Frontenac Perimeter Run - April 27

"Are you military or doing this for pleasure?"

The greatest words anyone has ever uttered to me while running.  I was tickled. 

I haven't been great about updating this blog, but thought I would for this run.  Originally I'd planned to do it with Luc but someone's rampaging case of the olds means he's stopped running (still hikes) and so I was solo for this unsupported run. 

The Frontenac Perimeter is, as the name suggest, the perimeter of the quite substantial network of trails in the park.  So I ran a lot of trails, but just bits. 

I got an early start on the day (ughh, 4:45 am) and drove to the park, eating two Stinger Waffles on the way (for what,230-250 calories?  Big start to the day me, way to fuel!  I ate lots Friday night though, and my stomach has been very temperamental lately, so I was a bit nervous about taking in the number of calories I normally would for a run this long.  I stopped by Derrick's first - on Friday, I was telling him that I couldn't decide whether to use a bottle or bladder for the run - he suggested a 2L bladder, which I no longer have - but he had extras of some with kinked hoses he couldn't sell - and my 1L bladder has a compatible hose - so I stopped by.  Picked up the bladder, got some Clif swag (he is a sponsored athlete) and met the dogs.  Nice to see him and Sara. 

Yum!

Then it was off to the park - I got there just before 8:30 when the office opens, perfect, went in and got my pass.  Headed off the the big parking lot, did all my stuff, including spraying my legs with DEET as protection against ticks (early season this year - the DEET was running out of course) and set off by about 8:45.  Perfect.

The first bit went by quickly - I ran part of the perimeter at the start of April with a fastpack, so it was fresh in my mind.  I did the southern section first, at Derrick's suggestion, but I concurred - it is the most technical and it's best to get that out of the way while you are fresh.  And damn is it technical in places.  It's tiring, not because of the hills (though there are some) but because it's just so technical.  As a comparison, if you've run Haliburton - it's not a comparison.  Near the junction to campsite cluster 1, the trail gets a bit less technical for awhile, and it was near here I ran into the hiker who asked me if I was in the military.  Best.  He'd seen two runners out on the trails the day before, so presumably was aware that non-military run, which just made it even more flattering.

I stopped for a needed bathroom break at cluster 1 - thank you, unreliable stomach! - and headed on.  I took a couple of pics in the next section, my only ones of the day.

This is a neat part that doesn't really show up here - you are running on a narrow bit of land with lakes on either side.  Very cool.

Then I saw a barred owl!  COOL!  So I took a terrible picture - the zoom on the iPhone isn't very good.  The owl is in the bottom left-hand corner.

I had lost the trail a few times, to my chagrin, but shortly after crossing a bridge I just flat out lost it.  Spent a while looking for it!  It felt like ages but I'm sure wasn't.  Still, a waste of time.

I had set a goal for myself, if you know the park, of getting to campsite cluster 5 by around 3 hours - I beat it by a couple of minutes.  Pleased with myself, and pleased that I was done the most technical part of the run, I planned on making good time.

Of course, I positive splitted the run.  Not that I had thought I'd do anything else, but I was hoping for a little less of a positive split.  I got to the old logging road section happy for some faster running, and I'm not sure I did that, but at least it was mostly steady.  This was my first indication though that the technical stuff had made me tired enough that walking hills seemed like a great idea.

At least this section wasn't muddy.  Derrick figured the Corridor Trail would the worst, but frankly the whole Rideau section was pretty muddy, and bits of the park throughout.  I was caked by the end, and I even tried to avoid the worst of it (as if).

I got to the turn off for the northern sections, happy happy happy!  But hungry.  For this run, I was fueling with Infinit, meaning I was drinking all my fuel.  And my stomach REALLY wanted something solid (note to self:  when doing unsupported runs, there are not aid stations to grab a quick snack from).  Luckily I had taken on of the Shot Blok packs Derrick gave me, so I had half at 3.5 hours and it really hit the spot - had the section half at 4.5 hours.

I was also very thirsty.  I think I was taking in enough calories, as I didn't bonk, but experience has also shown me I need to be running a pretty decent calorie deficit to bonk.  The Infinit was just not quenching my thirst - I was SO thirsty - I probably wasn't drinking enough, in hindsight, and I'd also forgot my salt caps though the Infinit I have does have some electrolytes.  So I started taking my supplemental electrolytes, and when I got to a clear stream, I stopped, washed my face, then drank from my hand the water.  SO good.  Somewhat refreshed, I pressed on.

