2nd worst half marathon ever!

Ok, so I'm updating the blog as per Nicster's request.

So I had a pretty good Sporting Life 10K run, considering I'm not in the best shape I've been in, and I still managed to do break 55 minutes by over a minute and a half. I did hurt for 2 days from it, but it was well worth it. I felt so good after that run. Then I went to NY, and did not run at all over the week.

On Sunday I ran the Mississauga Half. It was horrible. I had stomach cramps the entire run. And my back was hurting me. I had to walk so much it was depressing. And it was my second worst time ever. I've run 13 of them. After I finish this race, I always walk back about half a km or more to cheer people on and wait for my sister, to run the last bit with her.....I found her, she had just as bad a run as I did (except she never trains at all for these), and then I couldn't even run back with her! That's how bad of a day I had! To make me feel worse, one of the girls I always run with broke 2 hours. I used to run faster than her. Except she's just been so consistent with her training over the last year or so...I haven't.

My legs were killing me yesterday, and I think I made it worse by playing baseball last night - running around the bases, so they're hurting a little more today.

So here's my goal. I need to shake off the bad vibes from my run on Sunday and get back into it! This summer is going to be the summer of running. I'm going to get back into consistent training runs....and maybe cut back on the booze!

J.

I Did It! - cj runs her first 10K!

and I can't wait to do anotehr.

Although I did not hit my goal of running it in under 60 min (I clocked in at 66 min and 2 sec), I have the bug!

Ran solo all the way, and was very over-whlemed at the amount of people!

What an awesome event!

Muscles still hurting today...but totally, totally worth it!

Yeah me!

cj

One more week till taper for Nicola!!

Monday May 5th -- Day sixty-seven
I did a slight jog this morning and was so sore that I had to suck it up for a short cold bath afterwards. I don't care if it's theoretical, I think it helped! In the evening, did a 55min run with BW.
Km : 19

Tuesday May 6th -- Day sixty-eight

Aaah nice easy morning with some sit-ups for kicks. I had a brutal work day (I swear I almost lost it!!) and wasn't coping well with all the demands that keep being put on me. BUT as soon as I got home, I headed out at 6pm and ran for 90 minutes and hit as many trails as I could. That made my day MUCH better!!

Km : 21

Wednesday May 7th -- Day sixty-nine

No morning run. Grumpy run from yesterday has followed me today. After work I trekked up to Nmkt for track practice. 7k w' up, 4x200 (35-37, faster this time). 800(2:44), 1.2k(4:04), 600 (1:56), 1k (3:24), 1.6k (5:33), 1k (3:23). 4k c'down. Felt ok but wish I was faster. I must be nervous already with all this negative energy.

Km : 18

Thursday May 8th -- Day seventy

Easy 12km

Km : 12

Friday May 9th -- Day seventy-one

Met Brooks peeps for 10+k at marathon pace. Only did half of it, got all uptight and tense about work to do that day and other crap, etc, etc, etc! Shake it off. Pull yourself together Nic! 5.4k @ 3.39/k pace.

Km : 15

Saturday May 10th -- Day seventy-two

Run with SR and BSD for a social outing. 57min

Km : 13

Sunday May 11th -- Day seventy-three

Total procrastination day. I babysat my niece and nephew in the morning, then instead of running Oakville, I hung out with my bro for the afternoon. Finally I left my house at 4pm with the intention of doing at least a semi-long run. Well, things perked up and I clocked 2:22! Yay me!!! Taper starts tomorrow. I hope my moods co-operate!

Km : 33

Week total

Km : 131

First Full Work Week

Okay, so I haven't been blogging as often as I should. I thought I would have dropped totally off, but it seems I've been able to run a fair bit. Let's see if I can re-cap:
Monday - 40 mins in the evening - I went fast too - felt awesome and just pretty much tempoed the whole way.
Tuesday - 55 mins in the a.m. - had to run to a bank downtown to sign a paper, so ran there and home the long way (up to the Danforth).
Wednesday - felt super tired after work and my shift with Hugsy, but Tanis (my sister) has signed up for a 5 KM corporate challenge with work, so I went to the Riverdale track with her to run a 2 mile tempo. It totally perked me up and gave me energy, although it was only a 4 mile total effort for me.
Thusday (today) I've taken off 'cause of work/home duties, but I'm working from home tomorrow so plan on running in the a.m. - stay tuned...

