June Recap and July Goals

I love looking back on my goals at the end of the month and reflecting on what helped me to reach them or what kept me from getting there.  I was really looking forward to sitting down to write this post while out for my run today.

June's goals:

Running:


I will commit to and begin a marathon training program by the second week of June. (I think I've decided, but I'm going to spend a bit more time doing some more reading on Saturday to be sure).

Done and done!  I'm now on week 4 of the Hal Higdon Novice Training Plan.
I will start my long runs no later than 9 am on Saturdays in order to not end up running at mid-day.

Ugh.  I'm so not an early-riser.  Still, I've been doing better and have been getting out before 10 for my longer runs.  The first few weeks of the training plan has not had me running for more than 90 minutes, and the heat hasn't been TOO bad yet, so I haven't found myself out in the mid-day sun.  I will need to keep working on this in order to be up and fueled and ready to run earlier as it heats up more and my long runs get longer in July. 
I will cross train at the gym at least once a week by doing either the MWF fitness class, or using the bike or eliptical machine, IN ADDITION to as much weekend hiking as I can pack in.

Yes!  I did well with my cross training this month.  Aside from the first week of June when I was tootin' around BC with Grandma, I have been to the gym for some sort of cross training each week.  Unfortunately, I don't have free access to the gym in the summer months, so I'm going to have to come up with other ways to cross train in July.  I have a walk planned with a friend for Friday!
Eating:

I will eat lunch EVERY DAY before 2pm. When grocery shopping, I will plan food for lunch instead of relying only on leftovers for lunch. (This is because when I get busy, I forget to eat, and then tend to grab something less healthy later in the afternoon. I know June is going to be a busy month for me at work and I need to plan ahead).

I was successful-ish at this one.  I've been making sandwiches, salads and cooking extra for dinner to have leftovers for lunch the next day.  I have been more conscious of eating lunch and have generally done so at a reasonable time, though maybe slipped in the last week or so as I got busier towards the end of the month.
Deep breath....I will not drink any Iced Capps from Tim Hortons in the month of June. My recycling box tells me that I've been having way too many of these as the weather has been heating up, and there's 33g of sugar in a SMALL. See their nutrional information HERE. Eek! I don't drink pop, but this is my summer weakness, and I'm going to STOP cold turkey!

In the entire month of June, I had ONE Iced Capp, and I only drank it because the BF forgot I'd given them up and he brought one home for me, and I couldn't let it go to waste!  I have had one frappuccino from my local coffee shop, and one or two Vivannos from Starbucks, but not nearly as many as I was drinking in May.  One a week isn't too bad!
I'm going to reattempt the Livestrong Daily Plate thing.

This didn't happen.  A couple of days when I knew I hadn't made good food choices, I did enter it in just to see how much sugar I had eaten.  Yikes!

Living:

I feel like I would like to have some LIFE goals each month to record here and keep me accountable. This is something I will consider this month and see where I want to take this. I'm thinking it might be somewhere GREEN.

Nope.  This didn't happen either.  I really didn't give this that much thought with all of the job stress this month, I kinda went into panic mode.  This means I looked frantically online for different job postings and even looked at (ugh!) teaching jobs in the area.  Work isn't all there is to life, but it's definitely what preoccupied mine this month.

So, time to look ahead to July. 
 
I will be travelling for most of the month.  I don't want this to become an excuse for slacking off, but I know it's going to make it difficult to get all of my runs in.  Here it goes:
 
Running:
 
I will stick to my training plan.  I will be flexible with days, but will meet my weekly mileage goals, by running earlier in the morning and twice a day if necessary.
 
I will do strength training at least once a week.
 
I will continue to look for a longer race between now and my marathon.  (There is traditionally a 17 mile run on Labour Day weekend not far away in Prince George, but the website still has the 2009 information).
 
I will carry a bear bell while running in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
 
Eating:
 
I will eat less than 30 grams of sugar a day.  That means I'm definitely keeping up the Iced Capp ban.
 
I will be adventurous and possibly flexitarian (!) when eating in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
 
I will eat fruit for at least one snack a day.
 
All bets are off for the eating goals on my birthday.
 
Living:
 
I will take my camera and use it on my trip to the Yukon and Northwest Territories (I'm horrible at taking pictures of anything).
 
I will not rush around trying to see all of my friends while in Ontario.  I have one week, and will spend it relaxing at my cottage - a few days with my favourite auntie, and a few days with Princess Ilz.  This is my down time.
 
I will read more this month!  With a week of lounging at the cottage, and the cross-Canada flights, I should be able to make it through a few books.
 
I will bring an extra bag to Ontario to get more of my stuff to BC.  I want my photo albums and journals here.  I will also look into bringing my bike back here (but think it might be better to sell the bike in Ontario and buy a new bike in BC).
 
