This week in running

There's a lot going on this week for me in the running realm. So much so that I can't focus exactly what to blog on, so you are going to get a smorgasbord of stuff. Ready?

Olympic Dreams:

When I first started running and bought my first Canadian Running magazine I read about a woman named Krista Duchene who was attempting to appeal to make Olympic standards and was not successful. At this point, as a new runner I couldn't name a single runner. Wow how things have changed. I would now acknowledge Krista as my "running hero", as a woman I deeply respect and look up to for her speed, dedication, hard work, balance and love of the Lord. Krista proves that with hard work and dedication anyone can achieve great things! She is a working mother of 3 who is a real person. She's endured her fair share of trials and tribulations but just recently ran a super fast marathon and just this week the Olympic standards were posted and she's in! Krista is the first female to make the near impossible Olympic marathon standards in 20 years! I feel like I am just as happy as she is. Read more about it here:

Injuries:

All runners ignore pain and hope it goes away. I've been having foot pain and general tightness in my whole left leg resulting in consistent pinpoint pain and when I run this pain is amplified and my toes go numb then hurt. On my last serious run I kept telling myself, you need to call your physiotherapist. I am afraid of 2 things: that I will be told I need to take a rest from running and that it's going to cost a lot as I do not currently have benefits. I finally booked an appointment for next Monday. Pray for good results (aka cheap therapy and quick solutions that allow me to still run :))

I am currently icing it and decided it was a good time to write a blog post as it would keep me sedentary for more than 10 minutes :)

Life as a Race Director:

I knew organizing a race would be a lot of work but I've gained a new respect for race directors as I've worked with some colleagues to plan out and organize a fundraising run for our school. You see, I work at a private Christian school that aims to teach those students that couldn't be taught properly in the public school system. I love that we have the opportunity as a Christian school to be open about faith and teach the kids how much the Lord loves them. We keep our tuition low and do what it takes to give the kids the education they need. What that means is we rely largely on fundraising efforts. So, since I love my job, my kids and running I decided a fundraising run would be a great opportunity to get the community involved in a fun, active way. Plus we live in a super beautiful area with Blue Mountain close by and Georgian Bay. The run follows the trail systems of the Wasaga Beach provincial parks. Wasaga is the world's longest freshwater beach. To say the views are breathtaking is an understatement.

So I've been trying my best and giving my all to make this race the most successful event it can be. It truly has been draining me as I've seen my fair share of high moments (we have received so many awesome donations for our bib raffle, lots of people have signed up and I've truly realized how blessed I am to have some supportive friends and family) and low moments (costly insurance, facilities, lack of help, last minute course changes etc). Last week was incredibly stressful for me and I wasn't myself. I prayed for peace and had a friend pray as well and this week I have felt a peace that could only come from God. This week has just been draining as it has meant long hours spent in preparation, sorting and organizing shirts, signage and race kits.

We are 2 days away from race day and I am very excited for it. I will be thankful when it is over. To learn more about the run visit the race roster page here or the facebook page here. We are still happy to receive donations :)   Stay tuned for a race recap!

StrideBox Ambassador perks:

I received this fun package in the mail today.

I was so pleased to be chosen to represent such a fun company. I've loved receiving my monthly StrideBox. It is a box of an assortment of fun running items like chews, gels, hydration mixes, hard goods and other fun things. I feel like I get to be a product tester without having to do the research or having to go out and find these new products on my own. StrideBox is like the wise running friend that introduces you to products you will love for life. StrideBox has introduced me to SkratchLabs, JTree and Picky Bars, all companies I would have never known about before and swear by now. Thank you StrideBox for the fun new socks. I plan to be able to wear them as I run the charity race I planned this Saturday!

To learn more about StrideBox visit their website here. BONUS: If you want to give them a try sign up today with the code "aal2508" before May 8th to receive $10 off your first box!

25 Signs You're Hooked on Running:

I just came across THIS post today and had a good giggle as I can agree with mostly all of them.

