Veggie chili

This is so good it deserves a blog post.





1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 tbsp olive oil

Cook that up until the onions and celery are soft.

1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can of black beans
1 cup chopped zucchini
1 cup chopped butternut squash
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup dried pot barley
Garlic powder
Chili powder
Salt
Pepper

Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until cooked.

Serves 6 large portions

Cals 230
Carbs 41 g
Fat 4g
Protein 11 g
Fiber 11 g
Sodium 86 g

You know you're a runner when...

It's taken me a while to put these together.

1. You prefer to go shopping for running clothes than regular clothes
2. You get jealous when you see someone out running. Even if you've been out that day
3. You are checking the weather to see when you can get your runs in
4. The first thing you do on a Sunday morning is check the temperature
5. You know what an iliotibial band is
6. You no longer hate porta potties
7. You frequently get asked, when's your next race
8. You get up earlier on Sunday for your long run, then any other day of the week.
9. When you look at a map, you see running routes
10. You plan vacations around races
11. Your vacation plans include runs
12. The first thing you pack for vacation is running clothes
13. Your favorite part of Christmas day is your long run
14. Your favorite part of New Years day is your long run
15. You know where every public bathroom is within a 10km radius of your house
16. Your budget has a line for race / entry fees
17. Your sneakers cost more than your dress shoes
18. You have more running clothes than regular clothes
19. Your daily run is like an anti-depressant
20. You have more patience running for an hour than you do waiting in line for 5 minutes
21. You know how to convert pace to speed
22. You put more miles in your shoes than in your car
23. You have mastered the snot rocket
24. You don't think Gu is some sort of glue
25. You spend the last 20 minutes of a half marathon wondering why you thought this was a good idea and 20 minutes after you've finished you are wondering when you can do it again

Lucky 7 Relay Race Report

Here’s the punch line because I think this is going to be a long post… I PR’d the heck out of it. YAY!

The relay was teams of three running 7km each, 4.75 laps around the Halifax Common.

I had my team of 3. The Training B.R.A.s and during the promotion of the race, the race management company had an auction to bid on a place on one of the “Olympic” teams. Eric Gillis, who is a Canadian Olympic marathoner from Antigonish was going to be in town that weekend and was going to run the race as well. I thought, that would be cool, so I placed a bid and I won one of the spots. So now I’m running two legs of the race.

The week before the race I got an email that there would be a meet and greet for the Olympic teams on Sunday morning at 6am. This big long note about not to be late and some nifty little perks for being on one of these teams. Don’t forget the “Do not be late”. That means getting up at 5 am. I’ve never gotten up at 5am in my life. Sheesh.

I get up, I get ready, I get going, I get parked, I get to the hotel, nobody knows anything about any meet and greet. There are two other runners in the lobby, but they are just hanging out. Really??!!?? I’m the only one that shows up at 6 am to meet this guy. Seriously. WTF??!!?? And he doesn’t even show up. When he finally did show up about 6:30am, the lobby was full of people and I was already off texting and looking to meet up with my friends that were racing. Insert HUGE eyeroll here.

Leg 1

We get outside and get ready to line up to start and don’t I fall into a pothole in the grass. If Shelley hadn’t been with me, I think I would have cried, right then and there. Holy shit that hurt. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to run or not. I walked around and was able to get the pain to subside a bit. And then we were off. I settled into a pretty good pace. I ended up running with three other ladies. At the fourth corner a watch went off and it was a walk break. I wasn’t ready to stop, so it ended up just being two of us. It was nice to run with someone. I don’t get to do that. We kept a steady pace and chatted a little. It was a really fast course. And other than the first corner which was a slight incline, the rest was very flat. Before the race, I was concerned that I would go nuts running around in circles like that, but it didn’t bother me at all. Danette and I finished the first leg in 49:21. That was impressive in itself and I actually could have had a better time, but I didn’t have the confidence to kick it up. The week before I struggled to finish a 7k in 56 minutes.

My foot was still tender at the end, but I was ok. And I had absolutely no stomach problems. NONE. Seriously. NONE.

Leg 2

I met up with Romy and we headed out to the start shoot to start leg 2. We had found out the day before that our third member had a death in the family and wasn’t going to run, so Romy was going to do the 2nd and 3rd legs, so we could get a team score. We started out and I felt ok. I was concerned about how I was going to fare this leg, so I started out really slow. It wasn’t long before Romy was way ahead of me. I caught back up to her coming around the 2 lap. And then passed her. She caught back up to me and we finished the leg together. In 48:11. Holy crap. I was faster in the 2nd leg. My pace for 14km (with a 25 minute break in the middle) was 6:56. That was freaking awesome. And it is a great boost to my motivation. I’m reinspired.

Leg 2 was ended by my new friend Anita. What a very inspiring woman. This was her first race and she walked the 7k. There were lots of tears from her family on her achievement. She did a great job. I think we'll be seeing a lot more races from her.



Leg 3

Romy and Trish ran the third leg so we cheered them on from the sidelines. Trish had said that watching the legs was very fast and she wasn’t kidding. Once the leaders rounded the first lap it was a constant stream of runners from start to finish. Something to look at or talk about the entire time. A few of the teams had done costumes. The first runners finished in about 25 minutes. The winner of this leg was Eric Gillis. He was standing at the finish shute talking to people and I thought I should go over and have a little chat. Which I did. Got a picture and he autographed my race bib. Nice guy. Very personable.



Expensive Run

This was by far the most expensive race ever. $40 in race fees. $100 for the auction. $50 in a lost running room gift card (I won it and it got lost in the mail) And then I was lucky enough to get a nice parking ticket on race day. $25. Over $200 for a PR. Expensive.

Moral of the story

Physio worked. I had no leg pain at all and only a little groin pain during this race.

