Running for Another Reason

It would have been so much more pleasant and easier to just stay at home wrapped in a blanket this morning! It was cold out, snowy, frosty and foggy! I had to run for another reason today. The plan was to meet Karen and Ken and Ken's side kick Skeemo for a 10km slow run at a pace of approximately 6:40 min/km. We set off at 8:00 am and very easily got into a groove and went with it.

I made sure to admire the beauty of winter along the way. This morning especially! The frost on the trees looked so pretty. What about the frost on our hair? We are both brown-haired ladies!

This is what my 305 spit out once I got home. Distance: 10.1km; Time 1:12:00; Pace 7:07min/km. Not the average pace we planned on but this includes two stops of a sort, one to take a couple of photos and the other to chat with another runner. My watch normally stops when I stop but it didn't today. We did the 10&1 program and our 10s measured like this: 6:43, 6:35, 6:34, 6:55, 7:34 (pictures), 6:41, 7:50 (chat). So all in all, we were right on target.

This morning I didn't run because I had a 10km scheduled training run, or that I was committed to others who were counting on me to be there. Just a few short hours prior to my run, I was reminded how valuable life is! I was reminded to be thankful for my health! I was reminded how short life can be! Last night we lost a friend at the very young age of 42. He lived a very courageous life even more so over the last few months. I ran this morning because I can run and I am so very thankful for that!

By Way of the Letter "S"

Today comes by way of the letter "S"!

I knew I made the right decision to venture to Lake Louise today as soon as I hit the main highway at 7:15am and I had to merge into a long string of traffic heading in the same direction as me. We couldn't all be wrong picking today to head west! It's Saturday and it's sunny!

My original plan was to hike with Adventure Designer and a cast of characters but I just had this need to be deeper into the mountains and I really wanted to skate on Lake Louise and see the ice sculptures. This meant I would be going solo.

Lucky for me all the other folks along the highway were veering off to ski hills along the way and when I arrived at the Lake Louise parking lot at 9:15, it was near empty. The first thing was to get photos of the ice sculptures before they were surrounded by people. They are only two weeks old but looked not over a day.

I noticed about five people skating and it looked so inviting I couldn't wait any longer. I laced up my skates, tuned into my IPod tunes and put 5.5km on my blades over 33 minutes. I took snapshots while I skated and also a couple of videos. I can't imagine any place more beautiful to skate. After a half hour it got busy, I had my fill and felt fulfilled so moved on to the next item on my agenda.

I changed gear and set off to snowshoe up to the Lake Agnes Teahouse. I started with my stabilicers strapped to my boots. The snow seemed hard packed. It was a quick trip up, going solo, no one to talk to, in the trees so no reason to take snapshots. My timing was right on with everything today. I originally hoped the snowshoe trail would be busy, seeing as this was the first time I snowshoed alone but as I was going, I was glad it was quiet. I met one fellow and that was it until the return trip. Once I got into the open the scenery was amazing. This is Lake Agnes.

I had a view of the Chateau down below. The Teahouse is closed but the veranda is open for business. I sat up there to dine. The Big Beehive looks even bigger when it's covered in snow. I spent about 30 minutes at the Teahouse before heading back. I took a quick little detour towards the Little Beehive following a trail others had made.

Once back by the Chateau and the Lake, I took one last trip around to view the sculptures. I was travelling solo but did find someone to hold my hand. I'm not so sure he was into me, I felt he was giving me the cold shoulder.

It's nice to have a mate to share special times with and to keep you warm on cold winter days.

Even though I travelled solo, it was still a great sunny Saturday. I enjoyed skating and snowshoeing (although I wore my stabilicers mostly), and viewing the sculptures. The scenery was spectacular and was prime for taking snapshots. Yes! Today was brought to you by the letter "S"!

