume of people also trying to get into this ever so popular race that caps out at about 1500 I believe.

Anyhow, since it wasn't working on my work computer, I figured I'd try through my iphone...and it worked! This is to be Andrew's first ever half marathon so I decided to sign him up first in case there was an issue. Well i'm glad I did as after I signed him up, I had all kinds of trouble again and then eventually it ended up saying "Race Sold Out"!! Argh.

Anyhow, I've decided this is a good thing afterall as now i'll just ghost run it alongside of him as he rocks out his first ever half marathon, wahoo! That is of course, providing he doesn't turn out to be some insanely fast runner and I can't keep up...in which case he'll be on his own!! lol. Don't worry, I won't plan on crossing the finish line at the end since I won't officially be in the race...I've never run a race without a bib but I came across this story which I think is pretty insane...

"I got up Saturday and ran the Thomas Wolfe 8k. I love the fact that the race takes you through serene Riverside Cemetery. But the most startling action occurred at the end of the race, when organizers spotted a "bandit," an unregistered runner who ran the course and came across the finish line. The main race organizer angrily shouted at the man, who sort of shrugged it off. Another organizer came up from behind the runner, ripped the guys iPod ear buds out of his ears, bumped his chest, then shouted at him and threatened to have him arrested if he ever did that again."

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...