I have been flip flopping about what to do next year. Train to get faster or train for the marathon. My go faster goals are sub 30 minute 5k, 60 minute 10k and a 2:15 half. My thought is that a 2:15 half would put me in a good position to train for a reasonable finish time for a marathon. 4:30 or so. The thought of a 5-6 hour marathon just isn’t sitting well. I know that I can only train for a marathon over the winter, so if I don’t train this year, it will be two years before I can run the marathon. That was also just not sitting well. I plugged my pace from this race into the smart coach training database and it spit out that with hard training I could finish the hypo ½ in 2:16. I plugged those numbers in for training starting in February to race the full at the Bluenose and it had me running the full in 4:30 ish. That is so doable. I’ve printed it all out. And I’ve set it all up in my calendar. We’ll see how it goes. But that is now the plan.

I also joined a group to train to run the 25k Moose Run in March. When I joined my goal was a 7:30 pace for this race. I definitely think I could train for a 7:00 pace now. And so I have that as a goal as well.

Goals for the rest of the year

Get all my 26 training runs in. Learn to appreciate the treadmill more (which I am working on. It definitely helps to have a plan for each workout). Stay injury free. Try to figure out what I did for this race to be blessed with no stomach troubles. 5k Santa Shuffle on the 1st. 5k resolution run on the 31st with my daughter. Hopefully hook up with the Moose Run training group. Enjoy Christmas. Get lots of baking done. Complete the rest of my shopping. Decide what to do for New Years Eve. Lose 13.1 lbs(Only doable if I’m packin’ a lot of water right now). Buy a smokin’ hot dress. And start thinking about goals for 2013.


If you’ve read it all, I’m impressed. And thankful. If you have any thoughts about my training or my blog, I’d love to hear them.

Legs for Literacy race report

2:59:04. Meh. I'm not happy with the time. But morale wise, it was an awesome run.

I walked through the water stops, but other than that I ran that whole race. From running 5 and 1's to running 21 k. That's freaking awesome. For me.

I did have to take a bathroom break. That probably took three or four minutes of time. I ran off the course to a gas station.

The course was great. Was fairly flat. It was pretty scenic as well.

We stayed at the Delta Beausejour for the weekend. Great hotel, the staff were amazing. We had an awesome view of the race.




We will definitely be requesting the same room for next year.

It was a great weekend. It is definitely my favorite race. The best reason that I forgot to add to my list, is that I had someone waiting at the finish line. <3 I got a kiss and a hug and a "you stink". Love you too honey.

Already looking forward to next year.

Valley Harvest Marathon

On October 7th, I ran another half marathon. This race took place at Acadia University, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. That's where my daughter attends university. My goodness it's nice in through there. Beautiful scenery. This was my second time at this event. I ran the 10km race last year.
The day before I helped cook turkey dinner for 70 people. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. I was really worried about how I was going to perform the next day.
The morning started at 6am. And rain. And pain. But by the time I was heading to the car it had stopped. The rain. Not the pain. It's still fairly dark at that time of the morning. The stars were shining bright when I got out the door.
 I was greeted just before heading to the car to a text message from my friend Virginia. She scared the bejesus out of me. I panicked when I heard the beep. But she just wanted to wish me luck. She's so very thoughtful. <3 And she's a great runner too. She ran her first Ultra during the same event. 50 kilometers.
I hit the road for my hour drive to the Valley. It was actually a fairly uneventful drive. I did realize that I had forgot my gummies for the race. And I was still worried about whether or not I'd actually be able to finish a 21 km run.
I arrived at the university and headed in to grab my race kit. Still deciding if I should just do the 10k instead. In the end, I decided to just go for it. And walk a lot if I had to.

As the gun went off the race started slow. I always hang out at the back of the pack because I'm one of the last runners to come in and I don't want to get run over, when I have to walk.

As I passed the 1k mark I was actually feeling ok. The first water stop was at the 4k mark, and I was still running.

I can remember if the second water stop was at the 7 or 8 k mark, but I was still running. That was freaking cool. This was the longest I had ever run without stopping. And I was feeling fantastic. At the 10k mark I was still running.

At the 12k mark that all came to a screeching halt. Talk about hitting a wall. At the 12k mark, you had to stop. Turn around and head back down the road you just came from. My body did not like that 180 turn AT. ALL.

I trudged on at a walk run pace.

Because I had forgot my gummies at the campground, I figured I'd drink the Gatorade at a couple of the water stops. At about the 15k mark, I hit a water stop, grabbed some Gatorade and because I was so thirsty, I chugged it. Ugh! Bad. Bad. Idea. It made me sick. Every time I got up to a run, I'd feel like I was either going to throw up or shit myself. I did have to duck into a ditch at one point.

By 16k I was done. I was walking the rest of the way. I did manage to get in a few more minutes of running, but my 7:24 pace after 12k turned into an 8:35 pace after 21.

What did I learn.

* Make sure I drink mostly water. Ease up on the Gatorade.
* Low fat, low fibre in the days leading up to a race.
* Always make sure to race with Kleenex. My nose always runs. And I'm just not into snot rockets.
* Don't forget energy stuff.
* try and figure out how to get my garmin to record my Km paces. I think it's a function of laps.


All in all it was a great run. I enjoyed it for the most part.

Moncton half on October 21.

I'm looking forward to....

I'm really looking forward to having my husband home again.

I'm really looking forward to sleeping in a little bit in the weekends.

I'm looking forward to Saturday night movies.

I'm really looking forward to going to the local pub on Friday night for wings, potato skins and beer.

Speaking of beer, I'm looking forward to switching back to my vodka and club soda.

I'm really looking forward to eating healthy again.

I'm really looking forward to exercising again.

I'm really looking forward to not working 100 hours a week.

The flip side being, I'm really looking forward to being in my house (awake) for more than 20 hours a week.

