An even dozen

 It's twelve years to the day since I first started this blog.

That's a lot of driveling

It used to be like clockwork - a new post published every Friday. Race reports, product reviews, and general prattling on about what I was doing: running, camping, paddling, backpacking, whatever was getting me outside and/or sweaty.

Believe me when I say I'm still doing rather a lot of those things

Heck, I'm even still racing occasionally...but as for writing?

Not so much.

Here's the thing: between working absolutely ridiculous hours, running, lifting, plus playing hockey, I barely have time to sleep. I've fallen more than a month behind in my workout logs: the first of two 100 runs in 100 days challenge has just finished yesterday, but I've only got up to Jan 7th recorded, so it looks like I only ran 54 times right now when I actually finished with 101. 

Like I said - I'm still doing the things

I've also lost a bunch of time to video editing for my silly Youtube channel.

It's practically a "how not to goaltend" series

So with all of this, I find myself still with a race report half-written from October, another one from a few weeks ago that I haven't started yet, and no real hope of having more time to write in future. We laid off one of only 3 employees in my department last month, so there is definitely no help coming with my workload, and I'm having to take time away from work to seek some healthcare for some ongoing issues that are making things kind of miserable.

But at least I got out for a ski with my honey on Family Day

So here it is - 1:45am - and I'm borrowing from tomorrow once again. While I'm not willing to give up on the blog completely, I do know that there's very little chance I'll have time to write in the foreseeable future.

So we'll call it au revoir - not quite goodbye

I hope you all are out there enjoying your lives, reaching your goals, and showing yourself kindness. I wish you the best, and I'll hope to see you soon..

Maybe after goalball season is done?

Who (self) cares?

I had a really lax May when it comes to running.

And really, really missed the trails.

Including the 25k I ran for the virtual Rugged Raccoon at the beginning of the month and the ~32km I ran for the Tail Chaser Challenge 12-hour on the 23rd, I only put in a total of 88km. 55 measly miles. I haven't run that little since August of 2018, when I was trying to recover after running for 12 idiotic hours on a seriously messed up ankle.

It'd be nice to say that's all water under the bridge now..

I did take a couple of weeks off completely (though I did a lot of walking and hiking - a total of almost 80km for the month) while I tried to come to grips with a spinal injury, but the lovely weather - which took its sweet time arriving, let me tell you - lured me back out.

I absolutely refuse to miss phlox season!

I haven't been super consistent about it - I ran Wednesday and Thursday of last week after a few days off to try to rid myself of the soreness from Tail Chaser, but despite intentions to hit the trails on Saturday I ended up spending all afternoon and evening with Tanker cleaning out our garage.

It took 6 hours. There was a mummified mouse corpse. Many decisions were made. It was long past time.

This is the AFTER photo

Vast improvement

There is no "before" photo that does it justice, but this is the pile of junk we couldn't re-purpose, recycle, or re-home.

With that nasty task out of the way, I was free to head down to a favourite and recently re-opened spot for some beautiful, sunny trail therapy on the last day of the month.

The bridge is a dead giveaway for where we went..

The last time I ran here was on snowshoes!

While I was out prancing around in the woods, Tanker was on the lake enjoying his new toy, picked up earlier that afternoon:

They say money can't buy happiness, but it can buy my sweetheart an angling kayak, and that seems pretty close.

After I ran for about an hour, I grabbed my paddleboard off the car and headed down to meet him at the dock. He let me take a whirl in his new yak, then I hopped on my board so we could go for a lovely cruise around the lake through the gorgeous evening sun.

We've both waited such a long time to paddle together

At only 13c/55f it wasn't the warmest day, but it certainly was beautiful

So basically the perfect Sunday, right?

Not exactly.

See, my right ankle is still angry. My back still gets grumpy. My muscles and joints get sore from my exertions and my sedentary job. Yet, I do very little to help myself feel any better.

Mentally therapeutic? Aboslutely. Physically? Not so much..

I've realised that since the beginning of the pandemic - when it became apparent that most of this race season was going to be a wash - I've stopped taking proper care of myself.

I haven't foam rolled. I stopped taking some helpful supplements. I've been eating too much and putting on weight, which makes the bit of running I have done harder on my body.

I haven't respected the work I have put in, simply because it is less than I have done in the past. I mean, some of my runs recently have been less than my usual minimum of 5k, so who cares about them? Who needs to worry about recovery when you're only running 20km per week?

