Running July into the Ground ;)

July is fast coming to an end :( I am not ready to say goodbye to July, what is usually our hottest, dryest month.  This July has been more chilly than hot, more soggy than dry, and has gone way too fast.  Im very sad about that.  In a little over 2 weeks I will be heading back to the office; way too soon to be leaving the hot summer days for air conditioned shivering.  UGH.  Busy weeks to come too...Exhibition is coming fast with lots of 4H stuff to be done and lots of nights of soccer to boot :)

But there it is, end of July and running is going well.  Despite a lot of pressures that are being put on us.  After my long 22.5 km run we visited my ill grandfather; it was immediately obvious that we were not visiting so much as saying goodbye; we stayed and 1025 that night he passed away, surrounded by so much family.  It was expected but much sooner than we had thought it might be :( Cancer is a bitch. 

 

Hence my week was all not what expected.  Rather than the usual humdrum days, we had company, visited, spent time hanging out in a fueral home,  my brother came home from Australia, my uncles came from across the country and the states. 

I did run....Im following a new plan that I came across when I decided to do the Valley Harvest Marathon. It's a pretty simple plan, and I might lengthen the mid week runs a little, but I think it's solid and doable for me with the busier weeks to come.  I am doing the Level 2 Beginner Plus schedule :) That's me, Beginner, plus. 

So I had a long run on Sunday and rested on Monday after our very late Sunday night and the feeling of sadness that goes along with losing someone special :(  On Tuesday I was looking forward to some alone time to think and had an early tempo run 8.5 km with warm up and cool down total time was 52:25.  It was super hot and humid already at 7 am, like running through soup.  I interviewed once again for my position at the college; I do so wish they would reword it so it is not a term position but rather a seasonal and I could stop interviewing!

Wednesday after Holly's soccer practice I had my mother drive home with Holly and I ran home with Holly's coach.  We ran into Nick from Cross Country last fall and he ran with us for a couple of km, then we continued on to home and the soul sucking hill for 9.8 km in 57:25. 

Ok back at the post; went out and lived a bit.

Thursday was a crazy get ready and go to funeral home for sad visitation which we do not completely understand....having people cry on you while the man in the box is on display :( But it was nice to see so many come to see Grampie :(

Friday; I selfishly went for a really early run before we had to do the funeral thing; 6.5 km in 40 minutes.  Was hot hot hot.

The funeral was nice; I read a page, cousins took part as well, 6 grandsons were pallbearers, it was nice. My grandmother always keeps it together; but the look on her face throughout breaks my heart.
 

Friday afternoon was spent with family; evening we came back to Truro with mother and brothers and family and had a nice BBQ which went super well and we got to spend time with Cullen and hear about Trevor's adventures in Australia.

 

Saturday we were somewhat back to normal; Grammy was still visiting but was away all day and we stayed around and it was hot and nice and I did get in a nice 5 k run that was fast in the morning; 5 k in 28:20 and 5.6 in 33 minutes total.

Sunday the heat let up somewhat and although I would have loved a long run, I had to settle for Vetchecking a horse show, followed by yard work and a ball hockey game that night that, since I had not played since June, kicked my butt a lot.

On to the next week!

Since Moses

Another drive by updating; things have been hectic.  Since Moses running has been steady 4 runs a week.  Its been 2 weeks LOL. Today was the first long run since.  22.5 km done; the end was a little rough; at about 21.5 km I felt like I might be sick; felt kinda like dehydration but I had water the entire way so Im not sure why but the last km was a bit of a slog up the freaking hill :( I hate that hill!  But when I run near home, I cannot finish without climbing that hill!



Finally feeling a little better now. Worried tho about not being half way to my yearly running goal; 867 some odd km finished but a lot more to go still :( Ah well it's just a goal not a requirememnt.

