Heat Wave

Today the training calendar said 8 miles, so the plan was to head out early, 7 am.
Now I don't do much before 7 am, unless it's work and they pay me to get up that early.
We started out at the Marina and half way was at Boulevard. The sun was out and Hot by the time we hit the turn around which was 8 am, we arrived back at the Marina before 9 and it was warm then.

This is the splash pad at the Marina ( an actual picture), we sat at the splash pad with our feet in the water after our run, and the water was cold and refreshing. The sprinklers weren't on but the pool of water was a great way to end a hot run.

It will be nice the day of the Half Marathon to have the finish line minutes away from that splash pad.

Nice Job with the Marina Thunder Bay.

Scenic Run in Rosselin

Lately I have driven out to Rosselin to run with Kathy at her house. It is so quiet out there. Since running out there we have had 3 Giant horses run up to the road only to stop dead and watch us, Kathy was brave enough to pat them both. We have seen chickens in someones yard running around.

The black thing Kathy is pointing at is a chicken, the chickens friends took off on her. 

We also have seen deer while running along the road, they are so tame.

As we were leaving Kathy's house we spotted a groundhog running for it's life on the side of the road, it looks like a beaver with no tail. Carol named it Rosselin Ronny the groundhog.

Stung by a Bee

I was out running this morning on my first day of 2 weeks vacation and I was really having a good run. The sun is so intense these days.
I was coming up to Oliver road when all of a sudden a bee flew under my sunglasses and got stuck. He started to panic and I panicked ripping off my visor and my sunglasses, obviously not quick enough because the darn thing stung me.

Okay so after the run I was outside watering my garden and felt my eye swelling. I came inside and took a picture, when looking it at the picture it is the eye on the left (my right eye) but it does not look that bad. I have a lazy eye normally so this could be just a normal picture of myself and it just feels tingly. OMG.

This past weekend was the Metre Eaters June Classic 5km run, 5km walk and 10km run at Boulevard Lake.
This is my favorite run on the Thunder Bay running calendar. I always run the 10 km for 2 reasons, I enjoy the longer distance then the shorter and that it was on the Miles with the Giant training schedule so it had to be done. The day was perfect, cloudy with a breeze unlike last year when it was sweltering hot. A few of the clan from work signed up, some walkers some runners. We all had a great race.
This run calls on a little mental preparation for the second loop of Boulevard because you pass the finish line only to keep running, you see all the 5km racers finished but you have dedicated yourself to going around twice so around you go.
Here is Kathy and I coming up to the finish line to go around again and Denise is leaving us to finish the 5km.

The crowd is great cheering everyone on, whether it is walk, run, or watch.  Kathy and I slugged it out around for the second time and felt pretty good, We ran it 10:1's which as many may know I have not ran in a long time, it feels good to be back in the swing of things. 

I would just like to say a few things about my running gear, keeping in mind that I am no expert just a trial and error on what works for me. Before the run I had a running shoe dilemma. I had been trying out my new minimalist shoe for my three mile runs and had not had my orthotics on for a long time now, I also had not run 6miles in a very long time. I knew that I should not wear the minimalist shoe foresure because I was just getting used to them but at the same time my orthodics would probably feel awkward. I also had the option of my runners I wear at work which are Asics without my orthodics in them. Awww the decisions, and I thought you could just throw on shoes and just run, that easy, Ha. 

I ended up wearing my Brooks with the orthodics and it was the perfect decision, it took a few minutes to get the feel of the orthodic and then away I went. I also bought a new visor which I absolutely love, I get very Hot when I run and therefore don`t like to wear a Hat but I have found that by covering my face from the sun I did not get as Hot, I know rocket science. This visor comes up over my forehead which is great. It is my new essential piece of running gear. 

We all made it to the finish line, we spent the morning by the lake, what a great race, can`t wait for next year.

Oh by the way, did I forget to mention I won second in my age group.

Yeah!

Running Vacation Over!