THE MONTHLY POST....

I have come to this! One post per month... oh well, better than leaving the blogosphere altogether!!

I copied Lisa and ordered the exact same cycling jersey she had bought! I felt like a copycat but her being in New Mexico I knew we wouldn't be seen together wearing them... ;-) She had requested a picture so here it is:
I've done 3 races in the last month... keeping myself busy =)

1- Tour du Lac Brome 5K -21 June 2009

Like I mentionned in my last post, I offered the 5K race registration as a gift to my Dad for father's day and told him we would run it together. He has been running for a year now and I'm really proud of him for keeping up with his 3 runs a week. His previous PB was 41:10 at the Miami Tropical 5K. It rained a little bit a the beginning but we had a mostly dry race. The weather was perfect for a PB! And PB he did! We finished in 39:18 and he worked hard for it, the course was a lot hillier than what we're use to in the East side of Montreal. It was great to push him on the course and have him meet his goal. My Dad rocks!! 2- Not since Moses 10K -28 June 2009
This is by far the weirdest and most awesome adventure race you can do!! We run at the bottom of the seawall when the tide goes away in the Bay of Fundy. It's a mix of sand, mud, knee high water, rocks running. Very hard to do but very fun! I was even attacked by a lobster and a blue lobster nonetheless! Those are pretty rare and I couldn't believe I'd seen one =)

3- St-Lambert Sprint Triathlon -18 July 2009

I was pretty nervous heading into the race because I haven’t gone to the pool often in the last few months and I knew it was going to be hard. When I left the house it was pouring rain and dark, suppose to thunder shower... Surprise surprise at the race site: it's sunny and warm!! My cheering squad could have come afterall.... oops didn't have sunscreen...

Swim 750m -18:37 (including T1)

Very satisfied with my swim, I passed 2 swimmers in my lane and hold on to the lead swimmer. 30 laps went by really fast. This swim was only 30 sec slower than at my last tri (Esprit).

Bike 22K -42:49 (including T2 of 2:17)

We had to do 6 loops and I remember messing up at my first sprint tri so I kept repeating which loop I was on…. It did feel a little OCD. LOL Garmin tells me I had a speed of 30 km/h on the bike which I’m very proud of! All that cycling commute is definitely paying off. =)

Run 5K -36:21

The run was hard, I maintained an 11:21 pace, not the 10:30 I wanted but I couldn't go faster. I'm sort of disappointed in my run but it was 30°C and the sun really hit hard on me. I didn't let this bring my mental down when I saw I was slowing down, I always tried to pick the pace up a little.

So overall, I'm happy with how I raced and going to try and do better at Valleyfield! I was burnt on my shoulder and face and felt sick most of the afternoon and night... never forget that sunscreen even if it rains! Lesson learned...

RUM RUNNERS RELAY REPORT

Nova Scotia has to be the best place on earth!! I love it there and the relays they organise are just the most awesome way to spend a Saturday =)

Hurricane Kyle was kind enough to wait until Sunday with his strong wind and rain so we had an almost rain free day on Saturday. My leg was at 8:55 AM and about 11.4K long.

My foot had been bothering me lately so the goal was nice and slow but the pressure of coming in last really motivated me! I started running and soon found 'my shadow' this woman was following me so close that I could feel her breathe in my neck!! In this first picture you can not even see her behind me!!

I thought she was going to pass me at the beginning since she was so close but she didn't. As the racewent by, I started to distance myself from her. My main goal was to not let her pass me at anytime!!

Then at the half point, I gave her a little wave and said goodbye for good! At that point I was about 200-300 m in front of her and would keep this lead until the end.

A big thanks to my favorite Haligonian, Lisa, for running part of the last half of the leg with me. She kept talking to me to keep my mind off the pain of all the rolling hills and a blister that had started on my right foot. In the end, she mut have run close to 3K with me and I really needed it, she got me through a big hill right and we just kept on trucking. My foot was killing me at that point.

My leg ended with a slow incline to the finish line and I kept repeating to myself: "Are you f'ing kidding me?! I was pissed LOL But I finished and didn't let that woman pass me =)

This was a very hilly race for me! I never run hills as it is totally flat around Montreal. The green line is elevation and the scale goes from 100-500 ft! I usually have profile with a 30-50 ft. scale LOL

Finished the 11.4 K in 1:16:39 (10:49 min/mile) according to my garmin but the official time is actually 4 mins faster than my finish time (1:12:47) since I didn't make the mat and got a 5 mins penalty on the last person who made the mat's time...