Running & Blogging & Summary

Sunday morning means running for me! From the looks of things this morning, it means the same for hundreds of folks. It didn't matter that is was -12 C with a -19 C windchill and icy flurries flying about, we runners are tried and true. Not only were the flurries flying but we seemed to be and so was time! By "we" I mean Karen! She has been a Facebook Friend and Blogging Buddie for a couple of years and this was the first time we ran together. Blogging has been fun, I have learned lots from others and it seems like therapy at times. It's even more rewarding when you get to share face to face time with those you blog with. Thank you Karen for your company this morning! We met at Edworthy and did a back & forth, out & back covering 10km which was the plan. 1:11:43 later we completed the task. We had lots to chat about and going at a pace of 7:09 min/km it was easy to say what we wanted to say.

A month of 2010 is over already! Where did the time go? Well, I can show you where it went for me when it comes to my activity pursuits. Here it is!

I won't have anything to report on biking for a few months yet. I'm just not into winter biking. I am happy with my hiking and running. The snowshoeing kilometers will come but when you get the opportunity to hike in January you just have to go for it. It makes the winters seem shorter. I need to work on finding time to skate.

I'm looking forward to February!

No Need For Guns a Blazin

I arrived at the the trailhead of Gunnery Mountain prepared to have all my "guns a blazin" because I was going to get to that summit come hell or high water! You know when someone tells you not to do something it just makes you more determined to do it! Advice from supposedly those in the know was that this would be an unsafe place to go during winter months. Heck, there was no hell and there was no high water! There was no snowshoeing or scrambling either. It panned out to be a fairly easy mountain hike. Yet still, a most enjoyable day!

The weather was warm but cloud cover hoovered over us all day. It made for an eyrie experience! The area had been totally burned by a massive forest fire many moons ago. Signs of that still exist! The mountain scenery wasn't there today but was replaced with unusual tree growth which caught my attention.

Could those folks who are supposedly in the know and deemed this place unsafe, have been talking about being spooked by what lurks during a full moon? We did sight numerous cougar tracks and other undefined large animal tracks which appeared to be more deer-like than cat-like. Every now and then, I did sense an eyrie feeling when I saw scenes like these!

Even though there were signs of a massive forest fire, regrowth did exist! We saw bits of color here and there. Although, the brightest color today came from everyones' hiking attire. We lit up the place, where the sun didn't! Gunnery Mountain is alive!

I certainly felt alive! I'm thankful others are game to go where even others would not dare! We didn't have to take chances. There was absolutely nothing to deter us, to scare us or to put us in danger. We climbed trees and even played in the trees. We had fun in the deep snow at the top and we even accomplished a little bushwhacking which always delights my heart.

So, no guns a blazin for Gunnery! This mountain is open for business! When we finished up around 3:30, I felt sad that it was over but realize this one has to be over so I can start the next! I can hardly wait until I get that opportunity again to feel like I am "on top of the world!"

I'm Trying!

I'm trying to find the time to build up the kilometers on my skates! My intentions were to skate at lunch time yesterday at Olympic Plaza which is only 5 blocks from where I work but when I arrived there with skates, camera, sunglasses, IPod in hand, it was closed to public skating for an event called Human Curling (the curling stones are people on inner tubes). I will try again next week.

I'm trying to be social with my running! Last Sunday I thought I found a new group of buddies to run with. My intentions were to run with them this Sunday again until I saw they changed the wording on their paces to read more than a 4min/km to under a 6min/km. Well, that is too fast for my LSD! I'm working on enticing a friend to run with me this Sunday and I will try again next Sunday to see if that other group keeps their new wording.

I'm trying to take better care of my body which is one of my new years resolutions! Yesterday, I finally bought vitamins to take to add to my daily ritual. I'm take chewable Calcium + Vitamin D twice a day for strong healthy bones. That's just what the Doctor ordered for a lady my age.

I'm trying to get my race schedule in order! I am officially entered in two half marathons and just this morning I officially entered the Running Room St Patrick's Day 10m Race on March 13th. I notice other friends are running the Calgary RoadRunners St. Patrick's Day Race. We are lucky here in Calgary, we have two to choose from!

I'm trying and making progress!