Watch out it's rambling Wednesday

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In: Running
Grab a seat and a cup of coffee and be prepared for a long and rambling post. It’s been that kind of week.

Right so on Sunday I am running the Grizzly Ultra Marathon in Canmore. And on Friday I will be in Edmonton for the 1984 Oilers Reunion shin dig. Yup lots of driving next weekend. I am choosing to ignore this part of my upcoming long weekend. 

(This is a pricey race. I also added $40 onto the soloist entry because I booted my teammate off my two-person team. One could say I deserve the hit to my bank account.)

The race is at the Canmore Nordice Centre, the same spot where I ran Rundle’s Revenge earlier this year. I love Canmore. Such a gorgeous part of Alberta! I finally got around to checking out the Grizzly website. I thought I should look into what I have gotten myself into after all it’s in less than a week. There’s a lot of info to digest. 

For one thing, I have to carry bear spray on the trail. Yup bear spray. It’s one of the new regulations for the Canmore Nordic Centre because of all the recent bear sightings in the area. It’s a pain in the ass because I didn’t want to carry anything. I will wear my Nathan VaporShape so I can carry the spray in my front pocket. I have never fired off bear spray and I don’t know anyone who has done so either. Better be safe then say, dead, or disqualified. 
I have 10 hours to finish the 50k. Let’s all cross our fingers that it will not take me 10 hours to finish. Not that it is a bad thing to finish in 10 hours, I just don’t want to be on my feet for 10 hours. Ugh. Remember this race was a spontaneous decision. Only three weeks go I suffered through 54k of coulees in Lethbridge. Let’s hope my body remembers that I love trail running. 

I’ve been taking it pretty easy since Sunday. That 30K on pavement did a little more damage than I had anticipated. My calves were still whining on Tuesday. The good news is my shoulder/arm is on the mend. I had a massage on Monday and I will head to physio again on Thursday. Still I skipped my planned run and headed to the gym. I biked 10K before I swam. I’m hoping to run tonight and again on Thursday. I just have so much time on my hands when I am not running. I’m also eating a lot of popcorn (and a lot more). I justify this by saying “I will burn it off on Sunday.” Ha ha. Right. Someone stop me now!

And on a side note … I noticed my right leg is much bigger than my left leg. Isn’t that weird? Or is that perfectly normal? I wonder if this affects my running pace or my ability to carry on a simple conversation? (See for yourself above.) 

Thanks for stopping by today! Come back on Friday where I highlight another runner, Igor, in my I am a Runner Series.

Happy Trails.

10 Comments

  2. You've got this!! It is one of the very best, and most fun races EVER, enjoy those trails, they are beautiful.

  4. i think you have the taper crazies. haha.its gonna be gorgeous and fun!! cant wait

  5. I did a 12k leg of this a couple of years ago, fun day.
    I'm busy regenerating right now, but thinking of extending my season with a half next month. If I do it it'll be spontaneous too.

  6. Wow. You learn new things from reading blogs! I had no idea there was such a thing as bear spray. That looks like a beautiful place to run. Have fun!

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