Stretching the truth

Last week Joy and I had the opportunity to be pilot/co-pilot for the 49th annual Calgary Marathon. Hmmm, might have to run the 50th. Check! We were given a three page single spaced list of directions for the race. Luckily the one line that said 'turn right on 11th avenue and head west' was not followed and we turned left to save a marathon catastrophe. I must say that 2 hours and 22 minutes of having your wife tell you where to go was not all that bad...

As for telling YOU all where to go, let's enjoy some NW Calgary routes and meet at the Bowness Park Lagoon parking lot. If you don't know where that is you are not a Calgarian...or should I say one block west of 85th Street and 48 Avenue NW. See you there at 8 am sharp-ish. Click on flowers to find the map.

Congrats to our friend Tamara who ran the Red Deer half a couple weeks back and did a very good race. Half way there girl...and good luck to all those doing the Underwear Affair this weekend. I have seen many of you getting your gitch in gear. I look forward to the shared photos next week...

I was visiting with an old running buddy Ned Bell at his new restaurant in Vancouver call Yew. I highly recommend it if you like to eat, drink, and go out. What else could you want? He was looking for some marathon options this summer and I tried to help him with a selected few options. I suggested the Canadian Derby Marathon in Edmonton, the San Francisco Marathon (I know, you are asking why the polar opposites? Proximity), and I found this website that offered a really good list of races. What would YOU suggest for Ned???

So last weekend I received a wonderful gift from Joy. She set the two of us up for a golfing date. I know what you are thinking...two and a half hours of telling me where to go and then spending another couple of hours competing for strokes? Surprising as it is to some, we did enjoy the game until Joy heard the following question from me...

Now I know why the game of golf should be kept to a whisper. Just kidding Joy...

Hey, did any of you do the Mother's Day Run and Walk in Calgary? They created a wind up video that I thought was nice. I see a few familiar faces in there. No Sadie and John driving the pace car though...

Great work Sara!

I am sure you all well know that my stretching involves reaching for the top shelf, tying my shoes, and petting my Westie. While these are all effective to some point, I thought we should get some information from more reliable sources than myself. Brandi from Camrose asked me today some questions on hamstring stretching and I sent some advice. Further to this I found some great stretching sites from our fellow athletes that have pictures to explain the more correct way to protect your body from injury.

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/126.shtml
http://running.about.com/od/stretchingwarmupcooldown/ss/10stretch.htm
http://www.runnersrescue.com/Stretching_Running.htm

My personal experience with stretching is a positive one…when I was a competitive athlete at SAIT we were fortunate to have a coach that really stressed the stretching need whole training. In three weeks of 15-30 minutes of stretching I was able to improve my speed by 15% because my body was not restricted by its own inflexibility. Stretching properly will also help prevent many injuries from occurring as the strain of our training will be reduced by a more flexible structure.

I still hate stretching…but it does make the long run that much easier!

A great way to combine another activity and get stretching ‘coached’ in to your schedule is Hot Yoga. If you enjoy a good sweat and are open to yoga, these classes with warm your muscles to allow for a more complete stretch. One caution, the heat can also allow you to over-stretch and tear a muscle. Remember to take the stretch to a comfortable level and baby step your way to a greater range of motion.

I would like to get out to the mountains for some trail hikes/runs, depending on your ability. I am thinking that we should head up to Barrier Lake for a loop sometime soon. Anyone interested???

That is all I have for you today. Enjoy the weather and we will see you trotting the trails soon!