Lake Festival and Monday Morning Run

This past weekend Mike and I went to Ohio for Lake Festival.  I love going because I get to see family.  Lake Festival used to be so much bigger, but it has just been really weak the last few years. It's sad to see that it's not as big as it used to be.  I used to love going downtown and seeing all the crafts and sales.  It seemed that more community groups used to do various things.  There has to be a way to make it better.

I did run the 5k that they have.  I love this course as it's really really really flat.  Here you get flat courses, but not like this.  It's so nice to run on the flat course.  It's my first 5k road race since I hurt my knee.  I did run the 10k in June, but 5k is still my favorite race.  I ran it in 33:14 officially.  That is about 30 seconds off my best time.  I was happy with that.  If that's where I am now after taking almost 2 months off to rehab my knee, then I should be running a best time in August when I run the Toronto Women's 5k.

Here are a few pictures from the race.

I got to see my great aunt this weekend as well.  I don't get to see her often so I love when I do get too.  Here I am with my great aunt, my grandma and my mom.  It's been about 5 years since we've all been together for a group picture.

I got to visit with my grandpa and my aunt and uncle as well.  I love when I can go down and see everyone.

This morning I got up and ran with Mike's brother.  He wanted to start running and asked if I would run with him.  I warmed up by running the mile to his house to get him.  We then did an interval run.  We started with a 5 minute walking warm-up.  Then we did 5 rounds of 2 minutes run/2 minutes walk.  Finally a 5 minute cool down.  The ended up being about 2 miles.  Then I ran the 1 mile home.  I'm back doing my sub-30 5k training program.  It worked to get me ready for my 10k in April and got my time down so I'm doing it again.  I have adjusted it some.  Today was supposed to be a cross-training day, but I figured this run/walk would be like cross training.  Tomorrow I have  4 mile long, easy run to do.  I'm taking a very hilly route tomorrow so I'll get some nice hill work in.  That's still my weakness so I'm going to really work on it this time through the program.  Wednesday, I run with Pat again, but I'm also hitting the gym to start back on my weights.  Thursday it's speed intervals and weights.  Friday short run with Pat and weights.  Saturday will be a rest day and Sunday a easy run.  I'm pretty excited to try to push it a bit again.  My knee has been feeling really good so this should be a good training phase.

I've been watching the Olympics and I love it!!!!!  What's nice is I can watch both the US coverage and the Canadian coverage.  I get to see different sports and different countries.  Right now I'm watching Serbia/South Korea in women's volleyball.  I watched rowing this morning and some swimming.  I am such an Olympic junkie and for the next 2 weeks I'll be glued to the coverage.

I'm off to do my core workout now.  I have been letting that slide so I'm back on it.

Have a great Monday!!!!!!

Monday, Monday...

And you can tell it's a Monday!

I haven't been sleeping well lately and I finally get to sleep and was going to let myself sleep until aruond 6:30, but the animals had other ideas.  Indy started yowling and knocking things off my dresser.  Anya decided that she needed to "share" my pillow.  Mulder, who slept with James last night, heard everyone else having fun so he came up and tried to "clean" my ears.  All at 5 am.  Yep, welcome to Monday!

I got up and putzed around until it was time to get James up.  He wanted to walk, but I really needed to get to the grocery so we decided that we'd walk this afternoon.  We went to the store and then I dropped him off at daycare.  Since we decided to walk this afternoon when I picked him up, I was just going to run to daycare and then walk home with him.  Well, when I realized how hot and humid it is I changed my mind.

After I put the groceries away, I went for a quick run.  Today was my short run day so I ran a quick 1.75 miles.  Just shy of my 2 mile goal.  I'm glad I took my small water bottle with me.  I usually don't take water with me on such short runs, but something said I should today.  I had to slow down about halfway through to take a few swigs.  Plus I put ice in it so it was nice to hold in my hand as I ran.