Speaking of hooked on running, last weekend I got my second tattoo. I knew I wanted something running related and decided on the symbol of the Goodlife Marathon. I decided on this because the image is neat as it is a runner and a canadian flag but also because this was my second half marathon (so my first one where I knew what I was doing). It is also similar to symbol of the sister race, our local half marathon, the Collingwood half-marathon. Also, the Goodlife full marathon is on my bucket list for sure. I got it on my quad because these quads were made from running and it will be visible when I run in shorts.

Fun fact: my other tattoo is Ecclesiastes 3:4 on my back in memory of my Papa Jack.

Try Something New: April 

It's on hold for the time being due to illness and because both of us have been exceptionally busy this month it seems. So May will be 2 in one! We will do Heather's pick for April and then my pick for May. I already have it picked- stay tuned!

Race photos

Two days ago I ran the toronto yonge street 10k. In my race review I rambled about how much I loved it for a number of reasons. One major reason is that I felt so strong the whole time! I was running it with a friend as though I was running at a fast pace I wasn't running "suicide pace" and as a result didn't feel uncomfortable or in pain. I also felt overwhelming joy and blessing. I felt like I was smiling the whole time. Okay, most of the time. 

I love seeing my race photos after a race. I try to see the on course photographers and smile at them but running this course, especially with Lisa I did as she did and waved all crazy at them. As a result I had copious, great race photos! They truly reflect how happy I was the whole time. I'd like to share them with you and pass on the knowledge I learned through reflecting on these race photos. 

Let's start with the not so great. 

I mentioned I felt like I was smiling the whole time but this photo proves that wrong. The "candid" shot. 

Lesson learned: sometimes we don't look as graceful as we feel, focus on the feeling. 

Slightly better of me, but from Lisa you can tell how windy the day truly was. I kept looking over at her as we ran and she angrily shoved her hair behind her ears. 

See how I've just seen the photographer? This is my usual response to them, a smile I think is over exaggerated. Not always the case. 

Lesson learned: smile always. Even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts. 

Here comes the big waves:

I love these three. I love the (what felt like)  crazy waves and ridiculous open mouth. I smile just looking at them because they truly show how happy I was in those moments. Also note poor jay in the middle shot. He looks miserable. 

Lesson learned: be dramatic! Go big! Have fun! 

The other awesome series is the finish line series. About 200m to go Lisa said "go ahead, take off. I know you like to finish fast" and I said no, I want to finish with you, give me your hand. And this is double the joy because its shared joy. 

Lesson learned: share the things you love with the people you love and watch the love grow. 

Race Review: Toronto Yonge Street 10k

Warning: I love the Toronto Yonge Street 10km race wholeheartedly. The following review is full of butterflies, rainbows, glitter, kittens and all things happy. You've been warned, you may proceed.

This is the second year I have participated in the TYS10k. Both years I have won my entry through the Canada Running Series facebook promotion: 12 days of inspiration that always happens prior to Christmas in early December in which different reasons or prompts or questions are presented and each day a free entry into the TYS10k specifically is given away. This is genius marketing and whomever came up with it deserves a pat on the back. I don't say this just because I didn't have to pay for entry two years running (pardon the pun) BUT due to the fact that two years in a row I have, as a result of winning free entry, chosen to pay for a friend to participate and ended up attending the race with another paying friend. Also not to mention to enormous impact social media has alone. Who doesn't love a good contest? 

Last year I paid for my mother to participate in the walk category as she is a competitive walker. Never call her this, as you won't hear her admit it, but she knows that's what she is. It was such a blessing to spend those 10km together and see her in action. My mom is a powerhouse. Did I mention she completed 10km walking faster than some people ran it? (1:17:56) She passed many runners and I giggled the whole time. I can't maintain her walk pace, it's ridiculous and I have to run in order to keep pace with her. I do NOT have the proper muscles developed to walk her pace. We also made a fun girls weekend of it with my best friends Andrea (she ran the 10k!) and Ashley and their mom Merrilyn. We did some shopping and had a fun hotel stay! 

So this year, much the same, I won entry and then decided what a great idea for my friend and colleague for a birthday gift to pay for her entry and make a girls weekend of it again with 2 of our other colleagues (one runner, one non). 