The northern section of the park is hillier.  Southern Ontario hilly, and even then, it could be hillier, but hilly enough.  Especially when you are tired.  I started walking the hills, and walking some of the muddy sections, or the technical bits - a sure sign I was flagging, and it meant I was walking too much.  A challenge with a solo run like this is motivation - at a race, it's a RACE, and there is people around - here, even though I wanted to do a good (for me) time, when my mind starts saying 'Who cares about time' there aren't people around like at races to get me going again.

Still, I pushed through it, and ran when I could.  I started to run into more people - the northern section was busy - also, hikers/backpackers are easily startled.  I announce myself, but apparently I run quietly.  Actually, more people around did get me running more.

I stopped at campsite cluster 11 for another bathroom break (sigh) and to refuel.  I dumped out what remained of my bladder (and while I wasn't doing terribly, I could've been drinking more).  Here it was annoying - the bladder wouldn't fill with water enough.  I had to take off my shoes and socks, and wade out into the lake (taking advantage to drink some more water) and fill up the bladder that way.  I got the purifier in it, and the Infinit, reattached the hose, then washed out my socks (why not, it was a long stop anyways) before heading off again.  I left feeling quite refreshed.

I knew at this point I was getting closer and closer to the end.  I had been told the perimeter was 50k, but I also knew from reading some blogs that everyone's GPS showed around 46k - and the elevation is not enough to account for a mis-read, and, well, April - not a lot of tree cover.  So I was excited, but tempering my excitement because if I got it in my head that it was 46k and it ended up being 50, those last 4k would suck.  Stopped to check the map a few times and estimate distance.

Got to the Birch Lake Trail - walked more here, because the leaves were quite deep in places, and I couldn't see what I was stepping on.  Let's just say I walked a lot the second half of the run.  But, I knew I was closer to the end, and when I got the Arkon Trail, memories of the best backpacking trip ever (4 silly girls) came back and I cheerfully kept on.  I was checking the map a lot, and when I got to the Bufflehead Trail intersection, I estimated another 4k left, for about 47k on the day.

Crossing the access road back to the Corridor Trail was amazing.  I headed down the Corridor Trail, and got back to the car with 46.92k on the Garmin - go distance estimating skills!

Things that worked well:

-my Sugoi gripper shorts.  The grippers mean the legs don't ride up.  And the chamois somehow fell out (WTH) so that they are tri shorts isn't annoying.
-the Infinit - I could've drank more, but it kept me from bonking.  I think I would've had more energy if I'd drank more though, or more motivation.  And been less thirsty.
-S!Caps - the electrolyte tabs, when I started taking them, helped.
-Clif Shot Bloks - I need solid food on runs that long, particularly when I have such a small breakfast.  They were amazing.  At least, I need something sitting in my stomach.
-bladder - it's harder to figure out how much I'm taking in - enough, but not too much, or too little - but it meant less stops.

Things that could work better:

-my t-shirt - shorter sleeves, and I got some arm chafing.
-Drymax socks - I hate to say this, because these are supposed to be the anti-blister socks - but I had rubbing under my arches that was uncomfortable and annoying.  This is the second time in wet conditions this has happened.  Perhaps though, in other socks, they would've formed blisters.  I don't know, the jury is out on that one.
-psoas - I think, if I have my muscle groups right, this is the cause of my significant lower back pain as the run went on.  It was sore last week too.  While my hip flexor is fine again (yay!), not loving this.  I need to see Andrew.  I suspect it is carrying the pack over a longer period of time - all my longer runs lately I've been using bottles for, and just recently switched back to a pack.
-breakfast - I need to eat a proper one.  Not too much else to say on that.  

 Animals sighted:

-4 deer
-Woodpecker
-Barred Owl
-Canadian Geese
-Ducks
-Garter Snake
-Beaver

 Total - 46.92k, moving time 7:08

March 11-24

I should remember more about these two weeks, but I don't. 

Sometimes when I'm not stable my memory isn't as good.  It's part of the cognitive effect of bipolar, I guess.  Anyways, I rode a wee little bit, and mostly ran.  Missed a run or two - partly because of birth control-related nausea (confirmed by GP and pdoc to not be related to my instability, yay, I guess), and partly because I'm crazy.  But I substituted. 

