VicZan Ran

Blister… and then some

2012-02-05T14:10:00.001-05:00

Two and a half weeks ago, I decided to try out my Vibram Five Fingers for the first time. Since I’ve never worn a “barefoot” shoe before, I thought it would be best to use the treadmill at the gym and to keep my run on the shorter side. I brought a pair of regular shoes with me as well, so that I could change if the Vibrams were bothering me. I wiggled my toes into their compartments and did up my Velcro closures. I was ready to run.

I started to get used to the shoes and the run was going well, but I started to feel a “hot spot” on the side of the arch of my left foot. Crap.. I was probably going to get a blister. I was about 2 miles into my 4 mile run. I briefly thought about my shoes that were in the locker room, but it seemed like a pain to get off the treadmill, go change shoes, then come back and continue my run. At this point I was also thinking that it was inevitable that I’d get a blister, so it didn’t matter what shoes I wore. I continued on, finishing the 4 miles. I should have followed my own rules and changed shoes because my foot did worse than just get a blister, it had gone past that point… it bled. I had an open wound on the left foot and a fairly large blister on the right (as well as a couple of smaller blisters on my toes).

The blister/wound site has caused me pain ever since that day, but it has finally started to heal this week and I’m getting new skin. Today was the first run without pain. I haven’t tried the Vibrams again, but plan to shortly after my feet are fully healed and perhaps with some strategically placed Band-Aids.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 26 km
Time: 2 hours, 37 minutes
Weather: –1C at start of run, +1C at finish, wind NE 7km/h

Cold but calm and clear

2012-01-15T13:01:00.001-05:00

Today was my first real winter run of the year. I busted out the winter running clothes and even brought my face mask, just in case (it ended up just staying loose around my neck. I wore my fleece lined gloves instead of my regular gloved (but still ended up with cold fingers, even numb & painful twice during the run.. should’ve had mitts), and my colder weather running toque instead of the thin one. Yep. I was ready for winter.

I headed to Runners’ Choice for the group long run, but left the house a little later than I had meant to. I managed to arrive at the store just as the rest of the runners were heading out the door. I ran and chatted with other runners (while constantly tapping my numb fingers with my thumbs to get the blood flow going) up to our first water stop, where I attempted to pop open the top of my fuel belt bottle, but it was frozen shut. I did, however, however, manage to screw off the top and have a drink. On our way again, I ran with a few people who were planning on running 16km then when they turned, I went straight to add a bit of extra distance. I still had 2 people to run with for a short while longer, but ran the last 10 km of my run by myself.

Aside from the occasional bouts of numb fingers, I had a very good run this morning: the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the roads were clear of snow and ice, and free coffee and treats were at the store after the run. You can’t complain about a morning like that!

Today’s Run
Distance: 19.31 km
Time: 1:58
Weather: –14 C, wind N 6km/h

First week of the new year

2012-01-07T12:44:00.001-05:00

The first week of January has come and gone and it was a pretty good week. I’m not one for New Years’ resolutions, but I did register for the New York City Marathon, I finally made it back to BodyFlow at the GoodLife yesterday (for the first time in over 6 months), and the new session of the Marathon Group at Runners’ Choice started on Thursday. It just so happened that these things started up during the first week of the year.

The new running group had quite the turnout for our first Quality session on Thursday. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but the store was quite full before we headed out to the park for our workout. Last year the first day had around 70 people. The group did decrease in size over time last year, but I hope most of the participants from Thursday will stick it out. It’s a great group to be a part of!

My total mileage for this week wasn’t very high as I did not do a long run on Sunday, but it was still a good week of running.

Cheers to the new year, everyone!

Final Run of 2011

2011-12-31T17:19:00.001-05:00

This afternoon, I went out for my last run of the year. I haven’t been running near as much as usual this month and haven’t been eating as healthy as usual, either (‘tis the season!) so I felt a little out of shape on today’s run, but nothing too bad. I ran 13.5 km today, which is my longest run since the Vegas half. (oops!)

On my run, I thought about my running accomplishments from 2011.

I ran my first 30K race (Around the Bay)
I ran my first marathon (Mississauga)
I sprained my ankle running my first marathon…
I completed the ENDURrun and achieved a PB 1/2 marathon time in stage 1
And I ran 3 races for free this fall!

All in all, 2011 was a good running year for me. I’m excited to see what 2012 has in store!

A wee bit windy out there….

2011-11-09T22:05:00.001-05:00

I just got back from what I was expecting to be a quick 4 mile run. It was around 4 miles, but it wasn’t so quick. It’s WINDY out there! The second half of my run was straight into a head wind. I actually lost my hat. Well.. I turned around, ran after it, and snatched it back up, so I technically didn’t lose it, but it was blown off my head.

Today’s Run
Distance: 7 km
Weather: 13°C, wind SW 46km/h with gusts of 72km/h

Back-to-Back Race Days

2011-10-02T17:31:00.001-05:00

This weekend, I ran two races. I ran the 25K Run for the Toad yesterday and the 10K Laurier Loop today. After ENDURrun, this had to be a piece of cake, right? Well… it turns out when you haven’t really been training and having been doing much in the way of long runs, it’s really quite difficult.

Run for the Toad
I had heard great things about this trail race over the years, but never got around to signing up for it and trying it. For one, the longest races I was running before this spring were half marathons, and two, I barely did any trail running before this year. After the trail running I did in prep for and during the ENDURrun, I thought this would be a good year to give the race a try (it didn’t hurt when I won entry to the race in a draw at Runners’ Choice).

I left the house around 7:40am to head out to Pinehurst Lake Conservation Area where the race is held. I made good time getting there, but it took about 25 minutes to get from the road to my parking spot due to the number of people coming for the race. I parked the car and walked over to Tent City to pick up my race number bib and my race kit, which included a very nice Saucony gym bag embroidered with the race name and year.

After ditching my stuff in the car and heading back over to the start area, I stood, shivering, waiting for the race to start. It was a very cold morning, but it turned out to be good for running (not so good for the spectators, though).

I went into this race with no time goals, but of course, that quickly changed as I started to run and was nearing the end of my first lap. I decided that I wanted to complete the 25K trail race in under two and a half hours.

It was a challenging course with hilly sections, but some very beautiful sections to and some nice views. I kept a fairly consistent pace, but I did start to get tired legs. My legs were not used to this. With less than 2 km to go to the finish, my calves started to feel like they were going to cramp up. As I reached the final steep hill, I figured this would be a good opportunity to stretch them out without actually stopping. I walked up the hill, stretching the calves with each step. It worked well because I was able to complete the race without any real problems. My finish time was 2:28:31. I completed it almost a minute and a half faster than my goal time, so I was happy with this.

I stretched my legs and then headed to the medical tent to line up for massage so that my legs could be loosened up a bit more in the hopes of a good 2nd day of running today. After massage, I swung by the car to grab my bag and make a trip to the showers. After a nice hot shower and changing into some nice, clean, warm clothes, I felt pretty good. It was time to head to the food tent. The food at this event was prepared by St Jacobs Catering. I had a couple different types of salad, a chicken breast, mango chutney, and a slice of Dutch apple pie for dessert.

I watched several of the 50K runners finish their race and once the last person I knew crossed the finish line, I made my way to the car to head home after a long, but very nice day at the beautiful Pinehurst Lake Conservation Area.

Laurier Loop
Today I ran the 4th annual Laurier Loop, which was also my 4th Loop as I’ve competed in this event every year. Today, the weather wasn’t as nice as it had been in past years, but as always, the event was run smoothly and with great post-race food and conversation with the other runners and the volunteers.

The 2.5 km loop starts and finishes on the track at Sir Wilfred Laurier University and is run 1, 2, or 4 times depending on the race distance you are competing in. I ran the 10K, so it was 4 loops for me.

I started out my race feeling quite sore in the legs, but they loosened up after about 1km. I started to feel quite a bit better and finished my first loop in around 12:30. At this pace, I should run a 50:00 race. My 2nd loop took a wee bit longer and my 3rd loop was slower still. I needed to pick up the pace on my final loop to make up for this one if I wanted to come close to the 50 minute mark. I didn’t think I cared about time today, but I can’t ignore it completely. I ran my final loop in 12:32, finishing the 10K in 50:52.

I placed 6th overall female, 3rd in my age group, but since someone in my age group placed in the top 3 female, I ended up with a 2nd place medal.

----

I had a good weekend of racing, but next time I attempt this, I should really make sure I’m training properly. My legs are tired and sore. Lesson learned.

It was good to see a lot of running friends this weekend! A few, I saw at both races, but most were at the Toad. Congratulations to everyone on your race weekend and hopefully we’ll run into each other at another race soon.

I need a plan

2011-09-13T20:00:00.001-05:00

I realized today that I when I don’t have a training plan, I really don’t run as much as I would like to. I know, this probably sounds odd. If I like to run so much, why don’t I just go out and run? Well… the problem is, I have other things that I need to do, so I put running on the backburner. When I have a training plan running gets higher priority and I can get out, run, and have fun!

Today I went onto runnersworld.com and made me a training plan. Problem solved.

ENDURrun Stage 7: The Marathon

2011-08-14T17:51:00.001-05:00

Today at 7:30 am, the 7th and final stage of the 2011 ENDURrun began. Since the start was a half hour earlier today, this also meant that I had to get up earlier and since it was a full marathon, I wanted to be sure I ate 2 hours before start time, so my alarm went off at 5:20 am. Ugh. That’s too early for me. I got up, made coffee, turned on the toaster oven and had myself my breakfast of peanut butter and banana on an English muffin.

We arrived at Conestogo Park about 15 minutes before the start, so I got my self organized and headed toward the start area, chatting with fellow runners about the run ahead and the fact that we were almost done. Just 42.2 km to go and our 160 km would be complete.

I started running and was maintaining a good pace, but was noticing that my shoes were a bit too loose. I stopped a few km into the race to adjust them, but then they were too tight. A few km further, I stopped again to loosen them a bit. This time they were just right (and Jessica referred to me as Goldilocks).

The first loop of the marathon was going well until I reached a hill around the 12 km mark. My legs did not want to go up the hill and I actually felt like my right leg might give out. I slowed down a bit and got myself up the hill. I kept going and once I was no longer travelling uphill it was much better. Once I crossed through the start/finish area, my right leg was hurting some more and I let Ryan know that I thought my 2nd loop was going to be slower than the first by approximately half an hour. This would put me finishing in 4 and a half hours. I stopped for a moment while talking to Ryan and drank some water and Gatorade.

I set off for lap two and discovered after a km or so down the road that the leg started to feel a little better. This lap did not actually feel too bad and I stopped and chatted with some volunteers at a water station around the 32 km mark while I attempted to open my package of Shot Blocks and drank some water. It was a nice short break, but it was brief as I needed to get going down the road for my final 10km.