(These are all short term living goals, and I will get around to some longer term ones, but not this month!)
 
 

Happy Canada Day!!!

 
 

New Shoes!!

I realized last week that I have run over 400 miles in my current running shoes.  I've run 400 miles since February of 2010 (when I got back to running after a 3 month hiatus), and I'd run in these shoes a few times leading up to the half marathon I ran last fall.  I took a look at the soles, and sure enough, they are getting rather worn down.

I found it interesting that they were worn down in the middle of the shoe, as I've never had that happen before, so maybe I'm changing the way I run? 

My previous shoes were much more worn on the heel, but this is probably interesting to no one but me.  The exciting part is the new shoes!!

(But here's a picture of the old ones anyway).

First, I have to say that I really love Stride and Glide Sports in Prince George.  I'm all about supporting local businesses in my town, but the sports store here carries more skateboards than running shoes, the owner is always on the phone, and doesn't look like he can be bothered to tie his shoes, never mind actually go out for a run.  At Stride and Glide, there is a small staff who are all runners, are friendly, super-knowledgeable, and they have a treadmill in the store so you can really try out the shoes.  (I bought my x-country skis from them too).  As an added bonus, the guy who helped me today has run the Victoria Marathon and told me I'll love the course.  Sweet!  If you ever find yourself in Prince George, British Columbia, needing new running shoes or skis (not likely, I know, but IF), head to this store.

I went in not sure if I wanted the same shoes or to try something new.  I had Asics Landreths, and mostly liked them (they got me through over 400 miles, afterall), but I sometimes get this weird thing where my foot turns to pins and needles.  It usually happens after I've run about 5-6 kms, lasts for a while, and eventually goes away.  I've had it before with other shoes, and I've tried different socks, tying my shoes differently, running on a treadmill, running on grass, running on trails, and every time, just when I think I've got the problem solved, it happens again.  I think it's more likely a me problem than a shoe problem, but I thought I'd try on a few different pairs just to see how they felt before making a decision on whether or not to stick with the same shoes.

Turns out, they didn't have my old shoes in my size in stock, but I tried on a bunch of others.  I also went up (another) half size to a full size larger than my normal foot size.  I ended up with a pair of Saucony's that felt great the second I put them on.  I walked around the store and loved them.  I tried them on the treadmill and loved them more.  I'm so excited to take them out for a real run!

Here's where I have to caution myself.  When I got my Asics last fall, I was similarly smitten with the new shoes and after one short run, took them out for a long run on a big loop, determined to make it all the way around.  I got a blister, kept running, got a blister on the other foot, kept running, let the blister pop while running, and kept running until I bled through my shoe.  Disgusting?  Kinda.  Stupid?  Very.  I couldn't run for 2 weeks and it really messed up my training for that half marathon.  I do not want to make that mistake again!  So, I ask for your advice:  How do YOU break in your new shoes?  How do you know when they are ready for a long run?

Oh yes, and after the running shoes, I stopped by the mall to look at the sandles, and ended up with these:

They were $20!  How could I say no?

Phew!

Phew!  It's been another busy week.  We're nearing shutdown time at work which means everyone is in a tizzy.  There are some big changes coming to the program that I work for, mostly entirely for cost-cutting purposes, which has everyone in a double-tizzy.  Part way through this week I thought that my contract might get cut for next year, or at least cut back, so even I was in a tizzied state, but those worries were put aside yesterday.  My job is secure for another year.  That deserves another PHEW!

I haven't had much time for writing this week, but the one thing keeping me sane during these tizzying times has been running.  After Monday's 5K around the 'hood, I went to the gym to cross train on the bike on Tuesday, back to the gym for intervals on the treadmill on Wednesday (not my speediest, or best workout, but I still got it done), took Thursday off, and ran 6K by accident yesterday.  Well, I ran 5K on purpose, but I was trying to change up my route, my Garmin battery died, and so I had no idea of my distance or time until I got home and used Google maps.  6K.  This morning Hal was telling me to run 5 miles and call it a long run, but I rounded that up to make it a nice 10K.  That will be the shortest long run until the marathon.

Before my run today, I didn't eat.  I wanted to get out before it got too hot, and I'd slept in a little later than planned, so I just downed one gel for a little extra kick and headed out.  Running 5K on an empty stomach is one thing, but I really felt it towards the end of my run today.  In colder months, when I'm less worried about getting out before the heat, I get up and have a little bit of yogourt and granola, wait an hour or so to be sure my stomach is settled and then head out.  With this routine I rarely get stomach cramps or feel sick while running, but if I don't wait, I feel vomitous pretty quickly.  I love my yogourt and granola breakfasts, but I'm wondering if something a little lighter would get me out the door more quickly, but without an empty stomach.  What do you eat before you run?  Especially before your long runs?