I hate times like this.  I guess my runs didn't go terribly - in fact, some went well.  It's just a fog.  Toby did one of my interval runs with me because he is a stabilizing influence on me and I didn't want to leave the house without him.  He's only been riding lately, not running, so this was very sweet of him.  And in good news, I'm now faster than him!  Mwuahahahaha.  I ran the warm up with him, then ran the intervals on my own, jogged back to him on the recovery, repeat.  We did part of the cool down together too.   

Neb got some runs in.  We enjoyed the mud.  My ankle bothered me some, but I worked through it.  Stupid icy trails, stupid microspikes.  I fell twice and had to crawl to the side of the trail to get my microspikes on.  Talk about dignified.

So yeah, stuff happened, and when I look back at this blog - I didn't persevere perfectly through this time, but I did pretty damn good.  And my GP agreed to raise my Saphris last week, so that got me stable again, and I saw pdoc on the 25th and he said the dosage was fine, even though it's higher than the 'maximum' dose (the efficacy has not been demonstrated, but the side effect profile is worsened).  Luckily he helped research the drug and is pretty cool about that stuff. 

I had some upset tummy though, which I don't think is Infinit-related.  Infinit has always been fine tummy-wise for me.  But I do have an *ahem* sensitive system when it comes to running - and yeah.  Toby said 'What would you do if you were in the woods?' but in the woods would be fine, it's when I'm in the city I'm screwed.  My hormones have been a little out of whack though and that could be part of it.  I can always take Immodium at the start of runs if this is a consistent problem, but I don't think it will be. 

March 4-10

Very happy with how this week went. 

I ran 6 days, with 5 core sessions and one lower body strength session on my rest day. 

My strength is really improving - which is to say, my speed is.  I had a couple of good sessions, including a great progression tempo run on Wednesday. 

Monday's run was a strong run.  I followed it up with a run with Neb on Tuesday, so a slower pace, but it set me up for Wednesday, and it was a great pace for Nebbers.  He's improving, just in time for it to get hot and for his running to be absolutely destroyed.  Humidity is not the friend of the Husky. 

Wednesday is showing me that my top end speed has improved a hell of a lot, now it's just a matter of getting that speed consistent and holding it for longer runs. 

Thursday was a trot - there's no other way of putting it.  I felt terrible though - on the way home from work I was hit with terrible nausea.  I managed to get some rice in me, watch 'Unbreakable' (the ultra running movie, not the other one), and then go for a run on my brand-spanking new road shoes I'd picked up at lunch that day - Brooks Ghost 5s. 

They're comfortable.  What can I say.  They are shoes.  It's not like trail shoes where you care about grip, not really.  But they are comfy and that's what matters.  Not too heavy. 

Friday was a rest day, so I did lower body strength. 

Saturday I was up eaaaaaaarly.  I was out Friday night - my cousin was in town for reading week and we took her out for dinner - and Kelly had invited me to run with her and some folk on Saturday morning.  We met at 7 am up in Palgrave so I got up at 5:40 am get out there - I'd packed up everything after work on Friday.  It was forecasted to be about -3C on Saturday morning, but driving out there the car thermometer dropped to -6.5C. 

I got there and a few other runners showed up - and who should be there but Marylou!  I know her through Toby, so it was really cool to see her and get to run with her that day.  She'd just gotten into Badwater, which is amazing.  Kelly and I ran for 3 hours, everyone else ran for 8.  One day, one day.  We ran a mix of trail and country road.  To be honest, the post-holing was so brutal at one point when the trail popped out onto road someone suggested sticking to road for a bit and it was a relief.  I love running on trails, but running is the operative word.  Running was very difficult.  I didn't need my microspikes though, and if my ankle held up under that beating, well - I think we can say it is healed.  Or as healed as it's gonna get. 

I have strengthened as a runner though.  The run was an easy run that I felt fresh afterwards - my legs felt great. 

