A Crazy Couple of Days

Okay so 36 hours ago I was still pretty bummed about the hammie and what my future looked like running-wise. Last night around dinner time I thought I'd try out the leg again and ended up doing almost an hour at about a 6:40 pace without feeling like it was overly hard. There were few issues from the injury so as I'm running, it hits me - I should try and do the Dirty Duo 25k that I was signed up to do but didn't think I was ready for. A measly 25k! How hard could that be?
I should say firstly that Carrie has been doing the clinic for the 25k for a couple months now and this was to be her first trail run. She was psyched (that she got a hoodie)!! She finished on a tough course on a tough day in a respectable 3:42 and looked like she missed every puddle through the day.





I meant for this run to be an "ease back into the swing of things" run and that's what I did. I took it slow on the ups, easy on the downs, and because the legs weren't feeling too strong, I took the flats easy. I felt like I hadn't run in the trails for a month. Wait a sec, I HAVEN'T run in the trails for a month.
It was the wettest, sloppiest, slipperiest run I think I've ever done in any trail any time. It was SO fun. The feet didn't get cold so I was happy to be jumping through the puddles like a little kid. I didn't care after trying to dodge the first hundred. I was really close to the end and I'd been running with someone for a while when I turned to him and said, "Not like I really care, but do you know what places we're in?". He said second and third. I wasn't in the mood for a sprint for second so I asked if he wanted to go barefoot once we hit the pavement, about a k from the end (and, no, he didn't think it was some sick come-on line). He laughed like I was crazy but I've heard that so many times before it didn't faze me. We came out of the trail and for the first time ever in a race I doffed the shoes and socks and took off.
The guy I was with took off, probably not thinking that I was going to follow through with my idea. As I was running close to the finish I heard some footsteps hammering behind me. I looked and it was Mike Palichuk whom we passed a few kms back. I thought he was out of the picture. I remember yelling, laughingly, "That's not fair, Mike!!", and I started sprinting downhill which ain't easy without shoes. I made it through just ahead of him but I was killing myself by the end knowing that I was running easy, yet sprinted at the end for no real reason.
It felt so good to be out in the woods again that the day flew by. To add icing to the cake I got home and my itinerary for Comrades was waiting for me in an email. Nice. One less thing to worry about.

Now off to Whistler where we try our hand at snowboarding!!