Blue Nose Marathon Weekend Recap

I know I haven't posted in a long time. After my long run on Easter, I didn't run very much, and I was sure I had sabotaged my half marathon, and didn't feel like writing about it.

We left for Nova Scotia on Friday, early morning (I had a meeting at my office that afternoon). I made sure to have my water bottled filled, and drank water all day. After the meeting we went to my Mother-in-Law's house, where we'd be spending the weekend.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Expo to get my race kit and browse the booths. The man who gave me my race kit was originally from PEI, so we chatted a bit and he wished me luck. I went to get my chip activated, and when I saw my name and bib number come up on the screen, my heart pounded. I was actually doing this!

We walked around the Expo, and I talked with Courteney a bit at the Run Nova Scotia booth. We noticed that at the next booth over, there was a man doing caricature drawings for free. Red Fox and I both had ours done. Red Fox's is awesome, but I'm not a fan of mine (Red Fox said "well... he captured your German heritage"). I also bought a Blue Nose headband to wear during the race.

 

After the expo, we went back to MIL's, and basically just did nothing rested my legs. And charged all my devices: phone, ipod (which I didn't use at all), and garmin GPS watch.

 

 

 

That evening, I had a giant plate of spaghetti, and went to bed at about 9. We'd have to get up at 5, and I knew I wouldn't sleep well. I had the internal debate regarding my ear plugs... if I don't wear them, I'll hear snoring all night. If I DO wear them, I might not hear my alarm. I didn't wear them, so I was awake at 2:30, and basically didn't sleep after that. I got up, taped my feet in an effort to avoid blisters, and got dressed. Put my hair up and braided it, and put on some makeup. I KNOW, it was a race, but they take photos, AND the makeup has SPF30, which was the only sunscreen I had. We packed up all our stuff, and stopped at Tim Hortons for breakfast on the way. I had a yogurt that I brought with me, and half a bagel. Honestly, that's more than I usually can eat before a race!

 

Red Fox dropped me off at the Metro Center and I went in to stay warm and prepare. I went to the bathroom 3 or 4 times... mostly preventative... I didn't want to have to stop for a pitstop mid-race. Finally, it was time to go to the start area. I saw mom, Little Fox and Red Fox on the way, and they got some photos and took my jacket.

 





I lined up with the 2:15 pace bunny. I hoped to at least keep the guy in my sights.

My view from the starting line

And we're off!

 

This was not my best race. I was feeling good at the very beginning, and looking for my mom, Ref Fox and Little Fox occupied my mind. It was sunny and warm, so I took a drink at the first water stop. BIG MISTAKE. I got the worst side stitch I've ever had. I tried to run/walk through it, but I just didn't go away. I lost sight of the pace bunny at about km 2. A lady stopped and asked me if I was ok. I said I was, and when I caught up to her a few minutes later I thanked her for checking on me, and we talked about how disheartening it is to get a stitch, have to walk, and watch all the runners blow past you. I saw Mom and the boy at about km 8, and I still had the stitch. I told Mom I didn't think I'd be able to do this. Finally, about a km later, it faded.

But then, at km 10, my knee started hurting. I was like, Nooooooooooooooo. It hadn't been bothering me since last summer, WHY NOW?! I had been texting Red Fox during my walk breaks. I also sent Courteney a text to let her know I felt like death, and that I had seen Heather. As I was going in to Point Pleasant Park, I saw runners coming out. I thought I might catch Heather, so I pulled out my phone and got the camera ready. I was JUST about to turn the corner and put my phone away when I saw her! I yelled to her and snapped a quick picture.

Here are some screen grabs of my desperate (and typo-filled) texts, and some of the photos I took along the way.

 

*at km2

*That's a photo of the 15k sign

*there were a few Kenyan runners running his year. This guy just flew past. It was AMAZING!

 

Heather. Looking strong!