However, if there's one thing that the Going the (Social) Distance Challenge group on facebook taught me, it's that there are huge numbers of runners out there for whom my 88km of running in May would be a huge accomplishment. at an average of almost 3km per day for the full month (despite my 2 weeks off), it's more than a lot of people will run in their lifetime.

It hasn't all been easy mileage, either.

I've been paying the price for my neglect - while I've managed to string together runs on each of the past 5 days, it's felt very difficult. The heat is partly to blame, as well as the de-training effect from the time I took off, but I have to face the fact that I haven't been making things any easier for myself.

Carting around a belly in the hot sun while stiff and sore isn't much fun.

So, I'm going to try to do better. I'm going to make an effort to respect the running I do, even if I feel it's horribly slow and I need to stop to catch my breath here and there. I don't have to be the same runner I was last year at this time: I just need to resolve to do my best, and to take care of the body that lets me get out there to enjoy the sunshine and flowers.

It doesn't have to be epic - every little lunch run counts.

I challenge all of you to do something nice for your body this weekend, whether it's taking an unplanned rest day when you're fatigued, foam rolling a problem spot, improving your nutrition by focusing on increasing your intake of fruit and vegetables, or just getting to bed a half hour earlier to allow yourself some extra repair & regeneration time.

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!

Listening

I'm trying to be slightly less of a jerk to my body.

With mixed results, as you shall see.

With Sunburn Solstice approaching like a freight train, it's finally time to take things down from peak mileage levels into a taper - while it's not actually my goal race for the year, it seems reasonable to try to rest my worn-out carcass a bit before trying to drag it 'round a 4km loop for more than 15 hours.

So, of course I took my rest day on Friday to relax..

By doing a full-body workout I've only done one other time this year.

I knew it would be a bad idea to get my paddleboard out, as we'd have to be up super early on Saturday...but the evening was so warm and lovely, I simply couldn't help myself. Tanker was happy to do some fishing on Puslinch Lake while I paddled, and I was filled with serene bliss at being out on the water again.

I did take a few minutes to just sit and relax, breathing in the calm of a perfect evening.

It as sunset when we got home, though, and much later than that before we finally rolled into bed. Up just after 6am, we hit the market (in the CAR!) and then jammed back home so I could send Tanker off to help the Happy Trails Racing team set up the full-service aid station at Conquer the Canuck before the race started at 8am.

Me? I hung back to make up a couple of breakfast bagels, which I then loaded into a pack...and then ran down to Shade's Mills Conservation Area to join in the fun.

It sounded good on paper.

I shouldn't have been surprised when my legs felt like crap - I'd had just over 6 hours of sleep (which is my usual amount during the week, but I do my best to get 8hrs on Friday & Saturday nights), and I knew one day of sort-of-rest wouldn't be enough to unwind the fatigue and soreness from almost 178km in the 13 days from Sulphur Springs to my lovely evening paddle. At the same time, I really could have done without the sun being quite so hot at 9am, the lack of shade subjecting me to its full blast, and the strong headwind I faced for most of the run down.

Most confoundingly on the ~3.5km span of Bishop Street from King to Franklin, which is almost all uphill.

I finally plodded my way down by around 10am, happy to finally find some shade along the park driveway...not to mention the thermos full of coffee Tanker had brought down with him.

Shade and caffeine are two of my favourite things.

From then until around 6pm, I tried to help as many people as I could achieve their goals at Conquer the Canuck. Filling bottles, chopping fruit, and offering up encouragement to the runners striving in the 8.33k (though most of those were finished by the time I arrived), 25k, 50k and 12-hour races - I was on my feet constantly, with only a few moments of down time here and there. I dodged out for half an hour or so in the evening to go pick up freshii for dinner for Tank and I, then headed out around 6:45pm to do a sweep lap of the course to see if there was any rubbish that needed picking up.

And just to enjoy the beauty of the trails.

That resulted in a grocery bag full of trash, and a total of almost 19km of running for me for the day. Once the 12-hour ended at 8pm, we scarfed our dinner, then headed over to the grocery store to get that chore out of the way. It was nearly 10pm by the time we got home, and I was absolutely shagged out. 

Sunday morning I kicked Tanker out of bed at 6:30am, and he got on his motorcycle to ride down to Shade's Mills for day 2 of volunteering - just the marathon event. I greedily tried to get back to sleep for a bit, but utterly failed to do so.

