Weekend recap

Running in new cities is something I could get used to!

This weekend was full of pros and cons – although really, many more pros than cons.

Pro – My aunt and uncle’s 40th wedding anniversary.  Congratulations Kim and Sam!  And props to my cousins for organizing a kick-ass surprise party.  Great to see everyone again, and a fun weekend road trip to Ottawa!

Con – As with every great family reunion, beer happens.  Oops.  So much for my 2 week alcohol-free pledge.  But special occasions sometimes warrant flexible rule.  I’m really not too upset here – we’ll just extend the pledge by a few days to make up the difference 😉

Pro – Getting to run in a new city.  Saturday morning (after a couple beers the night before) I hauled my butt off the air mattress for a run.  I was a guest in my cousin’s house, so didn’t have a chance to fix up my usual pre-run breakfast, so I ran on an empty stomach.  Not the smartest move, especially with a few beers kicking around in there, but since that was the worst part of the run I had no complaints.

Ottawa is beautiful.  I love it there – I don’t know the city well at all – but I always feel comfortable there.  My cousin lives right down by the old Rideau Canal.  A perfect site for a run.  I didn’t have the foresight to take a picture for the blog, so the shot above is courtesy of Google Images, but it looks about right – a lovely paved trail right along the water.  It was bustling with runners and cyclists, but the fitness traffic flowed smoothly.

I ran a pleasant 5.5k doing 7:1’s – a bit of a slow pace, but I was enjoying myself.  I had already eclipsed my weekly kilometer PB this week, and already ran my goal of 3 sessions, so this was all bonus.  It felt really good.

Hamilton is nice and functional for running, but I usually just run around my residential neighborhood.  Running along the canal really sold me on the idea of running in new locations, and new cities where possible.  The experience is so much nicer than the usual houses I run past every day.  Wouldn’t it be nice to travel across Canada, or North America, or the World seeing new cities, and running in each of them as we go?  I’m kinda thinking that sounds fantastic!  Seriously, I’m getting into this running thing!

On another note, I got my bike fixed up on Friday on my way out of town, so she’s ready to roll again!  So this coming week’s goal is to mix in some hard bike workouts without losing any of the solid running and swimming foundation I put in last week.  I foresee a couple Brick workouts in my future this week – actually kinda looking forward to it.

21 days to race day…

-DO’G