Sunday was an easy run.  To be honest, we were out Saturday night too and I was feeling terribly tired - so sleepy.  I was up early, plus it was 'spring forward' time change and I'm just sleep deprived.  I wore the Brooks for their second run - figured I'd go to High Park and run on the roads/paved paths - but as I was heading down the hill on Spring - water flowing - and I saw how slushy the ice was (and the trails have all been icy) I decided to run on the trails through the mud and ice-slush.  And massive pools of water.  It was awesome.  I came home covered with mud splatter.  And dirty, dirty shoes.  The road shoes have been baptised.  Ran up one hill on trail this time last year I thought was steep - now my reaction is that it is a bit of an incline.  So that was pretty cool to realize that.  Plus I was just thrilled at my pace, for trail period, let alone mud and slush covered trail with crappy footing.  Yes, some path sections in there, but still.  A great run.  All the better because I started off feeling crappy and ended feeling strong and great.  

Another reminder this week of how much stronger of a runner I am becoming. 

February 25-March 3

My ankle was a factor this week, so I ended up not running as much as planned.

So that was frustrating.  I had hoped for some more consistent running this week but I also wanted to make sure that the ankle is strong for Sulphur.  It ached and ached Monday, so a run was out (it was supposed to be a rest day, but I was also supposed to do a long run on the weekend, so yeah).

Tuesday it was doing better, and I got a interval tempo in before the storm hit.  It went really well, I was a lot faster than the planned speed and felt comfortable and in control the entire time.  I just focused on form and turnover and the rest was easy.  I was never running all out.  Derrick commented that it 'was faster than planned' and I notice I'm supposed to stick to the plan this week coming up :) 

Wednesday the conditions from the slush blizzard were still bad so I didn't run.  Tuesday after the run definitely hurt the ankle, so I wanted to be careful.

Thursday I got a run in with Neb, just an easy run but it was good to get out.

I did strength/core work most days in one form or another.  Friday morning I did some lower body in the morning, among others, and it really set the ankle off.  Friday was a planned rest day but I was going to do a short run, but decided to (again!) bow out to make sure that my ankle was in good shape for Saturday's long run.

Originally I was supposed to race The Yeti 10k snowshoe race on Saturday, but between my ankle and missing my long run the weekend before, I decided not to.  I'll be doing a 5 Peaks race this summer instead, they're letting me switch my registration which is awesome customer service - go 5 Peaks!

Saturday morning I slept in til 8:30, and woke up to Neb outside the bedroom lying there staring at me.  I had 2.5hrs to do, and Mr. Hypoglycemic has never run that long - he's generally up to 40 minutes, but 30 minutes is a good length for him.  Anyways, because I'm a sucker, I decided to take him for part of the run and see how long I could go for - I was running around the house on road so that I'd have stable footing anyways - so we ran nice and slooooow and he did 1:20, which for him is great.  He could've gone longer but it was a logical place to end and I figured finish strong.  I hadn't had breakfast, or taken any nutrition, so I dropped him off and grabbed some Infinit, took some and had the rest in a bottle with me for the road.  Nice to get a better pace going, and both portions of the run had a nice variety of flat and hills, so I felt really positive coming out of the run, and the best part.....MY ANKLE FELT FINE!  MORE OR LESS!  That deserves all caps, awesome.  My left hip (it's my left ankle too) got tight but it worked out as I ran and I'll have to roll it this week though my pathological hatred of rolling has me avoiding that.

Sunday my friend Steph came over and we went out for 30 minutes and then we made brunch.  It was a fun run, we went to High Park and ran through the zoo (Neb was quite taken by the Musk Ox) and up Centre, so that's a nice little hill to get in.  Neb stopped for a bathroom break halfway up the hill (sigh, at least there were garbage bins at the top) so I got to book it to catch up to Steph.  Post-brunch I did a 40 minutes easy spin on the computrainer - great to stretch out the legs and the quads.

This upcoming week should be a good week - some solid running planned, and I am going to avoid lower body strength until at least later in the week to try to let the ankle heal some more.  But I feel very positive going into the week.  And at least even though in the week recapped I didn't get a cardio workout in every day, I did do something each day.  So that's something positive.

February 18-24

The week that wasn’t, basically.  Let’s see….

Monday – rest day – I rode the computrainer for 30 minutes.  Light watts.

Then the depression hit.  The joy of the bipolar, I guess.  Tuesday and Wednesday I struggled to leave the house (read:  I didn’t) but I did managed to ride both days, light watts, nothing long.  Still, I think getting the exercise in helped with the depression, because by Thursday I was returning to normal – a little bruised emotionally, but getting there – I didn’t get Thursday’s tempo in, but I did get out for a run with Neb.  It was really good mentally to get that done.

