CAN'T WAKE UP ANYMORE!

Sunrise is around 7h30 now! So late.... and I can't get myself up early enough when it's dark like that! I could only fit a 4 miler this morning at 10:47 min/mile pace. It felt good, I forgot to wear my knee strap and no pain... knocking on woods here! Body is holding on! YAY!

I stopped by the Running Factory today and bought myself a new full support compression runner's Bra from Champion which is chafe resistant. Almost to good too be true.. except the price: 69,99$. I hope it's worth all this money! Later on this issue after Saturday's 12 miler!

I also picked up some new gels which I'm really excited to try:
-GU gels: Lemon sublime, Tri-Berry and Orange burst
-Carb boom!: Strawberry-kiwi and apple-cinnamon
Can't wait to try some of these!

It was a big shopping day as I also ordered the shoe pouch from Road ID that Runnergirl was talking about. It can fit 4 gels (2 in each pockets on each running shoes!) and it should be here 1 week before marathon day. That will hold my gel for the marathon so no capris with pockets needed and I also took Arcaner suggestion and will start the marathon with a bottle in my hand to last me for the 1st water stations which might be crowded and just throw the bottle when empty! It's great to get all the ideas from other experienced runners!

Thanks a lot guys! And happy running! =)

AND THE TAPER BEGINS!

Well there is now 17 days before marathon day!! I started week 16 by doing 8 miles on the elliptical at the gym this morning. Tomorrow will be my 5 miles run and Friday morning the 4 miler will become an 8 miles bike ride.... Still trying to rest my knee as much as possible!

I was really surprised by my short recovery time from the half. I confess that I could barely walk without a limp on Monday... but I took good care of my knee icing it for 15 mins every 2 hours. I also invested 65$ in an awesome leg massage and slept like a baby that night. =) When I woke up on Tuesday, knee was great and legs were not stiff anymore!

I was reading Jelly's blog about racing with or without a fuel belt during the marathon. I have been thinking about this since the half-marathon where I didn't have my fuel belt and it was great! No crazy bottle bouncing which drives me insane... But racing with 246 other people is totally different compared to the mass of people that will run the marathon. I still have to think about what is best. Might do like Jelly and invest in some capris with pockets...

Oh and before I forgot, I was happy to see that I finished 9 (out of 10 but still NOT LAST!) in my age group including all the Races from the Running Factory.

Happy Running week all! =)

A 13.1 MILES JOURNEY!

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny and *windy* day at Point-Pelee National Park! I ran my first half-marathon in 2:23:07!! I was pretty pleased with my time considering my knee problem which bothered me around mile 8. Oh well, I know I could have pushed more but this is not my goal race and the most important is that I finished on my 2 feet!!

The course was a little boring, it was pavement all the way and we were doing the same loop 3 times!! Before this race, I thought we would be running in trails (we are in a National Park afterall!) and enjoy the forest but it wasn't like that at all. The scenery was really redundant… I’m not sure this would be a race that I would do again. I’m sure there are tons of half-marathon course that are more exciting than this. Having that said the run itself was good: I was trying to pace myself at 10 minute/mile at the beginning, even going a little faster when I wasn’t watching my forerunner.

A mistake that I made is to forget my gel!! I was so sure I put it in my bag before leaving the house but it wasn’t… so by mile 8 my energy was down and no way to get it up! I guess you gotta learn the hard way, I will not forget this for T.O.! My second obstacle came right about the same time when my knee started acting funny, I had to stop 2 times to replace and tighten my knee strap which I know cost me some time but it was the first time I was running with it (the brace just didn't work for me). It was a really cloudy day and my Forerunner 201 lost satellite signal around mile 10 and that's when I realised that I rely on technology too much! I found it really hard to pace myself without it, I'm pretty sure I fall under 13 min/mile then... then I saw Mile 12 and started speeding up again! Passing some people along the way which made me feel good to have this push near the end. When I could see the finish line, I took my ipod away and I could hear my best friend Flashy and her boyfriend cheering me up which was the best motivation to sprint to the end! (Oh yeah, I wanted to add: I'm so jealous of all you guys that received medals!! We got nothing at the finish line!!)

Minutes after the race with Flashy, my number 1 fan!!! =)

I am strong! I can do this! Toronto Marathon here I come!

MY FIRST HALF-MARATHON....

Tomorrow I will race my first half-marathon! I am now officially part of these freaky runners that consider a half-marathon a short distance! I'm apprehending the race, it's not that I'm afraid of the distance, I've been running 12 and 13 miler for a long time now, but I'm stressed about my knee. Will it act funny? Will it hurt? Can I do this without pain? I guess the only way to know is to try and tha'ts what I'll do! =)

Have a nice race for those of you who are also racing tomorrow =)

ROAD TEST

Ran 5 miles at 10:47 min/mile this morning and all went well! I just wasn't expecting the icy cold weather!!! I just had to realised it's not the summer anymore and the morning low 10's feels like below 0...... The first half mile was run at a 8:30 min/mile pace as I needed to warm up my body!! Wow, the fall is really here... I saw the first leaves on the ground.... Nice morning, nice run, I'm happy!! =)

A WEEK WITHOUT RUNNING IS....

Hard. Seriously, I've been thinking about running everyday, every second for the past week. It was difficult to see other runners just running freely and pain free... I felt so JEALOUS.

I was also down all week for other reasons than not being able to run.... first of all, I was dumped (over the phone!) by Mr. Smily... and our Grad secretary screwed up our GA contracts and we didn't get paid on Friday... and we won't get paid until the 29 of September!! Wow this whole thing sucks! It was just a really bad week and I couldn't pass my frustrations and sadness in running.... Enough said...

