Labour Day Weekend:

I was in Eastern Ontario for the long weekend, attending a family reunion. While there, I went out for a few runs. The first one was just a short run squeezed into Saturday morning. I ran an out and back totalling 4.3 km. I knew I wouldn’t get a chance to run again later that day, so I just wanted to be sure I got some sort of run in that morning. It was a decent run. It was clear and sunny, but not too hot.

On Sunday, we had some family events during the day, so I decided to plan an evening run that would allow me to finish along the river at sunset and hopefully see some pretty skies over the water. I decided to take my phone along and take some photos during the run.
I ran 20.4 km on Sunday, mostly all in view of the St Lawrence River.

I started my run from a park in Cardinal, Ontario, right on the river. I decided to take a quick photo before starting my run, so here it is:

I headed west from my starting location, down the road a bit, so that I could enjoy some of the water from a quieter road than the highway I was about to be running next to.

One of the things I enjoy about running along the river in this area, is the water on both sides of some of the roads and paths.

The area is popular for diving as there are shipwrecks and lost villages at the bottom of the river.

I ran from the village of Cardinal to the Village of Iroquois (where I went to high school).

Then headed back toward Cardinal, where I had left the car.
There were interesting views and also historical sites along my route.

Apparently I watching the geese too much and was was running too slowly because the road had a message for me to race faster.

The coloured part on the rocks of the below photo used to be a Canada flag pained on the side of the canal. As you can see, it has not been painted in a long time and more than half of it is now covered in plants.

The timing of my run worked out quite well, as I arrived back at the park, I saw the sun setting and beautiful colours were filling the sky.

When I got back to my parents’ house, the sun was still setting beautifully, so I took a quick photo of the setting sun over the corn field.

I went running yesterday (labour day) as well, and I headed out with the phone for some pictures again, but since I have so many photos from from Sunday’s run to share today, I will post Monday’s photos tomorrow.

PES

Over the past few days, I’ve seen a lot of comments in the ENDURrunners group on Facebook about PES or Post ENDURrun Syndrome (coined by Bob Jackman).

It appears that many people are suffering from PES this year and have taken to social media to get at least a small fix of the camaraderie that is part of the ENDURrun. There are stories being swapped, “thank you”s being said, and photos shared, along with general comments of missing the event or feeling as though something is missing this week.

This event is so unique in that the contenders, even though they are competitors, become close and genuinely do become friends. The encouragement throughout the week between runners and from volunteers is phenomenal. Everyone truly wants the best of everyone else.

As was also mentioned at the beginning of ENDURweek, the ENDURrun is like summer camp for runners. And now that we’re all back at home (even if home is not far away), we’re missing camp and the friends that we’ve made.

ENDURrun Stage 7: The Marathon

The marathon is the 7th and final stage of the ENDURrun. It starts at the same park in Conestogo where the half marathon started last Sunday, but is a different courses. It’s a 2 loop course, so on the second lap, you know exactly where you are in relation to finishing, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing.

I had set out to run a 4:05 marathon today. At the 32 km mark, it was still a possibility, but when I had 8 km left in the race I knew it was no longer going to happen. I figured at that point that I’d be around 4:15. I felt a little sorry for myself, but then quickly realized that I was being silly. I had already run over 150 km since Sunday and only had less than 8 more to go. I was doing something that most people would never dream of doing and I was doing it well. My finish time would still be a good time and I should feel proud and thankful that I’m able to do this.
I plugged away at it and finished my marathon in a time of 4:12 and change.

I came. I ran. I finished. I'm very proud to say that in 2012, I am still One Tough Runner!

This was a fantastic week and I got to spend it with an amazing group of people. The runners and the volunteers are among the best in the world. Thanks to you all for another successful ENDURrun!

ENDURrun Stage 6: 10K Time Trial

After a good night’s sleep, I felt ready to face the next stage of the ENDURrun today. I actually woke up about 5 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off; it was nice to wake up naturally. I got up, made coffee, and breakfast, which today was a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and banana.