We packed up and hit the road just after lunch Saturday. We were all very excited to get away together as our work atmosphere can be busy and on the go and we don't get the opportunity to sit and chat and enjoy one another's company. Plus, we are all much closer than just colleagues, we are friends!

We got to the Sheraton around 4pm, checked into our room and then headed down for packet pick up. Well, I directed everyone down downstairs with the assumption that it was in the same place as last year. This was the point the girls should have realized I am not to be trusted with the directions! After following the "ask me" shirts advice we realized it was now upstairs on the second floor. As pick up had less than an hour left it was quite vacant. I worked my charm on the running room lady who was spinning the wheel, much like last year when despite where the wheel landed I ended up with the free hat (see above photo) and this year I ended up with the free socks! score. 

The swag was good. I like with this race you get an addition hard goods as well as the race shirt. Last year the options included a second T-shirt, a hat or sunglasses. This year the second shirt option was removed and likely for the best as I got them both last year and haven't worn either much. This year I chose the sunglasses (as I have a few nice hats) and was a little disappointed that the so-called "neon" sunglasses were navy blue and we were given no choice of colour. 

Also in the swag bag included some magazines, juice box, some apple sauce and really nice sunscreen.

My eye was caught by the Shoppers women series race booth at the expo as they had a plinko board and who doesn't love plinko? I played and won $5 off a race. As I didn't have the desire to sign up for one right then and there (though I certainly love the idea of women's races and would love to do one at some point) she gave me the free bracelet you could also win. In fact she gave one to all 4 of us and now we have beautiful matching friendship bracelets!

We did some Saturday evening shopping in the Eaton centre, some smoothie drinking to tide us over for a later dinner and finally a wonderful carb load at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I've never been and I loved it. Also notable the amount of walking we did Saturday. whew! I love the city for it's accessible walking, not so much the driving. 

We even got the waiter to bring cake and sing as this weekend was a birthday gift to Lisa (left) from December and it's Kate's birthday next weekend! Neither of these two much enjoyed the attention. I don't know why.

Race day! 

It was an adventure to say the least! As the weather wasn't too promising looking, Flat Amelia got an upgrade from short sleeve to long sleeved. I had to wear my super cool new tights though. Patterned with pockets!! PERFECT. 

Also 3D Amelia tends to be too easy going according to others who trusted me to know everything there is to know. I knew we could take the Yonge bus to the start so we wandered outside to the bus stop. My theory is, follow the other runners and you're bound to get there! Well we waited at a bus stop for some time (with other runners!) before someone mentioned that this portion of the street must already be closed for the race. So we scooted along a few blocks up, and picked up a bus. Which went right by the hotel...not our brightest moment.

Thankfully the bus driver sensed we weren't city girls and nicely stated over the loud speaker when the runners needed to get off. We had a bit of a walk but again, I just followed the runners and made it to the start line with only 15 minutes to spare. Well our great idea to check a bag went not so great when we figured out the baggage vehicle had already left so we tied sweaters around waists and donated track pants to the clothing bin often found at the beginning of races. Anyone else notice that these bins often have quite the expensive clothing in them? I've been surprised before. With moments to spare we were off and running with the first (red) corral. 

I love the course the Yonge St 10K takes. It is predominantly downhill which just makes me feel like I am flying. Also there is so much to look at going down Yonge. With the varying store fronts and establishments for the first 7km and the views of the Rogers Centre, CN Tower and the different bridges and Garrison Park you are never short on something to look at. I love that they have different bands and musicians along the course and though I run with headphones in and music loud I make a point of taking them out and dancing a little as I pass the musicians. It's a thank-you for giving their talent to support our running! 

It's such a neat experience to run down the middle of a major artery of the city, surrounded by throngs of people. I felt sort of like I was in that commercial that freaks me out for the PanAm games (the music is creepy). I love the atmosphere involved when running in these larger city races. It's people watching at it's finest and I am always intrigued by each runners unique style and gait. I also get a few good giggles out of those unique souls that embrace their uniqueness and let it shine. 

