Running in 2009

This year’s running season is coming close to a close. Well, at least the stream of races is… the running will continue all year long.

I believe that the past year has been my busiest running year yet.

In December 2008 I ran my first half marathon. The race was in Las Vegas and it was fantastic. I finished in 2:00:37. Training for this race was a great way to be sure I’d have my mileage up for the start of 2009.

2009 consisted of the usual RunWaterloo series, as well as the Mudpuppy 10K, the Ottawa Half Marathon, a highland games 8K, Muskoka Rocks 10K, and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach 1/2 Marathon.

Virginia Beach 1/2 was a great race! It was a bit hotter than I was used to since we had such a cool summer this year, but it was a good time. I had a great opportunity to wear a nice new summer running outfit that I purchased from RunningSkirts this summer.

Ending a race on the beach, getting a free beer, and then running into the ocean to play in the waves is a great way to spend part of Labour Day Weekend. It didn’t hurt that the rest of the weekend was also filled with concerts. Ryan and I got to see Boyz II Men, and Lonestar, and the Black Crowes, but we missed Heart because dinner took a long time with everyone in town trying to get pasta for dinner the night before the big race. It was a good weekend and I’d definitely like to do it again.

I did not quite achieve my goal time for the race, but I still achieved a personal best, which is great. I’m looking forward to competing in many more.

So as I was saying, the 2009 race season is coming to an end. I only have one more race that I’m registered for this year. I have a 5K next Sunday: the first ever REMEMBERrun 5K. I may still sign up for a winter Boxing Day 10 miler, but that has yet to be determined.

Happy Running!

Excuse me.... what day is it today?

This was the question directed to me from across the street on my morning walk to work today.
I paused for a moment,
my head responded with "why, it's Christmas Day!"
But alas, my mouth spoke the truth.. "Thursday"
not near as fun a response, but at least I had a Charles Dickens moment in my head.

Camping

Just a quick note about the camping trip - I'll make a better post later with some pictures and some lessons learned on the trip.

It was Ryan and I's first interior camping trip together.
Algonquin was great, but....
It rained.
It rained
It rained some more.

There were some sunny breaks, but they were few and far between.
We still had a good week, but definitely need a good weekend of nice weather to redeem camping for the summer.

More to come later.

Getting Excited!

It’s just about camping season and we’re almost ready for our excursion into Algonquin Park.

Ryan and I are going to be going on a camping trip in the near future and will be enjoying both some camping and canoe camping. We’ll be doing a 4-day 3-night canoe trip in addition to a long weekend of camping with my family at one of the Hwy 60 Corridor campgrounds.

In preparation for this trip we needed to purchase some new gear seeing as we haven’t really done any canoe/backpacking camping at all since we’ve known each other.

Seeing as I’m a girl, finding a comfortable pack can be a bit of a trying task. First stop was MEC, where I tried on a couple of different women’s packs, one of which I thought I liked, but they didn’t have it in the right size, so couldn’t tell for sure. Made a mental note of the name and size of pack. Second stop was Adventure Guide, where I was pleasantly surprised to see a variety of women-specific packs, but trying them all one, none were very comfortable for me. I tried on some regular men’s packs as well, but with no luck.

When in Ottawa on our May vacation, we went to Bushtakah, Trail Head, and back to MEC (different location than the first MEC, but the same store, of course). This MEC store had the Deva pack in size small. Success! With weight in it, it was still quite comfortable. I found the pack for me!

The gear gathering continues as this weekend, we will make another trip to the store for various small items and possibly a new stove.

Yay for camping!
And double Yay for most of these expenses being more or less a one time thing. Next year camping will be MUCH cheaper.

Updates (again)

Seeing as I’ve been negligent once again with the blog, I’m writing another update post.

The exam: I passed! Yay!

Running: I ran the Kitchener Downtown Mudpuppy Chase (10K) at the beginning of the month and also the Ottawa Half Marathon last weekend. The weather was nice and sunny for both races – barely a cloud in sight!

Vacation! - Ryan and I took a week off work between Victoria Day weekend and Ottawa Race weekend. We went to Ottawa the first weekend for the end of the Tulip Festival, went to Alexandria Bay, NY for a few days where we stayed in a hotel room with a direct view of Boldt Castle on Heart Island.