In Point Pleasant Park

At the end of this street, we could see the Hill. So close, yet so far away. That guy in the grey was also hurting... he stopped a few times to rub his knee.

 



 



As I entered the park, someone had some music playing, and the song was Hedley's Anything. There was a man running beside me and we both loudly belted out "Forget that, I can do anything!" and then looked at each other and laughed. It was one of my favorite moments. Running through the Park was really nice. It smelled like ocean (obviously), and was nice and cool, with a  bit of a breeze. I was in some pain by this time, and I took the chance to walk up that giant hill that is in there.

The support along the route was amazing. So many bands playing, lots of people with cowbells or other noise makers and drums, and everyone cheered for everyone. The water stops were high energy and full of encouragement, and the police and commissionaires personnel were great. One guy was directing us out of the park, and made a little dance out of it. It really made me smile.

Another of the bands near the end of the route played Nelly's Ride Wit Me, and the lyrics "why do I feel this way... must be the money" also made me laugh because at this point, I felt terrible, and I certainly wasn't getting any money for it!

*I don' know why I look so happy. I wasn't happy! 

*This one is more accurate. Looking pained in this one.

Finally I could see the finish. I tried to finish strong, but my knee hurt SO bad, so I just tried to actually keep running. I saw mom and Little Fox, cheering and yelling "you did it!!" and then crossed the finish line. I felt relief and pain! I checked my garmin and saw that I finished in 2:21:36, which I was pretty pleased with, considering how much walking I had to do. As soon as I stopped running, my calves cramped up into knots, my quads went weak. I hobbled over to get my medal, and the volunteer and I laughed at how long I was taking to get to her. I went in to he Metro Centre to get a banana and make my way down to meet my family. I s-l-o-w-l-y made I down the hill, and tried to fumble my way through a decision about lunch. Really, my head was a bit messed up, and I wanted someone to direct me and to say, "ok, we're going here, and we're doing this" but we eventually came to a decision to meet Alex and Alex at their hotel and eat at the restaurant. We originally planned to go to Cora's, but the hotel was closer, and we wouldn't have to drive there.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with my time. I'm disappointed about the side stitch and knee pain, and I think if it hadn't been for those things I could have finished within my 2:15 goal, but all things considered, I am really pleased. It's now Tuesday morning, and my knee still hurts. My legs are quite sore. But I feel pretty damn good about it all!

Oh, I almost forgot. Here's my favorite photo from the whole thing. It was taken by Jeremy Buehler, a photographer along the route. I love this one because it perfectly captures how enthusiastic Little Fox is, and I love that he's so happy, friendly, and outgoing. There are other photos from the other direction so the runner's faces are visible, and everyone is grinning as they run past him. Also, hank you, Mom, for coming to Halifax to watch the race, and thanks to Mom and Red Fox for their support, encouragement, and reassurance that I would finish and not collapse on the way.

Half Marathon Training - Weeks 11 and 12

I didn't update last week, because I didn't run. On Sunday evening, we went out for chinese food. On Monday at lunch time, I ate the leftovers. On Monday at 4pm, I was suffering from the worst bout of food poisoning I've ever experienced. By tuesday morning, the digestive part was better (manageable), but I was feverish and exhausted. I slept all day, wrapped in a blanket on the couch by the fire. Wednesday and Thursday I still couldn't bring myself to eat much. After that, I basically gave up for the rest of the week.

Which brings me to Week 12. On Monday, I went out for a 6k run. It was the best run I'd had in months. Warm, not overly windy, not wet or muddy (or snowy!). I started out with one pair of tights, a long sleeved shirt, and my jacket. After the first 2.5k, I took my jacket off, shoved it in my mailbox, and finished my run. I felt so free with no bulky layers!

On Wednesday, I went for a short 3k. It was SO windy that day! I had to run really hard but still felt like I wasn't moving.

