Wow, what a busy weekend! At least it felt busy. We did the Trail Run at Lake Bistineau on Saturday morning and survived the son-of-a-gun. Didn't do too badly at all...Jonnene got 15th overall of 54 in the 3-mile trail run and won the Women's Masters trophy (well, not really a trophy...it was a travel CD case). She cranked out a time in the 32-minute range and helped a fellow runner deal with a sprained ankle after the race! I guess we've lost that Ace bandage for good!
I got 22nd overall of 86 in the 10-mile run and I have a couple of blood blisters on the ball of each foot to prove it! It was cold to start the race but the humidity was low so it was quite tolerable. After the pre-race meeting, we started off into the woods where it took about 2-3 minutes over the logging road to sort out everyone before we entered the first real trail. I stayed with a group which had a couple of runners I know who are pretty fast and I was able to hang on for the first 35 minutes...probably four miles...before I started to lose them. Even then I kept them in sight for a while as they hovered about 100-125 meters ahead. But they'd disappear eventually and I spent a lot of time by myself, occassionally passing someone or being passed by someone with more endurance/speed than me! The good thing about being with that faster group was that it took longer for some runners to catch up to me later in the run. The top two women runners finally caught me around the 7-mile mark as I was slowing. One passed me pretty quick while the second stayed behind me for almost a mile and we chatted nearly the entire time. Then I told her that I was just holding her up and let her pass by (she would beat me by a little over a minute).
In the last couple of miles two more guys passed me but I held everyone else off. As I exited the woods into a field, Jonnene was out there waiting for me and, as I blew her a kiss, yelled out that I had a chance to beat an hour-and-a half if I picked it up a bit. Sure enough, as I got within sight of the finish I could see the timing clock and started sprinting the best I could. Crossed the line in 1:29:53 for about a 9-minute-mile pace for 22nd overall (did I mention that already? Hee-hee.) and fourth in the Grand Masters 50+ age group. Except for the blood blisters, I came out of the run pretty good...a little stiff and some pain in my right hip socket but that was gone by Sunday.
Today we did a ride with Mack's Sunday morning take-it-easy group (usually a recovery ride for the hard Saturday ride). There were eleven of us and we covered more than 50 miles. It did have its fast moments and I was very pleased in how I kept up and just had a fun ride. Even Jonnene rode like a champ though she had to give up trying to stay with the group a bit when the pace picked up at the end but we weren't going to leave her. This week is Russ' "DeathBlow" training camp...100 miles a day Tuesday thru Friday, then 125 miles on Saturday and on Sunday. About 650 miles in six days if you do all the rides. I hope to do 3-4 of the rides but I doubt I'll cover the entire distance...I'll probably keep it around 50-75 miles for myself each time I'm able to come out. That'll be good for me this early in the season!
The rest of the day was shopping, for food and some items for the house. Planned out how I was going to empty out the old house during the remainder of this month. I want the place cleaned out by the end of February so we can get it on the market. After that we spent some time in the back yard, raking up some of the leaves. There's plenty out there and I'm interested in seeing what's below them, to see what we're dealing with in this new yard we have. Some things I'll have to fix and others to adjust. Some things will be just fine as they are.
I'm ready for bed...I'm knackered (as J sez).
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