Five days and counting...

Life's been so busy lately, there's been no time to blog. No time to think really. Which may be just as well, all things considered. Cape to Cabot is less than 5 days away now and, when I let myself think about it too much, I get an awful sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I know I can finish the race - however painful it may be - but still there's a small voice inside that keeps repeating "Are you sure?"

Thankfully, it's not much longer until I find out. Husband and I are scheduled to be on a plane Thursday and, before I know it, I'll be on a bus headed to Cape Spear in time to watch the sunrise and join in singing the Ode to Newfoundland as the race gets underway.

(BTW, The photo above was taken by Newfoundland runner, Kurtis Billard, who's also registered to run and kindly agreed to let me use it. The start line is at the far left of the image, the finish line directly ahead near Cabot Tower at the top of Signal Hill in St. John's.)

A few words about my training over the past couple of weeks. Did I mention life's been busy? It's been hard to find the time and energy to run but  I've still managed to squeeze in a few here and there - including a long, tough hilly run the weekend before last.

Last weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) found me in Cape Breton visiting friends so I kept my "longish" run short (12k) and took my time, stopping often to drink in the beautiful autumn scenery along the way.

My run included a pause to take the Little Narrows ferry

Some days I envy where others get to run, but not on Sunday. The colours along the route were gorgeous.

After the run, I soaked in the hot tub overlooking this spectacular view....

....then joined Husband and friends to climb to the top of Salt Mountain so I was feeling nicely loose and relaxed by the time we sat down to supper.

A view from Salt Mountain, Whycocomagh, NS

Another view from Salt Mountain

A campfire on the beach, a game of poker and more time in the hot tub followed supper, so (needless to say) I slept pretty well that night. :-)

My plan for the next few days is to take it very very easy. I'll run a relaxed 6k tonight, and perhaps another 3-4k run on Friday, but otherwise my focus will be on resting and storing up as much energy as possible for Sunday morning's race.

I've done a lot of running and racing this years so I'm really looking forward to getting this last big challenge behind me. Look for a full race report when I get home from Newfoundland next week.

Until then, happy running and writing, friends.