Used Up Today

Got a decent start this morning, bright and early. It was a little damp out, but we didn't get the massive snowfall they were promising since Friday night.

I headed to Cresent Road and down The Path Under The Stairs. Across to Prince's Island and along the south side of the river to Crowchild, where I crossed back to the north side. I'd love to run the south side to Edworthy, but with the natural springs that are along that side, it's likely to be very icy and slick.

Along Parkdale Boulevard to the footbridge to Edworthy, and thank goodness for the Point Mackay Washrooms. On past Shouldice Park and here's were I should have stayed with the original plan. I was going to zig-zag up Home Road to 13th Avenue, which runs down the middle of Shouldice Park, but instead stuck to the path along the river. It was very icy and also very wet, making for a treacherous shuffle.

Then across the John Hexall bridge and along Bowness Road to the railroad overpass, at which point the GPS announced my turn-around point. So back toward the downtown, with a brief break at those washrooms again.

From the Edworthy bridge, it got really busy. There must have been a dozen groups of fifteen to twenty runners, plus several smaller groups and solo runners. I would guess they are Running Room groups preparing for the Calgary Marathon or the Policeman's Half or something. Those are about 16 weeks away, so about right to start a training program.

From Crowchild on, the traffic disappeared, and it was straight slogging. I crossed back to the south side of the river at the C-Train bridge, then chugged back at Prince's Island, where traffic picked up again. The Path Under The Stairs was particularly difficult to climb this morning, but then I got to it at about the two and a half hour mark.

After that is was a short drive to home. I never really recovered my breath after that hill in those last few blocks, but then I was pushing pretty hard.

Today's run:
Distance: 25.00 km. Time: 2:22:12. Average speed: 10.5 kph.
Rest distance: 1.42 km. Rest time: 15:00
Total distance: 26.42 km. Total time: 2:37:12

Weather: Cloudy and 1C, warming to 4C. Perfectly beautiful spring day.