Must.....Run...

Am SIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

And it sucks. My ears are all plugged up, my nose is clear (after 1/2 an hour of blowing in the morning anyways) -- and my chest is filled with nasty grossness.

Must run though.

The mudrun is in 12 days -- I want to do an LSD this coming weekend of 8km --- whether I have to push through or not.

Can't run tonight -- have to work, and Thursday is out too. Going to do a short 3.5 km with the boss-lady at work on Thursday hopefully, but we'll see how it goes.

I made an appointment with the massage therapist on Friday for a 30 minute massage. I'm going to ask her to focus on my IT band and my hip -- hopefully it'll clear up my issues.

I'm tired, and getting a little worried about the Mud Run -- but as long as I'm not still sick (which I won't be) I know I"ll get through -- it might be a slow race though!

Day OFF!

From work that is...

Due to a surprise system-wide transit strike I was stranded without a way to get to work at 7am this morning....

So, after 2 hours of waiting to see if the workers would be ordered back to work immediately I decided to take advantage of both the sunshine and circumstance and head out for a run.

My hip's still bothering me a little -- so I went for about 4km before I decided to stop and continue with a long walk. I explored High Park and stopped by the running room to say hello, and basically walked about 10km in itself. It was a good walk, but a dissapointing run.

I'm going to pick up some arch supports for my running shoes tonight. Ideally I wouldn't need them -- but I'm hoping some more stable inserts will help the situation a little -- plus I could use some more anchoring in my heal. Either way -- I'm not sure this is a matter of my ankles moving too much, because my most problematic leg isn't acting up... rather, it's my left hip that's painful, which seems strange to me -- ankles or knees I'd understand, but only one hip?

My ankles and knees are totally fine, they seem to have adjusted to the shoe change as I expected.... I just keep hoping that the hip pain will clear up too.

Meh -- it's all about walking around Toronto today -- for those of us without cars anyways!

Owwwwwwwwwwwwie!

Ran yesterday -- a moderate 3.5 km -- though I was running slightly faster than I would have preferred....

Today my left hip is killing me -- I don't know what's going on - but it hurts to walk.

I'm starting to wonder if this is a result of the new shoes -- which drives me insane because they're expensive...and felt awesome in the store....... what gives? It just seems like I've been suffering one ouchy joint after another.

I'm also getting sick. My sinuses hurt and I feel like they're going to explode. My focus today is hydration and good food. It's a non-running day for me, though I have a long-slow run planned for tomorrow early...... My plan is to go to bed early in the hopes of getting some rest and combatting this stupid flu.

4km Steady Run!

I ran with the amazing Dawn tonight.... which was awesome -- we ran 4km STEADY (without stopping!) -- we even went up a hill!

It was totally great, and totally fun too.

I felt like a bit of an imposter only because I ran with my old Learn to Run group --- who are now all members of the 10k clinic. Because I work and am overscheduled as it is I didn't join the 10k clinic -- I just run with them on the run club nights :P It was fun though -- and I look forward to continuing to run with these guys..... it's just sad when I see them leave the store on tuesday nights for their clinic runs while I'm left there working....... Oh well -- such is life I suppose.

Anyways -- going to run again Friday night, then again Sunday morning --- also have a chinese food FEAST planned for Friday :D Hurray!

Would any of my adoring fans....

...like to buy me an IPOD? :P

Hahaha -- don't worry, I'm not dissillusioned into thinking I have ANY adoring fans... but it's nice to dream.

Seriously though, I need an MP3 player. It's becoming increasingly annoying to run with my CD player, which while it's good (and a year and a half old) -- it skips when I run. More often then not I just leave it at home.

I want to run with music though....... and ideally, if I'm going to buy myself one I'd get a decent sized one -- so I could just load my CD's on it and go, and not have to reload it everytime I wanted to change musical genres.

I've asked around -- and ipods seem to come highly recommended. Ideally I'd get a black ipod nano or a blue ipod mini...... I'm a late adopter when it comes to electronics - I don't need the best one, just something with a decent size, but small enough to run with....

mmmm... perhaps I might get a mini second hand from someone upgrading to an ipod video...

MUDRUN!

So I was bored and full of energy tonight -- so I did a quick 1.83 km run around the block... it was a steady run for the most part - though I sprinted the last bit just to stretch my legs out. I think I want to spend more time sprinting -- especially in the evening when there's no one around to watch! It was fun to really use my legs and move fast.

