Solstice

Remember how I was trying to be a little more sensible?

It sort of worked. I have ACTUALLY TAPERED for Sunburn Solstice tomorrow! I did run down to the market on Saturday, taking the pretty (and coincidentally, longer) way through the RARE trails.

Don't know when I'll have another chance to get in here.

While I did have a brush with a tick (EEEEEK!), I was fortunate to avoid being bitten by all but a few determined mosquitoes, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Happy girl!

That was it for Saturday, though - just 11-odd kilometers in the morning. We got our car in for service, took care of a bunch of errands, and I did try to take it easy...though I ended up putting in over 22,000 steps for the day. 

Sunday morning we were up early for a couple of special events - first up was a run with some friendly folks for Patty's birthday, on the trails around Hilton Falls.

At which black hats, mint green packs, skirts and blue Topo Ultraventure shoes were de rigeur

It was a lovely day to ramble around the trails at "sexy pace" for a few hours, taking in the beauty around us.

Some on the small scale..

..and some much larger.

For once, at a group run, I didn't end up being left behind!

Though I did occasionally have to catch up a bit, due to stopping to get photos like this.

Heck, I didn't even really hurt myself - just a minor tweak of my left ankle, which is kind of a miracle considering the technical nature of some of the trails.

Rocky, slippery fun.

After 20-ish kilometers (officially 19.78k, per tradition), we scarfed back the delicious cupcakes that Patty had sweetly brought and then - after one last wish for a happy birthday - it was off to my mum's in Mississauga to make her a late lunch for her birthday. Two awesome women were born June 16th!

No photos from that, so more from the trails instead.

I took Monday off completely, and did a modest lunch run (~5.5k) on Tuesday. I even managed to get myself to bed not long past 10pm, getting closer to 8hrs of sleep than the 6-ish I'm used to!

Birdie spotted on Tuesday's hot, sunny run

Wednesday morning - as is usual during race week, and has been for several years now - I foam rolled instead of doing a strength workout. I emerged from that with horribly sore calves that felt like they were going to cramp and seize all day. I had no plans to run, taking a short (~3k) lunch walk instead. I hoped the calves would resolve with rest, and then I discovered another problem while making dinner.

What's that up ahead?
Dunno - just keep paddling.

I rose up onto my toes to reach the olive oil out of a cupboard above the stove, and something stabbed me in the outside of my left calf! A bit more testing revealed that trying to plantar flex my left foot with a straight leg was horribly painful for a moment, then it would pass...until the next time I tried. 

Not awesome.

It felt about the same yesterday morning, but I had no issues with plantar flexion while my leg was bent...so decided I'd go for the little shake-out run I'd planned last night, just to see how things felt. I vowed I'd shut it down immediately if it got painful, but fortunately, I only got a couple of twinges.

Pictured: an idiot, but a lucky one.
Also: outfit by OUTRace - Sulphur Springs hat, Dirty Girls shirt & Pick Your Poison socks.

Waking up this morning, though, I was still having some issues. So, I wandered into my chiropractor's office before I came to work, and had him adjust both my left fibula and the 1st metatarsal on my left foot. 

Plus some cold laser on the sore peroneals.

As was my experience last week with getting my feet and lower legs adjusted, I'm more sore now than I was before - the calf issue did show improvement right after the re-positioning of my fibula, but my left foot is quite unhappy about having the metatarsal back where it's supposed to be. I've just done the only "workout" I plan for today (a 15min walk in the sun on my lunch), and 

And it's now approximately 13 hours until the start of Sunburn Solstice.

So, I'm throwing any expectations out the window. I had originally hoped to get in 25 laps for 100km, but now I'm just going to get up (at TWO FREAKIN' THIRTY A.M.), put my shoes on, and go try to have fun on the trails for as much of that 15 hours and 23 minutes as possible. With the forecast calling for a warm, summery sunshine and the interesting race format that will see more and more runners joining in during the hours between sun up and sun down, it should be a great day.

Even if I'm not in great shape.

Running for joy rather than for performance is just so much nicer anyway, don't you think?

Happy summer everyone!