NYC?

So...somebody pointed out to me yesterday that my Boston marathon time automatically qualifies me for the NYC marathon in November. It was funny because I always thought it would be my half marathon time that would qualify me (i'm a couple of seconds off), not my marathon time! A while back I entered the lottery for this race but soon regretted it once I realized it cost $250 US...plus the whole flight down and all that. I think I have a friend of a friend I could stay with but it's still a little pricey for me...especially after I think of the money I still managed to spend in Boston even though I had a cheap flight and a free place to stay!

I have been very lucky as I just finished doing my taxes this week and discovered I actually get a good return this year...big enough to cover my race fees for Transrockies...that race is just insanely expensive and I believe the fees are due in June. Fewf, I'm lucky my new job took out too much income tax this year! I have 2 days to make the decision on NYC as apparently if you want to apply using your qualification time you have until May 1st to do so.

Anyhow, while i'd love love love to do it...I think it's probably best I hold off on that one this year...however I suppose if they pick my name out of the lottery I'll have to do it. You can defer to next year but you still have to pay your race fee for this year as well as next year! $500 US for a marathon is not worth it! Anyhow, my friend and I have big plans to run the Okanagan marathon over Thanksgiving weekend and I do think a road trip to Kelowna would be pretty fun...plus it's a fast and super flat course!

Running has been ok since the marathon...well i've only gotten out on 2 runs so far to be honest but they were ok. I decided to meet up with the RR gang and the other guys that ran Boston on sunday morning...we ended up doing 25 km...sigh. Probably not the best thing to be doing on shredded quads! They were surprisingly good for most of the run but hurting towards the end! Yesterday I got out for a light and easy 8km along the Bow and got caught in a mini snowstorm...lovely! Luckily it didn't accumulate and today is the beginning of a sunny and warming trend coming to Calgary. I'm excited for the 14 degree highs we're getting this weekend...running in shorts again for sure!

I feel like i've been super busy lately and obviously haven't posted a race report for Boston...I'm sure i'll get around to it eventually. Sunday night I rocked out to The Killers at the Saddledome and i've been exhausted ever since! But what a great concert!!

Hope everyone is having some good training and managing to avoid the Swine Flu! This dude at work just informed us today that his roommate went to Mexico and isn't back yet or something. Awesome, please catch the Swine from your stupid ass roommate and bring it to work...can't wait.

Till next time...
deb

Opinions wanted...

So as most of you know I'm running the 6 day Transrockies Trail race at the end of August with my brother as my partner. On June 6th there is the Scorched Sole Ultra taking place in Kelowna. My brother lives in Vernon which is only about a half hour from Kelowna so it's kind of perfect for us to help us with our training! There is a 25km, a 50km, and a 50mi and while I had originally planned on doing the 25km, my brother informs me this week that he's doing the 50km!

That got me thinking that I want to do the 50km too! I've never done a 50km and I think it would be fun. I'm just wondering if that distance is maybe a bit much for me after just finishing a marathon and feeling how I do right now? I don't really know how much recovery time you're supposed to have after running a marathon. I do know that this wouldn't exactly be a race for me as i'm just new to the trailrunning thing so I'd just be taking it pretty easy and using it as a training run.

Hmm....just not sure what to do. What do you guys think? It would be my first 50km which makes me pretty excited! Anyhow, i'm not going to do anything rash and sign up for it just yet but i've definitely got some thinking to do!

Tonight i'm having a party which I'm pretty excited about. I haven't drank in a very long time so it's going to be good but it'll possibly be a rough day tomorrow depending on what i drink and how much! I just can't decide what i'm in the mood for...i'm loving the idea of some good beer right now but i'm still unsure! It's also going to be a nice payback to my crappy neighbors for their brutal party last friday night before I left town. Yeah!

And yes I know, i'm slack with my Boston race report, trust me it's coming soon!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Boston - PB & BQ!

