Recently I ordered a pair of Icebug Spirit4 spikes online (its always a risk when you order stuff online and can't try them on! I chose Icebug, mostly because they were on sale, but also because I heard great things and needed to invest in a pair of good winter running shoes.

Pros:

- my feet stayed super dry and warm. Normally running on snow/slush/ice in the winter, I'll end up with freezing and wet feet by the end of it. My socks were completely dry when I was done running.

- the fabric is very sturdy and thick, also helping to keep feet dry and warm.

-they're super lightweight. I loved how it didn't feel like I was lugging around bricks on my feet. They  feel light and I can move around well in them.

- their grip was AMAZING. I'm clumsy to begin with, so shoes with good tread, as well as solid spikes was a must for me. I didn't fall once and only slid around a couple times on the uphills when there was slush. I'm fairly impressed by how good the grip was on snow. So far, no black ice to test them out on, but I'm sure they will hold up.

- nice colours.. I didn't think I would from the look of the website, but I actually love the beautiful bright fuchsia colours within the shoe.

Cons:

- price. These Icebug shoes can run you up to $200+ dollars not including shipping or taxes. I got lucky and found them on sale on their website for $89, but if you're planning on buying the newer versions, expect to pay highly for them.
- they run very narrow. I ordered these in my normal shoe size, and they fit my feet, however if you're like me and have wide/flat feet you will probably have problems. I can feel pressure from the raised arch. After a few km my feet started to feel tired, best way I can describe it is as if my feet had a dull ache. Not good for someone with history of stress fracture on the outer aspect of my foot.
- chafing/blisters. They claim on the website that the heel cuff height has been lowered to prevent pressure on the achilles area of the foot.. but they can tell that to my bloody blisters. Note the photo below.. ouch. This happened even though I wore them around the house beforehand too. Hoping that I can work them in more and prevent this.

Overall the Icebugs are pretty good winter running shoes, if you have tiny narrow feet and can tolerate a few blisters. Most new running shoes need to be worked in regardless, so I'm hoping this is the case. I'll be wearing these a lot in the coming months as training for my next half amps up, and its nice feeling comfortable and safe running on snow/ice and knowing I'm not as likely to wipe out and break a leg.

Spikes make a world of difference and if these shoes can be worked in more they will pay off in the long run. Otherwise, if you have any different winter running shoe recommendations, I would love to hear them!

Happy Trails,
The Rural Runner

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Where to begin?!
Brace yourselves for a lengthy post, a 24 hours race means a long recap. But before I can begin talking about my experience, I will provide an explanation of how the race works as best as I can.

The Cabot Trail Relay.

A 276km, 24 hour, 17 leg relay through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia.

(Note yellow highlighted road on the map below!)

The relay begins at the Gaelic College in St. Ann's (near Baddeck). Each runner (from a team of 17 members) runs one leg of the relay. We had 2 support vehicles to assist in driving runners to and from legs as well as providing water/food/encouragement along the way for each leg. The legs varied from about 13 to 20 km each, all on a variety of different elevations, according to their location along the Cabot Trail (See below). Each leg connected together completes an entire lap of the 276km Cabot Trail. The start of one leg would also be the finish line for the previous leg. When you start your leg, you have a certain amount of time to reach the start for the next leg.

For example, leg 1 started at 0700 in the morning. Kirk ran this one, and he had until 0840 to reach the start line for leg 2 (which is also the finish for leg 1). Because they have to continue to move the finish lines along with each leg, if you don't make it to the finish line/start of the next leg, you will miss the mat and the chip cannot be tracked, so you get the same time as the last tracked runner that made the finish +5 minutes as your final time). At the end, the times from each of the 17 legs is added up, and the team with the fastest overall time wins (this year 1st place actually took only 16 hours to run ALL 17 legs.. thats crazy!). Our team only had 9 people, as opposed to the normal 17, which meant the majority of us would be running 2 legs (or more).

