2013 Hypothermic Half

February 10, 2013 was the 2013 Hypothermic half. It was also the day after the Nor'easter named Nemo. *Insert eyeroll here* I think in total we got 40 cm of snow. 30 cm or so overnight on Friday, and then another 10 cm or so overnight on Saturday. Leading to raceday on Sunday.

As long as it wasn't snowing on Sunday and the route was relatively ok, I was bound and determined to run.

The race was supposed to take place in Eastern Passage. (The course and the starting place had changed even prior to the storm). Once wind of the storm took hold the organizers decided that they would move it from Eastern Passage where the roads were certain to not be plowed to Dartmouth Crossing, where the roads would have been plowed. There is apparently a 1 mile path that goes around the Village shops. The plan was to do this loop 13 times. That doesn't sound that bad. Plus it was a flat course. YAY!

They gave people the option to run in Dartmouth Crossing. You could run it on your own at a later date and email them (honour system), or the two running room stores were offering up routes next Sunday to run.

Got up at 6:30 looked outside, made coffee and then contemplated my day. It wasn't that cold. And it wasn't really windy. -6 temp with a -14 windchill. Talked with the friend I was going with and we were still not sure. In the end at 7:30, she opted out. I got dressed and headed out.

Got to Empire Theatre in Dartmouth Crossing and was really surprised at the amount of people there. I should have taken a picture. I spoke to one of the volunteers about the route and I guess HRM limited them to the Empire Theatre parking lot. That's a whole lot of yuck. If the loop is anything less than a km, we were looking at over 20 laps around and around and around.  And around.

I sat in my truck watching people arrive, and watched people walk around, and watched the organizers try and get things set up. The parking lot is one big open space and the snow was being blown around pretty fierce. Along with people.

I just didn't feel right supporting that. Running is supposed to be fun. Relatively speaking. I don't think it would have been dangerous. They were doing what they could to keep people safe. Keeping people contained in a parking lot. But it just would have been a miserable run.

There were also no porta-potties. I personally can't run 20km without having to go to the bathroom.

And then looking at the people that were there, they were definitely hard core runners. These people would have been finished the half in 2 hours easy. There ain't nobody going to want to stand around waiting for a three hour finisher to run in those conditions.

So in the end, I said screw it. I will run it from the Bedford Running Room next Sunday. Came home and ran on the treadmill.

Do I think they should have cancelled it? I don't know. There were a lot of people ready to run this morning. 100 or so, by the time I finally left at about ten minutes before the gun. That's pretty significant, I think. There were less than that for the Falmouth Freezer last year and that still went on. I drove to that too. I think that if they had been able to come up with a route that was longer than a few hundred metres, I would have stayed. At least we would have been able to have some semblance of shelter running between the buildings.

Anyway, it's time to hit the shower and get ready for the Hypo Half brunch. That is still going on.

What I ate Wednesday

I thought I'd give this a go today. See what happens. I of course, forgot to take a couple of pictures, but I did get most. This is what I ate yesterday.

For breakfast it was oatmeal with craisins. I've eaten the same thing for weekday breakfast for over 2 years. Yep.


Next up is mid morning snack.





I never did get around to eating the orange. It's still in my lunch bag for today.

I forgot to take a picture of my lunch. It was my last bowl of turkey vegetable soup that I made from our Christmas turkey. That was probably the best soup I ever made. It was so good. Along with it I had a ham and cheese biscuit from Tim Hortons. It's a surprisingly nice complement to the turkey soup.

Afternoon snack was yogurt. I used to eat Greek yogurt with some fruit but I found out this has more protein and less calories. Not by much so it's not a big deal but I was always concerned about added sugar in these.





After work I headed out for my 8k tempo run. It was a beautiful January thaw night. Great night for a run. After some technology problems it turned into one of the best runs I've had in awhile.

I got home to a nice home cooked meal cooked by my wonderful husband. <3





The picture is way dark. Oops. It's a chicken salad with strawberries, pecans, craisins and feta cheese. So yummy. I had left overs today for lunch.

The other picture I forgot to take was my bedtime snack. It was 2/3 cup of Quaker Harvest Crunch. 1/8 cup if craisins and 1/2 cup of milk.

A full day of yummy food. Did I mention I love craisins?

2012 year in review

I'm a little behind on this. But as in running, better late than never, right?

I ran 1241 km in 2012. My average pace for the whole year was 7:40 per km. January's average pace was 9:14 for 116 km. through to December's pace was 7:06 for 175 km. I'm pretty happy with that.

Probably the best thing I did for my running this year was finally get out and start running with a local running club. It's been great for my speed and self confidence.

Races

Lets see if I can recap them all with a little information.

Falmouth Freezer 10.55k - that was a cold messy one. The roads were icy and snow covered and i remember one open stretch through farmland that was so crazy bitter cold. We had just had a storm that morning. We didn't know if we were going to go or not. We did. I ran the 1/4 marathon. I beat the guy doing the 1/2 by about 15 seconds.

Bluenose Half Marathon - This was my first attempt at the half marathon. It would also be my fastest of the year. 2:45 or so. It was a really sunny hot day. I remember that I was so appreciative of the shade from the buildings. I also remember that gross hill in Point Pleasant Park.

Oh my goodness. How could I forget. That was the race where I blew a tire on my way in from the campground. I didn't have any tools to change it myself, so I had to call hubby and get him to drive the half hour to help me. Lots if runners stopped on the way to offer assistance. <3

Muffin Run 5k - this is a great little run in Lunenburg. The feast and prizes at the end are incomparable. This was a really speedy run. My second fastest for that distance.

Maritime Race Weekend 21.1k - it was a really nice morning for a race but boy did it warm up fast. This race was on Saturday morning at 7:30 am. Touring through Eastern Passage and Cow Bay. I did not train well over the summer for this race, and suffered an ITB injury before this one.

Harvest Valley Half Marathon - this was the second of three fall halfs. I was still suffering with my ITB issue but surprisingly it was my IBS that got the better if me this race. This race was the first time I had ever run 12 km without stopping. I slowed down through the water stops but that was it. About km 13.5 I took in too much Gatorade and that was the end. I couldn't maintain a jog for more than a minute or so.

Legs for Literacy half in Moncton - this was a great race for me. I did have to make a pit stop at about 11k. I walked through the water stops, but other than that ran it all.

I promptly started physio for the ITB after this race.

Lucky 7 relay 7k- I actually ran 14k. This was my fastest run ever. My pace was under 7 minutes for the 14k. This was a great flat course around the Halifax Common. I thought I'd be bored running around in circles but it wasn't bad at all.

Resolution Run 5k - I ran this with my daughter. Boy she's speedy. It was a cool night but warmed up nicely once we got going.

That's my year in review. I've had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to 2013.

2013 Goals

I've finally decided that I'm going to work on speed this year and worry about marathon training for next year. The prospect of a 6 hour marathon just doesn't do it for me.

I'll work on a sub 30 minute 5k, a sub 60 minute 10k and a sub 2:15 half.

If I can do that, then I'll start marathon training.

I'm definitely going to keep running with the club.

Races for 2013

Heart & Sole Fun Run 10k - Feb 3
Hypothermic Half - Feb 10
Moose Run 25k - March 17
CUA Lung Run 5k - April 13
Bluenose Half - May 19
Muffin Run 5k - June
Maritime Race Weekend 5k and half - September
Valley half - October
Moncton half - October
Lucky 7 7k - November
Resolution Run 5k - December

I also think I'm going to do an away race either in the fall or winter.

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.