The dining room (or dining area of our living room). I am running out of things to photograph.

Although it wasn’t, really. It was cold and snowy. But not too cold or too snowy. Just enough to remind me that winter isn’t over, yet.

The plan was to run 23k, 10 and 1s. Since I was unsure about the condition of the Don Valley Trail, I decided to stick to city running: over to Broadview, up to Danforth, alllll the way over to High Park, down through the park, then King Street all the way home.

I felt strong until the park, and was happy for a change of scenery. Lots of people were out skating (despite the No Skating signs) and the park was snow-covered and beautiful. At the bottom of the park, I made an executive decision to run down to Lake Shore and run along the water instead of running through the city.

I hadn’t been there in a long time and it reminded me how much I love the Toronto waterfront. How I could run from my house to Hamilton, if I wanted to, beautiful views the entire way. And in winter, the only other people you see are other crazy runners. It’s sometimes devastating (we are INSANE!) and sometimes wondrous (I am not alone!)

By the time I made it to Bathurst, I was beat. But the great thing about 10 and 1s is that you focus on finishing each 10, not the entire run. And when I got home at exactly my goal time (8 minute pace for 23k = 3:04) and headed inside to learn that I ran 1.5k more than planned, I felt good about running. Sore and exhausted, but good.

I have 28k on my schedule next week. Let’s see how good that feels.

The run: 24.5k in 3:04:11
The route: