Monday Musings

Weekend Recap/Ramblings:

Saturday:

• Finally got to pick up a few things at the mailbox service in Blaine, WA.  One package from BuildASign (still working out some stuff there) and one from Zensah.  Reviews to follow soon.
• Colin decided Friday night that since we were already going to the states on Saturday that we might as well take Spud to the zoo.  This was fine by me except that the zoo is in Seattle.  We told Spud we had a surprise for him, but wouldn't tell him until we got to the doughnut store (Krispy Kreme) in Burlington.  While we were waiting at the border (a surprisingly efficient US side had us through in 25 minutes) we saw an Amtrak train waiting.  Spud asked if that was his surprise which I thought was cute.  Colin ended up telling him about the zoo in Blaine and he was pretty excited.  The drive was fairly uneventful.  After getting all hopped up on sprinkles Spud crashed for over an hour!  When we got to the zoo he looked at us and said, "See?  I told you it didn't take long to get here."  
• Walking around a zoo for 4 hours (and carrying a toddler for parts of that) was probably not the best idea when there was a long run planned for the next day.
• We rushed to Costco on the way home (6pm closing = not helpful) for cheese and butter and then went to Target.  It sucks to go into those places when the dollar is at par and not have enough to buy all the fun stuff.  That said, we got what we came for.  Cherry Coke for my sister-in-law (babysitting payment on Sunday) and Cherry Coke Zero for me.  I would have gotten the regular stuff, but the store only had one box of each.  Not sure how that happens in a store that big...
• If you haven't had a Five Guys burger you should.  Now, I don't eat many burgers - it's kind of a running joke with my family - but these were fabulous.  Unfortunately I try to avoid beef before a long run so, when Colin came back with my cheeseburger, I opened the foil wrapper, realized what I'd asked for, and burst into tears.  I hedged my bets and ate it anyways.  
• Canada Border Services is so unhelpful.  I get that it takes awhile to ask everyone the standard "where are you from, where did you go, how long were you gone, what's the value of your purchases..."  But it took us an hour to cross the border.  The distance from where we started to the window was 1/2 mile.  Yup, that's a 74:32/km or 120:00/mile pace.  Thankfully Spud was asleep. 

Sunday:

• Long run!  It was a beautiful day - sunny and cool.  Since I'd picked up my Zensah calf sleeves on Saturday I wore them with shorts.  I was surprisingly comfortable.
• Our schedule called for 29km/18mi.  It was an out-and-back-ish route that was fairly familiar however, there was a little bit of trail at the turn around point that was rolly hills.  Thank goodness for hill training!  
• The two friends I was keeping pace with were great company and we definitely had to lean on each other for this run.  Not only did we have to deal with hills, but none of us were totally loving the run.  It was hard physically (hello HUGE hill at 22km/14mi) and mentally (it was just a long way to run).  Upset stomachs (and other things) and one fall kind of rounded it out.  We were slower than usual, but got it done.
• I still need to work on fueling.  The gels were fine, but I was super hungry by the end.  I've been using dates and my friend uses arrowroot cookies so I think I'll stock up on those before next week.
• Running for 4 hours really takes a chunk out of your day.  By the time we finished, went home and had showers and got back to Spud it was almost 2pm.  Thank goodness that we were staying at Colin's brother's place for dinner.  It was great to be able to just sit and visit.

Monday Musings:

• Call it superstitious, anal-retentive, OCD, crazy or just a weird quirk of runners, but I could not just leave my watch at the final distance.  Since I hit 29km a couple blocks from the store I kept running.  When I hit the last traffic light my watch said I was at 29-1/2ish km.  Did I stop there?  Of course not! I ran in circles like an idiot until my watch hit 30km.  I didn't need to go an extra kilometre.  But I wanted my watch to hit that one last lap.  I know I'm not the only one out there (Colin did it too...) - what would you call this behavior?