Our team name was Running Dirty as we are all primarily OCR and trail runners!

We all met bright and early Saturday morning in Baddeck for a quick breakfast of egg and avocado sandwiches, then drove to the official start line of the race at the Gaelic College. Kirk was our first runner and we cheered him on as he left. We then waited our required 25 minute period before leaving (each support vehicle had a different time, to prevent car congestion). Driving along the first leg of the relay was a great indication of how the race would go. Support vehicles were cheering out the windows of the cars, everyone was having a blast, and the route was absolutely gorgeous. Anytime I get to be near/run by water, I'm a happy clam :D

Kirk made it to the finish of his leg with a time of 1 hour 19 minutes.

Kirk and I after leg 1!

Martin was up next, and his leg started within 20 minutes of Kirk arriving. After we picked up Kirk/dropped Martin off and cheered him on as he began his leg, we started to drive toward the beginning of leg 3.

I was running leg 3 and my excitement/nervousness was growing. Doing the calculations, I knew I would be cutting it close to the cut off time. I had to maintain a pace of 5:58 to reach the finish line at leg 4 before it would be closed. This was stressful because not only is my average pace during EVERY training run EVER only 6:30-7:00 a kilometre, but I would still have another leg to run after this one. Regardless, I braced myself and got my kit ready to go.

Rock tape saved my life.

Starting out, I tried to maintain an even pace at anywhere below 6 minute/km. Running an entire minute per kilometre faster than I've ever ran was hard, but physically I felt great. I maintained this pace for the first 5k, thinking maybe I just might be able to make the cut off time. Somewhere along the way, whether it was a hill, or just that pushing that hard was getting the best of me, I ended up with a couple kilometres being a 6:30 pace. I came into the finish line a mere 2 minutes after they closed it, missing the cut off time. After spending the entire week before this race panicking and stressed out about how I knew I wouldn't make the cut off times, this was very disappointing. I basically collapsed into Kirk's arms sobbing, feeling like a failure and very embarrassed about being such a slow runner. I know I'm still a newbie at this and I can't expect to get fast right away, however I felt like I was letting my team down.

Luckily, team Running Dirty was there for the fun times, and not for placement. Everyone was really just excited about me finishing strong, as opposed to caring at all that I didn't make the mat.

After some talking to Kirk, he convinced me to be proud of the fact that I had just ran almost 16km in an hour and 22 minutes (this is a good 20 minutes faster than an average run for me) and I've realized how much more I am actually capable of when I push myself.

Next up was leg 4, which was up Cape Smokey and run by Mike. He started a few minutes late and still finished 13th out of about 70 people!

Leg 5 was run by Tara, the other female on the team, who is super fast and can easily keep up/pass all the guys!

After Tara was done, it was past lunch and we were all starving so we stopped at a grocery store for some hummus and carrots, apples, orange juice, crackers and chocolate. Not a real lunch by any means but it really hit the spot.

Carrying on, leg 6 was run by Justin, leg 7 was run by Mark and leg 8 was run by Lloyd. I'm going to be honest, most of the day after I ran was a complete blur. Between eating, trying to get some rest (I was still recovering from working a night shift the day before) and checking into our airBnB Tara got in Pleasant Bay, I wasn't really sure where the time went.

Our rental had a short path to a look off! Selfies in-between napping haha.

Before we knew it, it was 8 pm and time for Kirk to begin his second leg, #9. This leg had the most elevation change (gain and loss), was the first night leg, and it was raining. At the top, ironically, the team doing the water station was dressed as devils with signs reading "Welcome to Hell".

Wet and cold. Bad combination.

Looking happy, but inside probably dying.

When Kirk finally reached the end of his leg, we could all tell he was exhausted. We fed him a club sandwich and he got into the shower at our rental to warm up.

Our team was also in charge of a water station, except ours was for 1230 at night. I slept through it in the support van so I can't really talk about how that went, opps! Had to sleep a bit before my next leg at 5 am.