Overall, I'm very happy with this race and I had a great time cheering my team 'Runningmania.com' during the day. Here's a group pic with 2/3 of the team!

Other NRR good news, I got a post-doc offer while I was in Halifax at Université de Montréal. I also applied to a research position at Environment Canada and I actually know the person who is hiring and he told me I had great chance to get an intervieew! YAY! So things are starting to move for me. Send some positive vibes please!

Ok... google reader tell me there are 67 new posts? You guys wrote a whole lot while I was gone! Will try to catch up tonight and tomorrow! =)

MY FIRST TRIATHLON IS HISTORY!

I've started thinking about doing a triathlon since I've been injured with plantar fascitiis (8 months ago!!). I am also very inspired by a close friend who is training for her first half IRONMAN and she inspired me to go forward with this sillyness! Lisa, you're the Best. =) Since I got back at my parents' house, I've worked hard on the bike and at the pool to be able to do this. Sorry, if this is long, like any other 'first' it is great to write a lot so you can remember it and see your progress as you move along!

Pre-race

I ended up having stomach issues yesterday and did not feel very well for part of the day, not sure IF it was due to pre-race jitters or just a bad spinach salad I had for lunch... LOL After 2 bottles of perrier water I was finally feeling better. Carb loaded on a wonderful chicken pasta recipe (yum make it!). I went to bed early but did not sleep well, kept dreaming of getting lost in transition or missing something to go on the bike and run... yeah everytime I woke up I told myself that's enough now! But would start dreaming the same thing again... I rarely get like that with running race anymore, seems the unexpected is frightening!

The cheering squad and I got up at 6AM, brekkie and we're out the door by 6:45AM. Here they are in all their glory! Thanks for coming out with me.

We got to the race site no problems, I went to get my race kit, my chip and get marked but the girl at the registration booth did not tell me there was a board where I could check which rack to put my bike on... I knew there was 2 waves of try-a-tri and she said to another volunteer: wave 1 red cap. So, I tought it would be written, Wave 1 Try-a-tri somewhere... We went the transition area and the bike racks were separated between Wave 1 to 12... so I had no idea which wave I was in really (I knew it wasn't the 'real' first one tough lol). I asked a bunch of girls at Rack 10 if they were doing the try-a-tri and they didn't even stop talking to answer me... only one guy turned and said he wasn't.... hum friendly! So I then ask someone who was in charge of transition area and he didn't know, so about 15 mins later and going back to check a board near registration. I knew which one was my bike rack (5th wave!!). I felt I looked so so clueless but this all new to me!

I meet up with a friend that I went to Université de Montréal with, Élaine, she was also doing her first try! It was great to see a familiar face and we went through this event together, it took some of the nervousness away. She said we were very lucky to be in the middle of the waves with a start at 9:10AM as they usually put the try-a-tri last, thank god because it was a HOT one today!

Off we went to the pool for a little warm-up and we anxiously waited our wave to start. We had a little race meeting and it turns out I was on the first wave of the try-a-tri. Most of the people in my wave we're doing their first one too! I was in Couloir 5 and Élaine went to Couloir 6.

Anxiously waiting for the start of my wave above!

Swim (300m in 6:52 with T1)

I believe I'm a good swimmer, my technique is not perfect but I am like a fish in the water so I knew this was going to be faily easy for me. My tryouts at the pool were close to 9-10 mins for 300 m so my goal was to go sub-9min, so I was delighted to see a sub 7 mins!!

I'm in the red cap, the girl in the green cap, asked me what my 300m time was and she tought she was faster so I let her go first... after 1 lap I had to pass her cause she was going to slow! This time included a run of about 200m =) It was a pretty weird feeling to just start running after you've been in the pool, I was definitely out of breath when I reached transition! I was 17th overall when I got out of the pool.

