The Red (8) Mile

Calgary. Great city, strange weather. Yesterday was chinook conditions (probably 15 degrees) when we (Famous Players Band) rolled in. Unfortunately, didn't have the time yesterday for a run, but I figured today would be the same kind of weather, but when I rolled out of the Hyatt this morning at 7:30....SNOW!!!

Anyways....

Got an hour and a bit in. Left the Hyatt on Center Street right by the Calgary tower. Incidentally, this seems to be the area of town that I'm always restricted to each time we come to Calgary whether it's with FP, Soul Decision, or Kia. If I wasn't from there, I think my perception of Calgary from the gigs in the last five years there would be limited to a 3 block radius surrounding the Hyatt/Marriott/Palliser/Delta/Convention Center; in fact, I'm certain that some members of the band haven't thought that Calgary exists otherwise.

Anyways....

Left the Hyatt and went north on Center over the Center Street Bridge and went around the Bow River. This is Calgary's answer to the seawall. Not sure if this path has an official name but it's nice and goes right around Prince's Island Park and the Bow. I played the park with Kia Kadiri last summer as part of the Africa festival (dig that!!! Africafest in Calgary, go figure, eh? Lots of peeps and lots of fun), but it was a couple years ago that the park was basically destroyed by the Bow when it flooded. The City of Calgary did an amazing and obviously speedy job of rebuilding things and long story short, makes for a great run.

ANYWAYS....

Came back to the city via 14th Street???? maybe and continued up to 17th Avenue.....The Red Mile. Home to the huge celebration that lasted almost 2 months in 2004 during the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Flames' Cinderella story cup run. Last night was amazing to be in that energy of a city so proud of their underdogs that continually (last night was no exception either) grind and play their asses off every minute of every period. So refreshing to watch a team like that (ouch!!!). It was harder to spot someone not wearing a jersey yesterday than it was to spot someone that was. It dawned on me how important the playoffs are to the economy of a city and not that Calgary has a bad economy, but it gets people out and spending their oil profits in their town. That said, there was an intense amount of homeless people in this city as I ran through it today. I don't where I'm going with this....

ANYWAYS!!!!!!.....

The Red Mile took me all the way out to the stampede, which brought back some great memories of childhood and growing up in Calgary. If I would've had more time to run, I would've liked to gone out to Parkland where I grew up. That's a pretty long run, especially if it's there and back again, but I think it would be fun. I could see my old house, fish creek, and maybe even a stop by Southcenter mall where I proposed marriage to someone; that's a story for a different blog entirely....

East West

Combination of 2 runs yesterday, Kerrisdale and the Ontario runs that precede the False Creek and Granville Island: 59th to Ontario, Ontario to 37th, 37th to Arbutus/East Boulevard, East Boul. to 57th, 57th to Granville, home. Pretty good, not too long or too short. Still battling a little shin splint action in the left leg, not completely healed apparently. Knees giving me a little grief too strangely. Going to Calgary tommorow and I always look forward to my run around the Bow when I'm there.

Kerrisdale/Shoes

So I ended up going down Granville to 37th, 37th to Larch, Larch to 41st, 41st to East Boulevard, East Boulevard to 57th, 57th to Granville, and home. Nice run. Felt good.

In the time that I've been seriously running (November till now), I've gone through 3 pairs of shoes. Well, "gone through" tends to imply that I've worn them out or something; I have been experimenting until I've found the right ones. It seems that my quest is over.

When I first started running, I went to the Running Room and did their tests so that they could determine what type of runner I was. It looks as if I was a pronator, meaning that I run on the inside edges of my soles. They sold me a pair of Brooks Adrenaline shoes. Very comfy. In fact, the most comfy shoe I had ever worn. After about a month and a half I started to develop a calf strain which eventually kept me from running. I was so frustrated with myself, having pushed it too hard even though I was a beginner. It was at this time that I was finishing reading Galloway's Book on Running (ironically a book on running injury free). In one of the last chapters he talks about shoes. He recommended looking at the soles of your shoes. Turns out that the wear from running was on the outside of my soles. I took my shoes back and said, "AH HA!!! I'm a pronator!" The girl looked at my shoes and confirmed that I had the wrong ones. She made me do the tests again and she said that it still looked like I was a pronator and that she could see why the girl at the other store had originally made the mistake. "It's one of those weird things, everybody is different."