Throughout the night, Martin ran his second leg (10) - the hardest leg, straight up with a lot of turns and no downhill, Tara ran her second (#11), Adam ran his first (#12), Mike his second leg (#13) and Lloyd his second (leg 14).

Before I knew it, my team was waking me up in the back of the van and saying I had less than an hour until I ran again (leg 15). I can confirm one thing.. you don't get a great sleep in the back of a car thats driving up mountains haha. Another thing.. running was the last thing I wanted to do at that moment. Freezing cold, exhausted from barely any sleep, sore/stiff from running and then sitting in a car for hours... I was miserable and really dreading my run. This leg was just under 16km of rolling hills and I knew the cut off time would be tight. There came the anxiety again.

Once I started going however, I was surprised how well my body managed to run while sore/tired/etc. I was maintaining just around the pace I needed. Around 9km in though, I could really feel the effects of the past day and knew I was beginning to be dehydrated. Luckily my team was there to support me and give me water. I carried on, spending some time running with/behind my old friend from high school, Jessica. Having my team cheering me on, and Jessica there was just the push I needed to carry on and finish the leg strong.

I came up short again, by barely a minute, as I saw the next leg leaving as I was rounding the final corner (which meant they had closed the finish). However, instead of feeling disappointed this time, I felt proud that I had maintained a long run at a much faster pace than I had ever been used to before. The crowd was still at the finish since leg 16 had only JUST left (Kirks 3rd leg) which was great because the cheers while finishing the leg was amazing.

Once I arrived, we drove to the finish of Kirks leg, at the start of leg 17 - Martins 3rd, and the last leg.

They had a pancake breakfast set up at the end of leg 16 and it was just what we all needed to refuel!

Is it sad I have to stand on a tree stump to be the same height?

Finally, after over 24 hours the race was winding down. We met our entire team at the finish line in Baddeck and waited for Martin. The crowd was unreal and there were a thousand people there cheering everyone on!

Quite a tall team! Minus the 2 shorties in front ;)

After the race was over, all 1300 of us racers/support crew headed to the arena for a post race meal.

The Lion Club had worked so hard to prepare steak, lobster and vegetarian trays. I had the vegetarian, which had pizza, quinoa/grain mixture and a pasta salad. Everything was delicious, especially the carrot cake for desert! I was so hungry and excited I completely forgot to take pictures of the actual food!

Food, new friends and good conversations

After the lunch, we took some more pictures and said our final goodbyes before everyone left for a long drive/flight home.

Yay team Running Dirty!

Also in the picture are our lovely support crew/driver ladies! I cannot thank everyone enough for such an amazing weekend. Our captains Tara and Mike, for putting so much effort and time into planning everything, and for allowing a slow poke such as myself the opportunity to join such an amazing group of runners for the weekend. I feel blessed for being able to run one of my bucket list races so early in my running journey and cannot wait to run this next year (faster and more improved, of course!!).

Not only did I prove to myself that I can run 30km on little to no sleep, that I can push myself to go faster, but also that I can maintain a 6 minute pace for that a longer distance.

Once my legs recover, I cannot wait to get back out and continue training to see how much I can improve from here. My goal for next years relay (hopefully we can all return!) is to maintain a pace of 5 minutes/km. Tons of time to train.

For now, I continue training for the Ultra Beast in the end of July! A couple months of solid training left to go! I'll be ready in no time.

Happy Trails,

The Rural Runner

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I plan my route before hand, carefully calculating distance, potential hills, and trying to avoid busy roads where drivers can be reckless and fast. I lounge around on the couch, attempting to delay as much as possible the inevitable long run that I have now planned and am required to do according to my training plan. I hum and ha and procrastinate until I've realized its actually 3 in the afternoon and I still haven't left, and by the time I finish the 23km, its going to be getting late and close to supper. Reluctantly, I put on my running clothes and lace up my shoes, careful to pack my Camelback with Gu, lip balm and kleenex before filling it half full with water, and I head out the door.