Guilty :(

I have a guilty conscience. Several weeks ago the BF and I had friends over for dinner. I baked a yummy chocolate oatmeal cake from scratch using a recipe my mom used to make when I was little to have for dessert. The cake turned out perfectly, but something went wrong with the icing. I'm not sure how you screw up icing, but I did it. The friends were coming over soon, so I rushed over to the store around the corner and bought the Betty Crocker stuff.

I don't eat a lot of pre-packaged food. I kinda have a rule about being able to pronounce all of the ingredients in everything that I eat. I cook mostly from scratch, though I occasionally cheat on fake meat (yes, this exists) because that stuff takes hours to make from scratch and I don't eat it that often anyway. I don't even buy salad dressing because I always make my own. (Have you looked at those labels?) I don't think I've ever bought icing in a can!

Ok, that's a lie. I used to buy it when I was a camp counsellor and we would do cupcake decorating as an afternoon activity with 24 5 year olds. I would buy the canned variety then. But I mean, as an adult, who likes to cook and bake, and is interested in living a healthy lifestyle, if I'm going to eat icing, I'm going to know exactly what's in it.

So anyway, I was in a hurry, and just this one time bought that stuff, and smeared half a can over the cake and nobody knew the difference but me. EXCEPT, there was half a can of icing left over....

...and I've been sneaking little spoonfuls ever since!!! Today I finally finished it off. I am kinda disgusted with myself, but also can't help laughing at myself for this.  Ok, it's really disgusting, and I'm only laughing a little bit.

This just goes to show that I really need to work on that cutting back on sugar goal!  Oops!

We could say that today's spoonfuls were my reward for a successful workout.  I headed to the gym for crosstraining on the bike and felt more comfortable this week than last week.  I only had time for about 35 minutes, but I pedaled as hard as I could on level 9.  This would be impressive if the machine went up to level 10, but I think it might go to level 20, or maybe 100.  Hrm...  there's just no justifying that icing!

I found out today that there's a race this weekend just over an hour away in Williams Lake.  I got excited for a minute and then looked at the course.  The half marathon is a double loop of the 10.5km course (there's also a 10.5 km race), and about 7 kms of it follow the route I run when I run while visiting good ol' Bill's Puddle for work.  (Seriously, people call it that).  Boooring.  I don't really feel like running a double loop half marathon, and I'm really only scheduled to run 5 miles this weekend.  I could go down to do the 10.5 K race, but spending 2.5 hours driving there and back to run for under an hour doesn't really seem worth my time.  Especially since I'm going there anyway for work this week and next week.  So much for that!

Itchy, itchy, scratchy, scratchy!

Friday night we headed out to go camping with friends.  The plan was to leave at 4:30, but of course, it was closer to 6 by the time we got on the road.  Though we were only going about 40 minutes away, it took us closer to 90 minutes to find where we were going because new logging roads had been built since the map book had been published and we got a little turned around.  So by the time we got unloaded and had our nutritious dinner of hot dogs/veggie dogs, we were being swarmed by bugs.  If you had the ability to zoom in on my face in this photo you would see that I do not look at all impressed.

I am a cottage kid.  I grew up with the luxury of having a family cottage that we went to every weekend of every summer.  I know - I'm sooooo lucky!  At the cottage I spent the majority of my time outside, and love the outdoors, but on those weekends when the bugs were really bad, I could take refuge indoors with some board games.  There's no indoors in camping, but being that I was the sole cottage kid amongst 3 campers, I was not going to be the one to give up first!

On Saturday, we woke up to a beautiful day, and still lots of bugs, but with hopes that they would die down if a breeze picked up or as the sun got warmer.  And indeed they did, but already everyone else was talking of packing up early before they returned in the evening.

Around 5pm, they really started to pick up again, so we packed up and returned home a day early.  I think I met my quota for bug bites - I had over 30 on one knee!

Still, it was a great weekend.  It was nice to have one beautiful day outdoors, and one day at home to be lazy and get stuff done around the house before the BF's family came over for Father's day.

I went out for an easy 5K and was glad it said easy on the schedule today.  I was feeling sluggish!  Could it be from all the blood loss??? 

TGIF!

You know when you take a few days off of work, and then return to such a huge pile of stuff to do, you almost wish you hadn't taken the time off?  That was me this week.  That, plus there were some shake-ups within the organization and my boss who is very supportive and wonderful was laid off.  What a week! 

I am very glad that I have all of these recoup days to use up from stat holidays I worked earlier in the year, so I'm taking today off!  We're going camping with friends this weekend so I volunteered to do the grocery shopping, but first I had to get my run in.  I had 7 miles on the schedule, which translates to a very awkward 11.26km, so I rounded up to 12km.

