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IT’S RAGNAR NORTHWEST PASSAGE TIME!!
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Please note that my tweets will be few and far between unless I can find free WIFI!
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I am running at approximately 4pm Friday, 2:30am Saturday, and 12:15pm Saturday
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#NUUNKOTB
It’s hard to believe that it has been almost 3 months since I found out that I wouldn’t be running HTC I would be running Ragnar Northwest Passage with Nuun!
The ball gets rolling on Thursday with Colin and Spud dropping me off at HQ in the afternoon. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but Colin earns the title of world’s best husband as 19 July is our 9th wedding anniversary. I think I’m going to have to push really hard for an ultra team next year so we can have a 10th anniversary trip! #runnerds! Once I’m dropped off I’ll be meeting up with Holly (van 1), who is coming in from Oregon. I’m assuming we’ll toodle around town until it’s time to see the rest of the team for dinner and van decorating. I asked about decorating rules this time around and, unfortunately, this is a no-go:
Window art is highly encouraged, but there was a bit of an issue getting the rest of the van clean after Hood to Coast 2011 (so I heard – thankfully it wasn’t me that had to drive up to the rental place in it…).
Thursday night I’m hoteling it in Seattle with Holly, Jenny (van 2), and Becky (van 1). I’m pretty thankful that I’m not in van 1 this time around as they have to leave at 5:15! My Friday starts at 9am with a van ride up to Bellingham-ish.
According to the handy Ragnar pace calculator I should be running at the following times:
Leg 9 * 6.1mi/9.8km * Moderate: 4pm
Leg 21* 2.7mi/4.3km * Easy: 2:30am
Leg 33 * 6.8mi/10.9 * Hard: 12:15pm
Apparently I was blinded by my love of downhill. Forgot it was quite an uphill to earn it!
For running a total of 15.6mi/25.1km within 24 hours I’m surprisingly calm. Not sure if it’s because I’ve done a relay before; it’s NOT Hood to Coast, therefore less pressure; I feel like I know the people better this time around; or just because I get to hang out with the Nuun folks, but I’m so happy to be able to do it! I”m packing tonight so it won’t be a mad dash tomorrow and hopefully I won’t forget anything. Tomorrow’s Wordless Wednesday post apparently has its subject matter!
Pop back on Friday for ways to follow our team! Twitter will be the main source, but I’m sure Facebook and maybe blogs will be utilized as well. Just a head’s up that I won’t be tweeting much myself due to roaming charges (free WIFI is where it’s at!), but if you search for @lovemyrunners you can find out how I’m doing.
What Are You Doing On 3 June?
Don’t forget that Earth Run Foundation’s 5K, 10K, and Virtual Run happen on Sunday, 3 June! It will be my first 10K race since 2001!
If you’re in Vancouver come out for an affordable race at Jericho Beach. If you can’t make it here please join us by participating in their inaugural Virtual Run. Register to run 5 or 10 kilometres between 1 June and 4 June.
If you can’t run with us in June click here to contribute your mileage to see if we can run across the planet! You can add your location or just your distances. The goal is to turn the earth green!
Team Nuun Tuesday Dedicated Tuesday Posts Available {Just Sayin’}
There is only one week left before Nuun announces their 2012 Hood to Coast team! I have had moments where I’ve been super relaxed about it as well as moments of sheer terror. Is my entry good enough? Am I good enough? The fact that I can even write about it proves that I’m in a mellow, let-it-be, mood. We’ll see how the rest of the next 7 days pan out. I can pretty much guarantee that there will be lots of internet chatter the closer we get. And I predict that the 24 hours prior to the announcement social media sites will explode with the anticipation (at least in circles that pay attention to such things). Remember that you can check out other ladies’ submissions – and have your own posted – both on my site (here) and at Run, Zoe, Run (here).