Bike (13.2K in 36:18 with T2 -garmin says 33:44)

After crossing on the mat, I reached my place and was pretty quick on putting everything on. Got the garmin on Auto multisports (thanks to Leanafor pointing that to me!). More running and off I went, hop on the bike. I had to do 3 loops of a 4.4K course. Élaine passed me about 2 mins in the bike ride! She has a neat bike =) It took me about half a loop to get my breathing under control, I think I pushed a little on the swim lol Granny was doing good, I had no clue of my speed as the multisport just says Bike and doesn't give you a speed... oh well, I went by perceived exertion. It was a flat bike course, great volunteers cheering too. I had lots of fun, one of the bike marshall even said to me it was great to see such a great smile. =) My goal was to go sub 40 mins so I'm very please with Granny's performance, however, she's still pretty old and rusty so I went from 17th to 35th but I'm ok with that. I knew my bike had limitations and I wasn't there to win any speeding contest! Off from the bike and run about 300 m again to my bike rack, I was out of breath really bad, I had to walk and take it easy there (as you can see in my exhausted face!).

Run (2.5K in 18:11 -garmin says 18:26 for 2.61K)

I knew I had hit lap too soon for the run so that explain the extra garmin time, guess what, I was excited to start running! Soon realised my legs felt like lead... oops Plus, I had loosend my shoelace A LOT so that it would be easy to put them on in transition but they were too lose... so yeah no time to stop and undo the crazy knot I did LOL

Heard my Mom cheering me a lot at that point and that really helped cause I felt I was going SO slow. First mile poped up at 11:22 and I was happy it was under 12 min/mile, I felt I was going much slower tough! As soon as I saw the finish line I speed up and heard my family cheering =) Total time 1:01:21!

It was a great experience and I'm very happy I went through with it. I liked it a lot, I do find it is a very expensive sport and that might prevent me from doing a lot of it... oh well, I'll have a job someday =)

Thanks for reading up to the end!!!

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!

WELCOME TO MIAMI, BUENVENIDOS A MIAMI!

"Miami uh uh
South beach bringin the heat uh

Haha can yall feel that

Can yall feel that

Jig it out uh"

The race started with this song by Will Smith (Miami) with 10 400 runners jigging to it the atmosphere was pretty wild!! I was going into this race just wishing to have fun and not look at the time... ya right the competitive person I am won and I decided to try for even splits of 10:30 min/mile for the whole half.

As Laurel said in her last post, once you've done a marathon you kinda lose respect for the half or at least think this distance is not important considering you've doubled it and not died! So, I wasn't very nervous heading into the race, as I said many times to my mom: "It's only a half!" and she replied that it was still a big achievement nonetheless. I think she was right and I got a little emotional once I heard the gun start, I was happy to be able to run a half. That is something most of mortals won't do in their life and this was my 6th half-marathon =) I wasn't sure if my ankle would hold up but I didn't have any issues with it. It took me 7 mins to cross the starting line, there was definitely more runners than for Detroit.

Before the race with my parents:

The race was pretty much effortless until mile 9. I hadn't done a race at that pace in ages... like months! But I thought I could hold on to that pace for 13.1 miles?! What the heck was wrong with me? lol

I got new shoes over Christmas and should have updates my socks at the same time, they are solely responsible for my blisters (all on my bigger foot). I had to repeat and repeat to myself when it got hard that it was mental and not physical (even though I barely believed it!). I slowed down a little but tried to pick it up as soon as I noticed a slow down. In the end, I am pretty proud of the way I raced considering the training involved before this race.

I loved the race course, it was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!! The first part running up the road near Biscane Bay with the Palm trees and we could hear the parrots in the trees were simply awesome. I thought it was kinda surreal with the helicopter from Homeland Security too. Once we were arrived in South beach the crowd support was fantastic and really pumped me up (might explain that 10:18 min/mile!). I just truly enjoyed this race, the weather, the crowd both on and off course and would definitely do it again. I know we got "lucky" since it was a cooler day and it barely rained for the half but I think I would have still loved it even if it had been warmer or raining (as crazy as last year's sounded with what Laurel told me!). Racing to the finish was frustrating and very motivating at the same time. You can hear the crowd and you think you're close but there are a lot of turns and I was giving a lot of speed and finally ran out for the final stretch!! My parents said it looked like I was having a hard time near the end and it was close to the truth!! But when I heard them shouting my name and waving big: "Go Sonia signs". I waved back and went for it!! =) What a boost seeing your family can do for you.