On Thursday after work/school, we drove to my mom's in Nova Scotia. I had my long run planned for friday morning, and had a route all figured out. I was REALLY looking forward to the run. I slept in my running tights so I'd be ready in the morning. I woke up early on friday morning, and had some of my mom's muffins for breakfast. My route too me down mom's road, and then along the Lahave River to Bridgewater. I wanted to run across the train bridge, and then run up oward my old high school as far as possible.

It was a bit colder that I anticipated, and my thighs and butt were frozen by the time I made it to the end of the road. Fun Fact: It is exactly 1 km from my mom's to Mo's store. I loved running along the river. My Garmin stopped tracking at once point because I went down a path to a little park right on the riverbank. I didn't notice at the time. Oh well.

It didn't seem to take very long to get to the mall, and I was feeling really good. I texted my friend Pat because I'd be running past his house, and I wasn't sure what side of the road the sidewalk was on. I waved as I went by on my way to the train bridge.

 

I stopped when I got across because I felt a blister developing on my toe. I put a bandaid on, and kept running. I made it to my High School in about 45 minutes. Fun Fact: My bus ride to school took 45 minutes. I'd be an awesome runner by now if I had just skipped the bus to run to school everyday! I kept going and stopped when I unexpectedly ran out of sidewalk. I crossed the road to watch and listen to the rapids. I'd never seen them from that vantage point before. It's funny how I never appreciated it until I moved away!

When I reached the school again, I noticed that my Garmin stopped tracking. I stopped it, and restarted it, but I had no idea how long it had been or how far I had gone. So, to play it safe, and to make up for the distance I lost from my planned route when the sidewalk ended, I ran up river a bit when I got back across the train bridge.

 

I don't remember ever being on that part of the trail or that far up river on that side before. The river was high, and loud. The trees along the bank were flooded. The traffic on the overpass was loud too. For some reason, being under an overpass always freaks me out, but I stopped long enough to get a photo of the graffiti.



I was starting to get a bit tired by this point. My thighs were sore and tired. I started taking more walk breaks (other than for photo ops!). I texted Red Fox and facebooked my mom to let them know where I was and when I expeced to be home. I kept on keeping on, and when I passed the mall, I thought, ok, I'm almost-almost there (and also, where did hat WIND come from?!). With about 3 or 4 km to go, I thought... "oh... this is the wall". And then my dad called! I chatted with him for a few minutes, and that helped me recoup. When I got to Mo's I knew I only had 1km to go! My legs were exhausted when I got to Mom's but I felt great, and really enjoyed the whole run. I'm unsure of my actual distance, but I think it was about 18km. My pace was about 6:35/km, which I feel ok about.

Sometimes, a change of scenery is a wonderful thing!

Half Training Ver 2.0 - Week 10

Another crazy week! On Sunday, the weather was supposed to be bad. We got more snow, freezing rain and crazy wind. When I woke up on Monday morning, we had no power. The freezing rain was still falling, and our tree limbs were cracking and crashing to the ground. Obviously, I didn't run that day! The details are for another post, though! (Coming right up, for thsoe who missed them on Facebook).

The weather/roads stayed terrible, and power stayed off until Wednesday night. On Wednesday, we finally gave in and went to a hotel for the day and night so that we could get some work done and be warm. There was a pool, so Little Fox and I went for a swim. I swam laps and tried some pool running (even though I didn't have a belt). My muscles felt wobbly when we were finished, so I figured it was a decent work out in place of the running I missed in the first half of the week.

I was finally able to run on Thursday. I had to go to Summerside for groceries to replace everything from our fridge and freezer, and I thought it would be a good oportunity to go running at the track again. The roads had so much snow and ice on them that there were places where the road was only one lane. I didn't want to risk getting hit by a car or run over by a snowplow/snowblower. I stopped at Credit Union Place first, and ran the track for 30 minutes. I'm not sure how many laps or km that was, but based on my usual pace, I'd guess 5 or 6k. I noticed I wasn't pushing myself very hard, so I started doing some pseudo-intervals. I ran 3 or 4 laps at an easy pace, and then ran hard for 2 laps. I did that about 4 or 5 times, and felt like I accomplished something when I was finished!

