Run this Weekend

Hello friends!

I’ve been smiling for two straight days. (I swear it has nothing to do with the bubbly that I shared with Suzy or the beers with Yvonne). Spring has finally arrived – for real. My bare legs have finally felt the sun beating down on them. Even though I am full-out taper mode, I had to get outside to run.

This weekend was definitely made for running! On Saturday morning I headed to the Perimeter Trail in Riverbend for a short shake out the cobwebs run. I was alone on the trail save for a few pot smokers (which always keeps things interesting). 

I really needed this run. Whenever I run on dirt trails and in the woods, I feel like I have pushed reset on mind. I always come out feeling calm and relaxed. If I weren’t tapering, I would have spent hours on the trail. It was that kind of day. 

Michelle, one of the Calgary Marathon ambassadors, drove to Red Deer from Calgary to run the trails today. I happily met her at the Running Room for a group run. I was thrilled that Yvonne, Cory, Laura and Vinny were feeling the need to put down a few kilometres too! (I am equally impressed that Cory drove from Condor for his first group run!)

The marathon group was running 16K and another group was running 6K. I volunteered to lead a 10K group. There were about 15 humans and one dog named Bishop, who ran his first 10K today. The Running Room uses the run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute training method so I stuck to the script. I wanted to ensure everyone was having a fun time because many were new runners.

Somewhere along the way the group split into two packs – “the man pack” and “the not the man pack” I don’t like to leave anyone behind so I ran between to the two groups (perfect interval training). The front group also turned around during the walk portion of the run.

My only regret was the length of the run because I didn’t get a chance to talk to the lovely and talented Laura. She’s running the New York marathon in November! I can’t wait to run with her this summer as she trains! After the run, a bunch of us chatted about running, races and the weather over coffee at Big Bend Market. Good times.

Michelle is so NICE. A little harsh truth here – some people on the Internet are a little CRAZY. I met Michelle briefly at the medal reveal in Calgary a few weeks ago. But mostly I know Michelle from her online self. And you know … everybody is their true self online …

Verdict? Not crazy. She’s a super sweet lady who was genuinely interested in chatting with EVERYONE. I loved her positive attitude about running and life. We need more positive energy in this world. I am so glad Michelle made the drive to Red Deer. I think she had a good time because she blogged as soon as she got back to Calgary.

Read about her experience here.

I hope you had a very runny weekend!