Not Since Moses 2011

Not Since Moses 2011 was not particularly on my run list. Im not sure why; I figured (rightly so) it would not be the same after having the experience of it ending on the island and getting to be boated back to shore after a bbq and exploration.  But for some reason I did start to take note.  I did not sign up for the Miramichi run I had considered, too much work lol.  Some friends were going to the Not Since Moses and because of one in particular (who did not end up running it) I signed up for the 10 K run.  I waited until literally the last moment; about an hour before registration closed I signed me and the kids up for the event; we almost missed our Canada Day fireworks for my signing up!  LOL  Sad! Scott decided not to run any part, preferring to be support staff. 
The day of the run was clear and sunny as could be; predictions were for very hot weather.  We got up early (6 am for a 630 (more like 645) departure) and we ate breakfast on the way to Five Islands.  It's a really pretty drive but I admit I didnt pay too much attention as I always get nervous no matter how not-seriously I am taking the run.  and I was not taking this very seriously; it's never good to hope for a best time when the conditions are like these; beach, mud, rocks, water.
We got to the timing chip pick up spot early enough; I was not enjoying sitting in the field putting on my number tho due to the hundred of little biting midgets (Gnats I think) that were attacking mostly me.  Those little buggers sure can sting; cranky making!   I sat in the car, did some fly spray, got to the very end of the portapotty line, and waited for a bit before finally getting my last pee (considering no one wants to pee on the beach; there is nothing to hide behind out there!)  Runners were being bussed to the starting spot, as parking was a long way from the beach.  Scott and family were going to drive me but While I was sitting there the last bus was boarding and I could not imagine why not just get on it. 
Saw some folks on the bus that I knew, chatted a bit, before being dropped off in a field with a mowed pathway; hard to follow lol I warmed up with a little jog down this path and got to a cliff where we had to go down these stairs to Soley Cove, the starting point for the 10 k run.

Steps to Soley Cove

Soley Cove crowd from the back

Once I got there I saw where all the runners were;) I did take the last bus after all. This was all quite well set up. Still lots of time to warm up and greet folks and of course take photos. The crowd from the bottom of the steps looked big.

Excellent scenery ;)

everywhere we looked it was so pretty!

Very pretty warm up area

The view from the Cove

looking out from the cove to the water beyond; Bay of Fundy. We went left when we started running.

The Cove from the beach looking back

out on the beach looking back into the awesome cove we started at. They just don't make it prettier than this.

View down the beach

looking down the beach to the righ where we had to go.

Waiting to start; I found Lavinia and Crew!

I looked for some friends while warming up taking photos and found Lavinia And family doing the same.

The Carreau Men waiting to start their race

those Carreau's are a fast lot; first in mens and ladies, third man too!

Helicopter flew around us the entire way!

this helicopter hovered over the cove and repeatedly flew back and forth over us and the 5 k runners; I wonder where we would see footage of that?

We were off!  Started out heading left off the cove, through tonnes of mud; turned toward the beach then back past the cove and to Sand Point, the end of the race.

at about 8:45 am it was already hot and they started the race; I kinda wanted to get wet to cool off but there wasn't a lot of water. Little bits. We went left down the beach and around a flower pot before running out to the water and around a weir then cut right and headed for Sand Point and the finish line. We were in mud almost immediately; a lot of the run was over hard flat rock with mud or sea weed on it; this was pretty easy to run on actually. A little bumpy.

Much of the footing was this seaweed covered rock

Self portrait while running

with no one to take photos we improvise, it was super hot and I was not near wet enough yet.

Lovely footing.

My favorite is the sand bar moguls; when you are at the beach and you walk to the sand bars they feel pretty neat but when you are running over them they are shifty, squishy mountains. Some were so high they were like waist or chest height; sometimes they were in series so you had to climb and fall, and I'm not of a height where I could go from top to top or between...had to climb and fall up and down...Fun fun.

Pretty scenery along the way

Despite all the beautiful scenery around us, we were rarely able to enjoy it; the footing required a lot of attention or someone could spend the remainder of the summer on crutches. I did slow to take a few shots and soak it all in; how could you not? Not like I was going to win or anything. But I was surprised at the first water stop when they said it was 5 km done; I was only a little over 30 minutes for time and over that footing, while snapping photos? Not bad!

