Thursday Randomness

• Went for a run last night at the Running Room. Did six set of 2 & 1's and it was hard. Moving on to 3 & 1's on Friday!
• While I was there, I tried on the Resolution Run Jacket. So nice. So pretty. So signing up and getting one!
• Speaking of The Running Room, I will be going back to work in December now. First I was going to wait until March, then January. But it has become clear, I need to go back ASAP. I am actually really looking forward to it. Plus, you know, working makes you money!
• I cannot stop watching Twilight. I am obsessed with these films and books. Is there something wrong with me?
• I cannot believe it is the end of October. Where did 2009 go?
• I will be 30 on Sunday. Holla!

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Good News

NOT A STRESS FRACTURE!

Although they can't say for sure, I just bruised a bone. So I can resume running immediately. Since I want to do it right, I will be going to Run Club tomorrow night to resume the 2 & 1's properly with a clinic group. Then on Friday it is onto 3 & 1's. Gulp!

In other news, I have really been giving our Wii Fit a run for it's money. And I found the Wii Fit Plus I bought earlier in the summer, while I was pregnant and have been doing even better. I even turned my Wii Bank BRONZE. It means I have done 1o hours of exercise on the Wii Fit! Woohoo. I am determined to do at least 30 minutes a day! My only complaint is that with new Wii Plus, it is taking my weight in kilos instead of pounds. Which is a pain.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week. Take care everyone!

Awwwww Man

As some may have noticed, my running has come to a bitter stand still this past week.

I felt really good on Monday and decided to head out on Wednesday. I barely got to the end of my drive way when I felt a twinge in my left foot.

Damn.

I decided not to risk even trying, since I had come pretty far quick and didn't want to injure myself if I had indeed done something.

I have been working out on our Wii Fit and the top left hand side of my left foot is VERY SORE.

I think I might have a stress fracture.

Damn Damn.

Now money being what it is, I don't want to go to a sports clinic. Just don't have the available funds right now. So I guess I could go to emergency. But it really isn't an emergency. Don't get me wrong. My foot hurts all the time. But it is more nagging than painful. And it only hurts after I exercise. Or walk. Or run.

Damn Damn Damn

Do we have clinics in the GTA that also do x-rays? And when on earth would I find the time to go and get it done. And the last place I want to be right now is anywhere NEAR an emergency room (H1N1 anyone?).

Now I wait and see what happens. I just don't know what the answer is?

Mom's Worst Nightmare

Let me just start by saying this post has nothing to do with running or weight loss. So I warned you.

If you are reading, and you know me in real life, you know I have a fear of........wait for it.......vomit.

Yes, I said it. I know most of you think I am nuts, but it is a real fear. I am afraid of it like some are afraid of spider, of water, of FLYING. It is so far reaching and so strange. I can trace it back to a nasty preschool incident, but I digress.

Myself, besides morning sickness (which DOESN'T BOTHER ME, yes weird I know), I have had the stomach flu maybe a dozen times in my entire life. And since I was 18 I have been sick three times. But once it was food poisoning, so that doesn't count.

The most recent time was this summer. A nasty little bug made its rounds in our family, extended and all. It lasted from one to another about FIVE weeks and it was not pleasant. Like it ever is.

Anyways, this morning my oldest gets up and seems a ok. He sits in his highchair, eats his yogurt.............

you can guess what happened next.

I cleaned him and his chair up, gave him some juice and away he went. Almost three hours later, he seems just fine.

And in the meantime I am having a full on anxiety attack. I knew when I had kids that I would be dealing with this. And especially now since they are SO CLOSE in age. But I am still feeling incredibly anxious that it is going to happen again. And again. And so on.

I think I need a psychiatrist.

If you made it this far, thanks for listening.

Happy Hump Day

Wednesday is here. Things are good.

While it looks like the skies may open at ANY moment, I am going out to do my last (gulp) set of 2 & 1's this evening. I didn't think I would be able to do 2&1's but I am! While Saturday was hard, I am still really pleased with how everything went. So I felt comfortable to go out Monday and do 9 sets of 2 & 1's. While I was slower, I still managed to do it and feel great!

So tonight I am going to do 10 sets. Then on Friday it is on to 3 & 1's. Can I do it? We'll see I guess.

In other news, my Mom was getting sick of all my complaining, so she went out and bought me an ELECTRIC CAN OPENER! Yay Mom! Thank you so much. Now it shouldn't take me five years to make anything anymore!

