Saturday, April 5, 2008

Saturday Long Run - 6 hours

Me so tired! Today was my last long run before my debut 50 miler. All is well- I had a good day and everything went smooth. I decided to do 3 loops from Banff, on a terrain profile similar to my race next weekend! First, I ran out and back on the Spray River Trail (2 hours) and then I ran up Sulphur Mountain (2 hours+) and then I ran all the way around Tunnel Mountain (2 hours). Lots of great scenery!

It was a beautiful calm morning with fresh snow and dusted trees along the Spray River Trail. My footy prints were the first ones on the trail! My first 14k looked a lot like this:


Then, the big climb up Sulphur which is always so pretty. The scenery was pretty dramatic today and I got the full meal deal for weather: sun, cloud, snow, drizzle. The snow was light and fluffy when I started and got progressively more wet and heavy. Lake Minnewanka was shining in the distance from the top of Sulphur Mountain today - that's where I ran last week, right down the middle of the lake!




On the homefront, I got to enjoy the company of friends Anne and Zak for a couple of days and I ran into them at about the 4 hour mark as I was coming down Sulphur Mountain. My cheering squad! Baby Blaze is in the baby backpack. Anne is also 4 1/2 months preggers and was smokin' up that mountain. Congrats to you both!



A quick trip through town took me past the Banff Springs Hotels and a bunch of cigarette smoking guests (bleh! don't you know I've been running for 4 hours??? gross, gross, gross) Banff is busy on the weekend - though I was only in town for five minutes I was glad to get back on the trail, I had that "glazed-over-I've-been-running-for-five-hours-go-away-people" thing going on. The trail behind Tunnel Mountain was pretty icy and I had to pay attention but I got some great views of the under appreciated side of Mount Rundle.




Good times!
Tomorrow, Keith and I are off to stay at Skoki Lodge for a couple of nights with 3 other friends. Woohoo! I am keen to go relax for a few days - reading, eating and napping are all on the agenda.

6 comments:

CoyoteGirl said...

Such a pretty run! Love those mountains.


BTW - Love your pretty new bike too!

Meghan said...

Good job, killer! Way to get the hard work done! Are you feeling happy about where you are? Hopefully you had a restful day playing with your honey...

Speaking of your honey (and his dog), that last entry was so very darling. :)

Meghan

Leslie said...

Hi CG - my new bike is dead sexy. I can't wait to take it outside!

Hi Meghan! Phew. Got 'er done. The funny part was when I got home and looked at my running program it said "LONG RUN 5 HOURS." Hey-hey! Somehow, I had 6 hours on the brain....OOPS!

I am feeling good and am trying not to fixate on just how far I am going to have to ask myself to run in the very near future. It's scary!!

Love the men in my life. Norman is now more my dog than Keiths!!

Feelin' pretty good.

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