Once again, I had trouble getting out the door this morning for no good reason at all (I'm not even working!) and instantly regretted it when I stepped out into the sun.  The thermometer says it was only 22*C (72F), but I'm telling you, it was hotter!  I thought about shortening my run, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get out again until Monday, and well, the summer isn't going to get any cooler, so I might as well just start to get used to it (and start getting out of the house earlier).  I ran my usual 10K route, and added a few extra loops around some residential streets that I usually skip past.  Despite the heat, I was having a great run.  I saw a few other friendly runners and walkers and my faith in drivers was being restored as several drivers slowed, gave me extra room, or even stopped to let me cross the road when I had stopped for them as they had the right of way!  BUT THEN, a delivery van nearly ran me down 2 blocks from my house.  Arg!  Unfortunately for the delivery driver, I have an amazing memory for number/letter combinations so I memorized his license plate and sent an email to complain to DHL.  Did I mention he was talking on his cell phone?  That would be illegal in this province.

Do you ever call/email to complain about poor service, or to give feedback to a company about their product?  This is something I never used to do, and recently started doing, and it always makes me feel better instantly.

Sorry Hal

Marathon training started last week for me.  After much reading, and advice from you folks, I decided on Hal Higdon's Novice training plan.  Last week, I got off to a rocky start with travelling, but have stayed on top of the schedule this week.  So why, Sorry Hal?  Hal tells novice marathoners to not worry about speed or hill training.  All three of my runs so far this week were to be 5K/3 miles at a slow, easy pace.  Sorry Hal, but that's boring.

I know many would advise against setting a time goal for a first marathon, and it's true - finishing is my ultimate goal, but finishing with a good time would be better!  I'm not going to be overly ambitious here, but sorry Hal, finishing before the course closes would be ideal.

Also, sorry Hal, but running at slow, easy pace all the time just doesn't work with my competitive nature.  I'm motivated by seeing my time improve, by doing faster intervals, by finding hills get easier, not just running longer and longer distances.  I don't think I can get through 18 weeks of running at slow, easy pace every, single time.

So, sorry Hal, but I ran intervals yesterday, and today went out and ran as hard as I could for 5K.  And I ran my fastest 5K ever (26:14), on the hottest day of the year so far, on my lunch break, and I feel great.  I can't wait to try to push myself even harder next week.

I know the reasoning behind the lack of speed/hill work in the plan is to increase the chances of getting to the starting line injury-free, and I will be sure to keep an easy run or two on the schedule each week, especially as the mid-week runs get longer, BUT, I need to mix things up a bit more or I will not make it to the starting line at all due to boredom!

Get Out!

I didn't think I'd ever make it out the door today.  After taking a few days off for the roadtrip to Calgary with Grandma, I'm a bit behind at work so I needed to cross a few things off my to do list before I went for a run.  Despite starting my day at 8am, by the time I got through a couple of items, it was already noon, and getting pretty warm.  I opted for a run on the treadmill at the gym instead of a sunburn.  Sometimes I'm not even busy and it takes me ages to get out the door - Does that ever happen to you?

I ran 1200m to warm up, followed by 4x400m at 8:00min/mile pace.  I'm pretty sure this is my fastest yet!  I ran 400m slower at 9:40min/mile and finished the end of 30minutes at the same pace (about a mile further). 

My ankle is still feeling a bit off.  Not painful, but not quite right.  Hrm...

The chicks arrived last night and are soooooo cute, but also kinda scary.  Did I mention I have a mild fear of birds?  Oops!  I'm trying to bond with them now while they are small so they won't attack me later when they are big.  Pictures soon!

FYI - Day 16 and still no Ice Capps for me!!!

Slow Run

As my 10K on Saturday was a bit of a bust, I thought about trying to make up for it today with a longer than scheduled run, but decided against that plan.  I'm not sure if it was laziness, wanting to be kind to my Driver's Ankle (see yesterday's post) or just wanting to get on track with the schedule this week, or a combination of those, but either way, today's run ended up being a nice, slow 5K.  I tried to keep my pace around 6min/km, but had a hard time not going faster.

The ankle held up pretty good, but I could definitely feel it was tight at the beginning and then felt sore, but not exactly painful as I finished.  I'm in complete denial that it could be caused by anything other than driving.

In non-running news - we are going to have new family members tonight!  We ordered chicks ages ago and they are finally arriving.  I'm really excited to have fresh eggs from chickens that I know will be treated well.  I've also decided that I will eat the meat as I will know exactly where it comes from, what it was fed, etc.  (I'm vegetarian mainly for sustainability reasons).  Perhaps I shouldn't be thinking of these chicks as family?!

