Night Running

Okay, it's not night swimming, but with Ottawa's climate, I can't see that being particularly fun either!

Junkii and I have finally managed to get ourselves out on the Ottawa bike paths on a semi-regular basis. The goal is to go for a short run on each evening that we don't go to the gym. We're not quite there yet, but goals are meant to be worked towards, aren't they?

Good news is that, having adjusted my gait -- I now land softly on my heels and follow through onto my toes rather than simply running on my toes -- I am now able to run without causing myself knee pain. Not even a hint. I'm so excited!

We now have proper running gear - the right shoes, long pants, long sleeve shirts and a pullover. We even bought gloves and flashing arm-bands. we're ready, baby. Now it's just a matter of getting ourselves psyched up to get out the door. But we're both pretty eager to make this work, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. And as long as they keep the bike paths clear, there's no reason we can't run all winter (barring the -30C days, of course. We're not fools).

The route we take isn't particularly long. It's only 3.5 KM, but it takes us 20-30 minutes, and it gets us up off the sofa. We will likely extend the route over the course of the winter, and we might add a day on the weekend to do a longer run in daylight.

Junkii is hopeful that getting out of the house and "enjoying" winter might help keep us saner this year if the snows return in the amounts we had last year. One other option is to get ourselves some cross country skis. My colleague at work is doing the same and she proposed that we all go together on the odd weekend. Maybe we'll visit a second hand sporting goods shop this weekend - see if they have any skis in stock.