So, I wanted to end my miserable week on a better note, I got up and went to the gym although I HATE THE GYM. The good thing is that there was nobody and I was able to spend 1h30 on the elliptical and "run" 10 miles without pain, well just a little bit at the end, still it made me really happy. It wasn't the 20 miler planned for today but doing half of it is better than doing nothing... and I know, now, my limits and I need to work around them if I want to run the marathon.

I think this week will be a mix of elliptical training and running and then next Saturday is my Half-Marathon and I will not see it as a RACE but as TRAINING....

Happy running (you damn lucky runners!)

TABARNAC DE GENOU....

That's French... and not a kind word.... my knee let me down... I could only do 4/18 miles planned...

Mile 1 : A breeze, bring it on!
Mile 2: What! My knee's acting funny! (it doesn't hurt but it's on the way... this usually happens at mile 12!!!)
Mile 3: OMG, this freakin' hurts, start crying
Mile 4: This is insane, it hurts so much, I had to give up.... and then more crying

I had to walk back part of it and then I took the bus. I feel like a quitter, a failure... my mental state is not the best. I'm doubting myself, what if my body can't hold on? This is hard, I guess I'll have to take a complete break from running... but I don't want to.... I honestly don't know how to deal with that. I feel like this is my fault, I injured myself on purpose not to run the marathon, but I didn't... wow I'm a mess and depress....

Thanks for reading...

SHORTER RUNNING WEEKS

I have been cutting my running to 3 days a week instead of 4... it has been mentally difficult for me to do that. I love to run, it allows me to think, focus and relax so I've been feeling a little under the weather since then. I did my 9 miler on Monday, walked 4 miles on Wednesday and ran 5 miles on Thursday. I will be attempting the 18 miler tomorrow morning and see how far I can go without knee pain. I will not be pushing on it, they clearly told me that it wasn't worth it to hurt yourself and not be able to run the marathon at all... I'm in "peace" with that and understand why.... (as peaceful as I can be... ;-) )

This morning, I was talking to Magda, a kinesiologist who works with my physiotherapist, about my anxiety towards my lower mileage and fear of not being able to complete the marathon... and she was really re-asssuring, saying that I've been putting on heavy mileage since May (beginning of my half-marathon training) and that I shouldn't worry about that. She thinks that I will finish the marathon and not even feel pain!! She says on Race Day the adrenaline replaces all and with all the people cheering at you makes you forget about the pain. I really felt great knowing that from a professional.

EARLY START???

So I've been browsing the Toronto Marathon website a lot lately and I saw that there was an early start available for the marathon. Last year, 146 people participated in the early start marathon compared to 1483 people for the one starting at 9 A.M.

I want to have the full marathon experience so I'd prefer doing the "normal" one but at the same time I got scared when reading this on their website:

"Due to time restrictions set by the City of Toronto, Public Transit, Police and Emergency service's. We require that all participants in the Marathon maintain a 12 minute per mile pace and may be asked to move on to the sidewalk and obey normal traffic laws if running slower than a 12 minute per mile pace. Those of you who can run faster.....please feel free to do so."

I usually have no problem maintaining a 10:45-11:15 min/mile pace in my long runs but since I injured my knee I've been running a little slower (11:50-11:55 min/mile) which is awfully close to their limit. I do not want to run on the sidewalk that would just not be fun... As anyone ever run an early start marathon? Is it a good way to experience my first marathon? Any feedback is appreciated.

I was looking at the course map because my dad told me he wanted to "follow" me during the marathon so I need to chose several spots where he could come and wave at me or re-fuel me with gatorade =) He's so sweet, I'm so happy he's coming to see me. Well, I was thinking that since we start at Mel Square and do a loop, he could just stay there and wait until the loop is done (about 1h). After that he could maybe take the subway or a bus to go near Yonge/Spadina then Yonge/Rosedale Valley Rd. and finally near the finish line at Queen's Park. I'm not sure if he'll be able to get around easily to these streets but it seems like the best places for him to wave at me!

4 FLIGHT OF CORONITAS

Friday was a slacker day! Flashy and I decided to go for a long lunch at the Chinese restaurant and then skip the afternoon of work to enjoy the new released movie Beerfest. The choice of movie was my responsibility... let's just say it won't win any Oscars... but the perfect movie for a bunch of slackers on a weekday afternoon! Ok, so the movie was really stupid but you have this really intense need of beer after seeing it.... So we went to Moxies for dinner and the beer special was called Flight of Coronitas, which consist of 3 small size Coronas. Let just say that 4 flight of Coronitas later, we were certainly the most joyful and giggliest people in the restaurant....

All of this to say that my night of sleep wasn't the best but I was up on Saturday morning around 7:30 and left for my 12 miler for 8 A.M. I did mostly trails (9 out of 12) at Ojibway Park and Malden Park. I did feel a little dehydrated from my night of drinking. It was the first time I ran with my knee brace and I felt some resistance at first from it but in the end I really liked having it. I felt like my knee was stronger and more balanced. My knee was bothering me a little near the end, but nothing like the previous 2 long runs where I wanted to cry near the end as it hurt so much. This is going to be a big week (5m, 9m ,5m and 18m), I might skip one of the 5 miler and give some rest to my knee, but I will definitely try to run the 18 miler next Saturday.

Have a great running week everyone!

PAPA!

My dad just told me that he decided to come down to Toronto the week-end of the marathon to be my personal cheeleader!!! I am so happy, a member of my family can come and celebrate this accomplishment with me! This is great! =) It totally made my day!!!