Speaking of Nuun, they announced today that they have FLAT RATE SHIPPING! $3.99 for all ground shipments. Please remember that they currently only ship to the US. I’m thankful that I live close enough to the border to be able to ship it there and pick it up…
*****
Congratulations to everyone who completed the Boston marathon yesterday – I’m sure every finisher had a story to tell, especially regarding the heat. I’m super proud of my HTC2011 teammates Dorothy, Melody, and Mason as well as my IRL friend Laurie! You are all huge inspirations! I might never aspire to Boston, but the work that goes into getting there still amazes me.
*****
I’m currently reading “Run Less, Run Faster” and debating if I should go that sort of route with my fall marathon. I love the “run less” idea – although it doesn’t mean “train less.” I’m scared ****-less of the “run faster” part. It seems daunting for a marathon training cycle. And I’m completely unsure if it’s compatible with my heart-rate based training. I may take the concept of it – fast run, speed run, long run – and work it into what-ever custom training plan I devise. I like the two cross-training sessions per week, but know that it’ll be hard to fit in over the summer with money/time constraints.
Please let me know if you have used this program and how it worked out for you. Any feedback on the marathon program specifically would be greatly appreciated.
*****
In the same vein as the last point do you have any suggestions for training programs I should look at. I’ve been using the Running Room programs (it’s a running store that’s mostly in Canada) since I began running and, while I love them and know they work, I feel like I need to mix it up a bit. My problem is that there are so many out there that people swear by that it’s hard to know what to pick. Ideally I’m looking at 4 days running (maybe 5 if I’m really feeling up to it) and 1-2 days cross-training. I know that I’ll probably just be doing spin for that and, if I’m smart, strength training as well. I have no desire to swim so please don’t suggest it! So have at ‘er – Higdon, Galloway, FIRST, Runners’ World online, etc. I can’t fork out the cash for a coach as much as that idea appeals… we have Disneyland 2013 to save for. 🙂
Randoms For Your Weekend
I generally don’t do posts over the weekend since that’s when I work. So here are a few things that have been rattling around in my brain lately. oooh, bullet points!
Weekend Wednesday
This post is going to be a bit rambling and random as I play catch up from being away (and off-line) all weekend. If you don’t feel like reading about things that aren’t running related you best be moving along.
So, yeah, we went away on the weekend. Colin’s parents live about 4 hours away (on a good day – which means without a small child). We try to get up there a few times a year and it usually has to wait until a long weekend or else Colin has to take extra time off of work. This year he ended up doing that anyways as I picked the short straw and got to work on Good Friday. The consolation in that is that it was a statutory holiday and I got paid extra to be there.
We left on Saturday morning, but not as bright and early as anticipated. Originally we were going to leave at 6am – it ended up being 7am by the time we hauled ourselves and our junk out of the parkade. We stopped about 45 minutes from home for cheaper gas and breakfast. And then stopped about 3 more times for bathroom breaks (for all of us, but mostly for Spud). The hoped for nap for Spud on the way up never materialized – he watched movies on the iPhone that was strapped to my headrest – and we rolled into town (a bit of a “blink and you miss it” type of place) around lunch. Due to our long runs having been done earlier in the week both Colin and I weren’t too worse for wear since we both had compression socks! We did pretty much nothing for the rest of the day that didn’t involve kicking around the house.
Here are a few pictures of where we were driving through:
On Easter Sunday we went to my in-laws church and the service was held on the side of a local mountain (a small one). It was sunny (but windy, so not warm) and everyone was very welcoming. Here’s your Spud story for the post: at one point a gentleman came up with a lamb and spoke of Jesus being the Lamb of God. Prior to starting he mentioned that the lamb (being a lamb, of course) would pee when it was on his lap because it relaxed. The kids were allowed to come up and pet it. Now, after his talk, he asked if anyone had come up with a good name for the lamb. I could hear a little girl say, “Fluffy.” And then I heard Spud. At first he thought “Licky” would be a good name. But then he changed his mind and laughingly blurted out that it’s name should be “Pee.” Yes, my son is now forever to be remembered as the child who named the Easter lamb “Pee.” A proud moment, let me tell you.
