Lake Path...

We're back.

After getting off the cruise ship, we spent a few day in Prince Edward Island. I talked about the the trip a lot in my other blog, http://jeffgriggs.blogspot.com/

Feel free to read about it there. Here are a few pictures from Prince Edward Island to tide you over until you read that blog.









It's been really nice to come back to Chicago. My transition to Chicago weather hasn't been too difficult. I haven't done a long run yet, but I've did 8 miles on Saturday, 8 on Monday and 8 this morning.


It's been so nice to see that totem pole before I run. It reminds me of Alaska, but it tells me I'm home.


The biggest transition has been that I'm trying to switch to running in the morning. Normally, I run around noon or 1pm. It's not too hot right now, but I don't want to get in the habit of running at the hottest point of the day. I've hit the Lake Shore path at 8am the past few runs and it's so much easier shaking off the morning cobwebs and dealing with the crisp morning climate as opposed to the hot afternoon sun. I really want to keep it up and continue running in the morning. I hope I can.

Meanwhile, I have a running injury.

From time to time, everyone gets running injuries, but this one is really weird.

The last week we were on the ship, I did a 16 mile run and was really out of it. I made a sandwich in my cabin and sat down in my chair to eat it so I could recover from my tough run. I scooted the chair forward, but unfortunately the cushion had become attached from the base of the chair and I ended up smashing my fingers in between the cushion and the chair. I thought I'd broken a couple of my fingers.

One finger in particular was squashed pretty bad. It bled at the nail and I bandaged it and iced it down.

I've had to keep the bandage on it because the nail on that finger is only partially hanging on.





How do you get a running injury on your fingernail?

It didn't exactly happen while I was running, but it didn't happen 5 minutes after I had finished a long run and if I hadn't been so exhausted, delirious and slightly dehydrated, I wouldn't have trapped my finger beneath the cushion.

Weird.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Green Gables...

Today was our last day in Prince Edward Island.
After a Tim Horton breakfast, we headed to the Mecca of Anne Shirley sites, Green Gables.




It's really a beautiful, whimsical park property.
Designed to look exactly how it was described in the book, it's a fully functional house.




Lucy Maude Montgomery based Green Gables on the house where her grandfather's cousin lived. It sat on this spot and looked similar to the this house. The Canadian Preservation Society renovated the property to look like the descriptions from the books.
Next to the house are the Lover's Lane and Haunted Forrest.
The authors former childhood home is through the Haunted Forrest and we walked through it to see the foundation of the house. While we were there we met a lovely lady whose husband was Lucy Maude Montgomery's cousin. She told Jeannie a lot about the history of the area and personal stories about the author.




After that, we walked over to Lucy Maude Montgomery's gravesite.
We then walked back to Green Gables and Jeannie took a last few looks at the house.
To her, this was the best part of the trip. She really loved seeing the house and walking through the rooms and hallways of the special place she had been imagining about ever since she was 8 years old.








We then went to the gift shop and that's where my fun started. Look at all the things you can sell as Anne Of Green Gables paraphernalia.




Chocolate suckers.




Wind chimes.




Tiny Spoons. (These are not functioning spoons)




Letter openers.




Napkins. Seriously, there were napkins everywhere. One packet of 8 cost $6.99. Apparently you're kinda not supposed to use these napkins either. They're decorative (paper) napkins.




Weeds. You can grow your own Anne inspired weeds.




Toenail clippers. Really.
This wasn't in the gift shop, but I'm scared of what they are asking for in this sign.




Jeannie said it was a magical day and I enjoyed walking around and seeing everything with her.
She really enjoyed her birthday and said the whole trip was very special to her.
That's all that matters. I'm so glad she had such a good time.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone 5

Lotta miles...

I hit 40 miles for this week.

I've never done that before. I ran 16 on Monday, 10 on Wednesday, 8 on Friday and 6 on Saturday.

My legs were definitely tired on Saturday. Previously, the most miles I've done in a week was 34 miles. Putting in those extra 6 yesterday was really great.

I wanted to get the 40 miles in this week because I'm throttling back next week. We're leaving the ship and traveling for a couple days before we get back to Chicago. I'm not sure if we'll be able to run while we're traveling, so putting some significant miles on my legs was essential.

I wanted to get some long miles in while I was here in the cool temps of the great northwest because I hear the weather is hot and humid in Chicago. When I get back, it's going to take some time to get acclimated to the weather. I already know I'm not going to be able to jump back in and run 16 miles immediately on the lake path. It'll take time.

Before I ran my 10 miles last Wednesday, Jeannie and I took a helicopter ride to the top of a glacier and went dog sledding.











It was fantastic.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Fuel...

Lordy, I had a bad run yesterday. It's been awhile since I've had a bad run. It's so humbling.

I'd intended on running 18 miles on the treadmill. The view outside was so foggy that I couldn't even see the water.


I plugged my headphones into my iPad and prepared myself to watch 18 miles worth of Modern Family. Do you know how many episodes that is?

9!

I was about to watch 9 episodes as I ran. That's almost half a season!

The first 12 miles were no problem. They flew by.

At mile 13. I just...I just...kinda crashed. I trudged along another 3 miles and finished at 16 miles, but couldn't drag myself another 2 miles.

Well, if I had to, I could have done it. But I was so exhausted I just thought it would be a bad idea to force myself to do it.

Why did I have such s bad run pop up out of nowhere?

Well, I'm pretty certain I can answer my own question.

For the past two months I've been much more responsible regarding food choices. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I went off the rails. I had pizza twice! Donuts twice and for dinner Sunday night I had Pringles, Butter-Pecan Ice Cream and 2 gummy worms.

Not exactly the fuel for champions.

I've learned my lesson.

Back to eating better!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone 5

Treadmill miles...

I ran 16 miles on the treadmill Monday. It took 2 hours and 10 minutes and I used 4 towels. Sweaty, sweaty run.

Here's a few odd things that happen every time I run on the treadmill. Invariably, someone gets on the treadmill next to me and see that I'm running 6.5. Now, most people who use treadmills on a cruise ship are most likely using a treadmill for the very first time. They see me running and think I'm going slow so they immediately jack their speed up to 7.0 or higher. I know that before the timer reaches 1 minute, they're going to fall, jump off or yell for help.

It happens every time. EVERY TIME.

Why my pasty legs taking long strides on a treadmill inspire an arrogance in other people that they can beat my pace is beyond me.

We had a beautiful day in Glacier Bay yesterday. Here are some photos.












- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad