AROUND THE BAY 30K

Race Time: 4:16:23.9

Chip Time: 4:11:34.8

Pace Time: 8:33

MY GARMIN TIME : 4:08:33

Pace Time: 08:13/km

Finished Upright and Smiling!!!!

The Grim Reaper wanted US,

but

WE wouldn’t lay down and die!

More to follow later sports fans!!!

Lily

A racing I will go!

SUNDAY, MARCH 30TH!!

30K Around the Bay.....chat at you when I get back!

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

ahhhh, choooo!

Lily

I'm Sick!!

Cruisin and Stuff, I've Been Tagged!!!!

Okay, you've all seen this thing making its way around right?

Well, I've been tagged by Marcy, who was tagged by Mr. Marcus....Yikes, like I've got nothing else to do while getting ready for a 30K race on Sunday....but because Marcy is such a sweetheart, I'll play along....so here are the parameters.....

• Write your own six word memoir;

gah,

anyone who really knows me, my life has been a version of War and Peace, but here goes.....

*** professional equestrian, former flightattendant (okay, so I cheated on that word), love running! ***

Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want; you asked for it girlfriend! hahahaha,

• Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere, okay,
  
  
  
• Tag at least five more blogs with links; and
  
  
• Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play! Yup, I'll get to you shortly...

Okay, so I'm waiting for the comment that I've been tagged Marcy.....kidding.....

mmmm, who do I tag?

The Blonde loves this sort of thing, she is so fantastic.....A little photo exposure....Babooshka , please don't kill me Babooshka, but I love your creative photo's so much...xoxoxoxox, K.C. looking for Tri Info.....pure silliness but a great way to meet people....., Nat, another crazy Canuk.....what can I say...you ROCK! And Chad, just because you are getting the warmth and sunshine, I'm so jealous....you're being tagged......

Don't feel as though you need to stab me between the eyes, don't play if you don't want to, but really, what does it take??? A little HUMOUR!!!

Got to go and pack up my running gear, do laundry and make sure no one else tags me!!!

.....play along if you want, aren't you just dying to know what everyone else's blog looks like????

Got to *run*

Enjoy your journey, one step at a time...

Lily

Wordless Wednesday

Mouse in a Maze

Yesterday was our Five Hour Group 26K run. Most of the other Marathon runner’s took the 19K route. They had run the 26K last week. As previously mentioned we are one week behind in our training due to the weather.

So, the three marathon newbies started out with our route in hand, Garmin’s set and off we went.

Temperature and wind played a huge factor in our run route. Again it was really cold, when I left the house.

My thermometer was registering 11 degrees F with 30mph winds and a wind chill of FREEKING BLOODY COLD!!

Yes, the temperatures are in Fahrenheit just so our American friends can see how hardy or block headed we Canuks are.

We started off in one of the subdivision just so we would not have to spend so much time down the road with the open fields on either side of us. However, we had to end up on that road just to get us back into the main subdivision where we were going to do the majority of our distance.

I felt like a mouse in a maze after awhile. Up and down streets where the houses all look the same, passing the same stores and same recreation centres loop after loop....but it beats running out on the main streets where it is so icy and windy.

Have you ever had one of those runs where things happen in three’s? Well I did...early into the run I wasn’t concentrating and ended up tripping over a chunk of ice, what a klutz, I almost did a complete swan dive to the pavement but luckily I managed to right myself.

This seems to be a habit when I run in the winter. Maybe my legs are just too cold, or as admitted, I'm not concentrating.....then after a pit stop, I was having a sip of my sports drink when the container slipped from my mitts, hitting the pavement and shattering the top. Another sports moment as drivers are shaking theirs heads, probably thinking to themselves, what the heck are they doing out in this cold???

No biggy, I’ll just get another drink on my next loop back and chuck my broken container that I got when I was in Arizona. So I pick up a new sports drink after one of our many loops and proceed to drop the lid of the new drink onto the slush and crap that was accumulating on the street. Oh well you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die!

Small stuff, but when you are really cold and running in the wind for 26K, it can start to grind on you.

We got most of our run done and had to head back to the store where we had parked our cars.

Being Easter Sunday the store was kind enough to open up for the regular runners so we could have a warm place to congregate, stay warm and have a pit stop before we all headed off on our respective run. Thanks so much!!

By the time we returned they had closed early so they could enjoy a family day.

We in turn just headed for our car's, with a quick hug, a high five and a Happy Easter, we headed home to warm up with a hot Epsom salt bath, well that's at least what I did.

Now I have to fess up here a little, the photo's of the penguin's and the runner's at the turn around are not mine....I, in fact, stole them from K.C. Stine's blog Running on Empty. The photo's are from a friend of K.C.'s who ran the Antarctic Marathon...check it out on K.C.'s blog.