After our picnic lunch at church we went home and puttered around for a little bit. Then Colin and I left Spud with his grandparents while we went off to a few wineries. There’s no point being up in BC wine country if we can’t bring anything home. We went to a couple of fruit wineries that we hadn’t been to yet and then took a little drive because Colin wanted some real wine. You know it’s good when you’re willing to put up birthday money to get a second bottle. I think we came home with 5 bottles of wine. Now our wine fridge doesn’t look so empty!
This picture is for my friend Gina, who thinks that it’s a good idea to bike up this road as part of Subaru Ironman Canada in August. It might not look too steep, but we’re about half way up in this picture. It’s 11km at roughly 6% grade and not even halfway through the bike portion. To each her own, I suppose!
We had a late start on Monday – who doesn’t like to sleep in? Eventually we left at about noon. We were supposed to take Spud to a model train museum that’s in the area, but just ran out of time. We’re going up again in May so we’ll do it then. However, we had to bribe him so he wouldn’t be too disappointed – we hit up mini golf on the way home. When we unpacked we found out the Easter Bunny had visited our house as well as Gramma and Gramps’ so Spud got to stay up way past his bedtime.
Officially a really good weekend. And you’ll probably note that there wasn’t a step of running done. I can’t quite make myself care about that since the three of us had three days together.
Team Nuun HTC Applications Index
Time’s up! Pencils down! If you didn’t get your Hood to Coast application in to Nuun by the time you’re reading this it’s too late. Applications were due by the end of Monday.
If you applied like I did you are probably on pins and needles and wondering how you’ll ever make it to April 24th. Please tell me you aren’t super calm about this – I don’t want to be the only nervous wreck… The more I read blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, the more worried I get! There are some spectacular entries out there.
In order to while away the hours while Nuun has the unenviable task of narrowing it down to three teams I’ve decided to provide a space for you to link up your own application. Since there isn’t a way to influence the outcome everyone could probably do with a little moral support right now!
Either email me at alanna @ lovemyrunners . com or post the link in the comments and I’ll move it to the master list in the post.
We ALL Wanna Run:
Alanna – Love My Runners (alumna)
Amanda – Runninghood
Becky – RunFunDone
Caroline – Canadian Runner In Exile
Corey – Schnoodles of Fun
Dawn – Running At Dawn
Dorothy – Mile Posts (alumna)
Falon – Falon Does Marathon
Harmony – Keep On Keeping On (alumna)
Holly – Leaps of Faith
Jess – Blonde Ponytail (alumna)
Jessica – Pace of Me
Jocelyn – Enthusiastic Runner (alumna)
Kerrie – Mom vs Marathon (alumna)
Laura – Absolut(ly) Fit
Laura W. – Girls Gone Sporty
Lindsay – Lindsay On The Go
Mattie – Comfy & Confident
Meggie – The Thinks I Can Think
Melanie – Tall Mom on the Run (alumna)
Melissa – Melissa Runs
Rachel – Running in Real Life
Ricole – Ricole Runs
Sarah – Once Upon a Lime
Sarah – Running Starfish
Susan – Nurse On The Run (alumna)
Tasha – Healthy Diva
The MF Dre – The MF Dre
Tonia – Racing With Babes (alumna)
Tricia – Tricia Minnic (alumna)
Vanessa – Gourmet Runner
XLMIC – Taking It On (alumna)
Please mention this, RT it, send up smoke signals or let carrier pigeons do the work for you – I’d love to get as many links up as possible.
2012 Team Nuun Hood to Coast Application
Part 1: The Teaser
Part 2: The Movie – The Relay: Redemption
Part 3: Pleading For Nuun To Love My Movie
So that’s what I’ve got! I’m super proud of all the work that went into it (by me, Colin and Spud). I know it’s not a voting contest, but please tell Nuun if you like it!
