Faster than Focus

This past Saturday, I wanted to RUN my 1/2 Tour de Cochrane, which is a 22km loop from my home. I usually bike it, and it takes just over an hour, but I wanted to see if I could run it in about 2 hours. That would shave about 50 minutes off of my half marathon time from this past summer. Let’s see how I did.

Run data can be found here.

Sweet, 2:09 isn’t bad, also considering the elevation was 262m. I’ll take it! But as the title of this post suggests, I was running faster than my camera could focus. Or I was in the wrong settings with my camera. Or I was shaking every time I took a photo. I’ll go with the first one. Sorry for the blurry photos, but it gives the illusion of blazing speed and an idea of my loop.

Early 7am start on a beautiful Saturday morning.

  There were deer in this shot. Can’t you see them? I surely can’t.

Blazing speed! Go Lorne Go!

The abandoned neighbourhood across the highway from us. So very weird looking.

Running along the Bow River with fall colours everywhere is so awesome! I love this path!

These lucky people have a great view. They get to see me run by :-)

    The trees are showing their true colours. We missed fall last year, so this year is super nice.

Crossing the highway 22 bridge. Not even cars could keep up with me!

I must have done something right cause this one actually focused.

No one at all on the paths in the morning.

  I believe Cochrane is well known for it’s red rock running.

Jumpingpound Creek, known as a local swimming hole. Surprisingly busy in summer.

Tower’s Trail. A long uphill, but I was proud to run the whole way up.

The top of Tower’s Trail hill. Still running, but I honestly have no real way to prove that.

Kind of a cool shot. The focus must have been working.

  Some purdy fall colours. I wish fall would last over a month, but in Alberta, it doesn’t.

Running across the old bridge in town.

  One of my favourite parts of the run. The run up the ravine from the river. I do wish these photos would have worked.

You get the idea. Quite pretty.

I passed a whole group of runners just before this. I was happy to be running solo, but there is also an appeal to running in groups. Maybe I should start a cross-country club in Cochrane.

   The Ravine that runs through town. I would love to live along here, but the train does run awfully close to these places.

I ran past the farmer’s market and into Ranchehouse Ravine. My absolute favourite local spot to run.

You can see why I love to run here. Awesome single track running.

Incredible single track running. I wish the whole run was like this, but I will take what I can get.

The summit of my run, only minutes from home. Is it good to end a long run with a big uphill, then a long steady downhill?

My beautiful mountains, ever so watchful of me.

The long steady run home. Elwood forest on the left.

The last jaunt back to the neighourhood.

To sum up, the run was about 50% paths, 30% road and 20% trail. I love the loop, and I hope to someday do it in less that 2 hours, maybe even less than 1:45! The main differences on this run were heavy running shorts (I do notice a difference to my rock shorts), carrying a water bottle (but no rucksack) and running on an empty tummy. I usually exercise on a empty stomach, but adding carbs and electrolytes to my run would probably improve performance. No matter, I love running long distances because I get to see so much, and with so much out my front door, it’s hard to not be motivated to run!

:-)