As I was eating my breakfast, I took a look at the cumulative results to this point. My cumulative time was 11:03:40 for the first 5 stages. Many months ago, I decided that my goal for this whole week would be sub 16 hours. Taking this into consideration, I had 4:56:20 to complete the final 2 stages (a 10K and a marathon) and still meet my goal. With this information, I decided that if I ran a 50 minute 10K today, I would still have 4:06:20 for the marathon, which is still possible. Last year I did the marathon in 4:08:41. My best marathon is 3:51:28 (Mississauga Marathon 2011) and I ran the Waterloo Marathon in 4:03:09 this spring. Hopefully, I have enough left in me to run a decent marathon tomorrow.

We left the house, stopped by Lloyd’s house in Conestogo briefly to see if anyone needed a ride to the start line in Elmira and we were on our way. This race is a point to point course, so it starts at a park in Elmira and finishes right in front of the race director’s house. The post-race food, massage tables, etc are set up in his backyard, waiting for us upon our return from the race route.

This stage was another time trial, so the runners all start at different times and then came in to the finish area fairly close together. Today, I was passed by 3 runners and I passed 3 as well.

I finished today’s stage in 50:48, so I was a bit slower than I wanted to be and well over a minute slower than last year, but this still leaves me with 4:05:32 to run tomorrow’s marathon and meet my goal of sub 16. It’ll be tough to do and I’m not 100% confident that I’ll be able to do it, but I will certainly try. My concern at this point is the fact that I’ve run all the road stages in more time than last year and this final stage is road. But, as I was discussing this with a fellow ENDURrunner today, it was pointed out to me that the trail stages were also the longest stages so far, so I’ve actually run the longer stages faster than last year and tomorrow’s stage is the longest of them all. Perhaps I have a chance after all.

And now, some photos:

My food photo looks a little sad today, but the food was quite good! In this photo there is orange hummus on a slice of bread, a piece of cantaloupe, a fruit pancake, a tuna sandwich, and some fruit salad.

Tonight, we will attend the barbeque to celebrate the last night before the final stage. I am looking forward to our wonderful dinner with the amazing company of the other runners, the volunteers, as well as their family and friends.

ENDURrun Stage 5: 25.6 km XC Alpine (Chicopee)

Last night, I was attempting to get a good night’s sleep, I woke up to hear rain. It sounded like fairly heavy rain as well. I thought to myself, “I hope this stops soon” and went back to sleep. A couple of hours later, I woke up again and heard the familiar sound of rain once more. Crap. Well.. it still wasn’t morning, so there was still hope. When my alarm went off at 5:55am, it was no longer raining. I was glad that we would not have to run in the rain today, but was still a little concerned that the trails and ski hills might be slippery.

For breakfast today, I wanted to be sure to have something that has worked well for me in the past (of course, I never have anything new before a race, but I wanted something that I could count on). Since I only ran faster than last year on one stage so far this week, I decided to eat the same breakfast today that I had on Tuesday: Quaker lightly sweetened apple cinnamon oatmeal with a bit of regular oats mixed in, yogurt, granola, coffee, and water.

We arrived at Chicopee Ski Hill about 30 minutes before race start. I found a chair to put my bag on, used the washroom one last time, put on my race bib, removed my sweater, chatted with some other runners and then we all gathered ourselves at the start line for roll call and final instructions. Lloyd mentioned that the trails did have some slippery sections, so we should be careful out there. I hoped that I would not slip and fall today.

Stage 5 of the ENDURrun involves trail running along with running up and down a ski hill. It’s a tough one, but the trail sections are very enjoyable and it’s one less loop tan Bechtel, so it’s nice to know that once you’re done your third lab you *actually* only have 2 more to go (unlike the brief moment where I thought I only had 2 more loops at Bechtel, but actually had 3).

