I’m in my parent’s house southwest of Calgary now. It’s been a nice Thanksgiving trip.
On the first day I helped them unload a large moving van. It didn’t have much furniture but it did have non-essentials that needed moving. The real stuff will come later. After that it was back to chopping down trees.
Today was more interesting.
This morning my mother and I drove into the Kananaskis region. It’s a large park in the mountains. The plan was that I would go running and my mother would bike to keep up. Harry the dog would hopefully get tired out. At the information booth I asked if there were any trails that were good for running. No, they only had hiking trails. I did find one they said was reasonably flat that was close by. The Riverside trail.
I enjoyed the route. It was rocky so I had to keep my eyes down whenever I was moving. It started above the Elbow river, but soon it went down and I was running along the banks. Then it started climbing and climbing. It was okay for me. As a runner, I enjoy the challenge of a good hill. But my mother couldn’t keep up and needed help with the bike.
But since I had to stop and let her catch her breath I saw some spectacular views. I wish I had brought a camera.
After about 4km the trail ended on the highway. My mother couldn’t handle going back on the trail again so we went along the road back to the trailhead. Harry was tied to a leash because with a speed limit of 100kph, it wasn’t a good idea to have him wander into traffic.
In this area of the park, there were cows. Apparently ranchers can pay rent and let their cattle graze in the area. So as I ran back, the cows placidly watched me go by, as cows are wont to do. Mooo. A young bull, pre-horn stage, found us more interesting and decided to start chasing Harry. Remember, said dog was attached to me by a leash.
Luckily its heart wasn’t in the chase. We were faster than it, and it dropped away soon enough. Something like that does perk up your run though.