It Was a Hilly Day

It was a crisp, winter morning, minus the 90+K wind gusts from last weekend, and this was our view about 2K into the run.  We were running the opposite direction of the Around the Bay route and I couldn't pass up the chance to take this photo.  It would be one of many stops on this very hilly run.  One hill took us ten minutes to climb up and eight to come down.  We stopped for some photo ops and once so that I could rub some lip balm on my husband's chafed parts.  Luckily it wasn't his private parts this time.  (My cherry lip balm didn't know what hit it on that day!)

I struggled a bit on this run because I was battling the beginnings of a cold and the fact that a bunch of my family came over the day before for a bowling day and pizza, wings and fries.  Not the healthiest of things to eat before a 26K run, but if that's what the family wants, then that's what the family gets.  I made a salad, too.  That was my lame attempt at adding something fresh and healthy to the mix.

I ran with my really fast friend Janine -- she slowed down for me yesterday.  This is the woman who won her age group at the Boxing Day 10-Miler and is helping me train for my spring marathon.  She has a gorgeous border collie who runs with us all the time and she has a super-funny blog that she writes from her dog's perspective.  I'm the rottweiler that she refers to and now I feel I must find a dog reference for her.  I'm thinking a Jack Russell.  Here's a couple of adjectives Google describes for their temperaments:  Intelligent, Athletic, Energetic, Fearless, Vocal.  I'm thinking it suits her to a tee, but I don't know enough about dog breeds.

Here's another stop we made before we tackled another killer hill:

In all, we took on about 12 to 14 hills.  This is our post-run happy faces:

I either need to get longer arms or find a better way to hold the camera so I don't look like I have a double chin.

And this is the post-run double-fisted look from Laura at breakfast:

This weekend we are running flat and I've already got the route mapped out.   The week after, we will be running the whole Around the Bay Route, and this week we start Valley Inn hill repeats -- yeehaw!

Oh, and I won the Linacare giveaway from Kim and I just got it today.  I can't wait to try it!  Thanks, Kim!

Have a great week!