   

I found that the 3rd lap was actually fun today (except for running up the big hill). Perhaps it’s because it’s the middle lap and after you’re done that one, you just have 2 more to go. After each lap, I checked the clock to see how consistent I was being and to do a quick mental calculation of the time I wanted to pass through after the next lap. When I started my final lap, I realized that unless something went horribly wrong, I should have no trouble beating last year’s time. I ran the course, and when I crossed the finish line, I had done it!

Last year’s time: 3:12:08
This year’s time. 3:01:37 (I think)

I beat last year’s time by 10.5 minutes! I came out here today to make up some time and I did what I came out to do. And as an added bonus, I didn’t fall.

After eating the wonderful post-race food, getting a massage, listening to the results (I placed 5th of the female ultimates today, and I think I may have moved up to 5th in the cumulative as well, but I’ll have to check the results later), chatting with the other runners, and then some more socializing this afternoon by the pool, it is now time to sit and rest up at home for a bit before making some supper and preparing for tomorrow’s stage.

5 stages down and 2 to go. I’m looking forward to (and dreading at the same time) the 10K time trial tomorrow morning!

ENDURrun Day 5 (no stage): Rest Day

After last night’s “mountain stage” it is time for the mandatory rest day. I decided to skip going out for breakfast with the other ENDURrunners this morning so that I could stay in bed a little longer and also because I had a massage therapy appointment this morning at 10am and didn’t want to have to rush around this morning.

I made myself a smoothie with banana, blueberries, orange juice, and vanilla Greek yogurt before heading out to my appointment. On my way back from massage, I stopped at Tim Horton’s to grab a coffee (I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to make my own when I got home) and then made myself a late breakfast of a slight variation on eggs benedict and some roasted sweet potatoes with green peppers and onions that I had left over from the dinner I made a couple of nights ago.

This afternoon, Paul picked me up so that we could go for a swim at the race director’s house before meeting up with some others at the Huether for a late lunch and some beer floats. I tried to like the beer float, I really did.. but I couldn’t finish it. Is it an acquired taste?

Now.. some photos from the afternoon/early evening:

    

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

Since today’s stage started at 6:00 pm, there was an opportunity to sleep in. I was able to enjoy at least 8 hours of sleep last night (without going to bed really early), which was wonderful. I got out of bed shortly before Ryan wanted to leave for work so that I could give him a ride. I dropped him off at work and then I headed to Williams Fresh Cafe with a book to enjoy a leisurely breakfast. I enjoyed having the opportunity to sit and take my time eating my breakfast, sipping my coffee, and reading my book.

Back at home, I enjoyed a quiet day of lounging, reading, watching a little TV, and doing minimal housework. Even though today’s stage is a strenuous one, I still consider Day 4 a relative rest day.

After getting ready for tonight’s race, I drove up to Ryan’s work to pick him up and head to the starting area at Camp Heidelberg. On the way to the start, I realized that I forgot to bring my shot blocks and didn’t have any gels, either. I knew that the race director normally has boxes of them for the aid stations, so I wasn’t too worried, but it was still a little frustrating to not use what I’m used to. I asked if they had any, and yes, they did, so I took two (one for 15 minutes before the start and another for the half-way point).

Just before the start of the race, all of the competitors walked down the hill so that the race both starts and finishes on an uphill (just to torture us, I’m sure). After the first uphill, we turn left for a bit of a detour, then back onto the hilly road we started on. We continue up and down, up and down the hills and then arrive at a turn-around point, which is a little more than half-way through the whole course. I really like the fact that it’s past the half point because it makes the second “half” of the race seem much shorter.

I was running fairly well today, but I felt tired, and as I passed the 10K marker, I knew there was no way I was going to meet or beat last year’s time on this course. I finished in 1:25:39 last year and at the 10K mark I was at 56 minutes, which meant I had to run the last 6 K in less than 30 minutes. On a flat course, sure, but on this hilly course that was not going to happen. I ended up coming in at 1:30 and change (not sure of the official time right now).