I'm Back!

Before I finish telling you about my time with Grandma, I want to quickly let you know that today is World Blood Donor Day.  If you're not doing anything like, you know, running a marathon this week, go donate some blood!  Canadians can find out where to donate at the Canadian Blood Services site.  Even if you can't donate this week or this month, it will tell you where you can donate in your area up to 90 days away.  Americans can go here to find out how to get involved.

Now that that's out of the way...

Grandma and I had a great road trip through the Cariboo, Okanagan and Kooteney regions of BC.  Grandma had several "firsts" on this trip:  It was her first time in BC, I took her in her first Hot Springs at Radium, she saw her first glacier, and first big horn sheep.  I wish I had pictures to share, but the camera got left on in my bag and the battery died.  Wah, wah.  Oh well!  We made it to Calgary on Friday night, for dinner and a big glass of wine (or two) with my aunt and uncle.

Grandma is staying with her son for the next few weeks and I spent the weekend with my cousin, her husband, and their two little ones, one of whom is new since I last visited, the other was much littler on my last trip to Calgary.

Both my cousin and her husband are runners so they were easily able to tell me a 5K loop that I could do twice around their neighbourhood on Saturday morning to fit in my planned 10K.  I dawdled a bit that day and didn't get out until the sun was blazing.  I was so hot, and went through a lot of water.  I thought the first loop would never end.  Could this be the effects of elevation, or was it all in my head?  (Calgary is 1048m/3438ft above sea level, Quesnel is 488m/1600ft above sea level).  I'm sure it wasn't all the junk I ate while driving or all of the desserts Grandma made while staying with us that made me feel that way.  Mmm, coconut cream pie! As I finished one loop and started the next one the stiffness in my ankle that I had been feeling all along became more like stabbing pain.  I decided to call it a day.

I've since diagnosed myself with Driver's Ankle, a condition I made up.  Driving on all of those mountain roads I had my foot flexed above the brake an awful lot.  Driving up the mountains, I literally had to put the pedal to the metal, jamming my foot as hard as possible on the gas to make my ancient car climb up at a reasonable speed.  I think the strain on the ankle from driving is what caused the pain while running.  As I drove back yesterday I did little stretches and rolled my foot around at all my break stops.  As the discoverer(?) of this condition, I would diagnose this exercise to anyone experiencing the same pain in their ankle after driving long distances on mountainous roads in an old car.

I took the "fast way" to get back from Calgary - It only took 11.5 hours.  I kinda forgot about the camera battery once we got to Calgary, so again, no pictures.

Sunday had cross training on the schedule, but after that drive, I wasn't about to head to the gym.  It closes early on Sundays anyway.  Today I decided to get on the bike and ride for 30-ish minutes, nothing to strenuous, just to get the legs moving.  Whenever I think of cycling, I think of going for bike rides as a kid when my friends and I would ride loops around the block and think it was a huge adventure.  Bike rides were always fun!  Today it felt HARD!  I realized that I haven't been on a bike since I rented one in China a few years ago for a little jaunt out in the country side to look at some rice paddies. 

I ended up meeting these girls:

taking this "ferry":

and seeing what I set out to see:

Again, more fun times on a bike!  Today didn't feel bad-hard, it felt good-hard - I was just surprised at how sweaty I got riding a bike, and I'm not too sure that I would call it "fun."  The good news is that my ankle was still feeling a little stiff before the bike, but feels better now so I should be ready for my run tomorrow.

Running on the Road

It's been a tricky week to start marathon training.  I started with a 4K instead of a 5K on Tuesday.  Wednesday, I woke up, put on my running clothes and headed out to run before Grandma and I left on our roadtrip.  I mad it all the way to....


....the end of the driveway.  Ya.  I just didn't feel like running.  I was itching to get on the road, and I knew Grandma was too.  I could have forced myself to get through the 5K on the schedule, but I didn't.  Not really getting off to a great start here. 

Yesterday we drove as far as Kelowna, mostly in the pouring rain, but the sky cleared as we got into town and we went out for a big pasta dinner with yummy Okanagan wine.  Delish!  I woke up this morning still feeling full, and was actually energized to run!  I headed out for 5K along Okanagan Lake.  Alas, I did not see Ogopogo, but I did feel good on the run and added an extra kilometer for good measure.

Unfortunately we ended the day today in Cranbrook.  It's funny how you can never visit a place and have an image in your head of what it's like.  I always thought Cranbrook was a quaint little mountain town, with lots of trees and a lazy river running through it.  Nuh-uh.  Cranbrook is grey and industrial.  I'm not sure how the run will go tomorrow, or if it will happen at all - but I'm not worried about it. I would just be making up for the missed run on Wednesday.  Grandma and I are having a great time, and if there's any good week to get off the marathon schedule, the first one with the lowest mileage the week after running a half marathon while travelling through beautiful mountains with Grandma has got to be it!