Though I did get to snuggle with these monsters, who graciously allowed me -just- enough space in bed.

I finally rolled out a little after 7am, made up a thermos of coffee and a couple of breakfast sandwiches, then got on my own bike and rolled on down.

Of course it was a cooler, overcast morning when I wasn't trying to run.

It was all about the runners again until around 1:30pm, when there were only a couple left on course. Then I got changed and headed out for another cleanup lap, happily coming back with much less trash this time!

But enjoying the trails just as much.

It was significantly hotter and more humid than the day before, and I suffered pretty badly even at the easy pace I was moving. I had originally thought I might try to get 2 laps in, but as fatigued and sore as I was, I only did one...well, plus the extra bit down to the beach and back for 9k. 

Let me tell you - I was completely spent after we got home. I was so happy we'd done our grocery shopping the day before, and I could just sit on the couch for awhile. This "taper" thing so far? Working about as well as taking 4 days off for a canoe trip. I had just enough energy left to take the kitties out for a sniff around the backyard..

Almost as lazy as I was.

I was dragging pretty badly at work on Monday and almost decided to nix my lunch run, but figured that's no way to behave, so went out anyway. It actually went better than expected, other than getting rained on...but afterward, my left foot was sore in a strange, new way. There'd been no incident on the run, but now it hurt to dorsiflex my foot or pull my toes up, and the pain was really odd; not like a sore muscle or bruise, but a weird feeling of weakness. Tendon? Nerve? I didn't know, but I hoped it would go away.

Tuesday morning it was still there. So, what did I do?

I'll give you 3 guesses.

It didn't hurt while running, or really at any time I had weight on the foot. It didn't seem to get worse, either, and seemed to have something to do with my 4th metatarsal. I could feel some connection to my 4th toe when I'd move it. I hoped that a couple of days of shorter mileage (just 6k-ish Monday & Tuesday) would sort it out.

It did not. It was as bad as ever on Wednesday morning, and something was sore at the outside of my knee - I wondered if I'd popped the fibula out of position, or knocked something else out of alignment. So, as I walked back to my office after seeing Tanker on his lunch break Wednesday afternoon, I popped into my chiropractor's office along the way to see if I could get an appointment for Monday or something. To my surprise, the receptionist said I could be seen right away! My chiro adjusted both of my feet: it was still feeling like I'd popped something out of place in my right foot on our Victoria Day trip, and he found my 1st metatarsal lifted a bit. He also found my left fibula out of place and adjusted it, plus did an adjustment on my back as he suspected my S1 was causing at least some of the trouble with my cranky left hamstrings. I wandered out 20mins later with high hopes, though the left foot didn't seem to have let up its grouchiness.

Eeeh, daisies.

Unfortunately, when I ran that evening (which was maybe not my best bet), my right foot actually felt somewhat worse and there seemed to be no change at all in my left foot.

A moment's peace in Cooksville Creek on Wednesday evening

So, I finally tried to get a little smarter. Hoping that this might just be a bit of extensor tendinitis brought on my tight calves, I resolved not to run yesterday. Having only 9 days to sort myself out before Sunburn Solstice, I gagged the voice in my head telling me I wouldn't be running Friday anyway, and took. A day. Off.

Well, not completely. I couldn't quite resign myself to just sitting on the couch, so I hit the pool for my first swim in almost 2 months.

Perhaps the universe decided to reward me for FINALLY GETTING A DAMN CLUE, because I awoke this morning with no pain in my left foot. Nothing. There's still some sensation there of stiffness in the 3rd and 4th toes, but I'm almost positive it's due to tight calves now - while I might have been able to resolve it without the extra day off, I'm actually perversely proud of myself for making the call not to run yesterday. 

Fionn the Fuzzy approves!

With any luck, these two days off will help the rest of the general fatigue and soreness resolve - while I have a run down to the market planned for tomorrow morning and a celebration run on Sunday, everything from here on out needs to be focused on getting me to the start line for 5:39am (blaaaaarrgh..) next Saturday as healthy as possible.

I'm even planning on taking TWO days off running next week. Mon dieu!

Perhaps I'm getting a little smarter about listening to my body? 

Nah, seems unlikely. Maybe I'll get my paddleboard out tomorrow..