At this point, I was definitely counting down the kms until the finish and calculating both how long it should take me to get there running and now long it would take if I walked. I knew I should come in between the two times.

As I approached the finish with approximately 1km left in the race, I could see my marathon training group coach Michele C making her way down the hill towards me. I waved and said hi. She gave me some words of encouragement and ran with me to the final corner. I certainly picked up the pace when she was there and busted through the tape at the finish line in 4:08:42 (Garmin time). As I walked to the water table, I was wheezing, but I knew it was only because my body was trying to suck in more oxygen due to my final push to the finish. It only lasted maybe a minute, probably less and then I was okay.

I watched as the remaining runners finished their race, got a massage, ate some fantastic food, and enjoyed the feeling of having completed the ENDURrun. The awards were given out shortly after everyone had something to eat. When each person was called up for their medal and plaque they were given the opportunity to say a few words. It was great to hear everyone’s final comments on the event including their struggles, their triumphs, and their overall thankfullness for a wonderful week with great runners, fantastic volunteers, and a generous race director and his family. This truly is the best organized and friendliest race I’ve ever been a part of. It’s an amazing event.

I placed 4th female of the Ultimate competitors and 1st rookie female. My cumulative time was 16:02:18 for all 7 stages.

The ENDURrun
8 days, 7 stages, 160 km
One Tough Runner.

Thanks for a great week everyone! We should do it again sometime.

ENDURrun Stage 6: The 10 km Time Trial

2011-08-13T13:15:00.001-05:00

After yesterday’s alpine stage, I didn’t have much time to recoup before today’s stage. By the time I got home it was 1:30 pm and Ryan and I were shooting a wedding at 4:00. I had time to write a blog post, get clean, plop myself on the couch for a while for a quick rest, and then get ready to leave for the wedding at 3:45 (it was only a few blocks away from our house).

I got home after the wedding around 10:30 pm and was in bed around 11:30. I didn’t have the best sleep (woke up several times) and then the alarm went off at 6:00 am.

I got up, had a quick shower and sat down to eat some breakfast (oatmeal, coffee, and water). We left the house around 7:00 to head up to the race start.

Today’s stage was another time trial like on Monday where the runners with the slower previous time start first and then each runner starts 1 minute apart up until the fastest runner leaves last. Today, due to the number of guest participants, we started several people 2 at a time. Since it takes some time while others are starting to run, it gives some added time to talk to other participants before starting your race. We talked about how we were feeling today and what we hoped to accomplish.

I started at the same time as Sandra W today around 8:30 am. The course was nice and flat and actually a bit of a downhill. I ran pretty consistently today and finished the 10 km stage in 49:19, which is actually my 2nd fastest 10K time.

The finish line was right in front of the race director’s house, so afterwards, we hung out in his yard, had some food, went for a swim, had some massage treatment and socialized some more. It’s really great to have such a nice group of runners to hang out with every day this week. This evening, we’re all invited back to Lloyd’s house for a barbeque and pool party to reflect on this past week and look forward to tomorrow’s final stage: the marathon.

6 stages and 117.8 km down, 42.2 km to go.

ENDURrun Stage 5: The 16-Mile Cross Country (25.6 km)–Chicopee Ski Hill

2011-08-12T13:19:00.001-05:00

This morning was a bit different than then other mornings this week because I was getting a ride with Paul instead of either driving myself or going with Ryan. Apparently this threw me out of my routine a bit because I managed to forget a few things at home including my recovery drink.

We arrived at Chicopee Ski Resort around 7am this morning (an hour before race start), so we had some time to sit and chat with other runners, get ourselves ready, and use the washrooms without feeling rushed.

While we were standing around right before the start, there were two deer crossing the one ski hill, which is part of the course. It was fun to watch them for a moment, but then it was back to business. Roll call was taken and waivers were signed (I guess the Chicopee people don’t want any law suits if we hurt ourselves). Now it was time to go. We lined up at the start and Lloyd counted us down.

The first km of the course was new from previous years and went through some nice trails, but there were some very narrow sections, so it was a bit tricky with all of us going through at once. It got much better on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th loops. Out of this section, we crossed over a road and into another trail section, which was my favourite part of the course. It was shaded, there was a breeze, and there were lots of twists and turns. After this, we ran out into a gravel road area with the hot sun beating and then onto the first official hill of the course. It was a long and gradual hill, which then turned around a corner to more hill, around another corner to even more, steeper hill. The aid station at the top of this section was very welcome. And the nice shady trail section that came next was also a welcome change from being out in the sun.

The first major downhill (straight down one of the ski hills) was quite steep and tricky to run down as if you went too fast you might tumble down. After the descent, there was only a short stretch before the major ascent up another ski hill. This one was un-runnable for me. I attempted at first, but resorted to walking very quickly. There were more nice trails at the top of this hill and then another downhill, up through trails, and the final downhill of the lap.

Repeat this 4 more times for a total of 5 loops.

Today’s stage was quite tough. I walked up several hills, but I was okay with that. I finished the 25.6 km of Chicopee in 3:12:08. I had some low back and hip pain today and also 2 blisters, but I didn’t feel as though it was slowing me down, just an annoyance more than anything. I’m glad this stage is done. 5 stages down and 2 to go. Tomorrow is the 10K and then Sunday is the marathon.

ENDURrun Stage 4: 10 Mile Hill Run (16.1 km)

2011-08-10T22:34:00.001-05:00

The first of two hill runs, this course is for the fast, strong runner. This 10 miler is on paved and packed gravel roads and is characterized as demanding and hilly. The start and finish are both up hill, mainly along Wilmont Line west of Waterloo. The gathering point is at Camp Heidelberg at 6pm - the only stage to start at the end of the day. After the short hill start, runners run through a low forested region then join Wilmont Line. There are a series of large hills to slow you up, but the descents are long and fast. Approximately half way out the course doubles back straight towards the finish. The rapid succession of hills during the last third of the course draws on all the strengths of the runner. The final 300m finish usually sees the competitors battle to the finish line and a well deserved leg massage! (description from http://endurrun.com)

Today’s stage was an evening stage, which meant the alarm did not have to go off at 6:15 am today! I got to stay in bed, which was very nice. I was awake before Ryan left for work, but pulled out Runners’ World magazine and lounged for a while longer before getting up. As tough as it can be to prepare for an evening race (when to eat, what to eat, etc) it was a welcome change from the rushed early mornings of the rest of the week.

Since we only have 1 car and Ryan had it with him at work, I bussed up to meet him this evening. This meant I needed to leave the house a little earlier than usual, but it was quick and easy to get ready today and the bus ride is just a half hour, so it wasn’t too bad.

We arrived at Camp Heidelberg just before 5:30, so I had a half hour to get myself organized, make a trip to the washroom, show up for roll call and then walk down the hill to the start with the other runners.

My body was feeling tired today and when I started running, it wasn’t much better, but after a few hilly kilometers, my legs were loosening up. I felt good running today. I maintained a pretty steady pace for the most part, but did have to walk up a couple of the hills to save some energy for the final big uphill to the finish line. I managed to pass a few people on the 2nd half (into a strong headwind) of this mostly out-and-back course and finished strong up the hill. Of course I was passed on the course as well, but I was very happy with my run today. It was definitely a good confidence boost after yesterday’s rough stage.

I finished Stage 4 in 1:25:40 (Garmin time). I believe this maintains my position as 4th place female. There was no way I could catch up to Jessica to attempt to re-claim the 3rd place spot. It was nice to be in 3rd for a day, but I think it was only meant to be mine for a brief moment (or day).

Tomorrow is the “mandatory rest day” and I plan to do just that. I’m getting a massage (which really won’t be relaxing, but it’ll be helpful), then possibly meeting up with some other runners for a beverage.

The next stage is on Friday morning and will be the 2nd of the two “Mountain Stages.” I’m still a little frightened by Chicopee. We’ll see how this goes.

ENDURrun Stage 3: The 30 km Trail Run

2011-08-09T14:17:00.001-05:00

Today’s breakfast: cinnamon raisin bagel w/ peanut butter, coffee, orange juice, and water.

I woke up with a bit of a headache this morning. Hopefully it’s the weather causing this and not dehydration because I’ve been making sure to take in lots of fluids.

I got to the race start around 7:30 this morning and the rain was coming down. Luckily, Ryan had left his rain jacket in the car from Sunday, so I had that to put on to keep warm and dry until start time. At that point, I let Chris (volunteer) “keep it warm for me” aka borrow it while I ran.

The course for this stage is mostly grass and trail, but has a short road section as well. You head out from the start, run on a bit of gravel, then onto the grass over to the short bit of road and then down into a grassy meadow starting downhill, then running a gradual uphill to a large flat opening, where we ran around the perimeter and back out to the wide grass trails, up a short hill, then around a corner to go down another hill, across, and up a much bigger grassy hill. After this section, the course enters the forest trails, which are very nice with a lot of small ups and downs and a couple larger including one long gradual gravel uphill, which was not so much fun. There was also a steep downhill in the trails that got progressively muddier as the rain kept coming and the runners ran down, loop after loop. After another km or so in the trails, you emerge close to the start/finish line, where you pass through and start the next lap. Repeat for a total of 6 5km laps.

The start of the race was wet, but felt good. I maintained a good pace for the first loop (of 6 loops in total), and headed into the second feeling strong. I kept of decently well for the next couple laps and was lapped for the first time around the half-way mark. In the 4th lap, I started to get tired. At 18km, my legs were getting a bit fatigued, but held on.

As I mentioned earlier, I woke with a headache. In order to make sure that I wasn’t dehydrated, I decided to wear my camelback today and to also take some fluids from the aid stations to keep me fully hydrated. It seemed like a great idea, but I think I took in too much Gatorade. The final 2 laps were miserable. I felt like I was going to vomit and had to take many walk breaks so that the feeling would pass. It never did fully pass until well after I was finished, changed, stretched, had my legs massaged, and had some food. Then I was ok.

I finished today’s 30 km stage in 3:14:19 (my unofficial Garmin time). I had been hoping for 3 hours, but my stomach/upper GI did not allow that to happen. I think I did make a smart move taking it a bit easier once it wasn’t going that great because I still have 4 more stages to run and need energy and strong legs to do so.

I haven’t seen the official standings yet, but I moved down a place to 4th female today. I’m still top rookie female (out of a whopping 2 of us), but my overall placement dropped. We’ll see what tomorrow evening has in store at the 10 miler hilly road.

Today was tough. Three stages down and 4 more stages until I am One Tough Runner.