Marathon Training Starts TODAY

Just a quick post today.

I went out today for my first official run of marathon training.  Exciting!  Except that I almost DIED.  Not so exciting, just pushed myself a little harder than I should have following the half marathon on Sunday.  Alas, my 5K run was really more like 4K.  Oh well!

My Grandma and I are leaving tomorrow on a road trip to Calgary.  I'm excited to do a few short runs along the way in some new places and will go for my long run in Calgary on Saturday morning before heading back.  We're going to head through the Okanagan and maybe down through the Kooteneys and back up through Banff.  Hello, Hot Springs!!  I'm going to drive home through Banff and Jasper.  I've been to both in the winter so I'm excited to drive through in the summer.  Think Moose-Repellent thoughts for me!

Prince George Family Y 1/2 Marathon

Feelin' good, feelin' great!  Feelin' good, feelin' great! 

This was a little sing-song my roommate made up in university that we would sing on our way to exams.  I can't get it out of my head now, because I'm feelin' good, feelin' GREAT!

That is not at all how I felt when I woke up at 5 am this morning.  I think I actually rolled over and said whined, "Why did I sign up for this hideous race?"  I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed, had breakfast and then had a little grump-out at the BF and Grandma because we were later leaving than I wanted to be.  (Oopsies).  Let's just say I was definitely not at my best.

We managed to make it to PG with time to spare being Sunday morning, no traffic or logging trucks and no construction slow downs on the way.  I had eaten breakfast at 5:30am, so I took a gel before the race even started, just as I was getting out of the car around 7:15.  The BF and Grandma were kicked out of the closest parking lot to the start line, so they didn't watch me start because the other lot was too far for Grandma to walk, but that was ok.  I walked around the track a couple of times, made not one, not two, but three trips to the bathroom.  Stretched a bit, and chatted briefly with a friend of the BFs who was also running.

I was feeling a bit better by 7:55 when we were lining up at the start line, but really wasn't sure I was up to a half marathon this morning.  I was excited for my two other races, had good (nervous) energy and couldn't wait to get started.  This morning I felt like asking, "Um, can we just have 5 more minutes?"  But of course, it doesn't work that way.  I placed myself near the back of the pack, and we were off.

I quickly realized I should have been a little more ambitious in moving up to the start line, but it wasn't long before I passed enough people to be running with a comfortable little clump.

The first 3K had some little uphills and downhills, and went by quickly.  I felt good, but took a 30 second walk break to sip water.  I find if I drink and run at the same time, I mess up my breathing and end up with cramps.  One woman asked if I was ok as she passed me - maybe I looked more tired than I was, or maybe she had seen my dismal face pre-race.

The beginning of the race ran south, did a loop around a few residential blocks and then followed the same road back north.  Before I even got to the turn off for the loop, the leading runner was heading the other way.  That guy was FAST! 

I ran until 7K and then took a Gu.  I had planned to give myself 2 minute walk breaks for Gus.  I didn't look at my watch, but I didn't take the full 2 minutes, that's for sure.  I downed that thing and then kept on truckin'.

At kilometre 8, those pre-race "Why am I even doing this?" feelings resurfaced, but only for a minute.  There was a big hill at the 9K point, so I gave myself another 30 second water and walk break when I was half way up.

At 11K, I passed a man who called out, "2 hours is in the bag!"  What?!  I hadn't really been looking at my watch.  Sure enough, I was ahead of my planned pace of 6 minutes a kilometre, though I began to worry I'd gone out too strong and would die in the second half.

At this point, there was a big down hill.  The BF and my grandmother were there.  We forgot the camera, but the BF tried to take some pictures with his cell phone but they didn't turn out.  :(  There were a few women who had been running around me for most of the race.  I passed them on the next uphill, and never saw them again.  I was feeling GOOD.

At 14K, I walked and took another Gu.  Again, I didn't pay attention to how long I walked for, I just walked enough to get it down.  By now I was on familiar territory.  I was near the house the youth program I work for uses in PG.  I had run on this street before, and my 5K route and 10K route that I've done while visiting follow the road I was on.  I knew there was a big hill coming up, but I also knew I'd run up it many times before and it was the last BIG uphill on the course.  As I ran past on a woman on the way up the hill I let her know it was the last one, but she didn't look too impressed.

