Sometimes, the run just SUCKS.

We were scheduled to run 24km today.  We decided a little bit later than one usually does, to run the Mississauga Marathon on May 5th.  It is the 10th anniversary of the event, and after a series of text messages that proves we enable each other, we decided to do it? (Thank goodness our addiction is running!)

After all it was this very race weekend, last year, that kick started the Deux of us on our crazy adventures.  So there you have it.  We are once again earning ourselves some post-run lattes!

LATTE, LATTE, LATTE!

Sorry, I digress.

Anyway, back to the story of our scheduled 24km run.

We ran 21km, last weekend in a very frigid -27C, and we certainly felt prepared for today.  But the running gods apparently had other plans.  You know how for most runs, for the first 8-10 minutes, you feel a little sore, or stiff, or gangly?  It tends to take a while to loosen up those muscles, get them warmed up and find your stride.  Well, today our run started out no differently.  Unfortunately it ended no differently either.

So frustrating.  So far, we haven't been able to determine why, it seems to be just one of those things.  The terrain was decent, a few wet and slippery areas, but nothing too treacherous - with the exception of Loach's trail- which ran the gammut of snowy, wet, icy, muddy and gross.

By 12km we were tired, by the top of the South Bay road hill (fondly called @#$%#$ South Bay, by me), we were about 16km in and we were exhausted.  We had fueled well, we were hydrated.....but we were tanked.

It was about another 2km after that, as we came out the Loach's Road end of the trail that we knew we were done,  We had another 6-7km to go, but we were running sloppy, slouching and generally miserable.

All of that can lead to injury, so we decided to head back to the store, adding on a tiny side street loop that would get us to 20km.  It can feel a bit like a failure to have to cut a run short, but I am confident we made the right choice.

We are not doing this to qualify for Boston, or attain a specific finishing time.  We know we are going into this less fit than when we ran Montreal. We simply want to finish.

At the beginning of each run, we always say "NO WHAMMIES", meaning no injuries, or falls, or otherwise unfortunate mishaps, that could derail our plans.

Although we are both sore, we finished with "NO WHAMMIES" and that is a very good thing. As Denise says, that was our reckoning run. And now we move on to better things, and longer distances.

A small piece of trivia for you: The last time the DCA cut a run short was on this VERY eventful adventure.

**We will be fundraising for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, so please stay tuned for details and links!

Long may we run.

Jessica