I also signed up for the MUD RUN tonight! There's a few people from my running club doing it to, and tonight I asked someone if I could get a lift with them because the run's in the middle of nowhere-- so it's all set! It should be a fun course -- a trail race with the last 30 metres being a huge mudpit! Anyways -- it's a 10k race/Obstacle course... which'll be awesome -- I'm going to do the whole thing in my old shoes, so as not to ruin the pretty new ones..... so hopefully they don't cause any injuries that day. I'm sure they'll be fine, but it might be the last time those shoes see the light of day!

YAY! A new race-goal!

Log.

Yesterday -- Ran 5km with Jill
Today -- Ran 4.5km alone, followed by a 2km walk.

That is all :)

I want it to start raining!

Here I am WAITING for the rain!

I want it to rain NOW so that it clears up later so that I can run with the fabulous Jill tonight! We have an easy 5k planned, which is good because I a> bashed up my knee at work yesterday and b> haven't really been too gung ho on the running thing lately - which is BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD.

I found out the other day that one of the guys I used to run with has a reoccurance of cancer. That sucks. It just really does. It's not my place to feel sorry for him at all -- but I hate it when bad things happen to good people. I wish him all the best in this new detour of chemo he's being led to --- and I hope that he's able to get back running before the summer is out.

I have a bunch of errands to run today -- going to drop off a pie to my friend because there's NO way I'm going to be able to eat the other half of it in the next few days :P Nor do I WANT it hanging around taunting me like that.

I have stopped Weight Watcher's because I am getting so much exercise -- and holding steady at 166 pounds this week. I'd still like to lose another 20 lbs or so -- but 166 is freakin' awesome for me -- and puts me at a BMI of 25 again -- which is once again in "normal" range (ie. NOT OVERWEIGHT!) --- that feels good.

Oooooooooooooh -- I think I can hear the drops on my outside window -- AWESOME! I hope the sky opens up and it POURS down so that there's nothing left to dampen my run later this afternoon!

Totals.

Total shoes purchased today -- 2

Total distance travelled for purposes of exercise -- 6km

Total distance of warm-up -- 1.5 km

Total distance steady running (no break, steady pace) -- 2.5 km

Total distance walked -- 2 km

Total number of sore ankles from going too hard in brand new shoes -- 2

Where's my ice?

Not sure how I feel about this.

Did a KICK ASS 20-minute session on the elliptical today --- went so hard I burned 250 calories in that 20 minutes! It was awesome.

Tried to do a 5km run tonight as a means of getting back on my training schedule -- barely made it through 3km, and that was with more walking than I would have liked.

It's DEFINATELY time to buy new shoes --- mine aren't really safe for me to be running in anymore -- my ankles and knees were screaming at me today. I'm going to hunt for a pair of Mizuno Wave Nirvana's tomorrow -- they got awesome reviews for responsiveness and cushioning for a stability shoe in this month's Runner's World... Hopefully they feel awesome on my feet too!

30 km by August?

So in my guilt at not running tonight I found this link for an event in August. A "Midsummer's Night Run" is a fun event (as opposed to a race) that starts at 8pm --- a run through the running paths of Toronto.

It seems really cool - and something I'd like to do -- but the distance is a little daunting. I had planned to train to 25km before the half marathon -- could I train to 30km for 6 weeks earlier? Do I want to run for 3 hours at night? It seems a little extreme, but also a little romantic at the same time.

The deadline for early registration is July 1 -- time to think about it.

5km tomorrow!

Rain Rain Go Away....

I hate this rain!

I was supposed to run 6km today with my run club. I was all pumped about it too -- and then today around 4 the sky opened up and it began to POUR...it's 5:30 and it's STILL raining.

Normally this wouldn't be a big deal - I'd suck it up and push through, but today it just SUCKS. I forgot my shoes at the office yesterday and wanted to buy new ones.... but I'm not going to do my first run in a pair of new shoes in the pouring rain.

ARGH! I'm just going to have to go to bed early tonight and get up early tomorrow to work out at the office before work.

I took my boss for a run today!

Seriously.

We did 1/2 an hour at 1:1 intervals (she's a newbie runner). We were both pretty warm by the end, but we did it! It was awesome, and she's all gung-ho to run 2 days a week at lunchtime now :)


I like that I inspired someone to start running.

mmmm....

5 km run, and another km walk tonight..... it was okay -- I had a wonderful running partner for most of my 5km, but she dropped back during the last 5 minutes and I wasn't able to push myself up the hill. I think this weekend I'm going to make hill training my priority.

Don't feel great about this run tonight... Just generally sore and wasn't too motivated after that 5km.


I think that I need to push myself a little harder so I can feel those interim runs better.

My Inspirational Running Quotes.....

We all need something to inspire us ----- these are the ones that inspire me to get my ass out there and run!

