Rained Out

Unbelievable how the weather can change and I think, Im all Hard Core and all.  Im not. What a wimp I am!  2 days ago I was running in shorts and short sleeves. Today it's cold rain and snow.  Together with a pounding headache, the combination is keeping me inside at the moment.  No worries, I have Hockey this afternoon :)

Hills Workout

I am still doing some running with the Cross Country team and I am so hoping they can keep me going!  LOL yesterday I had them run some hill repeats and then I ran them as well. I never would have done that without their presence; still in "rest" mode and doing some easy running.  7 Repeats in the park of a hill that IMO is not quite long enough ;) but makes up for it in steep.  4.25 km 37 minutes or so (includes rests) on an unseasonably warm 21 C day with like 99% humidity!  LOL Nice :)

Celebrate the Full

Ive been checking things out to quietly celebrate my little full marathon accomplishment. I mean, besides getting a Tattoo. What can I wear?  LOL
There are a few sites out there that make some custom Jewelry that celebrates these little accomplishments and one of my favorite blogs to read is doing a giveaway for these Anne Franklin Designs charms LOL which I would like to win since so few of the giveaways are availabe in this foreign country of ours (yeah, Canada. Might as well be botswana)
Go read Shut Up and Run and check out the giveaway while you are there! But don't go winning my charm. That's mine ;)

Cross Country Season

The season has officially ended.  I cannot believe it's over.  I was so scared when it started; I didn't feel worthy of coaching these kids and I was concerned I would not do them justice in our running.

Turned out the training was the easy part. The paper work was rediculous. Im going to miss the training like mad!  But I will not miss all that paperwork! Hahaha it's not done now, I have a few loose ends to tie up, but mostly it's done. 

Im going to MISS those kids!  What a close bunch of friends they are!  And they are SO sweet to me!

Yesterday was Provincials.  3 of our teams qualified to go; Intermediate and Senior Girls, Senior Boys. Our one Intermediate Boy qualified as an Independent runner at Regionals.  We took 28 kids and went off to Provincials.

The team was awfully nervous but they did the hard work and the hard training days and the long training runs in the cold rain and they deserved to be at Provincials, running with the best in the province :)

There were a lot of runners there; almost 700 for 6 divisions.  We had no junior runners so we watched and cheered for our local school.  Then the Intermediate girls ran :)

And they all did really well!  Scores were pretty close in team places 3-8.  We have some fast runners and many good runners :) and finished with a 6ths place finish and a team 8th :)  It was a decent start.

Intermediate boys; our boy was in 8th place (out of over 100) through half way but had an injury and finished (yes finished!) 22nd.  AMAZING. :) He limped out of the finish chute and iced right away and is better today :)

Senior Girls did really well!  Our top runner was 2nd with an amazing time and we had 2 more runners on her heels putting us in a good position; then there was a gap between our 3rd and our 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th runners....our tough point.  However our score was good enough to get the girls a 3rd place team finish and Bronze medals!  A total success! :):):) And only 2 points out of silver medals; margins are so close with that sort of competition but considering the large point values, 2 points is nothing!  Pass 2 more people....ugh but I was not sure what to expect and was THRILLED for the girls and their placings!  Everyone was so excited :)

Senior boys were up with a good chance of a win from our top boy :) He did not let us down, coming in with a strong first place.  He was quickly followed by 3 more of his teammates with the others close behind and amazingly (and somewhat unexpectedly) those boys took home silver medals!  :):):)

An amazing placing for our teams and a great end to a successful season.  I am so glad I did not hurt their chances of success LOL  And I already cannot wait until next year! I bet some of these runners will run through the winter with me.

I didn't expect to enjoy this so much!  Beyond the stress it was just FUN and exciting to be with runners and give advice that often challenged my knowledge as they had aches and pains I could not explain LOL  Cannot imagine how much Im going to miss seeing these kids all week LOL

Really Fast Run

Tonight I had about 40 minutes to run and wanted to fit in 4 miles so I had to be pretty quick for me; not much of a warm up ;) just a lot of bouncing around while the Garmin was thinking about finding a signal LOL then off I went up the road for a really fast 4 miles in 37:30 minutes. :):) a little yoga to cool off and that was taken care of :):):)

Busy just being Active :)

It can be so hard to make sure we get Active into our busy lifestyles. I would like to say it is a priority, but some days it just is not.  It's been a super busy week with work and Cross Country and kids hockey and swimming and just stuff!  Ugh.  We get in what we can but again, without that urgent goal, it sure is easy to let some things go, like the runs and other activities. 

We have to be selfish if we want anything of our own.  Some times that is ok; we are all better if we do something for ourselves and our health.  There are some with inactive lifestyles that disagree and they give more grief than anyone else, of course.  Im not sure if it matters if I am spending some times running, biking, or reading a book; why do people mock the activities or ask if I feel bad taking soooo much time away from my kids?  Why would I even bother justifying?  Im not, that's why.

Anyway Saturday was Incredibly busy starting with hockey at 7 am for Holly and I in different rinks ;) I then showered and went off with Taylor on a favor and then some shopping, trying to find her clothes for a wedding....did not succeed; then off to Annika's hockey X 2, wedding, reception, 4H Banquet, reception, bed.  UGH.

But Sunday was better; 8.4 km run, hockey in the afternoon, a walk later to take photos of the kids.  It was good and somewhat relaxing :)

Times are only getting busier but that makes me appreciate the time I get out running even more. It's a good thing.

Im Back!

But without a program and a goal Im kind of uncommitted.  Feeling better especially after the massage; I do not believe in miracles but that massage did wonders!  LOLI felt great Tuesday night and by Wednesday was back to normal.  IF I had not had such a long long day at work I would have run on Wednesday.

So we get to Thursday (When I started this post).  I went to work pretty early and saw a coworker, passed stuff out to a class, and then went for a run :) It was sunny and not too cold and perfect weather (yeah still windy; its been a few weeks SIGH) :)  Had an easy 6.4 km in about 41 minutes so I did not waste too much time before getting back to work.  Showered and put in a day at work and CC practice :) 

i figure but for a bit of sleep the recovery from marathon is going well :):):)