Well it's my first day back to work after Boston...ugh, my legs hurt so bad! The second day after a race is always the most painful. I did have a 45 min leg massage this morning which was sweet but I hurt huge! I don't have time to write a good race report at the moment but it'll be coming soon I promise...along with a few pics I took.

In short I PB'd my best marathon time by 15 mins...totally unreal and unexpected for me...I don't even think it's sunk in yet really. I ran a 3:19:37...and moved up in the ranks from starting at 13833 overall to finishing in 4567th place overall out of almost 23,000 people.

It's kind of crazy to even see that final time next to my name. I looked at all the 5km splits online and I thought...how could I have continued to get faster throughout the entire race?! I believe I actually PB'd my best half marathon time in the second half of this marathon...guess all of that hill training really helped me as I didn't really find the Newton hills or Heartbreak hill to be a huge problem. Damn, all that worrying for nothing haha. I almost psyched myself out by worrying so much about the hills in this race.

My god Boston is the most rolling course i've ever done, it was crazy but it was awesome! I had a freakin fabulous experience and can't wait to go back next year!!!

Full race report soon!! Thanks for everyone's advice and support along the way, it's been a stressful past couple of months for sure :)

If I wasn't Boston bound this morning....

....i'd be sooooo angy right now. I hate my pot smoking partying neighbors...so so much. I've been awake since 5am with the sound of techno rave garbage music pumping through the walls...that's not cool man. It's now 6:15...go to bed already, the sun is coming up! How long can you listen to that shit ass music before you go insane? Anyway, I guess I was lucky and they didn't stay home all night because as of 8pm I was in the same situation I am now. They did go out pretty early

I live in a duplex and while there is a nice thick concrete wall between our places, I can still hear everything and smell nasty skunk pot through the walls. It sucks! The ironic thing is, i've lived here for over 3 months now and they've never had a party before! Of course the night before I leave before Boston would be the time they have one! Anyhow, at least it's not the night before a race or anything. And I do know that i'll be sleeping most of my day away on the plane...that's what happens when you get some serious motion sickness and you have to live off gravol while travelling! That stuff knocks you out! I'm usually out before the plane takes off to be honest haha.

I just lit some incense to cover the pot smell....I can't take it anymore. I can't wait to get out in the fresh air! Only 1 hour and 25 mins left in this stinky house until my friend James gets here to drive me to the airport! Woot! Like I said, luckily i'm still managing to be in a pretty great mood! I think also my chai latte from starbucks is going keep me pretty happy as well...i've been cutting back on sugar and haven't had one of those in a month! I'm pretty excited :) Doesn't take much does it!!

Ok, well adios my friends...full Boston report next week!
deb xo

Question for you runners...

Do you think it's bad to not run for 4 whole days before a marathon? I ran last night and it wasn't good and then woke up this morning with lots of old pains i was having, plus some new knee pain....all in the same leg. Anyhow, I just finished my massage and I feel like a new person. I have some ridiculously huge knot in my quad that Mike has never really felt anything like it. I'm like wtf really? And I just saw him last monday and it wasn't there then! I haven't been doing anything crazy during this "taper" so where did it come from?

Anyways, I feel so much better and literally pain free after the massage...but he did say he wouldn't run anymore before the race....I just feel so strange not running at all for 4 whole days before... :( What do you guys think? Any of you had to do anything like that and still managed to have a great race? Looks like maybe i'll go for some easy swimming tonight and tomorrow night and that'll be it till race day.

How can I work when i'm so excited?!

My mom is the best!! I was finally able to pick up my Easter package from her yesterday that was waiting for me at the post office after they were finally back to regular hours again...seriously, I don't understand "Easter Monday"...it's not a holiday in my mind but whatever. Anyhow, my package was filled with some of my favorite easter goodies as well as an Easter card with American money in it for my trip...mom's really do think of everything :) The money went in my wallet...and the chocolate got hidden away so I don't have it staring me in the face everytime I open a kitchen cupboard! (of course I did indulge a bit before hiding it away!)