She then hooked me up with a pair of Brooks Glycerine. No more problems. Once again, I could run injury free. Although, I found these shoes really uncomfortable. Incredible stiff, not like the Adrenalines. I started to develop a weird strain on the outside edge of my right foot. At that point, I knew how much damage shoes could do and I wasn't gonna take any chances. I went to the Running Room in Richmond (beauty alliteration, eh?) and Amanda helped me by letting me try on every neutral shoe in the store in my size. I tried on about 15 pairs and in a game of running shoe survivor, voted them off one by one. The winner was the Asics Gel Cumulus.

For anyone looking for shoes, the Running Room kicks ass and their staff are all runners, unlike other shoe/sport stores. Although, this could be a bit of a detriment; Amanda's Mizuno bias started rearing itself when I asked about Adidas. She never brought any adidas until I asked and Adidas by the way, ended up being the runner up (I was rooting for them so much!!!!). The Running Room on Denman and Georgia has an outlet store beside it that has great deals.

Saturday's Run and no, I didn't run the Sun Run

Didn't get time to log Saturday's run. Basically, "False Creek" in reverse. West to east this time. I really like this run. It's nice and long. 2 and half or 3 hours for this guy. I've taken Sunday and Monday off and today I'm gonna get back out. Not sure where yet, gonna see how I feel. Left leg was a little stiff on the walk down to the 'buck this morning.

No, I didn't run the sun run. Not to be elitist, but I can run 10 km no sweat, in fact most of my daily runs are 10 km. I realize that this is a great goal for some and I think it's awesome that they do it, but it ain't for me. From what I understand, there is so many people and it's hard to even run for the first 3 km. I AM doing the scotiabank half marathon (13.1 miles) in June and I think that'll be more my style. I was to do the Vancouver Marathon next week, but I'll be on the island with Bill Runge and I won't be able to make it back for the start time.

Granville Island

A variation on False Creek. 59th to Ontario, Ontario to 1st, past Randall's rehearsal space to Granville Isl., along the south "Seaside" seawall to the planetarium/vanier park, to cypress, cypress to king ed, king ed to angus, angus to 57, 57 to granville. Felt a little pain out of the gates but it went away quickly. I think it was about 2 hours.

Shorty

Today I ran my usual maintenance run. 57th to Angus, Angus to 41st, 41st to Cartier, Cartier to 58th. Pretty basic, takes about half hour. As soon as I hit the pavement, I felt that it was one of those days. You just can't wait to finish. Half way through, those feelings went away but my left inside shin was bugging me again. I can't wait till it goes away. A little more than 2 months to the Scotiabank half marathon which I feel fine about. I feel like I could run it tommorow. I need a marathon. I won't be around for Vancouver and I won't be around for Victoria unless I sub a gig out the night before. If anyone has any suggestions let me know. Calgary? Interior? Wherever...

Lee ran a 3:10 at Boston. Once again, not bad for a guy who was supposed to lose a leg to cancer.

False Creek

I've decided to keep a journal of my runs if for no one else's entertainment but my own. I'll chronicle my daily runs and all things related.

So, yesterday. First run in a long time that I felt completely injury free. I've been suffering some shin splints in the left leg recently. It started after taking 10 days off, so I'm thinking that it's not running related. I've been doing some ab exercises that put some pressure on the shins so this may be the problem. I'm gonna lay off the exercises for a while and see what happens. Regardless, yesterday felt good.

Started at Granville and 59th to Ontario, then north to Science World and around False Creek on the "Seaside" seawall (Plaza of Nations, David Lam Park, etc) to the Burrard st. bridge, over the bridge onto Cornwall to Cypress (Cypress bike route), south on Cypress to King Ed, King Ed to Marguerite, Marguerite to 57th, and 57th east to Granville.

For future reference, I'm gonna call this run "False Creek". I like this run a lot. The old houses along Ontario are great, especially around Mt. Pleasant. I never used to like "old" houses until recently. Over the course of my running, I watched some being restored and they look great.

Lee, my brother, is running Boston today. He should be setting out in half an hour. Very exciting. I'd love to see him finally break 3 hours....especially at Boston. They're broadcasting it on OLN, so maybe we'll get a glimpse of him.