Playing Catch-Up

In Grade One, my teacher, Mrs McLean, had a bin for unfinished work called the Ketchup Bin.  This was where she sent you if you finished your work quickly and wanted to play while she wanted you to be quiet.  I never wanted to have anything in the Ketchup Bin because I liked extra play time, and didn't like Ketchup after I found out there were tomatoes in it because tomatoes were about the grossest thing ever when I was six.  Now I like ketchup, and I still like playing, except for when it comes to playing Catch-Up, which is what I'm doing with my marathon training these days.

You haven't heard from me in a while, and I know I have a lot of catching up to do around bloggy land too!  After my trip to Whistler, I returned home for one night and then left with the BF on a(nother) epic road trip to the North.  We've done Dawson City, and Yellowknife in the past.  This year it was time to make the trek to Inuvik - the farthest north you can drive in Canada, well north of the Arctic Circle.

The trip went great.  We had a fantastic time and it was a much-needed getaway for both of us.  We saw loads of wildlife, spectacular scenery, and even splurged on a flight all the way to Tuktoyaktuk to dip our toes in the Arctic Ocean. 

My plan to run on the trip did not go so great.  :(

You would think that with 24 hour daylight, I would have found the time to run somewhere along the way even with 14 hours of driving on some of the days, but I was foiled by mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds and warning signs of grizzly bears.  Aside from running from the mosquitoes to check into the campsite each night, and a run back to the vehicle to grab the binoculars to get a closer look two moose we could see on the other side of Two Moose Lake (seriously), and a couple of quick jogs with the dog around parking lots here and there, I really didn't run.  Though it was meant to be a fall-back week, falling back to zero was definitely not in the plans!

On the bright side, I did get one amazing cross-training session in.  After several short hikes along the way, on my birthday we finally came across a good, longer hike - UP A MOUNTAIN.  This was hard work and just got harder for the entire 3 hour climb to the top where we were rewarded with the clouds breaking into sunny skies and fantastic views in every direction.

Needless to say, despite the gruelling hike, my first run upon my return was rather painful.  I made it 5.5K and needed walk breaks as my legs kept trying to push me to my former 5K pace and the rest of my body couldn't take it.  This was my only run back in Quesnel, before leaving for Toronto to visit family, friends and my cottage.

The next day I pushed myself through a 5.5 MILE run around my aunt's neighbourhood in hot, humid, Toronto.  It was hard, but it felt great to get it done!  Up at the cottage, I had another great run in the rain, down my road to check out all the changes to the cottages - another 7K done!  Cross training was a long canoe ride down the lake and up the river towards town, across and through the swamps and back.  I was actually looking forward to my long run planned for Saturday.  I knew I wouldn't make it the full distance of 18K on the schedule, but planned on running 14 as that seemed manageable.  I'm pretty sure I could have done it too, if my good friend hadn't been there the day before practically pouring the wine down my throat!

Ah, that's what happens when best friends and former university roommates live on opposite sides of the country and only see each other once a year.  Alas, I was bargaining with myself before I even made it to the end of the cottage road and onto the highway.  I made it 11.45 kms, but it wasn't pretty.  I was practically sweating wine.  Luckily, we did a little cross training later by having a dance party in the living room.

I was back in Toronto for one day and one more 8K run before catching a flight to New York City for a friend's wedding.  I'd never been before so I'd given myself a few extra days for site-seeing so there was also lots of time for running.  I got in one 9K run on a very hot and humid morning, and then was blessed with cooler weather for the long run on Friday morning before the wedding.  I fell just 3K short of the scheduled 21K.  I know I could have pushed myself to the end, but was actually pleased with 18K, as this was my longest run since the half at the beginning of June.  I also didn't want to be completely zonked for the wedding that night or too tired to keep up with the training the following week.  A little nap in the afternoon and then I was dancing the night away with all of my friends from high school who had flown in for the wedding.

I flew back to Toronto for one night at my Grandma's and a quick 5K run around her neighbourhood before flying back to Quesnel yesterday.  Though my long run wasn't as long as what was on the schedule, I managed to run the right weekly kms total.

Today I learned what it must be like to be a smoker and run.  There are about 200 forest fires burning in the Cariboo Region and air quality is terrible.  After my 10 day hiatus, I'm not letting myself have any excuses, so I went out to do 10K today and managed to get it done.

I leave tomorrow for Calgary for 2.5 weeks of training and the start of my new contract.  I have to be honest and say I'm kinda tired of the travelling (especially now that I'm back to work-travel and not fun-travel), but at least it will get me away from the campfire smell and hazy air.  Plus, running at a higher elevation is going to make running back home feel easier, right?  This week is supposed to be another fall back week in training, but I'm going to aim for 22K for my long run this weekend which will be my longest run ever!

Because it's back to work travel, I'll be travelling with my laptop and will have lots of time for catching up on all of your blogs!  Can't wait to hear what you've all been up to!