Farthest Yet!

My legs are numb. Ice baths totally do that to ya.

Earlier today I did 20km. The farthest I go in training for Scotia. In 13 days according to the countdown on their website I'll go a bit further. I'm excited and nervous. The nerves are mostly because I had a rough run today. Around 13k I started boinking. It was hard since it felt more physical than mental and I keep having to give myself pep talks.

You've run further than this.
You can do it.
Theres coffee and lunch waiting for you at home.
I know its feeling sore. But we're almost 3/4 of the way there.
18k was a piece of cake.
You got it.
Just don't stop.

Of course there was lots of stopping. I think one of my main issues was that I can't stand gels, shot, those jelly beans, etc... They all make me want to gag and throw up, and thats never a good idea. I usually take water and gatorade out with me on long runs and alternate drinking them. Think a small handful of skittles or something like that would help?

Once I did hit 18k I did start to feel better. I was sooo close to being done. 19k was glorious and I was smiling again. Just that little bit more. Of course the full weight of how tired my body was feeling didn't come till I stopped running. I'm surprised I managed to walk the bit of a way home and not fall over.

I love my husband, I came home to my coffee starting and lunch being prepared. He even kept the boys away while I swore my way into the ice bath. Maybe I can have a Large Mocha waiting for me after the finish line?. That would be love.

Cheers and Tears

Well one downfall of the cooler weather is that its harder to get out of bed in the early hours to get my runs in. Not helping either is the youngest. Hes been up around 4:30am for the past two days and he much prefers mommy to hang out with rather than daddy.

I did manage to get my run in yesterday after the hubby got home from work. Yeah I still prefer morning running since I kept feeling so tired and blah. I definitely needed my music to keep me going. The plan was 8 which I did to but it took lots of debating. At one point I was thinking of just 5 then maybe just 6, no no 8, but I'm tired and my legs are sore so 6, and it was like that till I hit the 3k mark where I'd turn around if it was just 6 but I kept going so I got the full planned 8.

No, run today, but come Monday my runs will be able to happen after I get the kids on the bus. Thats right the second one started school today.

Think hes a bit excited?





(Yeah I tried to trim their hair using the buzz buzz and I screwed up so yeah...... Good thing hair grows quickly and they don't do school pics for about 2 more months.)

I totally had to keep the tears in check while they were getting on the bus but once it started pulling away I couldn't help it. You would think I didn't have him in preschool last year at all for 3 mornings a week.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Today started with an 5am wake up to get 6k in. Since it was nice and cool out I got a good pace going and was able to push it a bit. There was a group of old(er) men having a coffee out and I got some great encouragements and a couple hellos. That was nice.

Then once I was home, fed, showered and enjoying my coffee it was time to get the oldest up. The little one was already up when I got home and was hanging out in bed with daddy. It was the first day of school today and the big one was excited and wanted to know when we could go out and wait for the bus. It was running late today as it apparently always does the first day so I sent him to school with another mom from our bus stop and the little one and I will pick him up just to be on the safe side.

But here's his first day pic. I get to keep the little one with me till his first day on Friday.

I Love Fall

So with 3 weeks till Scotia, todays long run was 18km. Instead of heading out early in the morning, I didn't get out till just before lunch. We had a friend over and I had a drink (or two-ish) so I decided to do the run later in the day so I could get some water into me, plus sleep in a bit. (Isn't it kind of sad when 8-8:30am is sleeping in?)

I got my stuff together and headed out. It was a wonderful 15 degrees out and NO HUMIDITY! I decided to not listen to any music till I needed either the motivation or something different to distract me. The route was 9km out and back. I didn't need any music till about 11k. Though I did find a great plan for the race. I do best when I take water every 2km just an oz or two at a time. Around 12k I tried to take a gel again. I could only get half of it down because the texture still makes me gag but I think that half of one helped keep me going without fading like I did when I did 16k with nothing.

I did the the whole thing without sweat dripping down my face. Without feeling like I was swimming. It was incredibly easy to be in a good mood the whole time. Have I mentioned I love Fall.

Some mornings Coffee is needed first

I had 8k planned for this morning.
Ok I get up and get dressed.
Go downstairs to get my bowl of cereal in.
Getting ready go out the door, forgot my socks, back up to get them.
Crap left my watch in the basement.
Ok, oppps still hot out there, I'll need water.

Finally I get out there.
Half a KM into my run my shirt is bugging me. It keeps feeling tight around the front of my neck. Look down only to realize its on backwards. Of course there's like 4 guys walking down the street around me towards the bus/subway station now watching me rotate my shirt.

To bad my stomach can't handle coffee before a run.

Three Things Thursday

Yeah yeah I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

1. 23 days till my half!!! My long run this week is 18km. I'm so nervous and excited (more so this one) about the race. I just have to start planning the logistics of it.

2. I really really applaude those of you living in the southern states who run. I mean its been about 31(87) when I come back from a run at 6am and you run in that weather normally. I get all complainly and cranky till I get back into my A/C'd home. I cannot wait for fall weather to come and stay. The only sad thing is come October the farmer's market comes to a close. :(

3. I'm so happy school is starting again next week. I love my boys but I realize that me running in the morning before they are up means I spend more time with them and I love that, but that also means there are plenty of days where I am with them from the time they get up till bed time. With the heat waves we've been getting we've been staying indoors alot during the day and doing hte parks in the evenings so it means they've been up a bit later then I would like. And it means lots of time together in close quarters. You can only do so many play dates and trips to the mall and stuff before that gets boring. I do have lots of lovely crafts around my house right now.

Come on Fall.

This morning's run was not fun. It was 22C(71F) with a humidex of 30C(86F) at 5:30am!!!! By the time I finished my run I was no longer running I was swimming. I want the cool fall weather to come. Honestly I can't wait for the days of putting the boys on the school bus and heading out for a run.

But in some good news. my runs for August totaled 103km!


Before then it usually topped out around the low 70s. I used to see all those bloggers doing the 1000 mile challenge and think they were crazy for running that much but now that I'm getting into those long runs ever though I'm only at 563km(350miles) for the year I can see how you can hit that when marathon training. Though at this point I have no desire to try that yet. Let me get through this half in 4 weeks!!! and we'll see.