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Milton, Ontario, Canada

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

What I Ate Wednesday






So I'm not really playing by the rules here. I've not yet broken my habit of nighttime snacking, but I have cut it down (win!). Here is my day in eats from yesterday.


Honey Shreddies. Amazing. Buy them.
I then had my coffee in my Contingo mug once at my desk.

10am snack. MMM.

Lunch of random leftovers. Brown rice with pepper, grilled sweet potato and baked beans (the kind from the can). It was actually very good and very filling.

Afternoon skinny latte. Feels like fall.

White dinner. Fettuccine Alfredo with Garlic bread.

Nighttime snack while studying for my AdWords certification test. We had no chips, so I stole enjoyed my kids goldfish with a (large) glass of pinot gris.

Off to be inspired by what you're all eating....

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Milton Half Marathon Race Report!

OR

At least I went for it?

On Sunday I ran the first ever Milton Half Marathon! It was amazing to run through MY town and enjoy seeing lots of runners I knew and of course racing with Ed Whitlock who also lives in Milton. Ed? He did amazing, setting the world record for the half marathon for men over 80! Me? Not so much!

The start - Might as well line up with One-Fifty

On Sunday, I rolled out of bed pretty much as sore as if I had run a half marathon the day before. My legs were killing me as I had played one game of softball Friday night and three games Saturday. I went through the usual routine of getting ready, eating a bagel with peanut butter and gathering my stuff. When I brushed my teeth, I took the last Advil that was in our house and headed out to the start. I quickly meet up with Phillip, Emma and  Alan and we all did our pre race things and headed to the start. While I knew that I was tempting fate with my sore legs, high on adrenaline and Advil, I decided to join Phil and line up with the 1:50:00 pacer. After a great rendition of O Canada, we were off!

 

1-7k - Okay macnic, time to slow down

I started off with the group and the pacer asked, "So who is running One-Fifty with me?" Lots of people answered. I just said, "I hope to." Which got some laughs from the men around me (the whole pace group was me and a bunch of men well over 6ft tall - that should have been my first clue that I was out of my element!). We headed out down Thompson and were hitting the first planned water station before long, right on pace. At the water station, I saw a lady that I was sure I knew. She had passed me but I speed up to tap her on the shoulder and it turns out, it was Bela! I chased her for a long, long time and every time we hit a water station right were it was planned, I thought that she would be happy considering her adventures in Quebec! Right from the start of the race, I knew I had made a mistake going for the 1:50:00, but I stuck with the group for 5k before I told myself to let them go and to slow the eff down. My concession to myself was that I'd keep the pace in the 5:20s and hit the 1:55:00 goal instead.
  5:14-5:10-5:10-5:15-5:20-5:24-5:22 total time: 36:55, pace band (1:55:00): 38:09

8-14k - Best Moment EVER!

By 8k, I was still feeling okay and settling into the new normal in terms of pace. To be really honest, I was running by feel quite a bit more than I ever had in any race. I just didn't feel like checking my watch. I felt in control and was pretty sure I had 1:55 in the bag at this point. While my legs hurt like they never had at this point in a race, everything else was absolutely fine. I decided to take my one and only gel somewhere here and had to stop to dig it out of my spibelt which paused my watch. When I went through the next water station, I also stopped and refilled my handheld. This was my first time racing with it and I really loved having it! I think I will have it for Niagara as well. Once we passed the plaza at Thompson and Louis St. Laurent, I knew that my husband, kids and friends were close. The path that we were running on runs parallel to the sidewalk with grass in between. As soon as I saw them, right where they said they'd be, I jumped onto the sidewalk and started waving like a mad woman. Fergus started racing toward me and I grabbed him and then Alasdair was there and we ran along together for a bit:

Best thing ever!


A quick hi-five for Jenn, who made the signs (she's totally crying!) and I'm on my way!

Thanks to all of my "fans" who came out to support me and team Tie-Dye!

Once I past the kids, I felt adrenaline leaving me in droves. I started looking for the 11k marker and started shouting at myself. "10k. 10k left. Nothing. Let's go, Let's go!" I made the turn down Farmstead and starting thinking about walking. I walked for about 45 seconds and started running again. "Okay, okay. 10 and 1s. Let's go! You've run a marathon." I looked at my watch and the time was 1:04:XX. Okay, 1:14:00 was my next walk break. At this point I saw the 1:55:00 pacer pass by with Alan. I decided to not let it get me down as I was running my own race. At this point my watch was only being looked at to determine when the next walk break was. I had a bit of pride left in that I wanted to at least finish under two hours but I figured I'd REALLY have to blow up to miss that one.

