Race Blog Catch Up: 6 Days Left!!!!!!!

I have been so busy with things at home that I haven't been logging my miles or keeping up with my blog.  As Sunday gets closer, I'm starting to get nervous.  I have 2 more short runs before the big day!  I'm excited, but I know I will start getting snippy the closer it gets.

Last weekend we ran the CIBC Run For the Cure.  I got to run with River.  This was her very first race and she ran like a champ!  She loved running the race.  She didn't even want to stop at the half way point for water.  She looked at me and kept running.  James loved all the pre-race stuff and loved our t-shirts.  He likes doing this race.  Once River and I finished she kept watching for James.  When she didn't see him she made me run back to find him.  It was so cute.  They both got to run across the finish line together.

Here are a few pictures from the race.

Today I ran the KW Oktoberfest 5K Fun Run.  This is my 4th year running this race.  It leads off the Thanksgiving parade and follows the route.  It's hilly, but a lot of fun.  I ran in my chicken hat this year. 

James liked that it was easy to find me.  I ran a pretty good time and felt strong the whole way.  At some point my hat got turned around though.

Because of my chicken hat, I won the Spirit Award!  I got a bag of all sorts of Oktoberfest swag.  Here I am displaying it all.

It was a fun day.  I have to think of how to top my chicken hat next year.

Only 6 more days until I run my first half marathon.  AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to Monday!

We had a pretty low key weekend.  We did do the Run For the Cure yesterday.  That was a lot of fun. James loves doing the fundraising and then getting all dressed up in pink for the race.  I made t-shirts for us this year.  On the front I did a different super hero logo for each of us.  On the back I put "Heroes Wear Pink."  Here we are in our shirts.

When we got to the race there were all sorts of fun warm-ups.  James had a ball doing the zumba one.

He ran the race and did an awesome job!  He dropped 5 minutes from his time last year.  It was a great day.

This morning we walked to daycare.  It took us a bit longer than usual as we had to carry our Star Student stuff.  James is Star Student this week so he had to make a poster about himself this weekend and bring in something special to him to share.   He did the poster and decided to bring in one of his scrapbooks that he made.  That meant we had to have an extra bag to carry everything in as well as his bag for running tomorrow.  His mother has to take him to the clothes had to go with him to daycare.  We were loaded done.

After I dropped him off at daycare I went for a run.  I wanted to go between 6-8 miles today, but that didn't work out so well.  Last weekend at one of my races I bruised the inside of my right ankle, right on the bone.  I rested it last week hoping that it would heal fairly quickly if I didn't run and push it.  I was wrong.  I think because I'm standing on the pool deck and walking around on it, it hasn't had a chance to heal.  I started out feeling pretty good, but after about a mile it really started to hurt.  It went numb and then it really started causing me problems.  I would stop to stretch, but you can't stretch out a bruise.  I was really frustrated.  I had a good pace going and I was feeling really good.  I ended up only running 4 miles and my time was AWFUL!!!!!!!!  Tomorrow I'm doing some speed intervals so we'll see how it does on the treadmill.  I'm just not happy about this at all.

Well, I'm off to make my smoothie, get a quick shower and then head to the pool.  Have a terrific Monday!

Run for the Cure

Yesterday was the day that we did the Run for the Cure.  We have been looking forward to this for quite awhile.  James helped raise $825 for breast cancer research.   We really had a great time.

Friday we picked up our t-shirts and James picked up all sorts of pin there.  We then went to the party store to get pink things so we could be all pinked out at the run.  We got pink necklaces, hair spray, hats, gloves, and tattoos.

Sunday morning we got up and started getting ready.  We all had pink stuff to wear.  James loved the fact that he had pink hair.  It was really cold and damp so we had to bundle up as well.  After some pre-race warm ups we finally got to run.

James decided to run the full 5k.  He wanted to run it in 45 minutes which would have been 7 minutes faster than he ran it in July.  He ended up running it in 42 minutes.  He did awesome!  We were so proud of him!

He's already making plans for next year's race.  We are starting to think about fundraising goals and how to raise even more money for next year.  He wants to run the 5k in 40 minutes next year and I think he can do it.  I'm glad he enjoyed himself and is learning a lot of important things along the way. 

Here are a few pictures for yesterday.

Busy Busy Busy Week

I can't figure out where this week went.  It's gone by so fast!  I'm sitting here trying to remember what all I did that made it go so fast and I'm just having troubles doing that.

Regardless, tomorrow is Friday and as James pointed out on our walk to daycare, the LAST DAY OF SEPTEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!  He stopped dead in his tracks when he said this too.  He's been really concerned about time and how fast it passes lately.  He couldn't believe that after tomorrow another September will be over.

We do have a busy weekend planned.  Saturday I'm at practice all morning and James has a make-up piano lesson.  If it's nice afterwards we may go to the park.  Sunday we are doing the Run for the Cure.  We have raised just over $800 for breast cancer research.  James is so excited to run.  Friday we will go pick up our race kits.  He's really taken owenership of this race since he helped fundraise some of the money.  It will be a fun day. 