I planned to run my long run on Saturday, but the weather was calling for MORE freezing rain, so I postponed til today (Sunday).  I spent some time this morning putting some more songs on my ipod, and charging my garmin a bit (not enough, apparently!). I hit the road at about 10am, with 16k on my schedule. I wanted to stick close to home because I knew the roads were cleared enough for me to run safely, so I basically ran the River Rd and Cape Road a few time each until I reached 16k.

Cape Road was the only road with snow/ice/slush. This was the worst section. Not so bad!

I felt pretty good at the beginning. By about 4k, my quads were starting to feel tired, and knew I'd be struggling by the end! At 5k, I paused my garmin, went inside for a quick pee-break and to get a pebble out of my shoe. Wow, is that ever annoying when you're running!! At about 8k, Red Fox drove by after a trip to town, and gave me a much-needed banana.  I did the first 8k in about 52 minutes (I think?), and felt pretty good about that time. Kilometres 8-12 were ok, but windy. So windy, in fact, that I was blown off the road! The last 4 kms were killer. My thigh muscles were SO tired and weak, and I had to take some walk breaks, but I got it done! My garmin gave me the low-batery signal with 3k left, so at 15k I stopped it, and then started it again for the last km. Just in case.

See the 3 footprints in the mud? That's where I was blown off the pavement.

 

My total time was 1:43:23, with an average pace of about 6:30/km. I feel pretty good about that, considering I had to take walk breaks during the last 4k. My legs were killing me when I finished, and I had a pseudo-ice-bath halfway up the driveway. It felt SO good, and if my butt hadn't been so cold, I would have sat there much longer!

Now I understand why people do ice baths. It actually did feel really good on my legs!

Half Training Ver 2.0 - Week 9

What a crazy week it's been! The snowstorm of the year was forcast for wednesday, so I headed out for a run on Tuesday. I ran the beach route twice, and at the beginning I felt AWESOME. After the first 2k, I was feeling much less awesome, and the only thing that made me turn around at the mailbox and run it again was autopilot. I really struggled on the way back up the hill, but I got it done and felt good that I did it.

Then, Wednesday afternoon, the snow came. And the wind. It was a CRAZY storm here on the north shore of PEI. School was cancelled. We were lucky, though, and only lost power for about an hour and a half. On wednesday at about 5:15, I turned the stove on to make supper and the power went out. Of course! Thankfully, I expected the power to go out, so for supper on Tuesday, I made 6 big baked potatoes so that we'd have leftovers. We cut up a few potatoes and some hotdogs, put it all in our cast iron pan and cooked it over the wood stove. Little Fox thought it was the greatest thing ever. The power came back on as soon as we finished eaing!

On Thursday,  I woke up early. I'm a huge weather geek, so I was excited to see how much snow we got. I was NOT disapointed. For the rest of the day, I wavered between awe and dismay. There was just so.much.snow. School was cancelled again.

Dude, where's your car?!

This is what the guest house cottage looked like.

That's a LOT of snow.

Lost a few shingles from the roof of one of the cottages.

Those are the tops of trees. Little 4-foot tall trees.

The drift behind the barn

The snow blower had to work pretty hard!

 

We spent Thursday waiting for the snowblower to arrive. He finally got here at about 7:30pm. He said that he started that morning at 6am, and we were the worst he saw all day. School was cancelled again on Friday! So we all spent a lot of time outside, shovelling out the truck, playing in the snow, and walking aound to see jsut how much we had.

