Thursday, May 30, 2013

Why not?

So everyone has things they do on a whim right?

You know how hundreds of people pay the $11 fee(or donation as I like to call it) to the NYRR in the spring to apply for a lottery spot for the NYC Marathon?

I did it last year, just in a why not kind of thing. I didn't get in. Thought nothing of it. I mean there was that moment when you get the email where you go "awwww", then "oh well" and continue on.

So I decided to do it again this year. Mostly thinking that (and here comes another big news thing) that I was thinking of doing another Marathon next year(2014) and that more than likely I wouldn't get into New York but with that 3 tries and they let you in thing it could mean that I could be in New York for 2015. Right? Planning things out. Getting ahead of the game.

Until I got this message yesterday

Looks like I have a big fall race!
November 3rd I'll be running the streets of New York!!

Why not!


So get ready for at least 18 weeks of me training for a Marathon again!
Now off to research anything and everything I can. 


Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Mid Week Mind Rambles

That's an awesome title huh?

So my schedule keeps having to change. Its apparently really hard to keep things steady and consistent when you are the boss lady. Thankfully it doesn't mess up to much with my running plans.

But in good news we got a new wine in store!


Its a Pinot Grigio from Inniskillin and yes it does have a slight pink-ish colour to it. The Winemaker, Bruce decided to keep the skins on before pressing and that's where the colour comes from. It looks interesting and of course I got a bottle and will be trying it out sometime this week (Review to come!)

Today's 5k was good. I managed to keep a good pace. Thought to honest part of that was because I knew my ipod didn't have the best charge and then my garmin gave me a low battery sign. Nothing like the chance of losing your technology to make you keep up the pace when it gets hard.

The weather is getting warmer and I'm debating how I plan to deal with the heat since I can't always do 5am runs this summer. Not getting home till after midnight and up at 5 doesn't sound like the funniest thing to do. The idea of a treadmill keeps looking better but I'm really trying to not give in.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Sporting Life 10k Report

Well what can I say about a race I didn't train for?
I ran a couple times a week but never over 6k. The week of the race I ran once.
So at least this time I just had a goal of running the course and seeing what happened. I didn't expect anything other than a fun time since I always enjoy running this race.

Though maybe not so much this year.

This year they added more runners, and I'm not sure they were fully prepared for it. The race was crowded the whole way. Sure there was points where it was a bit less crowded but there was lots of having to weave throughout the whole course. The first water station had hardly any cups out and people were taking them as the water was pouring at some times(Though the gateroade one had a good amount of cups available). And everyone knows about this issues with the finish line.
(Curious? Read THIS blog here)

All that aside it was a good run. The start was cold and I found a great guy named Conor standing next to me in the corrals who was radiating heat. It took me everything I had to not just start cuddling him. Of course  being a mid pack runner I didn't hear any of the start stuff and only noticed the race started because our corral moved up. But then we were off.

The first couple of KMs were just about warming up and taking it easy.
km1- 5:59
km2- 5:55
km3- 6:07
km4- 6:04

One of my favourite parts was that the bands for the first bit were classical bands (is that how you would describe them?) Nothing like seeing a Cello and a couple Violins playing what sounded like a top 40 song.

I hit the first water station that was around 4k. The first two tables were a mess but if you went back a couple tables it was ok. And by this point all of me was warm. But there was still some gusts of wind that was crazy so I kept my homemade (knee socks from the dollarstore cut up) arm sleeves on.
I was a bit worried about how I would feel in the last half of the race since I never went over 6km in the weeks prior.

km5- 5:43
km6- 5:39
km7- 6:11

Hit the second water station around Km7 and grabbed some Gatorade. Actually felt pretty good still and just starting to feel the race. Though I do expect most of that is because the race is net downhill to this point really. Now it got flat and required a bit more effort to keep it up. Took a bit more of walk break just after the water station so I could get rid of my arm warmers. They did a great job and I had them around my wrists but they felt tight so I tossed them next to a garbage bin. At some point I believe in this section I saw a camera

Hey!


Cheese!



km8-5:33
km9- 5:51
km10- 5:34

In the last two Kms it was great seeing lots of people on the side lines cheering. The worst was going along Richmond and all you could smell was bacon. I believe there were a couple of us moaning and drooling at this. Crossing that last bridge just before the last turn was great. Even though at this point my legs were tired I just pushed it and kept it up. Mostly thinking I'll see my boys and be done.

I had told Hubs to be on the left side since its usually less crowded but I couldn't see them. They were on the right side and so we missed each other for the second year in a row.

But of course that didn't matter since I had to come to halt even before the first timing mat. I also stopped my watch at this point. Packed in like sardines we had to walk over the finish line(I was very thankful I wasn't attempting a PB this year). I won't get into the mess of the finishing area, but there wasn't much directions on where to get medals or post race food. I did manage to get both and head back to find my family. Of course the little men stole my medal on the ride out of parking lot.

All in all, I still like this race. Though I am tempted to jump over the Yonge st 10k next year I'll continue to see if they (Jay Glassman mostly) plan on addressing and doing what they can to fix the issues of this years race.

Unofficial time (by my watch) 
58:37

According to my bib

Gun Time: 1:05:51 
Chip time:1:00:26 
SF30-34 1082/2099
Gender: 6406    

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Back to the Crazies!

Yeap! I'm joining the crazy again. You know not that I think any of you are crazy..... Well ok some of you I do but whatever I'm apparently crazy too.

I will be running the Quebec City Half Marathon on August 25th. Hubs and I are making it a trip out of it for just us two! It was easy to decide that since our 5th Wedding Anniversary is the 23rd of August so what better way for us to celebrate our love than me running an half and him meeting me at the finish line?  Oh and there will be a couple days of sight seeing and yummy foods afterwards.

Thankfully Hubs knows way more french that I do. But hey I can introduce myself, ask where the bathroom is AND order french fries so its a start. 

Now why this particular race you ask?
I blame one of my best friends who I call Batman(long story) wanted to hit last years Scotia Marathon's expo. Not one to pass up deals I went with her. We got some great deals, Met John Stanton

and fell in love with some blinking medals. 

That's right. The Quebec City race's medals have LED lights that blink. I went home and mentioned how cool the medal was and Hubs said that if I wanted to try for that race I could and we could turn the trip into our Anniversary trip. 

So sign up I did a while ago and today is the first official start of training for it.  I need to post about it to keep accountable to myself because as cute as my children are they are not the best at pushing me out the door to get my runs in.

Care to join me? Check out the website here :Run Quebec