Running – My First 10 Years

Running my shoes off over the last 10 years.

2005 – 400km

2006 – 1600km – Vancouver Marathon, Emporer’s Challenge (21k)

2007 – 500km

2008 – 1600km – Calgary half marathon + Footstock marathon + first triathlon

2009 – 1600km – Calgary marathon + Sylvan Lake half iron

2010 – 1600km – Vancouver marathon, Calgary marathon + Calgary half iron

2010 Vancouver Marathon

2011 – 1600km – Calgary marathon

2012 – 2800km – Calgary marathon, 50k (Frozen A)

First time Boston qualifier!

2013 – 3000 km – Boston marathon, Calgary marathon

Boston Marathon

2014 – 2700 km – Lost Soul 50k, Calgary 50k

Wow, looking back is inspiring me to have an even awesome-r 2015.

Sunrise in the Rockies

Sunrise on my run in the mountains. Too bad we have to go home today.

The drive home was pretty nice though

From mountains to prairie in only a couple hours. Home sweet home.

Another one for the epic list!

4k uphill in 6″ fresh powder and 4k non-stop downhill. The downhill is definitely worse for being able to walk after. But it is so much fun!

I just might have to do it again before we leave tomorrow.

I could see the whole valley at the turn around point. But that was probably only half way up the mountain. Any higher and the clouds would have ruined the view. I will have to come back in the summer and go right to the top. Unfortunately we are going home tomorrow.

The bikers and snow boarders love hiking up and flying down.

12% average slope. A little less slope would have made it more runnable especially with the snow. But the periods of fast hiking kept the heart  pumping.

Another one for the epic list!

New town, new trails

I didn’t do my usual research of checking out a new place for the great running trails. But after asking around I found a couple good ones. More to come tomorrow. This is up Arrow mountain in Creston, BC

And this is the wildlife wilderness area near Balancing Boulder, also in Creston.

Now the snow is coming down hard so it should be even more fun tomorrow.

Crossing Creeks on Christmas Eve

My Christmas Eve morning run was pretty quiet except for some dog walkers. But the lighting on these photos turned out and I had to stop to add these bridges to my collection of bridges.

These wooden bridges were from our family hike later the same afternoon

Happy bridge running

Heart Creek Falls

Our family hike on Christmas Eve was to Heart Creek Falls in Kananaskis, near Canmore. Great temperature, no wind, and we were just about the only people out there. Where is everyone? Shopping?

3 km one way trail to the falls. Not much water at this time of year but lots of ice and frozen waterfalls make for a beautiful hike.

Another new cool bridge

Construction season must be over because I came across two bridges today that have been under construction since for ever but were ready to be tested today.

This river front paved pathway in East Village, Calgary was very quiet today. Maybe everyone was doing last minute shopping.

I am impressed with the quality of the pathways – separate lanes for bikes, very wide, lots of landscaping. You probably don’t want to run by yourself in the dark though – it is too near down town. But you can run for hours either upstream or downstream on paved trails starting from here.

14 km run after a short work day. Finished it just as it was getting dark.

Cramming it all in – what happens when you lose track of your distance goal

So much for finishing the year nice and easy. My easy days ended exactly 5 days ago when I realized I wouldn’t meet my goal for the year. So I’m trying to cram it all in.

I am going very slow so I don’t get injured but I’m going long. These back to back long days are unusual for this time of year for me but so far it’s working.

My Google Fit said I did 98,000 steps in 4 days. That is from running 20 km x 3 days plus 12 km yesterday plus 2 hour hike, plus Christmas shopping. Of course, the most tiring part is the Christmas shopping, but that is done now.

 

Now I just have to average 8 km per day to the end of the year and I will have made it. That sounds do-able. Just don’t overdo it, I keep telling myself. Don’t ruin your January training.

Frozen wetlands have no mosquitos

On a whim I decided to try out a new trail today. 15 minute drive so l had a vague recollection what the trail was like. It followed a small river snaking through the wetlands adjacent to a housing development.

In my 2 hours of running I maybe passed 20 groups of people so that’s not bad. Not as isolated as I had hoped but not crowded.

But the trails were very icy and I had to keep my pace very slow and my steps quite precise on the slipperiest parts.
Just as I was finishing the sunset came out. I guess on the shortest day of the year you can expect that.

Elbow River, upstream from Glenmore Reservoir

Carefully placed rock bridge. Cool.

Super icy in a lot of spots.

The trail was 5km one direction. I had hoped there would at least be a loop. So that was one down side to this trail
But if I remember right and from indications on the trail this area can get very wet in spring and summer.

Scene from a horror flick? Feels like it.

So this park is called Griffiths Park in Discovery Ridge in SW Calgary

And a bonus at this time of year is that even the wetlands have no mosquito’s.

2 loops for 20 km

Rockies in our backyard (well almost)

So lucky to live so close to the Rocky Mountains. At the last minute on Saturday we drove 45 minutes to go on this hike just outside Canmore, Alberta. Beautiful valley, called Cougar Creek, and great weather to boot. And the kids don’t complain nearly as much as they used to.

This creek bed seemed endless. We walked a few kilometers and then had to turn around when it started getting dark.