5:28-5:45 (GU)-5:22-5:51-5:33-5:41-5:32, split: 39:12, total time: 1:16:07, pace band (1:55:00): 1:16:18

15-21.1k - Milton! Milton!


By 15k, I was in an odd place. I was so close to the end, yet so far away. I was running well and missed my walk break at 1:14:XX so I just continued to run along. I stopped two more times to refill my water bottle which paused my Garmin and began to drink Gatorade at the drinks stations. I hi-fived every single person I saw and shouted, "Milton! Milton!" at everyone as well. My legs were dead but everything else felt fine. When you think about it, I had done at least 252 squats over Friday and Saturday while getting ready in the field for balls to be hit, plus running the bases which is really just fast sprints. It is no wonder my legs were dead. The good news is that I am 100% sure I'm ready and able to run a 1:55:00 or faster half marathon, just not on this weekend. When we crossed over Thompson on the way to the final Tupper loop, I saw the 1:40 and so on pacers and looked for Phil and Alan but didn't see either of them. Many people were running strong and it was awesome to see the quality of runners that my hometown had brought out. All of this time I was playing cat and mouse with a middle aged man who was rather hobbling along, stopping to walk and drink and then continuing to run. It was a bit annoying, but I made myself keep up with him because I knew the pace was fine. I did not look at my watch. I totally gave up on time. It was all about running. By 18k, I was counting the kilometers down, per my usual strategy to push through. On Coxe, I started running a bit faster and was running with an Asian lady and I told myself to not force the pace, to run my own race. At Coxe and Childs I saw Henry, a member of the Winston Churchill Running Room group who was volunteering. I had seen him at the 5k/half split and given him a hi-five and he was at this point to help runners he knew. He ran with me for a bit and I told him I was hurting and that I couldn't talk, but just having him with me with his fluid, graceful, barefoot stride was what I needed to get to 20k. He is such a great, quiet motivator. I hit the 20k sign and Henry left me to reel in the next person and I started to book it down Thompson, passing that same Asian lady I had let leave me just a kilometer earlier. I pushed it up the final hill at the underpass and rounded the corner onto Main determined not to slow down. When I saw the crowd, I started waving my hands up and down to get loud cheers and shouted, "MILTON! MILTON! MILTON!"


I crossed the line, happy that I had at least finished under two hours and elated that I was finally done!

5:58-6:34-5:45-5:39-5:47-5:34-5:17-1:31, split: 42:05, total time: 1:58:12, paceband: 1:55:00

Gun: 1:58:52
Chip: 1:58:43
Place: 150/278 (I guess my bib meant something!)
Gender: 48th
Category (W35-39): 18/41 (the first female finisher in the race was in my category; her time: 1:30:38)

The Aftermath

I quickly found Alan and Phil and found out that they both hit their goals and PBs! WooHoo! Go team Tie-Dye! We headed out to watch for Emma and before long, she was rounding the corner heading to the finish line and smashing her record making team tie-dye 3 for 4 with the PBs on this day! It was most excellent to celebrate with everyone finishing and I loved the number of people who stopped right before the finish to hug their spouses or drag their kids across the line with them. I would have loved to hang out longer, but I had to go. I had a baseball game at noon! I went home, said hi to my mum and Fergus (Ken had hockey, so mum was babysitting), showered and then headed out to baseball with Alasdair and a ham and cheese sandwich. No Advil, Alan - we were out! Baseball went well, but we ended up losing 7-3 after a very close game. I made contact twice which amazes me and that run to first was hell on earth.

I LOVED THIS RACE.

Of course, it was in my town and I saw so many people I know plus my friends and family came out (with signs!) to cheer for me, but beyond that I thought it was so well organized with great parking, water and Gatorade where they said and perfect traffic control as well (no streets were shut down). I have already contacted RS Races on Twitter to tell them my pleasure in running this race and I will be signing up for sure for next September. I can only hope that we can grow team tie-dye and take on new PBs!

Next up: Niagara Falls Half Marathon on October 21st. The 1:55:00 will be mine!


 




Monday, September 17, 2012

Milton Half Marathon - Best Race Moment EVER!

Running with my kids!
This is the 10k mark and without a doubt the best moments of ANY race ever.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Milton Half Marathon Race Goals

YAY! It is here! This Sunday I will run my fourth half marathon and run it in MY town, Milton, Ontario!

I have been working toward a PB for this race, assuming I'd attempt to run it in 1:55:00 for a nice, strong PB over the Chilly Half Marathon which I ran in early March, and finished in 1:57:10.

