excited for the weekend.

I cannot sleep... I am overly excited for this weekend. This weekend will be the longest run that I have ever gone on. Not only that, but as soon as I cross the finish line, some nice volunteer will hand me a medal! It has only been a few weeks since Megan and I signed up, and it is all that I think about now. I guess you could say that I am obsessed with running this half marathon, and even more crazy about going to Paris with Team in Training.
On the whole Team in Training note.. I have having my very first fundraiser at the end of this month. This is a great thing, as I am currently sitting at a big ol' "O" in terms of donations. I am hosting a pub night... Standard fare with a nice 50/50 draw and a toonie toss. I am hoping that I will be able to raise at least 1000.00 towards my fundraising goal of 6500.00 . When I first signed up I said that I was not afraid of the fundraising goal.. Turns out that now I am terrified of it... Wish me luck!

15k!

Today I ran 15km with Megan. Wow, so proud of both of us. It started out as a group run, and ended with Megan and myself. Four girls left downtown as a group, we all agreed upon a slow, long run, clearly that did not work out. The two other girls that came with us decided to take off like they were being chased by the police. They ran, and sadly did not look back. Clearly they did not understand the concept of a group run. I felt horrible about the run. Megan was concered that she was holding me back, she was feeling ill and not thrilled to be running. It made me furious that the two girls took off! Enough of them though.
What happened once Megan and I were on our own was amazing. Megan was a trooper, despite the fact that she was feeling ill. It was an awesome run, slightly raining the entire time. This slight mist was good for keeping us cool, and gave us a beautiful rainbow at km 12. Just the push that we needed to make it to 15.
I now know what it feels like to go on a ' long ' run. The mind gives up before the body. It is all mental. If you can run 5km, you can run 15. It turns out that it is all in your mind. When Megan said that she was done. I told her she could do it, and of course she could. I have no doubt that we can do a half marathon next weekend. After 15km in 1.5 hours, I think we are prepped for this:)
Happy Running!

Dripping sweat.

I thought that I might get a second job to save money for the big Europe trip....That all went out the window about an hour ago . I went to a class with Fawn..BodySmart..or Smart Body or something about our bodies..and something about being smart...anyway ..It was great! I am not really an overly sweaty person. Well that all changed tonight. The class was one hour long, one short hour, but it was more than enough. I was so sweaty when we were done the class that my hair felt like I had just jumped out of the Ocean. That is enough for me to want come back every single week.

Something as little as a great sweat makes me really appreciate my life. At the moment that the very first bead of sweat fell down my face I realized that I would be changing my quality of life by taking on a second job. I love having the ability to get off of work and hang out with some great friend, head to the gym, or do whatever I want to. Working a second job would take that away from me. Sure, it would put extra money in my pocket, but money means nothing when you have no time, or friends to enjoy it with.

I will be going to a class every Thursday, it will not put an extra fifty dollars in my pocket, but it will be worth every second.

Cheers!

Let the countdown begin!

Well all of the ladies went to our little meeting about the Paris Marathon! We are all signed up. I am now officially going to Paris in April. We will be fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society, and training our little butts off.
After our meeting we went for our weekly Sunday run in the forest. It was wonderful. There has been an amazing amount of sunshine this fall, making for some good long weekend runs. The group of girls heading out every week seems to be growing. Liana called yesterday and said that if we were going out on the weekend, that she would for sure be there with us! Nice to know that everybody is out there having fun.
As of right now I have 6500.00 left of fundraising and more than just a few tough runs ahead of me. Wish me good luck!

Rain, Rain go away

Alright, I know that a couple of posts ago I said that I liked running in the rain... I am officially going to take that back. I just went for a horrible run in the rain. I am not very pleased right now, and am wishing that Summer would just come back. I know that it is going to be a very tough Winter training for this marathon...but come on REALLY?!?
I am sitting writing this blog trying to warm up.. After a twenty minute shower I still have goose bumps! My shoes will be wet until at least my next run...when, go figure, I will jump in another huge puddle. OK So I might be a little over dramatic here, but the run was not amazing. I think I just had a rough day, and instead of letting everything go on the run...I held onto all my thoughts and stewed in them.. Not a good idea on a run. Finally I just went into my little running 'zone' and finished the run in peace.
One amazing thing that did happen was a conversation with Fawn. We were talking about our run in Paris, and I made a joke about quitting my job and going to work for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for Team in Training. Fawn basically told me that I should leave my job and go and do something more in fitness. Fawn said some really nice things about running with me, and has made me think a great deal more about what I am doing with my current job, and what my quality of life might be if I took the plunge and did something that really made me feel good. I clearly am going to have to look into that one a little bit more.
Things that really sucked about the run:
1. it was raining.
2. I ate pizza shortly before the run...no explanation needed.
3. I wore cute boots three days in a row and my body hurt.
4. I was an emotinal wreck.

Things that were awesome about the run.
1. I still got out there and did it
2. I feel bad ass when I finish a run and I know how badly I had to work for it.
3. I got to run with Fawn.
4. it was raining... Ok so that was on the suck list, but deep down I really do love running in the rain.

All signed up!

I signed up for my first Half Marathon. I will run it in 19 days. I am going to hurt.

Five girls, ten feet, 6km

Yesterday I was celebrating part one of my birthday. I went out into the forest with four other girls and went for a run. We will be having a running club. Not a crazy pretentious running club, like I so often see, but real people, that just happen to run. There is not a flash of high end technical gear as we run past, but sweaty women, wearing what happens to feel right. And it did. I really enjoyed the company of running with my ladies, but found no real challenge. I would say that it was a fun run out in the forest, but will not be called a training run. After our run in the forest Megan went out and bought $300.00 worth of new stuff. New runners, that actually feel nice, new pants, that dont ride, and a shirt. I guess this means she is committed! This makes me very excited.