It's interesting how running can seem so sucky sometimes, and can be wonderful at other times. Yesterday was a good day! I ran a very s.l.o.w 2.5k on Monday, and another slow-ish 6k yesterday. I have to get caught up in order to reach 100k this month!
It's getting quite chilly out, and I find I need to start my run with a sweater/jacket, and then finish it out with a long-sleeved running shirt. I need more long sleeved running shirts! I only have 2! I will also need some long tights. Christmas list: started.
In other unrelated news, I picked up my bite plane from my dentist. He said I should notice a 90% decrease in pain within a week. Sounds too good to be true, so we'll see!
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
PEI Marathon Weekend
We had an awesome weekend!
It started on Saturday with the Spud Run. It's a free event for kids, and they run 1 or 2 laps around the track at UPEI. They get free t-shirts and a treat-bag, and this year they added ribbons, which was an awesome addition. Little Fox had a great time!
Thank you to all the volunteers and organizers! Another great race weekend.
It started on Saturday with the Spud Run. It's a free event for kids, and they run 1 or 2 laps around the track at UPEI. They get free t-shirts and a treat-bag, and this year they added ribbons, which was an awesome addition. Little Fox had a great time!
After we got home last night (after spending all afternoon with Red Fox's family), I sat down to make my race-prep list. I like having things all gathered up in one place so that in the morning, I can just grab it and go. And I list EVERYTHING. As if I'd really forget to get my underwear, right? So as I was list-making, so many things popped into my head:
Pants - capris with blue dots on leg
Undies
Shirt - "Long or short sleeves? Check the weather? OMG what time does the race even start? *google* ok, 9 am. 12-14 degrees. Short sleeves."
Sleeves
Throw away sweater
Bra
Socks
headband - "crap... where did I put that? ok, think back... was going to wear it on my last run, but it rained so I took it off and wore a hat... downstairs, then..." (finally found it UNDER the bench)
Garmin - "thank God I plugged that in"
Sneakers
Race bib - OMG there's no pins. GET PINS
Next on the list was morning schedule. Race starts at 9, be there by 8 to find a parking spot, oh crap, there are road closures, where can I park? Where can I drive?
This morning we left at 7, and stopped at Tim's. I got a bagel (which I ate maybe half of), and then got some gas. We let Red Fox at a friends place cause he was out last night with friends and stayed the night there. Red Fox and Little Fox had some breakfast at Cora's before the race started.
I had 2 goal finish times: I REALLY wanted to finish in under an hour, and my almost-out-of-reach goal was 55 minutes.
At the starting line, I found the pacer I wanted to follow. The 0:55 pace bunny. I told her I didn't think I'd be able to keep up with her, but I wanted to keep her in my sights. She was doing a continuous run, not 10:1 (run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute) and I knew I couldn't keep up a 5:30 pace for that long. I set my Garmin's virtual pacer to 5:45. The race started, and I stuck with the pace bunny for the first 3 km, and then took a walk break. I really wanted to finish in under an hour, so I only allowed myself to walk long enough to take 10 breaths. I could see the pace bunny ahead of me, and I didn't want to get too far behind so now and then I'd pick up the pace a bit to catch up, and then I'd allow myself to drift back a bit again. I think the 8th km was the hardest for me.
There weren't as many spectators along the route as I expected. MAYBE 10 per km. There were a lot of people at the finish line, though!
Finally, I saw the finish line! I knew I'd finished in under an hour, but I was behind the pace bunny. I forgot to even look at the clock! But the Atlantic Chip page shows:
Place Bib # Name City/Town Age group Result Age Group Gun Time Chip Time Avg. Pace
120 2276 Erin Carr French River PE 18/74 F3039 56:45 55:37 5:34
A chip
time of 55:37! 120th over all, and 18th in my age group. I'm super happy with that.
No photos
yet, cause Red Fox missed my big finish! But when finish line photos are posted online, I'll post mine here. :) I saw the 55 minute pacer int eh finisher's area, and she grinned when she saw me, and congratulated me. :) I told her I stayed as close as I could, and always had her in my sight. I made sure to thank her... I didn't realize she had to carry that pace bunny sign the whole time!
After my
race, I went to change, and then headed back to the finish line to watch
Heather from http://girlgoesrunning.blogspot.ca/ finish her
full marathon. I got some photos of both her and her husband, but I'll let them
share them if they choose to! I wasn't sure if Matt was running, but Courteney said he was. I had no idea what he looked like, so I just took photos of every man wearing a marathon bib until I saw someone that looked familiar. LOL Then I watched for the bright yellow socks, and started clicking away. We finally met in person in the finisher’s chute, so we got a photo.
Matt took the picture, and it's a little out of focus, but the man
just ran a freaking marathon, so I was impressed that he could even hold the
camera! I think they both did incredibly well, and I’m looking forward to
Heather’s race recap!
I found watching
at the finish line to be really emotional! I saw an entire family line up to
high five the mom as she finished her half marathon. Spectators jumped and
screamed for people as they ran by, especially as the marathoners started to
trickle in. A daughter-and-father team grabbed hands to run across the finish
line together. I saw people who were REALLY struggling, but they did it!