I must be f-ing crazy.




I start running, following my route as planned. I'm only on kilometer 5. My lungs are burning, my feet are sore, my legs hurt and I'm pretty sure the tightness in my chest is comparable to a cardiac arrest.

I keep repeating to myself, over and over, I must be f-ing crazy.


I'm the one who decided to run, to train for a race, to do an "easy 23k" today.

I must be f-ing crazy.

But its these difficult times, when your hips are aching so bad it feels as if they're yelling at you to quit.

When your legs are so heavy, that even a 2lb Camelbak feels like it could cause you to collapse under its weight.

Even the wind feels as if it is pushing against you.

In fact, it's as if all of the odds are against you, and the only thing you want to do is sit on the side of the road and cry.

Mentally, you begin caving into the dark thoughts of the deepest parts of your brain.

You tell yourself how you can't do it and ask "why am I out here in the first place?"


I must be f-ing crazy. And I'm sure to repeat this to myself at least 100 more times during the run.

But this moment, this is what it all comes down to. This moment is when you have to rise above the pain and realize, I'm doing this.

I left the house to run, even when I could have done a million other, easier things.

I took that first step.

I'm here trying and I'm giving it my all.




The thing about long training runs is, theres no water stations, theres no one on the side of the road cheering you on, you're out there suffering on your own.


But these long training runs, these days that you dread, the days where the running and everything feels wrong and miserable, these are the days that make the races great. These are the days that help you achieve your PRs, these are the days of hard work that we do in private, so we can shine our light when it counts.


And when race day finally comes, you will look back upon these days, remembering the struggles, and feel the strength from enduring, and doing something that not everyone is capable of. Because the thing is, training is going to suck some days, but thats what sets you apart from everyone else.


Yes, I'm f-ing crazy, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Trails,

The Rural Runner

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Sometimes, to make rest day more bearable, Kirk and I go out on adventures/drives/day dates. This way, were still being active, getting outside, and having a great time!
We spent our rest day yesterday on a nice drive to Blomidon Park. Unfortunately when we went, the staircase was closed off and the tide was up so we weren't able to walk down to the beach. We did however, take some selfies!

We also made our way to Oaklawn Zoo, which is about a 30 minute drive from the apartment. We were very impressed by the amount of animals at this small local zoo, and particularly loved the monkeys. They really made me want to go practice my rig/monkey bars for OCRs, they swing so fluidly around their enclosures its fun to watch!

We saw some peacocks too and after standing close by for what felt like forever, he finally opened up his gorgeous feathers for a picture, even if I didn't get it at a very good angle haha.

So majestic to see

We loved seeing the lions, tigers, jaguars, cheetah's, etc. Did you know cheetah's can run up to 110km an hour?? No amount of training could make you fast enough to out run them.. ever. Haha.

There was also an enclosure you could walk into, and so we hung with some llamas for a bit.

I'm pretty sure I was just excited because it didn't spit on me. Meanwhiles, Kirk is like the animal whisperer haha.

A pretty great way to spend rest day!

How do you survive rest day? Do you prefer to relax? I like to stay active by walking/biking/swimming/hiking.

Happy trails,

The Rural Runner

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Now that I'm home and have spent my Monday resting muscles and joints, I figured it was a good time to share my race recap from the weekend.

Kirk and myself packed our bags Saturday morning with multiple running outfit options (never know what weather will be like come race day!), tons of Gu, water and oatmeal, and our running shoes. We left at around 10 in the morning to begin our 4-5 hour drive to New Brunswick. It was a beautiful 20+ degrees for the drive, and we sure do love road trips!

Goodbye for now Nova Scotia!

We arrived around dinner time and went straight to the Convention Centre for race kit pick up! This is always exciting, especially when theres an expo. After collecting our race shirts, course map, and talking to some people about up coming races (and being convinced to do the Marathon by the Sea Port City challenge, in Saint John, NB), we headed to our hotel to check in, and get our race kit ready for the next day!

