NIAGARA FALLS WOMEN’S HALF MARATHON

What started out as a simple idea of running a spring marathon, quickly grew into an amazing girls weekend away.  4 friends, 48 hours, and a little race in between.  We got up very early on a Saturday morning, flew into Toronto, picked up my Mom and drove to Niagara Falls.

We started out with kit pick up.  This race had one of the best race kits I've ever seen.  Not only did it have a full bottle of wine, but it also had Epson salts, hair spray, mascara, lip balm and nail polish.  Everything you could need to freshen up after running a half marathon.

We also got to meet Kathrine Switzer of Boston Marathon running fame.  We bought her book and got her autograph.

We spent Saturday taking pictures and relaxing, getting ready for the Sunday morning run. Sunday morning as we got ready we added in some motivation in the form of temporary tattoos. Looking down at "Actually, I Can" got us through a few rough patches.

We also had our team t-shirts, with our regular running motto: 1) Have Fun, 2) Don't Die, 3) Finish.  They were a hit with the crowds.

I also dyed my hair just for the occasion.  I got a lot of comments on my hair, and even had someone stop running to take a selfie with me.

The route was flat and we went through the mist of the Falls twice.  Those were glorious moments of being cooled off while listening to the roar of the Falls. Otherwise it was fairly warm out, with a lot of humidity. The entire route followed the Niagara Parkway, winding with the river the whole way.  Jeannette and I had planned to stick together no matter what, something I will be eternally grateful for.  Our first 5k was great, clocking in at 49:41, one of our best times.  It's no surprise that both trips through the mist happened in the first 5k.  There was also an amazing water station full of energetic people cheering us on.

Things started to go south for me around the 7k mark.  My knee, which has not bothered me in months, started to hurt.  I tried to keep going with my run/walk plan, but it wasn't meant to be.  The pain got to the point that all I could do was walk.  So we walked.  Jeanette was my rock, sticking with me, encouraging me and just being amazing.  By the time we reached the 16k mark I was done.  Mentally and physically, I did not think I could go on.  Everything hurt and I broke down in tears. Jeanette and I hugged it out and she talked me into walking to the next km and then the next and got me to the finish line. 

We crossed the finish line in 04:12:28.  My slowest half to date, but I'm still proud of it.  I had fun.  I didn't die (even if that seemed iffy at times).  And I finished.

The next steps

It's been well over six weeks since I've been able to run due to a stress fracture in my right foot.  I'm happy to say that the rest time was worth it, and I am now pain free and back to running.  And it's a good thing to, because in less than 5 weeks I will officially start training for my next half-marathon.  That's right, I'm diving right into my 4th half.  

This one is going to be extra special and extra fun!  I was struggling to find a local 1/2 in and around the June time frame that I could do.  Johnny Miles seemed like a good choice, but the date coincided with a family event, so that was out.  While talking it over with Hilary, she suggested I expand my hunt beyond the Maritimes.  A quick search found the Niagara Falls Women's Half Marathon in June.

Running in Niagara Falls has been on my bucket list for a while now.  My Grandparents lived in Niagara Falls and I spent a lot of time there growing up. The idea of running through the mist of the Falls and along the river sounded perfect. A plan started to form.

Of course the first thing that I thought was that I didn't want to go to this race alone.  My mom would be there to cheer me on, since she lives less than an hour away, but having someone to run it with me would be even better.  So I reached out to running friends and we all checked our calendars, plane ticket prices and the plan came together.  There are 4 of us going to Niagara Falls!

We had our kick off run this weekend followed by a planning brunch.  We are all at different levels of running - between us we have someone who has never run a half, someone who has run 1, one who has run 2 and myself who has done 3.  And we all run at different paces. We joked that between all of our various injuries we could make one fully working body. We also all have different work/family schedules, so our training plan is being hashed out one week at a time.  Our main goal is to all run together at least once a week, preferably for our long runs, and that other shorter runs will either be done on our own, or in various combinations within the group.

