This gets real……18 weeks away from that Vancouver Half Marathon on Saturday May 1st 2022…

have found a pretty cool AirB&B, like the location, now to book that flight…looks like there may be some deal…so will get that done.

OMG though right? COVID is yet again raising it’s ugly head!!!!!

Don’t really care, even if this thing goes virtual only, I’m still going to Vancouver no matter what…I need this, and I need 12 miles done on May 1st….

So 118 days to train…..today was kind of a challenge.

It’s Monday, so it’s my day when I specifically cross train, to getting on the bike training was done….after shoveling snow, and before shoveling even more snow……what all that snow is going mean for my outdoor runs for the next of the week I have no idea…hopefully the trails and sidewalks will be cleared. It’s supposed to be colder as we work through this deep freeze, but I just have to keep telling myself that the hard work now, no matter how hard and slow, will mean I’ll be ready to go quick and fast once everything warms up and this snow all melts.

Here’s this week’s schedule…it’ll be busy..and maybe busier.

I’m still taking a virtual Running Room Half Marathon Clinic that takes me into February.

I start taking yet another Running Room virtual Half Marathon clinic that aims at that May 1st…

And, I begin instructing a virtual Running Room Learn to Run clinic this Saturday…..

This will be my third in a row, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Explaining what we do, and get a group hooked is a lot of fun, and satisfying. Especially with new to running, runners……I like seeing that light bulb moment, also the interaction between those in the clinic during that weekly Zoom meet, the questions and concerns, forces me to think about what I do, how and why, and to explain it that others can understand and put into practise…..and then being a cheerleader…

MONDAY	Cross train	Mondays will be all about this. Today was 1 hour on the bike trainer
TUESDAY	4K Tempo	1 easy, 3K tempo, 1 easy
WEDNESDAY	4K Easy	Get ready for hill Thursday
THURSDAY	3 x 400m hills	Not sure which hills, but yeah…
FRIDAY	OFF	Absolutely off rest and recover
SATURDAY	3K Steady	Easy, maybe with 1K a little quicker
SUNDAY	10K LSD	Long slow and effortless……

Last night’s run was a nice revelation.

A planned long run was derailed by a call to cover a shift at our Running Room, but, well, after 8 hours, a busy 8 hours…..didn’t really have anything to eat, just a lot of coffee, and was dead tired, and have never been a huge fan of running in the dark (I’m getting tired of night starting at 4PM!) …but it was all good….I picked a route with a few hills, one off road trail, and yep, what the doctor ordered……

I love random runs, some call them junk miles, I don’t…sometimes the head and the heart knows what it needs, it doesn’t always have to be training, a training run, sometimes a run is just a run..for mental health, a reboot, something fun even….

That’s going to a huge part of my focus for 2022, doing this for fun, for personal enjoyment, to connect, and reconnect…yes, focus on distance, endurance, strength and speed, but will not give up on the fun to do so….I’m now 63, I think it’s time to give myself a break, cut myself some slack, and to enjoy life…….my life.

so tomorrow morning…..up to the store at 11AM (maybe cross training in the form of shoveling snow first thing) and a run at 2PM….for fun, but also a little bit of strength too….prancing through the snow

w