The wind was cold but it wasn't too unbearable. Eventually I warmed up and was quite hot near the end of the race. My watch started to act up from skyscrapers I assume so I lost knowledge of the pacing Lisa and I were keeping but had a feeling from the time check at the km markers that we were maintaining sub 5min/km which was my main goal. I wanted to be able to run the race with Lisa because it was her birthday gift and Lisa and I run a lot together though we've never run a race together. So I was excited to share the joy and emotion with her. I was pointing out funny sights and making my form of sign language comments (because my music was loud) until she took the fun out of that by getting focused on the run. Pfft. Overall I felt so strong and happy the entire race. Usually I feel more pain coupled with some misery as a result but not this one. It left me feeling so capable and in a wonderfully positive mind set heading into this new running season. Stay tuned for some goals to the crushed!

As we approached the finish Lisa told me to take off as she knows I like to give a final strong kick but I said no, grabbed her hand, and we ran in, arms raised, in tandem across the finish line with identical times of 49:22

Also a fun bonus as we came through the finishers chute, who was standing there but Eric Gillis. We fan-girled a little and the more confident Lisa asked Eric for a picture.

Lisa asked Eric how the race went and casually he mentioned, "oh, I won". No big deal. Seriously though, in what other sport can you compete in the same events with the professional, olympic athletes? I can't think of any other. We also fan-girled in the after race area at the sights of other elites including Sami Jabril, Tarah Korir, Lioudmila Kortchaguina and though we couldn't find her we were on the hunt for Lanni Marchant who won the event for the women. 

I went through the food line for the first time and was pleasantly surprised among the regular options of bananas, yogurts and bagel like bread things to find COOKIES. I ate three. I also was pleased as punch with my new pants as I am not embarrassed to say I filled the pockets with food. I am also not embarrassed that I ended up with clashing patterns as I did not anticipate these pants when I packed for the weekend and brought a patterned sweater as well. I was so cold that I wasn't concerned with the clash. 

We went back to the finish line trying to catch Lori on her way in but somehow missed her. It just meant we got to go through the food line again (yes!) and get our picture together with the signage.

Overall it was a great weekend away with friends. The swag is great, the atmosphere is great, the course is great. I have nothing negative to say about this race and you can likely anticipate another blog post one year from now retelling the events of the 2016 race. 

Taking the next step as a runner

A friend of mine asked for advice today on how to take her running to the next level. So I decided to write this post as the "long answer". I think many people can relate to the desire to improving their running but at the same time the overwhelming amount of information and running lingo can be a deterrent. So from someone who has gone from a couch potato to a runner who continues to get new PBs(personal bests) and place in races in about 2 years time here is some basic information to help you take that next step. I also am easily overwhelmed and can find the abundance of information available online and in running magazines frightening.

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. Right? So what's the first step? Give each run a purpose.

I find my biggest motivation/success comes from developing a training schedule that works for me. I like to pick a spring and fall half marathon when I can and then develop a 12-16 week schedule depending on the time frame I have. I actually type it out with charts on word and print it off. Then I highlight each day as I complete it. It's actually so much fun to watch the entire chart get slowly coloured it. It is such a feeling of accomplishment.

Each week it's important to integrate the following:

CROSS TRAINING: This can come in SO many different formats. Basically do an exercise that isn't running. Most exercises will naturally compliment and improve your running as all muscles are at play during running, so improving them is always good. For me this comes as a weekly women's bootcamp class in which we do a range of different whole body, core exercises and different cardio/strength training. You could also swim, bike, walk, ski, rollerblade, take a class at your local gym: yoga? pilates? Aerial silks? (seriously, so much fun). Find something you enjoy and drag a friend along. This also allows some tired running-muscles a break.

REST: For some taking a rest day is more painful than a challenging run. I am not one of those people. I take full advantage of a rest day, but sometimes avoid taking them when it's one of those days that I NEEEEEED a run. This is dumb. It's also super important that you listen to your body. There will be days when it screams GIVE ME A REST and we have to listen. Injury is no fun.