Thanks!
I’m Here!
Yup. Moved over to WordPress. And I have my own .com!!!
Way to much to try to figure out late at night – especially with a spin at 6am!
Bear with me while I figure this all out. I’m sure there’ll be many changes as I get settled.
Any quick tips or tricks I should know?
Does anyone know how to get rid of the title above my header?
Who Am I?
Don’t worry, this isn’t some philosophical rambling about deeply meaningful feelings… It’s more, where did I get this desire all of a sudden to really “get into” my running/fitness? Not that I wasn’t before, but I’ve started doing a couple of things that kind of put me at a different place than I was.
1. Spin. So I was scared of going, but once I was there it wasn’t that bad. Which I knew to begin with. I guess I just don’t like doing new things by myself. Who am I kidding? I know I don’t like doing new things by myself. Doesn’t matter if it’s a new job, new activity, or meeting new people. I get all nervous and pukey feeling. Anyways, spin was fine. It was seriously my first attempt at cross-training! I know that I didn’t push it as hard as I probably could have, but I was getting a feel for the whole deal. Something to work on next time.
Reason it’s not me: It’s cross-training. I’ve avoided doing anything other than running like the plague. I gave up on Jillian Michaels after one time as it hurt too much.
But in this case it really is: I actually like/love the 6am class. That is a huge shocker because I am not a morning person at all. I’d far rather stay up exceedingly late then go to bed at a normal time. However, there’s something kind of cool about seeing the sun rise (and over the mountains to boot). Yeah, the studio I go to has a view!
2. Treadmill. After my less than stellar blood lactate test results we rented a treadmill. It sits in the corner of our bedroom and has not turned into a laundry dumping ground. That’s for the chair that sits in front of it when it’s folded up – baby steps, people!
Reason it’s not me: I swore that I’d never be a treadmill runner. It just never appealed. Why run inside when I live in such a beautiful city?
But in this case it really is: Well, because I have to teach myself how to run again. And it’s been a godsend. There’s really nothing more demoralizing than knowing your running speed is about the same as most peoples’ brisk walking speed. Running at home only allows me to only compare me to me; which is kind of what I need right now.
3. Minimal Shoes. I asked for got a pair of Vibram Bikilas as a Christmas present. I love the idea of Vibrams and, with my love of Injinji socks (both items freak Colin out as he doesn’t like things between his toes), really wanted to learn how to run in them. I’ve heard/read great things about them, but knew that it would take a while to figure them out. For the last couple of months they’ve been sitting in a corner of my living room and have been used intermittently as slippers.
Reason it’s not me: I am a pronator. As such, I am firmly committed to my Asics. So much so that I am loath to change my shoes. I have never been injured because of my shoes. I am scared to try anything that might change that.
But in this case it really is: Regardless of my comments above, I have been trying to be more mindful of how my feet strike, even in the Asics. And I think that I’ve kind of trained myself to be more of a midfoot/forefoot striker. I decided last week to actually wear my Bikilas for a walk on the treadmill. And it was great! So on Sunday I ran in them. Again, my running is slow. Which is perfect! Slow in Vibrams = no pain in legs. I was so happy after Sunday’s 5km steady that I did a 6km tempo (w/1km warm up and cool down) today. I’m wearing my compression socks just to be on the safe side, but so far I’m cautiously optimistic and will most likely be wearing them for all but my long runs. I’m looking to get a pair of the Brooks Pure Cadence with my birthday money so I’ll have another minimal option soon.
I Get To Play Too! {Revised}
Just when I thought no one would invite me to play along Tasha at Healthy Diva tagged me! So here’s the gist of the latest blogging world equivalent to a chain letter:
There are rules to this fun game that are as follows:
1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post.4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them.6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people.
