For the love of running

This weekend, I did 3 things that I don't often do: I ran WITH a partner with no regard to pace or timing & I tried trail running.  We visited family for Easter & my SIL (who will be running her 1st Half-marathon when I do my marathon) went out running.  I did have my Nike+ with me but accidently hit the pause button so didn't get a distance log so I put it away and never looked again this weekend.  Instead, we enjoyed some unexpected sunshine, a very cool trail run right in downtown Toronto...I had no idea you could do that in High Park, but there are miles & miles of trails for the picking & a run along the lakeshore boardwalk! 

Short Mums on the run ;-)

At first I was anxious when I realized I had no idea how much distance I was covering, but then I just let it go and enjoyed it.  They weren't intense runs (well, a few of the killer hills she took me to & said "you go ahead, I'm just going to power walk up this one" were intense! lol!)  but I found I really, really enjoyed the change in pace, chatting while running & not worrying if I was meeting my tempo goals.  It was liberating to give myself permission to do that for a weekend!  Plus, my body feels great today.  No aches or pains....the knees are fine & I think I'm back :-)

Even the turtles are passing me...

I feel so slow.  I am having a ridiculously hard time getting back into the swing of things after 2 weeks off! My knees hurt (this has NEVER been an issue for me), my legs feel like lead and my times are getting slower and slower.  2 weeks & all the hard work conditioning myself that I've done over the past year and a half is out the window?  I'm back at square 1?  This really sucks.  3 weeks ago I had no doubt I could complete a half marathon distance. I felt I'd conditioned myself up to that with a reasonable amount of comfort.  Today, I'm slogging to finish 7! Please tell me I will get over this hump soon?????

And to all those running Boston this weekend...you are awesome! Enjoy!

Vacation Recovery

We just got back from Paris & Rome.  An absolutely fabulous & exhausting trip! I packed with good intentions & running gear thinking what spectacular settings for running. Yeah, not so much....big cities suck for running & running 1 block at a time just wasn't going to happen for me.  Plus, oh yeah, we walked our asses off every day!  I don't think my feet have ever hurt from a run as much as they did at the end of each day! Even broke out the Mizuno's for a day in Rome & feet still aching at the end of the day! I mapped just the first day & we walked over 10 miles not counting the stairs up the Arc de Triomphe, walking down the Eiffel Tower & traipsing through the miles of The Louve...all after getting off an overnight flight with the boys (DH went over early for business).  Worth it though! We saw dear friends (& their sweet new baby) in Paris & met up with Thing 3 (Thing 1's best friend & family) in Rome, all adding up to a fabulous store of memories.  Here are a few photos:

Colloseum

Me, Thing 1 & Thing 2

That's a LOT of stairs...just one of many we tackled!

Springtime in Paris :)

On the upside, Thing 1 did say upon noting several runners in Paris...."Hey, these Parisian runners are really slow. I think you could actually take them, Mum!"  .... said with the serious shock & awe that only a 14 year old can muster! LOL!  So, hey, I think I'm going to have to look for a Paris marathon to run ;-D

Got out for a slow, easy 5 miles yesterday.  Felt slow, but not bad.  Going to try for a little further today, now that I have cleared Mount Laundry & restocked the fridge.

Happy Running!