I've been running around town doing errands and such each night but still have failed to start any form of packing...and i leave in 3 days...sigh. Tonight will be the night...i've made a sweet list of everything and anything I might need and i'm gonna gather it all in a pile on the floor in my spare bedroom. If you guys have any ideas on things you think i should definitely bring let me know! Now i'm starting to get excited! :)

This week has been strange in the way of workouts because of my weird random leg pain while running...monday was a rest day, yesterday I decided to do an hour of crosstraining on the machine to see how my leg would go with tons of stretching and rolling after, and today i'm going to attempt a very easy and slow 6km run after work. I really hope the pain stays away...please oh please. Tomorrow I'll have a massage and likely another rest day and hopefully friday i'll get another very easy run in...if not i was thinking saturday morning before a long flight to loosen up my legs. Then i'm gonna rock the compression socks all day which i think is going to help huge while flying!!

I just watched an inspiring video that Simon Whitfield posted on his blog of Ryan Hall doing one of his training runs for Boston...my god that guy is incredible. I'd love to get a glimpse of him while i'm down there....

Till next time...happy training :)

T-minus 1 Week.....

Well it's Monday...i'm officially 1 week away from race day. That's nuts...how quickly did that come?! I remember counting down to Boston from 10 weeks out...now it's 1?!? I'm so freakin excited!!! I guess by now though I'd actually be finished the race and hopefully chillin out somewhere and basking in the afterglow :)

I had a pretty good weekend of running...an easy 8km on saturday and a 16km race pace on sunday with my friend Jeff. I'm aiming for a pace of 5:00 min/km on race day and it felt really good yesterday to run at that pace. I'm still struggling with issues in my left quad but i've been taking care of it....heating, rolling, stretching and taking epsom salt baths. I plan on running very little this week just to make sure it's good to go on monday. Likely i'll have a couple of very short runs and a couple of swims. I think i'll be good to go.

My only problem now is to figure out what the heck to wear on race day...temps this week look to be in the mid 50s F...which is around 12 degrees Celcius. Guess i'll have to bring a couple of different things and see what race day brings. Shorts are a must but not quite sure for up top. I've never run a marathon this early in the year before.

5 more sleeps till i'm outta here!

More Boston babble...and tunage requests....

After reading other blogs and forums etc about all the people that started receiving their Boston info race packet back in Late March, I was starting to get worried where mine was! Finally on tuesday, it arrived!! It almost seems even more official that i'm doing it now...if that makes sense. It comes with this 30ish page booklet with all the info you would possibly need to know about the fitness expo (which i'm freakin psyched about), getting to the race, and the race itself. I also received this fancy card with all of my info on it to bring with me to the expo in order to pick up my number and goody bag. I have to make sure I put that in a good spot so I don't forget it...I can totally see myself sitting on the plane, going over and over in my head if i've remembered everything and then the slow realization that little card is the one thing i've forgotten. I'm really bad with packing...i tend to leave everything till the very last minute the night before any and every trip...i've spent many late late evenings packing the night before my flight. This time i'm going to try and not do that and actually have things organized for a change!! Hopefully that means I won't forget anything!

This has been a weird week of running...I had some great runs on the weekend, took monday off and had a leg massage, ran with my good friend Leanne on tuesday night...a nice easy 8km...and my legs hated me and my knee hurt a lot...i was so mad after that run...especially after feeling so good and loose after my massage on monday. The weather has been fantastic in Calgary this week and I was bummed yesterday that I would have to go swimming the rest of the week and not run because of my leg. On the bus ride home from work yesterday I thought...it's so beautiful out, I can not go swimming on a day like this. I decided to try and just stretch and loosen up on my walk with Logan and then go out for a light 10km instead. Well after a slow warm up things felt pretty good...then I ran into my group and they were just starting on speedwork and i thought what the hell, i might as well join them...5x800m repeats...fast. I felt pretty great actually which was a relief. Unfortunately then I had to run all the way home so what went from an easy 10km turned out to be a 15km run with speedwork in the middle. I felt good after the run, stretched tons and rolled out my legs. So i'm pretty much done with running till sunday. I'm going to go for a couple of swims tonight and saturday...and a very light 6km run tmw to loosen up. I think things are going well as I slowly prepare myself for race day.