I am so happy to have a great group of friends to join me on this journey.  As a thank you to all of them, and to help us get through some of the tougher runs, I ordered custom made shoe charms with our mantra: 1) Have Fun 2) Don't Die 3) Finish.  

It is definitely a unique mantra, but one we have used for a while now at many races.  Reminding us that having fun is the reason we are there in the first place; knowing that even though we are pushing ourselves hard, we aren't going to actually die; and finishing are the motivation that we sometimes need.

So let the running begin!  Niagara Falls, here we come.

Valley Harvest Half Marathon

This was my first year running at the Valley Harvest Marathon event, and I ran the half-marathon on the Sunday of the Thanksgiving weekend. It is held in the beautiful town of Wolfville, which is just over an hour away from Halifax.  Since my Mom was going to be here for her annual visit, I decided that we would travel up on Saturday and stay over night.  It was worth it to not have to drive so far the morning before the race.  Though I did have to pack our toaster so that I could have my regular pre-run breakfast of toast and peanut butter.

It was great to have Mom there with me; to see me off at the start line and to be the first one to hug me after I finished the line.

The course was beautiful, winding through the country side.  The weather was warmer than I would have liked, and the hills longer and steeper than I was ready for.  I also felt less trained than I had wanted to be.  I did well and was going strong for the first 11 km.  Around km 12 I hit one of the bigger hills and a head wind that started to take it's toll.  I kept going with my planned intervals until around km 17.  I was slower than my planned pace, but I tried to stick with my regular running plan: 1) don't die, 2) finish, 3) have fun.

Runners are some of the most supportive people I have ever met.  As I struggled with a hill towards the end of the race, walking slower and slower as I trudged along, a runner doing the full marathon came up behind me.  He slowed down, put a hand on my shoulder and started talking to me.  He told me what to expect from the rest of the route, gave me some strategies to help me finish and stayed with me till we crested the hill. Without him (I learned later that his name was Sean) I would have probably just given up on that hill; sat down and cried till a sweeper car came to pick me up.  Instead I finished the race.

Weeks 8-13 Training

Well, these updates fell off the radar pretty quickly!  Luckily it doesn't mean that my training did too, though I really haven't followed my training plan as well as I had hoped!  Life really does get in the way.

Week 8 started out well.  I ran the MacPass miles for the first time and pushed my 12k long run out to the Monday. I didn't miss any other training that week till Saturday when we were in a mostly minor car accident.  The car ended up being a write off, but nobody was seriously hurt and I was only stiff and sore for a few days.

Week 9 was car accident recovery and vacation. I did run 3.5 kms on my birthday, but that was it.

Week 10 was the rest of vacation, but I managed to get in 2 runs (6k and 8k) after I got home.

Week 11 only had 2 runs - a 16k long run and a 6k run mid week.  No really good reason for skipping the rest.

Week 12 started to look better with a 17k long run, a 5k run and a night of hill repeats.

Week 13 fell of the rails again.  I skipped my 18km long run and only made it out for one clinic night with a 6k run. Then we travelled to BC for the weekend.  With 20+ hours of travel over 4 days and a 4 hour time zone difference, I didn't even bother packing running gear.

You'll notice during all of these updates that there is no mention of going to the gym. I haven't been to boot camp since August 10th, but fully intend to get back at it this week.

I only have 3 weeks left until the Valley Harvest Half Marathon.  That gives me a total of 13 training runs, so I really can't skip/miss any of them!

MacPass Mile recap & Week 7 training

Running the MacPass Mile has been on my bucket for a few years now.  Unfortunately due to construction on the McDonald bridge, they haven't held the race for the past 2 years.  It's a free race that fills up quickly - it's capped to 200 participants per run -Women's, Men's, Boys and Girls, so I signed up as soon as I heard that it was opening up again.

The race starts on the Halifax side and cross the 1 mile bridge and finishes on the Dartmouth side.

We had a great time even thought it was pouring rain.

