getting kind of lazy....

....with posting every day. Oh, well. Yesterday was 5.88 miles, just an easy jog to loosen up after the FitWalk adventure the day before, and then I jogged to work too. so 7.3ish/whatever altogether.

For some miraculous reason, I actually got to sleep around 1 am after my shift. I still felt like sludge getting up at 8 today for run club, though. It was -26 C with the windchill (warmer than it has been, but I was expecting even warmer weather) and running there took a while. There was fresh snow on the ground and more coming down. The footing was, well, I'm not sure how to describe it. It could have been a lot worse. However, it was deceptively not easy--a few inches of snow, how hard could that be? Alas, that's still enough for a little party under each shoe: things just sort of mingle and have a few drinks and start shaking loose under there, and meanwhile, you're not getting where you want to go as quickly. The technical terms, like lack of traction, escape me.

I'm in a really pleasant mellow post-run frame of mind right now because it turned out to be a super run.

It took a while to get really going though...I met up with the run club and quickly decided that I was not going to hang with the gazelles this time. Not going to happen. So I ran for a bit, got a bit cross with the snow, etc, etc, and then a bunch of us were going up this hill and it just wasn't in me to push that much.

But I was not alone.

Gazelle #1 and I exchanged a quick confirmation of our lack of initiative, and then it was ON. or off....we lost the group, they pulled ahead, and then we just started running around, wherever, up this street, down that. We got to the river, and I thought we were headed south, lol (things look different in snow)....anyway, it was really pretty running amongst the trees, very refreshing. I would like to run there again before things melt. Yes, we were running through snow, but that was not much different from the sidewalks at this point. All too soon, we were back beside City Hall.

But this meant we were also fairly close to the Byward market, including washrooms with hand dryers (my mitts had gotten damp somehow so my hands were really cold), and food. One thing led to another, and suddenly we were having expresso shots and I had some baclava and turkish delight (my companion had much more self-restraint), and I was eyeing the pralines but she pulled me away. We walked through Chapters on our way to the Canal, but then trudging through more snow was beginning to erode the nice expresso bubble.

But, hey, the Canal itself is pretty smooth, and fairly well-cleared...

So we got on that. I've jogged alongside it, on the ice though on snow on the ice, but this was the first time I'd run on the nude ice. Admittedly, it still had a thin veneer of snow which provided good traction, and it was amazing how much easier it was to run on that than through the snow. I was still slightly nervous about slipping at first, but eventually forgot that we were on ice. We mixed in with the skaters and jogged to Dow's Lake while discussing getting a beavertail. We'd come that far, and the train was already off the rails with this run. With amazing fortitude, though, we postponed the beavertail until we were back at the other end of the Canal. We got a Killaloe (sp?) Sunrise, but they were a bit stingy with the lemon. Still, it was very good.

Then we jogged back to the rendezvous point and explained to the other run club members what the heck we were doing for so long out there.

And then, after some hot drinks, it came time to jog home. I accompanied my fellow gourmand for a mile or so, then peeled off to go home. I had a vague plan to get some more Middle Eastern desserts on the way home, but then decided against it. And then I realized that I was close to completing 20 miles, so I ran up and down our street to get there. Near the end, I ran on the street itself, where it was fairly clear, and I had the same sort of epiphany I had on the Canal: hey, running NOT in snow is quite easy. It was amazing how fresh my legs felt. Although, my left leg felt a little funny in the thigh near the end...I think all the slipping and sliding around was tiring something out there, but it wasn't anything major.

Total 20.08 miles in almost 4 hrs. I blame the snow. Not the snacking. The snacking helped me hang in there and enjoy it. It was great training for the ultra, too.

DEFINITELY, I'm going to Yin Yoga tonight. Turned in my chem assignment a short while ago, so my conscience is unburdened (temporarily--I have bio breathing down my neck now....)