NEW ROUTINE

Slowly settling into my new routine, what day of the week are we again?! Yeah, vacation is THAT good! lol Well it would be a little better if the Montreal Canadiens could win a game but since they stopped doing that I might as well cheer for Ken's team....

Last Thursday, I waited 5h at the clinic to see a doctor and resolve my foot issues. After taking X-rays of my foot and learning that there is no stress fracture but just a really bad PF. The doctor, who was a runner, told me my orhtotics were shitt and so hard that my foot had to absorb all the shock instead of the cushioning of the shoe when I run. So yeah, by wearing the orthotics I aggravated my problem (insert French swearing here: @!$%%!@#$). At some point, you just don't know what to do and who to listen to... So, now I'm on a strict short runs regimen from 2 to 5K for 3 weeks and then building up SLOWLY for the next 3 months... 3 months!!! This is already hard... so I bought a stationary bike! And I hate biking but it keeps my cardio up and I'm not going totally insane!! =)

Lastly, I have 2 GREAT news!!

1- I'M going to ARUBA!!!! With my Dad, 1 week on the beach YAY

2- I GOT MY FIRST INTERVIEW FOR A CHEMIST POSITION!!!! In the government just like I want!

I'm pretty excited about both and not sure which one I'm most happy about!! =)

TURNING THE PAGE...

As happy as I am to be done my Ph.D. leaving Windsor is a really emotional and hard time. I am leaving behind a lot of people I truly enjoy working with (my boss was truly the BEST) and friends who are like family (Flashy and her BF were a support system for me here....).

It was my last day at work today, lots of tears were shed by me and others friends. It’s hard to see you desk empty after 5 years at the same place, you get comfortable and things feel like "home".

Now, going back to my real hometown, Montreal, for an indeterminate period of time, until I hear from the dozen of jobs I applied to and take some time to relax. It’s been a real stressful time in the last few months for me. So, I will be looking for some down time. Maybe a trip to the beach… Who know?!

One thing I don’t really want to talk about but I will… is the state of my foot. It’s really bad, hurts me all the time now and I’m having pain when I walk…. I guess going back home is a good thing as I will be taking care of this seriously.

Cheers to running pain free one day (soon I hope...)

Dr. SONIA!!!

Sorry for the delay, no need to worry, I did successfully defend my thesis on Tuesday morning!!! I am now officially Dr. Sonia!!! YAY!! So happy but still SO BUSY!!! I have some revisions to do and I'm leaving Windsor on Tuesday morning, so I've been working very hard on making sure the thesis is ready to be submitted before I move out!

My whole family came for the defense, it was very nice =) And I think part of my lucky charms as everything went really well!!
This is a picture of me and my advisor, I will miss him a lot. A very great researcher and taught me so much in the last 5 years.

Running has taken a back seat and my 2 miler yesterday hurt my PF... this really sucks!!! The things that sucks even more is that I've ran out of funds for the chiropractor and will have to pay for it with my own money (and I'm now unemployed... so yeah fun lol).

Anyway, I will try and catch up with you guys tonight while watching the game or this week-end! GO HABS GO!!!

SPIRIT OF THE MARATHON....

So when am I running this third marathon????????? That's how good it was, I want to start training and get that feeling again!

Spirit of the marathon was so AWESOME!! I have a soft spot for the 71 years old marathoner who ran his first marathon when he was 65 and was running this one with his daughter.

I also really liked Lori, she's a grad student like myself, and running by herself which takes lot of inner motivation. When people where shouthing her name and she was waiving it reminded me how felt during my marathon and how happy I was. I shared a few tears, especially when they crossed the finish line....

This night out definitely cheered me up for my upcoming thesis defense. I finished marathons, I can do anything-type-thing =)

MIRACLE RACE 5K

It was a beautiful day in Windsor and altough I wasn't feeling like racing all that much when I woke up, the excitement of the race ramped up as when we watched the kids run the "Dash" and "1K". Some of these kids were so cute!!

I was running this to pace my best friend, Flashy, on a very challenging course, think hills, hills and then more hills!! It's good we did a practice run there on Wednesday because that big hill is definitely scaryt! I pushed her hard during the race but I knew she could do it and finish the race feeling accomplished. And she was pretty proud of her performance so that's all that counts!! =) Coach-Sonia that's a job well done too!!

I'll update later with the official results but my Garmin says 36:57 for 3.27 miles. Definitely my slowest 5K but seeing my friend so happy and telling me she wouldn'T have finished it without me means a lot more to me than a PW =)

Here is a pic of Flashy and I taken after the race, all purple and all happy!!



My foot hurts, like a lot, the PF is worse than its even been. So, going to a new chiro/ART practioner tomorrow and hopefully she can help me get rid of this. I might take have to take it easi-er this week..... with the Run for Retina 10K race next week-end, I gotta be in shape for that! I will have a special thought for my blogger friend Marcy during that race. ;D

Have a running great week everyone!

p-s 9 days until my Ph.D. defense right now!!

ETA: Official time is 37:14

WHAT ABOUT 3 RACES IN 3 WEEKS??

So, I'm leaving Windsor in 3 weeks and to celebrate this and the fact that my best friend has followed in my runner's steps (she likes to call it "Run it forward"), we decided to run as many races as possible until I leave! Now, what a plan, right?

We started with Around the Bay last week, 30K for me and 5K for her. Tomorrow, we will be running The Miracle 5K race together, I will go at her pace, its a challenging course with several hills so we're not expecting PBs there. Next week-end we're driving to London (ON) for the Run for Retina 10K where I will pace her in her first 10K race! How exciting to be there for my best friend on her debut at the 10K distance! =)

Last week's in Review:

Wednesday 3.1 miles @ 11:46 min/mile (still sore from ATB)

Thursday 4.1 miles @ 11:41 min/mile (PF hurt......)

My pictures from last week's race are pretty good. Here's one running alone and being super Orange!

The one below is my favorite! Jaime and I celebrating after crossing the finish line together!