Resolution Run - I Did It!

What a night! What a hoot! Scary stuff.

I got to the Eau Claire Market about an hour before and looked around. There were actually a few people there before me. Put the final layers on and pinned my number on my front. Then waited.

Some guy was using a PA system to announce stuff, but no one in my vicinity had the slightest idea what he said. From the noise level in the building I would guess not many people cared either. All I could make out was something about flares and chili.

About five to six, I went outside, and got the headsock thing adjusted so I could see and breath (love that thing - thanks, Katie) and stood around, about where I thought the middle of the pack might be.

At the last minute, a whole crowd came out, and some kind of siren noise erupted, and the whole pack took off ahead of me. So I was definitely in the rear.

And they were all so slow. I expected most people in it to be faster. So I had a lot of traffic to try and get through. By the 4 km marker (for which they used flares) the pack had thinned out quite nicely and I was in the bunch that pretty much matched my ability.

The path started from Eau Claire, south a block or two to 2nd Avenue, then back toward the river at 4th Street. From there is was all the way along the river to Crowchild Trail. I didn't even know there was a pedestrian bridge under the Crowchild bridge - cool!

Just across that was the 4 km marker, and we followed the path beside Memorial Drive back towards the east. From that point on, I was pretty much in the groove, where the pace is perfect and everything feels like you could go all day.

At the 10th Street bridge, we were apparently supposed to continue on under it and farther down Memorial. But between the time they set up their orange cones and stuff at mid afternoon, and when we went by, the water in the river had risen a good metre and a half, so the path under the bridge was under water.

So across the 10th Street bridge, back along the river path, then over to Prince's Island. All shale paths there, so unplowed. Even with all the traffic, the snow didn't pack well, and it could be loose and slippery in places.

Then back to Eau Claire and through the gate, which is where I am here:


Then after a few pictures with Val and Katie, I got my bowl of chili and bun and butter. Absolutely perfect way to end. They had so much they were encouraging seconds and I helped out with that.

Didn't win a door prize though.

Shoes performed nicely, had no problems with my foot. However, the mileage now stands at 893 km, so I'll be shopping for new ones next week. Clothing was OK, perhaps I was overdressed. Thank goodness for the technical t-shirts.

Today's run:
Distance: 6.79 km. Time: 44:13. Speed: 9.2 kph.
Rest distance: 1.21 km. Rest time: 11:00.
Total distance: 8.0 km. Total time: 55:13.

Weather: Light snow and -25C. No significant windchill, which was great. And I never had a chance to feel cold.

About the intervals: I couldn't hear the alarms above the noise of several thousand feet crunching in the snow. And the street lighting is not enough to see what the GPS is up to. So I ran through six of the eleven rest intervals. Next time I won't even bother with intervals. Want to re-evaluate the intervals I've been using too.

Now, where was the web address for that St. Patrick's Day run...