I’m going to do rules 1-3. 4-6 have been done to death by almost everyone else out there. I don’t really want to nominate 11 people who have already posted this and I never have been good at forwarding on letters/emails/etc that are in this vein. I’m sure that my luck is horrible and I will never become rich, but so be it…
11 Random Things:
1. Apparently I cannot follow directions. That or I can’t read. I’m amazed that no one called me on missing this section yesterday!
2. I am a pack rat. So it’s probably a good thing that Colin is a purger.
3. If I went back to school I would study to be an archivist.
4. I’m scared of ladybugs.
5. I love kids toys, but find that I tolerate Lego only this much more than trains. It’s not so much the building that bothers me, but the constant hovering and “helping” from a certain almost-5 year old that does me in…
6. I could not live without pasta.
7. Favourite boozie drinks: Crown Royal and Coke, Strongbow, and frozen Bellinis.
8. I picked out my wedding ring. Colin got to decide how big the diamond would be.
9. I still have my first stuffed animal. It’s a rabbit that my dad bought for me the day I was born. Her name is Bunna and she sits on my bedside table.
10. We have a giant pine cone that we got off of the side of the road in California. I’m sure with the creepy-crawlies that came out of it there was no way we were supposed to bring it back across the border. But it’s over a foot tall!
11. I’ll take CFL over NFL any day. And I don’t even watch the Superbowl anymore because the half-time shows aren’t that good and we don’t get the commercials up here until after the game is over.
Here are the questions Tasha asked:
1. What is your favorite recovery drink? Depends. I usually have Nuun after a run – mainly because I have some left in my bottle. I’ll drink chocolate milk if I can have it super cold, but we don’t have it in the house very often because Spud would want to drink it all. I’ve been known to have a glass of Coke after really long runs. The last time I did that it was with my sausage and egg breakfast at the pub with my running group.
2. Love the treadmill or hate it? I’ve never been on one. Fear it.
3. Name your favorite cross training exercise/routine. Cross train? What? I’ve dabbled with core work and weights, but haven’t fully committed to it yet. Really should get on that.
4. Favorite book read within the last year? Running Through The Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon by Neal Jamison. If you felt like running barefoot after reading Born to Run then reading Jamison’s book will make you want to run forever.
5. What type of dessert do you like to indulge yourself in? I’m a sucker for pretty much anything. Chocolate cake (specifically the one my mum still makes for my birthday), Colin’s homemade apple pie, Swedish Berries, and Hot Tamales are all favourites. And, yes, candy can be considered a dessert. I’m fairly equal opportunity where diz is concerned.
6. What motivates you to get through a tough workout? If I’m honest there are some days where I’m not motivated. Usually it’s that I know that I’ll feel good if I do it.
7. Favorite race ran? New Year’s Day Fat Ass 50. You can read my report here.
8. If you had to eat fast food, which would you prefer? In-N-Out Burger, hands down. Unfortunately/thankfully the closest one is in Redding, CA, which is 1170km south of where I live. I should admit that, prior to having Spud, Colin and I camped out way down the coast with the sole intention of driving inland to get a burger. 1 sketchy campsite, no A/C, and the hottest day they’d had in years led to an excellent lunch!
9. Favorite childhood memory? Going to the same place for summer vacation every year. We’ve gone to Tofino, BC, every summer (I missed 2 times – when Spud was born and last year) since I was 12. There’s a lot of outdoorsy stuff to do, but once you’ve done it a couple of times you don’t really need to again – unless you love it, of course. Eventually our days looked like this: wake up, coffee/tea while shell-hunting on beach, brekkie, read/go into town (all 3 stop signs) after fog rolls in, lunch, read, play cards, walk on beach/people watch after fog burns off, dinner, read, bed, repeat.
10. Runner’s World or Running Times or both? RW sometimes, but it’s expensive. We don’t get the cheap deal up here. Usually Canadian Running.
Follow-Up Friday
Thanks everyone for your kind words regarding my last post. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who has struggles! I love the blog community for being so supportive.