ENDURrun Stage 2: 15 km time trial

2011-08-08T14:55:00.001-05:00

I was up at 6:15 this morning, coffee was brewing again and the 2nd day of ENDURrun was about to begin. I sat and had my breakfast (today it was oatmeal and coffee), checked up on the other runners on Facebook and Twitter, and watched the stage 1 video. There is actually a part 2 of stage 1 also posted. Reliving yesterday’s stage was a great way to get pumped for what was ahead of me this morning.

Today’s stage was a 15 km Time Trial. Each runner starts one minute apart and the starting order is the reverse finishing order from yesterday, so the slowest runners start first and the fastest runners start last.

The course starts with a bit of a loop around Riverside Park in Cambridge, then heads out onto the roads for a nice long uphill on the 2nd km. I was very happy with the fact that I ran the hill quite well and still kept up a 5:30 km pace at that point, which was slower than my average pace for the stage, but was not my slowest km of the day. The remainder of the course was quite nice, but tough at times with the hot sun beating down. The shady trail sections were definitely a welcome change from the hot roads, but it was even hot in the trails. Mind you, when it was all done, it didn’t feel nearly as hot out as I thought it was.

It was tough stage because the person you are trying to beat is behind you, and you don’t know how far back they are. So, I just kept my pace in the hopes that it would keep me at least from falling back in the rankings.

I finished the 15 km in 1:19:35. I was third place ultimate female today and I think I might have moved up to third in the cumulative results as well, but I’m not 100% sure, so I’ll have to wait and see when the official results are posted.

After the race was finished, I changed out of my sweaty clothes, got some ART, ate some of the fantastic post-race food, and socialized. As if this wasn’t a good enough post-race experience, we were all invited to head over to the race director’s daughter’s house for a pool party.

Thanks Carly and Chris for allowing us to use your pool and to play with your cute puppies today. And thank you to the rest of the Schmidt family for everything you do for us runners. You guys are the best!

Top left: Henry, Top Right: Chester, Bottom: (left to right) Mark M, Sandra W, Regan C, Jack K, Maureen P

ENDURrun Stage 1: The Half Marathon

2011-08-07T12:53:00.001-05:00

6:15 am
The alarm woke me up and I could hear and smell coffee brewing in the kitchen. I decided to stay in bed for a few more minutes and was up by 6:22 am.

6:30 am
Sitting in the living room eating breakfast (toasted English muffin with peanut butter and banana and my cup of coffee) and reading updates and comments of other runners all getting ready to start the ENDURrun today. Looking outside, it’s quite wet out there, but as long as it’s not pouring, it should be just fine.

7:00 am
I’m all ready, dressed, body-glided, and excited to get to the start line. Race start is in 1 hour. Just waiting for Ryan (http://shootthethrill.ca) to get out of the shower so we can go.

Okay.. it’s now early afternoon. I’m home, I’m clean, and I’m ready to finish this post my thoughts and some BB photos.

The half marathon started at 8:00 am just about the same time as the rain. It was a light rain, so not too bad at all, but I’m sure the volunteers and spectators weren’t too happy with it. For the majority of the run it was humid and damp, but not actually raining. It did, however, rain more after I was finished.

I finished stage 1 in a time of 1:52:39 (according to my Garmin, I didn’t catch what my official time was and it’s not up on the website yet). This time was actually a PB for me in a half marathon event. I ran the first half of the Mississauga Marathon in just over a minute faster, but as far as running the specific half distance, this is my best time yet!

(Now feels like a good time to share my post-race sweaty BlackBerry self-portrait)

I really enjoyed this stage today. At one point I wished I had a camera on me because I looked toward the Grand River and saw a man standing in the middle, fishing, with the mist surrounding him. With no camera on me, I had to take a mental picture. Perhaps I’ll just head out there one morning to see if this is a common occurrence.

Okay.. back to the event. I kept a decent pace today and I felt really good, too. I don’t feel like I overdid it, so I should (hopefully) have lots of gas left in the tank for the rest of the week.

6 more stages to go and I’ll be One Tough Runner.

Congrats to everyone else who completed stage 1 today. I’ll see you tomorrow at the 15K time trial!

Above photos: Top: Ryan McGovern, Middle Left: Paul Mora, Middle Right: Dave Rutherford, bottom: Catherine Kelly.

ENDURrun is just about here!

2011-08-06T19:09:00.001-05:00

I just got back from the pre-race meeting for the 2011 ENDURrun. I have my race number bib (107), my t-shirt, race kit bag of goodies, and my awesome new long sleeved quarter-zip pullover! Now to get my stuff ready tonight and head to the start line in the morning. Wish me luck!

I plan on posting after every stage of this 7-stage event, so keep an eye out for my updates.

23 days....

2011-07-15T11:38:00.001-05:00

Only 23 days until ENDURrun 2011. The 8 day, 7 stage, 160 km event has snuck up quickly.

I'm into full out training again, which is good. I'm back up to mid-20s (km) for my long run and will get that into the 30s shortly. I've been running 5 times per week and am bringing that up to 6 times this week.

We've been busy with wedding photos (http://shootthethrill.ca) since the end of May and we've gone on a couple of camping trips, so it's been a bit of a challenge to try and fit everything into my schedule. Ryan and I did a kayak camping trip in the interior of Algonquin Park on Canada Day weekend, which was fantastic, but I wasn't able to get any running in that weekend because there were no trails. I did, however, get a good cross training weekend of paddling and swimming.

Last weekend, we went to Emily Provincial Park, where I was able to get in a few runs. I did one short run within the park on Saturday morning, then an 11 km run that included both road (5 km) and trail (6 km), and on Sunday I ran (well.. tried) from Lindsay to the park on the Trans Canada Trail. The first 10K of that run was in direct sun and it was HOT. For the first time in my life, I actually found it too hot to run. I had to walk a fair bit in the first 10K, but then a bit of cloud came over and there were also trees providing shade. The final 14K were much more enjoyable and I could actually run the remainder of the distance.

This week has been fairly good for running so far. As I already mentioned, I got 24K in on Sunday and since then, I didn't get a chance to run Tuesday, so I ran twice on Wednesday. I did 4K in the morning and then 11K at night. Last night I got in a great workout. I ran from work to Runners' Choice, then ran with the group to Columbia Lake for some hill repeats, did 6 on each of the 3 different types of hills (long/gradual, steep, etc) for a total of 18 hill repeats, ran back to the store, took a short watermelon break and then headed out to run home. My total distance covered last night was just under 20 km.

I just might go for a short run after work today before heading to the Beer & Rib festival and tomorrow morning I'll either be doing boot camp at McLennan Park or going for a run, possibly trail or a road/trail combo.

Slow and steady...

2011-06-23T08:24:00.001-05:00

I had another physiotherapy appointment yesterday. I was told that I'm making great progress and that my ankle is healing quite nicely and quickly. I've also been given the go-ahead to run trails, but just not go too crazy on them. My next appointment is in 2 weeks, so I've progressed enough to decrease the frequency of treatment.

This morning I went out for a 5K run. It was a humid, but nice morning. I went through Victoria Park and was pleasantly surprised to see that the swans are back and there was also a heron. I need to get into the habit of getting up early and running in the mornings. It really is nice once I get out there, but the process of getting up and out the door is sometimes difficult. I know it will get easier as it becomes habit.

I'm slowly increasing my mileage, mostly with more frequent shorter runs (sometimes more than one per day) but I'll be adding a longer run (16-20 km) this weekend. Hopefully it goes well.

Rehabilitation

2011-06-06T21:02:00.001-05:00

It’s just over 3 weeks since the ankle sprain (mid-marathon) and I went to physio for my assessment today.

I went for a 4K run on Saturday to test it out and it didn’t hurt, but felt tired rather quickly.

At the assessment today, I was told that the ankle is pretty good. PT said that if I wasn’t a distance runner, she’d just send me on my way, but instead I got some strengthening exercises and stretches. I do those for the next week and then go back for reassessment. I’m good to run as well, but I’m to keep the runs 8km or less until the ankle fells stronger.

Hopefully I’ll be back up to longer distances very very soon. ENDURrun is in 61 days! For now, I’ll take it one day at a time.

I did it!

2011-05-20T21:48:00.003-05:00

I ran the Mississauga Marathon on Sunday and finished in 3:51:28. The ankle was still a bit sore and then I rolled it at the 18k mark (oops) which definitely caused some pain, but it did subside, but I was left with a swollen ankle (swelling's down now).

All in all, I was definitely happy with the race. There was wind and rain, but I didn't mind. I ran a marathon. I even knocked a few minutes off my half marathon time.

I don’t know what happened.

2011-05-13T17:12:00.001-05:00

Yesterday morning, I got up and ran 9km. The run felt good and it was great weather. I got home and stretched as usual. Stretching my left calf felt a little odd, but that’s it.

All day, my left ankle hurt and it felt like it needed to crack, but even if it did, it didn’t feel any better. I already had a massage appointment booked because my low back and right hip were acting up on Monday/Tuesday. By this point my back and hip were fine, but my ankle, not so much. RMT worked on my back, hip and ankle, but couldn’t get the ankle to give.

Today, it felt a bit better, but still not right. I wasn’t limping today, but it still felt odd. I attempted a bit of a run tonight, which turned more into a 10-15 minute fast-paced walk with some intermittent brief spurts of jogging and then a 15 minute easy run afterward.

I’m not sure what’s going on, but I certainly hope that it’s better very very soon. I took some muscle relaxants tonight and rubbed some pain-relief cream on my ankle and lower leg in the hopes that it fixes itself overnight. It’s 3 days to marathon day and I really hope I don’t need to walk most of it.

** update – I wrote this post last night, but blogger was down, so I couldn’t post it until today. The ankle is still hurting today. **

I finally did it!

2011-05-01T12:39:00.001-05:00

I finally got past whatever strange mental block I had with the 10K race distance. You know something is wrong when you can run the first 10 km of a half marathon faster than a 10K race. That was the position I was in for almost 2 years.

In September 2009, I ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach 1/2 Marathon, with my first 10 km of that race being completed in 51:27. Click here for my results from this race.

I had run 4 10K races prior to this half. My times were as follows:
Oct 2008 – Zoo Run: 54:57 (chip time)
May 2009 – Mudpuppy Chase: 53:22 (gun time)
June 2009 – Waterloo Classic: 55:54 (chip time)
Aug 2009 – Muskoka Rocks: 54:46 (gun time)

At this point, one could argue that my training was paying off and that’s why I did so well for the 10K portion of the half, but then I look at the results for 10K races AFTER September 2009.

Oct 2009 – Laurier Loop: 52:30 (c)
May 2010 – Mudpuppy Chase: 52:30 (c)
Jun 2010 – Guelph Lake: 53:47 (g)
Jun 2010 – Waterloo Classic: 55:50 (c)
Oct 2010 – Laurier Loop: 52:03 (c)

Then came the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 Marathon in December 2010 where I once again finished the first 10K faster than any 10K race. This time it was 51:31. My results for this race are here.