Watery spot; it got about 16 inches deep for a long ways

more cliffs and rocks and mud and moguls then we rounded a corner and found some nice cooling water; it was about half way to my knees and hard to run in so I kinda hopped from foot to foot through a lot of it. All along the way I was kinda chasing the chick in the purple shorts but about here some guy was behind me and he complained so endlessly I eventually made it my mission to just escape him before he sucked all of my energy away!

Weed covered big rocks; twisted my ankle here.

This was the worst of the footings with big seaweed covered rocks and here I wasn't paying enough attention and I twisted my ankle. It did hurt but I limped a few steps and it was not bad. Once you hurt an ankle it just seems easier to do it for ages; twisted the same one on 2 runs this spring. I need to pay more attention.

My feet :)

Lol could not resist snapping a photo of my feet in the water/mud; thought it turned out well lol.

River to cross

This was the only significant portion of water we crossed near the big of the 5 islands; almost knees maybe? With current. It felt nice and cleaned up my sneakers.

Finish line

Finally the finish line is within reach! Although I should have sprinted i instead took photos *giggle. Not breaking records here! Family and friends were waiting to cheer us in which is my fav part of most runs! Despite my official time being 3 minutes off my watch time, I was really happy with my 1:04 ish run! 20 minutes faster than when I last ran this course! I'm sure that changes every year!

Taylor took some finish line photos for me and it was nice to get to see them! 

The kids Basket Run started a while after I got back and wandered. It was cute. Lots of kids had these bandanas and buffs and I wondered where they got them; someone said they were giving them to the kids but I tell ya I saw more adults and non-running folks wearing them than kids. Cute anyway. The kids all started and Eve lost her shoe righ away; we righted that and then she and Holly went off running ; they did two laps and 1 km in the mud; Holly is a trooper and carried her lost shoe across the finish line. The other kids? Did one lap and collected their medals. I'm pinning my hopes on Holly.

After the basket run we went up to the Sand Point park area to clean shoes (they ran out of water) then we joined the food line. There was entertainment which I was finding loud and the line was incredibly long for food. I think the sun was starting to get to me and I needed to sit for a bit so I left the family to stand for food and I layed beside our car. they had lots of food (mostly) but the wait was way long; I think they did a good job just wish the line could have been less painful. The kids were really good thankfully, making the wait better.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach of course and all headed home sporting wicked sunburns and very sleepy.
Impressions? I liked the run better landing on the island I'm sure my spectators liked it better when we landed on land and they didn't have to kill time waiting for the tide to come back. Way long waiting for various things and too many people not involved in the running part were ahead of us for food and there is little in the way of swag so every bit counts. The shirt was not a favorite. But this is definitely the most fun run I do all year and I will be back for another go!

Posting again

because freaking Blogger ate my post! the only thing I hate worse than trying to remember what I wrote is writing it again. So I'm not doing that LOL.

There isnt much to update before Sunday anyway; Thursday after the kids had their report card days at school and we had an amazing lunch at Chez Mama Barnhill's, Lavinia and I went for a very hot 10 k run up the mountain. (mountain...giggle).  It was about 23 C and It was hot! But the pace was not as fast as it could have been, and I DO love to run along listening to Lavinia talking about this and that, it's enjoyable.  It makes the gross I feel much less.  I was pretty choked by allergies and felt dizzy at one point because I could not get a deep breath, but this time of year that's pretty standard, and it passed.  A nice hot run.  Some people dont seem to mind the heat! 

Friday was rest day (unintentionally) as was Saturday; I tried really hard to mow the lawn; actually tried really hard to do a few things; the power went out so my breadmaking, ice cream making, and lunch making efforts went to hell.  Our Canada Day was fairly uneventful (Friday) with a few chores in the morning and beach in the afternoon; right after we spread our blankets the rain started, and although it stopped after about 1/2 hour, it was never really hot enough for me.  Nice tho. Restful.  Made it to a party that night for birthday/Canada Day celebrations and stayed up late singing around a fire :) Relaxing!

Sunday - Not Since Moses run!