This June, I get to run the first leg in the K-100 Relay for our team named of “Farts in the Wind”. The first leg of the race is 18.6 km of gradually ascending road, with a hill at 14 km to keep things interesting. After that I get to cheer on the team the rest of the day.

This is going to be fun!

I enjoyed two nice runs this week, one on Thursday at lunch with Ryan from the Start Line. I’d like to say the Start Line Group, but so far our group is just a few at most. Ryan’s training for a duathlon in June and figures lunch running is a good way to work training into the week. It works for me, too.

So far I don’t have any big running goals for the year, but I am signed up for a K100 relay team, “Farts in the Wind”. We haven’t chosen which distances we’ll run yet in the June race, so I need to be ready for anything. It’s time to buckle down and get some consistent training in.

This morning I met Andra for a nice run on the river pathways across from Edworthy Park. It was chilly as we ran under pixie-dust snowfall, but the wind was gentle and we had a great chat. Towards the end we met and were passed by some large running groups. I recognized a few runners and smiled at a few more. It was good to be out there.

Trev Williams has added another dimension to reporting our XC races this season by strapping a camera to his head. This weekend’s 8k race at 12 Mile Coulee is posted here: 12 Mile Coulee XC Jan. 23rd 2010 from Nerd Williams on Vimeo.

For those who might like a running commentary of it from this end of the peanut gallery: Trev’s camera is on the right, Carl’s is on the left.

Everybody begins along a big icy, bumpy ridge. Trev heads down a huge descent between 8 & 9 minutes. Trust me, it’s a lot steeper than it looks. After that he’s in the coulee on nicely hard-packed snow. At around 10 minutes the single track takes him up on the edge of a high river bank and the dipsy-doodling starts. Trev passes the last front-runner (who was way ahead originally) up on the ridge again at around 22 minutes. Trev zips back down into the coulee at 25 minutes.

At 25:37 we see someone running in a very familiar set of neon pink leg warmers, matched to a pink leopard print pair of boxer shorts – Oh hey that’s the Pink Chick! He catches Nikayla at 25:53. That’s Greg’s bright orange toque at 32:35.

Barry directs him up the steep ascent to the finish at 32:16. The video plays very appropriate music for where I am in the race at this point, because right then I am just out of sight, turning off on my second loop: “O-o-oh, we’re half way there, whoa-oa! Livin’ on a pra-ayer…” At 34:21 – 34:22 Barb and I just barely escape being lapped at the far right of the screen.

Trev finishes and at 34:50 my buds from the 10k group (who did the 4k) give him a cheer.

Carl descends into the coulee between 11-12 minutes. At 16:40 someone just ahead of him wipes out on the frozen creek. Liesbeth and I nearly collided when we got there later, as I saw the ice and slowed, but she didn’t and nearly ran me over. Carl plows up through the end of his first lap at around 23ish minutes. Derek alerts him to a soft sinkhole of snow at 24 minutes as he heads into the 2nd loop.

Carl wipes out up on the ridge at 27:36. Runners go by as he ices his ankle with some snow. He gets himself up and hobbles back along the ridge without finishing the rest of the course. Aw. Heal up quick, Carl.

Yesterday, in 12 Mile Coulee park in Tuscany, Calgary, I ran my 49th consecutive CRR XC Grand Prix race. It was cold, snowy, icy, beautiful and quite a challenge.

What to Bring?

In preparation for post-race festivities, I had stirred up one of my favourite treats, peanut chocolate energy bars; a concoction of peanuts, peanut butter, honey, oatmeal, brown sugar, dried cranberries, raisins, cocoa and Rice Krispies. They’re like Eatmore bars, but better.

What to Wear?

I layered up at home with long johns under my warm winter leggings, two tech shirts under my windbreaker, two layers of mitts and my 2010 hat. I’d been missing a Yaktrax since December, but Dawn had an old pair she was willing to let me use. Somehow I’d misplaced both of my Moose Mountain buffs which are good for neck and face coverage. I couldn’t find my black un-lined wind pants, either, and one of my stripey mitts was missing. I put on a stretchy neon pink neck tube and checked the outdoor thermometer again – it was only -9*C. Nah, the tube would be too warm. It would also be too warm for my lined blue wind pants, so I left them at home, too.

When registering outside in the parking lot next to the race it felt much colder than my thermometer said, and I realized my wardrobe choices were woefully inadequate. There was a nasty wind that numbed my fingers instantly, and I was glad I’d printed and filled out my entry form at home. I piled into Dawn’s car with Dawn, Alan, Carrie and Nikayla, and donned the Yaktrax before mugging for her camera.

Pre-Race Warming Strategy. Photo cropped from the Pink Chick's collection.

