An Awful Lot to Be Thankful for....

This weekend marked Canada's Thanksgiving and while it tends to be a whirlwind weekend it is also an opportunity to reflect on what we should be thankful for. In my case, I am thankful for the following:
1. My beautiful, happy family
2. My loving (sometimes infuriating), sweet husband
3. Our dear little house which we have outgrown
4. My ability to choose what I want to do with my life - which right now is being at home with my children
5. My health - we tend to take this for granted - but training for and running the marathon continued to illustrate to me how having good health is everything - so make sure you ate lots of good food over the weekend. and if you didn't, dig in now.

Ran Like the Wind!

I know I have been missing in action since the end of July, but life got very very busy and I just couldn't find the time to write. But the big news at the end of the summer was - I did it! I ran my first Marathon. My husband and I completed the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon in just under 4 hours and 30 minutes. It was a grueling race, fraught with tons of emotion that I will share with you shortly.
In the mean time I have decided that if I am going to continue this blog I am going to write almost exclusively about running. I want to run another marathon in the spring, hoping to be quite a bit faster and I think that writing about it will keep me motivated until I can rejoin the running room clinic in January.
So the highs and lows of my running life will be chronicled here and I will be back shortly to post about the marathon and last 6 weeks of training.

Now what are we suppose to eat?

This morning I read this article in the Globe and Mail about organically grown food not being as nutritious as conventionally grown food. While I was pretty sure about this it does beg the question why we are spending so much money on organic produce. I guess when it comes to my kids I'm buying organic food because it is grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified organisms. I get frightened over what my kids are probably digesting every day so I hope that by feeding them organic produce and in our case organic meat and dairy I'm reducing some ofthe toxins that end up in their little systems.

On another note, we are embarking on our longest run to date on Sunday, 29 km! I'm nervous about being able to complete it and how my body is going to feel during and afterwards. One of the challenges I'm finding with the marathon training is how sore my body is feeling each week. I'm simply not use to running this far and frequently and I think my body is rebelling a bit. This coupled with my glute problems is causing me some frustration. I look at the more seasoned runners and assume the long distances are a piece of cake for them but I'm probably wrong about that. I guess dealing with these challenges is what training for a marathon is all about and in the meantime we just enjoy the ride.

See you all later!

My longest run ever

On Sunday we headed out and ran 26 km. This is my longest distance to date and it felt ok. There were certainly moments during the run where I questioned what I was doing, but I felt like I could do it. I ran with four other people and trying to keep up with them was good motivation. For the first time on a run I tried gels for energy and all I can say is yuck yuck! The vanilla gel I ate at about kilometer eleven hit my empty stomach hard and while running uphill out of the park I thought I was going to throw up. But I have also tried Cliff Bloc Shots so I think that is what I am going to bring along on my long runs along with some fig newtons. I just wish I could bring real food like a banana. This weekend we head back down to 20 kilometers which I am going to do on my own as I have a stagette on Saturday night which means no runs on Sunday morning. And next week we hit 29 kilometers, oh my!

On the kids front we are really enjoying the summer together. Every day it has been something different, the park, the beach or the zoo. Unfortunately due to our city strike, the bee's camp was cancelled so he is at home with me every day. I have to admit that I find it hard having both kids at home with me every day, I can't get anything done. I don't know how moms with all their kids at home get their beds made and laundry done, let alone their house cleaned. I was blessed to have the bee in daycare two days a week over the last year and a half.

Hills, hills and more hills and oh yah I have a weak bum

That's not me running up the hill, but it is kind of inspiring don't you think?

We started our hill training this week. It is something else. This week we ran 3 km over to the hills and back and ran 5 hill repeats. I was very happy I had my ipod with me to give me motivation to get up the hills - think about the highest hill you can think of and double that and than try to run up it give times. The first hill was ok, but trying to get up the second my entire body felt like jelly including my feet, my legs were shaking so hard at the top of each hill. But it was so motivating to be with a group of people each of whom were trying to push the limits of their body up those hills. At the end we were met by the entire clinic waiting at the top of the last hill yelling out encouragement - I am met at the top by most of the clinic because I am usually bringing up the rear of our clinic.

On another note, I had my first physio appointment this week to determine why I am having so much pain in my right leg and it turns out I have a weak bum, well not really, apparently I have piriformis syndrome, which means I have weak glute muscles that get very tight, cause me pain and can contribute to pain in other areas of my body that are interconnected. So the good news is I can keep running and hopefully lots and lots of stretching and strengthening coupled with regular visits to the physiotherapist will fix me right up.

This weekend we are up for my longest run yet, 26 km.

19 km down 23 km to go

23 km to go...I'm not sure about that. We did our long run this morning through a beautiful park right in the middle of our city. The run went really well and I felt good. The first 9 km I just buzzed along (at my incredibly slow pace) and while the second half the run was tougher it really wasn't too bad. But what I can't wrap my head around is doubling this distance, how is that humanly possible? I had a number of aches and pains during the last 5km of the run so I'm really not sure how I'm going to feel during the second half of the marathon. I guess I will have to see. Next weekend we are up to 23 km and this week we start hill training.

My hamstring is still bothering me somewhat but right now I think it is going to hold up. I will see how I feel over the week and than decide if I need to take a week or two off before ramping up for the second half of the training schedule.

Camping in the great outdoors

We went camping...that's right we all stayed together in a tent for three nights and ate all our meals (except for one) in the great outdoors. We were a little nervous about how the whole trip would pan out but the kids had a great time. Camping is another one of those experiences that is a lot more fun through the eyes of the little ones.

Someone looks a little scared to be hugging with mommy

The bug loves her camping chair

And she also loves her marshmallows

The bee stuck in the tent

What a perfect evening