This week we started hill training, and for the first time in over 20 years of running, I was physically assaulted during a run.
Sunday, November 3 was our Hypo ½ group’s Long Slow Distance run. At that point, the weather was -6C (21F), not too windy. Our route took us from the 109 ST Running Room Store across the Low Level bridge, along the Rossdale Pathway and behind the power plant, over the LRT bridge, behind the Kinsmen Sports Centre and back to the Running Room through the University grounds. Assaulted Even though on Mondays we’re supposed to take a rest day or cross train, I usually run because I have an hour and a half free in the evening while my daughters attend their weekly cultural class. The class venue is unfortunately not in the nicest area of Edmonton, but in several years of running around this particular neighbourhood, I’ve never had a problem. Last Monday, however, I was running along a main thoroughfare, minding my own business, wearing a headlamp and reflective armbands, keeping alert, keeping right, and feeling fine, when I noticed a middle-aged pedestrian walking toward me. I left her plenty of room to pass on the left, especially as she appeared either inebriated or high, shuffling along and muttering to herself. Even so, I didn’t expect her to suddenly dart toward me, pushing me off the sidewalk and onto the busy road, screaming obscenities. Not sure what else to do, I staggered back onto the sidewalk and kept running while she yelled at my back. For perspective, I’m barely five-foot-two and about 105 pounds of limp noodle. This woman was easily double my weight and at least five-foot-nine. If she’d really wanted to hurt me, I’m sure she could have. Discomforted, I ran back to the building where my daughters’ class is held, all my good vibes left behind on the road. I couldn’t help wondering: what if that drunk woman had been a drunk man? What if it had been someone truly looking to hurt/kidnap/rape me? In this neighbourhood, as in many others, there are plenty of dark alleys to be dragged down, plenty of idling cars to be pulled into, plenty of passereby who look innocent but may be anything but. What would happen, what would I do, if I were threatened, beaten, robbed, murdered? My daughters would be waiting for me to pick them up from class, but I would never come. Then, I wondered if men ever have to worry about these things while out on a run. I suspect they don’t. I try to do everything to keep myself safe while out running. I know it’s ideal to run with a group, but often that’s not practical. I’d love to run with my dog, but he’s a small, elderly gent who was never much into running even when he was a spry young thing. I keep alert and aware, wear bone conduction headphones instead of ear buds to be able to hear what’s going on around me, and let my husband know my approximate route and return time. But the fact of simply being pushed by one woman made me realize that there’s very little I could do if I found myself in actual danger. Maybe it’s time to consider a self-defense course. In the meantime, I’m ordering some pepper spray from Amazon. Hill Training The rest of my runs this week were much more uneventful. On Thursday (Hypo Half Clinic night), Ed Gallagher, our clinic co-instructor and a long-time running pal of mine, spoke with us about hill training, and we ran two-minute intervals up Emily Murphy hill. Running up for two minutes rather than running the entire length of the hill helps keep our group together rather than having some people running up and down the hill before others have even completed the uphill distance, and is a better measure of fitness progression. If you can run farther up the hill in two minutes after several weeks than you could at the beginning, it’s a great feeling of accomplishment. I have a love/hate relationship with hill training: I love it because I can credit hill training with shaving about 20 minutes off of my half marathon time; and I hate it because hills. It was a bit slippery along the sidewalks that night, but not slippery enough to warrant a full set of ice grippers. I compromised by wearing a pair of single-band ice grippers beneath the balls of my feet, each containing two spikes. They were perfect for the mostly clear sidewalks with occasionally slippery spots. Week 5 (Nov 3-Nov 9) Training: Training Schedule: Nov 3 Nov 4 Nov 5 Nov 6 Nov 7 Nov 8 Nov 9 9K LSD OFF 4 Tempo 4 Tempo 3 Steady OFF 3 Steady What I ran: 9K LSD 4 Steady 5 Steady 4.8 Tempo 4 (2XHills) OFF OFF
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AuthorKathy Istace runs and races in one of the coldest cities on earth. Archives
December 2020
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