Holiday Update

Best of the season to all. I'm writing from Calgary, AB, where I'm spending the holidays with my parents. Thus far, we've  had a relaxed and restful holiday - exactly what each of us needed.
I've been doing lots of running, and the weather has even cooperated. The first two days of my stay were quite cold. It was about -9 C for my first run in Calgary:

And -18 C for this run:

My watch has been acting up - not communicating with my HRM very well. I suspect the static from my wool base layer is causing some issues... It's also been buggy about satellite connectivity, and often freezes when I turn it off/on or try to upload data. It's less than a year old - not cool! Anyways, onward with my runlog:

Fortunately, after the 22nd, the weather warmed up significantly. Since then, it's been absolutely gorgeous out. 2 C and sunny for this long(ish) run:

I can assure you, I did not run my warmup mile at a sub- 8:00 pace - just the watch acting up. The splits after that are accurate, though. Mile 6 is quite slow because it was up a long, icy hill. I had to take pretty tiny strides to avoid slipping. Actually, that describes the approach I've been taking with my Calgary runs more generally: slow & cautious. I was relieved to realize that there is in fact oxygen up here. I was worried about that - I'm used to running at sea level, and I'm at about 4000 ft now. I do notice it during my warmup, but once my heart rate increases, I feel pretty much the same as I would in Vancouver. 

One more run to report - a  cruise around my parents' neighbourhood on Christmas day: 

The plan is to head down to the river today and run 12-15K, depending on how I feel. Strained a couple of my toes taking off out of a snow bank the other day, so my foot's a bit sore, but I'm still able to run on it. Also really missing my foam roller. That's all for now! Merry xmas & Happy New Years.