Santa Jingle 5k Report

On Saturday a bunch of running friends and I ran the largest Santa race in all of Canada. There was just under 4000 people dressed as Santa running and walking this course.

I had to get up at 6am to make sure I was up and ready to meet up with friends at 7am for the 1 hour drive to the race. Thankfully we met at Starbucks so I was able to grab a coffee and wake up. The drive over  was super fun with lots of joking and running mishap stories. Once we found a parking spot we got into our Santa suits. We then went off and met up with the other car of friends to head to the start.

Pre Race Group Pic I'm front and center

Once we got the start line it felt like forever before we got going. Thankfully there was no winds but it was still -2C(28F) and we were dressed for running not standing out in the cold. The suit did ok at keeping warm but even with my wool socks on my feet were frozen. They didn't warm up till the race was practically done and by that point, my toes just hurt from stinging every time they touched the ground from the warming up, that is how cold I was.

Finally we got to take off and it was crowded. It was insane trying to get around people and of course there was so many people not seeded correctly but we were just doing this for fun so I tried to not let it get to me. A couple of us managed to stay near each other and we kept picking up speed to get away from the craziness. Around the 2.5k mark where there was a water station I realized that it was possible (if I was willing to hurt for the rest) I could get close to PB. Well of course I went for it.

1km:6:13

2km: 5:50

3km: 5:41

4km: 5:07

5km: 4:55 (no wonder it was hurting)

It was hard to not slow down as it got closer to the end. I just kept having to tell myself that it just had to hurt for less than 10 minutes when I got to that last KM. Thankfully I ran (haha) into Bill and he helped pull me in.

Us sprinting to the finish

It was a great race and the whole group has plans to come back and even fancy up our outfits for next year. It took a while for everyone to get back together again and we headed back to Toronto. Of course we had to hit up a coffee shop and refuel with warm goodness, dressed in our suits still. We got lots of smiles and compliments from others getting their coffees.

Gun Time: 28:53

Chip Time:27.53 (52 seconds off PR)

Average Pace: 5:35

Overall: 494/3054

F25-20: 29/281

Gender: 158/1930

And check out my line!





Look at how frigging flat my running was! Normally I'm all over the place. I was smooth and I'm totally impressed. It took me an hour after seeing this to realize it wasn't elevation of the course but me.

Seriously if your in the area next year, definitely come do this one with us. It was crazy fun.



Happy Birthday Trouble!

Today my baby turned 5!

Guess hes not such a baby anymore huh?

Dear Trouble

5 years ago you decided that you had to make a grand entrance and out do your older brother. He was early and little, well I'll be earlier and smaller! Coming into the world 6 weeks early and scaring the crap out of your parents with your 3lb 14oz little size and a hole in your heart, you've definitely proven that you are a tough one.

That you like to throw caution to the wind is an understatement. You're convinced that your older and bigger than you are and are always trying to push your limits. While I love this about you, I'm not loving the panic attacks and grey hair its giving me. 

Your the only 5 year old that I know with more hospital bracelets than you are years. (I believe our tally is at 7) Yet you amaze me with all the things that go on in your little head.

You are determined and strong willed.

You always know how the perfect time for hugs.  Of course you know how to work that adorable face of yours and twist my arm.

You love trying new things even if I'm not ready for you to take those steps, so you help me grow and push my boundaries as well.

So today is your day my little man.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful risk taking boy.

Happy Birthday to my boy who's not a baby anymore.

Who's growing up to be a fantastic person and I can't wait to see what you accomplish with what you've been give.

In the words of Dr Seuss

"Congratulations!
Today is your day,
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go."

Hope Endures Virtual 5k Report

Courtney at A so Called Runner hosted a virtual 5k on behalf of her daughter Ashlyn who was stillborn in 2008.

I jumped at the chance to honour a little girl missed. I decided to run my "race" during my long run of 10k with friends. I mentioned that I would probably get quiet for a while and why. 

We took off and I decided I would do a warm up, push it for Ashlyn and then cool down. The weather started off nice for December and we had hopes of sun. It ended up raining on us for a last half so clearly our hopes were dashed.

It was also a new route for me so it was definitely an interesting way to see more of the neighbourhood we run in.

Of course at the point where my warm up finished and the "race" started it was the dreaded Falling brook hill. Its a long gradual hill that is a pain but I figured the least I could do was power up this hill. I had lots of thoughts of what I know of Ashlyn during the run. How she inspired her mom to take control and take care of herself.  There was quite a few times when I felt like walking or that I should cut the run short and forgo the cool down since its been over a week since I last ran at all. That it would be OK but it kept coming back to "Nope, being tired isn't enough of a reason for stopping".

I managed to get the 5k done in 29.32

1km: 6:16
2km: 6:18
3km :5:55
4km: 6.02
5km: 5:41

You can see where I was starting to push it and even where I wanted to give it up and stop but managed to keep it up.

I'm defintely glad I decided to join in on this run. It was great way to support Courtney and her family even though we live in different countries.

Figuring it out.

Well I haven't really been posting but that's also because I haven't been running. Opps Bad me.

Thought I haven't been running since my stomach was feeling horrible. Totally TMI but it was horrible in a I'm wasn't sure if I could reach a bathroom in time kind of way. I went and look online (I know I'm not supposed to listen to Dr. Google) and found that a lot of my symptoms were similar to a dairy intolerance. Funny enough I had one when I was  baby/toddler but grew out of it. I'm guessing it came back. Talked to Doctor at the walk in clinic and he suggested I try going dairy free first for about two weeks and if it doesn't improve at all in that time frame that then we'd run tests for other stuff.

So today was day 1.
Its been great actually. Its the first day all week that I'm pain free. I picked up some soy milk at the grocery store and I'll be careful this week to watch what I'm eating.

I'm going to miss my lattes though. We have a Tassimo machine and I drink those lattes and I muchly prefer them to regular coffees. So that's going to be sad and its going to a take a while to get over.

We'll see how the rest of the week goes and I'll decide from there what I do for the long term but today has me nicely optimistic.

In good news since figuring this out I decided to try a run today since I was less concerned with finding a bathroom and I managed to get in an almost 10k run with friends. It was great. It felt harder at the end but its been over  a week of no running I'm really happy with how it went.