I was so touched to read her blog when I got back home. I think she put in words way better than I could do how our meeting went. It was definitely like meeting an old friend and we had a lot to say to each other. I was disappointed not to have more time and sit down for a drink. For sure next time =)

The facts:

13.1 miles in 2:21:44

Mile 1: 10:57 min/mile

Mile 2: 10:37 min/mile

Mile 3: 10:36 min/mile

Mile 4: 10:35 min/mile

Mile 5: 10:18 min/mile

Mile 6: 10:40 min/mile

Mile 7: 10:28 min/mile

Mile 8: 10:34 min/mile

Mile 9: 10:55 min/mile (Getting tired and blistered!)

Mile 10: 11:00 min/mile (only mile at 11 min!)11 min

Mile 11: 10:59 min/mile

Mile 12: 10:59 min/mile

Mile 13: 10:18 min/mile (pushing it hard! Crowd support and seeing my parents helped!)

0.24: 10:35 min/mile

The Best way to end the day: AT THE BEACH WITH MY DAD!!!

RESOLUTION RUN (NOT REALLY A RACE!)

It was a first for me, to race in my hometown! And what a great day for it =) It started snowing the day before and it hadn't stopped until the race. It was a very informal race with 30-50 people only. I was kind of surprised considering the high turn-out in Toronto and Ottawa.

We started at 11 AM on January 1st and I was still feeling heavy from all the food I ate the previous night (and wine I drank ;-)). My personal chauffeur and photographer (Papa) drove me to the race and my mom was there as a cheerleader (with a bad back!)!

I really like the French sign (Coin des Coureurs in that one!)

I meet up with Arthur, a Runningmaniac friend, just before the race started and we ran together talking the whole way through. It was a nice run, it was snowing and very peaceful. The best part was when a drunken guy encouraged us from a moving bus, obviously still on the party at 11AM! We finished in 35:35, my dad made a video but I realised I didn't copy all of this on a memory stick so its on my Dad's computer!

That's the best way to start the year!

GREAT RACE PICS!

I had a great time at the race and it shows on these pictures!

DETROIT HALF-MARATHON!

I had an awesome race =)

The weather was perfect, the wind was more cooling than hard to run in I found. The best part was that I felt good and strong all long. I finished in 2:22:04 my 3rd best time out of 5 halfs.

Most of you know, I caught mono at the beginning of August and I was unable to run for more than 2 months. I started training for this race 3 weeks ago and I only did 2 long runs (8 and 10 miles). Considering all these, my goals today were to:
1-enjoy the race
2-run at a comfortable pace and
3-try to finish under 2:30.

So, 2:22 is a totally unexpected result for me and I'm pretty happy with it. =)

This is the first race I run without my ipod and I enjoyed it a lot because there was lots of people cheering on the side of the street. I don't think I would run without it in smaller races (like Forest City...) I always had tons of people around me (30-40 people!) for the duration of the half! I usually run alone in smaller races so that was a great change.

I have a “thing” for bridge, I love them! It’s hard to explain but everywhere I visit I’ll photograph them and I really feel in love with the Ambassador bridge since I moved here. So, running on it was a big highlight for me. The tunnel was HOT, I was sweating buckets, the breeze at the end felt so good. And the crowd on the Detroit side was so much bigger than on the Windsor side!

I saw my parents at the end of the tunnel, waiting for me near mile 9. It was great to see them. My dad tried to take 2 videos with his camera and ended up with nothing cause he’s technologically challenged... Lol Oh well at least he tried =) This was also the first time, my mom saw me run at a race and that made it pretty special for me.

Overall experience was awesome =) I want to come back for the full one day!

Thanks for reading everyone.


Before the race starts at 7:15 AM with my parents, it was so dark! And it wasn't super easy to get up at 4:45AM!!!

It only took me 2+ mins to cross the starting line , I was in Corral O which was in the middle of the row.

The race is over and it's bright oustide! With my folks again

A PB IS A PB...

Even if it is by a few seconds! I finished the 10K HBC Race in 1:01:10 so a big 4 sec faster than 2 weeks ago! Not the under 1h I wanted but I found myself starting too fast and missing the nice kick-ass finish I had at my last 10K. Here are the splits:

Mile 1 -9:10

Mile 2 -9:40

Mile 3 -9:39

Mile 4 -9:56

Mile 5 -10:10

Mile 6 -10:07

Mile 0.28 -12:10 (oh my god! never been so un-motivated to reach the finish line!)