Speaking of can openers, opening cans means lots of sodium in our foods, which mean water retention. Eating on a budget doesn't leave much wiggle room for fresh beans and homemade soups! Any ideas out there?

And finally I made this and this last night for dinner. So good, and so bad!

Run4Rett Race Report

I love the local races. They are always manned by some amazing volunteers. They are usually on the smaller side, so there isn't a lot of congestion at the start. And most of all, they are just plain FUN!

Hubby and I trekked out to pick up our amazing race kits on Friday night. I cannot stress enough, they were spectacular! Then we got home, got our things together for our race and headed to bed!

Since the event didn't begin until 10:30 and our own race wasn't until 11:15, we didn't have to race out of the house too early. We arrived at the site around 10 and met up with framerly (Friends that I consider family. I think I am going to trademark that!). It was COLD. REALLY COLD. But at 10:30, the 1k family run started, and it was nice to see some of the kids that the event was helping, along with their parents and families.

By the time 11:15 came, I thought my hands would fall off. But I immediately got into a comfortable pace and set off. The race was through a local community park, and there was some nice scenery to see while we went.

Usually the first 1k in any race for me is tough. But this time, it almost seemed impossible. I was so tired from being sick this week that I really wasn't sure if I could do it. I really had to treat this as "just another run" and not a race.

By the time I had hit 3k, I was comfortable and just wanting to finish. It was a hard run, and I know now why The Running Room's Learn to Run program starts so slow (24 minute runs per set of). 5k at 2 & 1's was TOUGH.

The last 500 metres was actually really great. Colin had finished and was with Sydney who gave me a high five as I passed, then ran with me where I ran it in to all my family waiting. Especially my Mom and Dad, who came out for the 1ST TIME EVER. I hope they can make it to more races in the future!

So now the results:


43:56
8:48 per kilometer


New PR baby! I was so pleased and SO SHOCKED. It was such a tough run. But I did it.

Not only did I have a good day but one half of our BFF placed FIRST in his age group! Woohoo. And COLIN also placed first in his age group! AWESOME. I was so PROUD of him. And another couple placed second in THEIR age groups! All around, it was an incredibly successful day for all of us.

I know I said that this would probably be my last race before New Year's. But I think I am going to try and run 1 more. Stay tuned to see what I decide!

It has not been a good week

All around, this one was a write off.

I have been so sick this week. Belly aching, not being able to move ten feet from the toilet awful. Luckily, no one else seems to be suffering the same fate as I. Unluckily, it has wiped me out.

I had the best intention of running today. I got up this morning and felt.........ok. But as the day progressed, I started feeling weaker. I cannot believe how tired I feel.

Anyways, I need to get a little better. But since I have a race on Saturday, I need to have some goals. I have three:

C Goal - Just finishing. No personal best time, no upright, crawling if I have to. But JUST FINISH.

B Goal - Running 2 and 1's finishing around the same time as I did at Scotia 48:11 or so.

A Goal - Running 2 and 1's and finishing in 45 minutes.

Whatever happens, I just want to finish.

Now I just want to go to bed.

Ugh

So too much merryment and food this weekend.

I feel really sick today. I couldn't get put of bed and spent three hours sleeping after Colin came home.

So I am eating a bit and hoping for a good nights sleep. I am going to try and make my way out tomorrow morning.

Best laid plans......................

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a few of the things I am thankful for!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

A Good Playlist

I have become aware that I just cannot run without some music. That may change in the future, but right now it is sometimes the only motivation that I have to get going. I have tried to make my own play lists, but I just end up loading my iPod with songs that I love. Before I know it my play list is 200+ songs (yes, we have a lot of music). And then I end up skipping through them while running. It slows me down and it is such a pain in the butt!

I finally caved and asked hubby to build me a play list. C is also a music runner. He has only run 1 race without it. He is just a lonely runner lol. So he went to work and made me an AMAZING play list for this last week of 1 & 1's:

1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins
I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas
Lazy Eye (Jason Bentley Remix) - Silversun Pickups
Everlong - Foo Fighters
LoveGame - Lady GaGa
Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) - Beyonce
Waking Up In Vegas - Katy Perry
4 Minutes - Madonna
If You Seek Amy - Britney Spears
You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
Dare - Gorillaz

This play list is about 45 minutes long and it is AWESOME. First of all, he knows me way to well. I couldn't even put a play list like this together and it is perfect. When Lazy Eye came on, I actually started laughing because it is my FAVORITE song and it came in at the hardest part of the run for me (at about 1k I always want to quit).