I was really happy with my time.  I held a pretty good pace for me on a short run.

Next week I'm going to start running with my brother-in-law in the mornings.  He wants to give it another try so I'll run with him on my interval days and short run days to get him back into it.  It should be nice.  Mike has been running in the evenings and liking that.  James will go with him when we have him.

My next race is the Lake Festival 5k this Saturday.  I'm looking forward to it since it's a really flat course.  I'm hoping for close to the same time as the Good Friday run.  I'll be really happy with that.

I'm doing a core workout before I shower.  I haven't been doing weights or core and I need to get back into it.  I'm going to do my Buffy workout.  I love that core workout and I'm in the mood to watch an episode of Buffy.

Tomorrow I have a 4 mile run scheduled and I'm doing that early before it gets hot and humid.  Plus James and I are going to the Market so I want to get my run done before heading out to buy lots of good fruits and veggies for our veggie challenge!

Mike and I are doing a veggie challenge and James wants to join us.  We are going to eat 5-6 servings of veggies every day.  James is going to eat 3-4.  The challenge is to make them all different and try new things.  I'm hoping it will get us back on track of good eating since we've been traveling so much and having to eat out.  We both just feel like slugs since vacation.  James also wants to try new fruits every week.

Well, off I go to kill my core!  Have a great day!

The Warrior Dash

I ran the Warrior Dash yesterday for the 2nd year in a row.  I had just as much fun this year as I did last year.  It's a tough run because of the hills and the obstacles.  This year there seemed to be more obstacles that required crawling under things.  I don't remember quite so much crawling last year.  I still had a really good time though!

Mike and James couldn't go with me because James had a piano contest.  He did pretty good for not being able to play or practice for over 6 weeks due to his broken finger.  The contest was in Toronto so they got to have a guys day yesterday.  Here is James at the contest.

I didn't really want to go to my race by myself so my friend Vicky came up from Michigan and kept me company. We had  girl's weekend!

Friday we drove up to Barrie and spent the night.  Saturday we got up and went to the race.

It was at Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort.  Vicky was awesome for holding my stuff and taking pictures!  I really appreciated it!  Here we are before the race.

Most of the obstacles can't be seen by the spectators, but the last three are right where everyone can see.  Here I am going over the cargo nets.  I'm the on in the yellow.

After you get off the cargo net, the next obstacle is the fire. 

After the fire, the last obstacle was the mud pit.  I love ending runs in mud pits!!!!!!!

And I survived another year!

And they had firemen to hose off all the mud.  I think they enjoyed it just a little too much.  I mean how often to you get to shoot people with a fire hose.

I did manage to get most of the mud off there at the race.  I still needed to get a shower after our drive home.

Vicky and I had a great time!  I'm really looking forward to running it again next year.  It's just a lot of fun and different every year.

It's a humid one out there

Whew...when I let the dogs out it didn't seem that bad, but once I got into my run it got really humid.

I took a new route today.  I thought I'd like to see a new neighborhood, but the funny thing is I really don't remember anything.  Normally on my runs I check out what houses are for sale, what people's flowers look like, etc.  Today I know I was looking, but I really don't remeber a darn thing.  I think the humidity was getting to me.

I did remember to take my water though.  I was glad for that.  Normally I don't take water for anything under 5 miles, but today I thought I'd better bring it.  I ended up drinking both bottles.

I ran just over 5k in 37:34.  It was a very slow run today, but I got out there and got the stiffness out from yesterday.  My left hamstring was a little tight, but after running and some stretching it's feeling better.  I also really tried to talk myself out of going today, but I'm glad I didn't listen.  I feel so much better since I've run.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be really hot and humid so I may switch it with Wednesday.  I'm supposed to do 5 miles tomorrow and the bike and weights on Wednesday, but I think I may do the bike tomorrow.  I'll be out of the humidity.  Wednesday is supposed to be a bit less humid in the morning.  We'll have to see.

