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!

3 weeks to go...

...And the countdown continues...I think I officially started counting down when I had 10 weeks to go haha. My god how time flies! I had a great weekend of running and after next weekend goes by I'll officially be settling into a nice taper!!! Lucky for me I had friday off so it kind of feels like i've been off forever even though it flew by so quickly!

Friday was a pretty easy day...my friend Chloe and I went climbing and did some pretty hard routes...it was not hard to tell I hadn't climbed in a month as I was quite sore on saturday! Friday afternoon it was so beautiful out that instead of taking my dog Logan on a walk I figured I'd take him on a nice easy run...I was impressed...he kept a good pace and we got in 6.5km. It was a fairly warm and sunny afternoon and those huskies get hot pretty quick so he was doing a ton of diving in the snow when we got home to cool off!

Saturday was a pretty great day despite the cool, drizzly type Newfoundland weather. My friend Jeff and I did a super slow and easy 18km. I haven't gone quite that slow in a long time so my body actually hated me after it...it's funny how I can feel worse after a really slow run than after my longer slow runs...makes total sense eh? I finished off a good saturday with a couple of hours of rockband at my friend's house later that evening...I can't get enough of that game...I love the drums and actually end up with blisters sometimes haha.

Sunday morning...whoa...i wake up and look out the window...wondering if it's somehow last sunday morning all over again...it was identical...a ton of snow had fallen over night once again...and I had to go run 32km in it...once again! I sucked it up and made my way down to the RR to join the group and get it overwith. It turned out to be a much harder run than I anticipated...the 3:30 group was crazy and our pace was a good 20-30 seconds faster than my normal slow runs...and towards the end...we were getting into race pace! I figured I'd just go with it...no way I was getting dropped! Some miracle happened and after about 15km I felt fantastic...i wonder if it was the coke flavored shot bloks I had? It was my first time trying that flavor and while I don't enjoy drinking coke...they totally rocked! Anyways, great great running this weekend and I'm finally starting to feel confident going into Boston.

It seems that pretty much everyone I talk to has this perception that oh you worked so hard to qualify for Boston...just go enjoy it and don't worry about the time etc. Sorry folks...but my intention is to enjoy it but freakin rock it...I've worked harder training for this race than any other marathon and I intend to do well! I can't wait!

Thanks for the comments and support everybody...it's totally motivating and i'm getting super pumped! :)

Here's to another great week of training!

Good-bye Debbie Downer! :)

Well the weekend has come and gone...it's almost the middle of the week and I haven't had much to say...so i've been just enjoying some good blog reading! Last week was a really downer for me and I wasn't enjoying running at all....a combination of lots of training and poor weather had brought me down! I did manage to get out of my funk on the weekend though...a really great 15km run in shorts on saturday in super beautiful weather....and a pretty great 32km run on sunday despite the 25cm of snow that fell overnight...ack!

I'm sorry but Calgary weather...not so different from Newfoundland...really! I thought I left that craziness behind me a long time ago :) Anyhow, I was extremely happy as I trudged my way through the snow from my house to the path along the Bow to discover that the pathway had already been cleared...it was shortly after 8am and they had already cleared the path!!! I can't express how much I love the guys that clear it for us...we're very lucky to have that. I lived in Ottawa for 2 years and they also have a fabulous trail system around the city...but it does not get cleared in winter!

Anyhow, I continue to feel the effects of tough training but I know it'll be over soon... 2 weeks to go till taper...thank goodness. My body is so darn tired the past couple of weeks that i've had to take 2 rest days off in a row after my weekends of running. I don't mind though as it usually helps me have a good hill workout on wednesdays and I always feel better as the weekend approaches and I look forward to some long running!

In non-running news...I got tickets to my most favorite band playing on April 4th...Hey Rosetta!!! (they just happen to be from Newfoundland too...how cool is that?!) Here is one of my favorite songs...