Thank you to all the volunteers and organizers! Another great race weekend.
Friday, October 18, 2013
PEI Marathon weekend countdown
2 days. I'm bummed. Like, "don't even wanna talk about it" kind of bummed. When I emailed to switch back to the 10k, they had already ordered the race bibs so I'll have to switch at race kit pick-up. I'm seriously tempted to just go get my race bib and do the half. I won't though.
Little Fox is running the Spud Run on Saturday. He did it last year and he was hilarious. He's excited to do it again this year. I hope it's warmer than it was last year! For both races... it was 2 degrees last year!!
I'm behind on my "run 100k this month" thing, but I can still do it. Silly me for thinking I'd be able to run for an hour on Thanksgiving weekend... what with the 6 hours of cooking, eating 2 big meals, etc. I'll run 3 or 4 today, and take tomorrow off before the 10.
Next weekend is the Halloween Run in Kensington. I was planning on doing the 5k, but I think I'll run the 2k family run with Little Fox so we can both wear our costumes. I'd get Red Fox to "run" it with him, but his knee is still really bad, so he'll have to be the designated photographer. :)
Little Fox is running the Spud Run on Saturday. He did it last year and he was hilarious. He's excited to do it again this year. I hope it's warmer than it was last year! For both races... it was 2 degrees last year!!
I'm behind on my "run 100k this month" thing, but I can still do it. Silly me for thinking I'd be able to run for an hour on Thanksgiving weekend... what with the 6 hours of cooking, eating 2 big meals, etc. I'll run 3 or 4 today, and take tomorrow off before the 10.
Next weekend is the Halloween Run in Kensington. I was planning on doing the 5k, but I think I'll run the 2k family run with Little Fox so we can both wear our costumes. I'd get Red Fox to "run" it with him, but his knee is still really bad, so he'll have to be the designated photographer. :)
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
A Full-House for Thanksgiving
We had a really great weekend. My whole family was here so we had a full house. Full enough that I slept with Little Fox!
Alex and Alex arrived late Friday, and stayed in the guest house. They brought the dogs, so even Molly had company! Dad and Mom and Scott come on Saturday. For some reason, I can't remember what we all did on Saturday. I know it included collecting potatoes, a bon fire, and roasting a duck. We had duck for supper, which is something I had never eaten before, but enjoyed.
On Sunday, mom put in turkey number 1, and later in the day we went to Scott's brothers for dinner. Lots of really good food there! Mom, Little Fox and I wandered the property and played Pooh Sticks on the Dunk River.
Alex certainly earned his keep this weekend. He replaced the kitchen tap, fixed the light switches, replaced the ceiling fan in the fireplace room, cleaned rain gutters and cleaned the chimney!!
We had our family dinner on Monday at about noon. Mom and I got up at 6 and got Turkey Two into the oven. We then spent the rest of the morning preparing everything else... stuffing (additional stuffing... other than what we already put in the turkey), potatoes, carrots, turnip, cranberries, pumpkin pie and apple crisp. Little Fox helped with the pumpkin pie.
Everyone left by about 2 that afternoon, so I decided to tackle Little Fox's bedroom.
Alex and Alex arrived late Friday, and stayed in the guest house. They brought the dogs, so even Molly had company! Dad and Mom and Scott come on Saturday. For some reason, I can't remember what we all did on Saturday. I know it included collecting potatoes, a bon fire, and roasting a duck. We had duck for supper, which is something I had never eaten before, but enjoyed.
On Sunday, mom put in turkey number 1, and later in the day we went to Scott's brothers for dinner. Lots of really good food there! Mom, Little Fox and I wandered the property and played Pooh Sticks on the Dunk River.
Alex certainly earned his keep this weekend. He replaced the kitchen tap, fixed the light switches, replaced the ceiling fan in the fireplace room, cleaned rain gutters and cleaned the chimney!!
We had our family dinner on Monday at about noon. Mom and I got up at 6 and got Turkey Two into the oven. We then spent the rest of the morning preparing everything else... stuffing (additional stuffing... other than what we already put in the turkey), potatoes, carrots, turnip, cranberries, pumpkin pie and apple crisp. Little Fox helped with the pumpkin pie.
Everyone left by about 2 that afternoon, so I decided to tackle Little Fox's bedroom.
Before: at this point, I was already about 20 minutes in.
After: Little Fox said that his new rule is to put things back.
It was a nice, family-filled yet productive weekend. :)
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Potatoes
This post is going to be about a little bit of everything, and mostly photos.
On the way home from Kensington a few days ago, there was a rainbow. And then after that, the sunset was beautiful.
On the way home from Kensington a few days ago, there was a rainbow. And then after that, the sunset was beautiful.
This is over the little pond they call the Lake of Shining Waters (across from the Anne museum)
The lighthouse in the distance is at Cape Tryon.
Yesterday, we made a pumpkin boy.
Stuffing the pants
I had a better one of this, but I loved the way Molly looked so happy in this picture.
