The sound of music

I had a eureka! moment. One of the keys to my training is change of scenery. I felt it in Vancouver. Again in Kentucky. Even when I moved house.
And most recently in Algonquin Park.

I thought about this while I trotted beside my dad, who was accompanying me on a bike, on the very flat Old Railway trail adjacent to our camp site on Saturday morning. I ached a little bit from sleeping on the ground, and probably from canoeing the evening before (in lieu of running on Friday, despite what I thought I'd do), and perhaps slightly tired from only 4 hours of sleep. Up at 5:30 a.m., naturally no less, I thought I should get going fairly early since it was forecast to be hot hot hot.
Wolfed down a breakfast of champions: two slices of whole wheat bread with Nutella and a bottle of water.

The legs got moving pretty quickly, surprisingly. My dad rolled on beside me, asking questions about my training so far. In my head, I thought back to last year when we were on the same trail, only both of us were on a bike and I was trying to keep up with him. We'd seen deer last year on this trail and I hoped to see more this year.

This led to an endless loop of "Do a deer a female deer/Re a drop of golden sun/Mi a name I call myself/Fa a long long way to run!"

Over and over and over again. This is what happens when you opt to leave iPod at camp. You risk just singing songs from the Sound of Music to yourself for two hours.



Just short of an hour into the trail, we reached the general store. We needed a few supplies (because Mom is hanging with her dad in Hong Kong, we couldn't handle organizing ourselves and just forgot a few items). I took this opportunity to rest up, and crack open this Clif shot I've been looking forward to seeing what this energy gel can do. I opted for the mocha flavor goo (hadn't had any coffee for a few days). The sticky mess was surprisingly delicious. Followed it with a bottle of water, and said, "okay goo, work your magic."

I'm not sure that it did. I did feel queasy the next two miles after eating this stuff. Instead of just looping back to the camp site on the same trail, my dad and I agreed it might be a smidge shorter if we went on the highway, even if it were a bit more challenging because hills were now involved. And actual speeding traffic. But not being chased by mosquitoes, despite Deet, was good enough reason to turn to highway running.

And then my thoughts turned to images of Terry Fox, arguably one of the greatest Canadians ever, who attempted to run across-Canada to raise money for cancer research, running with only one leg after he had it amputated.
Another inspirational story, and these positive thoughts are good fuel for the mind. And the mocha fuel, I think, may have helped me maintain a non-sluggish pace up and down some pretty decent hills.

Did not see deer/The sun was awesome/I kept telling me to keep going/And I did run far.




When all was said and done, for you statisticians: I completed 13.97km/8.68mi in 1:50:39 (avg pace 7:55/km or 12:45/mi). Upon my return, my sister said I didn't even look tired.

Now that is music to my ears.

Rewarded myself with a nap -- that's the exhausted me in my tent about an hour after run), and a big fat s'more in the evening by the campfire.