Random thoughts:
- I’m 2 for 2 in December. No this is not going to be a streak – my weekends just don’t lend themselves to runs – but I did have a couple of great runs! Yesterday it was cold, but got sunny for my hour long run. And today I got to run with my friend Gina. Good conversation, weather cooperated, and so did Spud!
- I’m just shy of 1000km for the year! Didn’t quite make it today since it didn’t fit into Gina’s training plan to run longer, but I’ll get it next week!
- Good luck to all of my friends (in real life and online) who are running Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas tomorrow! Can’t wait to hear all about it and see pictures. Pretty sure what happens in Vegas is going to be splashed all over the blogosphere come Monday…
- Colin and I get to go see this movie tonight – it figures that it’s running related:
September’s Over? Already?
I can’t believe that it’s already the end of the month. And that Christmas is less than 3 months away. Seriously, this year has gone by so quickly and I remember so little of it. Between training/races, vacations/trips, and life 2011 is going by in a blur.
I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve been absent for much of September. It’s not that I’ve disappeared entirely – I’ve been lurking; check your stats – but I’ve definitely taken a break. After Hood To Coast I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I touched on it briefly, but this introvert over-extended herself big-time during those 3 days. It didn’t seem like it at the time and I’m sure my teammates didn’t really notice it. However, I came home and holed up for a week – thankfully my family understands and leaves me alone. Spud didn’t quite get that Mummy really needed not to be climbed all over, but obviously he missed me so I couldn’t quite begrudge him that.
A few things have happened since HTC:
1. I quit my half marathon clinic. If I’m honest with myself I never should have signed up in the first place. I know how hard it is to train during the summer and I thought that the clinic would hold me accountable. It didn’t. First, I work on Sundays which is typically my long run day. Second, Colin had to work a bunch of overtime and I was missing my weekly clinic night. Third, I could never make it to the mid-week run at the store since Colin doesn’t get home early enough. So, if you read that over again, you’ll see that I was missing all of my scheduled group runs. And I just wasn’t going out by myself like I thought I was going to. When I came home from Oregon I contacted the leader and let her know that I wouldn’t be returning. And it felt great. I think that I was unconsciously stressing about it and it felt like such a relief when I finally admitted that it just wasn’t working out.
2. I’m not enrolling in any other training this year. Sure, I could sign up for the clinic that takes me through to a February race. But I still have the same issues and they aren’t going to go away before the new year.
3. I’m learning to love running again. Yup, you read that right. I burned out this summer. Looking back I’m not surprised. I’ve been enrolled in clinic after clinic since May 2009. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I even mentioned it at our dinner at Nuun HQ in Seattle and asked that they bear with me. That race was kind of my last hurrah before checking out. Now I’m just back to running for time instead of pace/distance and getting my runs per week back up to 3-4.
4. I took September off. As in I ran 3 times. And it was great. Except for the consequences. Over the summer my brain still said that I’m “in training” and my stomach agreed, which was unfortunate for my hips, butt and thighs. Let’s just say that I’m no longer even close to being at “racing weight.” Another issue with taking time off is that my fitness level has gone to crap. Walk breaks have always been my friend, but now they are more frequent. My legs feel like they’re on fire when I’m barely going up a little hill. I suck wind like I sucked nitrous oxide when I was having contractions. Honestly it feels like I’m starting all over again. I’m sure in a few weeks it’ll be like I never stopped, but it’s hard right now. No wonder people try and give up on running so quickly.
5. Spud started playschool this week. He loves it and I love that I can go running without pushing the stroller. A win-win for both of us!
6. I’m dabbling in the world of Twitter – @lovemyrunners. Since I don’t have a phone to read it on it’s not hugely practical right now and most of what I’m doing is following and trying to get a handle on the whole thing. Unfortunately I missed the tutorial that went on in our HTC van. You can follow me – not that I’ve tweeted yet – and I’ll reciprocate.