So.. this brings us to today. I ran the Downtown Mudpuppy Chase, which is one of my favourites, due to it’s close proximity to my house and fabulous post-race food. I ran the 10K distance (the race has a 3K, 5K, and 10K) and I finished in a gun time of 49:04. My chip time was 48:52.

I’ve finally run a 10K race faster than the first 10K of a longer distance race! I’ve finally broken 50 minutes, which was my goal for last year that didn’t happen, and I’ve crushed my previous best 10K race time by over 3 minutes!

I think I’ve gotten over whatever it was that had been holding me back. Today was a confidence boost indeed.

Bring on the marathon in 2 weeks!

I’m going to run NYC marathon… in 2012

2011-04-27T19:42:00.001-05:00

Today was the non-guaranteed entry lottery drawing for the 2011 marathon. They had a live draw of the 40,000 runners who were chosen from the 140,000 runners who entered the lottery. From what I can tell, I was not chosen.

I’ve been entering the lottery for this race since 2009, so this was my third year. Not being chosen 3 years in a row, guarantees your entry for the following year, so.. I’m in! Next year.

Runs since my last post:
April 20 - 5km
April 21 – 9 km
April 23 – 36.25 km (my final long long run before the marathon)
April 26 – 5.5 km
April 27 – 2 km on treadmill, then I smartened up and went outside
April 27 – 8.25 km

Will I be ready?

2011-04-18T21:33:00.001-05:00

I’ll be running Mississauga Marathon on May 15th, so it’s now less than a month until my first full marathon.

I missed some workouts including shortening up some long runs due to the cold I had. I’m now over that, but I’ve just done my first run longer than 30 km in weeks. I did run 65 km last week, but the longest day was just a 20 km day. This coming weekend, I’ll do a 36 or 38 km run.

I’ve run several half marathons and now I’ve done one 30 km race, but nothing longer than that. I’m looking forward to running my first marathon next month, but there are also the doubts. I’m mostly confident, but hey.. it’s something I’ve never done before! I hope it goes well.

Kicking the Cold

2011-04-03T21:07:00.001-05:00

In my last post, I mentioned that I ran Around the Bay with a cold that had started a few days before the race. Well, it didn’t end there. I spent a fun week with lots of Kleenex and night time cold relief drugs. Due to this lovely, I missed 3 of my training runs. I had to skip my Quality Workout with the store on Thursday and well.. it was frustrating.

I started to feel better, energy-wise, on Thursday night so I started easing back into the running this weekend. On Friday evening I ran 5 km, Saturday I ran 10 km, and today, 15 km.

I still have a bit of stuffiness, but overall, I feel a lot better. I hope this cold is completely gone by Tuesday so that I can get back into my regular training routine.

Today I ran Around the Bay

2011-03-27T16:59:00.001-05:00

For the last few weeks, I’ve felt like my body was fighting off something. I was more tired at night than usual and I’d fall asleep quicker. It wasn’t affecting me during the day at all, so it was all okay. Well, this week, my body decided to give up the fight and allow the cold to find it’s way in.

Thursday, I started to have a bit of a sore throat, but chalked it up to a dry house. I went to my Quality Workout session with Runners’ Choice as usual and had a good interval session.

When I woke up on Friday, my throat was not good. I decided to stay home from work (I still worked, just from home instead of the office) and hang out in my PJs for the day. I also didn’t want to spread germs at work and I thought my co-workers might appreciate that. I hoped that by taking it easy, maybe it would be the quickest cold ever and be gone in a day (yeah right… I know that never happens).

Saturday morning, the cold was more prominent. I felt out of it and drained. Went to the expo to pick up my race kit and to do a little shopping, but I probably walked right by some great deals since my brain could only focus on one thing at a time. I was looking for arm sleeves and I found some for $12.50 + tax. Yay!

This morning, when I woke up, I had a lovely coughing session where Ryan said he was considering telling me I couldn’t run. But it went away as quickly as it came, and body-wise, I felt good. I promised him that if I felt bad during the race, I would stop and not complete it.

So.. in order to run the race with a cold, I stocked up on supplied, and clothes for that matter. I purposely dressed warmer than I would normally because if I ended up needing to walk a large portion, I wanted to be comfortable. I brought way more gels & shot blocks than I needed to be sure I could avoid another emergency donut situation like 2 weeks ago, a pocket full of Ricola cough drops, and 5 kleenex.

During the race I used:
- 1 gel just before the start
- 1 package of shot blocks throughout the race
- several small cups of Gatorade on the course (I stopped at every aid station starting at 11km and had some)
- 5 cough drops
- 4 fuel belt bottles of water
- and only 1 kleenex that I actually got from a spectator who was holding out a box

I only had 3 small bouts of coughing during the race and taking another cough drop did the trick each time.

I finished the 30 km race Around the Bay in 2 hours, 56 minutes, 2.5 seconds. Not too shabby.

A four town tour

2011-03-13T20:06:00.001-05:00

Today’s long run took place through 4 different towns: Kitchener, Waterloo, St Jacobs, and Conestogo.

It was an interesting run. I had puddles to deal with on the way out of town, a car that almost ran me over (no worries, I’m not injured or anything), a closed road and detour, and an emergency donut stop (I was out of gels and needed some energy).

I ran a total of 30.35 km today and overall it was pretty good (aside from the above mentioned occurrences). It was my longest training run so far and I finished it in 3 hours 15 minutes. I’m looking forward to pushing myself further in the future.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 30.35 km
Weather: 0 C, felt like –5 C, NW wind 17-20 km/h

A Quick Summary of a Week Gone By

2011-03-07T22:16:00.001-05:00

It’s been a while. I apologize. I will now quickly bring you up to speed on my running over the past week-ish.

My running consisted of:
- indoor mini reverse triathlon (30 min run, 10 min bike, 15 min swim)
- 2.5 hour evening-time icy run
- hills with the group at Runners' Choice
- rainy 12 km run (but at least it was nicely above freezing and I could wear a hat instead of a toque!)
- 3 hour run that started out nice and sunny, ended up dark, had some clear stretches, some very snowy stretches, some ice, slush, and some puddles

And now it’s my day off.

First Quality Workout Since Vacation

2011-02-24T22:11:00.001-05:00

Tonight, I went to Runners’ Choice for the Thursday night Quality session of the Marathon Group. We ran did a ladder workout tonight, starting with 1 minute hard, 1 minute recovery, then up to 2 min, 3 min, 4 min hard segments with 1 minute recovery between each, then back down. This whole set was done twice.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 12 km
Weather: –1 C, felt like -6

Re-Fridgee-Eighter Run

2011-02-20T21:20:00.001-05:00

This morning was the 14th annual Re-Fridgee-Eighter 8 km and 8 mile races at RIM Park in Waterloo.

The race was well-run as always with plenty of support both on the course and at the start/finish area.

Chip pick-up went very smoothly, the intersections on the course were well managed with police and volunteer help, water stations were plentiful, and the finish area was easy to manoeuvre through. The post race food at any RunWaterloo event is always good and today was no exception. There was coffee, hot chocolate, pizza, hot dogs, fruit, bagels, cream cheese, and even ice cream.

I ran the 8 mile race in 1:08:44, which was over a minute faster than my time last year, so I’m happy with that. I didn’t know what to expect today as my body kept telling me that it didn’t want to run today. The weather was great, so I’m sure that helped. We had nice clear roads and it wasn’t too cold, which great.

First run of the year down and many exciting events to come.

Correr en Cayo Coco

2011-02-18T00:02:00.001-05:00

I just got back from vacation, staying at the Emperador Laguna Villas Resort in Cayo Coco for one week.

I went for several runs during my vacation in Cuba, including a 17 km long run. I brought a camera with me on this run just in case I saw interesting things on the way.

I started my run first thing Monday morning, leaving my husband and friends to have breakfast without me. I headed out of the resort, past the gates and turned left to start my adventure. As I approached the first roundabout, there was already a photo worthy moment: two wild horses were grazing in the grass between resorts.

Making my way down the road, I decided to turn left and head toward the ocean just before Sol Cayo Coco. As I ran down, I noticed that I had been to this area a couple days before, but had approached via water and beach. This time I came by road. I had arrived at the rocky point, so I climbed up and snapped some photos.

From this point, I looked to the east at the resorts where I would head next: Sol & Melia. The resorts looked quite nice from up here, so I was intrigued to check them out. I carefully climbed down from the rocky, coral peak and ran back out to the road. Next stop would be Sol Cayo Coco.

I ran around the Sol, which was a nice looking resort, much smaller than the Emperador Laguna. The buildings looked nice and the beach smaller and windier, but still quite beautiful. I didn’t really stop anywhere at this resort, I kept on running.

When I arrived at Melia Cayo Coco, I was instantly impressed with the grounds. Everything looked well kept. Again, this resort was a lot smaller than the one where we stayed. I decided to check out their beach as well and when I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find a brown pelican right close to where I stepped of the steps to the sand.

The bird stood so quietly on the beach and I could easily approach him. I decided I needed a self-portrait with my new friend.

After hanging out for a minute or two, I realized that I wasn’t getting too far in my run (I was only a few km in at this point) so I should probably keep going.

Melia is the end of the road, so when I left the resort, I was heading back past Sol and Emperador again, this time continuing through the next roundabout where I would pass by more resorts. I did not stop at these, as I wanted to head out to areas where I could see the ocean from the road.

While running along a long stretch of road, I ran into two men working on the median of the road. Well, one of them was working and the other appeared to be hanging out with his friend. I stopped to talk to them for a few minutes as I had actually met the non-working guy (who king of looked a bit like Usher) the day before at Playa Prohibida and he recognized me (I was running the prior day as well). He spoke Spanish and French, but not English, so it was a bit of a choppy conversation, but we got by. I let them know that I was going to keep on running and started moving on.

I discovered a path that looked interesting and I could hear waves, so I thought it might be a fun place to run. It was more sandy (go figure) than I thought, so it was a bit tough to run on, but was still a nice change from the road. I saw lots of hoof prints in the sand, so I’m pretty sure this is where they do the horse riding to the beach and along the beach that you see advertised in the excursions from the hotels. It lead me to the water, where I briefly ran along the beach before heading back out to the road.

The path and the end of the path where it opens to the beach:

Back on the road, the next section became hilly, but gorgeous. There was so much foliage along the sides of the road and the road ran along the shore, so there was a wonderful ocean breeze. I saw a sign up ahead, so I decided to run up to see what it was. My turn-around point turned out to be a bar and grill, but sadly, I didn’t have any money on me to stop and enjoy.