Plan B in wardrobe alterations kicked in: I detached the fleece from the wind-proof shell of my warm new winter coat. I left the shell of my winter coat on as long as possible before the race and then ditched it under the clock table just before Hugh sent us off.

Dawn evicted us all from her car fifteen minutes before start time and we hopped around  with more friends, trying to stay warm in the wind. There Dave gave us all a good laugh – in honour of Robbie Burns day tomorrow, he’d worn his plaid scottish tam, complete with fake red hair and a wee musical button which played bagpipe music.

Davey races in his Robbie Burns Hat

The Ridge

The first part of the course took us along a windswept ridge covered in hard, bumpy ice and crusty, glazed snow, which made an echoing croaky sound as my footwear bit into it. I bolted across the ridge at a fair clip, exhilarated by the excitement of the start and even further moved by a surge of survivalist strength.

It was good to be alive, and I had to keep moving or I’d freeze. My toes, fingers, and face stung with cold. I was glad I’d kept the extra fleece with me.

Course marshals warned us of treacherous terrain, and indeed some surprise soft spots or slick  turns caught some racers off guard. I did not pause to gander at the gorgeous view up there. I diligently focused my attention on my next few steps. I took the first couple of big downhills cautiously (for me) and by the time I landed in the coulee I was tired already.

12 Mile Coulee XC 8k 1st Lap 2010

The Coulee

It was beautiful down there. There was better traction on the hard-packed snow covering the paths, and the wind only gusted through intermittently. Halfway through the coulee my legs ached, but most of my fingers and toes warmed up. The fourth toe on my left foot was still cold, but it quit complaining eventually. I unzipped my fleece and pocketed one damp pair of mittens.

Liesbeth, Barb and I dipsy-doodled over knolls, small hills, and the winding creek. I contemplated whether I really wanted to run a second loop.  I could push myself really hard for another 10 minutes and then quit at 4k, but according to the Grand Prix rules I still needed one more 8k in the series to qualify for the final standings. Who knows what might happen between now and the end of the series? I had the chance to complete my qualification then and there, and that is what my racing is about; seizing the moment, doing what I can, sucking it up to go the distance.

I let Liesbeth go ahead and conserved some of my energy to carry me through the second loop. The first 8k racer approached the finish line as Barb and I turned our backs on it. Hurray, we hadn’t been lapped! This might have been the first time I’ve avoided being lapped on that course.

The Ridge Again

Back up on the ridge, I felt strong again. I liked how my feet dug into the ice and propelled my whole self forward. Life was good! Racing was a blast! I felt amazing. This time around I negotiated the tricky parts with more confidence and heartily hurtled myself down the hills. I spread my arms out airplane style as I banked through the final turn into the coulee.

The Coulee Again

Once again back in the coulee, my pace slowed. I enjoyed the trees and the shelter from the wind, but it seemed like the second loop of the race had stretched somewhat, with all of the racers having trampled it so. I wished I had eaten one of my energy bars before the race.

Eventually I hauled my tired body up out of the coulee to the clock. The snow was deep and very uneven in the final stretch, so there was no glorious finishing sprint, merely a sigh of relief in crossing the line. A few hardy volunteers and racers cheered me in, and then I headed to the hall for soup and sweets.

Results and photos are up on the Calgary Roadrunners webpage and Dawn has more pics on Flickr.

The Calgary Roadrunners official learn-to-run Start Line program won’t be starting until March, but until then I get to host informal weekly wogs with anyone who shows up.

I went for a nice lunch-time walk/run on Thursday with a couple of beginning runners, and we had a nice chat about ways to get started. Whether you’ve run with The Start Line before or not, you’re welcome to come out for a wog (walk/jog) any Thursday in the next 6 weeks leading up to the program.

Drop me a line on or before the Wednesday before you plan to join us, so we know to expect you.

I tried to run my usual neighbourhood doggy-park dirt trail route today, but the snow covering the paths was encrusted with a thick glaze. I’m missing a Yaktrax (it went missing after December’s Club Night), so with only my trail shoes it was quite a challenge.

I resorted to a little more walking and a little more pavement than usual, but at least I got some exercise out in the warm chinook air and sunshine.

In other news, we’ve taken down the Christmas tree and sold our house. I go shopping for a condo for Little Runner and I starting tomorrow.  The guys will be looking for their own place, too. Yes, our lives will be changing quite a bit in the next couple of months. I likely won’t go into detail about it here, but the support of friends is always welcome, and I don’t keep many secrets.

This will remain primarily a running blog, but my life is an integral part of my running, and vice versa. Sometimes my blog title “All Downhill From Here” represents more than just my love for running down hills.

Today at lunch I didn’t have to run alone. A co-worker and I met up with her sister and her sister’s co-worker, and the four of us covered a little over 5 km on the riverside pathways.

