Crazy week

Well, I haven't been so good with posting on here everyday. It's been a crazy week! I have RRSP season! It's been nuts at work and at night all I feel like doing is sitting in front of the tv or sleeping.

It's been a crappy running week, too. I'm having a lot of "discomfort" when I run...I wouldn't exactly call it "pain", but it's not good. My feet, ankles, calves and knees are quite sore. So, I'm going to a podatrist on Saturday to see if I should have orthotics. They mentioned to me at the Running Room that I might want to check on that as my feet are a little wonky. So we shall see what happens. I'm taking it easy and not trying to run again until at least Sunday. This sucks!!!

Tonight was my clinic night. We had a guy come in and talk to us about stretching and different ideas for recovering from a hard run. Then we ran 3.44K in 29:14. I'm planning on running again Friday night, and Sunday morning.

Tomorrow night I'm going to see Blue Rodeo! I can't wait!

Tonight I ran with the girls from my clinic. We ran for 25:56 and ran a total of 3.02K. We hit a lot of "don't walk" lights tonight, so it wasn't a very productive run. It was beautiful weather, though! Nice and warm! It has felt like spring here for the last few days.

So, I'm trying to figure out if I can afford to go to Toronto for the weekend in June to do City Chase (www.mitsubishicitychase.com). It sounds like so much fun!!! I really want to do it, so cross your fingers for me for a good seat sale! I think there's a new one starting on Thursday, so hopefully Thursday will be a lucky day for me!

Today I had a really good run. I met up with Dawn and Alison at the Running Room this afternoon. We ran for a total of 30:25 and went 3.54K. It was beautiful weather (while we were running...cold as soon as we stopped). Afterwards, we went to have bagels. Yum!!! I had a french toast bagel with chocolate chip cream cheese. MMMM.....no calories there!!! LOL!

Hopefully the upcoming week will be a better running week for me. I'm planning on going with the clinic girls on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. And I'll probably run on the treadmill either Friday or Saturday as well. Not Thursday though!!!! I'm going to see Blue Rodeo that night. I can't wait!!!

Baby, it's cold outside!!!

-26 with the windchill!!!! BRRR!!! No running for me today! I'm really sore anyway. I had a blast last night sledding with everyone from work!!! It was so much fun, but I'm a little bruised up and my legs are really sore from walking up that hill sooo many times! Ah, but it was all worth it.

I'm running tomorrow afternoon with the girls. And Tuesday and Wednesday (as long as the weather cooperates better this week!! I haven't my goal for the week this week, and I won't, but that's okay. Next week is a new week!

Almost Friday!

Hi! Well, I haven't had a very good running week so far. I went to my clinic last night (even though there was an ice storm!!). We didn't run, though...it was just too dangerous. But we had a really fun yoga class! I've heard from several different sources lately that yoga is really good for runners (well, it's good for everyone, really, but it makes a good combo with running). I think I might start doing it a couple of times a week. I used to do it quite regularly and I kind of had forgotten how much I enjoyed it until last night.

Tonight I ran on my treadmill, but I pulled the emergency cord by mistake (oops!) halfway through, so I'm not sure how far or for how long I ran. I think it was about 22 minutes. I have no idea on the distance. My legs weren't too sore tonight. I think maybe the yoga last night helped! I still think I need new sneakers soon, though.

Tomorrow night is a fun night with work (dinner, snowshoeing, skiing, sledding, etc). I can't wait! I will be running on Saturday and Sunday to make my 4 times this week. I don't think I'll be getting in 10K this week, though. It's been a CRAZY week!!

Hard run!

I ran tonight on the treadmill but only for 15 minutes. My legs are hurting bad!! I don't know if it's because this is my third day in a row running or what, but ouch!!! I ran for 1.74 km. I won't be running tomorrow, both to give my legs a rest, and because I have to stay late at work tomorrow night. Hopefully I will be able to run again on Wednesday. I know I am going to need new sneakers soon and everyone keeps telling me that I will know when I need new sneakers...that my legs will hurt and it will be really hard to run. I wonder if this is it??? I guess I'll run a few more times and see how it is. Anyway, gotta grow grab some grub (wow...look at that alliteration!!!).

See ya!

Sunday, snowy Sunday

Hi! It's like a snow globe outside right now! Big fluffy snowflakes...so pretty! I had plans to go running today with Dawn and Alison, and possibly a couple of other people. But Dawn called early this afternoon and she had too much fun at the Rascal Flatts concert!! She's a sleepy girl, so no running for her. And she couldn't reach Alison...so I decided to go by myself. I drove downtown and ran where we usually run on our group runs. It was beautiful weather...big snow flakes, but pretty warm. I'm not sure how far I ran...I am having watch difficulties! My mom bought me a Garmin (www.garmin.com) for Christmas (it's a fancy running watch that tracks time, distance, pace...all that kind of stuff). I don't know if it's me, or the watch, but I'm having a hard time getting the hang of it. I think I finally figured it out. But after I ran, I stopped the timer, but somehow it started again on it's own. So I don't know how that messed up the distance. I know I ran for right around 28 minutes, so I'm going to estimate that I ran for 3.6km. Yay! I met my goal this week of running 4 times, and a total of 10km. I'm going to keep the same goal for the coming week as well. I know it's going to be a busy week so I don't want to bump it up any.

