Almost as nice as doing it on a beach

I'm sure missing running on a beach. But today is what running is all about for me.

Picture this.
It's a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky.
It's warm enough to sweat, but not hot enough to be cooking or regret not bringing water.
The trees are starting to change colour. In Calgary that means the russet colours, yellows, oranges, golds.
The mountains have snow on them already.

There I am running down the 37st path, looking at all this. Drinking it in. Enjoying a relaxed nice and easy run. Not many other people out and about. My legs are feeling good, I'm feeling relaxed. About the only thing lacking was sand.

I was trying to keep a steady easy pace but it seemed like every time I heard an update from my phone, I was running too fast and eased back. I'm not so good at a steady pace without my run buddy. Who, I might add, was off doing her first 100 K ride, and totally nailed it!

So lets see, since I started with fitness stuff, let's carry on. Water ran about 40 minutes with my buddy Katie on Wednesday. I'd started swimming, but because I can't see very well I was halfway down the lane when I recognized her churning along. So nice to chat! I swam a little after.

Thursday I was out for a short 3 K run in my zero drop shoes. I could have gone further but didn't. Nice pace, felt good.

Friday in the pool again, 500 m swim, some kick, and some intervals. I felt bad for the girl swimming next to me. She was being coached, and he was kicking her ass for not meeting some standard. I was sure happy with my swim though.

I'd promised a photo of the 12.9 pound souvenir from Nova Scotia. Lots of stuff in this photo. It's hard to read, but that's a bottle of coffee flavoured port wine made by Janet's husband Ron. We had some from another bottle while we were there, and it's amazing.

I'm sort of surprised blackberries are still in season, and these are wonderful. I'm sort of surprised there's any left.

This is the 12.9 pound chopping block made from Nova Scotia maple and other more exotic hardwoods around the edge. It's 7 cm thick, and 32x34 cm. Did I mention it was heavy?

It was also a perfect morning to zoom out to the Millarville market, where we picked up a few odds and ends. The fun part was chatting with Nancy, who does the coffee roasting at Crickle Creek coffee. It's wonderful stuff, and I'm looking forward to my first #coffeechat in several weeks tomorrow morning.

I hadn't known there was a winery near Millarville. We had a few samples and enjoyed. This is how much we enjoyed it, we bought a bottle. Imagine that, a guy that makes and likes his own wine, buying a bottle. Take a look at Spirit Hills Winery if you're interested.

We took the scenic route coming and going. Loving it. The Foothills are beyond beautiful this time of year.