I will make a post about my race day essentials soon!

We were staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Fredericton, since I got a good deal/used RBC points! Upon arrival the nice gentleman at the front desk asked if I would like to join the membership club, I said sure, and he upgraded our room for FREE to a suite! The room was absolutely gorgeous and HUGE with a sofa in the front as well as mini kitchen, and a huge king sized bed and flat screen in the back. This was such a great start to our weekend.

Once we were all settled, we headed to downtown Freddy to search out the race start line and find some supper. We stopped at a restaurant modelled after the prohibition called Vault 29. We both started off with a Shock Top beer (this may be the best new pre-race tradition EVER!)

For food, we both ordered the black bean burger with sweet potato fries. Im honestly drooling right now just thinking about it.. they were literally the most amazing fries I've ever eaten.. EVER. Seriously. 

After that, we took our full bellies out for a walk around the town. I don't think I could have eaten one more bite, but it was exactly what we needed the night before a big race.

Once we returned to the hotel, we both settled into bed early since tomorrow was a big day and we would be getting up early to get prepared for the race.

We woke up at 5:45, got dressed, ate our oatmeal and headed for the start line. We got there early and dropped off our bag, taking off our extra layers before hand. It was around 11 degrees, with cloudy skies (no rain though!) and absolutely no wind.

Perfect race conditions as we knew it would warm up more before we were done racing.

Kirk was aiming for around a 1:30 half, and my goal was to beat my previous time of 2:33. We went our separate ways as he headed toward the front and I stuck at the back of the crowd near the 6:45 pace section.

After a little wait, the gun went off and the huge crowd of runners made their way through the start line. I tried to keep my pace slow and as close as possible to my race pace (which is SO hard to do when everyones cheering and the adrenaline is pumping!), and ended up going out a little fast at a 6:00 pace (which I maintained happily until slowing down to a 6:45 pace at around km 7).

We completed the first 4km through town, until turning onto a trail and (to me) the most scenic part of this run, the walking bridge.

This bridge was gorgeous. I used this picture from google ;)

The course was absolutely beautiful, and made me wish I lived in Fredericton. There is a great amount of walking/biking trails all throughout the city and I was so impressed by them and their accessibility. 

After the bridge, we continued on the trail which was a combination of paved and hard packed, and running beside a river. It was also relatively flat which was perfect for setting new PRs. I was feeling great at 10km in and decided it was time to take my first GU. I saw a water station coming up at almost 11k and ate my chocolate Gu before grabbing a cup of water and chugging that so I could keep going without stopping. I was feeling so good I didn't want to ruin my stride by stopping to walk.

At last, I had reached the turn around point. Seeing that orange cone was a great feeling, I looked down at my watch and was excited to see I was over half way done! I couldn't believe how amazing I felt (must have been that pre-race beer, Ha!).

At around this point, I had been maintaining a similar pace to another woman for almost 3 km and decided to stick with her. We chatted for quite a bit and I found out it was her 65th birthday!!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

Her smile and cheerful outlook helped me finish the race strong. She was very inspiring, and I told her its a life goal for me to be as active and fit as she is when I'm older. She helped me maintain my pace for almost half of the race, and I was so glad to have met her along the way!

Around 17.5km I finally started to feel tired. Honestly was expecting this feeling at around 12k in so I was glad it hit me later on. Training is paying off. I had one Gu left, so as I was coming up to a water station I ate it fast and slowed for another quick drink. My pace this kilometre slowed significantly to around 7:00 a km.

It was around 18km that I finally saw that beautiful bridge again, and I knew I only had a short 2 km left to push.

After the bridge there was a straight stretch, one corner and then another quick stretch to the finish.

Rounding the corner and hearing all of the crowd cheering was an exciting feeling and the energy helped carry me to the finish line. I went all out for the last 500 meters and thats probably the closest I've come to blacking out/puking on a run haha.

