Treacherous and unforgiving but totally awesome

Pre-race jitters

Winter cross country can be unforgiving but I definitely wouldn’t replace it with easy runs, even on these miserable days.

The Edworthy Cross Country race is put on by the Calgary Road Runners, and includes a potluck lunch with lots of soup and of course chocolate and sweets.

This 7km trail race is never a walk in the park. Spikes are pretty much mandatory and so is the waiver. Running on icy trails next to cliffs caused my heart to skip a couple beats whenever I slipped.

The two big downhills required hanging onto trees several times to keep from sliding, and the uphills definitely resorted us to the slower side of speed-hiking. But there was a short flat section, which as you can see below, provided an opportunity for photos.

No passing on these trails

 

Short flat section. Where’d that come from?

 

I paced my 12 year old these year, so we didn’t see the winners but we had fun, didn’t we? The wheezing, side pains, and blood are just a sign of how much fun we had. Right?

 

7 km in 2 loops. 165m elevation. That’s enough for me today.

 

If you google it, all the pictures of Edworthy Park are beautiful summer pictures. See here. But the reality is snow and ice at this time of year. Makes for a fun time for sure. Gotta love Canada! And the Alberta weather.

Seen on my run – front lawn ornament?

What kind of front lawn ornament is this?