"There is no coming to consciousness without pain." --Carl Jung

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop."
Lewis Carroll, from Alice in Wonderland


"Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win." Tom Fleming's Boston Marathon Training Motto

Get back in that damn saddle!

1/2 Marathon training officially starts tonight!

I took 2 days off to recover from Sunday's 10k. Yesterday I did an intense 20 minutes on the elliptical machine at the office, but tonight will be my first day back running - I'm hoping to do 5km tonight with my run club.

Other than that -- I've done my training schedule for the half-marathon and it's INTENSE. Because I have 22 weeks to do this in I'm going to actually train to 25km as opposed to the normal 18 or 20. I figure this will help build my endurance better. My goal is still to finish in 2:15:00 but if I train really hard I think I could probably even cut that down to a finish in 2:05:00 --- we'll see how it goes.

Really I'm just tired. I've started taking a multi-vitamin and I'm trying to eat more veggies and stuff, but I'm over-scheduled and under-funned!

Oh well -- a friend is arriving next week from the states which surely will pull me out of this schedule a bit!

01:06:37!

Apologies if you've come here from my other blog -- this post is going to be mostly a repeat of the other one... but keep scrolling -- the rest of the posts are different I promise!

I'm Smiling as I type this. The race was awesome. I finished a few minutes shy of my target time (Target was 70-75 minutes, finished in 66) -- and I ran the race with everything I could. I don't say this often -- but I'm REALLY proud of myself. In February I couldn't run 5 minutes to save my life, and this morning I did 10 kilometres - to me, that's a HUGE accomplishment, and I feel really good about it. I wasn't the fastest runner there, and I didn't have the best form -- but I finished my race with enough juice left to go hard at the end - it was great.

I have a medal, and my bib from the event. I'm going to buy a frame this week and hang both together on my wall.

Turns out no one was there to greet me in the end -- which was really dissapointing to me. But I found some people that I work with -- and we all hung out and went for breakfast, so that was fun! If anything I got a chance to network a little bit with some of the up-and-comers. We might do more races together in the future, which would definately be fun.

Onwards and Upwards --- Toronto Half Marathon in October....

My Grandpa's Story...

Tonight I sat with my Grandpa and he shared with me some of his experience -- I thought I'd share it here - just so we know his story won't be lost.

When he was younger he was very athletic -- he participated in everything. Being the Southern-Ontario boy that he was he was very into track, and really just wanted to win a ribbon at his school's track and field day. So in this grade 9 & 10 years he ran his hardest, and while he wasn't the slowest, he didn't win either. At the end of Grade 10 he realized that the kid doing the 100m spring was blessed with the "natural ability" -- and that it was unlikely that he'd EVER beat him. So he set his sights on the 1/2 mile and mile races - and spent the summer training.

The next year he went to Track and Field day...he sat back and didn't participate in any of the events all day long --- then, finally, before dinner, the 1/2 mile race was announced. There was a boy there about 6 feet tall who'd been winning ribbons all day (my grandpa is about 5'3" or so). They all lined up. There was another boy who took off like a shot, then the 6' tall boy -- then my grandpa. They ran and ran. About 1/2 the way through my grandpa realized that it was now or never, if he was going to win his medal he'd better get going! So he started running faster, and faster. He caught up with the 6' tall boy and the crowd started to cheer. He went balls out and caught up with the leading boy. As he past him the boy in the lead looked at him and said "I can't run anymore!" and fell back, but the 6' tall boy had decided that it was time to get going as well and was catching up! My grandpa won his 1/2 mile race by a nose.

He won the full mile race without any competition :)

His coach looked at him and thought he saw a winner. That year he took him to the provincial races. My grandpa got there and saw all the other guys -- all running faster than him ---- and dropped out of his race. He didn't know it at the time but his principal was in the crowd and saw this --- the topic of the next Friday's school assembly (because they did that in the old days!) was Following Through on Things you start. The principal never mentioned his name, but my Grandpa knew he was talking about him.

The next year my Grandpa ran the same events again and went to the provicial championships again. This time he ran his races and tried his hardest. He didn't win -- but at least he knew he finished, and ran a good race.

That was his message to me tonight for tomorrow. It's not about winning, it's about finishing what you start and knowing that you did that.

:(

Well it looks like no one's going to come and cheer me on in my first race -- which makes me a little bit sad.

Oh well -- I'm going to shed a tear over this now and get over it, because I really just want to do this the best that I can tomorrow. And then I'm going to take a 30 minute nap before I have to leave to catch my train tonight...