The run back to the resort was pretty uneventful, although, at one point I heard a loud, long call of “hola” so I turned and saw that it was the Usher look-alike calling at me from down away from the road. I gave greetings of “hola” and “Buenos dias” to the two guys as I kept running, wanting to run without any further stops on the way back.

I arrived back at the resort and stopped at exactly 2 hours. My time wasn’t too bad for the distance considering the stops I made. I wasn’t going to be concerned about the quality of my run too much as I definitely wanted to take in the sights and experience of running in Cuba.

My Run in Cayo Coco:

My longest run so far

2011-02-06T12:32:00.001-05:00

This morning I ran in the snow. It was a tough run and a great workout. I ran my longest run ever. So far, that is.. of course they will get longer. Until now, my longest was a half marathon.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 24 km (but snowy hills made it seem longer)
Weather: –4 C, felt like –10 C. Cloudy.

Short, but enjoyable run this morning

2011-02-05T17:11:00.001-05:00

I expected the cat to wake me up at 8am like she normally does, but today she didn’t stand on me until 9. Oh well. I’m not complaining about being able to sleep in, but it did cut my morning a bit shorter.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 4.5 km
Weather: –5 C, sun & cloud

I skipped my group workout tonight…

2011-02-03T23:17:00.001-05:00

but still did speed work on the treadmill at the gym, so I didn’t really skip my running workout at all. I just did it while watching Grey’s Anatomy instead of running around an indoor track.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 11.26 km
Weather: n/a

A new month & another new pair of shoes

2011-02-01T23:43:00.001-05:00

This time they are New Balance 860s. So far so good. No pain today. I’ll take them for another spin on the treadmill tomorrow just to be sure.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 7km
Weather: n/a – I was at the gym on a treadmill

Around and around I go

2011-01-30T20:40:00.001-05:00

Today I decided to run loops. Well, run to a loop, do the loop a couple of times, run to another loop, run it, then on to another and I’m sure you get the picture. I ran around parks and a university today and the paths and roads in between.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 21 km
Weather: –8 C, felt like -15

Run 2 of 2

2011-01-27T22:38:00.001-05:00

Tonight was the Quality Workout at Runners’ Choice. We headed out for some 400m repeats on a nice paved path. It was great to have a workout with no cars and a nice wide path that was clear of snow. It was a nice tough workout, running hard for 400m and then easy for 400m and repeat 6 to 12 times.

Tonight’s Run:
Distance covered: 13 km
Weather: –4 C, felt like –9 C

Run 1 of 2

2011-01-27T07:35:00.001-05:00

It’s Thursday today, which means Quality Workout with Runners’ Choice tonight. Normally, that is my only run of the day, but this morning I headed out the door for a short run in the nice mild weather.

Distance: 5 km
Weather: –7 C, light snow, wind E 4 km/h

Another new pair.. another sore heel

2011-01-25T23:59:00.001-05:00

On the weekend, I exchanged the shoes that gave me heel pain for a different pair of shoes. Tonight I tried out the new shoes on a treadmill. Pain. I tried to suck it up thinking that maybe, just maybe, it was “new shoe” pain and not “bad shoe for me” pain. I ended up having to switch shoes half-way through my run (I brought 2 pairs to the gym just in case). I guess Reeboks just don’t fit my feet right. It’s too bad, too, because I liked the shoes in all other aspects.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 9.75 km
Weather: n/a – I was indoors

Brrrr….

2011-01-23T19:05:00.001-05:00

Today was very, very cold. Legs don’t like to move when it’s this cold, but I forced them to. It was a tough run. I guess it’ll only make me stronger, though!

Today’s Run:
Distance: 16 km
Weather: –17 C, with a “feels like” temperature of –26 C

Mostly treadmills and a bit of snowy roads

2011-01-20T21:51:00.001-05:00

That’s my week of running in a nutshell.

Tonight was a Quality Workout night at Runners’ Choice. The evening started out with a talk by Olympian Eric Gillis. He ran the 10,000 at the Beijing Olympics and is now looking at the marathon for 2012.

After a good talk about training and a Q&A session, we headed outdoors to run out to Longfellow for some hill work. It was a tough run tonight as the roads became progressively more slippery and the soles of our shoes became more caked with snow. It was a good workout.

Tonight’s Run:
Distance: 10 km, including hill repeats
Weather: –8C, snow

New Shoes - Sore Heel

2011-01-12T08:28:00.001-05:00

I ran 8.5 km on a treadmill at the gym this morning in new shoes. By the end of the run, the back of my right heel was really hurting. Not fun. I don’t believe these are the shoes for me.

First Day

2011-01-09T18:32:00.001-05:00

Today was the first day of the Winter/Spring Marathon group at Runners’ Choice. The group was bigger than the fall group, with a lot of first time marathoners and half-marathoners. It’s going to be a good season.

It was a cold, but very nice morning. The sky was perfectly clear and the sun was strong. It was a perfect winter morning for a run.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 15km
Weather: –11C, felt like –19C

Back to Winter Weather

2011-01-03T21:24:00.001-05:00

After Friday and Saturday’s rain, we got a wee bit of new snow yesterday. It was just a dusting, but at least it’s something for January.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 12 km
Weather: –3 C, felt like –9 C

Starting the new year off right

2011-01-01T17:22:00.001-05:00

Today I ran the Resolution Run with the Running Room. It wasn’t a long run, just a short 5K run in the rain, but it was a good way to start off the year.

2010 was a pretty good running year for me. I managed to spend the year injury free, which was my main goal and I also set a couple of PBs in 10K and also the half marathon.

Total Distance covered in 2010: 1353 km

In 2011 I will be expanding my running horizons further with some exciting challenges. So far, my longest race has been the half marathon, but this spring, I will run the Around the Bay 30K road race and the Mississauga Marathon.

The big challenge for this year will be the ENDURrun in August. This event is an 8 day, 7 stage event covering a total of 160 km. I will have to train harder than ever and build up my endurance, but I’m certainly looking forward to it.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon

2010-12-11T00:25:00.001-05:00

This past Sunday, December 5, 2010, I ran the half marathon in Las Vegas. Here’s how my morning went.

* all photos in this post are from my Blackberry and some are blurry due to me being in motion at the time the photo was taken :) *

4:10 am – I woke up. The alarm hadn’t gone off yet, but I was awake.
4:45 am – this is when the alarm was supposed to go off, but apparently something screwy happened and my Blackberry had turned off even though it was connected to the computer at the time.
5:00 am – went down to Starbucks to grab a coffee and then head back up to the hotel room at MGM Grand to eat my Luna bar and banana for breakfast
6:00 am – headed out of the room to start the walk down to Mandalay Bay. We met up with some more runners in the elevator and even more walking through the casino on the way out. Once we were outside, there was a large crowd of runners walking down the middle of Las Vegas Blvd, which was closed for the event.

During the walk to the start, I tried to turn on my Garmin. It wouldn’t turn on. I started frantically pushing buttons, trying to remember how to do a soft re-set. I finally got it to turn on, but it had a message that did not make me happy at all “battery low.” Crap. I was upset. I wanted so badly to do well in this race and the thought of not having the Garmin to verify that I was maintaining the pace I wanted did not make me feel confident. Ryan told me to calm down and turn off the Garmin for now. I did. I kept it off until just before race start.
6:30 am – arrived at the corrals, walked past all of the Southbound corrals and around the corner onto the Northbound side of the blvd where I showed my race number to prove I belonged in this section. I found my way to my corral and settled in. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had port-a-potties right in the corral. Very smart.
6:45 am – start line entertainment included “Cher” singing the national anthem (with some sound glitches, where she couldn’t hear the music and actually only sang the last half of the song).
7:00 am – race start for corral #1. It was a wave start, so each corral started about 90 seconds apart. For the few minutes I was waiting, I was entertained by the Blues Brothers.

7:03:32 am – I crossed the start line

Now that we’re into the race, I will talk in km and miles since I’d have to reference various files to figure out times.

6 km mark – my low back started to hurt – no doubt due to the 6 hours on a plane the previous day where I didn’t get up to walk around until the flight was almost over. Note to self: always get up and walk around on a plane when running a race the next day.
7 km mark – had to take a wee walk break due to the back pain. Decided to take a couple of shot blocks and drink some water slightly early (was planning on doing this at 5 miles/8 km)
10 km mark – had to take another small walk break, but on the plus side, the Garmin was still going strong.
9 mile mark – Ryan was on the side of the course taking photos. I let him know that I was running well but that my back was hurting me since 6km. A nearby runner overheard the conversation and told me to run with him until the half and full split. I was grateful – it was nice to have someone to talk to for a while
10 mile mark – the runner from Chicago was a little too fast for me, so we parted at this point. Very very shortly after, I looked at my Garmin and it went blank. It had finally died at I was on my own for the final 5k.

I took a walk through the next water station and drank some Cytomax. At this point, I saw the 1:52 pace bunny run by. I knew I was doing alright, and thought that maybe I could catch up with me. This thought quickly went away as I was running hard, but not gaining ground. I decided to just keep my pace and do the best I could.

As I approached Mandalay Bay, I was feeling good and was happy that I was very close to the finish. I was passing a few people, which is always a confidence boost. When I crossed the line, the clock time said 1:58:25, but I knew my time was faster and thought it might be a PB (previous best was 1:57:08). After I collected my medal and food and left the secure area, I noticed a sign that stated that race results would be online by 7pm. Boo.. I was hoping to see my time.. and with no Garmin, I had no reference. I spotted the medal engraving booth, so I dropped off my medal, paid my $20 and had them engrave my name and finish time onto the back. These people have the chip time results, so I was able to find out my time about 20 minutes after finishing. As I picked up the medal and looked at the time, I was very happy. A new PB! Yay!

The race was great and well organized. The course was fantastic and I would definitely run it again!

My post-finish self-portrait. (after I took this, another runner offered to make my photo for me, which is my current profile picture on Facebook).

And my finisher certificate

I forgot to blog about the race

2010-12-07T18:43:00.001-05:00

So.. here’s a quick note and I’ll write a better post after I’m back home from Vegas with pictures and more details. It will include such information about the Garmin issues, the entertainment at the start, the pain during the race, the nice guy I ran with for a while around the 9 to 10 mile mark, and the finish concert.

For now, here’s a quick note.

The weather was fantastic, the spectators were encouraging, bands and cheerleaders on the course were entertaining. The start and finish were well organized and I ran my race in a new PB time of 1:55:02.

Short, easy run

2010-12-02T22:59:00.001-05:00

It’s just a few days until race day, so I decided to go for a nice easy run in the snow. It was just a short 20 minute run, but it was good.

Tomorrow afternoon, I head out on the mini-vacation that includes the half marathon on Sunday. It’ll be a great time and I’ll be sure to update on the race results on Sunday!