So that’s my life in a nutshell right now. I’m sure October will be better for my running (mentally) even if I’m getting back into it right as it’s supposed to rain ALL THE TIME. I have a feeling that during the next few months I’ll have a lot of “dig deep and find myself” moments.
Anyone else burn out before? How did you find your way back to running? How long did it take?
Why I Love Vancouver
In the wake of all the bad press due to rioters after the Stanley Cup final there actually is good news. People are advocating posting pictures of rioters and urging people to identify and turn in their friends/co-workers/employees, etc. There were clean up crews of volunteers who traveled downtown to help get rid of the messes. Although city crews got most of the garbage there were tons of people out making sure glass was out of sidewalk cracks and graffiti was cleaned off of walls and sculptures.
I think the one thing I’m most proud to see is this:
One of my friends was in the first riot squad unit to respond. Having people recognize that he and his fellow officers put their lives on the line to keep their city safe is awesome (Thanks, Ian!). Yes, there have been questions as to how the police put their plan in place and lots of “what-if” questions. That’s inevitable. The one thing that I haven’t even seen suggested is that the police weren’t doing their job well. In a day and age where emergency services rarely get their due the fact that people took the time to tell the police thank you makes me so happy.
It’s days like this where I’m so proud to be from Vancouver.
Now That’s One Big *** Gummy Bear
Now, I’m not usually one to do posts about contests. I’ll do the bare minimum and link it on my sidebar. However, EMZ over at If I can’t convince you — I’ll at least confuse you is hosting a contest in honour of her 24 hour, yes a FULL DAY, charity treadmill run. It is in support of Sojourner Center in Phoenix, AZ, which is the largest domestic violence shelter in the United States. You can click on the links to find out more as well as to enter her awesome giveaway.
Here’s the prize:
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| I. want. to. freaking. win. this. |
Yeah, that’s a 5lb gummy bear. It shouldn’t really be part of anybody’s runners’ diet, but there’s just something about it. I think I’d give my 3-1/2 year old a heart attack (from excitement) if I ever brought one home.
All kidding aside, please check out EMZ’s blog to find out more about both the gummy bear and the IMPORTANT reason for her crazy (in my mind not in her’s, I don’t think) run!
Age Ain’t Nothin’ But A Number
Yes, I am allowed to wish myself a happy birthday… it’s my blog!
My birthday money is going towards a new pair of shoes. Not because I’m running obsessed, but because my current pair blew out last night on the downhill at the end of my run. I knew it was going to happen since I have 620km on them, but I could have done without the my-knee-and-hip-flexors-are-going-to-explode feeling.
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| So pretty Asics GT-2160. I’ll ignore the fact that I’m going up another 1/2 size. |
Fortunate Friday
Yesterday I spent 98% of my day in bed with the 24 hour flu. I won the worst-mother award for having my 3 year old watch tv all day. Said 3 year old who seemed better after his flu on Tuesday threw up 3 times (seriously, if we say that milk makes you barf, please believe us!). And none of it matters.
I live in a place where, thankfully, that’s the worst that’s going on in my life. However, others aren’t so lucky. Obviously those most in need right now are in Japan after a devastating 8.9 earthquake.
Please donate if you can: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=66175&LangPref=en-CA&Referrer=http%3a%2f%2fwww.redcross.ca%2farticle.asp%3fid%3d38380%26tid%3d001 (Canada) or https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052 (United States).
If you can’t donate, please pray.
Monday Musings
- Finally got to pick up a few things at the mailbox service in Blaine, WA. One package from BuildASign (still working out some stuff there) and one from Zensah. Reviews to follow soon.