Bye!

Ahhh....weekend...

It's a cloudy Saturday morning in New Brunswick today. I was planning on going for a run outside this morning, until I realized that Saturday morning is the prime time for decorating shows on TV!! So, I watched "Sell This House" while running on the treadmill instead. I ran 3.22km (2 miles!) in 26:24. That would make my pace today...8:14. It was a pretty good run...I feel good today! I slept in, so I'm sure that helped.

I'm hopefully going for a run with the girls from my clinic tomorrow, but there's rumors of a nasty snow storm tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. If not, treadmill again I guess. I'm SO glad I bought my treadmill. I would definitely not be running as much if I didn't have it. I prefer running outside but sometimes the weather just doesn't cooperate. And I don't like to run by myself outside in the dark. Plus, it's not very good running around where I live, so I always have to drive somewhere to go running.

Anyway, I must go shower (that's the main reason I prefer running outside...not so hot! Of course, that will change once the warm weather gets here...I'm not looking forward to that).

Bye!

1 more day until the weekend!!!

Wow, this week has seemed soooo long!!! But only one more day until the weekend!! Today was actually a really good day. I felt like I got a lot accomplished at work. I only ate healthy food all day (no Easter Creme Eggs!!!). I've been having a really hard time sticking with the whole weight loss thing lately. I need to get back on track, and today was a good day! I just finished running on the treadmill, which I usually find horribly boring. But we get all the music channels now (Galaxie) with satellite so I listened to Pop Adult while running and it went by much quicker. I ran 2.9km in 24 minutes. Yay!! That's more than halfway to my goal this week of running 10K total. My pace is 8:28 (disclaimer: I'm just a banker...not sure my math is right). I'd like to be gaining some speed, but they keep telling us at the Running Room not to worry about that until the 10K clinic. We are just supposed to be building endurance now. Makes sense, but I still wish I was faster. Ah, well. I'm sure it will come in time. If not, it's going to be a LONG half marathon!!!!

I think I'll run again tomorrow night. I'm a little worried I won't get my run in on Sunday, so I want to run extra just in case. We are possibly getting a huge storm on Sunday. Fun!! (Note the sarcasm). But maybe I'll get a snow day out of it on Monday...nah, too much to wish for. Anyway, gotta run! Bye!

Busy week!

Well, so much for posting every day! I've had a busy week. I stayed late at work last night to do some calls to customers for RRSP season. Fun, fun!!! Tonight was my clinic night at the Running Room. The talk was on what to wear when running. Pretty good! And tonight I ran 2.7km. I ran alot faster than I usually do, and wore myself out pretty quickly. I thought I might die the second half of the run. But I feel good now. I think I'll be a little sore tomorrow, but that's a good thing! Means I'm working those underused muscles!!!

I'm hoping to get another run in either tomorrow night or Friday night on the treadmill (boring) as I won't have my running buddies to go with. Saturday I hope to get a run in during the day (outside) and I'm meeting the girls for running on Sunday. My goal this week is to run 4 times and to run a total of 10K. So if I stick with the plan, it should work out!

I'm loving my new satellite!!! So many good shows on that I didn't realize were on or that I haven't seen in forever!!!

Anyway, must run off to bed. Night all!

Oh I love satellite TV!!

Okay, this is going to be a quick post as I need to go watch my new satellite TV...Intervention is on and I've never seen it, but heard it's really good.

No running today. But lots of running around. I went to the dentist (no cavities, beautiful big teeth???), got satellite TV installed, got safety inspection done on my car (no problems..yay!), returned TIVO (as we decided to go with the PVR from Bell Express Vu), and went grocery shopping. Whew!!! I'm tired out now!

I won't be running tomorrow either. I have to stay late at work. Blah. But for sure on Wednesday and I want to get a couple runs in on Thursday to Saturday, too. Probably on the treadmill, but that's better than nothing.

I finished reading "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen yesterday. It was really good. Very sad and disturbing in places, but the ending was like a nice package all tied up with a pretty bow. Now I'm reading "Lucky" by Alice Sebold. It's an autobiography about how she was raped as a freshman in college and how it affected her life. Really really good so far.

Talk to ya later!

Icy and treacherous!!