I took Monday and Tuesday as rest days from training since my ankle was sore.  Yesterday I got back out and ran just over 2 miles.  It was not a pretty sight.  I couldn't get loose at all.  I felt heavy and tight the whole run.  My calf was sore afterwards as well because I have been really babying my ankle.  I had a sample of Tiger Balm so I tried that.  It really worked.  It felt so much better the rest of the day.  I stopped on the way home and bought some so hopefully this will help when I need it.

Today James and I walked to daycare.  He got a new umbrella so he had to bring that along.  It rained last night, but it wasn't raining this morning.  It didn't matter.  He had that umbrella up and he was using it.

I ran home after dropping him off at daycare.  Today's run was just over 1.5 miles.  I felt better than yesterday, but still heavy.  I did loosen up after about 5 or 6 minutes of running.  Hopefully tomorrow will be even better.

September did go by very quickly and I know October will just fly by.  Because time flies when your having fun!

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure: Please help me reach my mini goal

We are continuing are fundraising for the Run for the Cure. All of us are running on October 2nd. Please help by clicking the link below to make a donation. Every little bit helps!

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure:

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure:Mini Goal

There is less than 100 days until we Run for the Cure! I have set a mini goal of trying to raise $150 by July 2nd. So far I've received $75 in donations. I'm halfway to my mini goal! Can you help by making a donation??????? Every little bit helps!

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure:

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure:Bake/Craft for the Cure

Tomorrow is our Bake/Craft Sale for the Cure! We are all very excited and hoping to raise at least $50 from all this. We have wonderful crafts and cupcake! I can't wait for tomorrow!

To make a donation please click on the link below.

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure:

Craft/Bake Sale for the Cure

On June 25th we are having a yard sale.  During the yard sale, James and I are holding a craft/bake sale for the cure.  We have been hard at work making little crafts to sell and we will be making cupcakes, cookies and candy to sell as well.  Here are a few of the crafts we will be selling.

Magnets $.50: A variety of animals, designs, cars and planes

Suncatchers $.50: variety of butterflies, flowers, animals, and other designs

Handmade Soap $1.00: Variety of shapes, colors and scents

Potholders $.25

Scrapbook Paper Scrap Pads (50 sheets) $.50

We are hoping to make at least $50 from this craft/bake sale.  James is really excited!







Finally got out and ran

After battling a cold and then rain, I finally got out for a run today.  It felt so good!  I ran just over 2 miles through the arboretum.  It was a bit cool, but perfect for running and I got my run in between rain storms.

I love running through the arboretum.  It's so quiet and there is no one there.  When it is drier, I run on the trails and off the gravel/paved areas.  That is nice to run through all the wooded areas.

As I was running I kept thinking how good it felt to be out there.  I am alone with my thoughts.  I have music on to keep me going.  It's great.  Then my mental block song came on.  My mental block song is one that for some reason makes me think that I can walk.  My last race I pushed through it, but today it came on and my body wanted to walk again.

 Now you're probably saying, "Why don't you just take it off your playlist?"  Well, I will as soon as I move my iTunes from my old computer to my new one.  That involves taking it to the Age of the Geek store near us to do.  My old laptop takes about an hour to start up, then it's super slow.  I'm afraid that I will lose data so I'm letting someone else do that for me.  Until then I have that song on my playlist. 

Anyway, that song came on and my body wanted to walk.  It started to hurt and ache.  I wouldn't stop.  As soon as the next song came on, I was fine and able to pick up my pace a bit.  That got me thinking even more.  (I know, my runs are dangerous thinking times.)

If this song can trigger that response, it really shows how powerful our brains really are.  Yes, I knew this before, but it's like seeing Pavlov's theory in action.  I never get tired of seeing it proved right.

Tomorrow when I run I will probably have the same thing happen, but I'm really hoping that it will get less and less each time I push through that song.  Now it's almost a challenge to see how long it takes before I can run without even noticing that the song is on.  That's the way it is with all the other songs.  They are just white noise.  That song is the only one I really tune into too.  I'm going to start keeping track and see just how long this effect lasts.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...James and I are really hitting the crafts hard.  Last night we did little stain glass flowers and butterflies.  They are leftover from Mother's Day last year.  I had bought a box of these plastic ornaments that came with the paint.  He made a few then got bored with them.  So last night we painted them and they are going in the craft sale for breast cancer.  As it stands we have about 20 notepads of scrap scrapbook paper that we made, 20 wooven pot holders, 75 bars of soap, 15 cards, and these ornaments.  I have about 8 Christmas ornaments that we are going to paint yet, some more cards that I will make, 8 wooden model cars he wants to put together and some pom pom animals he wants to make.  We are planning what dog cookies to make and I bought pink cupcake liners for cupcakes and some small candy molds to make pink candies.

I'm really hoping to make at least $50 from all this.  Its been fun doing these things with James.  He loves doing it and I love doing it with him.

Well, now I'm back to work.  Swim workouts to write and test set data to finish entering.  Tomorrow is Thursday and we have a long weekend coming up.  I can't believe we are halfway through May.  The time is just flying by.

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure: Almost to $500!

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure:

I'm only $85 away from my goal of $500! Please click on the link and help Mike, James and I raise money for breast cancer research. Every little bit helps.