Today’s Run:
Distance 3.6 km
Weather: –2 C, felt like –7 C, wind SW 17 km/h

Rainy Run

2010-11-30T22:42:00.001-05:00

It’s raining. It’s been raining all day.
So I went running in the rain tonight.

Tonight’s Run:
Distance: 5.5 km
Weather: 9 C, rain, wind S 24 km/h

Final Long Run before the half

2010-11-28T19:23:00.001-05:00

One week from today is the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon and 1/2. I am running the half and I’ve just come back from my final long run before the race.

I ran 18 km today and felt quite good. I’m hoping for a PB (of course) and maybe just maybe Lady Luck will have my back in Vegas.

I’m all packed (except for some running essentials that I still need to use this week) and I’m ready to go. Just 5 more days and I’ll be on my way!

Today’s Run:
Distance: 18 km
Weather: –1 C, felt like –4; wind SW 4 km/h

Thursday Night Speedwork

2010-11-25T23:25:00.001-05:00

Tonight I hit the gym and ran on the treadmill, which is something I don’t do very often. I did an interval workout consisting of running a total of 7 miles with 1 mile intervals at a 7:41 min/mi pace. I definitely did a lot of sweating, but it was good.

A week and a half to go

2010-11-24T07:40:00.001-05:00

I’m getting excited for Vegas! I’m now at the point where I check the weather daily to see what race day is supposed to be like. A couple of days ago it said that the expected high was 16 C, but now it says a high of 9 C with a low of 2 C. I know that it’s likely to change again, seeing as there’s still a week and a half to go.

This week, I’ve kind of stopped following my training schedule and have started just going out for runs of whatever distance and pace I feel like running. I’ll do my speed workout tomorrow as per schedule and my weekend long run as per schedule as well, but my regular “easy runs” are being mixed up a bit. It’s kind of fun.

Monday morning I ran 10 km, this morning I ran 5.5 km. I may run again tonight… who knows?

Today’s Run:
Distance: 5.5 km
Weather: –2 C (felt like –6 C), wind 11 km/h

I have successfully applied for entry to the ING New York City Marathon 2011

2010-11-21T21:07:00.001-05:00

Now to wait until spring to find out if I’m in.

I’m either in for 2011 (if I’m chosen in the lottery), or I wait until the next year when I have guaranteed entry due to being declined entry 3 years in a row.

Morning in the Park

2010-11-13T10:52:00.001-05:00

The sun had recently risen; the frost had not yet melted, giving the grass a snowy look. I looked to the pond, which was covered in a morning mist. The sun illuminated it. As I ran past the island, I watched silhouettes of ducks swimming gracefully through the mist and a swan grooming itself near the shore.

It’s not very often that I see Victoria park like this. Normally there are many people walking and cycling, kids playing, and cars driving by. But this morning I was out early enough to enjoy it without the hustle and bustle, but late enough to have light.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 18.5 km
Weather: –3 C, sunny, wind 6 km/h NW

When you’re hungry…

2010-11-09T21:38:00.001-05:00

don’t run past a bread factory.

Tonight, I went for a run after work. I didn’t feel hungry when I left the house, but as I stood at a stop light smelling bread baking, it became apparent.

Mmmm… bread.

Tonight’s Run:
Distance: 8 km
Weather: 4 C, wind SE 11 km/h

It’s NYC Marathon Day

2010-11-07T19:23:00.001-05:00

I wasn’t running it, but I did watch the highlights on TV and I do know several people who ran it today. It looked like the weather was great for the runners!

Congratulations to all the finishers today!

Today’s Run:
Distance: 16 km
Weather: ~6 C, clear, wind S 13 km/h

Today I ran to Remember

2010-11-06T21:00:00.001-05:00

This morning was the Remember Run 5K and 8K races in Cambridge at the Legion. The funds from this race go to the Poppy Fund.

I ran the 8K race. It was a beautiful course, running through Riverside Park on roads, trails, boardwalks, bridges, and even some stairs. Anything wooden was slippery with frost and ice, but it was cold out, so that’s to be expected.

I took it easy on the slippery sections and walked a bit. I don’t want any injuries this close to Vegas. I’d rather be safe than sorry. I finished in 43:17 and actually finished first in my age group, which I was not expecting. There are usually some sub-40 minute 8Kers out there.

Last Session

2010-11-05T07:13:00.001-05:00

Last night was the very last Quality Workout session of the season for the marathon group at Runners’ Choice. We had a good night doing intervals at the park. The next session for this group starts in early January. I’ll be certain to join at that time, too because I signed up for my first full marathon! I’ll be running my very first full this coming May and I’m looking forward to training with the group.

Freezing Fog

2010-11-03T06:43:00.001-05:00

That’s what the Weather Network says was happening this morning. It was very foggy for my early morning run today and I was noticing that I could see moisture and potentially ice/frost on my eyelashes while running.

This morning’s Run:
Distance: 8 km
Weather: –3 C, freezing fog

A Nice Fall Evening Run

2010-11-01T21:24:00.001-05:00

I went out for my run at 8pm this evening. It was dark, it was fairly quiet, it was calm. I could see both stars and clouds in the sky. The temperature was definitely not warm, but it wasn’t too cold, either. I started out with a toque and gloves, but the gloves were removed quite quickly. It was a great night for a run.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 14.5 km
Weather: 2 C to –1 C, no wind

Finally, a week where I covered over 50km!

2010-10-31T17:53:00.001-05:00

It’s been a while since I’ve done it. In fact, this was my biggest mileage week all year! I covered about 52 km.

Since my last past, I had my Quality Workout night at Runner’s Choice on Thursday. I ran from work to the store and then headed out for the workout, so I covered 11 km total that night. Our workout consisted of intervals at Waterloo Park.

Yesterday morning, I got up and headed out for a nice easy morning run, not too early, but not too late (9am). I covered 6 km yesterday.

Now I just need to keep it up.

Windy Day

2010-10-27T22:08:00.001-05:00

“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” ~John Ruskin

Today’s Run:
Distance: 7 km
Weather: 15 C, wind 50 km/h w/ gusts of 65 km/h

What a busy Month!

2010-10-26T07:40:00.001-05:00

October has been flying by! It’s been a very busy month. I posted the first weekend of the month when I ran the Laurier Loop, so you know about that part.

The 2nd weekend was Thanksgiving, where I ran a 5K race in front of the Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade. The event was fun, but not quite as good as last year. Last year it was chip timed, they finisher’s prizes, and age group prizes. This year, no chips, no finisher’s prizes, no age group prizes (just top male and female overall), and the cost was the same as last year.

The 3rd weekend of the month, Ryan and I spent Friday and Saturday in Toronto at the Henry’s Photographic, Video, and Digital Imaging Show, then came back here where I ran the Oktoberfest Run on the Sunday. I had a cold starting a few days before that race, but I still ran my second fastest 5K, so that was a pleasant surprise!

This weekend, (almost all better from my cold) I ran the Niagara Falls International Half-Marathon (although on the full marathon crosses borders) and also ran my second fastest time. My fastest half was in Virginia Beach last year, where I ran in 1:57:08, this time I did 1:57:40.

This morning, I made sure not to fall off the training horse and got up to go for an easy run. I did 6.5 km. My next race is an 8K in early November, and then a half marathon in early December. Hopefully I’ll achieve a new PB in Vegas!

Laurier Loop – 10K PB today

2010-10-03T15:12:00.001-05:00

This morning, I ran the Laurier Loop, which is a 2.5 km loop run 1 time, 2 times, or 4 times depending on the distance you’re competing in.

I did the 10K, so 4 loops. I wanted to see how consistent I could be (there are split times for each lap as you cross over the mat) and I also wanted to finally get my 50 minute 10K.

The goal time didn’t happen, but I did end up with a new PB. My split times were: 12:19, 13:13, 13:33, 13:00.

Since I don’t have any more 10K races this year, I guess I’ll have to strive for that sub-50 next year.

Speed Work

2010-10-01T07:43:00.001-05:00

Last night was speed work with Runners’ Choice at Moses Springer Park. It was a good, hard, quick workout. We ran to the park, then once we were there, partnered up and the first person would run hard around this triangle of trail and grass and then come back and tag the partner. Partner would then go around and tag the first person again when they got back. So, you run hard, then have a short break, then run hard again. We were to do this 5-10 times, so I did 10.

Total distance covered: 6km

Oops! I did it again.

2010-09-30T07:29:00.001-05:00

I set my alarm for 6:15am. It went off, I got out of bed, put my Garmin in the window to find satellites and then made the mistake of lying back down on the bed. When I looked at the time again, it was almost 7. Oops. So… my planned 10 km run turned into 3.5 km. At least I still got out for a bit.

A short race and a long run

2010-09-27T21:33:00.001-05:00

On Saturday morning, I ran the AHS Fun Run at the University of Waterloo. This 5K race was free and included food and a t-shirt. What more could you ask for? It was odd weather that morning, kind of cold, but then when the sun came out, it was fairly warm. I did not have my best race at all, but that’s okay. My legs did not want to move that morning… they were still tired from hill training on Thursday night. It was still fun, though.

Tonight, after work, I headed out for a long run. As luck would have it, it was raining. It rained the entire time. I was nice and soaked by the time I got home.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 18 km
Weather: 13 C, rain

Last Night: Hills

2010-09-24T21:13:00.001-05:00

I forgot to post after getting home from the Runners’ Choice group last night because I had to shower, eat, and head out to a friend’s house to watch Grey’s… so.. I’ll post now.

It was a hill training night out at Columbia Lake. It was a tough and rewarding workout. It felt very good and the rain stayed away as well.

We’re now 1 month out from my next half marathon. I need to kick myself into gear a bit more for this last stretch as I’ve been slacking a wee bit this month. This week’s been decent though.. Back on track… yep… back on track.

Yesterday’s Run:
Total distance covered in the hill training: 12 km
Weather: humid, 20-something C

I got distracted

2010-09-22T06:44:00.001-05:00

I got up this morning at 6:30 with plans of running 8km before work. I went into the living room, put my Garmin in the window to find satellite reception, went onto the computer to check the weather, but found that Ryan had started a blog post our Shoot the Thrill Photography blog, but that it wasn’t published yet. He had asked me to write the blog post yesterday, but I forgot to do it, so I went through what he wrote, changed it slightly, added some links and published the post. Then I looked at the time and it was 6:57. Oops. So… my run was shortened. But then again, a short run is better than no run at all.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 4 km
Weather: 17 C, cloudy

Today’s Run

2010-09-19T23:00:00.001-05:00

Today I ran past the bread factory and got hungry, but then a car with a really smelly exhaust drove by, so that cured the hunger problem on a few couple km into my run.