Little Fox and his new buddy
Little Fox wanted to take a picture of me too. He did a good job!
They finally started harvesting the potatoes in the field next to us. After they harvest, there are always some potatoes they missed or left behind, which will eventually rot. So we went out with some bags and picked some up. We got some really giant ones!
Huge potatoes!
We went to our first auction today, and got a nice old secretary's desk. Little Fox came with us and was pretty good during the whole thing, until he got hungry. After the auction, I went for a run.
I ran 5k on Tuesday and Thursday, and 10k today. I can't post my times because my Garmin battery died, and I'm too lazy right now to hook it up. Today's run felt pretty good, but the last 2 kms were slow. I had one hell of a stitch in my ribs that would.not.go.away. and I had to stop a few times for some harvesting equipment to go by. They are as wide as the road, and I didn't want them to have to worry about me, so I just waited in driveways until they went by. I think I had to stop for 4 of them. So that's 20k this week... 20 down, 80 more to go!
And that about wraps it up!
And that about wraps it up!
Thursday, October 3, 2013
October Goals
I know, 2 posts in one day. Gasp.
I'm jumping on the trend bandwagon and am going to post a goal list for October. I'm pretty bad at meeting my goals in general, so... we'll see what happens. Here goes.
1. Blog more. Or more consistently. I haven't blogged much about our daily lives lately. Gotta get on that.
2. To go along with Goal 2, I need to follow "Wheaton's Law". The lovely ladies over at Rants From Mommyland posted about this a few days ago, at almost the exact moment I needed to read it. This includes being patient, not using my snotty voice (THAT is going to take work), and getting "that look" off my face. You know the one, Mom.
3. I need to do those damn physio exercises. I keep forgetting!
4. This is a big one. I'm going to TRY to reach 100k this month. It's do-able... It's a 5k run about every other day, with 10k's on the weekends. I might not get to 100, but I think my main goal for this is to TRY. I'm 2 for 2 so far, and have 10k on the books.
5. Focus during working hours. We're starting the mapping phase of a big project, and I want to focus, get it done, and get it done well.
I'm jumping on the trend bandwagon and am going to post a goal list for October. I'm pretty bad at meeting my goals in general, so... we'll see what happens. Here goes.
1. Blog more. Or more consistently. I haven't blogged much about our daily lives lately. Gotta get on that.
2. To go along with Goal 2, I need to follow "Wheaton's Law". The lovely ladies over at Rants From Mommyland posted about this a few days ago, at almost the exact moment I needed to read it. This includes being patient, not using my snotty voice (THAT is going to take work), and getting "that look" off my face. You know the one, Mom.
3. I need to do those damn physio exercises. I keep forgetting!
4. This is a big one. I'm going to TRY to reach 100k this month. It's do-able... It's a 5k run about every other day, with 10k's on the weekends. I might not get to 100, but I think my main goal for this is to TRY. I'm 2 for 2 so far, and have 10k on the books.
5. Focus during working hours. We're starting the mapping phase of a big project, and I want to focus, get it done, and get it done well.
MIA (or maybe MII) and Halloween prep
I've been missing in action, I know... or maybe that should be missing in inaction. I haven't gone running since I decided to do the 10k at the PEI marathon. I've been discouraged, disappointed and unmotivated. I finally ran 5k on Tuesday.
I have, however, started Halloween costumes.
There's a Halloween race in Kensington, and they encourage runners to dress up. I've dressed up for the past few years, with Little Fox (and I've put together/made/sewn every costume myself ). Last year I went as Howard from Big Bang Theory, and Little Fox was Astro boy...
I have, however, started Halloween costumes.
There's a Halloween race in Kensington, and they encourage runners to dress up. I've dressed up for the past few years, with Little Fox (and I've put together/made/sewn every costume myself ). Last year I went as Howard from Big Bang Theory, and Little Fox was Astro boy...
(check out that Beatles wig and Nintendo belt buckle!)
2012
and the year before that I was the Cat in the Hat, and Little Fox was "Oshie the Dog" (Grand Fox's dog's name is Oshie).
2011
Little Fox's other costumes are below...
2010: Deviled Egg
2009: Clan Carr Scottish Highlander, complete with sporran and
2008: No trick or treating for this 6 month old, so we just dressed him in his orange sweater that his great grandmother made.
So anyway (sorry about that tangent down memory lane), this year, I tried to come up with something that was running related, since it's a 5k run. I settled on something that isn't REALLY running related. LOL A gingerbread man. You know, run-run-run, as fast as you can, cant catch me, I'm the gingerbread man...? I'm just going to stitch some felt piece onto brown jogging pants and a hoodie I already have. I better get started because it's all hand-stitching so that it'll be easy to remove.
Of course, Little Fox then changed him mind from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle to gingerbread man. I thought that was a little cutesy for a 5 year old boy, so I suggested a ZOMBIE gingerbread man. He liked that idea so we'll go with that. I already have the pants and shirt sewn, so there's no going back now! I can't wait to get it finished. :)
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