And go figure, I'm really looking forward to giving the house a good cleaning.

I'm looking forward to baking and cooking. Mmm slow cooked stew with dumplings. Family dinners. ( although that's a little harder because daughter is away at school)

I'm sure the son at home is looking forward to a home cooked meal and to not have to dog sit the WHOLE weekend.

I'm really looking forward to not being exhausted all the time.

I'm really looking forward to my long run Sundays. Boy I miss long run Sundays. My two favorite long runs last year were Christmas Day and New Years Day.

And go figure, I didn't think I'd actually do it, but I think I'm really looking forward to starting full marathon training. Week 1 starts October 29. With the race being May 19th 2013. 29 weeks.

I'm looking forward to Christmas.

I'm looking forward to the RV Show in January.

And I'm sure once I'm well rested I'll be looking forward to camping season again. It's almost over for another year. 13 more sleeps.

Maritime Race Weekend

It looks like I've been pretty MIA for the last few months. June 25th was my last entry.

I didn't get a whole lot of training in over the summer. My "healthy" lifestyle took a little bit of a nose dive. It was just so hot and so humid, all you could do was be lazy. I couldn't even enjoy the gym because it wasn't air conditioned "enough". As an aside, I'm hyperthyroid, so I'm really heat sensitive. The temperature has been turned down a good 10 degrees, so I'm looking forward to getting back on track.

I did manage to get 68 kilometres run in July, 49 in August as as of this writing, I'm already 63 for September. My longest runs in July and August were a 12.7k and a 15k. 

With the Maritime Race looming, I knew I had to get my butt in gear. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to finish the 21 kilometres with the little training that I did have. I had to run a 21 before my race to know that I could still run it. I ran it on September 6th. 3 hours and 10 minutes I think. So I was going to be ok for the race. But I did manage to hurt my IT band on the left side. And it seems I had pinched a nerve in my right foot that was hurting my middle toe. That's an odd injury. So I iced and stretched my IT band and I heated and iced my foot. 

The days leading up to the race, I managed 2 5k's and a 10k. I was feeling pretty good.

Physically, I was still having some ITB issues and that pinched nerve actually only really bothered me if I hit a rock the wrong way. I did a lot of RICEing. And stretching and taping.

Nutritionally, I kept my fiber and fat content really low for the two days prior to the race. I think that actually helped with the stomach issues.

Emotionally, it was a terrible week. I wasn't sleeping well, I had a family emergency on Thursday. Friday night I had less than 4 hours sleep and had a full out mental breakdown at 4 am. Not pretty at all.

But Race day came and I hit the road about 6:30am. It was a nice day. Some clouds. A little cool. Perfect for a run.

Lots of people around.





When I got there I headed for the mile long line for the porta potties. ( they definitely need more of these next year)

About 2 minutes before the gun I decided to take my chances, and headed for the start line.

I was actually surprised at how fast we got out of the gate.

The first 5k was actually pretty rough. My foot started hurting pretty bad. After that though, I guess my foot went numb.

The next 11 km went really well. Haha! I scared a runner with my heavy breathing at the bottom of that crazy hill at about 11 k. I was actually passing people through these 11 km, that kept me pretty motivated.

The last 4 were also kinda crappy. That's when my ITB started acting up. My pace got way slower and I started getting passed. It was pretty painful. A lot of walking. However I did manage the last 2.5 k pretty well. I pushed and passed the two ladies again and managed to catch one more. And even though I was in pain I actually finished it running. And I had absolutely ZERO tummy troubles. ZERO! At one point I thought I was going to but I switched from the Gatorade back to water and didn't eat anymore gu.

And oh boy did it ever get hot by the time I finished. I started the race in my swag long sleeved tshirt and ended in my sports bra. Really sexy. NOT!

Oh yea. And then I proceeded to change my clothes under a towel. I think I only flashed a little. *eyeroll*

All in all it was a good race.

A couple of disappointments. I mentioned the lack of enough ports potties. Also the drivers in the Passage were way too fast. And had zero patience for the event that was happening in their community.

I was also really disappointed in the huge disproportion of goodies in the swag bags between events. I know it's not just about the swag, but it was kind of insulting, if you ONLY ran a half or a full marathon.

Gotta add some good. The organizers and volunteers did a great job. Every water station had at least one person that called you by name. That is huge. For a premier event there were quite a few spectators along the route. The route itself was really nice. I'm glad I live close enough to run it again.

I think I've posted enough of this race.

Start.




Finish.

Slow cooker chicken salsa

I threw this stuff together over the weekend in the slow cooker. Not bad. Not something I'd drool over, but it's good. High in protein. I had it on some rice over the weekend. But today's lunch is just the stew. I just thought about it right now, but a dollop of Greek yogurt would be awesome.

I cooked the chicken in the slow cooker with a couple of cups of water. When it was cooked I drained it and shredded it and threw it back in the crock with the rest of the ingredients. I threw 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar on top of each bowl and then froze them.

I got 8 servings at 317 per serving and 32 grams of protein.





600 grams of boneless skinless chicken
1 can of black beans, drained and rinced.
1 can corn niblets
1 large jar of salsa
1 cup each Onions, mushrooms, red pepper, and green pepper

Lead legs

Training
Well this was an interesting week for training. I was up. I was down.
Monday night was a typical post weekend, drag my ass out for 5k. I guess it was a good run. It was as good as could be expected.
Tuesday was my 10k tempo run. I must say, that was an incredible run. It's these runs of perfection that keeps runners running.
Wednesday night was a strength training workout. I did the P90X shoulders and arms workout. I like that workout. It's probably my favorite of all the discs.
Thursday night was a disaster. What a brutal run that was. If you can call it that. I walked most of it. My pace came in at over 9 minutes per km. brutal. I was supposed to do 18km, I managed to do 14.5, but if there had been anyone I could have called to come and get me I would have been done in less than 10.