Can you believe that the temperatures were warmer there than what we've been running in all winter, granted, it was their summer!!! K. C. is relatively new to blogging and has expressed a keen interest in training for the Tinman Triathlon. I'm sure he'd appreciate any pearls of wisdom you could toss his way!

Anyway, when I got home and checked my Garmin, we were running for just over 3 hours and 38 minutes not including our pits stops and having to walk on sheer ice of quite a distance.

Next Sunday is our 30K Around the Bay . I'll let you know how all that goes down...but I'll be "talking" with you before we leave on Saturday!

Enjoy your journey one step at a time!

Lily

Some Easter Trivia.....

Easter this year falls on Sunday March 23, 2008.

As you may know, Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st Full Moon after the Spring Equinox (which was March 20).

This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

I found out a couple of things you might be interested in.

Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare.

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives!

Only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early, those being 95 years old or older! None of us have ever, nor will ever see it a day earlier!

Here are the facts;

The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228,(220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only living people that were around for that!).

The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now).

The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. No one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year 2008!!!

Bet you couldn't have made through your day if you didn't know that!

Enjoy your journey, one step at a time!

Lily

God's Friday (Good Friday)

Thirteen on Thursday

First Day of Spring!

How Much are You Worth?

Powered By Adult Shop

We opted for 23K

Our Sunday run was to have been 26K if we were sticking to the schedule. As in previous reports I’ve mentioned many, many times our inclement weather which by the way is no different than many of our friends south of the border are experiencing.

My heart goes out to all of you and yes Bill, spring is just around the corner!

And yes, I did the bounce test to make sure I was good to go...it works, try it!

So with all due respect for the weather, we (our 5 hour group) collectively decided not to jump ahead to the 26K, but run our missed 23K from last weekend. This would keep us all on track for either the 30K Around the Bay on March 30th , but most importantly the ING Ottawa Marathon at the end of May. The more seasoned long distance runners went on with the 26K, but for us veritable marathon newbie’s, the jump in distance may have been too much, who knows, but we all comfortably ran the 23K.

Our route was mostly through subdivisions in town, but with the accumulation of semi-frozen and frozen precipitation (see I told you wouldn’t mention the "S" word), we ended up running for the great part on the side of the streets. Not that bad but not that great either.

While we were on the hunt for the usual pit stop, two standard size black poodles were looking over their 8 foot fence and barking at us. Yes, that’s how much of the white stuff has piled up in their backyard. I’m sure it is the first time they have ever seen over to this side of their domain!

The weather forecast was to be sunny and not too cold, however, we only got a glimpse of the full sunshine and the wind really picked up with a very cold windchill. So much so, at one point of our run we totally changed our course. We were on a main road surrounded by open fields, the wind was straight head on, between the wind and the crap and salt being kicked up from the cars and trucks we headed back into a subdivision so we could just catch our breath and be more comfortable. YIKES, it just seemed to be really windy everywhere yesterday!

The Long Slow Distance runs on Sunday incorporate 10 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking, that way we can hydrate, take our gels or carb boom energy gels which I really like (Note to self, buy another detachable water bottle for belt to carry my PowerAde along with my water ), Sharkies (my usual) , but for this run I tried some new Power Bar Sport energiser bar, Cookies and Cream, along with Chocolate Cherry Carb Booms....Yum.......for someone who doesn’t eat "junk food" I love these treats!!!!

Thanks you guys for giving me all this wonderful information and tips....I’m listening and thanks to all of you I’m learning!!! Who said you can’t teach an Old Dog new tricks....

The run itself was fine, my major concern was my groin pull from the other night and my right knee, but all was just great....whatever that little tweak was it seems to be gone...

All in all, I believe we finished up at 3:08 for a 23K, LSD, not too bad. I don’t know all the split times, my new Garmin that I purchased last week ended up having to be replaced. It was faulty, but the nice part is I could return it for a nice shiny new model.

This week I have 58K of running to do, which 13K are hills, GAH, tell me, does it get easier as you get older or am I a little late getting started? . . . hahahahah!!! Whatever the case, I’m really enjoying the long runs and all the great people I am meeting along the way . . . thanks everyone!!!!

Life's fun if you don't weaken, enjoy your journey one step at a time!

Later!

Lily

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today's run is brought to you by the letter "I"

Today's 7K run was really very pretty, "inclement precipitation" was falling, it was soft and fluffy and the world was quiet.

Truthfully, I was a little nervous about how the tweak in my upper leg and right knee would be, but all is well!

Tomorrow, 26K!

Hope everyone is getting ready for St. Patrick's Day!! Whatever you are up to, be safe.....

Lily

Who Knew....