I was a bit overwhelmed with the the price of this race (43$) but the technical t-shirt is awesome and the medal is just crazy! You would think we just ran a marathon. =) I had an awesome time and next time: " I'll get you sub-1h 10K!"

TROT TO THE BEACH: HALF-MARATHON #4!

I drove to Blenheim on Sunday for a small town race with about 50 half-marathoners total! The course was very interesting, a mix of dirt road/gravel, pavement, trail and beach/sand running. The good thing is that it was mainly FLAT! I mostly run on pavement so the first half on gravel was something new for me! Rural anf farmer roads where the smell wasn't always of nice flowers ;-) It was very hot and humid (high 30's) but at least it was overcast, I'm not sure how I would have done it with the sun over my head!

I was racing with a friend and she wanted to PB with a finish of 2:05-2:07. I said to her that I didn't think I could do it, but I would try anyway and stick with her for as long as I could. Having run only 4 times since the marathon I wasn't too optimistic! But sometimes you can really surprise yourself!

She started out way to fast for me (9:30 min/mile) so after 2 miles I was not able to keep up so I told her to go ahead. After I slowed down I started to feel better, I kept repeating to myself that time wasn't important and you can't PB at every race. So, it was hot and the bugs were eating me alive but I finished in 2:19:52! My second best half time so I'm pretty happy about that. I won a super door prize, a 32 feet extension cord... I was very excited! :P

Here is a picture of Trixiee at the finish line (after we changed)

I hadn't been able to see my "official" marathon picture as the website of the photographers were down for the past 2 weeks.... but finally they are back online! I decided to order a frame of my picture because I like it so much and it was such a hard race too for me. I should have it in the next 28 days! =)

Have a good running week everyone!

I DID IT AGAIN!

I ran another marathon! It took me a while to have this sink in! Sorry for the late race report but since Monday I have a visitor from out of town at my house (my Newfie) so it’s been hard to write about my experience!

I arrived by train in London on Saturday, took it easy, went to Starbucks to read and enjoy a latte. When my room was ready, almost an hour later than the official check-in time! I had no time to take a nap and chill before the Maniacs Meet and Greet. We went to a restaurant that serves pasta in giant (huge) bowls!

Here’s a pic of our table (pic taken by Brendan Reid/qmp maniac)

The night finished early and I was happy to get back to my room for 8 p.m. I watched tv all night, spoke on the phone with my BF and prepared my clothing and breakfast for the next day…. I went to bed at 10:30 and felt asleep right away… I was up around 12:30 for a bathroom break and then started getting nervous about the race! I tossed and turned for the remaining of the night, not my best sleep!! But, I was up by 5 AM, got my breakfast in 2 h before the race and relaxed. I was out the door at around 7:30, I didn’t want to wait to long outside as it was a bit chilly in the morning.

On my way to the starting line, I meet this dad and his handicap daughter (in a stroller/wheelchair), Amanda, they were racing their 9th marathon together and wanted to finish in 3:40! They had run Boston twice already together! Impressive team! I was happy to talk to them, I wished good luck and was on my way to meet some maniacs.

The time was almost up to the race so we all took our place near the starting line, I went on my own to have time to myself before the gun went off... I felt the same as I felt for my last race, a bit teary, still couldn’t believe I was about to run for that long again! I knew this race was going to be different as my dad could not be there and he was such a great help for the last one. I was thinking about him a lot. I knew my friend Flashy and her BF would try to see me around 38-39K so I was holding on to the thoughts that it would be good to see someone I know along the way, especially when things start to get hard!!

My plan was to race at a pace that would have me finish with a 4h33 time (10:26 min/mile). I didn’t want to start to fast, which is always my problem, and I was very proud when I saw that I could pace myself properly and that was going very well (for the first 8 miles anyway).

Mile 1 10:16
Mile 2 10:26
Mile 3: 10:32
Mile 4: 10:18
Mile 5: 10:38
Mile 6: 10:22
Mile 7: 10:15
Mile 8: 10:23

The end of Mile 8 and the beginning of Mile 9 was quite hilly, I slowed down a bit so I don’t exhaust myself but that’s when my hip started to “feel funny”. It started to hurt when I would climb hills and disappear when I would be on flat ground. So the next 7 miles were done trying to forget about the hip and enjoying the ride. I was thanking people on the side of the road and the awesome volunteers!