If I want to have a chance at beating my 2011 time and potentially coming in under 16 hours for the week, I have my work cut out for me. Let’s see what Chicopee has in store.

ENDURrun Stage 3: 30K Cross Country Run

I went to bed at a decent time last night, but was awake by 2am and not really sleeping again until almost 3am because I could hear a mouse scratching in the wall. It seemed to quiet down after Ryan banged on the wall, so I was able to get another 3 hours of sleep. You gotta love old houses where you can hear mice scratching around in the wall every so often.

Today’s Breakfast: Quaker lightly sweetened apple cinnamon oatmeal with a bit of regular oats mixed in, yogurt, granola, coffee, and water.

When I arrived at Bechtel Park, the skies were grey and cloudy, but it looked like maybe, just maybe, the rain would hold off. The race started at 8am and I ran smarter this year and didn’t go out too quick. I was hoping to be relatively consistent on each lap, so I wanted to be sure that I chose a pace that I could maintain for the whole 30K.

Lap 1: I rolled my ankle around 2.5 km into the lap, which hurt and I wasn’t sure if it was going to be an actual injury or something that just hurt for a minute or two. Luckily, it seemed to be the latter.

Lap 2: This was a pretty uneventful lap. I ran around the course without any incidents or injuries, and finished this lap a bit slower than lap 1.

Lap 3: The rain started. It wasn’t raining too hard and it was actually kind of nice. I believe I ran this lap in a time between the times for the first and second laps, closer to that of lap 2.

Lap 4: The rain picked up. The lap was going well and I was catching up to David (another ultimate competitor) until just before the 4 km marker, where I managed to trip and slide down a muddy hill head (or shoulder) first. I gathered myself, put my muddy hat back on my head, and continued on my way with a very dirty (and a little bloody) left side of my body. I really didn’t pay attention to the clock at the end of this lap, instead I headed to the aid station for some water and electrolyte drink and had the wonderful volunteers offer to clean off my knee for me (it was both bloody and muddy). What service! This event definitely wouldn’t be the same without the volunteers!

Lap 5: The rain continued, but wasn’t heavy enough to wash the mud off my body.

Lap 6: This was the final lap; It was pouring, but still, I had mud.

Now that I was done, it was time to drink something, eat something, get changed out of my wet clothes, get a massage, eat some more, and then listen to the results.

Today’s platter of post-race goodness.

I finished today’s 30K stage in 3:10:45 (per Garmin).
Last year’s time: 3:14:18

I finally ran a stage faster this year than I did last year! I’m pretty sure I moved up at least 1 spot in the standings today as well. Perhaps my goal of beating last year’s time is still possible. I still need to make up at least 5 more minutes to do so, but I also have 4 more stages coming up. I hope to run those 4 without sliding down any more hills because the upcoming hills are pretty darn big!

Now it is time to rest up, ice my knee, re-fuel, rejuvenate, and get mentally prepared for the first of the mountain stages tomorrow: Horror Hill.

* I don’t have a photo of me after the slide down the hill, but if and when I find one, I will post it *

ENDURrun Stage 2: 15K Time Trial

After yesterday’s stage, I did not get to rest and relax as much as I would have liked. Ryan and I attended a wedding on Friday afternoon, so I only worked a half day that day. Since I’m off this week for the ENDURrun, I wanted to get caught up on some of the work I didn’t finish up on Friday. I ended up working for a good chunk of the afternoon, into the evening last night. At least now, I feel like I’ve finished up the work that I wanted to before going on vacation.

I packed up the few things I need for today (including a bathing suit for a post-race swim) and heated up my leftovers from last night’s supper, ate my dinner, watched a bit of TV, rolled out my legs on the foam roller, and then headed off to bed around 10:30.