On Saturday morning, I saw on twitter that they announced the slogan winners for the Blue Nose Marathon. I didn't win. BUT the winner of the kid's slogan was "Run til you're blue in the nose". Sound familiar????? I emailed them and asked how the winners are chosen, since that is the slogan I submitted, and I submitted it about 5 minutes after the contest was announced. I don't really expect anything to come of it, but I was pretty annoyed. Free entry to the race would be awesome. My race fee is a Christmas gift from mom, but still, free is free!

Anyway, after that, I was annoyed so I went ouside to vent my frustrations on the snow. We had to get into the barn to get some wood and the oil cans, but the door was snowed in. After lunch, we went into Summerside for some oil and groceries. The boys dropped me off at the Credit Union Place so I could run on the indoor track while they ran the errands. I wanted to get my long run done, and I was worried that I'd be bored running around the track. BUT I was really looking forward to running on a level surface, with no ice or snow, no cold, and no wind in my face! It was glorious. LOL There was a hockey game, and I had some music, so I wasn't as bored as I thought I'd be. Also, it took a lot of brain power to keep track of all the laps! I did about 60 laps, which is about 15 km. I may have lost count, but I was running for about an hour and 40 minutes, so it seems about right!

My plan of attack was to run 10 laps, and then have a drink and walk one lap. After about 30 laps, my legs started to get pretty sore, but I kept going. Even with the sore legs, I REALLY enjoyed this run. I was surprised a how "easy" it was to run on the flat surface, and surprised at how much easier it was to keep my pace consistent.

When we got home from Summerside, we drove down toward the beach. Our road is basically flooded with all the melt run-off. The flood waters (ok, maybe not a FLOOD, but there's a lot of water!) start at the cottage driveway, and go all the way down to the beach. I'm SO glad I ran inside!

We're under another weather warning for today (Sunday) and tomorrow. Snow and freezing rain. Seriously. This has got to stop!

After all the shoveling and the long run, I am REALLY sore today. My back and shoulders hurt, and my thighs are killing me. Its amusing to note that the right side of my upper body hurts the most, and my left leg hurts more than the right (from running in a "circle"??). I am feeling a little unbalanced today! I plan to do some foam rolling and have a warm epsom salt soak!

Half Training Ver 2.0 - Week 8

On Tuesday, I ran 5k in under 30 minutes. I can't remember the last time I ran a sub-30 5k! Well, maybe I've been running them this whole time, and didn't know it cause I rarely take my Garmin! It was a pretty good run and I felt great when I was finished.

Thursday, I ran hill repeats. I was feeling a little run down, so they weren't done well, but I did them.

Today, Sunday, I headed out for my long run. I planned to do 10k, because last week I ran 15 and thought I should step it back a bit this week. I ended up running 300 metres!

Yesterday I had a sore throat and felt really blah. The muscles in my arms and legs felt weak and shaky, and I was really sleepy. It feels very similar to how I feel when my blood sugar drops.I ate and ate and ate, thinking it was just that I needed some fuel, but I didn't help. We went for a drive and I barely had the energy to hold up my head. Red Fox kept asking me what was wrong, but I have no idea! I even napped yesterday afternoon, which is something I do only VERY rarely.

So anyway, today, I am feeling the same way. Throat isn't as sore, but still feels weird. Arms and legs still feeling really weak. Not as sleepy, either. I had breakfast and put some chocolate chips in a baggie for my run. I got dressed and headed out, but I only made it to the stop sign before deciding I probably shouldn't go today. My knees were buckling a bit, and I didn't want to get 5k from home and get "stuck" with no way of contacting Red Fox (cell phone was dead). This is so strange... I hope I'm not getting sick.

I feel ok about missing today's long run. I had a great long run last week, and my mileage was ahead of schedule. I had some decent short runs during the week, and I'm hopeful that I'll be feeling stronger in the next few days.

weird.