Then on Wednesday, I had coffee with Robin

(digression - Robin and I work for the same company! Normally, this wouldn't be a huge deal because our company employs over 40,000 people in Canada, but in one of those small world moments, we work in the same building, five floors apart!)

And Robin began to ask me why I wouldn't try for a better result.

 "What's holding you back?"
 "A half is the perfect time to experiment; you'd never go full out in a marathon"
"If you start fast and fade, you'll likely still end up faster then that 1:55 goal"
"Listen, you can run faster then me and I have a 1:53 half marathon"

She gave me lots to think about. The thing is, I have my year end softball tournament this weekend, starting tonight with one game. We play again at on Saturday at 9am. If we keep winning, we could end up playing three games in total on Saturday. Obviously this doesn't make for the best pre-race conditions.

But....
You miss 100% of the shots you never take
- Wayne Gretzky 
And then I got my bib:

Well, if that is not a sure sign, I don't know what is.

So, on Sunday instead of lining up with the 1:55:00 pacer, I'll be lining up with the 1:50:00 pacer for the A goal:

1:50:00
B goal: Sub 1:55:00
C goal: 1:55:XX
D goal: Not to crap my pants

See you on the course on Sunday!



August Recap!


I had another great month in August! I continued to run when I could and didn't worry too much about the training plan. In fact, I only paid attention to the long run distance for the week and pretty much nothing else. While this makes me a bit worried about the Milton Half Marathon race this weekend in light of the goal I'm going to go after (detailed in my next post), I am happy to have allowed myself more freedom.

# of runs: 16

Longest run: 30k! A Midsummer Night's Run!

Races: A Midsummer Night's Run!

Total KM: 179.06 – A bit on the low side, but still not bad considering I only ran 16 of 31 days.

Total time spent running: 18h05m27s

Average pace per KM: 0:06:04

I continued to gain major confidence in my speed and ability to hold a challenging pace for a longer time. I just hope that this translates to success on Sunday! The Midsummer Night's Run was a challenging blast and it was nice to run a long race again. I'm already looking ahead to the off season after the Niagara Half Marathon though. There are lots of days that I just don't want to go out for that run. September is going well so far. My goal half marathon is this Sunday and I hope to push my limits and surpass expectations, but more on that later.

I hope you enjoyed a great month!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

What I Ate Wednesday



The theme of this month's WIAW is "Falling into good habits". I'm failing at this so far. My goal was to stop evening snacking. Oh well.

Today, I bring you the food I ate on Tuesday, September 11, 2012. Also known around these parts as the day my husband turned 37!

 It was a rushed morning, so I ate a banana before I left for the train and grabbed a pumpkin loaf slice from Starbucks. I give it a 5/10. It had the foulness known as "nature's candy"

 Lunch! I am loving this mild genoa salami. My salad was also good, but I don't love cucumbers. I always have them because the boys like them, so I might as well eat them, you know?
 Snack!
 Dinner - I put a roast beef in the crockpot with two cubed onions and a bunch of BBQ sauce. We had it as pulled beef with long grain and wild rice and corn. YUM.
 As I mentioned, my husband turned 37 yesterday. These are from one of the local gourmet cupcake places in town. I had the cookies and cream one. YUM! My husband decided on the Red Velvet and Fergus at the vanilla. Alasdair didn't get any because he wouldn't eat supper (We have three left over and he gets one tonight if he eats supper).
There are my immunity drops (my husband has a horrible cold, so I am taking these in light of the half marathon on Sunday). I got them at the local health food store. I took them all last winter while training for the marathon (and had a flu shot) and I didn't get sick once!

Oh! My good habit FAIL!

And thus ends my day in eats! I'm off to drool over yours!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

What I Ate Wednesday






Another weekly post of What I Ate Wednesday Tuesday!

Breakfast was cocoa, banana, oatmeal mini muffins with yogurt and coffee. I took some immunity drops as my husband has a cold and I have a race on September 16th

I was at a funeral in the AM but had to return home to work. I enjoyed this delightful ham sandwich on cheddar bread from our local bakery (and two more slices of the bread just with butter)

I went for a race pace run after work (and ended up running 17 seconds faster on average - whoops!). Before I went to pick up my son at the YMCA program, I had a banana.

Dinner was a result of going shopping after Y pickup. I had originally taken salmon out of the freezer and purchased asparagus and rice to have, but when my husband saw the cheese tortellini he requested a dinner switch out. We rounded out the dinner with Caesar salad and garlic bread.

After a long day, the kids went to bed and I enjoyed a very drinkable glass of this Shiraz-Cab.

As for my good habit for September per Jenn's monthly theme. I want to stop the post kiddie bedtime snacking habit unless I'm truly hungry. Let's see how this goes!