I was actually pretty proud of myself – generally when I get depressed exercise goes out the window, but I was able to really commit to good self-care and continue to work out through it.

Friday I took as a rest day, and Saturday I went out to Hilton Falls for a 2.5 hour trail run.

Which didn’t work so well.  I wore my microspikes, since it has snowed a bit and I figured the trails would have ice under the snow – but I was sliding around a lot.  The microspikes were being a pain, I had to keep adjusting them.  I never went over on my ankle, but at 45 minutes in it was really starting to hurt.  I decided to hike it back and to do my long run on Sunday.  Towards the end of my hike back, I thought I’d try running again – ouch.  I think I only ran 430 metres before deciding that was a bad idea.

Sunday the ankle was still quite sore – dusting the apartment and cleaning the kitchen in the morning set it off, so I reluctantly decided that a run wasn’t in the cards.  Bah!  I need to be getting in my long runs!  But it will be fine.  Absurdly, perhaps, given my lack of experience at the distance, I am not worried about finishing the 50 miler at Sulphur – I am worried about how long it will take me.  If I could run a 50k race on a long run of 12k a few years ago, I’m way ahead of the curve for the 50 miler, and I’ve got plenty of time to get in other good long runs.  But how fast will I be?  Absurd to worry about with my first one, but I am a professional worrier and I need something for my soul to gnaw on….that or I need more Ativan hahahahaha.  Seriously though, Saphris has been a great med for me, and Lamotrigine continues to plug away, but I do have more anxiety on Saphris.  Seroquel I wasn’t as anxious on, but I gained about 40lbs and was constantly sedated.  You can’t have everything, I guess.

Edit for pics from Saturday!

2013 Dion Frozen Ass Snowshoe Race Report

It was a fun day.  Not a fast day, not a day that went as planned, but a fun day.

As my shins were bothering me, I had the best snowshoe sherpa EVER (Toby!) work on my legs before the race, so everything was feeling in tip-top shape race day. 

We woke up about 6 am Sunday morning for the race, I got dressed, got the dogs out the door, and then made up some travel oatmeal and yogourt to eat while we drove.  The drive went pretty smoothly - one stop for coffee (Toby can't function without it, yech on my part) and then we got to Trenton and found our way to the Batawa Ski Hill.  It had snowed in Toronto, and I wanted to make sure we'd get there in good time, but it hadn't snowed east of the city and we got out there in great time.  I think we were the first ones there! 

Toby brought out his fancy pants camera and helped me set up the Go Pro which I wore on the chest harness to make a video which if I can work it I will link to here. 

Since the race is part of the Dion Eastern Ontario Snowshoe Race series, we got a Dion beer glass with the race entry (which is awesome, now I have two) as well as some Clif products, who are another sponsor of the series. 

The race started down the road near the power lines.  After some race instructions, which I did not hear over the crunching of people walking on snowshoes towards the race director (more on this later), we got started.  There was a 4k race and an 8k race.  I was doing the 8k.

I know the race was likely to be short, as Coach Derrick's wife Sara who was running and had done the race previously told me it felt short.  The race started on the hydro lines before entering snowmobile trails.  Fairly soon we hit the 4k turnaround - I had passed the one guy I was pacing off of, and traded places with another runner who had passed me again and was running not too far ahead.

Then we got to a spot on the trail where there was a small tree down across the trail and the red marking tape on it.

Apparently the race director had said 'turn left at the tree'.  This was probably said while everyone was crunching, because I didn't hear it.  And it was a hard left, leaving the snowmobile trail and going onto smaller less defined trail.  The girl ahead of me went straight, and even though I felt some disquiet - why was the tree taped?  Were we supposed to turn?  Or was it taped so that people would see it? - I followed her. 

I then spent a fair bit of time wondering if we were on the right trail, and when we would start seeing the leaders coming back.  I wondered if the girl in front was looking to see if she could see snowshoe tracks on the trail. 

