September 30 was a B-I-G day for me. After months spent training - running around my neighbourhood, up and down hills, and all the way to boot camp, I worked myself up to running my very first half marathon! 21.1 KM! 13.1 MILES!! In other words a really, really long way!!
My race day gear, all lined up and ready to go!!
I didn't have high expectations for the race. I really just wanted to finish the race and hopefully run most of the race. Guess what?! I DID! Although my running speed is about as fast as most speed walkers (by the end, it was as fast as 80 year old women walking!), I managed to traverse 21.1km around the Surrey Half Marathon route.
I managed to rope the hubs into running the race too. His time was obviously faster than mine - by an HOUR! But either way, we both crossed the finish line!!
Before the race, I ran into my good friend Kim, who was running a relay of the full marathon with three other amazing women! It was great to see a smiling face to cheer me on... I had psyched myself out a LOT before the race.
Along the way were people cheering us on, including this little girl holding a sign of encouragement for all of the random strangers running past her. Each mile marker station was manned by a different country or cultural group. It was so fantastic to have Korean dancers, German musicians, Palestinian dancers, and drummers from the India station. Even more inspiring was the Philippine's station - they brought group of patients in wheel chairs to cheer on the runners. It was definitely an emotional day!
Next along the route were my favourite cheerleaders of all! My in-laws brought the girls to cheer me on, right near the end of the race when I needed some extra encouragement to pull through the last 5km. As I was coming up to the finish line - FINALLY!! - There were some friendly faces to greet me! Thanks Kelly and Zarina! My husband finished a full hour before me, and spent that hour cheering the next runners on until I finally crossed the finish line!
Here we are post-race! I can't believe we actually ran a 21.1KM race! There were lots of post-race recovery stations, but we couldn't even stop to enjoy them - we had to shower, kiss our babies and catch a flight to Hawaii!! More on that later this week!
OMG. Like a BIG O.M.G. The summer has just flown by and so has my running schedule - it’s almost flown right out the window!
Today is the 30 day countdown. 30 days from now I will be lacing up my New Balance kicks, filling my Iphone with some fast paced running music and traversing 13.1 miles around my fair city.
13.1 Miles. Which is 21 km. Which is a LONG way. Like a really really long way. I downloaded the course map today, and realized that I don’t like to DRIVE that far of a distance, and I’m signed up to RUN it?? I think I may have been crazy when I decided to sign up for this!
I did my first long-ish run in a while today (10km) and it took me forever!! I’m going to run 14km this weekend and hopefully up my pace a little.
me, crossing the finish line at my first 10km race back in March
At the end of the day I’m not concerned about how long it takes me to finish the race, as long as I actually drag my lifeless body across that finish line. Wish me luck; I’m going to need it!
At the beginning of the year, I decided that I was going to learn to run. I needed a goal and thought that completing a 10km run where I would be strong enough to actually RUN most of the race was a good starting point.
In Vancouver every year 50,000+ people all come together and run/walk in the 10km Run Run. Having attempted the insanity and claustrophobic madness that is the Sun Run about ten years ago, I knew that it absolutely was NOT for me.
I also knew that if I didn't have a race to train for, inevitably I would stop running and just become my lazy self again. So I signed up for the UBC Run for Rural Medicine. And trained. And trained. And trained some more.
Last weekend was the BIG DAY! In preparation for the run, my girls made signs to help motivate Mommy.
The weather was phenomenal. It was actually warm, there was not a cloud in the sky. This was the view I had at the start of the race.
It was a small race, probably no more than 75-100 runners. Runners had a choice of a 5km route or a 10km route. I think about 25 runners did the whole 10km.
My goal was to run most, if not all of the race ~ and I DID! I walked for a minute near the beginning to take my hoodie off because it was so warm, and then another minute around the 7km mark to let the hubs know to meet me at the finish line!
While I was running, Brett brought the girls to a little duckpond at the beach. It was so beautiful there!
Here I am at the FINISH LINE!!! I finished the race in 1:13 - not very fast (the hubs runs his 10km in about 52 minutes) but I'm more than happy with it!
Here I am with Eila at the end of the Race.
After the race, we celebrated with brunch.....Now it's time to figure out when the next challenge/race will be!
All of you moms out there know what I'm talking about. Shrapnel. Crusts. The extra chicken nugget. The rest of the french fries.
I honestly think that the reason I have been so unsuccessful at weight loss is because I lack the willpower to resist the glorious deliciousness of buttery, cheesy, gooey grilled cheese crusts (a.k.a. grilled cheese shrapnel).
Tonight the girls had cheese pizza for dinner. I'm making a delicious lasagne for me and the hubs. But can I just leave the pizza crusts on the little plates? No. Not a chance. I don't even WANT the crust. But I still had to eat it. And it wasn't even very good.
I will just have to try a little harder next time. And maybe run a little longer tomorrow morning.
For the past five weeks, I have tried to start a running
program.I downloaded an app to “Learn
to Run 10km.”It’s going better than I
expected.I started out walking for one
minute, running for 1.5 minutes, three times a week.Now I am up to walking two minutes and
running 20! It may not be fast, or graceful, but I’m running.I’m pretty sure I look like this...
I started the program to try to keep up with the hubs.He’s one of those people who just throws on
his shoes, runs 7km in 35 minutes, comes home and is completely fine.Me? Not so much.But I’m getting better.
To keep myself motivated and give me something to work towards, I am registering in the UBC Run for Rural
Medicine – 2012 at Jericho Beach Park, Vancouver, BC on Saturday, March 24,
2012.I figure it’s a nice, semi-flat
10km run, I should be able to do it, right?
What does a girl need to run? Inspiration!I have tried to download a bunch of uplifting, upbeat songs to help push me along when I’m heading up a hill, or getting to the end of a long running interval.But you know what the best songs are?Lame, heavy bass top 40 songs! Oh, and most of the songs from the soundtrack to GLEE....
