Warrior Dash, Piano Contest, and Back To Training

This past weekend I ran the Warrior Dash for the 4th year in a row.  I have a love/hate relationship with this race.  I love running and trying to conquer the obstacles, but before the race I have my moment of what the heck am I doing???????  This year was no different.  I was super nervous at the starting line and when I started out.  Once I got going though, I was fine.

It seemed that the whole race was uphill this year.  Oh my goodness was it uphill!!!!!  Some hills were steeper than others, but there were tons of hills!  The obstacles were lot more balanced this year.  Last year it seemed like there were a lot of climbing and this year it was a good balance.  I did have to go around one of them and another I got up to the top and couldn't get over it so had to climb back down.  And did I mention the hills??????

I am very proud that once again I did climb over the cargo net obstacle.  I always get to the top and have to pause and figure out how to get over the top to climb back down, but I manage to do it without killing myself.  The mud wasn't very thick this year either.  That was a blessing.  I didn't get stuck.

Here is a before and after picture of me.

We had a great time afterwards eating turkey legs and drinking a beer.  James had a big beaver tail.  We listened to a great band and enjoyed being outside in the beautiful weather.  It was a fun day!

Sunday we spent the day in Toronto at James' piano contest.  He had two performances.  The first one he got a Superior rating.  He was a little disappointed, but he wasn't expecting to place with that song.  His second performance he did really well.  He made one mistake and after he was done, looked like he was going to cry.  When they announced the winners he ended up getting 2nd place!  He was so excited!  I wish I would have had a picture of his face.

Yesterday we both were lazy so we took it as a rest day.  Today we were back at our training.  James, River and I were up early since it was supposed to get hot and humid today.  We did 5 rounds of 2 minutes run/1 minute walk and 4 rounds of 3 minutes run/1 minute walk.  James did a much better job today.  He said his new running shoes helped.  Tomorrow we are up early again for a run possibly in the rain.  Friday we are going to Huron Park to do our run because we are doing a special video for a contest that goes along with our virtual run we are doing this week.  It's going to be awesome and funny according to James.  I can't wait to see what he has planned.

I'm looking forward to another great summer day with James tomorrow!

Day 22: I've Got Some Catching Up To Do!

Yikes!!!!!  Last week just slipped away from me.  My parents were up here visiting and we
going everyday.  I didn't train like I should have, but I did do a lot of walking.  We all had a good time.

Saturday I ran the Warrior Dash for the 3rd year in a row.  I really enjoy running this race.  It breaks up the road races and I can just have a good time.  They switched the course up from the past 2 years.  We started out "running" up one of the ski hills and then it just seemed to be all uphill from there.  Yeah, I train hills, but not ski hills so I didn't do much running up them.

There was also a lot more climbing and ropes this year.  I did have to go around 2 of the obstacles due to the fact that once you got over them, there was at least a 6 foot drop.  I did not want to hurt my ankle while training for this half marathon. 

Here are a few pictures from the race.

This morning I got up and took River on my run.  Today was a short run so we did almost 2.5 miles.  It felt really good.  It was one of those runs that I felt like I could run forever.  Tomorrow is a 5 mile run so I hope that it feels the same as today.  Since it's cooler, I'll take River tomorrow too.  I'll be up and out the door by 5:30 since I have to get James to camp and I'm working at the office all day.  River will like running that early and she gets to go to daycare afterwards.

Off to finish my day!  Enjoy yours!

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.

I Survived the Warrior Dash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I had the best time!!!!!  It took me right at an hour but that's because I hate hills and it seemed the whole thing was uphill.

One of the obstacles was a giant downhill slip 'n slide.  I slide right down and when the plastic ended I kept going down the rocks and mud.  My butt is now pretty cut up. 

James was worried about the fire, but it wasn't a problem.

The mud pit was on gravel so my knees are also cut up.

I would do it again in a heartbeat!!!!!

Here are a few pictures from last night and today.

Amanda and James Day Of Fun!

Today James and I got to hang out and have fun.  We started our day off at the St. Jacobs Farmer's Market.  We got our strawberries for jam and we also bought some raspberries and cherries for our trip tomorrow.  Here are a few pictures from the Market.

After the Market, we came home for a bit to drop off our berries, let the dogs out and change into a swim suit.  Our next stop was lunch and then Victoria Park!  He loves Victoria Park.  They have a great playground and a really nice little splash pad.  He played on the playground for about 20 minutes and then spent 2 hours in the water.

After the splash pad we went for a walk to dry off before heading home.  Here are some sites we saw along our walk.

After running a few errands, we headed home for dinner and to take the dogs for a walk.  We walked to yet another playground.  James played for about 20 minutes and then we headed home.  Halfway back, he declared that he was tired.  It took as twice a long to get home, but we made it.

After about 30 minutes we got our second wind and chased the dogs and played with a whistle.  We are now both in bed and getting ready for an exciting day tomorrow and Saturday.  Tomorrow we head to Barrie for the Warrior Dash on Saturday!  We are both really excited and can't wait for the race.  James gets to hang out with Mike while I run.  It will be a great time!