The incline of the bridge wasn't nearly as bad to run up as I had thought it would be.  Maybe my hill training really is paying off!

Overall training for the Valley Harvest Half-Marathon is going well.  I continue to be injury free and feel myself getting stronger (and a wee bit faster) with every run. Unfortunately I missed quite a few runs this week due to family obligations, but I'm not letting it get me down.

• Mon - Rest day
• Tues - 4k run
• Wed - 4x400 Hill training
• Thurs -rest day instead of 5k run
• Fri -  Rest day
• Sat - rest day instead of 4k run
• Sun -1.6k run instead of 12k run

Total: 11.6k

60 day to go!

Week 6 - Half Marathon Training

As part of the running room half-marathon training this week, we started hill training.  The theory behind running up and down a hill is to build your strength and endurance, as well as to help mentally prepare you for the hills you'll encounter during your race.  Hill training was Wednesday night at 6:00 and it was 28C out.  Way too hot by my standards.  But we did it anyway.  The problem (in my mind) with the hill that the RR uses for training is that it's 1.5 km away - and all UPHILL to get there.  By the time I got to the hill, I was done! I ran up that hill all 3 times though, with only a few walk breaks along the way.  By the end of the program we will be running up the hill 9 times in a row.  I can't wait.........

I also changed my running plan from 4 and 1s to 5 and 1s this week with no major setbacks.  My pace is slightly slower as I work on the longer endurance, but I felt good after the runs, including the 10k on Sunday.  If I can handle 5 and 1s for the next week I'll work on bumping it up again, with the ultimate goal of getting to 10 and 1s before the race.

• Mon - Boot Camp instead of rest day
• Tues - 4k run
• Wed - 3x400 Hill training
• Thurs - Boot Camp instead of 5k run
• Fri -  rest day
• Sat - rest day instead of 4k run
• Sun -10k run

Total: 19k

67 day to go!

Week 5 Half-Marathon training

This has been my best training week so far.  Not only do I feel myself getting stronger, I'm seeing an improvement in my pace. On Tuesday, I ran with the Running Room Clinic, and Ken, one of the instructors ran with me.  He has suggested that I go back to running 4 and 1s, as that seems to be where I find my best stride right now.  Over the next few weeks I'll work on increasing my running time.  Between the 4 and 1s and Ken's encouragement, I had my second fastest 5k time of the year, and it was a full 3 minutes faster than the last few 5k races that I've done.  I kept using the 4 and 1s for the rest of the week and continued to see gains in my time.

On Sunday my friend Teresa ran with me for my 10k long run. She normally runs at a faster pace than I do, but she stuck with me the whole time, which I really needed!  It started out cool and shady and flat, but around the 5k mark it became hot and sunny and hilly.  Having Teresa there helped me get through it all.  When I felt that I couldn't finish a 4 minute section, she would encourage me to just keep going.  When I couldn't make it up a part of the hill, she came beside me, held my hand and we got up it together.

While running can be a solitary sport, for me it is very much improved by the people I run with.

• Mon - rest day
• Tues - 5k run
• Wed - Work dinner out instead of 4k run
• Thurs - 5k run and Boot Camp instead of 4k run
• Fri -  rest day
• Sat - 3k run
• Sun -10k run

Total: 23k - my most weekly distance so far

76 day to go!

Week 3 - Half Marathon Training

This is the first week that I made it out to all 3 clinic runs at the Running Room.  The instructors are great and very encouraging.  I had reservations of joining a running group for the half-marathon training as I knew that my pace would be slower then everyone else's.  I may be the slowest, but everyone is so encouraging!  The instructors often double back to run with me after spending time with the faster runners up ahead. I'm picking up tips on stride, form and breathing and as a result my running has improved already, after just 3 weeks.

• Mon - Boot Camp instead of rest day
• Tues - 3k run
• Wed - 4k run
• Thurs - Boot Camp instead of 4k run
• Fri -  rest day
• Sat - rest day instead of 4k
• Sun - 9k run

Total distance - 18k.

