18 Miles...Done!

This morning I met Giovanna at the Weaselhead parking lot off of Glenmore Reservoir just after 6:00 am. I figured we could run two 9 mile loops and that would give plenty of opportunity for bathroom breaks and a chance to refill in case I ran out of water. It seemed pretty cool as soon as I got out of the car so I threw on a jacket that I had brought with me. About 4 mins into the run I regreted the decision because I was now burning up. We decided to turn around so I could drop the jacket back off at the car. We ran a pretty good pace along the north side of the reservoir and the conversation was great. Giovanna is moving to Nashville in a couple of weeks and she's trying to talk me into the Country Music Marathon event next year. This race hasn't really been on my radar, but time wise it may be a great opportunity for a half marathon (before...ahem...tri season starts next year). I kept missing walk breaks since I wasn't checking my watch often enough so we wound up walking for about a minute after every mile. At mile 5 it was time to try another Hammer Gel flavour - Apple Cinnamon. This tastes exactly like pie filling. Overall, not too bad, but maybe a tad too sweet. Espresso is still my favourite, but after scouring several shops in Calgary this week I can't find any more right now.

It was starting to warm up and I am so glad that we started as early as we did because the sun was starting to blaze. Thanks to doubling back we finished up the first loop at 10 miles so I figured we may have to shorten the route around the reservoir on lap two. We skipped running over Glenmore Trail and over the dam across the reservoir and ran the pathway right along Glenmore Trail instead. Once we were around 13 or 14 miles I mentally started to flag a bit but Giovanna was really quick to say something positive and it helped me out a lot. At 18 miles I thought we were done running even though we were about a half a mile from the car. We walked for a bit, but as we approached the final hill Giovanna wanted to run it. What a way to finish up an 18 miler - with a massive hill at the end! We both ran really strong and it felt so good to be done. We tried to stretch a bit but my hamstrings weren't too happy with that so we called it a day and headed off. I'm hoping I'll have a chance to run with Giovanna again before she leaves. It was fantastic having her there and it really made those 3-1/2 hours fly by this morning. On my way home I stopped at Tim Horton's for a Bagel B.E.L.T. which was amazing. 18 miles...done...bring on 20 in two weeks!