Only on this blog could you go from the Planet Uranus to the first annual Steak and Blow Job Day, but hey, that’s the way my crazy life works. According to my good friend Blondie, this is to make it up to the gents that go out of their way to make their very special ladies life lovely on February 14th, well now it’s payback time girls.....

If I haven’t lost you over to Blondie’s blog, I’ll just catch up with what I have and haven’t been doing.

As promised, I will not let that four letter word (starts with an S) cross my lips for the remainder of this winter. Luckily for me I only have one week of winter left so I’ll just reference it as “inclement weather”.

Due to the “inclement weather” our training has been pushed back by one week. Which maybe a blessing for me. Let me explain, while running the other night a inconsiderate driver forced me up a snowbank because he wouldn’t budge a gentlemanly inch from the side of the road.

While trying to maintain some semblance of gazelle like athleticism, I slipped on black ice and I felt a tweak in my right knee and upper leg, which wasn’t a bother to me until I woke up the next morning. There is no real pain, but definitely something is not right.

Our guest speaker on Tuesday night was Francine Eastwood, PT, whom I’ve heard discuss the topic of balance and running before. Her main indicator of a possible injury is, if you can’t bounce on one leg comfortably and then switch over to the other leg and bounce, you shouldn’t run. Try it...if you hurt somewhere, get it checked.

Before I decide to run my 26K this Sunday I will definitely be doing the bounce test.

My week to date has been nothing that I was anticipating, between working a ton of overtime and my little tweak in the groin...my running has been curtailed just a smidge.

However, being one to never stop learning, I have incorporated a lot more Yoga and stretching into my program this week...it may not look to pretty, but some of the stretches really help the back and provide strength to the upper body and core..but sure isn’t pretty, trust me!!!

Just wanted to wish Nat best wishes on her Marathon race this weekend, as well as David and his lovely bride Mendy going to Parris Island for the tri!! All you guys ROCK!!!

Life's fun if you don't weaken!!

Lily

(let me know who that new Holiday works for you)!!! bwawaahhhhaaaaa

Answers to "Uranus".....

March 13, 1781

William Hershel discovers Uranus !!!

The German-born English astronomer William Hershel discovers Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun. Herschel's discovery of a new planet was the first to be made in modern times, and also the first to be made by use of a telescope, which allowed Herschel to distinguish Uranus as a planet, not a star, as previous astronomers believed.

Herschel, who was later knighted for his historic discovery, named the planet Georgium Sidus, or the "Georgian Planet," in honor of King George III of England. However, German astronomer Johann Bode proposed the name "Uranus" for the celestial body in order to conform to the classical mythology-derived names of other known planets. Uranus, the ancient Greek deity of the heavens, was a predecessor of the Olympian gods. By the mid-19th century, it was also the generally accepted name of the seventh planet from the sun.

The planet Uranus is a gas giant like Jupiter and Saturn and is made up of hydrogen, helium, and methane. The third largest planet, Uranus orbits the sun once every 84 earth years and is the only planet to spin perpendicular to its solar orbital plane. In January 1986, the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 visited the planet, discovering 10 additional moons to the five already known, and a system of faint rings around the gas giant.

So there you go! And you thought I only knew how to run!!!!

Enjoy your solar journey one giant leap for mankind at a time....

Lily

True or False....

The planet Uranus was discovered by:

1. Ken Kesey while on an acid trip?


2. Edmund Halley while looking for a comet?


3. John Flamsteed while training for a marathon?


4. William Herschel while playing with his telescope?

Planet Uranus was discovered on:

1. March 13, 1962


2. March 13, 1850


3. March 13, 1900


4. March 13, 1781

Planet Uranus was named after:

1. Georgium Sidus


2. A Roman mythical God


3. Hunter S. Thompson


4. Homer Simpson

Planet Uranus has:

1. 10 moons


2. 3 moons


3. blue moons


4. zero moons

Answers tomorrow......

Wordless Wednesday

Finished digging for today....

March Winter Storm

23K Today ~ I think NOT!

Well, I know I've done nothing but bitch about winter so far and I'm sure you "southerner's"are not quite "feeling the love" that I have for it.

For the people who know me, in all honesty, my SAD hasn't been too bad so far. Right?

Geez, after looking up the link, (trust the Canadian explanation to be super depressing, hahahha).

Truly, this winter hasn't been bad, I've had the marathon training to focus on, going to the gym has helped and we've been really busy at work.

Going to Phoenix for the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in January was like a tonic for me....while my fellow travellers were in quest for outlet malls, I basked in the sunshine, swam in the pool and burbled in the hot tub. Look out Arizona, you may eventually have a new snowbird in your midst.