I wasn't expecting to see the BF and Grandma again until the finish line, but around the 16K mark they had found a place to park facing the road so Grandma could see me without any walking.  We waved.  Here, I looked at my watch.  I knew I had beat my 2:06 goal, but by how much?  My legs were feeling pretty tired.  I would have had to run my fastest 5K EVER to make it under 2 hours.  I knew I couldn't do that.  We were in the sun with no relief from shade, and I was actually feeling a little woozy for the next little bit, but just kept running because the end was near.  At 18K there was a water station with Gatorade.  That was the pick me up I needed to finish strong.

The course finished with a kilometre slight steady downhill stretch, slight uphill and then back onto the track to the finish.  I gave it my all at the end - that last K is my fastest for the whole race, and came in with a chip time of:

2:00:53

This is a full 10 minutes faster than the half I ran in Vancouver a month ago, and nearly half an hour faster than my first (incredibly slow) half I ran last fall in Quesnel.  A sub-2 hour 1/2 marathon is so close I can taste it!  I'm already looking for the next half I can sign up for!

Of the three half marathons I've done, this has to be my favourite.  Kinda like the Three Bears, it was not too small, and not too big.  It was juuuuuuust right!  There were 113 people running the half, so there was no chaos at the start, not much weaving in and out, and no getting stuck behind slower runners in crowded streets.  But there were enough people that I could always see at least the next few in front of me, which makes it easier than the really small race in Quesnel (33 people) where I couldn't always see the next runner ahead.  It was a hilly course, but mostly small, manageable hills, or long, gradual inclines, rather than steep, intimidating climbs.  The volunteers were fabulous, they had free massages and sandwiches at the finish line, and even though there was traffic on the roads, the police kept the intersections controlled and drivers were better than patient as they often turned into cheerleaders!

My only complaints are that the water stations were JUST water stations except for that last one that had Gatorade.  Sometimes it's nice to have a sports drink to get a little electrolyte/sugar boost.  The only other thing I thought was strange was that though the last intersection of the race had flashing red lights to make it a four-way stop, there was no cop there to control traffic.  It wasn't the busiest intersection, but still, at the 20K mark, us runners are tired and might not be as alert as we might have been earlier in the race.  Even a race volunteer or two could have helped there.  That's it.  Just two complaints.  The good definitely outweighed the bad and I would definitely do this race again next year.

I wish I had some pictures, but, like I said, nothing turned out!

Feelin' good, feelin' great!  I can't stop singing it!

Happy Friday!

It's Day Four with NO Iced Capps and I'm doing well.  I haven't even cheated with a frappucino from the local coffee shop or Starbucks.  Yay me!

I believe I am ready for my race this weekend.

Grandma and I will drive to PG tomorrow to pick up my race package and drive the course route.

(Here's Grandma and I on our trip out to Barkerville earlier this week).

I have my race outfit picked out, my playlist ready on my iPod, my gels and my shoes, AND most importantly, my brunch location picked out for after the race!

That's the brightest top I have so Grandma can see me crossing the finish line!  (Don't you love the green carpet?)

Now all that's left is to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!  I've been doing really well in that area lately, but blew it yesterday and really felt it on my run today. 

And I almost forgot - my goals for the race.  Hmm, I've looked at the course map and am not too familiar with the streets that it follows.  The map also didn't indicate directions so at one point I'm either running up or down a VERY steep hill.  There's also a short out and back portion that turns around right about where I saw a bear while running last fall.  It also follows Foothills Blvd, and no matter the direction there will be a series of long ups and downs there, which may or may not be in the first or second half of the race.  Basically, it's hard to say how the course will be.  The weather is forecast to be pretty ideal.  10*C and sunny with cloudy periods in the morning (and warming up as the day goes on to 18*C).


Sooo...

I will be ok with anything under 2:15
I will be happy with anything under 2:11 (my time at the Vancouver race)
I will be very very very happy 2:06:xx or less (anything under 6:00 per km pace)

Have a great weekend!!

June Goals

How did June get here so fast?!  May really seemed to fly by for me.

I've been taking a look at my goals for May and am trying to figure out some new ones for June.

My May goals were:

In May, I will run 5 times per week, increasing my mid-week mileage, and overall weekly mileage to 50 km (31 miles) by the end of the month.

I didn't quite achieve this goal, but I'm still happy with my mileage.  Overall, in May, I ran 107 miles (172 km) - my first month ever running over 100 miles!!  I didn't make it to 50km (31 miles) in a week, because after running 27 miles in one week mid-month, I started looking at marathon training plans and realized that I was already running more miles in a week than I needed to be for the start of training for my first marathon.  I was partly discouraged by this but ultimately, I decided to back off rather than risk injury from doing too much, too soon.


I will also cross train once a week by attending on On The Ball class or other aerobic class at the rec centre.

I didn't attend On the Ball every week, but I did make it out a few times.  I really enjoy that class and am disappointed that it won't be on during the summer months.  In the weeks that I didn't do the class, I hiked/canoed ~ not exactly rigorous, but still different exercise, using different muscle groups.  Definitely room for improvement!

