Week 12 Training and Terry Fox Run

Total Miles This Week: 32.75
Total Miles Overall: 286.5 Miles

Workouts Completed:
Tuesday: 5.75 Miles (5 miles slow- 10:26 avg pace, with faster intervals for last 0.75 miles- 10:02 avg pace)
Thursday: 8 Miles (10:22 avg pace)
Saturday: 5 Miles (10:10 avg pace)
Sunday: 14 Miles (9:17 avg pace)

My earlier runs this week were a little slower than normal- I was recovering from the half marathon last weekend I think. I was really surprised with how my recovery went after that run too- A real race where I pushed myself- I had just a little tightness in my calves, but no pains or anything! High five! The 8 miles on Thursday was rough. I found myself quite worn out after getting home from it and crashing early. 

This past Sunday I ran my 7th Terry Fox Run! The Terry Fox Run at my chosen run site (Wilket Creek Park in Toronto) is a 10km run, but I had 14 miles (22.5km) on my training radar for that morning. By complete coincidence, the park is about 13km from my home so I just got up early and ran there!

The run was actually really enjoyable-except for some phone issues I will get to later. I started off at 7:00am running across King St from my end of town, through downtown, and then on the Lower Don Valley Trail. I felt great and running through downtown as the sun was coming up was very nice. I wouldn't want to run there any other time of day due to crowds. The weather on Sunday was perfect for running too- sunny but nice and cool. 

When I got to the end of King and hit the Don Valley River, I headed down some stairs to take the Lower Don Valley Trail up to the run site. At this point my phone started acting up. It has taken to turning off at random and so I had actually packed a portable charger in my running belt to get it to turn back on. It was really annoying because obviously my running app was not able to properly track me on this run, but oh well. I really enjoyed running along this path- not a traffic light in sight to slow me down!

About an hour into my run I started to get a little nervous because I should have hit the end of the Terry Fox Run route about then. I started checking my GPS (which slowed me down) and eventually the GPS showed that my path was going to take me east and then end. Umm...how do I get north?! I was stuck on this wrong path!! I ended up finally finding a service road and getting to Don Mills Rd, which I ran on the shoulder of (thank god for Sunday morning traffic), until I could get back to civilization. Turns out apple maps was just missing some of the trails and if I had stayed on the trail I would have found where I needed to go. Oh well. No real harm done! I think it took me 9 miles to get here, but as I said my app wasn't tracking properly due to the phone continuously turning off.

Finally made it to Wilket Creek!

I got to the run site right on time- enough time for a bathroom break and to hand in my registration before the opening ceremonies. Then I listened to the opening talks (Premier Kathleen Wynne and Mayor John Tory were there!) and did the group warm up- then a little after 9am we were off to run 10km! Unfortunately about 6 or 7km in my phone turned off and would NOT turn back in. I was worried because Cam was picking me up and I needed to contact him to arrange where to meet! Thankfully I left it plugged in and about 10 minutes later it just turned on all by itself! I think it was having trouble registering the charger? I finished strong around 10:15am. I THINK I actually ran 15 miles total and I THINK it took around 2:20. My app says I went 14 miles in 2:10, but it wasn't recording properly for some large chunks of time. 

The pace spikes around mile 6 are when I was lost and that dip at the end is when my phone gave up on life for 10 minutes

Oh well- it was a really good run and my legs felt good and strong the whole time, so that was great! After the run I was ravenous (my app says I burned 1600 calories), but the Terry Fox Run is full of amazing food by their sponsors so it is a great place to end a long run! I wolfed down a hot dog, a whole ear of bbq corn, a bag of chips, and I got some reece's peanut butter cups for later. I did not take any photos of my well deserved binge- my mind was focused only on eating. My usual Terry Fox teammates weren't able to make it this year so I was riding solo so I didn't stick around and just went to go meet Cam after stuffing my face :)

I also want to mention that I got a new running belt which I tried out for the first time on Sunday! It is a flipbelt and I really liked it. Totally comfortable the whole run (I tried it on in the store beforehand), and it held my phone, charger, keys, a mini Clif bar, and some ID, money, and registration papers. Everything was secure and didn't bounce at all. Felt like I was wearing nothing at all! I am also getting an iphone 6+ in a couple weeks to replace this stupid phone and the reviews all said this belt holds that model well and won't feel like I'm running with a tablet. And until then it can easily hold my phone charger, which is nice. The running belt was $40, so not cheap, but definitely something I will get a lot of use out of

All in all, a great morning and a great run for a great cause! I raised about $1120 (a new record for me!) and there is still time to donate if you forgot- just go here!