Right now I'm going to finish my chocolate milke and get a shower.  I think a nice cool shower after that run will feel great! 

Have a wonderful day!

Dirty Dash 4k

I love doing this run!  I ran it last year and had a blast.  This year was no different.  It's a short trail run through a park that ends in a giant mud pit.  The mud pit was very thick and very deep. 

The trail run wasn't super technical, but there were 2 stream crossings where everyone got bottle necked.  It kills your pace and your rhythm, but I run this on for fun.  I did take it easy on the hills since it was trail running that hurt my knee.  I had no pain and I felt pretty good running.

Here I am before the race.

Mike was there to support me.  I am so glad that he comes and is so supportive. 

And here I am in the mud pit.

Like I said the mud was thick and very hard to move through.  I got almost to the finish line and tried to stand up.

And the mud pulled me back down.  Once I stood up, my feet got sucked in so I had pry them out with my hands.

I finally got out of the mud and crossed the finish line.

It was a humid day, but near as hot as last year.  I did drop a lot of time from last year so I'm happy about that.  The river crossings did slow me down too.  I can't wait to run it again next year!

Trying to get it back

Blah...today was not a good run.  Not because of pain or weather or anything like that, but because I just wasn't feeling it.  I only ran a quick mile and a half.  I felt like I was running through soup for some reason.  The weather was perfect.  I felt great physically, but mentally I just wasn't there.

I'm starting to get discouraged..  First my knee.  Then my back.  Now I'm fighting mental battles.  Grrrrrrr...I want to get back into the running mode.  Where I was feeling great and in the gym doing weights.  Now I'm feeling icky after having to take so much time off for my knee.

I know I have to build back up and I know I have to be patient, but I'm not doing well with either of those.

I'm hoping that my race this weekend will help get that mental excitement back.  It's the Dirty Dash on Sunday.  I did it last year and had a blast!  I'm really hoping that it will give me that mental push that I need.

Today I'm heading into the office.  I have some work to get done and I'm coaching tonight.  I enjoyed the week off, but I'm ready to be back at the pool.

Have a great day!

What a great vacation!

It's been a whirlwind weekend and start to this week.  We had tons of things going on!  Friday was the wedding.  James was the best man and he did a great job.  Mike was also in the wedding.  It was a nice ceremony and the reception was a good time.  Here are a few pictures of us all cleaned up and enjoying the wedding fun!

Saturday we just took it easy. We went to a brunch and then just relaxed at the hotel.  James went swimming with Mike and I took a nap. 

Sunday we went to North Dakota.  We drove down to Fargo and hit a few different places.  The first place we went was the tourist center to see the Woodchipper from the movie.  I was so excited to see this.  They had the "stunt double" out front.

After we visited the Woodchipper, we went to lunch at the Space Alien Grille and Bar.  It was pretty cool and had some good BBQ.



After lunch we went to the Red River Zoo.  It was a small zoo there in town.  It was nice because we got to see all the animals and read about them without the crowds.  It was a great little zoo.

After the zoo we went to the Children's Museum at Yunker Farm.  It was a really cool little museum.  It was built in what looks like an old farm house.  Each room had a different theme and tons of hands-on stuff to do.

Monday we went to the Royal Ontario Mint in Winnipeg.  We learned how coins are made.  Each of us got to hold a real gold bar.  That was kind of cool.

After the mint, we went to the Manitoba Children's Museum.  Now that was really cool!  They had a ton of interactive exhibits and lots of cool things for the kids to do.  It was so much fun!

Yesterday we flew home.  We were all dead tired and glad to be able to sleep in our own beds.

This morning James and I picked up the dogs and the cat from the pet hotel.  We then took the dogs with us on our walk to daycare.  By the time I got home, the dogs were really tired.  Right now all the animals are curled up with me on the couch sleeping.  Even Indy is here and not plotting our demise for boarding her.

We had a nice family vacation and now its back to our regular lives.