For the month of May I will track my eating on http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/ paying special attention to protein and iron (often low in vegetarians) and sugar (often high in dessertivores). I will also keep nuts and dried fruit on my desk for snacking during the day, along with my 2L jug of water.

Failure!  I did not track my eating AT ALL!  While I noticed the sugar I was eating, I still ate it.  However, I have been cooking more fish this month and am embracing pescatarianism now that it's barbecue season, and I've been much better at keeping hydrated this month.
I am still thinking if I will run the Prince George Family Y Half Marathon on June 6th. I would like to, but my 87 year old grandmother is flying across the country to visit me that week, and I'm not sure how good a granddaughter I would be if I asked her to sit her arthritic knees on the sidelines for a little over 2 hours while I take part in a race. Will decide by mid-month.

I am registered and ready for the half marathon this weekend.  The BF will drive up with Grandma, they'll enjoy a coffee at Tim Hortons, and will be at the finish line when I cross it!  I can't tell who is more excited about this - me about the race, or Grandma about her date with the BF!

Now it's time for making goals for June!

Running:
I will commit to and begin a marathon training program by the second week of June.  (I think I've decided, but I'm going to spend a bit more time doing some more reading on Saturday to be sure).

I will start my long runs no later than 9 am on Saturdays in order to not end up running at mid-day.

I will cross train at the gym at least once a week by doing either the MWF fitness class, or using the bike or eliptical machine, IN ADDITION to as much weekend hiking as I can pack in.

Eating:
I will eat lunch EVERY DAY before 2pm.  When grocery shopping, I will plan food for lunch instead of relying only on leftovers for lunch.  (This is because when I get busy, I forget to eat, and then tend to grab something less healthy later in the afternoon.  I know June is going to be a busy month for me at work and I need to plan ahead).

Deep breath....I will not drink any Iced Capps from Tim Hortons in the month of June.  My recycling box tells me that I've been having way too many of these as the weather has been heating up, and there's 33g of sugar in a SMALL.  See their nutrional information HERE.  Eek!  I don't drink pop, but this is my summer weakness, and I'm going to STOP cold turkey!

I'm going to reattempt the Livestrong Daily Plate thing.

Living:
I feel like I would like to have some LIFE goals each month to record here and keep me accountable.  This is something I will consider this month and see where I want to take this.  I'm thinking it might be somewhere GREEN.



Making new goals always helps me get out of a slump.  Today's run was great.  We were having one of those 4 seasons in 1 kind of days, so I headed to the gym and on to the treadmill for a great interval workout.  1 mile to warm up, then 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 800m, 400m, each at a higher pace than the one before until I was running 8min/mile for the final 400m.  Next time I want to start out a bit faster, and see if I can keep it up!

Weekend Update

How did it get to be Tuesday evening already? 

I seem to be in a mini-slump this week, running-wise.  Usually I really look forward to my long runs.  I have them planned out by mid-week and head out on Saturday mornings.  This past week, I was up early on Saturday morning, but didn't know where I wanted to run, and really didn't feel like running at all.  I got dressed to run, looked at some maps to try to find a new route, but never made it out the door.

Sunday, I made it out for 15K, but that was 15 LONG, HOT, NO FUN kilometers.  By the time I got myself out the door it was the middle of the day, the sun was high in the sky, there were no clouds, no breeze, and before long, I had no water left.  I stopped for a quick re-fill around the 10km mark, but it didn't help.  The last 5 km were sooooooo slooooooooooow.  Ugh.

Again, yesterday, I just didn't feel like running, even though I only had 5K planned.  Today I made it out for the 5 km, but barely.  More ugh.

I think I'm feeling a bit discouraged about the whole marathon training plan thing.  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, but also a bit annoyed at myself for not figuring this out sooner.  I think I've decided to go with the Hal Higdon novice plan, that will have me running 4 times a week and less miles in the first few weeks than I've been running lately.  Kinda strange that my marathon training will start with me easing back on miles - but I think that's what I need to do to get back to enjoying my runs.  Plus, I'll be starting right after finishing a half marathon, so easing up for a week or two following the race doesn't seem like such a bad idea.  It's time to sit down and work on my goals for June - I think that will help me to get out of this funk too.

In my non-running life, my Grandma arrived on Saturday!  This is her first time in BC, and the first time I've had her as a house guest.  She lives alone, and doesn't drive anymore, so I think she's been enjoying our daily outings around town, and having someone to talk to.  Today, I took the day off work and we drove out to Barkerville.  Grandma bought a POUND of fudge.  So much for cutting back on sugar...  What kind of granddaughter would I be if I didn't let my grandmother spoil me?!