Edit: Yeah -- I shed just one tear over this one - and then I realized this isn't about them, it's about me. I'd love support and encouragement --- but that's not where the strength to get it done is coming from.

It looks now like a great friend may get down there tomorrow --- that would really make me smile :)

Tomorrow, Tomorrow...

Sporting Life 10k is tomorrow!

I'm feeling pretty crappy today -- only because I'm tired and overscheduled today, which sucks -- and also potentially because I haven't been eating all that well lately.

I've decided to buy myself an extra 10 minutes by taking a cab to my swordfighting class this afternoon -- which is great because it lets me update AND start the pile of stuff I need for the race tomorrow.

I did 40 minutes on the elliptical machine yesterday at the gym, and stretched out for awhile -- tonight I'm going to make a point of stretching my hamstrings, calves and quads really well though.

I worked at the Running Room for the first time today -- that was fun, and exciting -- but I was also nervous. I hate starting new jobs when you have NO idea what's going on.....

Would like to nap tonight -- but I don't think it's going to happen. Must go out to Oakville to see my grandma........ though I'll have a good hour to myself this afternoon, maybe will nap afterall...

Am I a loser if......

...I wear the FREE event t-shirt I got TO the event?

I ask only because I picked up my race kit for the Sporting Life 10k today --- and I really like the shirt! It's blue, and a size small (which DEFINATELY helps my high opinion of that! I like fitting into a small!). Basically the story is that until now I've been running in long sleeves. I have 3 technical running shirts (well 4 now!), 2 of them are long-sleeved, and 1 is short-sleeved - but was ALSO my free shirt for signing up for the Running Room clinic and is pretty bright green....

Anyhoo -- the race kit is exciting me! I'm bib #2885 -- and I got my timing chip and EVERYTHING........ how freakin' awesome is that?

That's all -- I didn't work out today. Although I DID wear heels to work and managed to blister my poor baby toes pretty good (not AT work, but after when I had to do the hike to sporting life for my race kit) - I"m hoping they heal quickly, or at least before Sunday.

Am considering bringing my shoes and running gear to the office tomorrow to run on my lunch-break...... not sure though, we'll see. Either way would like to get in about 5k tomorrow.

3 days!

3 days left until the Sporting life 10k! Eeep! I'm scared!

I had a bit of a crappy run tonight -- I did maybe 4km or so (I dunno - it was a 20 minute run) --- and it was hell on wheels throughout most of it. It didn't help that I was, once again, inappropriately dressed though -- stupid shorts and cotton shirt thing -- it's true, cotton really doesn't breathe.

Tomorrow I'm going to go shopping for a t-shirt to wear for the race Saturday. Zellers had some great ones last week when I was there, but stupid me bought the LONG-sleeved version, and now I DEFINATELY require a short-sleeved. I want something that's going to look hot with my lycra running pants :) 'cause let me tell you -- not alot looks hot with lycra!

Other than that -- no running tomorrow, but I'm going to pick up my race kit. YAY! My first race kit! How fun is that????

I'll post with the details on my free shirt :D

Oh -- and as you can see I've succumbed to the presence of google ads. Honestly, while I'm not entirely sure how I feel about advertising on blogs I like that these ones are specific to content -- and I've noticed that some of them are actually cool things ------ if google wouldn't give me a slap on the hand for clicking on 'em I'd be interested.... but maybe I'm a sucker for the advertising :P

Running is Especially Fun when you Prance!

So while I'm not SORE today from yesterday's run I was generally fatigued.... although the multiple bottles of red wine at last night's dinner party, and working all day didn't help.

Tonight I ran with my run club -- 22 minutes at an 8:1 pace. Honestly, I was so not into it -- and chose to instead make the entire run as fun as possible for myself and my running buddy. Jill, my running buddy -- runs at this fantastic slow, but very steady, pace --- which is great when I'm tired because it's just easy on the legs and you can go forever like that. So today I was at the back of the pack with her, basically encouraging her on and timing both of us. Around the last one I decided I'd had enough with that running thing -- and began to prance, speed-walk in that rediculous fashion, and skip - it was super fun, made her laugh -- and kept us both moving through to the end of the run.

While I wasn't sore before I am now. Mostly it's my quads and IT band....... but we'll see. Tomorrow I'm going to call my masseuse to try to get an appointment on Thursday or something --- just to rub out any of the aches and strains before the race Sunday....... mmmmmm, maybe I'll get another massage AFTER the race!

I'm getting excited about this 10k. I think it's going to go great as long as I remember to go at my own pace and not try to keep up with everyone else.

I really hope someone's there to greet me after the fact. Just for the high fives and to have someone remember it with me.