At 5:55am my alarm woke me up. I was a bit more tired this morning than yesterday morning, but that quickly passed as I got up, made some coffee and got my breakfast ready. Breakfast today was a toasted whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and banana, coffee, and water.

I arrived at the race start (across from the race director’s house) about 20 minutes before 8am today, which was a bit later than I’d hoped, but since today was a time trial, it’s a staggered start, so I still had some time to get prepared for today’s stage.

For the time trial, each runner starts one at a time and one minute apart, starting with the person who had the slowest time in Stage 1 and finishing with the person with the fastest time from Stage 1. Since there are also guest runners and relay times, estimated finishing times provided at the time of registration allowed for an estimate in the placing for these people as well. The name of the game in the time trial is to try and catch those in front of you and to try not to be passed (or at least to not be passed by too many people).

I ran this stage quite well last year, so I knew going into today’s race that it would be difficult to beat last year’s time. I had a couple of issues with side stitches today, which kind of cramped my pace (pun intended) at certain points in the run, but they resolved and I was able to maintain a relatively steady pace throughout the stage, but I didn’t even come near to beating last year’s time. Once again, I came in 4 minutes slower than last year. Hopefully, I’ll kick my butt into gear and make up some time tomorrow at Bechtel.

The post-race action took place in Lloyd’s back yard, which has a fantastic pool and a lot of space for all of us runners to stretch out, get massages, grab some food from the food tent, etc.

When I first stepped back into the yard, I noticed that the cover was on the pool. I was a little disappointed, because I was hoping to jump right in after this stage, but then I noticed that Keenan (Lloyd’s son) had just walked into the yard and was heading over to the pool! As he was removing the cover, I was removing my shoes, getting ready to head straight over there. As soon as the cover was completely off the pool, I dove into the pool. Refreshing! After 15 or so minutes of hanging out in the pool, I went and grabbed some food. Shortly after I filled my platter, it was time for my post race massage, which really helps in the recovery. Thanks again to KW Health Connection for their continued support of this event!

  

When I went back to my platter of delicious food, I noticed that a wasp kept coming near, flying around, and checking out my food. It was quite interested in my slice of turkey and when I watched closer, I could see that it was actually working away, cutting out a chunk of the deli meat. The wasp flew away with its new found protein-rich meal and it was not long at all before another wasp was doing the same. The slice ended up with about 6 holes in it from the wasps.

After all of the runners had a chance to eat and most had a chance to get a massage, it was time for the results and announcements. There was no change in the gold jerseys today, so Bob and Jackie will be wearing them again tomorrow for Stage 3: 30K trail at Bechtel Park.

Most of the group disbursed after the announcements were completed, but I (and a few others) headed back to the pool, where I went for a quick swim and then relaxed, sitting on the pool stairs, letting my legs rest in the cool water, while I enjoyed the sunshine and a nice cold Mill Street Organic. It was a great way to end Stage 2.

My time for Stage 2 (as per my Garmin): 1:23:38

ENDURrun Stage 1: The Half Marathon

My plan was to be in bed by 11pm past night, but of course, I didn’t have everything quite ready for race day, so it got stretched a little. I was still in bed shortly after 11:30, so I had time to read a story from my Canadian Marathon Stories book (I read one before every half or full) and still get over 6 hours of sleep. Hopefully, I’ll be getting more than 6 hours per night for the rest of this week, but for today, I feel good with it.

Breakfast: steel cut oats with banana and a bit of peanut butter, coffee, and water.

When I arrived at the park, I noticed that Paul Mora was on the swings, so I ran over to join him. What a great way to have some fun and de-stress before a race.

After a quick look at the computer that was set up, streaming the Men’s Olympic Marathon, it was time to head over to the start line. Roll call was done and after a couple of last minute instructions, we were off, with a note of “Good Luck” on the start line.