I hadn’t run with any of them before, so I didn’t know if my pace would suit theirs, but we all seemed as alternately out of breath and talkative as each other as we trotted along at the same pace. None of us wanted to stop the others for walk breaks, so it was good motivation for everyone. We’re going to do it again next week.

First Creek Crossing

On Saturday I showed up a few hours early for the Nose Creek XC race. My friend Dawn is the race director, and I was there early to “pre-run” the course before helping her out in a volunteer capacity. It was still important for me to cover the course that day, as I’m working towards my 50-in-a-row status. Dawn, her granddaughter and I walked and ran the course with extra flags, to make sure everything was set to go for the racers at noon.

There was a lot of snow cover, but it wasn’t very deep and it was kind of sticky in the warm, strong wind of the chinook that had begun the day before. The wind was really really strong, but otherwise it was nice to be out there.

Dawn took this video of me on the first big downhill of the course. It’s my favourite descent in the park.

Originally I was going to be a course marshal during the race itself, but the person who she had planned to have work in the kitchen was injured, so I headed for the kitchen. I had made a pot of pumpkin curry soup, and I brought Dawn’s three pots of soup to the hall as well.

Once I got to the hall I figured out how to start two of the six burners on the big stove. I started a big urn of coffee and fiddled with the stove to get some heat under four other pots. I found two hot plates in the Roadrunner supply boxes and set two more pots on those. By that time Gerri and her girls had arrived. Gerri’s great – she often helps set up and serve in the kitchen and it’s a wonderful thing she does.

While Gerri carried on with cutting buns and setting out stuff, I set up tables and chairs. Dawn had told me she was expecting about 100 racers, so one by one I hauled out and set up 25 tables and 145 chairs. Little Runner and Gerri’s girls were a huge help with the chairs. I’d haul out a big stack of 8-12 chairs (I called them “chair mountains”) and the girls took them off the stack and set them around the tables. A couple of racers helped with the last couple of stacks, and I headed into the kitchen to serve soup to the masses.

There were a lot of good soups; spinach-lentil, chunky minestrone, “Christmas Dinner”, yam & peanut, chicken rice, pulled pork & vegetable, and another kind of minestrone.  Everybody looked all rosy cheeked as they raved about pushing through the wind over the mashed potato snow. I had some dessert too; a brownie, a cookie and a slice of lime loaf.

Announcements happened and we all packed up our gear. As usual, we were out of the hall by 2:30.

My life is just better when there is swimming in it.

Monday night I resumed the weekly swimming routine that I suspended over Christmas. I don’t have an organized workout. I just pull myself through the water back and forth, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, sometimes with a flip turn at the end, sometimes not.

I usually start out with a lap of breast stroke and then swim freestyle with bi-lateral breathing , with a breast stroke lap breaking up the freestyle laps about every 10 minutes or so. I don’t count laps or seconds. I just swim.

Contrary to my earlier post about the sunfish, I had run since the Silver Springs race. On one of my days off before Christmas, December 22nd, I dropped off the Little Runner at a friend’s and went for a nice, snowy run on the Jack Rabbit trail by the Glenmore Reservoir. It was chilly, but the single track trail is mostly sheltered with big trees. I ran the roller-coastery trail out and back for about an hour.

After that I didn’t run again until January 7th. I wasn’t injured, just busy with Christmas, and visiting with relatives, and too lazy to bundle up against the nasty cold weather in central Alberta. Even after I returned from the rellies I didn’t run. I went for a second appointment to finish up a root canal at the dentist, and knitted, and avoided blogging. Unlike me, I know.

January 7th I brought my running stuff to work and ran at lunch. It was -18*C, so I kept a brisk pace from the start. About 10 minutes from leaving my office I had made it to the curling club hill. I walked up the hill, but then ran back west along the bluff to the goat trails. It’s so cool to have dirt (now snow-filled) hilly trails just across the river from downtown. I went down and up those a couple of times before heading down 10th street, over the C-train bridge and back to work. The run took me about 45 minutes, and I went straight back to work after changing. I should have stretched, because Friday my legs were very stiff and grumpy.

Saturday I didn’t run a lot, but I did cover the course of the Nose Creek XC 4k with Dawn. More on that later.

Yesterday I brought my running gear to work again, but ended up covering the phones at lunch instead of running. Plan B ensued, as Carla had sent round a facebook message to our 10k group asking if we’d like to run outside (instead of in the olympic oval), since it was so nice out. Heck, yeah. I ran 4 x ~700m repeats with Liesbeth on the park path near the Children’s Hospital while the skinny-fasts ran 5.  There was some ice that made it an extra challenge, but nobody wiped out, and it was fun.

I’m bringing my running stuff to work tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll get to run again at lunch.