About Me

Geek chick trying to make her way in this world without offending the powers that be so that I can glide under the radar but still do what I wanna do. Get it? Got it? Good.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Army run review

On September 18th I ran the 4th annual Army Run.  It's a great 5km race that follows the exact same route as the May race weekend, so very familiar and comfortable.  I know where to park, I know where to drop off my backpack, and at 7:30 am on a Sunday, it's good to instinctively know where the hell you're going :)

The 5km race sold out this year, and you could tell, as the place was jam packed with people.  During the race itself, I felt rusty and cranky, but determined to crank out my 5km without too much whimpering LOL  I didn't wear my Garmin because for some silly reason I figured if I knew how fast (or slow) I was going, it would mess me up... I'm starting to think that I should *always* wear my Garmin to help boot me in the ass!

I'd hung out with friends the night before and ate pizza and cake.... I figured it wouldn't be an issue since it's the day before right???  mmmm Nope, probably not... that's probably what made me feel slow and rusty, oh well, leasons learned right?

During the race I saw my co-worker Bill run by, not streak by, but passed me pretty quick.  So I sped up a bit and grabbed his butt, freaked him out, but they all laughed about it... He said that he was in the zone and that I'd messed with his game, but really it didn't slow him down at all.  I should have followed him and his friends because he did really well!   He ran the race in 47 last year, so this year he was hoping to beat that time and he ran the race in 39:55, isn't that awesome???  I totally should have held onto his butt and kept running with him hahahah!

After the race I wanted to meet up with some friends for a coffee or breakfast, but couldn't get a hold of anyone, so Starbucks latte in hand I slowly sauntered back to my car while looking for my results online.  Thank goodness for the Sportstats app for the Iphone because I got my results before I even made it to the car!  Sweet!  I'd finished the race in 45:34 and last year was 45:09 so 25 seconds slower due to pizza and cake is still pretty damn decent in my book, especially considering I felt like a slug on a rug and figured I'd probably have run it in 48 mins when I saw the timer over the finish line flash up 52 mins and change...

The race pictures don't seem to be available online yet, but I'll post some as soon as I steal them :P

So another medal for the bling colection, another wicking shirt for the running wardrobe and another runner to talk about running with at work... life is sweet!

Speaking of sweet... my next run is October 2nd (Run for the Cure) to support Breast Cancer Research and Vicky and I will be wearing all pink, tiaras and tutus... those pictures will be epic!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Fall is my race season this year...

It's strange, but I didn't really sign up for many races this year... or so it seemed at first glance

St. Paddy's race on March 12th (ran 5km)
Ottawa race weekend on May 28th (ran 5km)
Perth Kilt run on July 2nd (walked, didn't run)
Ovarian Cancer research walk on September 11th (walked, didn't run)
Army run on September 18th (registered to run 5km)

So out of that list, there are only 3 races... now all of a sudden these are on the calendar too:

CIBC Run for the cure on October 2nd (5km)
Rattle me bones on October 23rd (5km)

Six races is a decent amount... I just didn't expect to reach that number this year because I had told myself that I should register for a race if there is no medal... and of the races I'm registered for 3 of them offer medals or dog tags.  I guess I'm making my own medals for the others!  It may seem superficial or weird to some that I wanted to register only for bling races, but I like the sense of achievement when I look at the medals hanging together.

One of the great things about the Run for the cure and the Rattle me bones races is that we can dress up:  Vicky and I bought yards of tule to make tutus as well as tiaras to wear to the Run for the cure (gotta wear pink!)  I mean we couldn't resist the opportunity to get all decked out in pink flouffy stuff and run LOL  I totally vetoed the feather boa idea because sweat and feathers don't mix very well....  lot's of sticky pink feathers all over the place is just not the way to run a race!  And for the Rattle me Bones race I can wear my skeleton hoodie again, I <3 that hoodie so much and I can't wear it everyday yanno...

On the weigh-in side of things I hit a brick wall by gaining 2.5 pounds this past week, but man that was a good long run!  5 straight weeks of weight loss and then 3 weeks of hovering at 225.5, I mean for me that is totally awesome.  I'm used to loosing for 2 weeks and then going straight back up.  I view this as a temporary set back, a moment to catch my breath and then launch myself down the slope again :)  It's the first time in my life that I'm not phased by a weight gain at all, I think I've proven to myself that I know how to loose, I just need to refocus like a laser beam.  Weekends will probably always be my weakness and as they say in those after school specials "knowing is half the battle".