Oh I've been meaning to ask you guys...I've been listening to the same music on my ipod when I run forever...I need some new running songs that will keep me motivated! What do you guys listen to? Apparently this is the first year they're allowing you to wear music during Boston which is great for me as i've never run a marathon without music. However, those that are competing for prize money don't get to wear music...obviously that doesn't affect me haha. I do think it's ironic that the one year they allow runners to wear music in the Boston marathon of all races...is the first year that they've decided to ban it from the Calgary marathon...thank god I ran that one last year!! Anyhow, i'm looking for some great tunes and if you have any good ideas, please let me know!

Have a great Easter weekend you guys!

Well I guess that's it for now! I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend, it's going to be a pretty nice one!!

Massage heaven...

I'm just getting back from a lunch time massage...what a great idea that was today! I've been having issues with my left leg and I was afraid that it felt like an oncoming injury with the amount of limping i had been doing last week...but after some extra days off from running I was good to go this weekend! My friend Jeff and I had two great days of running...16km on saturday and 22km on sunday. Now i'm ready for my taper baby! I figured I would start off my taper with a 45 min leg massage today...it was so great and my legs haven't felt this loose in a long long time...i definitely had a spring in my step when i left...I love my massage therapist Mike, he's the best! Today is my day off from everything...the most activity i'll do is take Logan out for some walks...spring has FINALLY arrived in Calgary...wahoo!!

Surprisingly enough as race day approaches...exactly 2 weeks out from today...i'm feeling pretty calm about the whole thing...not anxious, nervous, freaked out like I have been...not sad that i won't have anyone there with me...i'm done with those emotions...i'm super pumped and i'm going to enjoy every moment of this experience...i'm super excited and can't wait.

I've always found tapering hard as for some reason it feels like you should be out running running running...it's hard for me to cut back the mileage, just chill and give my legs the rest and recovery they deserve...but I always manage somehow :) I'm going to do some light swimming as well this week and next to loosen up and my legs are going to be very happy come race day...well maybe not after the race! haha :)

Happy training everybody!

Injured?

So...I don't know if I can call myself officially "injured" but i've got some issues with my left leg that needs addressing. I thought it was feeling ok since Sunday's long hard run...especially after taking monday and tuesday off...but wednesday's run was kind of brutal and I had to drop back and run with a slower group because I was hobbling/limping and my leg did not feel good at all! I can't even describe the pain or pinpoint what it is...my shin hurts but not the classic shin splint pain...my knee feels strange, as well as my quad...i'm sure it's all linked together somehow. I don't know, I wish I could describe it to you guys.

So anyways, I was pretty bummed after wednesday's run so decided to not run anymore until saturday. Last night I went swimming instead to loosen up...my legs have been feeling tight as well lately so I figured that would help. I got 2500m in which was nice but my arms were pretty tired after. That's what happens when you haven't swum in 2 weeks I guess! In the beginning though my shin was hurting just from pushing off the wall but it did go away for the rest of the swim and felt good after. I'm also hoping the great hot tub session I had after helped as well. 2 weeks out from Boston...give me a frickin break here people. I'm bummed......

Anyhow, I'm off to the doctor in an hour to get a new inhaler...I take a daily one called Flovent which helps control my asthma and means I very rarely have to take Ventalin. I ran out of Flovent a long time ago unfortunately and have been really feeling the affects of that when I run. I have a super tightness in my chest and have struggled to breath on some hard runs...something I haven't experienced in a long time. It's my own fault for not going to get a new one...but I figure with a marathon to do in 2 weeks i'd best get on top of that! I also have a massage booked for monday so hopefully if I'm still having pain in my leg after running this weekend then he can sort me all out!

Well at least it's friday and i'm super pumped about that! Have a great weekend everybody!