 

We spent plenty of time admiring the river view while enjoying some beverages on our balcony. We spent one warm, sunny day on a Thousand Islands boat tour and exploring the castle and we got to eat our dinners on patios right on the water (dock and floating restaurant). It was great to get away for a while.

Raising funds for KidsAbility Centre for Child Development

On May 3rd, I am running a 10 km road race, raising funds for KidsAbility and Rotary Children's Charities.

To donate, please visit the link below:
https://www.onlineregistrations.ca/mudppledges/searchconfirm.php?lname=Zandbergen&fname=Vicki

KidsAbility aims to help children and young adults with developmental, physical and communication disabilities. The Centre provides services to children from birth to eighteen years of age. Services may be provided in homes, childcare agencies, schools and community settings.

KidsAbility is committed to playing a significant role within the children's services system. As we influence, and are influenced by, this children's services system, we vigorously pursue the our mission to empower children and youth with special needs to realize their full potential.

I’m a Busy, Busy Girl

I’ve recently realized just how busy I’ve become. My life has become a very scheduled calendar full of studying, working, running, exercise classes, photography, and a few minutes to sit, try to relax, and actually spend time with my husband and my cat.

Studying: I am writing an exam on April 21st. That is only 2 weeks and 3 days from today. It is a work-related course and is not the lightest read. I’m getting up early Monday – Thursday mornings to study before I get ready for work.

Running: I am currently training for the Ottawa Half Marathon on May 24th. This is my second half and I’m looking forward to it. I run with Runner’s Choice 2 days a week as part of their Marathon/Half Marathon training program. I also have my own training schedule that I made through Runner's World's Smart Coach, which keeps me busy with running 4 or 5 times a week.

Exercise Classes: I’ve recently discovered the BodyFlow class at GoodLife. I never thought I’d enjoy a Yoga/Pilates class, but I love it! I started doing it so that I could get some good stretching to prevent running injuries (I’ve been out of the game a couple times due to knee/hip issues). I try to get to this class 3 times a week.

So, that’s my busyness in a nutshell. And a pretty boring little blog post to boot.

Lots of progress, but not quite complete

The room has been painted. It is "Bramble Tan."
The table is assembled. It is shorter than we thought, but still looks good.
The bar stuff is back in the room.

The fabric for curtains?
Well.. I went to Fabricland (Fabricland!) and looked through every single aisle of fabric. I looked at the pre-made curtains, the drapery fabric, the clothing fabric, even the vinyl, but found absolutely nothing that I wanted to make curtains out of.
I left, discouraged, and went to the paint store to pick out paint.
It took me a while to find the colour that I thought would work well.. something that had some sort of colour to it, but was still neutral enough to not cast any colour onto our computer monitors when we are editing photos (speaking of photos, I'll mention something at the end of this post). I also figured if the paint was fairly neutral, finding fabric to go in the room wouldn't be too difficult.

I brought the paint home to Ryan who was priming while I was gone. He asked me about the ceiling. Crap. I forgot to pick up white paint for the ceiling. So... he went off to the store to get that and I went off to do more shopping in the hopes of finding something to use for curtains.

I went to Zellers, Zehrs, Canadian Tire, and Walmart, but didn't find any curtains to go in that room. Nothing seemed to work. Nothing was fun. I even looked at shower curtains, tablecloths, and plain fabric at those stores. I returned home, frustrated with my lack of progress.

Ryan had painted the room when I was gone and it looked good! Furniture was also started to be assembled. As I said earlier, the table was shorter, but that's okay. It's still taller than the table in the kitchen, but shorter than one would expect a bar table.

Off to the mall on Sunday. Checked various stores then went into Zellers to see what they had (different Zellers than Saturday). Found nothing of interest in the curtains section or the sheet section, so off to the tablecloth section we went. Finally, we found some good striped tablecloths that I think will work.

So. No pictures of the before and after yet, but once I make the curtains and we finish putting the room together, I will post that. Hopefully it will be within the next week.

** the photo portion I was going to mention. I started a new blog for my photography. So far there is only one post, but I plan to add to it regularly. Vic's Pics

Have a good weekend, everyone!