Half Training Ver 2.0 - Week 7

Tuesday morning, I finally decided I was feeling "better enough" to run. I still wasn't 100% better, but it was more of a sinus problem than a chest problem. I checked the weather and decided to run after work when the wind would be lighter and the temps warmer. I finished up at 4:30, got changed and headed out with the plan to take it nice and slow and easy. It felt SO good to get out and run after more than a week. I pretty much sprinted down TDH, but then stopped to... blow my nose. I have been so stuffed up, and it was nice to be able to employ the "farmers blow", because my nose is so sore from using issues.

Anyway, enough with the grossness. I ran the River Rd, and I felt great. It was warm-ish, not much wind, and quiet. It was the first run since October that I felt like my old runner-self. Like I could stretch out and run freely, instead of fighting my way through the weather and just "Get it done".

Now that I said THAT, we're getting a snow storm tonight and tomorrow, so... ugh. Come on spring!

In other news, The Blue Nose marathon just opened their slogan contest. Here's my submission. It would be so cool to win and see everyone wearing it (not to mention the free admission to the race!). But I'm sure it's a long shot!

 

 

Wednesday night it started snowing at about 6, and didn't stop until Thursday evening. The wind was crazy enough that my bedroom curtains were moving (we obviously have leaky windows). School was cancelled on Thursday and we again have giant snowdrifts everywhere. The driveway got snowblown today (Friday) at about 10, so I waited until after work to go for a run. I couldn't wait to get out and run... my legs were achy from sitting down at my desk all day, and I needed to get some blood pumping. The wind was light, it was sunny, and warm-ish. I planned to do hill repeats today. But by between the top of the hill and the bottom, I was chased by 3 dogs, and there was one other dog which was being held back by it's owner. Where did all the dogs come from?! Usually there might be ONE dog, but 4?! So, I decided to just keep going and not run past the dogs over and over. I ran the River Road (with a little extra across the highway), and felt pretty good. I was almost sad when I got back home!

 

Sunday Runday! Today was long run day. I had 14k on my schedule. I planned to run the beach route twice (which would add up to 5k) and then head out toward the Anne museum. But after my first lap of the beach route, my garmin died. So I decided that since I knew that the beach route is almost exactly 2.5k, I'd just run that a million times until I got the total kms I wanted.

 

 After the first 2 laps, I had a really sore spot on my toe. I made a quick trip into the house, trimmed my toenails, put some tape on the sore spot, changed my sneakers, and then headed back out. I originally had my old sneakers on with my ice spikes, but the road was clear so changing my sneakers was something I wanted to do anyway. I ended up doing the route 6 times, which added up to 15k. 14k ended with me down at the beach, so why not run back home, right?

 

It was a good run, and there were a lot of people out walking. Met some new people, got some compliments on my Christmas decorations that I still have hanging outside, and got some applause for my running efforts. Whenever I got down to the beach, I picked up a rock to put in the mailbox so that I could keep track of my laps. The lady who lives down here must have been thinking "what is that crazy woman doing now?!" The weather was pretty decent, except that one short stretch where the wind whips across the road. That last lap was pretty awesome. It was my longest run ever, and for some reason the 15 km distance made me feel like a "real" runner.

 

 



Half Training Ver 2.0 - Week 6

No running this past week! I started coughing last sunday after my long run, and am still coughing a little bit. I was also really stuffed up and had a bad sinus headache for days. Today is the first day I feel "well" enough to run, so I'm hoping to get out at lunch time or after work. Now that the time changed, there's enough light after 5 for me to go running. Thank goodness!

Because I didn't run, I don't have much to say... so here's a photo dump from my phone.

 

Molly, waiting for Little Fox to get off the bus.

Warming up by the fire before school

Summerside sunset

A representation of the past week.

Little Fox helping Red Fox with the wood in the barn

Putting together the bird feeder he got for Chrismas

This is my shirt from the Lucky 7 Relay (in November). I commented on one of their photos and said hat my shirt has a sticky spot, so they are sending me a new one!

Molly, snuggled up for a nap by the fire

Today is "When I Grow Up" day at Little Fox's school. Here he is, dressed as a teacher.