The daffodils have been open for about a week now so I had to post some photos. I do have a lot of bulbs coming up, but I fear I'm going to miss their beauty since I'll be in my new home by the 1st of May. We'll see.

For the long run (Long Slow Distance it's called or LSD - I know, I know it's too funny) this week I was better prepared in a way. While I didn't get to bed early enough and I did have some wine Saturday evening for the first time in over a month, I did feel fairly rested when the alarm went off at 7 and I did leave myself enough time to have some oatmeal before I headed out.

Being a drop in runner at the RR and not a clinic member, I don't get the email notices that provide route descriptions and maps so it's a surprise when I arrive. I don't mind. When I did arrive I checked the board right away and saw that the half marathon group was doing 12 k. Phew! I didn't want another 16 or 18k week. I had seen my physiotherapist mid-week who reminded me that I shouldn't increase my mileage more than 10% a week. Hmm. So I guess going from 10k to 18k was the wrong thing to do. I know these things. Do I always do these things? No. Why? Because I'm foolish. This time I think I'll really do it. Afterall, I could have run Friday after work, but I held back because I knew I'd already done enough mileage for the week. So you see I can stick to it.

Anywho...with 12k and lots of sunshine in the plans I was pretty happy about the run. The group leader read the directions out which made everyone laugh at the end because it was so convoluted with so many turns and over and under bridges, no one could follow it. Once again I thought if I could stick with a small pack, hopefully the same pack as last week, I'd be okay. If I did lose sight of everyone I knew that I'd have to run for about and hour and 10 minutes to do 12k so there's really no worries.

It was cold starting out. It's been such a slow spring. It's as if the temperature refuses to climb above 12 degrees. It's bizarre. It must have been around 3 degrees when we started out. I followed the runners I'd seen leading the pack last week, but I could tell that I'd lose them at some point. As we came to the first bridge and started to go over it, I heard two people behind me say, "I don't think we're supposed to cross the bridge." I remembered the group leader saying that and I did a quick turn and started following those two. As it turned out there were also in the pack I ran with last week (L & S) and L had directions in her hands. If I stuck with them I'd be okay.

They were a little fast for me, but I tried to keep up. I know Sunday is supposed to be the Long Slow Distance, but I always tend to run a little faster and it seems to work well for me. With only 12k to cover, a little faster wouldn't hurt. That reminds me, nothing was hurting either. My calf was good as was my achilles.

Much of the route was trail again and I really welcomed this since I tend to not run trails on my own. After several turns and loop arounds we ended up on the Coquitlam river trail and ran it to David before looping around and running down the other side of the river. It was really beautiful with the sun beaming between the tree tops, filtering down onto the path in front of us.

We did take a wrong turn at the end and ended up going the wrong way before heading back. So in the end we did 11.5 k. I think that's enough for one Sunday.

It was nice to get home earlier as well. So I'm happy to report that my calf feels fine and my achilles was fine during the run and I iced it after. This evening it's a little sore, but nothing like it was. I'm feeling good about running season again. I just have to remember that 10% rule and I should be fine.