Ah the Girls weekend

This past weekend, I went to Picton, ON with 21 ladies I met online. On a chat board. Yep. It was our second annual retreat weekend and it was AMAZING! Take a look:

We rented 5 "rustic" cabins on Treasure Cove Lane:


I attempted foil wrapped S'mores (Do not do this without a grate to keep them flat):


Of course there were Jello shooters (Lime & Tequila, Cherry & Rum, Grape & Vodka):


Punch MADNESS (um, 5 mikey's of varied booze, ginger ale and fruit):


And of course, what 21 lady, 5 cabin retreat would be complete without fondue bacon?


Needless to say, I had the BEST time! I didn't run though. In fact I didn't do much of anything last week at all. I did 7.24km on the treadmill tonight in 51:43 and sucked wind pretty much the entire time resorting to 5 and 1's after my first round of 10 and 1's. At least I got it done. I mean, I think I'm still drunk.

Well...

I had 2 New Year resolutions for 2009.

Tonight, I accomplished one.

I ran 5k in 29:52!

In case you're wondering, that's fast.

This also confirms that I ran the Bread and Honey 5k really fast.

I did it on the treadmill and wow, it was hard to keep chugging along at the speed. I admit that I took 10 seconds here and there to drink some water and wipe my face off (running in nothing but short shorts and a sports bra in the basement is still super HOT and sweaty), but I ran it strong. I started at 5.8 pace and ran that for 5 minutes before running the last 25 at 6.3. I think I'll put a nice even 6.0 on next time and see what I do.

I was looking back at my early running posts from the beginning of this year and I really can not believe how far I've come. I remember being excited to be able to run at a 5.0 pace and to hit 3.5km.

Crazy how far a person can go if they put their mind to it.

I feel good, really good.

I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to do the CIBC Run for the Cure on October 4th. It would be my 4th 5k this year and it would be a nice race to do two weeks before the zoo run. I will do it in Oakville. Hmm.

Perhaps it is time to set a new goal. Maybe I should aim for five 5k races in 2009?

Nothing much to say

I ran 9k with Sarah this morning and it was good. The run was very good even if I only did 5k on Monday this week.

The early sun set means I'm back to the treadmill during the week.

Now, I have to find motivation.

It took me 29:57 to run

4.87km!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Why I didn't just keep up my 6.5 pace, I will never know.

130 metres!

Are you kidding me?

GAH!

I guess I'll have to do it on Thursday night instead.

Um... 11 minute mile?

What's the deal with a 10 minute mile? Its a big thing, right? I know that if I ran one, it would mean I'd be hitting my 5k in 30 minutes goal. Anyway, I ran 4 miles in 44:16 on the treadmill tonight. That included 2 minutes of warm up walking and 1 of walking at 33 minutes. So, I am close.

So close.

Thisclose.

I should just put 30 minutes on the treadmill and let'er fly.

After this weekend, perhaps I'll do just that.

Today I spent drinking beer at the Jays game with my husband:


We sat on top of the bullpen:


and drank a few beers after enjoying a lunch of cart hot dogs. This afternoon game is a rare thing and it was great to be off work and able to enjoy it. The fact that the Jays actually won, made it even better. Then the husband went off with a friend to the fights (to watch) and the kid and I shopped and ate at McDonald's. I had zero motivation to run, but as soon as the kid went to bed at 8:30, I went down the the treadmill and kicked out my 4 mile compromise (I should have done 5, but wanted to do 3 - I didn't run this morning because I decided to clean instead). I don't know if I'll be able to get any more runs in this weekend as it is my baseball playoffs. It is a double knock-out and we finished fifth. Same as last year. Last year we ended up second place to a team that went 22-0 in the regular season and 5-0 in playoffs. This year it will be a much closer race.

I'll spend the weekend looking like this:


And loving every minute of it. Go Hurricanes!

Good luck to anyone racing this weekend!

Halfway to my goal

If you scroll down you will see a ticker which is counting the KM's I've run this year. I've finally been able to run enough to get over halfway to my 600km goal.

w00t!

I get that this is a very small goal compared to some other runners that I follow, but my main race goal this year in terms of distance is 10km, so I'll be very happy if (when) I hit 600km.

Speaking of races, I've decided to register for the Oasis Zoo 10k Run on October 17th. This is a bittersweet registration for me as it means I'm not pregnant (again!) this month. It does however mean that I will add another PB to my roster for 2009! Yippee!

In running news, I ran just under 9km with Sarah on Sunday and ran 8km on my own on Tuesday (longest alone distance ever!). The 8km on my own was amazing. I started out at 7:50am under the cover of clouds and blew past the heavy first day of school traffic trying to get out of my subdivision. I plan a repeat tomorrow.

I'm currently on staycation which is what is making these morning runs possible. If only I didn't commute 3 hours to work each day, I could run like this every other morning!

The week before vacation

Is always the craziest week at work, eh?

So, after the race last Saturday, I promptly got up on Sunday morning (making 7 days in a row that the alarm woke me) to run 7.7k with my friend Sarah in Oakville. She kept me honest and kept me running (despite some stomach cramps) and I was very glad to have gone out with her.

Then, the work week from hell happened and all exercise plans were shot to hell. Witness:

Monday: Baseball, and I had run 12.7k in two days, so a day off for me

Tuesday: Ill - something I ate (figured this because the husband was also not well), so no exercise

Wednesday: BUSY, plus work lunch and then the husband texted and asked if we should go out to dinner. I said yes. After a pint and some nosh, there was no point in running

Thursday: Work was seriously teh KRAZEE (I know! I work in the marketing department of a BANK for God's sake! I'm the Media manager - busy is like apocalyptic!), then I had a baseball executive meeting (with pints)

Friday: AH! I got lots of stuff done this morning, so I went to Curves at lunch and then tonight, I took to the treadmill for a little over 5k

Most people don't like the treadmill. I admit that I go back and forth. Tonight, I liked it. I put 35 minutes on it, set the pace, put the Jays on TV (Halladay was facing The Yankees) and ran. It was good. I didn't feel like running at 7pm when I would have had to leave in order to get a daylight run in (and I'm not running at night in our new, still under construction subdivision), but by 8pm the guilt, I mean desire, to run was there and I went down to the basement and got at it.

Sunday will find Sarah and I hitting 8-9k I'm sure. Next week I'm off. My plan is to run 4/5 days and get my husband out at least once with me (He's hitting the treadmill about 3x a week too!). We're not doing anything else but painting, so accomplishing this goal should be easy.