I did find this cool trail through Portland Estates though. I'll have to hit it again sometime when I am not fighting to get home.




Nutrition
I don't think I ate very well this week. I had a lot of sodium that made me feel pretty bloated. It showed up as a 2 lb gain this week. I know my calories on the weekends are not good but I usually make up for it during the week.
Gear
I don't have anything gear related to post this week. Oh maybe a little blurb about my vibrams. I can't run in them because I'm just too much of a heel striker. I did have them on kijiji to sell, but I've now started wearing them during my P90X workouts.

Am I a runner now

Oh. I have so much catching up to do. I have race report, training report, And recipes.

But this is just a quick note for posterity, 'cus if I don't post it now I'll forget.

I was out for my long run last night. (Thursday, June 14) 18km. I started out and I felt great. It had been a few weeks since I had a good run. The Bluenose race was a good run.

I was so light on my feet, I had the tunes going ( I actually don't like listening to music usually) I was feeling fantastic.

I got to about the 3k mark and came across a lady walking her two shelties. I saw the dogs. The dogs saw me. The lady saw nothing. As I was making my way out to the road, the dogs started charging and pulled their lead right out of butthead's hand. One of them landed a good chomp in my leg.

I was severely pissed. That dog had just cost me 1100 calories. I was really looking forward to eating them.

The lady was appropriately upset and I walked the 2.5 km home.

Called 811 for advice and then headed for the walk in clinic.

1 tetanus shot, some horse pills and I was home in less than an hour. Still pissed off about the 1100 calories.

I actually went out and finished my run. The beers the next night were awesome.

My collage from the run.




And the bite the next day.




Am I a runner now?

Apple Walnut Salad

About 400 calories of filling yummy goodness.




4 oz of cooked diced chicken breast
2 cups romaine lettuce
1/2 medium apple
1/8 cup walnut pieces
1/8 cup craisins
1 tbsp blue cheese
1 tbsp of fruit vinaigrette ( I use either raspberry or the compliments blackberry Sauvignon )

Shrimp Chow Mein

400 calories and easy on the thighs.





50 g of chow Mein noodles
15 no name 56-65 size shrimp
1 cup of bean sprouts
1 cup of Kirkland stir fry veggies
2 tbsp blue menu peanut sauce

I usually put the noodles in a bowl of hot water while I'm heating everything else up. Then throw the noodles in last with the sauce.

Importing a traing plan to Calendar

This was a huge exercise to figure out. But it is done now and I know that I'm going to forget how to do it again come October. It's now a blog post for posterity.

1. Get a plan from Runnersworld in km. Copy it to excel. Change preferences to miles. Copy that plan to excel. I do this so that outside I can use km and if I need to be on the treadmill I have the corresponding information in mph as well.

2. Set Excel to have the following columns. Subject, StartDate, Alldayevent, description.

3. Use the concatenate function to join the two mileage cells and enclose the cell in quotation marks. Alldayevent should be FALSE.

4. Save this as a .csv file

5. In Google Calendar, click on other calendars. Import Calendar. Choose your file and click import.

Hopefully this will work. Haha.

For anyone else that's reading and wants more columns or to set reminders etc, I exported an outlook calendar to an .xls file. Copied the information to this file. Save it as a .csv file and then import it into Google Calendar.

Boston April 2012

This is a fully loaded Picture Post!

Vacation is either before camping season or after. So basically April or November. This year it was April.

We decided this year to head the the US to visit my brother and his family. During my planning sessions, I realized that he only lived three hours from Boston. I further realized that the week of our vacation coincided with the Boston Marathon.

Without further ado. Pictures.




My nephew Ryan was so excited that his Uncle Luc Skywalker was coming for a visit. Luc didn't have his light saber because the bother guards confiscated it. But Ryan had one Luc could use.




The campground we stayed at outside of Boston. No. Our rig is not one of those.







Seriously! Check out those swag bags. They're packing' some serious swag.





We missed a lot of what was going on at the finish line. We missed the first train into Boston and had to wait another hour. Then we got stuck on the train for an extra 45 minutes because of a brush fire.




A panorama of the beach, walking distance from the campground.




We even managed to get to a Red Sox game. They lost something crazy like 437 to 3.




A big family pic at Sunday River.




And a pic of Paul Bunyon for kicks and giggles.

That was our trip. It was so much fun, we'll probably do it again next year. With some minor changes, now that we have the experience.

I did manage to get in a couple runs while we were away. You get to see so much when you're running around the neighborhoods.

Race Report - Bluenose Half Marathon

20+ weeks of training all came down to this.
Let me start off by saying Thank You to all the organizers, volunteers and spectators for a wonderful race. There are so many people that put so much time and effort into making this a great event. It was wonderful.
Secondly I want to say what a super wonderful husband I have. I love him SOOOOO MUCH!!!! After being up half the night making sure all was settled in the campground, he had to get up a mere 4 hours later to drive a half hour to swap cars with me, and change the blow out I had in my tire. Yep. You read that right, I can't make this stuff up. At 6:30 am this morning, on my way to race day that I have trained for 20+ weeks, I got a flat tire.
I also want to say Thanks to the 4 cars that pulled over to check to see if I needed assistance or a ride.

I managed to make the race with about 10 minutes to spare, but I was a little frazzled and forgot a couple things in the car. I managed to get to a bathroom and meet up with a couple people and was ready to go.

My next running purchase us going to be a belt that I can put a few gu gels in. My coat around my waist sucks.

It was a pretty warm day at the start and it only got warmer. I tried to take advantage of any shade I could find along the course. Even along the water in Point Pleasant Park was warm. No ocean breeze at all.

The first few km's were crowded but good running wise. I started out with the 2:30 pace bunny, but I quickly figured out that was too fast, so I dropped back.

I was starting to get a little frustrated with people passing me. But in the end I realized that I had paced myself better because at the end of the race, I was actually passing them and strongly. I think this was my favorite part of the whole race. I did things right and I finished strong. I was able to encourage others when they were struggling.

The signs that the spectators had were fun and encouraging.

Don't poop your pants.
Pain is temporary, pride is forever.
If you can read this, your going to slow.
Run, random stranger! Run!

I finished the race in 2:47:42

I had a lot of fun, considering and I'm looking forward to the next one.

It's taken me a week to get around to finishing this post, so things are not so fresh in my mind.

Awesome Salad

Went to Brewdebakers today for a business lunch and had an awesome salad. It was the Brewhouse Salad.
Lettuce, mushrooms, green pepper, carrots, cucumber,
craisins, spiced pecans, smoked cheddar cheese, with a balsamic vinaigrette.
It was yummy.
Had it not been a business lynch, I SO would have snapped a pic.

Motivation - I look like this

I love this one. 'Cus I have the goofiest stride.

Motivation - Dead Last

I'm going to start posting these motivational pictures as I come across them. I've been admiring the motivational posters that are floating around the net. I saw one the other day and thought it was awesome. Now that I have some place to post it, do you think I can find it. No. Of course not. So now when I see one I like, I'm going to post it here.

Here's one.

PS: The one I've been trying to re-find says something about "If you don't want to have to restart, then don't quit" Or something like that. If anyone finds it, please let me know. KTHNX

100 km per month

It's been awhile since I've written a post. Since my big long run, I haven't done a whole lot. Here it is the end of the month and I haven't completed my 100 km yet.

What 100 km you ask? It's not a big deal. It's a group of ladies and a Facebook group. The goal is to run 100 km per month. I'm fighting for these last 25 or so. 4 days and 25 km to go. Nasty weather forecast and a strong dislike of the Treadmill is making it difficult. If all else fails, I'll do another 21 k long run on Saturday and then I'll only have 4 to make up in the next three days. That's doable. Ha!

I have some pics from our trip to the Montreal RV Show.












Ok. So, that's all I have to post today.

Happy Running

My first half marathon

It was only a training run, but it was still a half in distance. And I'm really glad I got that out of the way. Especially considering how the mileage has been lacking in March. We had two weekends away with RV Shows, so I didn't get any miles in there, and we had a couple of weeks of some bad weather that hampered runs too. But anyway, it's done, and out of the way and I can breathe a sigh of relief that I will be able to complete a half marathon race in May.

It was a beautiful day for a run. I started out with jacket and mittens. And my buff (YAY!, my first run wearing my buff. I bought a couple in Montreal when we were there) But it became clear very quickly that the mittens had to go. And depending on the sun and the wind, determined whether I wore my jacket or not.

I started out ok, but at the 10 minute mark I started getting some shin pain that I thought was going to derail the effort. But that went away. Then I was plagued with hamstring pain that stayed for the rest of the run. I did really well for the first 10k. The hill at the end of the 10k mark, I actually ran up half, when I usually walk it all. I still did pretty well for the first 17k. And then my legs were toast. So I walked the rest. It was actually about the 17k mark when I decided I'd go for 21.1 instead of the 20. And those last 4 were brutal. I watched every click of each km go by. And I had to adjust my route 3 or 4 times to get all the mileage in.

But in the end it was awesome. I'm pretty chuffed. But now I think I'll take the rest of the day off.

That was the coolest sound

Just a little post today. I've been slacking just a little bit because of the bitterly cold weather outside and I just can't get on the treadmill for any decent length of time. (Barring that 16k run on the treadmill a couple of weeks ago. I don't know what in the hell got into me that day)

I was out last night. It was cold -9C, but there wasn't any wind. It was an awesome night for running. I was listening to my audiobook and then I heard it. "What was that?" I listened for it again. "OH Wow, how cool is that?" I had to turn off my book and listen for a few minutes.

It was dark out. There was nobody around, there were no cars on the road, no wind in my ears. Just me. And the rhythmic sound of my feet hitting the pavement.

What a cool sound.

I probably only got to listen for 30 seconds or so. And then the wind picked up. Hissing in my ears.

I turned my book back on and kept going.

My three tips for weightloss success

Someone asked. I posted. I liked it, so I'm posting it again.

My top three tips for successful weightloss. (I don't like the term weight loss though because it's not only about the weight loss itself, it's about being healthy and staying that way)

My # 1 tip is that you need to make your health a very high priority. Just as important as work and family. You get up and go to work every day even when you don't want to. Now you need to treat being healthy the same way. You eat well and work out every day, even when you don't want to.

My #2 tip is that this is a lifestyle change. In order to be successful you will never, ever, ever be able to go back to your old ways. EVER. If you think that once you lose the weight, that you can go back to the way things were, you WILL fail. You will gain all the weight back and then some.

My # 3 tip is to use this time to determine what you want this new lifestyle to be. Where do you see yourself in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years.

/soapbox

Addict it is...

I did my longest run to date yesterday. 18km. New records abound. :) (OK, I know I'm the only one that cares about that stuff. :P )

If you had asked me yesterday, the run was not good. It was sunny, but it was really windy in a few places. I really don't like the wind. At about the 12km mark I got a butt cramp. TMI WARNING! It felt like my insides were going to explode out my butt. No, it's not a runners trot issue. I know those well. This is different. I don't know if anyone knows what I'm talking about, but holy painful. Spasm. Cramp. Ouch. I had to walk to relieve that. I did think at one point I was going to have to call for a ride home though. But I managed to walk it off. At the 15 km point I hit the wall. I was done. It took every ounce of energy I had just to keep myself upright, on two feet. One foot in front of the other. As I got home, I realized I was .5 km short. So I kept going. Walked right on past the house. That's some serious issue right there. Every muscle from the waist down is screaming for relief and you say, "Just five more minutes".  When I was done, I had completed it in 2:46:00, with a pace of 9:11 per km.

Oh boy I ached. My legs hurt. My feet hurt. I was mentally and physically exhausted. I couldn't stand up. I couldn't sit down. I was chilled right to the bone. I was sick to my stomach. I was weak. My brain was fried. I couldn't decide if I wanted to cry from the misery or laugh at the ridiculousness of what I am putting myself through.

What am I thinking? Someone yesterday asked me if I was training for a marathon. Before yesterday's run, I was planning on running at least a couple in 2013. Yesterday I wasn't sure if I wanted to put myself though the grueling training. For a few minutes I wasn't even sure I was capable of completing the training to do the half in May. Let alone the 4 halfs I was planning to do this year.

My wonderful husband massaged my legs for a few minutes. It was wonderful. I could so get used to that. <3. But then he took me traipsing through the Wal-mart. Do you know how BIG a Wal-Mart is?????  If it weren't for the massage, I think I'd be pissed.

So, Wal-Mart, grocery store, supper, a soccer game (watching, not playing) and bed. That was how the rest of my day went.

I do have to talk about supper for a minute. I made a new salad last night from the salad book. Beef Stir Fry Salad. I altered it a little bit. Instead of using the veggies as listed, I used 1.5 cups of thawed Kirkland Stir Fry vegetables.

And instead of making the dressing as per the recipe, I just picked up a bottle of Mandarin Ginger dressing from the grocery store. The salad was awesome. (I have some more for lunch today.)

Where was I? Oh yea, bed. That's right. I turned on some Dragnet and off to lala land I went.

This morning I got up, no aches, no pains. I was actually a little more limber than when I usually wake up.  I felt freaking FANTASTIC!!!

Guess what. I can't wait to do it all over again next Sunday.

This is a pretty good addiction. You feel horrible while your doing it, but THEN the high kicks in and the pain is all but forgotten.

I've done 87km so far this month. On track for a total of 131 km for February.

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned.

It's been a very very long time since I puked all over myself over indulged like this.

I just ate 800 calories of cheesecake.

It was good, but it wasn't 800 calories good. And I'm feeling a bit ill.



I'm feeling a tad bit on the guilty side too. Which I don't normally do. But I don't normally eat 800 calories of cheesecake either.

I could have eaten half and been happy. But no way, I had to oink it all.

I took Fat Friday to a whole other level. And unfortunately it's not over yet. Not until after pizza and drinks. At least pizza is home made veggie pizza and drinks are vodka's and club sodas, so the overall damage will be minimal.

Oh well. It's in ma belleh now. I'll have to save some room on Sunday after my run to make up for it.

That's my confession.

PS: it was a penny a calorie too.

Have a good weekend.

Now that I have that over with.

I ran the quarter marathon (10.55 km) yesterday in the Falmouth Freezer.

We had a rain / snow / ice storm on Saturday night, so the race was postponed until 1:00 pm. Courtney came with me and we picked up a new friend along the way and met some more new friends once we got there. The roads were so bad, that of the 75 people that had registered for the quarter, probably only 20 showed up. It looks like they are going to run it again on Friday night. (?)

The temperature wasn't so bad. -6C. And there was either not much wind or the wind was being blocked. There was an open 2km stretch that was a bit chilly. I did get an ice pick headache at one point, the wind was so cold. But it didn't last long.

The roads that we were running on were really bad. Snow covered. Ice. Slippery. There were a lot of cars on the roads. There were a couple of times where I was actually worried and had to stop and get off the road with cars coming. If they had slid, they'd plow right into me, and there wasn't going to be a damn thing I could do about it. And hilly. Whoa, It was hilly. Way hillier than you would hope a race would be. But I actually didn't mind it too much. Any route I ever run has hills on it. So, I'm used to it. The piece de resistance, my friends. I came in DEAD LAST. I did, however manage to finish probably ten seconds ahead of the winner of the half marathon.

As much as I've complained about it, it really wasn't a bad run, for a long run, for me. It was a really sun shiny day. I don't get to run too much in the sun these days. So, I really enjoyed that. I got to have some free soup. I won a gift certificate from www.roadid.com. I already put my order in for reflective wrist bands and a shoe pocket.  I met some great people and I'm really looking forward to running with them again. (OK, running way way way behind them. LOL. Great job on the times.) And I got to spend a few hours with Courtney, which doesn't happen very often these days. And even though I came in last, I still ran a PR time for anything over 10K. Which is pretty amazing because of the road conditions.

So, all in all, not a bad day.

The Dreadmill, Dexter and Dinner

So, Dexter and I did 16km on the treadmill on Sunday. Two and a half hours. Holy CRAP!

I hate the dreadmill. Hate it. It's so boring. Even watching TV didn't really help. But I did it. And I hate it less than a winter windchill, so it was my only option. I did cheat a little, if you call it cheating. I kept the incline on 0. And I did manage to keep my pace to plan. I actually could have done a little better. I lowered my speed for a bit and then forgot to increase it again. Anyway. It's done. I could do it again, if I had to.

I will say, I definitely needed that run. I felt FANTASTIC the next day. I didn't realize how I was starting to feel crappy until I felt good. Crappy starts to sneak up on you. One bad meal. One missed workout. You slowly start into the decline of yuck. You're tired. You're dragging your ass. Which leads to more bad meals and more missed workouts.

Week 1 of February down. Only 3 more weeks of winter left and then things start to warm up. I know we haven't had much of a winter this year. We have been really lucky. But February is still cold. It is still the coldest month of the year and it is still really wind chilly.

Lets talk about Dexter for a moment, shall we. I have been listening to people rave about this show. For years. In case there is anyone left out there that doesn't know about the show yet, or didn't click on the link above. Dexter is a cop. But he's also a serial killer. He only kills bad guys though. So, that makes it ok. Well, I suppose once the police catch up to him, it won't be so, ok. I'm only on show 4 now, but it looks like his cop father suspected he was going to turn into a serial killer and coerced him into only killing the dregs of humanity.

Did I think it was awesome and fantastic? Not really. Will I sit down and do a Dexter marathon on some boring Sunday afternoon? Only if I a dreadmill is involved. Will I actually finish watching the series, or will it end up in obscurity? I probably will. Eventually. It did pique my curiosity enough that I'd like to find out what happens to him and his sister. And what the Chief is hiding. 'Cus he is hiding something, isn't he? You don't promote a boob to a homicide detective if you want crimes to be solved. Right?

If you are interested in watching the series, Netflix has seasons 1 - 3.

Now onto Dinner. I've seen a couple of "What I ate Wednesday" posts, but I'm not organized enough to actually take pictures of everything I ate / eat today. But I do like taking pictures of my food (no worries, it's not ABC food. Well it is ABC now, but I didn't take pictures of the ABC part. HAHAHA Kid humour)  and I have taken some pics of some great stuff over the last week, so without further ado, I present my version of What I ate Wednesday.

This is my husbands version of a healthy banana split. I had this for dessert after my 16km run on Sunday. It's 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream, 1 banana, 1/2 cup of sliced strawberries (we buy them frozen by the bagfuls at Costco) 1/2 square of semi sweet bakers chocolate and 1 1/2 squares of a Lindt extra creamy chocolate bar. It worked out to be about 400 calories. It was SOOOO freaking good. I'm drooling for another. But at 400 calories, I'll have to wait until my next long run.

There's a little story about my next picture. I got a Christmas present from my Aunt on Sunday. "Apparently" she wanted to make sure she got my Christmas present to me before I went back to work after my Christmas break. She has Alzheimers. I should be happy that she still remembers who I am. But I can definitely see the progression of the disease in her. It was a nice present. It included Company's Coming Meal Salads.  The recipes look fantastic. And since I love salads, I can't wait to try every single one of them. This is the first one I made. It's a Steak & Sweet Potato Salad. It was also really yummy. I had some more today for lunch.

This is 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of cooked steak, cut in bite size pieces. 1/2 cup cubed cooked sweet potato. 1/2 cup asparagus. 6 grape tomatos cut in half. 3 inches of english cucumber sliced. 1.5 cups of romaine lettuce. 1 tbsp of Blue Menu light Parmesan Cheese and 1 tbsp of Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing. For a total of 330 calories.

Well, I guess that's all I have to say today. That was a long post. I'm glad I got some pictures in there too. I kinda feel like a post is missing something if it doesn't have pictures. Every post should have a picture, right?

Until next time.

Not much of an update

I don't have much of a running / health update. 

Last weekend was the RV show, so we hung out there for four days. We'll see, come camping season how it panned out for us. I was kinda disappointed with the selection of RV rigs there this year. No A-Class at all, for the dreamers. No B-Class. Two truck campers. A couple of hybrids. It seemed like it was either high end travel trailers and fifth wheels or hardtops and rpods. The couple of mid-pack trailers I did see had really, really poor layouts. No master bed. Just bunks and kitchen. So, the adults (assuming it's ma and pa and little ones) would have to set up and take down the table to sleep. Been there. Done that. Is NEVER going to happen again. What a pain in the ass that is.

As for running, I was finally able to get out last night for a little 5k'er. It was really good to get back out there. My time was horrible. Horrible. But I still enjoyed it. I also managed to get out to my bodypump class on Monday (New release is a killer) and yoga yesterday. So it seems like I'm back on track.

Time for recuperation

My first pseudo injury. It's not a bad injury, but it's bad enough to sideline me for at least the rest of this week, I think.

During my Sunday run, I was running on snow and hit a couple of ice patches. twisted my back a little. I had a little ache but nothing too serious, or so I thought. We headed out for our run last night and about 1km in, I was done for. I finished the 5k, walking. Slowly. Rest and relax and repair is the name of the game.

I've had back problems for about 20 years or so. WOW! Probably going on 25, now, I guess. No. 22 years. I had to think about it for a minute. So I'm not unfamiliar. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being no pain and 10 being the original injury pain, I'm probably at a 7 or 8.

I did get in the 100km for January.

Rest and relax and repair is the name of the game. I think by next Tuesday, I should be back at it. But it sure is going to suck, not being able to eat all those yummy extra calories though.

Interestingly though.

I weigh myself everyday. I know what causes my weight fluctuations. Food. Sodium. Whatever. I gained 1.5 lbs this morning. It's been a long time since I've had that kind of water gain for some reason that I wasn't expecting. The only thing that makes sense is that my body is retaining the water to repair the pain in my back. That's kinda interesting. I'll be watching it to see how that pans out.

Happy Birthday to you!

It was my son's birthday on Wednesday. We went out to Boston Pizza for supper and then ice cream cake for dessert. Yummy. I of course have no will power and had to have something really really bad for me. The Boston Cheese Steak sandwich.  I was good though and had it with a tossed salad instead of fries. I'm really not much of a fry person anyway, so that's not much of a stretch.

So for the day, I was about 1600 calories over my limit. You read that right. Not only did I eat all my calories that I was allowed, I also ate 1600 more. That's a whole days worth. LOL. 5000 mg of sodium. That's about 5 days worth for me. Man, I downed 2 litres of water like it was air.

I have to say, I felt like crap yesterday. You don't realize how bad crappy food makes you feel until it's a once in a blue moon meal, instead of an everyday meal. My yoga class was almost a disaster. I just couldn't focus. The run last night was a little better.

The weight damage was minimal. .8 lbs. And as of today, it's on it's way back down.

Speaking of running. I'm at 85 km for the month so far. We did an 8k yesterday. Our pace wasn't as good as I had wanted, but it was close. But overall, I'm actually pretty impressed with my improvement these last couple of months. I'm running up hills. And liking it. LMAO. I have a 16k to do on Sunday and it is going to include a beast of a hill. That I plan to conquer. GRRR!!! (Brake Hard Hill, for those that know what I'm talking about). Snow or sun or slippery sidewalks I will be out.


Apple Pie Breakfast

1 Cup Steel Cut Oats
1 Cup Apple Juice
3 diced peeled apples
3 Cups Water
Cinnamon and Nutmeg to taste

Throw it all in the slow cooker on high for 2 to 4 hours (on low for 4 to 6 hours) and enjoy.

It was quite good. You would definitely have to use steel cut oats for this, because even they were mushier than what I am used to. I don't think you could use Quick Oats at all. That would be just mushy grossness.  I also used honey crisp apples. I think I will  use a sweeter apple next time. However the honey crisp did stay firm which was a good contrast to the mushy oats. I didn't add any sweetener to mine so they weren't as sweet as my oatmeal and craisins usually is, but Luc did and he gobbled it up. So a little brown sugar makes it yummy. :) Patrick LOVED it. But this is the same kid that makes a snack out of a tortilla, a bakers chocolate square, peanut butter, frozen cherries and some other stuff.

There. I think I'm done this post.

Have a good weekend everybody.

Hydrating is important

I've done 13k's before and haven't had to drink anything. Not even 5k into today's run and I had almost 16 oz gone. I only brought 16 oz with me. This was going to be bad.

It is 5k from home to the trail head and the trail is 5k out and back. So for me, my planned run was 15k. My 5k time was actually pretty good. 37:40. Chelle and Jamie passed me on my way.
I met Luc at the trail head. He was going to do the 10k.

About 2.5 k into the trail I texted Courtney and asked her to fill up a couple of water bottles and bring them out to the other side of the trail.

She was 100 ft from the other side of the trail and this happened.

She got pulled over during a road check. Apparently her Mommy didn't renew the registration on the car. OOPS. My Bad.

Anyway, we drank water. I ate a chocolate gu gel. They are awesome. What a great chocolate taste. Yum. And we waited patiently for the police officer to write her the ticket and then we headed back the way we came.

I know there was other stuff I wanted to write in this post, but now it's 9:30 pm and I'm tired and I forget.

If I remember, I'll edit.

4 x 7km's this week coming up.

I am officially a runner

I just had the best run that I've ever had. EVER. I think I can say that I'm officially a runner. Why, you ask?

I went out on icy sidewalks because we a dusting of snow today braving slipping and sliding. There's a structure fire in the area and the air is pretty stiff with smoke. (I hope it's not too bad ) I was almost hit by two cars. (I won't mention they were women drivers) Totally not my fault AT ALL. I was attacked by two dogs. OK, one was a collie and the other a golden retriever and just wanted to say hello, but they ran away from their owners and got in my way. I ran right through a puddle and instead of thinking "Oh CRAP" I thought. "Oh my gosh that feels good on my feet."

But most of all, except for stopping at lights, a dog, and an icy patch, I ran the entire 8 kilometres. HOLY CRAP!!! I didn't take one single walk break. Not one. I bet at some points I wasn't running much faster than a walk, but I still went through the motion. I ran up every hill. OK, they were slight inclines, but a month ago I would have walked them. I did walk them.

Don't get me wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with walk breaks. I plan on taking lots of them on future runs. But it's just such a fantastic feeling to know that you are taking walk breaks because you want to or they're part of your training, as opposed to needing to because you can't take another step without dropping dead of a heart attack. If you catch my drift.

It makes me feel great to know that I can run an entire 8k without stopping.

Half marathon here I come.

PS: I'm using the term officially facetiously. A runner is anyone that gets off the couch.

2012 - Goals

hmmm. I thought I did this already.


I will continue to run. 
I will complete every run per my training plan to complete a half marathon in May. 
I will not lose focus during camping season. 
I will continue to eat healthy foods 
I will continue to strength train. 
I will Continue to help my family get healthy
I will lose another 20 lbs. And 2 dress sizes.

Other non-health and fitness related goals unfortunately, I don't have specific goals related to them which I think is going to make it difficult. 


I will put some serious effort into guitar practice.
I will put some serious effort into photography. (It's still January 1, so I have a few hours to decide, but I'm considering attempting a project 365 again this year)
I will put some serious effort into knitting and crocheting.
And I will put some serious effort into blogging.


ETA: There was another goal that I had posted to a forum and then promptly forgot about it. I need to be more social, out in public social. Talk to people face to face social, not face to computer social. Fun social. Not business or campground social. 


I think it would be kinda neat to be able to sell my wares ie some nice photo postcards and some knitwear at the campground. But I'm sorta like a fish, floppin' around with no direction when it comes to this stuff. 


In other news, my first run of the year was a 13km walk, more or less. It was brutally windy. I had to keep pulling my pants up and keep my hat from blowing off my head.. I was tired. My legs were sore. It was a chore run. You know, a run you do because you have to, not because you want to, and you don't enjoy it. I wish the chore runs were the 4k runs, not the 2 hour runs.


However, I started listening to the Virgin River Series by Robin Carr. Very easy to listen too. The Narrator, Therese Plummer is very good at keeping a listener engaged. 


I was going to try and finish the Richard Castle series, but ugh, the Narrator was just annoying. To me. Johnny Heller is a very popular narrator, so I understand that it's not him it's me. LMAO.


Anyway, I've sort of gone off on a tangent here, so I'll end my post for today.


If I do decide to do a Project 360, this will be the photo for January 1.