I described todays route to Natasha as ‘lacking in imagination’. Our house, New Denver and return. 32 km, 20 miles. My last long run before the Big Day. How wrong can one be? We sometimes go through our daily lives living as if we can’t see. My buddy, Tony, once said to me years back that he encouraged his school students to look up whilst walking along the High Street – as it’s above the modern shop fronts where the old architectural beauty lies.
I have been trying to get up at 6am to have breakfast and to do my training run at 0730 to emulate the Big Run day. Got to get my body used to sitting on the toilet at that time! Today was no exception and success all round. Armed with nutrition in my stomach and goopy gels in my running pouch, off I set exactly on time. My eyes soon lifted up from the road to the surrounded beautry. The mountains and lakes breezed by, no cars, no people, only nature and a man made highway. The water was mirror flat, the mountains mirrored as if they were looking up at you as opposed to towering over. Two Canadian geese, chatting quietly by the roadside decided to take flight before I overheard their secrets. Their path left me in awe of nature, this run which ‘lacked imagination’. The birds opened their wings, and glided effortlessly down to the snowy reflection, some 20 metres below. Feet outstretched, wings backbeating everso, landed in amongst the images. A camera could not have captured what the eye had seen and the mind interpreted. If you are a bird, then spring has arrived, but elsewhere winter still lingers; nights still below freezing, daytime rarely in double figures, the sun rarely seen. The snow line hovering just above us, the grey earth still camouflaged with its white shroud. For on this run which lacked imagination, nature was around me in all its guises provided I just opened my eyes.
The kilometers clicked by, my body working hard. I was pleased with my run as my legs are tired, aches and pains rearing their ugly head and I was determined to put heart and soul into doing as best I could. Time to slacken comes now as I taper off my mileage, gathering strength for the Big Day. I managed the return leg from New Denver in exactly the same time as the outgoing time, and the highway has some energy sapping hills. I was worried in case the outgoing mountains which had breezed by, would crawl by on the return, but I need not have worried. Nature continued to marvel and entertain as Spring battles with Winter to dominate.
I finished my 32km in 2hr 39 mins, which is everso slightly slower than my target Big Day race plan. However, I am happy with my effort. My mind now turns toward keeping injury and illness free, which up to now has been the case. Natasha marked the end of winter training with a house spring clean. My tired legs and mind struggled with assigned jobs, but our lovely house is now fit for the year ahead. My new bees arrive this week, so all hands on deck to ensure new homes are ready for my Kiwi girls. I also discovered a rare breed round here – another runner. I passed a young lady on my way out to New Denver and again on my return. She had done the same route as me, also training for the Vancover marathon. Small world. I had never seen another runner before whilst out training – nor had she. ‘See you there!’ I exclaimed enthusiastically, ignoring the odds.
Glad the hard work is now behind me and the Big Day looming closer.
Route stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78485506?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4da28fe9c149b0b1%2C0
Tim
