I did it again today. Four days ago I ran more than I had ever done. I broke that record today.
I had planned to do some mountain hiking this weekend near Canmore, but that got cancelled due to avalanche warnings (probably for the best) so I decided that I would do my Sunday run today. In the Kananaskis. I chose today, earlier than is probably advisable, because it is looking like this will be the only nice day this weekend. Plus, my parents and sister were out in the morning, so I wouldn’t be missing their company.
I crossed the road to Highway 22. I also discovered that the ditch had water in it. The hard way. So my first act was to take off one shoe and try to wring as much water out of my sock as possible. An inauspicious start. I was surprised that I didn’t end up with a painful blister during the run. I did get one, but not in a painful area.
Then I ran.
My plan was to run 46km today. I headed into the park, mostly gaining altitude, but there are valleys in the way. The lowest point I hit was 1230 meters above sea level, and the highest point was 1450 meters. I had my mother’s six year old GPS unit with me to give me an idea of how far I was traveling. At about twenty kilometers in I found I couldn’t trust it; There was a place that I had driven a car odometer, and found it was 20.1km away. The GPS said it was 21.3km. I added three more clicks and then turned around. Now I would be going mostly downhill.
It was not easy though. I had thought there would be water available in the park. Technically, I suppose, that was true, but I was hoping for something more refined than crouching over a creek and trying to fill the bottle with non-silty water. When I was running towards the mountains I had gotten caught in a rainstorm, but you can’t get much water into your mouth with your tongue out. And it was gone by the time I came back again.
It also got hotter and hotter. I now have a nice sunburn. But I think, despite what other people might say, (you know who you are) that I need more sun in my life. I really don’t want to turn into a morlock.
The last ten kilometers were without water. I did harass an innocent road crew worker and got a few gulps of water out of her, but it wasn’t enough. I got sluggish. It was almost like I could feel my blood thickening. And those valleys were now killers. I had walk a large part of them. I’ll say it was because I was worried about my right calf, but really, I was tired. I have to go buy a better water carrying system.
My shirt had been around my waist for almost the entire run. Then, with three kilometers to go, I noticed it was gone. I looked behind myself and saw it lying on the pavement twenty meters away, back up a hill. It took several long seconds before I decided to go back for it. I was very tempted to take a car out later to collect it.