EASY RUN: It's important to have an easy run once a week. An easy run should feel just that, easy. This is a pace that is comfortable to run at and carry on a conversation. Some call this a "jog". I detest the word jog as to me it seems to dismiss the action all together. A runner is a runner no matter the pace. It's all individual. These runs are important as they allow you to get your legs out and about without over taxing them. It's important to have these between more challenging runs (see SPEEDWORK and LONG RUNS). I personally have a challenge with the easy run as I always want to push myself. As a result I purposefully schedule in group runs or runs with friends in which we naturally converse and I am less apt to look at my watch and think *oh my goodness. look how slooooow I am going*. 

TEMPO RUN: This one can be put in or taken out depending on how many runs you have time for/want to do a week. A tempo run is basically just above an easy run. You aren't all out running (and out of breath) but it's faster than an easy run. This run is just beyond what's comfortable, in order to push your body further, longer. You should be able to say one or two words but that's all. 

SPEED WORK: This one can come in so many different forms, but if your goal is to get faster and stronger, this one is crucial. This one I also find most intimidating as there are one million and nine different examples online which include way more math than my oxygen deprived brain can handle. I like to keep my speed work simple. I like the following:

- Fartleks. Mainly because the word sounds like when you trust a fart and you shouldn't have. It basically just means speed work but can make you sound like a super smart runner when you drop the term. I will run a km or two and then do mailbox or laneway or telephone pole fartleks by running hard from one mailbox (or laneway or pole) to the next, and then slowing my pace to something more manageable to the next mailbox and then I repeat for as many as I can. Super easy and always surprising how much your body can handle. 

-Hill repeats. Run a km or two warm up, find a hill and charge up it, then easy run back down and repeat. Start with 3 or 4 and each week increase your repeats. Then a km or 2 cool down. Sometimes you can even reverse this by running fast down the hill and easy up. This works on different muscles (more stabilizers) and though I've yet to try it I've always wanted to. I've always found I am able to ride a downhill fairly successfully and tend to pass people on a downhill so it's not an area I've felt I need to work on. 

LONG RUN: Long runs are challenging but so rewarding. After you run a long run you feel like you could take on the world and eat your entire house. Every time I finish a long run (no matter the distance) I feel like a super woman and want to tell the whole world (so I post on instagram :)). The important thing to know about long runs is to keep a rest day or easy run the day before and you need to increase your distance very slowly (a km or 2 tops per week) and each long run should be at a very easy to manage pace as you are teaching your body to handle the stress of distance. I read once it should be 60-90 seconds per km slower than your regular pace. I find this a bit extreme but I try to keep my pacing at least 30 seconds/km slower and will often do the talking test by saying out loud a general sentence to keep myself in check. If I can't say a full sentence without getting winded, I am going too fast. Sometimes your legs just want to go and you need to restrain or else the second half of that long run is going to suck even more than it just already might. 

SO! Look at your week and try to figure out what will fit best. It's like a fun running puzzle. If you are a ridiculously busy person assess your #1 running goal. If it's getting faster, then speed work is key to integrate every week. If it's a longer goal race (anything longer than a 10k), then you cannot avoid that long run. Giving purpose to each and every run can allow you to keep your fast runs fast and your easy runs easy. It's also important to remain flexible with life and what your body is telling you. I often trade different pieces throughout the week when I've had a tough bootcamp class and my legs are dead I'll trade the next day's speed work for an easy run or a rest day. You need to be able to differentiate between sore/tired muscles that are growing and improving and exhaustion/pain that means injury. It is good to be uncomfortable sometimes, this can mean you are just improving yourself. Just try to find balance between easy runs, speed work, long runs, cross training, tempo runs and rest days. 

My typical week looks like this:

Monday: CT(cross train)- ladies bootcamp.

Tuesday: either a tempo run or speed work

Wednesday: easy run, I run with friends in a run clinic

Thursday: tempo run or speed work (whatever I didn't do tuesday)

Friday: rest day. I love friday rest days. so relaxing after a tough week teaching!

