8km Run, and a "new" car

This morning it took me a while to get out of bed, mostly because I was not rushed to get running and partly because it was -9 when I woke up. I guess that's somewhere in the teens Fahrenheit, and I certainly had never run in that kind of temperature. I figured it wouldn't be that bad, though, since I've skied and biked in much worse. Anyway, I finally got outside at about 8am and started in on my planned 8k. The foot doesn't hurt at all while I am running, but certainly has been achy in between, and this keeps me from pushing too hard since I know it would mean more pain. I basically just ran on feel, and discovered that I layered too much since the last few kilometres I was overheating a little. The inside of my old jacket was wet around the ends of the sleeves, and for a guy that doesn't sweat at the best of times this came as a real surprise. It will take me a bit of experimenting to find what works as far as attire in winter goes...

The run itself was fine. I completed the 8k in 42:45 for an average pace of 5:20/km. My fastest split was 5:12 (the last kilometre) and the slowest was 5:30, so I kept the pace pretty even. Given that it was really cold and my legs felt very tight at first I am a bit surprised that I managed the first K in 5:29, but I guess it was just my body trying to warm up.

The foot is hurting a bit now, but I attribute that more to the fact that we pretty much spent the entire day in the car than anything else. After my run, and breakfast, we cleaned out the old car and drove up to Bolton to pick up the 2001 Honda Civic. Paying for it took a bit of time since we had to call our bank and get authorization to make a debit payment above the daily limit, and that process was a bit of a pain. By the time it was all completed an hour at least had passed.

A bit of an aside: The new car seems to be running great! The dealership put a new set of all-season Michelin tires on it and they improved the already good ride that we experienced on our test drive. When we picked up the car we were presented with a copy of the safety inspection certificate, and emission test, a newly cleaned car ready and waiting, and the salesman went out and transferred our plates without even us noticing! My opinion of Pickard Lane Leasing couldn't be better at this point - a real pleasant surprise every step of the way.

Then we drove to Barrie, about an hour away, and had lunch with the Boys at an OK Chinese buffet restaurant. On our way there we stopped in Alliston, coincidentally where all Canadian Civics are assembled, and bought some floor mats at the Canadian Tire since the car didn't come with any.

Lunch completed, we drove to Hardwood Hills, a cross country skiing venue, and enrolled the boys in a season of lessons! Monica and I got a stack of passes for ourselves and we'll be going every Saturday morning for the entire winter as long as things work out. Should make for some great cross-training, not to mention a lot of fun!

This evening I did another chin up routine and now I must off to ice the foot. The chin ups went 9-7-6 wide grip overhand, and 7-7-6-5 narrow grip underhand for a total of 47. The first set of reps underhand was a low number, but I got distracted by my 4 year-old and couldn't maintain concentration. It's amazing how that can affect your ability to do this exercise!

Garmin don't lie.


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