Eventually I passed her, and couldn't really see any.  As I was deciding that in fact there were none, we came to a spot where there was an intersection and no flagging tape.  There had been flagging tape, old compared to the course flagging tape, but still flagging tape.  So the girl and I consulted and decided to go back.  At this point I was certain the tree was flagged so that you didn't go straight.  Sure enough we got back to the tree and saw the front-runners coming down the big hill.  I have to admit, I walked up the hill - I figured I had added at least a kilometre onto the course, and wasn't racing anyone other than the other girl who went off course, and she was now behind me.  I saw Sara on her way down, and started running again once I got to the top.  Heading towards the turn around I saw the guy I'd passed ages ago and he said I was almost at the turnaround (which I got to and realized that the course was definitely short).  I headed back up another good-sized hill and saw the other girl heading towards the turnaround.

I was ahead of her, but I wanted to beat her - totally MY fault I went off course, my responsibility to know the course, and my dumb for following another racer - but I still wanted to beat her.  So when I got to the start of the hill I tried to run at a good pace and heading down the big hill I figured I had an advantage with my Dion snowshoes and good cleats (she was wearing the Northern Lite running snowshoes, and I have Northern Lites for backpacking and the cleats suck on the descents, one reason why I went with the Dions). 

At the Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race, I got passed in the last 50 metres or so,  and wanted to avoid this happening, so when I got to the flatter section (some slight rolling hills, I suppose, but mostly going down) I tried to stay consistent and speed up a bit.  I crossed the road and headed back into the powerlines and knew I was almost done.  In the end, I put quite a bit of distance on the girl and came in ahead very comfortably. 

My Garmin showed 8.28k.  I played the track in Garmin Connect and going off course for the additional out and back added on 1.2k.  I finished in 1:02, so not fast, but I'm still good with it.

I realized I need to learn how to pace a snowshoe race.  Obviously I need to do more snowshoe running.  I can run a lot faster not on snowshoes (duh) but since snowshoe running is so much harder I think I pace myself easier than I need to.  That said, my legs were tired biking the next day, but not terribly so.  I just hadn't expected them to be at all.

One positive - when I ran the Frontenac race, which was shorter, my core was tired at the end (cardio and legs fine).  This time, my core was fine - I've been doing some easy core work 3X/week and it looks like it is paying off.  

Coming in at the finish:

Despite going off course, I had a great time.  I got to see Derrick and Sara, which was nice, and picked up some new UltrAspire product from Derrick as well as borrowing a Joe Strummer book, which is a good read so far. 

Feb 11-17

Another good week. 

A couple of rides in there - including on Valentines so I could help with an ill-fated meal - and a decent interval workout despite having cramps the whole run (chocolate for lunch bad!).  Despite hating the computrainer, I'm starting to enjoy the rides.  I'm paying more attention to the watts I'm riding, though I still shudder to think what my watts/kg ratio is, but I haven't done a FTP test in years so we'll pretend mine is good even if I don't ride heavy watts on my easy training rides.  Mwuahahahaha.  I am going to try to get some more rides in on off days (shhh don't tell Coach Derrick ;) ) and so we'll see how that improves. 

I don't think I've had big speed improvements lately, but I've also not been doing a lot of tempo/interval workouts due to some medical stuff, so that should improve now that I'm dizziness-free! 

And, of course, I need to be better with eating.  Losing more weight will help with my speed too - I need to get this back under control.  Hopefully not feeling good about my eating will help with this.

My shins are doing okay, which is good as well.

Friday I took off - mental health day, except it's called 'vacation day'.  Bah.  Went for a little hike on the Sulphur Springs course and decided I'm not going to worry about pre-running it - where does the little cutoff from G. Donald down to Martin go?  WHERE?  I am just going to incorrectly preprogram my head into thinking where I think I should go, so yeah.  I know the terrain, the trails aren't technical, so it's all good.  Though the hill at the start/finish is going to make me want to cry.  Especially by the fourth loop.

Neb and I also did a short run later that day.  Saturday was a planned rest day and I took it since I had a race the next day and wanted my legs to be fresh. 

On Sunday (the 17th) I had the Dion Frozen Ass Snowshoe Race.  I had fun, and will write a race report later.  My wonderful snowshoe sherpa helped me prepare, took great pics, and in general was awesome as always.  I don't know how to pace snowshoe races - I don't get how to do a hard sustained run without killing myself.  I can do it without snowshoes, I know how to push that, but since snowshoe running is harder, I tend to take it easier.  I guess I need to run more on snowshoes to really work that out. 

Oh!  And I got some new UltrAspire gear.  Can't WAIT for my long run this weekend, get to use, use, use, the Spry vest.