Today I even caught myself singing along OUT LOUD. I am not sure what the 70 year old lady I ran by thought a "Disco Stick" was lol!

Thanks baby!

*************************************

So 1 & 1's are done. Wow. I didn't think I would be able to do it. But I did! Now it is on to 2 & 1's. And I don't think I can do it!?! Can I? We'll see I guess.

Adventures in Low Fat Cooking and My First 1 & 1's

While making Couscous Salad this evening, I had one of many battles with our manual can opener. It did not want to give me my chick peas. I begged and pleaded. I had no choice, the can needed to be destroyed.........

Needless to say, I think I want an electric can opener for Christmas!

I have also come up with an incredibly appropriate breakfast. I love pumpkin, but have yet to find a pumpkin recipe that wasn't high in fat and calories (Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake anyone). And they no longer make the sugar free Pumpkin Spice Latte syrup at Starbucks (BOOOOO!) So in desperation for my pumpkin fix, I mixed a quarter of a cup of Pumpkin pie filling into my morning oatmeal. The result? Yummy Pumpkin goodness, that's what! I eat it often and I love it. I find it very filling. Unfortunately if you aren't a oatmeal lover, it may not be for you!

I also tried my hand at making Baked Beans. They didn't turn out too bad either, just a little on the dark side. I said dark, not burnt!

If anyone has any low cal/cheap/low budget recipes they want to share, please do! I especially need to keep it on the down low this month, money is VERY tight.

**********************************************

I ran my first set of 1 & 1's tonight and it felt great. My ankles are sore while I run, but I need a new pair of shoes. Hoping to get to the beginning of November when hubby's Running Room discount kicks back in for his clinic (I lose my discount while I am on Mat Leave. Nice eh?). I didn't feel too tired, but I took it slow. Next time out is Thursday!

Monday Blahs

Thanks for the great comments ladies! Your confidence in me will get me out the door tomorrow. Is it hard somedays? Yes. But it is worth it in the end.

I have the Monday blahs. You all know them. You feel like you got no rest all weekend. You are expected to take on the week head on, with no real idea how. All you want to do is stay in bed. Or go back to bed. And no matter how hard you try, there is no amount of coffee in the world that is going to keep you awake past 7:00pm!

Weigh in was this morning......and we're moving on.............

Tomorrow I have my 1 & 1's to look forward to. I am kinda nervous actually. I ran fast out of the gate on Sunday, so I have to keep myself slow and steady. I just want to GO NOW LOL!

Hopefully making dinner (homemade turkey burger and sweet potato with broccoli) will wake me up a bit. If anyone is in the neighbourhood, I take my coffee with two cream and one sweetener! THANKS!

Small Steps

After what I felt was a successful second race, I decided that maybe it was time to see if I could start running again.

On Tuesday I went out in the pouring rain and ran 1 minute/walked 2 minutes for 30 minutes (10 sets). It felt good. So I also did the same on Thursday and today. I am pleased to report that besides some minor aches it felt REALLY GOOD.

So, that being said, it's on to 12 sets of 1 & 1's on Tuesday. I even have hubby making me a play list that will get me through.

I won't lie to you. I have HUGE long term goals in mind here. But I don't want to get ahead of myself and I don't want to push my luck. So, my first long term goal is to actually RUN the Resolution Run on December 31st. I have no speed goals or another PR in mind. I just want to do 10 & 1's and feel good once I finish!

I hope everyone wore their jeans on Friday!

Lee Denim Day

I wanted to take today and make everyone out there aware of a cause that is close to my heart. It is actually a cause close to EVERYONE’S HEART!

Right now, Breast Cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian Women (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer). In 2009 an estimated 22,700 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Of those, 5400 will not survive their battle. That is an estimated 437 cases a week, 104 of which will be fatal.

1 in 9 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

In 1996 Lee National Denim designed Lee Denim Day. It is a simple philosophy: 1 day 1 cure. On October 2nd, I would like to encourage all the women out there reading this to wear their favourite pair of jeans and think about someone who is fighting their battle with breast cancer.

But it isn’t only women. Men also are encouraged to participate and to get involved.
Someday I hope that we can all live in a world where ALL cancer has been eliminated. That would be my greatest wish!