Lake to Lake Half Marathon: Shawnigan to Glenora

Ah yes, forgot that I ran this one of a few busy weekends ago (Sept 11?). It’s quite a small community fun run, and it is unique in that it offers two distances: the full marathon, and the half. It is not chip-timed – and as I learned when I ran it- not quite a full distance either, hah. 😉

Lake to Lake!! An eerie glow…

There was a small crowd as we started slightly after the full marathon folks, and it’s a point-to-point, so you do have to be aware of getting back to your car. They do offer a shuttle, but luckily for me Ian wasn’t running so he could pick me up afterwards! Yes!

The weather was fantastic. It’s been an incredible fall, no rain, just sun and warm weather days. I love it! I was a tad chilly in the morning, but that burned off pretty quick. Speaking of burned off, there was also smoke- due to forest fires from WA. Luckily for us, the smoke in the air didn’t get too bad until later in the afternoon and I was finished fairly early, so not bad.

I started up near the front, as it was quite a small race. I hung out for awhile with another guy, cognizant of not wanting to blow up my pace (this was supposed to be a practice run for training, NOT a real race). Did I actually do that? Well…sort of. I got pretty into the idea of racing quick 😉 and mistakenly thought I was KILLING IT!! A new world record for me!! (newsflash: This did not happen. You merely rise to the level of your training, not above it.).

So, I jogged along, beat the one guy and had a few fasties ahead of me. I hustled and caught up with them…and then started feeling tired. The aid stations were a bit odd, not very evenly spaced and we had one right off the bat where we didn’t need them, and then 1 at about 12k? And then one at the finish, lol. Guess they were more important for the marathoners hahaha. The gravel was ok to run on, but I think the fatigue of training caught up with me and I started feeling pretty chewed up.

Cute participation medal eh?

I lost the fasties and kind plugged along solo for awhile. Wish I had some pictures actually!! And then it was the finish- at about 20.60, we were definitely a touch short. Oh well! I came in with no fanfare and my time was around 1:30:?? which is fine for a training run for sure, but again- course was short. I believe I was second female but not quite sure as there’s no awards or anything unless you win!

Waited around for Ian to come, he didn’t so I decided to just go and tackle the rest of my long run rather than waiting for the smoke to get worse, and for my legs to start stiffening up too much. That part was a SLOG lol. I did see a lot of other marathon runners so I cheered them on, hah clutching my participation medal because I didn’t know where to put it haha.

I finished that in about 1.5 hours, jogged back to the staging area and ran into Ian again. We wrapped up the day by going to Stillhead distillery for a spirits tasting (so good!!!) and then we went to watch the finishers of the Finlayson Arm Ultra (50k/100k day) and then went riding. A good day all around! 😉

I would recommend the Lake to Lake Marathon for a fun training opportunity that is supported and quite reasonably priced, it’s a beautiful course and very fun. Not a serious race, in my opinion but that makes it more fun!

Weekend update: Gala cocktails, lessons, hangovers and more!

Wow. Wow. I had a busy weekend, even by my standards.

I went for a run in the morning, and I had my rescheduled jump lesson on Saturday, and one-zillion errands to run, and my parents needed help moving some cabinets at their house (read: heavy). What to do, what to do?

Enter my super helpful husband, who really stepped up to the plate this weekend! He dropped me off at my riding lesson, and ran all my horse errands for me, AND my parent errands too! What a stand-up guy! Did you know it is his birthday tomorrow too!

Happy 32nd birthday!! (tomorrow)

While I was jumping- and Oats was great, it was a fun and productive lesson and I learned about bringing my shoulders back on the landing-side of a jump, and it felt great!- My busy husband went to:

• Greenhawk to pick up my sedative to clip Oats,
• The feed store to buy my grain and a bag of shavings for a friend,
• My parents house, to drop off their dishes, pick up my Halloween costume, and help them move stuff,
• And then back to the barn to pick me up after my lesson and help me move the grain into the feed room.

Phew! I am tired just thinking about it.

We got home and played a bit of tennis with Gidget, just goofing off in the tennis courts, and I got ready to have some friends over for a drink before our big event- the Art of the Cocktail Gala night!

Tickets were not cheap ($65) but it was my first time going, so I was going to go and enjoy myself! We got all gussied-up, and my lovely husband again helped me out and drove us to the venue (Crystal Gardens, so close to my house) and he even picked me up again at midnight!

All jazzed up!

We had a blast! I tried so many cocktails and different types of spirits- pecan-spice whiskey, chili-vodka (wow, it was HOT!!), a Manhattan, a Rusty Screwdriver, a RumChata root beer float, strawberry shortcakes, pecans, mini pierogies, dates with bacon jam…And there was more, I just can’t remember it!

The only part I didn’t like was that I felt too rushed. They hustled us out at 9:30 p.m. and it felt WAY too early- so we went next door to the Sticky Wicket and grabbed a drink, did some dancing, and then stumbled out for some pizza. It was then I called for a ride home, and we called it a night.

So glam!

The next morning I was a hot mess. Yeah hangover city, right here…. My jaw was killing me, my stomach felt like a clenched fist all day, I was shivering and sweating. Yiiiiickkk…Still made it out riding, but it was touch and go for awhile, that’s for sure! Oats is a very safe pony and very forgiving, so he took care of me.

Too much of a good thing!