CJ update - back in the game

After a couple weeks of life being totally off the rocker, running seemed to have went astray.

However, after a good pep talk from friends and angels....I think I am geared back up the the sportingl like 10K.

Ran 4 miles on Tuesday, and 4 miles today (Thursday)...and feel awesome!

Planning to do a small run on Friday and then break of Sat.

In case any of you see a strange puff of smoke on yonge street early sunday mornin'....yeah, that'll be me kickin ass in my first 10K!

Thanks for all the support ladies!
cj

Nico Week Nine-Oh

Monday April 28th -- Day sixty

Ok, I've given up the food discipline of the 84 days. I've been pretty good about what I've been eating but I have gained a pound or two! I totally thought I'd be tiny by now. Oh well, at least I'm running well.

Today I did a very easy morning run in Montreal with one of my workmates. I got home at 8pm then headed out again. I had a "Snow White" kind of run. The birds were chirping, squirrels and bunnies were crossing the path and then -- a buck and a doe ran by! The doe stopped and gave me a wink then kept going. Oh Toronto...who knew?

Km : 17

Tuesday April 29th -- Day sixty-one

Brrrr chillsville. Ran in evening 1hr 28min

Km : 20

Wednesday April 30th -- Day sixty-two

No morning run, just lazy and stressed with heavy work stuff. In the evening I worked out on the track in Newmarket. We did 4x200(I couldn't break 36 -Doh!), 1.6k (5:37), 2x0.8k (2:44), 3x1k(3:25). One teammate mentioned my "slow" times. I guess he was right - I used to average 3:10-3:15 for 6k work-outs. Hopefully I'll be back there by fall!

Km : 17

Thursday May 1st -- Day sixty-three

Chiro in am. Lots of work. I feel stressed and I also pigged out today. I'm taking a day off so I'll feel rested for the weekend (not to mention my tummy probably wouldn't co-operate anyway!)

Km : 0

Friday May 2nd -- Day sixty-four

Ok, so some of my discipline has waned. No am run. I did get out (after a nap) later this afternoon for 1hr 20min. I feel SO tired, it's crazy. I'm sure it's from the change in weather and all the flora blooming out there.

Km : 18

Saturday May 3rd -- Day sixty-five

I have been a real whiner this week, eh? I'm sure it's from a couple of crazy weeks of work, travel and trying to run fast. This morning I feel better. I skipped a bike ride with Dr Z (sorry to bail!) and took a leisurely first couple hours to the day. Then I drove to the west end of the belt line and ran for 1hr 19mins and really enjoyed it. If I get the gumption today, I might even do some yoga to help relax before the big effort tomorrow.

Km : 18

Sunday May 4th -- Day sixty-six

Big ol' marsh run, last one before race day. 35km in 2:16:35. I think we were fairly even. I fell back from the leaders over the last 3km but I guess that's ok...I'll guess at splits for each 6k: 27:21, 47:2, 1:11:20, 1:34? 1:54:51.

Km : 37 (w' wup and c'down)

Week total

Km : 127

Come on Maggie!

I'm recapping Nicster's "race" last weekend.

First she ran for an hour and a half, and was conned into running the inaugural 11km run. Everyone was running fast, Nicster started out slow, talked to one of the locals, who said Maggie was the one to beat. She asked Nicster what her time was..."Don't you mean 42 minutes sweetie?" UHM NO. 32 minutes.

Then she caught up to Maggie, chatted her up a bit. Let her take the lead. Then raced passed her, told her, "Come on Maggie, let's go"....and left Maggie way behind...by 2 minutes!

New phrase of the week..."Come on Maggie!".

Anyways, to sum up my week - not nearly as good as Nicster's.....I only ran Mon, Tues, Fri & Sat...not the greatest runs. My sat run was horrible, I only did 15.5 kms, and it was a good thing there were two bathrooms on the route. The good thing about last week was that a vendor took us out for an excellent dinner with a couple bottles of $200 red wine. Can't complain about that!

Sporting Life Sunday! Woohoo! Come on Maggie! CJ's going to rock (as long as she doesn't actually wear her sporting life tshirt).

Julie