After reading Bluebirdrunner's post about looking for positives in her run, I set out for my run today with that in my mind. I usually find that if I can get out the door and get past the first km or two, I feel great and tend to find joy in most my runs and today was no exception! There were so many positives that I thought about during my run, I decided to share them as well and given the group that have made January's quest to make their runs fun again and look for the joy in every run was here, I thought what better place than here to share it. So here we go, and sorry, it's probably going to be another long SaskAlliecat ramble. You might want to grab a cuppa and snack before you start 😆.
The positives in my run today:
- Although it was a brisk -13C, the sun was shining and the wind was calm! What?!? The sun? What is that? It was so bright, I actually pulled out my sunglasses which I normally don't do in the winter. Then by 6k, I remembered why. As I was getting quite warm and sweating as I do so well, they were fogging up quite a bit. Given the ice, I decided to take them off because I could see better without them than fogged up with them and fortunately my lovely winter running jacket has great pockets that fit them perfectly so they were safely stowed away for the majority of my run.
- The ice - no this is not normally a positive, but in looking for positives in my run today, I can even make this a positive. Over the Christmas break I got a few runs in, but they all were short or mid length runs and today was my long run so the ice forced me to go oh-so-slow as I shuffled across the numerous icy patches (picture an old man with his walker shuffling down the hall; that is how I felt, although without a walker and a woman instead 😆). I thought the pathway would be more clear given how clear many people's sidewalks were in town so I didn't wear my Yaktrax or spikes, but I was wrong. I had them in the car, but by the time I realized how treacherous today's run was going to be, and knowing the distance I had in mind, I really didn't want to backtrack, go to the car, and restart, so I carried on. It meant some detouring and reconfiguring my run on the fly, but even that was good. I saw some very pretty homes in an area I never normally run in and saw where the alternative school had been moved to. So now I know a little bit more about my community 😁. In the areas where the ice was quite large and if the adjacent snow crusted grass wasn't too bad, I would detour onto the crusty snow. So another positive was how this type of running, zig zagging around the ice trying to find the best line, starting/stopping, slow then slower, with perhaps a nice steady stretch is more in tune to my summer trail runs. So today was a great trail running prep run 🙄. Ok that's a stretch, but it was what I was thinking about while slowly zigzagging all around my run today.
- An absolute highlight of my run today - at about 5k I was running up on a ridge overlooking the frozen creek when I thought I saw a dog in the distance coming towards me from the opposite side of the creek. It wouldn't be unusual, there are homes right there, but nope, no human with that dog. Then as he got closer, I thought, is that a Shiba Inu? We have a few of them in town but I could not imagine an owner not being with him and he seemed a little big to be a Shiba. Then I got closer and saw...it was a fox! I have scared up a fox before running in the coulee in front of my house, but never running along these city pathways. He was running toward my path across the frozen creek but he kept stopping, staring at me, as I stopped and stared at him, each of us trying to figure out how we can avoid each other but continue on our path. I tried to get a picture but as you can see it didn't turn out too well. I may've tried zooming in too much given I was up on the hill and he wasn't exactly sitting there posing for me. Oh well, I still added it, because it was so cool to see. Now he tried backtracking back the way he came but you could tell that wasn't what he wanted so I stopped completely and then he zoomed up the bank in front of me, across the pathway and kicked into high gear across the field away from me. He was so gorgeous. I'm glad I got to see him and that we were able to both go where we planned without an altercation.
- As I reached the point that was to be my turn around point for this out and back run, I saw the long hill that I tend to avoid unless I'm doing a hill training run. However today, I saw that the majority of what I could see was fairly clear of ice. Knowing I was going to avoid part of the path I just came on, I decided to run up the hill and detour into the area I mentioned above. It was nice to get a longer hill in mid-run, of a decent incline. And, I can actually easily run up the entire hill now (except the 2 icy patches that I stopped and shuffled across, but that was safety, not cardio related). Again, great prep for my trail runs this summer (sorry, dreaming of trail running this summer is what is getting me through this winter).
- As I was crossing over and under the various bridges on my route there was open water. It was so pretty watching the flowing water bubble under the edge of the ice. I stopped to take a little looksy midrun. Today's run wasn't fast, but I sure enjoyed every part of it.
- As I reached the final 2k in my run, my tummy was reminding me I was missing lunch. I knew today was going to be a longer run and I didn't have a huge breakfast due to having some repairmen in to fix my heater first thing this morning so I took my usual Tailwind with me, but also threw in a bag of raisins in the pouch of my hydration belt. As my tummy was rumbling and my legs were getting tight and with my struggles with low blood sugar, I stopped for a handful of raisins. By this point, I have been running for over an hour and a half and it really hadn't warmed up much so those little raisins were frozen. The nice thing about frozen raisins, they're just a little chewier, but really are quite yummy! I've taken little Mars bars on these winter runs and they freeze quite hard after this length of time in these temps making them hard to eat, but the raisins hit the spot and allowed me to finish my run. I then ate more on my drive home while I chugged the rest of my Tailwind and felt well enough after drinking a yogurt drink when I got home to have a quick soak in the outside hottub before hitting the shower and having a very delayed lunch.
And last, but not least, tatatata.....
- I ran my longest road run to date -16.3km! I have ran/hiked a longer trail run this summer, but my running partner was struggling with her legs so we hiked more than we ran so I call that one a hike instead of a run, but regardless today was the longest non-trail run. I have reached 16 km twice before in my running "career" but with my detours today, I got a bit further in. I'm working toward a HM distance and am hoping to finally make it. On the other 2 attempts, after reaching this distance, fate would intervene and my running would be halted. The first was a car accident and the second was a bad fall on the ice. Both were around this time of year and I fell into such a funk that once I healed from my injuries, I found it hard to restart so fingers crossed that third time is a charm and this winter I succeed. I'm going with the power of positive thinking! It WILL happen 🙂
So lots of positives today. Thank you to Bluebird and paulanoo for reminding us to take time to enjoy our runs. I hope everyone is able to find some positives in their runs this weekend!
And the fox! Wow! Well done for your longest road run as well - brilliant 
), the bubbling water, the hill (now come on, how can a hill be a positive? ) but most of all, you are enjoying your running. Just fab ! 
A Tough 12k And A Different Kind of Trail Runner ! 
