Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sometimes, the run just SUCKS.

We were scheduled to run 24km today.  We decided a little bit later than one usually does, to run the Mississauga Marathon on May 5th.  It is the 10th anniversary of the event, and after a series of text messages that proves we enable each other, we decided to do it? (Thank goodness our addiction is running!)

After all it was this very race weekend, last year, that kick started the Deux of us on our crazy adventures.  So there you have it.  We are once again earning ourselves some post-run lattes!

LATTE, LATTE, LATTE!

Sorry, I digress.

Anyway, back to the story of our scheduled 24km run.

We ran 21km, last weekend in a very frigid -27C, and we certainly felt prepared for today.  But the running gods apparently had other plans.  You know how for most runs, for the first 8-10 minutes, you feel a little sore, or stiff, or gangly?  It tends to take a while to loosen up those muscles, get them warmed up and find your stride.  Well, today our run started out no differently.  Unfortunately it ended no differently either.

So frustrating.  So far, we haven't been able to determine why, it seems to be just one of those things.  The terrain was decent, a few wet and slippery areas, but nothing too treacherous - with the exception of Loach's trail- which ran the gammut of snowy, wet, icy, muddy and gross.

By 12km we were tired, by the top of the South Bay road hill (fondly called @#$%#$ South Bay, by me), we were about 16km in and we were exhausted.  We had fueled well, we were hydrated.....but we were tanked.

It was about another 2km after that, as we came out the Loach's Road end of the trail that we knew we were done,  We had another 6-7km to go, but we were running sloppy, slouching and generally miserable.

All of that can lead to injury, so we decided to head back to the store, adding on a tiny side street loop that would get us to 20km.  It can feel a bit like a failure to have to cut a run short, but I am confident we made the right choice.

We are not doing this to qualify for Boston, or attain a specific finishing time.  We know we are going into this less fit than when we ran Montreal. We simply want to finish.

At the beginning of each run, we always say "NO WHAMMIES", meaning no injuries, or falls, or otherwise unfortunate mishaps, that could derail our plans.

Although we are both sore, we finished with "NO WHAMMIES" and that is a very good thing. As Denise says, that was our reckoning run. And now we move on to better things, and longer distances.

A small piece of trivia for you: The last time the DCA cut a run short was on this VERY eventful adventure.

**We will be fundraising for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, so please stay tuned for details and links!

Long may we run.

Jessica

Thursday, March 21, 2013

We aren't the only crazy ones!

Hello everyone!

Just a quick post to introduce you to a friend and running buddy of ours!  Sherry has run with us a number of times, even running a half-marathon with me.

She's started her own blog, Middle-Aged Madness.  Why not jump on over there to check out her very first post!

Long may we run!

Jes


Sunday, March 17, 2013

Running a Frosty 20Km

Holy Crap that was a cold one!

Since we'd been having slightly warmer temps than usual for this time of year in the Suds, Jess and I held out hope that we were going to be blessed with an early dose of Spring to keep us motivated as we up our mileage for the weekend.

 Not so much.  

For our 20Km run on Saturday it was a nippy -25 with windchill.  

Now don't get me wrong,  when living in the north there is a certain amount of freeze-your-butt-off-ed-ness you learn to just accept. Fortunately, as runners in the north,  we have learned that there are four requirements to running in the -20's  that can come together to make for a brisk yet enjoyable run. 

1. Base layer - a.k.a.  trusty smart wool socks and Merino wool long underwear
2. Thermal layer - whatever brand of slightly thicker run jersey or fleece based garment you are comfy in
3. Outer layer - a jacket and pants that will resist wind but breathe so you don't turn into a moving lesson in condensation.
4. The ability to laugh at the oh so womanly frost beard and  joker-like frozen smile  you will undoubtedly sport somewhere around the 10 km mark.

To see where 20Km in -25 took us check out:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/fullscreen/181826570/

Running frosty,

D.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Post Long-Run Lattes.

Well deserved Hazelnut Macchiatos after an 18km run.

What could the Deux Crazy Anglophones be up to?

Stay tuned!