Distance: 10 km
Weather: 11 C

Quick run before work

2010-09-15T07:09:00.001-05:00

I got up at 6am this morning, but didn’t actually get outside until 6:30, so it was a shorter run for me this morning. Tomorrow is a hill day, so I guess it’s good that I saved some energy for tomorrow.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 5.5 km
Weather: 5 C

Another week in Running

2010-09-10T07:22:00.001-05:00

This time I have an excuse for not posting. Ryan and I were up on Oxtongue Lake from Friday to Tuesday, so there was no posting of any kind while there.

While we were up there, I did some trail running on some very hilly and wet trails, we did some kayaking a couple of days, and also did some hiking in Algonquin Park. It was cold and rainy, but was still a good time away from KW.

Last night I ran the inaugural Mudpuppy Twilight Trail Run, which is an 8km race finishing at Moose Winooski’s at Sportsworld Crossing. There were some glitches that they are planning to change for next year, but it was still enjoyable. There were really just 2 things that were frustrating. 1st, the gates for the trail were not opened up, so there were several bottleneck situations in the first km. 2nd, about 500m from the finish, there was a stop light that we actually had to stop and wait for. This made it so that even if you were ahead of someone for the entire race, they could catch up to you at this light (waited for a few minutes to cross) and basically had a sprint to the finish in groups of people. For me, this meant that a girl in my age group stopped at the light after me, got in front of me while crossing the street and then I had to attempt to pass her over the next few hundred meters. I ended up finishing in the exact same time as her. I tried so hard to pass, but it just didn’t quite happen.

Long run today… better late than never

2010-08-31T11:23:00.001-05:00

I didn’t run on Sunday because my legs were very tired after shooting a wedding all day Saturday. Then Monday just didn’t work out, so this morning I ran my 16 km run that I had planned for Sunday. It was a hot, sweaty run, but I got it done.

Running to go Running

2010-08-26T20:51:00.001-05:00

Today I ran from work to Runners’ Choice for Quality Workout night. It’s not that far, just about 2.5 km, so it only made sense. I had to run with a backpack strapped to my back, though, so that made it a bit more difficult. I’m sure I looked wonderful as I showed up at the store all sweaty before we started our workout.

Tonight’s workout was a race simulation type workout. We warmed up (even though I was already nice and warmed up) but running a few km to the trails where we were doing our real workout. We did 10 km at a bit faster than easy run pace (to simulate the start of a marathon), then 10 km at goal race pace, then a final 5-10 minutes at “shut up and run” pace (to simulate the run to the finish line with any remaining juice you have left). After I finished this, I did 5 hill repeats, then headed back to the store.

Today’s Run:
Total distance covered: 14.25 km
Weather: 19 C, sunny

Running in the Morning

2010-08-25T07:01:00.001-05:00

I’m attempting to get myself used to running in the morning. I’ve generally been an evening runner, but this week I’ve been getting up early and running in the AM. At least I’ve done this twice so far this week. Tomorrow is clinic night, so I’ll be running in the evening tomorrow. I hope to someday get used to getting up early and running, but I know it’s not going to happen immediately.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 6 km
Weather: 10 C, clear

I’ve been slacking…

2010-08-23T18:54:00.001-05:00

…in the posting that is, not the running.

Even though I run several times per week, I’ve only been posting about once. My whole idea with this blog was to write a post after each and every run. It was to be about the run, be about something I thought about when I was on the run, or something alltogether random, but still mention what I ran that day.

So… I now make my August resolution (‘cause it’s not New Years) to post after each run once again. Hold me to it.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 10 km
Weather: 17 C, clear (early morning)

I ran to the finish of the ENDURrun marathon!

2010-08-16T21:37:00.001-05:00

But I wasn’t actually in the race. Yesterday, I ran from home to the finish to watch people who were competing and to photograph the runners. It was a very hot and humid day. My run to Conestogo was tough and I only ran 13 km. Congrats to all the runners who ran the marathon yesterday and especially to those who ran the entire 160 km, 7 stage event. You truly are tough runners!

Reverse Duathlon

2010-08-13T07:13:00.001-05:00

Last night was another “Quality Workout” night at Runner’s Choice. We were to meet up at Bechtel Park at 6pm and then start our workout. I rode my bike from work to the park (6km), then did the workout (8.5 km of trail running 3 min hard, 1 min recovery, repeat), then I biked home (5 km).

So, I did bike-run-bike: a reverse duathlon. I can’t say that was really my plan, but it was a fantastic workout.

ENDURrun

2010-08-09T21:29:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I ran Stage 1 of the 8 day, 7 stage race. I was part of a relay team for Runner’s Choice. Stage 1 was a half marathon on a nice course starting in Conestogo following roads and trails over rolling hills. The weather was good (except for a nasty headwind for a while near the end of the race) and race organization was fantastic. The group of runners are great as well. I find that at so many races people don’t really talk to one another. This race is an exception. There is a group of 50ish runners who are taking part in all 7 stages, completing 160 km over the week. They become a bit of a tight-knit group.

I’m considering doing the whole ENDURrace next year, but we’ll see. I’m going to watch a stage or two more this week and cheer on the runners. I’ve given myself a deadline of the end of January to decide if I’m going to sign up for the Ultimate Challenge.

Click here to see Ryan’s photos from Stage 1.

Longer Intervals

2010-07-29T20:21:00.001-05:00

Tonight we took to Waterloo Park for some longer intervals: run hard about 500 m and then recovery run back to the starting point. Repeat.

Total distance covered at tonight’s workout: 10 km

New Shoes

2010-07-28T21:19:00.001-05:00

Tonight after work, I went to the Nike Store to buy a new pair of shoes. Really, I just got a new pair of the shoes I already had: Nike Structure Triax 12.

I was hoping to find a good deal, but instead it was pretty much regular price. I’m sure they were a bit less than if I purchased them in a regular running or sport store, but they weren’t clearance and there wasn’t any “buy one get one half” type sale. Oh well. I needed new shoes, so I got new shoes.

Tonight’s Run (in the new shoes):
Distance: 5.5 km
Weather: 23 C, very humid, felt like 32 C

A few days behind in my posts

2010-07-27T07:32:00.001-05:00

I spent the weekend camping with my family at Charleston Lake Provincial Park. I did some kayaking, hiking, running, swimming, biking, and walking. I had intentions of running both Saturday and Sunday, but after Saturday’s 10 km run on a difficult trail and all of the other activities listed above, my body did not want to run again on Sunday morning. I decided to sit, have a coffee, and relax for a while before having breakfast and then packing up our site.

Since I didn’t do a long run on Sunday, I decided to do it after work yesterday (Monday). I got out for a 16.25 km run last night and it was tough since I was tired and my shoes are also pretty much done. So.. I need to go shopping for shoes again.

Intervals

2010-07-23T00:34:00.001-05:00

Tonight at the clinic, we ran out to the track (1.6 km) to do a short interval workout. We ran hard 200m and then had a 200m recovery run back to the starting position. This was repeated for 20 minutes, followed by a couple of easy laps around the track before we headed back for a cool-down run back to the store.

It was another rewarding workout with lots of sweat and tiring legs. I’m truly enjoying this clinic.

Total distance of workout was 7 km

Dirty Dash

2010-07-18T18:52:00.001-05:00

This morning, I ran the first annual Dirty Dash trail/cross country race in Waterloo. The race involved running through a meadow, grass trail, dirt rail through a forest, river (both a section straight down it and another area where you just crossed it), more dirt trail with a large hill that ended up quite muddy, and finally, a mud pit just before the finish line.

I ran the 8K distance (there was an 8K, 4K, and a 1K kid’s fun run) and it was the toughest 8K I’ve ever run. It was very hilly and running with soaking wet shoes is also another new experience. Since the 8K course was a 2 look version of the 4K so all (except the mud pit) was done twice.

The mud pit was longer than I expected and you had to go under all of the flags above the mud, so crawling was pretty much the way to go. I crawled through the pit, went to stand up after going under the last set of flags and my shoe got stuck as I tried to move. I fell back down, pulled my foot out of the mud, and moved on my way, passing through the finish area.

I placed 3rd in my age group today. Needless to say, the times were slower than most races as there were more obstacles and with so many people running on a narrow trail at once, there were some delays on the first trip into the river. It was a lot of fun today and I’ll definitely do this one again next year!

There will be some photos and another point of view (photographer’s point of view, that is) on Ryan’s blog in the next few days.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 8km
Weather: 24 C, felt like 29 C

Hills

2010-07-15T21:41:00.001-05:00

Tonight’s “Quality Workout” with Runners’ Choice was hill training. It was hot out tonight and the workout was tough, but rewarding. We ran out to Columbia Lake and worked on three different hills there, with increasing difficulty from one to the next. We had some nice, ice cold, water waiting for us at the 3rd hill, which was refreshing, and after we ran back to the store, we had melon and a good discussion on nutrition. All in all, it was a good night of training.

Tonight’s Run - Hill training
Distance covered: 10 km
Weather: 29 C, feels like 37 C

Car Camping Weekend

2010-07-11T21:34:00.001-05:00

Ryan and I went camping at Guelph Lake Conservation Area this weekend. It was a relatively last minute trip as we decided and booked it just a couple days before going. The car was loaded without even really going through any of our camping items, so a couple things were missing,but nothing too important (didn’t have a dish cloth, so a potholder was used instead).

I had intended to go for a shorter easy run on either Friday night or Saturday morning, but we got to the park a bit later than planned on Friday evening and after a very loud evening (other campers, some of who were kicked out that night) and after an animal ran right into the side of the tent in the middle of the night, and a couple of girls decided to walk by talking, laughing, singing, etc LOUDLY at 4:30 am (they were kicked out) I was not bright-eyed or bushy-tailed at 7am, so I stayed in bed.

Saturday became a cross-training day with lots of walking, swimming, paddling, and a bit of hiking.

Saturday night was much quieter, but we did still the skunk waking us up by walking along the edge of the ten (on the edge of the tent floor). I guess we invaded his walking route. He didn’t bother us, though, just woke us up a few times.

I did get out for my Sunday run today. This morning, I went for a 15 km run, a good portion of it on 2 trails, one being the Speed River Trail. It was sunny and hot, so I was very glad to be in shaded trails for about 9km of the run. I had an enjoyable run, but really wanted to jump straight into the lake from the dam, when I was running across it. I resisted, of course.

It was a quick weekend, but a good one. It was quite a contrast to our camping up in Algonquin the previous weekend. But as they say, variety is the spice of life.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 15 km
Weather: 25 C, sunny, not much wind.

First Quality Session

2010-07-08T19:38:00.001-05:00

Tonight, in the heat and humidity, was the first Quality session of the Marathon and Half Marathon group’s summer/fall session.

