Monday, March 22, 2010

Oh yeah, and it snowed.


So I am sitting here eating Godiva 72% Dark Chocolate with Almonds, and drinking a Rickards Dark Beer. Mmmm.

In the last week I have been either working, running, eating or sleeping. I have felt like I've barely had time to breathe little alone blog, thus the lack of posting.

Not for lack of things to write about! On the contrary, my life has been one exciting and blog worthy event after another, I just haven't had the time to write. And I've been spending so much time at my computer my eyeballs feel like they are bleeding, so there is that too.

A full week ago I was in a business course. It was awesome and as a result I have launched 2 new business ventures. I also am entering into my busiest time of year for my bootcamps, so the combination has my head spinning pretty good. All of it is wonderful and exciting though, and I am super appreciative of the opportunities I've been given and the people I have partnered with.

Running has been going well too. I am almost to the 1100km mark for the year. Crazy! I was doing my 35km run on Saturday, thinking about the week's mileage and just about to pat myself on the shoulder for covering 110kms...when I realized...that is still 15km short of what I am going to cover in ONE DAY for the Death Race. At that point I threw up a little in my mouth.
I mean, I realize I signed up for this thing Dec 31 and have been training with it in mind ever since, but for some reason I have been living in some sense of denial. I had a mini panic attack and asked myself "do I really want to do this?"

So far the answer is still yes...I just won't think about the whole elephant. One bite at a time I can handle it.

I have a whole other blog post I want to write based on a question my sister in law asked me via facebook. "What do you love about running? What makes you get out there over and over again?"
This is a good question and something I've had a lot of time to think about in those long solo runs.
I will blog about it. But not tonight... I am shutting the computer and going to enjoy my beer and chocolate :)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

You gotta know when to hold em...

You are all tapping your toes to Kenny Rogers now aren't you?? :)

This was the theme of my day. Last week was a bit of a test to see how I would handle the mileage. The marathon followed by a half marathon left me feeling a bit depleted, but not too bad. Monday was a rest day, and I felt great- I wanted to run. Tuesday I felt like a bag of ass. I begrudginly went out for my 20km run and slogged through but I knew I was digging myself into a hole. Today I was scheduled for another 20km but I had to take Kenny's advice and fold em. I am not sick, just run down. I think if I had run today I would be sick. And I am traveling to Calgary on Friday for a course I am super excited for and I really want to be functioning at 100% for that.

Anyway, here's to hoping tomorrow brings renewed energy. Enjoy...

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Babe, you need to update your blog...

Yeah I was told this today. I have been meaning to, really I have. It has just felt very busy and everytime I think about updating it seems there is too much to post and not enough time...lol.
So here is a recap of the past two weeks...

My folks came for a visit! 10 days for mom and dad just left this morning. It was awesome to have them here, I love having my parents here and the house always feels a bit too empty after they leave.
 
We celebrated my first born niece's 5th birthday!!  So hard to believe that this little angel...
 
...is 5 already!! 
We had a big party and I had the honor of making the cake. I'm not a baker but I was up for the challenge. I think what I lack in baking skills I made up for in creativity.
Can you guess the theme??? LOL She was so cute in her birthday outfit. The lady at the hotel desk where we had the party (pool/waterslide) wished her a happy birthday. She said thanks and then asked "how did you know it was my birthday?" This is what she was wearing at the time...
 
So cute. 

We have had some awesome weather the past 2 weeks. D has been loving riding outside in March!!! Note the snowbanks...they are receding!


I, of course, have been running. And running. And running. Last weekend I did 27km and 16km for my long runs as a bit of a recovery from the big 35km the week before. This week I was so happy to be out in the sunshine I did all my runs outside, 2 of them on trail! It was a.maz.ing.

Yesterday I did a 42.2km run, my first (of many I am sure) solo marathon. Today I ran 20km with a friend and I felt really good. It helped to have company for sure! I am surprised at how well I am adapting to the mileage. I felt pretty crappy yesterday with a horrific headache and nausea and still managed to do the marathon in 4:08. Faster than my first ever marathon in 2003 (4:11). Today we ran very easy and still managed sub 6min kms (1:55 for 20km). The week's total was 110km. I am publishing all these numbers because it is all still a big novelty to me. And that's how I roll....LOL (for Julie)

Best of all I seem to recover quickly. My whole family and everyone I have been around lately has been sick and (knock on wood) so far I have held it off. I felt a bit run down today but tomorrow is a rest day and I will make sure to get lots of sleep and vitamin c in me.

So that is the recap. This weekend I am off to Calgary for a business course so it will be a lower volume run weekend. I am looking forward to doing some new (old) trails though so I will probably be getting up early to run before the class starts. If any of you Calgary freaks want to join me let me know!!  Hopefully cowtown gets some nice weather too :)

Happy Training!! (and gestating for the other half of my blogroll!!)