- Colin decided Friday night that since we were already going to the states on Saturday that we might as well take Spud to the zoo. This was fine by me except that the zoo is in Seattle. We told Spud we had a surprise for him, but wouldn’t tell him until we got to the doughnut store (Krispy Kreme) in Burlington. While we were waiting at the border (a surprisingly efficient US side had us through in 25 minutes) we saw an Amtrak train waiting. Spud asked if that was his surprise which I thought was cute. Colin ended up telling him about the zoo in Blaine and he was pretty excited. The drive was fairly uneventful. After getting all hopped up on sprinkles Spud crashed for over an hour! When we got to the zoo he looked at us and said, “See? I told you it didn’t take long to get here.”
- Walking around a zoo for 4 hours (and carrying a toddler for parts of that) was probably not the best idea when there was a long run planned for the next day.
- We rushed to Costco on the way home (6pm closing = not helpful) for cheese and butter and then went to Target. It sucks to go into those places when the dollar is at par and not have enough to buy all the fun stuff. That said, we got what we came for. Cherry Coke for my sister-in-law (babysitting payment on Sunday) and Cherry Coke Zero for me. I would have gotten the regular stuff, but the store only had one box of each. Not sure how that happens in a store that big…
- If you haven’t had a Five Guys burger you should. Now, I don’t eat many burgers – it’s kind of a running joke with my family – but these were fabulous. Unfortunately I try to avoid beef before a long run so, when Colin came back with my cheeseburger, I opened the foil wrapper, realized what I’d asked for, and burst into tears. I hedged my bets and ate it anyways.
- Canada Border Services is so unhelpful. I get that it takes awhile to ask everyone the standard “where are you from, where did you go, how long were you gone, what’s the value of your purchases…” But it took us an hour to cross the border. The distance from where we started to the window was 1/2 mile. Yup, that’s a 74:32/km or 120:00/mile pace. Thankfully Spud was asleep.
- Long run! It was a beautiful day – sunny and cool. Since I’d picked up my Zensah calf sleeves on Saturday I wore them with shorts. I was surprisingly comfortable.
- Our schedule called for 29km/18mi. It was an out-and-back-ish route that was fairly familiar however, there was a little bit of trail at the turn around point that was rolly hills. Thank goodness for hill training!
- The two friends I was keeping pace with were great company and we definitely had to lean on each other for this run. Not only did we have to deal with hills, but none of us were totally loving the run. It was hard physically (hello HUGE hill at 22km/14mi) and mentally (it was just a long way to run). Upset stomachs (and other things) and one fall kind of rounded it out. We were slower than usual, but got it done.
- I still need to work on fueling. The gels were fine, but I was super hungry by the end. I’ve been using dates and my friend uses arrowroot cookies so I think I’ll stock up on those before next week.
- Running for 4 hours really takes a chunk out of your day. By the time we finished, went home and had showers and got back to Spud it was almost 2pm. Thank goodness that we were staying at Colin’s brother’s place for dinner. It was great to be able to just sit and visit.
- Call it superstitious, anal-retentive, OCD, crazy or just a weird quirk of runners, but I could not just leave my watch at the final distance. Since I hit 29km a couple blocks from the store I kept running. When I hit the last traffic light my watch said I was at 29-1/2ish km. Did I stop there? Of course not! I ran in circles like an idiot until my watch hit 30km. I didn’t need to go an extra kilometre. But I wanted my watch to hit that one last lap. I know I’m not the only one out there (Colin did it too…) – what would you call this behavior?
What To Do On A Boring Friday Night…
Colin’s out working for a friend (yay extra money!) and Spud’s in bed. TV has a craptastic selection and Netflix in Canada is great if you are a kid or you’re up for a slightly lame older movie. So what’s a girl to do when it’s far too early for bed?
Apparently explore this:
It’s amazing what random crap blogs come up! I get all sorts and I’m not sure how it’s decided by Blogger. It doesn’t distinguish between active blogs and ones that were abandoned over a year ago. I understand the ones that have some sort of fitness theme, be it running or multisport. However, I don’t get why it got stuck going between 3 woodworking blogs…
I can’t possibly be the only person who has been bored enough to click that link. So what weird blogs does yours connect to?
Love My Runners 