We met up at Runner’s Choice and after a bit of announcements, group info, etc we headed out to run to a local park. Once we arrived at the park, the night’s workout was explained to us. We each had a partner (we’ll call each partner P1 and P2) for the workout. Each of the P1s went out first to run (staggered start) a loop around the park, when P1 returned the start, they tagged P2, who then ran the loop. So, you ran hard around the loop, came back, had a break to have some water while your partner ran the loop and then it was time to do it again. We did this around 8 times each before we ran back to the store for some nice cold, fresh watermelon! Great session!

Today’s Run:
Quality workout that totalled up to 5km on my Garmin.
Weather: 30 C, feels like 37 C

I did it!

2010-07-07T07:02:00.001-05:00

I got up just before 6am today, headed out for a run, and actually completed the distance that I had planned!

Lately, every time I’ve attempted to run in the morning, I’ve gone back to sleep for a bit and then cut my run short. But not today! I was out by 6:15 and I ran 10K just like I wanted to.

Now to just make this a habit.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 10 km
Weather: 20 C, no wind

I had a week off… but not really.

2010-07-06T07:01:00.001-05:00

A week off running, yes.
A week of doing nothing? Definitely not.

Ryan and I just got back from Algonquin Park late Sunday night after a 4-day trip to the interior. We actually stayed on the same lake the whole time this year so that if we wanted to stay put for a day, we could, but if we wanted to go out paddling all day, we could pack a day pack and head out, coming back to our already set-up site.

So… seeing as I was camping on a small island, I did not do any running out there. Instead, I was paddling, swimming, and climbing up and down the hill to get from our beach to our tent.

I’ll have more on the trip, as well as pictures of the trip, on my photo blog next week or the week after (I have a few other photo things I need to finish up before I start looking at the Algonquin photos).

Today’s Run:
Distance: 3.5 km
Weather: 22 C, feels like 30 C, wind 6 km/h

Marathon/Half Marathon Clinic

2010-06-29T20:59:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I signed up for the next clinic at Runner’s Choice. I decided that I needed something to get me out running my long runs consistently on the weekends and people to give me a swift kick into doing my speed work, so it seemed like a logical idea. Now to train hard and to run a super-fast half marathon this fall!

Today’s Run:
Distance: 11 km
Weather: 16 C, sunny

Morning Runs

2010-06-25T06:33:00.001-05:00

I have trouble getting up early and going for runs. I keep telling myself that I’ll do it, I set my alarm, I wake up in the morning, but I almost always end up going back to sleep.

This morning, my alarm went off at 6am, I turned it off, laid back down on the bed “for a minute” but then when I looked at the time again, it was 40 minutes later. Oops. So, my 8K run turned into a 3.5K run and I’m going to end up getting to work a few minutes later than I had planned today.

How can I motivate myself to get up earlier? And how can I have more energy to run in the morning? This morning I found myself practically dragging myself. I want to be able to train in the AM and I want to be able to train fairly hard. Any suggestions?

Today’s Run:
Distance: 3.5 km
Weather: 14 C, wind W 11 km/h

A week went by….

2010-06-23T20:34:00.001-05:00

And I apparently didn’t blog. I did run, however. I ran here, I ran there, I ran in Niagara Falls and ran into a friend of mine who was running a 50K race at the same time I was running, I ran a 10K race on Sunday (The Waterloo 10km Classic) and now, today, I just got back from a regular everyday run. The run was pretty uneventful: no earthquakes or tornados.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 7km
Weather: 22 C, feels like 31 C

I didn’t run on Sunday..

2010-06-14T20:39:00.001-05:00

So I ran today. But I don’t feel like writing much today, so I’m just going to tell you the basic details of my run.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 14 km
Weather: 24 C, feels like 29 C

I love summer.

2010-06-12T17:13:00.001-05:00

Yep. It’s true. And the official start is coming very soon. We are now into Mid-June and we’ve had a good share of summer weather days mixed in with the not-so-summer-like. Today was summer-like. And by summer-like, I mean humid. So, with the humid weather comes very sweaty runs, but I love it. I love warm/hot summer days and I don’t mind the humidity for the most part. Some call me crazy, but it’s very very rare to ever hear me say “it’s too hot” or a similar comment. It’s just over a week until the official start… Yay!

Today’s Run:
Distance: 5.5 km
Weather: 23 C, feeling like 31 C (run was this morning at 10 am)

Sick in the head

2010-06-08T20:45:00.001-05:00

You know how I mentioned that I didn’t feel well on Saturday night? Well… I also didn’t feel so great Sunday or Monday for that matter. My head felt like someone was grabbing it and squeezing and my chest felt like I had a pile of bricks on it.

I stayed home from work yesterday and slept. I went for a walk late yesterday afternoon and I had the sweats (it was not hot out). I got a good night’s sleep last night and woke up feeling mostly better this morning. I went to work, still feeling a bit strange, but the chest symptoms were gone. Throughout the day I got progressively better and tonight I felt fine. I felt so good that I went out for a run. An easy run, of course, but a run nonetheless. I just got back and now I’m feeling lightheaded again. Hopefully this will pass soon.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 5.5 km
Weather: 17 C, wind 4 km/h

Guelph Lake 10K

2010-06-06T21:58:00.001-05:00

This morning, at 10am, I ran the Guelph Lake Conservation Run. The course was nice, a little hillier than I’m used to, but nice.

When I went to bed last night, it was raining. When I woke up this morning, it was raining. Luckily, it stopped before race start and only spit a little during the race. It started up again about an hour after the race.

I finished in 53:14 as per my Garmin and 53:47 as per the timing chip (there was no timing mat at the start). I finished 4th in my age/gender group. It wasn’t my best race, but as I said earlier, the course was nice.

Lessons from today’s race:
- I need to do hill training
- I need to make sure my shoes are not too tight (my right foot went numb and I needed to stop to loosen my laces)
- When re-tying my shoes, I need to make sure my sock does not bunch under my foot (I could feel a fold or something under the ball of my right foot the whole rest of the race after adjusting my laces)
- I should definitely pay more attention to what I eat the day before a race (went out for dinner last night, enjoyed my food, but it didn’t like me… I felt ill last night and didn’t feel fantastic this morning.. I actually had a moment in the race where I started to think about what to do if I need to vomit. Luckily, the feeling passed)
- If the weather is above 10C, even if I feel very cold before the start, I do NOT need to wear a jacket (I brought my jacket thinking I would wear just the vest portion and leave the sleeves in the car, then when I got there, I was cold, so I put the sleeves back on and started the race. About 2 km into the race, I needed to take off the jacket and tie it around my waist)’

So, there were mistakes made today, but I still had a good time. I would definitely do this race again.

Camp Day

2010-06-02T19:56:00.001-05:00

Today is Camp Day at Tim Hortons, a day where all proceeds from coffee sales go towards sending kids to the Tim Horton Children's Foundation Camp.

I bought 2 extra large coffees today :)

And I participated in the Camp Day Run, which was put on by Running Room and Tim Hortons. I did a 10 km route in the rain, which ended at Tim Hortons where treats of Yogurt & Berries and prizes were waiting.

Even though it was quite a wet run, it was still enjoyable and it was nice to know that running in my soaking wet Camp Day cotton t-shirt spread maybe just maybe sparked some people’s attention and perhaps they went to Timmies to donate or to buy a coffee.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 10 km
Weather: 20 C, rain.

Lesson Learned

2010-06-01T20:44:00.001-05:00

Muffin batter and running don’t mix.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 8 km
Weather: 19 C, wind 13 km/h

I fell asleep again… oops

2010-05-31T06:41:00.001-05:00

I woke up to the sound of my alarm this morning, hit snooze, slept for 9 more minutes, then got up and turned off the alarm. I felt a bit dizzy, so I laid back down on the bed “for a minute or so” but the next thing I knew it was 6:45am and I was still in bed. I got up and quickly put on my running clothes and headed outside to get at least a short little run in before work. After all, a short run is better than no run.

Today’s Run:
Distance: 3.5 km (I told you it was a short run)
Weather: 16C, sunny, wind 13 km/h

Back from Vacation

2010-05-30T21:48:00.001-05:00

I’m now back in Ontario after a week long vacation in Orlando, Florida. I had great plans of running at least 5 days when we were there. I did 3. All in all, I guess that’s not too bad… we were on vacation after all and I really didn’t want to set alarms to get up at the crack of dawn to run. We were vacationing along with another couple, so we had plans to do things together during the day, which also makes it more difficult to get runs in.

Of my 3 runs, 2 out of 3 were pretty uneventful.

Run #1: I ran one evening through our vacation property, through the property across the street and then down the street for a bit of an out and back. It was a sweaty run, of course (it was Florida in late May after all), but other than that, nothing notable besides dodging a few lizards.

Run #2: I decided to head run around Sea World, Aquatica, and surrounding area. I ran out to the first main intersection, crossed the street by CVS, and proceeded to run up a few steps up to the sidewalk on the other side of the road. Me being the ever so coordinated person that I am, tripped up the top step and scraped up my knee. I squirted water on it from my camelback to clean up some of the blood and continued my run. I ran past Sea World and a loop around Aquatica when I noticed the angry looking clouds behind me. I felt a few drops and thought maybe I’d stay in front of the storm the whole way back. It went okay for a while, I was only a couple miles from the hotel, so I wasn’t too concerned. I got all the way back to the road the hotel was on before the rain started to pick up. I turned into the Marriott Cypress Harbour property and it started to pour. I headed toward our villa and the wind started to pick up. I stopped to stretch on the steps (covered) and watched the rain and wind around me. I was drenched, but I was mere minutes away from a nice shower and clean, dry clothes.

Run #3: Another uneventful run down nice long roads, a quick run through a Hilton vacation property and back to our hotel. Nothing to write home about, yet I appear to be writing about it here.

Now that I’m back, I had plans of a long run today, but that didn’t happen. I did some unpacking, went for a walk, enjoyed the nice hot weather (I couldn’t get enough of it in Florida, so I thought I’d enjoy it here as well) and I’ll get up for a bit of a run in the morning.

Good night, everyone!

Daytime Runs Rock

2010-05-21T09:01:00.002-05:00

I'm on vacation as of today, so I got to enjoy a nice morning run that was not at the crack of dawn. I headed out for my run around 9am, which was great! I didn't have to wake up super early, I didn't have to try to drag myself outside half asleep, and there were actually other people out and about that I could say "good morning" to. I got to be one of the people that I'm jealous of as I head to work in the mornings. The people who are out enjoying the nice weather, going for wonderfully nice runs along trails and through parks while others hustle and bustle along to get to their workplace and sit indoors at a desk all day. I'm usually the desk person, today I got to be the one outdoors.

Today's Run:
Distance 5.5 km
Weather: sunny, 17 C

Yesterday's Run (which was a morning run, but a 6am morning run)
Distance: 4 km
Weather: I don't remember the exact temperature, but it was likely around 12 C.