Saturday: long run! First thing in the morning, a great way to start the weekend

Sunday: recovery run (easy run!) to shake out the soreness in my legs after a long run. I try to keep this short (about 5km) and get it in before church. 

Of course, things can change but it gives you an idea. Keeping a fairly regular schedule means being less likely to skip a run when you'd rather binge watch Netflix or eat an entire chocolate cake, just because. 

So to RECAP:

Give each run a purpose

Find a balance

Collect running friends- this one is important because it's nice to have someone to run with for the long runs and the easy runs, it's nice to have someone to ask questions of and brag to when you accomplish something new or something you never thought you could accomplish as a runner. P.S. I am more than happy to be one of those friends :) 

Race review: MEC barrie race one

My first race of the season and it was a great one! Rewind 2 years and this very race was my first race ever with a bib! 

Can't believe how far I've come since then! At that stage I wasn't overly impressed with the race series. Though it only cost $15.00 to enter, my friend Heather and I ran the 10k and were confused by the course which didn't have clear signage/marshalling and we ended up running 8k. Also it wasn't chip timed and therefore not overly official. Last year it just didn't come up on my radar (which is okay as I hear the weather wasn't all that fantastic) but this year I thought it would be a great way to see where my 5k was at to start the season. 

I am happy to say I now am very pleased with the MEC race series. I bribed my dear friend Heather to sign up with me. I LOVE that the races cost $15.00 to enter (or $20.00 day of- which is still so cheap!). As a result I didn't have much expectation. I also love that they are in barrie which is a 40 minute drive for me. We arrived for bib pick up to this:

We checked in, got our bibs and then shoe chip timers. I've ran one other race with a shoe chip timer and it didn't go well. Somehow the zip tie let go and I lost the timer. So I made sure the sucker was on as tight as possible 

And here's the obligatory shoe shot of heather and I 

For $15.00 you get your bib, chip timed results and Nuun tablets. After the race there were bananas, water, coffee, oranges, Nuun and cliff bars. Here's what I still have as the others were consumed before a chance to be photographed. 

I love this size of cliff bar. They will be in my purse until one day when I'm out and about and get famished. Purse snacks are the best. 

The race went through the banner, 

Left and around the parking lot and back up beside the banner. It was an out and back and other than the added loop around the parking lot it was a nice straight course. 

There are no race shirts or medals or prizes other than medals for the top 3 males and females per distance. 

My goals were to PB if possible or top 3 if possible. Neither happened but I had a great race and start to the season regardless. 

I pushed hard and it hurt. My lungs felt like they had no space in my ribs. This is how a 5k feels when I'm chugging hard. 

It was such a clear, blue, sunny day. It was slightly chilly at -2 feels like -7 with a slight headwind on the return trip. I was happy with what I chose to wear of pants, long sleeved top, sweater, gloves and my peaked hat from the sun. Near the end I had to peel my mitts but I never felt too hot or too cold which is good. 

Check out that pre-race selfie. We were cold. 

Overall I finished in 23:23 which is a second best for me (PB 22:50). I thought I was in 3rd for women for the first km but was passed by a lady and she put a gap between us I couldn't close. After I finished she came over and congratulated me and we talked for a bit. She was so kind! I told her I thought she got 3rd and she said she wasn't sure as the beauty of an out and back is that you get to see all participants including those ahead of you. There was one young runner that wasn't overly distinct in gender. The original results posted put my new friend in 4th (and me in 5th) but later the online results posted put her in 3rd!! Which I was so happy to see. This put me in 4th. So close to both goals! 

There were a lot of people there which was great to see! A lot of people were in the day-of registration line. This is likely due to good weather and Easter weekend. I finished 

22/155 overall,

4/103 for women and 

1/21 for females 20-29. 

Overall, it was a great experience and I am pleased with how the MEC series have improved. I'd love to do another! I'm also again so glad Heather lets me drag her along to these things. I'm super proud of her. This was truly the first she has run since last summer! But she's so strong in all that she does, in many ways. She was the first to inspire me to run, she inspires me in our bootcamp class and in all physical things she does. So blessed to have this friend. 

And a new bib for the collection: