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.