Last year, I ran a half marathon PB on this stage. I realize now that it probably wasn’t the best way to start a week-long event, so I slowed it down a wee bit today, took a few walk breaks, enjoyed the run and came in at 1:56:30 (time on my Garmin, I haven’t seen the official time yet). Last year, my time was 1:52:38, so just under 4 minutes slower than last year, but I was happy with my time today. I hope to make up that time over the week; I’d like to try and beat my overall time from last year.

After finishing the race, it was time to sign up for massage, grab my recovery drink, and also get some food.

Catherine – post race massage

First I had a delicious smoothie which was made with chocolate milk, banana, berries, kiwi, and plain yogurt and then I grabbed a plate (or platter) and selected some of the amazing food that is always a great part of this race week. As you can see below, I had several items on my plate including some fruits and veggies, cheese, egg, nachos, pasta salad, sweet potato salad, and Caribbean rice. There was also burgers, candy, chips, chicken, salad, and more.

 

The results were announced after all of the runners had come in and the gold jerseys were awarded to Bob Jackman for the men and to Jackie Jackman for the women. They’ve both won this event multiple times in the past. Tomorrow, they will wear the gold jerseys and will start last in the time trial.

I’m not sure of all of the rest of the placings right now, but they will be up on the ENDURrun page in the results section, which will most likely be updated daily.

It will be interesting to see how the order changes throughout the week. A lot can happen over 7 stages of running!

Now that I am back at home, it’s time to to rest up and get ready for stage 2 tomorrow – the 15K time trial. Tomorrow’s stage is being held at a different location this year than it was in past years, so it’ll be interesting to see if this affects my time (and other’s times) at all. I guess we’ll have to find that out tomorrow.

Great run today, everyone! Let’s do it again sometime.

ENDURrun 2012 – Pre-Race Meeting

It’s Saturday night, I’ve enjoyed a day of sleeping in, having a leisurely breakfast, shopping for produce at the Kitchener Market, watching the Olympics, washing a load of running clothes, all before the most important parts of the day, attending the ENDURrun Pre-Race Meeting, and going out for dinner for some yummy pasta.

The pre-race meeting was held at the race director’s house. After walking into the yard, I quickly picked up my race kit and head over to set up a chair for the meeting.

Lloyd (the race director) welcomed everyone and the important announcements were made, along with some instructions from the fantastic volunteers about the upcoming week: info on marshalling & road signs, food & dietary needs, how to keep this a green race, among other details.

 

After the formal part of the evening was complete, there was time to socialize with the other runners while enjoying some refreshments. It was a reunion for many and a chance to meet some new people, who I’m sure will become new friends as well.

From Lloyd’s house, Ryan and I were off to East Side Mario’s for some dinner, where we actually ran into a couple of other runners who had come in from Rhode Island today for the event.

Now that I’m back at home for the evening, I took a look through my race kit… and what a race kit! Here are the contents:

 

I’m looking forward to a wonderful week of running, socializing, competing, and just generally having a good time.

It was great to see everyone tonight, rest up for Stage 1 tomorrow morning!

Today…

Today I decided to ride my bike out to the Walter Bean Grand River Trail to take my new trail shoes out for a spin. I put on my running clothes and shoes, my Garmin, attached my running hat and hand-held bottle to my bike lock and locked it to my frame, put on my helmet and headed out the door.

When I arrived at the trail, I leaned my bike up against a signpost and grabbed my keys to unlock my lock from the bike so that I could secure my bike to the post. When looking at my keys… crap… I hadn’t brought my lock key with me. It was at home on my work keys. So, I decided to be creative and just make it *look* like I had locked my bike up by looping the coil-y cable lock around the post. Hmm.. this post was too big.. I needed to find something smaller. I looked around. Aha! I saw a much smaller sign post up in the grass a bit. I walked my bike over to it and swiftly wound the lock around and looped the hand-held water bottle portion through (I couldn’t get it off the lock, so I thought I would use it to my advantage and figured I’d just use my bike water bottle for the run). While doing this, I apparently made some hornets very angry and one stung my arm! Ouch! I hadn’t been paying attention to my surroundings other than just looking for something to attach my bike to that I completely missed the fact that there were hornets going in and out of this post. Well.. the bike was here now, so I might as well leave it. I backed away slowly to not anger any more insects and headed off down the trail, leaving my water bottles behind as I was not going to chance getting stung again, just to grab a bottle.