Yesterday, Saturday, I managed to get my 6K run in before the storm hit. The sky was grey-blue-black with heavy clouds and the wind was strong. There was not too much activity going on other than people out snow blowing their lane ways. The run it self was more along the lines of skate skiing. The roads had not been properly cleared from the storm on Friday and the footing was treacherous. Every run is so different as I've discovered. Tuesday night I ripped off a 6K in under 42 minutes. Yesterday, well let's say it was a lot longer, almost an hour....Simon and Garfunkle's Slip-Sliding Away came to mind as I was trying to maintain some sense of footing. I could see it on the motorist's faces as they passed me "what is that crazy old broad up to now? She must be out of her mind". Maybe, but it's a fun place to be!


Today on my Marathon Calendar is 23K LSD, knowing that the weather was suppose to be a little stormy I had decided not to travel into town to run, crap good call on that one.....I can hardly get out my doors!!!!

I'm now going to call GeeZen, cancel our running plans until later today, if at all, have a big breakfast then get out a shovel (some more).


I need a man servant!

My Kind of Man!

One of the fellows in my office yells out to me on Thursday, "hey, there's hope for you yet!"

Not really paying attention I answer back, gee, thanks, thinking it was because I found a million dollar error in one of the construction reports that I was working on. He continues by saying, "he's your kind of man!". Okay, now I'm interested, having been single for awhile now, so I saunter into his office and he's reading a british newspaper. The title of the article is He Sings, He Runs and He's Only 101!

Buster Martin is 101 and just completed a half marathon in the wicked time of just over 5 hours! He said his time would have been faster but he stopped for a smoke break!

Running with the mandatory smoke and beer break! I LIKE this guy. He already holds records for being the oldest person to run a 5K, 10K and half marathon.

Buster is now training, for the London Marathon on April 13, 2008. GOOD LUCK BUSTER!

We will be watching for you !

"You are never too old to do what you enjoy."

On the thirteenth week of winter, ole man winter gave to me...

One wicked drive to work

Two frozen wiper blades

Three cars stuck........

Four red stop lights

Five snow ploughs in a row

Six school bus’s stopping

Seven missed calls

Eight minutes wasted

Nine meetings cancelled

Ten extra curses

Eleven snow blowers blowing

Twelve shovels shovelling

and

• my 78 year old neighbour helping with her John Deere....

oh, my aching back!!!

Lily!

Hill Training ~ Snow Delay!

Wordless Wednesday

Spring Forward

This coming weekend heralds Spring...or at least we change our clocks ahead "Spring Forward"...this is also a good time to change the batteries in your smoke detector’s....just a public service announcement.

March is here and we are fast approaching the true running season, enough of the training in sleet, snow, wind and cold, (oh, I promised I wouldn’t mention snow again didn’t I?), well, I lied...we have yet another Winter Storm Watch on in Ottawa, and yes Marcy, more snow pictures to come.

Just to let you know David and Mendy, my brick training this winter has been shovelling snow and running!

This week I have 50K to run, with hill training starting on Wednesday. I don’t mind hills, for some reason they have never seemed to bother me, mind you, once training is over I might have a different opinion. I can see my Wooo Hooo running friends rolling their eyes.

Believe it or not, I am still recovering from my 19K run on Sunday, I'm just a little tired, but today's run is a nice gentle 6K, that'll clean out the cobwebs and get me ready for the rest of the week.

With the winter storm warning still in effect I just hope I won't be running in this kind of weather tomorrow. That is to say if I get out of my driveway!

Have a great day, spring will soon be here!!!

Enjoy your journey one step at a time.

Lily

Catching Up

Not too much going on this weekend. Yesterday they had the motorcycle races on the frozen Ottawa River, but by the time I dug myself out of the driveway, most of the racers and onlookers were already in the local watering hole having BEvERages and exchanging lies. I carried on with my 6K run and quite enjoyed myself. It was quiet and snowy and just the perfect temperature.

Today was my run in town, 19K LSD. The day was bright and sunny but a wind was starting to pick up. I'm not even going to comment, what can I say that hasn't been said before about this winter. We have another Winter Storm Watch for later today or even this evening.

So, back to running, as always the faster groups started out and then we were off. It was a beautiful day, even after yesterday's dump of snow. Again we were on the roadside as the sidewalks had not been cleared.

No pictures from today's run, nothing earth shattering to report. Our group leader is leaving to go and live out in British Columbia, so it was a little sad to say goodbye. But as you know, runners' always stay in touch and we will be sending out all of our running updates out to her.

Just a quiet weekend all round, which is fine with me, although I have to admit I am a little tired (but a good tired) after today's run.

Oh, okay one more picutre of snow....but that's it I promise.....

Enjoy your day!

Life's fun if you don't weaken.

Lily