A late first post of 2014

It’s a good thing I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions… If I did, more regular blogging might have been one of them and I would have failed miserably!

Since it’s been a while, this will serve mostly as a brief summary/update of the past few months with a wee bit of what’s coming up.

A Change:

After running with the Runners’ Choice marathon group for the past several years, I decided a change was in order. I definitely enjoyed my time with that group and am appreciative of everything I got out of it, but it was time for something new.

In the fall, I started sporadically showing up for Health and Performance training runs, but I became an official member of H+P in December 2013.

Races Past (what’s happened over the winter):

• Santa Pur-Suit 5K – I don’t remember a lot of the details of this race since it was back in early December, but I do know that the weather was good. I ran it in 22:36, which is my 2nd best 5K time so far. Not too shabby for running in a Santa Suit!
• Frosty Trail 6 hour – The very tough conditions this year caused everyone to cover significantly less distance than previous years.
  I ran 40.1 km, which placed me 4th overall (male and female), with only 2 runners completing more than a marathon in the 6 hours.
• Re-Fridgee-Eighter 8K – The first race in the 2014 Waterloo Running Series and also the first in the brand new Battle of Waterloo.
  I didn’t expect much from myself in this race, since it was my first one coming back from a lower leg/ankle injury, but I surprised myself with a new 8K PB of 36:09!

Races Future (upcoming spring races):

• Around the Bay 30K
• ENDURrace 5K & 8K series
• Buffalo Marathon

So there you have it… a brief update. Now, bring on spring with clear roads and sunshine!

Update and Late Photos

I realized that I have not posted anything in a LONG time, so I figured I should throw something together. Actually, I had started a post after Easter, but didn’t finish it and therefore, never published it. So… I know this is super late, but better late than never, right?

First, the update:

I see that my last post was after the Re-Fridgee-Eighter. Well, I’ve run a few races since the last time I posted, so I let you my my results for those races and compare them with my times from last year.

March 24, 2013 - Around the Bay 30K – gun time: 2:44:23, chip time: 2:42:16 (PB)
2012 chip time: 2:42:44. Actually, I just noticed something right now when looking up the results. My gun time for 2012 and 2013 was exactly the same… to the second. Both were 2:44:23.

April 13, 2013 - ENDURrace 5K – gun time: 23:00, chip time: 22:55 (PB and first time I’ve ever broken 23 min for a 5K)
2012 chip time: 23:22

April 20, 2013 - ENDURrace 8K – gun time: 38:18, chip time: 38:14 (PB)
2012 chip time: 38:50 (that was my previous best 8K)

May 5, 2013 - Mudpuppy Chase 10K – gun time: 48:47, chip time: 48:38
2012 chip time: 47:57.
My 2013 PB streak (every race so far in 2013 was a PB) ended on the day of the Mudpuppy, but I still ended up with my 2nd fastest 10K time, so I’m happy with that.

And now… the Easter Run.

When I was at my parents’ house for Easter, I headed out to one of my favourite places to run in Eastern Ontario, the Long Sault Parkway. That probably doesn’t sound like the best place to run, but the road is technically closed from fall until May, so it’s virtually traffic free and offers wonderful views along the St Lawrence River.

The road/causeway itself is 10km from end to end and I decided to run a half marathon that day I started at the West end of the section of road, parked the car by the entrance, and ran along the road to the East end, where I turned around and headed back to my starting location.

I took some photos with my phone along the way. Here are a few. I hope you enjoy them.

As you can see from the photos, there was still some ice and snow, but it was also a very nice and warm spring day. I had a great run and got to enjoy the wonderful views of 2 countries as I ran, with water on both sides of me.

A photo update

***
It is now February 8th and I wrote a good chunk of the below last week. Instead of changing it, I thought I’d just add this wee blurb to the top so you know why the actual post starts out with info that is no longer true since I posted something yesterday.

Today is essentially a snow day due to the piles and piles of snow we received overnight and are still getting now as I type. I am working from home today, but there are some system issues due to the number of people on VPN. I doubt I’ll run later, but it could be kinda fun in the snow… who knows. I am planning on a trail run tomorrow morning with some people through meetup.com. It could be interesting with all of the snow.

Instead of this post being an update all the way up to now, I think I’ll do it in chunks. Today will be December only. Next time, I will include January and the first weekend of February.

I will try to update the blog on a much more regular basis going forward. Life got crazy and the blogging got pushed aside. Life isn’t exactly “normal” now, but I will blog. :)
*** 

I realize that it’s been quite a while since I last published a blog post. So… instead of trying to think of a bunch of things to write about, I will post a bunch of photos that I took on the runs between my last blog post and now. I will include short blurbs about the runs along with the pictures so that you know what they are about and when they were taking. This should bring you up to speed on my running. I will try to be better at posting from here on in.

December 1st: The Santa Pur-Suit:
As you may recall, I ran in the santa suit with Jordan previously, to promote the event. On actual race day, I got to see my friend Paul and also my mom, who both ran the race as well.

 

December 8th: Saturday morning run with Ron (Runners’ Choice)
I met up with Ron and some other runners in Cambridge. After the group was finished their run, I went back out for another out and back and took some photos on the way.

 

December 15th: Kissing Bridge Trailway, West Montrose. This is a very well marked flat rail trail.

     

I was going to keep going with December, but there are a bunch more photos that I want to share and this post is already crammed full of photos, so I will stop here and start at December 16th in the next post.

I hope you’ve enjoyed some views from the run, even though they are old.