Mile 9: 11:02
Mile 10: 10:19
Mile 11: 10:41
Mile 12: 11:05
Mile 13: 11:23 (half-marathon at 2:21:26)
Mile 14: 11:15
Mile 15: 10:42
Mile 16: 11:08

That’s when I switched to Plan B, which was a 4h45 finish with average pace of 10:55. I knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain a fast pace for the remaining of the race as I could feel my hip more and more. But then my knee started to hurt too and that’s when it started going downhill… I started to take walk breaks, hoping the knee/hip would miraculously recover... I was losing time and I was in pain. I was trying to tell myself some motivating speeches: “Pain is temporary, pride is forever”, “You’ve done this before, you know you can do it again” etc. But it wasn’t working, I was losing my “mental thoughness”!!

Mile 17: 11:37
Mile 18: 11:27

Around Mile 19, I started to cry, I was exhausted and I didn’t understand why it was going so bad and why it was so hard. Even though, I kept repeating if it was easy everybody would run marathons! I tried to straighten up my act for the next few miles.

Mile 19: 13:22
Mile 20: 13:01
Mile 21: 12:49
Mile 22: 12:27

Then by Mile 23, I lost it completely, the tears, the sobs and then I had difficulty breathing… a bad sight. I was already disappointed of myself for losing it and I was beating myself up instead of taking that energy to run a bit harder. My own fault, my mental wasn’t as strong as I thought it was… I really thought I wouldn’t finish at this point… Every time I would stop to walk, my body was telling me it didn’t want to keep going and starting to run again was so painful… But I guess I was strong enough to shut these thoughts and “just keep fuc’ing Running”!

Mile 23: 13:24
Mile 24: 13:24
Mile 25: 12:49
Mile 26: 12:30
.2: 11:01

The rest of the race was hard, I knew that I was going to miss Flashy at 38-39K at this point, because I told her not to wait for me too long there, if she wanted to see me finish in 4h30. That was harder than I thought it would to not have the support from my dad like at my first marathon, I appreciate even more today that he was there for me in Toronto!!

When I turned the corner and was able to see the finish line, tears came to my eyes again, I knew my friends would be there and I was happy I made it through another marathon. I crossed the finish line and hugged my friend Flashy! I started to cry again, it was hard but I made it, I learned a lot on myself….

Thanks to everyone for reading, I am happy to have such a great bunch of people for support! I am not done with this marathon business… ;-)

GETTING READY...

To tackle my second and last 20 miler of this marathon training schedule! I cannot believe this marks the end of the hard part of my training.... and taper will officially begin tomorrow night! =) I'm very excited to lower my mileage and spend more time walking the pooch, I feel I've cut short his walks so many times during this training.... hope he still loves me ;-)

I've talked to my chiropractor and I will get some new orthotics made up especially for running. My old ones were made for walking and they are very soft and don't seem to give me enough support while running.

Here is a picture that was taken at the finish line of last week's race. You can't see my face very well but there is a huge smile there! =)

This week's Recap:

Tuesday 5 miles @ 10:35 min/mile (PACE)

Wednesday 5 miles @ 11:42 min/mile

Thursday 4 miles @ 10:47 min/mile

Thanks for reading everyone and have a good week-end!

I'M EXHAUSTED!!

I am feeling physically, intellectually and emotionally very tired. I had a big week at work in the lab everyday, and althought I wasn't that sore after ATB, standing all day took a toll on me. I hadn't much time to recover from the race as I took only Monday off and resumed my training schedule on Tuesday.

Here's this week in review:

Tuesday 5 miles @ 11:23 min/mile

Wednesday 8 miles @ 10:31 min/mile (PACE)

Thursday 5 miles @ 11:09 min/mile

The last 2 runs were very hard, I was running on the waterfront and there was a lot of wind. I felt like I was fighting with the wind more than running. I was tageting 10:20 for my pace run but I was not able to maintain it. I believe it's a mix of the evil wind and being tired. I actually had to nap for a hour before Thursday's run!

I'm happy this is a step back week, I'm only doing 12 miles tomorrow and that will feel like nothing after last week's 19!! =)

Here are some pictures from ATB.

Before the race with Tim (tdiller on RM)

During the race, look at the swing of my hair!! I almost didn't recognize myself! I think it's a great picture!

I really like the finish line one.

As you can see my gun time was 3:25:32