I finally crossed the finish line and saw Kirk waiting for me. After catching my breath he told me I beat my time! By an entire 13 minutes! Like I said.. training is paying off! I finished with a time of 2:20 and couldn't be happier. Before I started the race I had high hopes of beating my previous time, but in the back of my mind had a fear that I wouldn't be able to do it. 

But, as Kirk always says, "push those thoughts out of your head! Its all mental and you know what you're capable of, and its big things."

That man sure motivates me to keep going and push my limits.

Having someone there to support you and make you stronger is an incredible feeling. I'm so grateful for not only Kirk but also the amazing people and friends I've made through racing. Its honestly such a supportive community of people. I also came to realize during this race, while people were passing me (which at points can be mentally difficult), that even though its a "race", I'm only truly racing against myself. I feel like thats the same for the majority of other runners as well. We're all chasing that new PR or that personal goal or that fast time for ourselves. I think this is one of the reasons why were all so supportive of each other, because for some, even simply finishing is an accomplishment.

My new favourite medal!

For now, I'm switching my focus toward running more hills and further distances in preparation for The Cabot Trail Relay the end of this month. Our team is small and therefore I will be running two legs for a total distance of 32.42km.. If any of you have been to the Cabot Trail.. you know just how many mountains there are! Training will be tough for the next 3 weeks but I'm very excited to run this as its one of my bucket list races!

Today was a great rest day, but back at it tomorrow for an 8km run. Hope everyone's training is going well too!

Happy Trails,

The Rural Runner

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Whenever I'm training and have a set distance goal, sometimes it can be hard to hit an exact amount of km, especially if its on a trail or in a subdivision. If you're like me and have OCD, I like to have my numbers be exact.
I started using this website I found on google and thought I should share it with my fellow runners :)
Its called on the go map and I'm 80% sure google runs it (its based off google maps). What I really like about it is that you can map your trail runs in parks. Sometimes when I'm feeling zero motivation, I open up the website and plan a route. I don't know why but it always gets me excited about running!

Heres an example of a random trail I was playing with in the city..

Its also nice because you can switch between miles and kilometres (I'm pretty confused when it comes to miles sometimes?!)

Also it feels much more badass saying you ran 21.1 kilometres as opposed to 13.1 miles ;) just sayin..

In other news:
Ive officially checked in to not 1.. BUT 6!!! Spartan races! All elite heats (what have I gotten myself into?!). I decided to take the plunge last week and just buy a Eastern Canada Seasons pass. It makes sense money wise, since myself and my boyfriend Kirk are planning for so many Spartan races close to home this year.

Heres the races I've officially registered for so far,
Quebec City Sprint - June 4th
Quebec City Super - June 5th
Toronto Sprint - July 2nd
Toronto Super - July 3rd
Montreal Super - July 30th
Montreal Ultra Beast - July 31 (death by Spartan race)

I must be out of my mind, but sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy ;)

Happy running friends!
The Rural Runner

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Winter is officially upon us, and with winter, comes snow, ice, freezing cold temperatures and dangerous winter running.

Brace yourselves, here comes the struggle. I also call it.. "3 quarters of the year Canadian struggle."

If you're like some people, you have a wonderful dreadmill (err.. I mean treadmill) to use inside the warmth and comfort of your own home. Or if you're like me, your moms old treadmill is crammed into a corner, folded up, and inaccessible inside a garage..

So outdoor running it is.

For those of you who don't have a treadmill of your own, you feel my pain.

Let's face it, winter running SUCKS.

If you're a female runner, more than likely you've also experienced frost bitten legs and ass. You would think that genetically having more fat there would help as an insulator.. Well you are mistaken. Having huge thighs and a big ass does not help in this situation. At all.

Running in winter, there's also the slight problem that your eyelashes freeze together and snot sticks to your face. Pretty attractive if you ask me.

Another problem.. Since I seem to be pointing out all the obvious and shitty facts about winter running.. It gets dark at like frickin 4 o'clock!! For those of us with, oh, I don't know.. Full time jobs.. This can complicate things.