Well, I dragged myself out of bed at 7:45am this morning to go running in -11 degree weather (-17 with the windchill). Am I crazy??? Actually, it wasn't bad at with my awesome winter running pants and jacket that I just LOVE!!! I was hot and sweaty by the end. However, it's really icy out there!! The sidewalks in downtown Moncton are in rough shape!! I ran 2.45km. Not very far...because of the ice it was pretty slow going in spots. But I didn't fall!!!! Yay!!! And I got my two 10 and 1's in. On Wednesday we increase to two 10 and 1's plus 2. That extra 2 should be pretty easy I'm hoping!! After the run, Dawn, Marlene, and I went out for bagels. I had a french toast bagel with chocolate chip cream cheese. Oh, heaven!!! And chocolate milk, 2%. That's all they have at The Great Canadian Bagel...no 1%. That's annoying. But what is even more annoying is that they still don't sell skim chocolate milk in Canada. Come on groceries stores!!! Get with it!!! (okay, that's my rant for the day)

So, today is Superbowl Sunday. As no one in my house watches football, that really doesn't mean much to me. Except good tv might be interupted by crappy football (sorry football fans). Tomorrow we are getting satellite TV installed! I can't wait! I miss TLC and HGTV!!! Anyway, today will be spent reading, playing on the computer, watching TV, and playing video games. I have an Animal Crossing date with Pam later. Yay!

Anyway, that's it for today. I have the day off work tomorrow to go to the dentist (yuk) and get satellite installed (yay), so I'm sure I'll post at some point tomorrow. Have a great day everyone!!!

357 Days Left For Training!!!

Welcome to my blog!!! I've never done this before, so bear with me. I wanted to record all my trials and tribulations with training for a Full Half Marathon. Note: I will continue to refer to it as a FULL half marathon as it is NOT half a race! It just happens to be half the distance of a FULL marathon. For those of you who don't know, a Full Half Marathon is 13.1 miles, or, in Canadian, 21.0824064 kilometers. So, let's round it and say it's a 21.08 K. I've done three 5 K's now, so I've almost run a whole half if you add those together!!

So, where did I get this crazy idea to run in the first place, you ask? Especially since:

1. I sat on my couch and watched TV for about...um....well....let's see....about the last 5 or 6 years.

2. I've NEVER been an athlete, never been involved in sports, never been on a team.

Well, my sister, Pam, started running and she was about as bad as me as far as aththletic ability goes. She seemed to be enjoying it (as much as one can enjoy such a thing!) so I decided to give it a try. I joined the Running Room (www.runningroom.ca) in the early summer of 2007. I started with the Women's Only Learn to Run Clinic. Everything was fine for the first couple of weeks, but, as the weather got hotter and the runs got longer, my body rebelled. As I said above, I'd pretty much sat on my couch for several years. The heat (yes, it gets hot in Canada, dammit!!!) was not cooperating with my body. So, I quit. But with the intention of joining up again in the fall. And I did! And I completed the Learn to Run Clinic. While I was doing the clinic, I ran/walked (more walking than running) the CIBC Run for the Cure. Then I ran (with only three 1 minute walk breaks, as per the Running Room says to do) the Clear the Trails 5K on November 18, 2007. I ran it in 41 minutes 38 seconds!! You seasoned runners may be thinking...wow, that's pretty slow....but REMEMBER, I could hardly run for 30 seconds straight when I started this!!! Then, two weeks later, I ran the Santa Shuffle 5K, in the middle of a snow storm!! Now I'm a REAL runner!!!

At the beginning on January, I joined the 5K clinic at the Running Room. Yup, I already can run a 5K, but this clinic is to help me improve my running and hopefully get a better time on my next 5K.

So, where did the idea of doing a Full Half Marathon come from??? Well, I was reading an issue of Runner's World magazine (www.runnersworld.com) and there was an article about different marathons. One of the marathon's featured in the article was the ING Miami Marathon (www.ingmiamimarathon.com). It said that it was a good event for beginners because the course is quite flat, and, well, it's in Miami! I casually mentioned to my sister, Pam, who latched onto the idea of us doing the full half marathon there. It was more than a year away, so I thought, sure, why not. Well, then I realized we were really going to do this. EEEK!!! We registered last Tuesday so I'm officially gonna do it!! We also booked a cruise afterward, seeing as we are going to be in Miami anyway....might as well! So, I'm very excited about the cruise, and very scared about the Half. But I KNOW I can do it, as long as I stick with my training and keep myself motivated (and guilt works, too...I know if I'm not ready for it that Pam will KILL me!!!!). I thought maybe keeping a journal of my progress would help keep me motivated and maybe entertain my friends and family as they pray that we don't kill ourselves doing this!! So, here it is!! My goal is to write a quick post most days, so check back often and see how I'm doing!

BTW, no running today. I was going to go run a 1 mile road race in Shediac this morning but we had freezing rain overnight and this morning and I didn't think the roads would be too good. And I wanted to sleep in. But I'm going running tomorrow morning with the girls from my 5K clinic and then out for bagels afterward...yum!!! (Hi, Dawn, Alison, Nadine, Marlene, Josee, Marilou, etc!)