91 days to go

Fool's Run 1/2 Marathon

Some time last year I decided that I wanted to run a spring half-marathon.  I read about the Fool's Run and decided that it was the one for me.  Since it was in BC, it took a lot of planning.  I asked my Mom to go with me as support.  We planned to go out the week before to get used to the time change and so that we could have a vacation together, visiting Victoria and Nanaimo before we arrived in Sechelt to stay with Hilary's parents.

In October, when mom was visiting, the plan changed from her coming out to support me, to her walking the half-marathon!  She figured she walked 5k every day already, so with 5 months to go, she could increase her mileage and be ready to do 21k.

However, neither of us were really able to train as well as we wanted to.  I struggled with a bad knee early on, followed by a frozen shoulder. We both had to deal with the winter weather.  Mom's solution was to take her walking indoors by going to the mall before it opened.  I spent a lot of time at the indoor track - not a fun thing to do.  My longest run at the track was 13k, or 52 laps.

We headed into the race feeling great.  We had 3 goals:  1) Don't die.  2) Finish the course. 3) Have fun.  I have to say, all 3 were a struggle.

I did really well for the 14 km, maintaining an average pace of 10:50 which was well within my goal time. Then I hit the hills.

That was 4 kms of a constant uphill climb of more then 100 m.  I was done.  I ended up walking the rest of the course. By the time I hit the downhill section at km 18, my legs were toast.  My only thought at that point was to just keep going and finish.

Mom is a speedy little walker and spent the entire race about 400 meters in front of me. She had underestimated just how hard this was going to be and just before the final turn into the park with the finish line, she collapsed onto a railing at the side of the road.  She just couldn't go another step.  I quickly caught up to her, got her to lean on me and we continued on.  We were not giving up goal #2 within sight of the finish line.  We crossed together, hand in hand with a finish time of 04:08:31.

.

After comfort food, showers and well deserved naps, we celebrated.

Mom has declared that "no thank you, never again" will she do a half-marathon.  Me?  I've already signed up for my next on in the fall.  Crazy, I know!

I'm a Fool

A fool in training at least! After much thought and planning I have signed up to run my second half-marathon next spring, The Sunshine Coast April Fool’s Run.

The planning part comes from the fact that this race is on the other side of the country on April 2nd 2017. Starting in Gibsons BC (home of the Beachcombers) it finishes in Sechelt (home of my in-laws). Not only do I need to train throughout the winter, I also have to travel to BC and deal with a 4 hour time zone difference. Of course the race does not coincide with our March break. While I’m sure Liam would love to miss an extra week of school, we decided that he and Hilary would be staying home. I asked my Mom if she would like to travel with me, heading to BC the weekend before the race. We are going to spend several days touring Victoria and Nanaimo while we acclimatize to the change in time and then head to Sechelt a few days before the race.

This looks like an absolutely beautiful course to run. Most of it is along small highways through the forest, with the water not too far off in the distance. It also has a net drop in elevation, but a couple of very steep looking hills thrown in. I have a lot of hill training in my future.

This will be my second half marathon. My training plan is very similar to what I did last year, with more focus on hills and speed training. I have a nice easy plan of 24 weeks to allow myself to build up a really good base of running before I start adding a lot of distance. My main concern is going to be the weather for January-March. Worst case scenario I end up at the indoor track or on a treadmill at the gym a few times a week.

While my Mom was visiting recently and we were talking about the race, she made the comment “I could probably walk 21k”. So I said “Why don’t you?” and within days she had made up her mind and registered to walk her first half marathon! She currently walks nearly 5k every day, so she has her own training plan and is going to start building up her mileage too.

Week 1 of training was technically last week and I blew it. Mom was here visiting, we went away for the weekend and life just happened.  That is another reason I planned on 24 weeks of training, so that if I do lose 1 or 2, it's not going to hurt me in the long run (pun intended).

Now I am officially a F.I.T. - a Fool in Training!