However if you want to be ready for running the rest of the year, you've gotta suck it up and embrace the cold.

Here's some of my tips to suck it up and run in the cold:

1. Wear your running gear to bed.. Okay this may sound stupid but it works. Those leggings are gonna feel nice and toasty warm when you wake up. And then you can't really make up excuses.. It's like ugh either I go for a run or change out of these tight pants.. Struggle.

2. Find a running buddy. Chances are 1 of you will have some motivation that day and get the other lazy bum out of bed (I'm always the lazy bum half of this scenario). Having a running partner is great for keeping accountable and getting out there in the cold. Embrace the suck together.

3. In a few months when there's no ice and snow on the trails.. Running will seem like a breeze! Seriously, I've lost at least a minute off my average pace running in snow, it's like the legs are moving but I'm not getting anywhere. Once we see the ground again, I'm gonna be faster than the frickin road runner.

4. Think of all the holiday treats you can run off.. Or of all the hot chocolate and marshmallows you can eat once home! A calorie is a calorie. And you just burnt off 800 of em running outside.

5. Seeing the looks on people's faces when they see you running in a snow storm is absolutely hilarious.

6. Let's face it.. You'll feel like crap if you don't. But once you get out there and run, it will all be worth it.

Plus, winter running sure can be beautiful sometimes!

Pros: scenic run. Cons: slipping around in the snow.

When in doubt.. Wear huge ass mittens and tons of layers! Take it from the pro. I betcha his bum wasn't even cold. Hehe.

Now get out there and kill those winter blues with a nice long run!

There's nothing better than fresh, crisp winter air.

Enjoy nature friends,

The Rural Runner

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Yesterday I had a great run - 25km on Christmas Day! (ask me a year ago if I would have thought that was possible.. Haha no.)

This was my longest distance to date!

Now I am aiming for a new goal.. 30km, then 35, then 40, and the big goal - 50 km on my birthday (the end of June!). After all.. If you wanna be an ultra runner.. You've gotta train like one.

The weather was surprisingly warm for December (12 degrees!) .. And for the fact that I live in Canada. I ran all the way to a marsh trail. I didn't know about until my step sis mentioned it and said I would like the view. She was right.. The trail was beautiful and I will definitely be back!

Also.. Please note the beautiful camelbak my amazing boyfriend got me for Christmas!! I've been talking about getting one for ever, he's so thoughtful. It's fully insulated and holds 2L. I feel so safe running long distances now without worrying about getting dehydrated, and it's got a pocket that fits my phone and snacks perfectly.

Also.. Dad got me a hilarious pin that I stuck on my pack..

Hehe that little broccoli is so cute!

This Christmas was extra special to me because I got to spend it with Kirk. Our first Christmas together, and many more to come. We sat around the tree watching Christmas movies with my family eating tons of food and having some wonderful drinks that my step mom created, called Jack Frost.

Loved the red and gold theme we had going.

Judy's delicious drinks! I may have had a couple too many.. But it's the holidays ;)

Our gorgeous stuffed chicken. I don't eat meat anymore due to health problems, but I hear it was great! My sis Keshia raises them with her hubby.

We had so much leftover food holy moly.

Quinoa is the shit! Super good in salads too.. Just sayin.

I made this stuffing for everyone, and it's delicious! But takes like an hour to cook.. So never again. Also.. Yes I was drinking and cooking haha. I don't drink often, but holiday flavoured stuff is my weakness!

#whitegirlSolutions

I've eaten so much food this week.. I believe that Runger (running+hunger) is a thing.. And that's what I blame my appetite on. You run that far for training and can't help but be hungry after burning basically thousands of calories.

Seriously.. Keep your carbs away from me, cause I'll eat them.

It's like whenever I get home from a long run, I instantly turn into a bottomless pit. I ate an entire box of triscuits by myself haha. The Runger is real.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends, and hopefully you were able to stay active as well!

The Rural Runner

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