It's never going to end, winter, that is

I've been a bit of a weenie on the fitness front. Once I get home from work it's really hard to get changed and get at it. But that's what I have to do, I think. If I stop for supper I typically don't get going again. I don't like to work out right after eating, and by the time my tummy has settled, there isn't enough time for a workout before I'm ready to go to bed. Being old, and all, I go to bed pretty early.

Today, at about 2am I was awake enough that I was thinking about going downstairs for a trainer ride. Fortunately I fell back asleep before I acted on the thought. My new running shoes are calling me, wondering why I bought them. Here's what they look like on my feet.

Notice that my knees are together, unlike one of my readers who says she can't keep her knees together. It's still winter out, as the following photos show. What's interesting about the hoarfrost is that it exhibits preferential spiky growth, which is pretty rare. There was just enough of a wind, and conditions were just right to force all the spikes to grow the same way. This is what it looked like outside shortly before starting my run.

These icicles are hanging from my garage, which is rare enough, but to have spikes on half of them? I think that's pretty cool.

A close up of my neighbour's evergreen, showing the spikes. Some of these are more than an inch long.

The next neighbours car antenna. I couldn't quite get the angle I wanted.

Running down the sidewalk, just getting started.

 A little tree, showing the spikes all growing the same way.

At first the run felt a bit heavy. I'd been really creaky in my hips when I got up this morning, and did about a half hour of stretching and light core to get warmed up for the run. I've run parts of this route lots of times, but this is the first time in a long while that I've done it as an out and back. The big advantage of it is that it's a big C around my house, so if things go bad I can abort and have a fairly short walk home. Which has happened often enough to make it worth planning for. Other runs, like the one up to the reservoir, there is no bailing out.

Some of the paths were clear, but most have a cm or 2 of snow on them. At least there is no slick flat ice hiding under that snow. I chugged my way around to the far end in just a hair over 40 minutes, not pushing the pace at all. I was concentrating on my stride and how my shoes felt, and what I thought of them. I dunno, they're shoes, doing what they're supposed to do. I might have to adjust the speed laces just a hair looser. Maybe.

Ran back taking about 40 seconds longer, but then I slowed down a bit near the end to begin cool down. I was working a bit harder on the way back, trying to stay strong and not give up just because my legs were feeling a bit tired. My knee wasn't bothering me at all, though my calves were talking to me a bit. I'm guessing that they are coping with a slightly different dynamic with the new shoes. Fair enough.

It started snowing during the run, and it's snowing now, so I guess I timed that right. Chowed down on the peanut butter, Nutella, and banana sandwich I'd been promising my tummy, and an entire bike bottle of water with banana flavour Nuun in it. Pretty good. It isn't cold out, only -5 C (23 F) but it's a damp cold which is quite unusual for Calgary. I layered up a bit more than I would have otherwise, and it turned out to be a hair too much.

Over all I'm pretty pleased with the run, considering its been almost a week since my last run. 1 hr 20 minutes run. Half an hour core and stretching. Tomorrow is more of the same for weather. Lets see how my legs feel about a brick tomorrow.