While I was running, I had a constant pain in my arm where the sting happened. Dang hornet. At least I had comfort in knowing that they were protecting my bike for me as it was not properly secured.

I was starting to enjoy my run, when I turned around a corner and was startled to see a mountain bike coming straight toward me. I jumped off the side of the trail and he apologized. No collisions – all is good.

The remainder of my run was quite uneventful and I enjoyed the new shoes, but as I was coming back toward my starting point, I was wondering how I would manage to get my bike back off the post o’ hornets. The answer: very carefully. I took my time, walked up to it slowly, studied the loops of the lock to see the simplest way to unwind it. I moved one section and backed away. One hornet came out of the post and checked out the scene. After it went back in, I approached to complete the task. I flipped the lock around and pulled my bike back as quick as I could, hoping it had come loose from the post. It had! Success! I examined my bike helmet and bike for any hornets and headed for home. I’d had enough adventure for one day.

Long Overdue Update

Since I have not written anything about running since early February, I will take this post as update on the races that I’ve completed since then.

Re-Fridgee-Eighter 8 mile - February 12, 2012
I ran the 8 mile distance again this year and finished in 1:06:57, which was improved from my 1:08:44 time in 2011. I finished 3rd in my age group, but since the first place female was from my age group, I ended up with a 2nd place medal!

Around the Bay 30 K – March 25, 2012
I finished the 30K race in 2:42:44 (I ran it in 2:56:02 in 2011). I’m definitely happy with this improvement.

ENDURrace 5K and 8K – April 21 & 28, 2012
On the 5K day, I came very close to my PB in this distance, which I set back in 2007 (only 4 seconds slower). I finished in 23:22, which was a minute and 22 seconds faster than last year, but it was a new course this year.
For the 8K day, I set a PB! I ran the 8K in 38:50. In 2011, my 8K time (different course) was 42:04. My previous PB for the 8K distance was set at the 2011 REMEMBERrun.

Waterloo Marathon – April 29, 2012
The day after running my 8K PB (see above), I decided to run a marathon. I had been training for a marathon with no particular race planned, so it wasn’t that crazy an idea. I signed up 2 days before the race when I saw that the weather was going to be nice and sunny, with a high of 14. I completed the marathon in 4:03:02, which I was perfectly happy with. I had some issues with my right leg in the last 10 or so km, but backed off a bit and finished feeling alright. I decided that finishing injury-free was way more important than finishing with a faster time. I’m definitely happy that I made that choice, because I’ve gotten out for some good training runs this week and also had another race scheduled for today, which brings us to..

The Downtown MudPuppy Chase – May 6, 2012
Today was the 6th annual Downtown MudPuppy Chase, which was also the race that I chose for 2012 for fundraising (I choose one race per year); I was happy to raise $740 for KidsAbility this year.
The 10K race started at 10am this morning and the weather was fantastic! It was already around 16 C at the start and the sun was shining. In past years, this has been a bit of a rainy race, but the sun was not blocked by any clouds the entire time.
I finished with a PB time of 47:57, beating my previous BP of 48:52, which was set at the 2011 MudPuppy! I placed 2nd in my age group and won a nice pair of Saucony compression socks.

Other than these races, I’ve been doing a lot of training with the Runners’ Choice Marathon Group and a lot of running on my own as well.

It’s been a very good race season so far and it should continue to be a great rest of the year! I’m looking forward to the upcoming events and will be sure to update this blog more often. 

Oops

It's been way too long since I last posted. I promise I will write something this weekend.

Blister… and then some

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

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

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!