Run Vegan Run

Wow! Two posts in one day! I'm trying to make up for lost time I guess.

I didn't make the Fort Langley Historic Half Marathon. I did all of the training and did not register. Then, came the taper week, the week before the actual event, and I came to the decision that I couldn't run the event because I wasn't ready. Yes, I could have run the event and finished, but I want to do better than finish, I want to challenge my previous times and I just didn't feel fit enough to do that. I thought that I might improve on my time, but I wanted to feel sure and strong.

Then, just like when I had to cancel my Victoria marathon plans and switch to the half, there was the bummer week, which is when I kind of moped around wondering if I could still do as well as I have previously, and how could I turn this into a fun running season? I really love participating in events so I needed to find a way to participate and compete with myself.

I made a commitment to train harder than I've been training. I started by signing up at our local rec centre's gym and bought a year's membership (now I have to go!). It has such a nice small town feel this gym. It doesn't have all of the bells and whistles like the big name gyms do, but it has everything I need to train and more if I want to. Last week I started weight training again, which is something I haven't done in 2 years! I can't believe it's been so long. I felt great. I'm using Thrive Fitness as my guideline so that I ease into it (if red jane were here...).

My next step was to set up my running season. db and I did some research online for events that aren't too far from home. We want to avoid hotel costs since the registration fees, and my gym membership are costing us enough as it is. I found one in Blaine, Washington called the Birch Bay Road Race that is just across the border and is a 15 k road race at the end of March. I'm already at my 21 k distance so I can add in the strength training and adjust my running schedule to fit this road race. It looks like a pretty small race and a pretty route, so it should be low key and fun.

Then I decided to sign up for a 5k trail run the weekend after. It's my first trail event and I'm really excited and nervous. It's a short distance and I think will be just right to start out with.

So far so good. Next I want to pick a half marathon spring event and then something bigger for the fall. My 2011 running season is looking pretty good so far.

hiking the Lynn Valley Loop

 I've been wanting to go to the Lynn Valley for sometime because I know there are several trails that are very accessible. I read about the "Lynn Valley Loop" trail online (very useful website, btw) as an easy going trail that could be completed less than a couple of hours, and was fine to hike year round.

 db and I only have Sundays together and I also have gone back to doing my long run on Sundays, so we don't have the whole day to do a 5 hour hike, so this seemed like a good option. As we went up higher there was some snow, but you can see that the trail is well travelled. Actually, the fact that it is well traveled made it a bit trickier because the snow was packed into a slippery sheet that made the first part of the descent a bit tricky, but overall it was fine.

 Lynn Creek was crystal clear and it runs alongside part of the trail near the end. It was nice to hear just the sound of the water and our footsteps.

Left over from logging days? I liked the tree growing up through the back end.
There is much evidence of the the logging that was done in this area. There are many large stumps with the platform notches in the side of them where loggers placed 2x4s to stand on while they worked each side of the saw to cut the tree. It's a common site along trails all over the lower mainland. I would love to hike in an old growth forest that had never been logged.

I just recently signed up for my first trail run. It's only 5 k, but I thought I should start small since I don't have much time to train on trail and can't do long distances on trail without a partner (gotta find a trail running partner!). The 5 k is actually called My First Trail Race and is in this same area where we hiked, so I'm going for it. I hope my trail shoes arrive soon!

Last Saturday I decided that I'm not going to bring work home anymore, or check my work email from home. I can't do it anymore. My job is/was becoming all consuming to the point where I started to lose sleep at night  and that's not what I want in my life.

It's a weird balance though that I constantly struggle with because I care about helping run the store, but it can easily become all consuming if I let it. Whenever I meet db at the skytrain after work (he picks me up there on his way home), I get into the car and talk about work until I get it out of my system. It also helps me to work through any problems that I need to resolve, and I can usually get a better grasp on something if I talk it through in the car. Once I talk about work to him, I can somewhat let it go for the rest of the day, but it's always tempting to turn on the computer and check the email, or revise a document that needs to get done.

I haven't been this absorbed by anything since I was in grad school. I think I'd rather be writing a thesis and absorbed by that rather than this never ending list of tasks that I need to get done.