Sunday, May 12, 2013

The Chocolate Race 2013

Waiting for the 10:15 start time!

Happy Mother's Day to all the women who are mothers, or who have mothered and nurtured. Today is a bitter sweet day for me.  I celebrate the greatest gift I have been given; that is my son. But I mourn the mothers I have lost.  My birth mother and my adoptive mother who raised me from infancy.  Two women who have been instrumental in molding me into the woman and mother I am today.  They are who I thought of today while I raced.  I ran the Chocolate Race 5K today in Port Dalhousie.

It was a nostalgic race for me because it's the first race I ever ran.  I'm not gonna lie.  This was probably the hardest race I have ever run.  Harder than the Chilly Half Marathon I ran in March. Why you ask?  It was only 5K.  Well, I ran as hard as I could for 5K straight.  I was aiming for a sub 30 minute 5K, but could not deliver.  My Nike Running app says I ran the 5K in 32 minutes. But I started the app before I started running and well before I crossed the starting line.  And I forgot to shut it off as soon as I crossed the finish line.  So I'm confident I did an under 31 minute 5K.  The chip time results are not up yet.

So what made this run so hard?  I'm not going to make excuses for my performance.  Bottom line is, I have a lot of work to do in order to qualify for Boston.  The course was a lot of trail running (which I like), and the weather was agreeable enough.  It was windy, but nothing earth shattering.  I just ran hard and made sure I was breathing real heavy the entire time.  By the time I got to the finish line, there was a moment where I thought I was actually going to get sick.  Luckily I didn't.  I think the fact that I almost vomited, means I have finally arrived as a runner!  I ran the last 500 meters as hard as I could and I think that's what spurred my need to hurl.  It's all good.  My dignity is still intact.  I didn't vomit!  Yay me!

I am tired...

It's always about the bling baby! And just
in case you're wondering, I ate absolutely
NO chocolate even though it was everywhere!

Yesterday was my long run and I was dreading it.  Eighteen kilometers is a long way to run by yourself.  Hubby had to work in the morning.  So I had to wait around to complete my run, which I HATE!!!!!!! I was feeling very sorry for myself and came up with a plan where I would only have to do 9K solo.  I mapped out a 9K loop through the city.  Julien was going to a birthday party for the entire afternoon and hubby said he wanted to get a run in too.  So when he got home, I took off for my first 9K loop while he fed Julien lunch then sent him off to the birthday party.  By the time I got back to the house, he was ready to join me for the next 9K.  I am a genius!  Problem solved.  I got in my long run, and hubby got his run in too!  We were awesome.  He's a bit slower than me so it worked out perfectly 'cos by the time I got to the second 9K loop, I was tired.  I booked it for the first 9K, came home, peed, changed into 3/4 pants and headed out again.  My toes were cramping by the time I made it home (my orthotics are out until my blister heals), but the brief intermission made the cramping go away and it never came back.  So I ran my 18.8K long run with virtually no cramped toes!  Bonus!!!!!!!

My running partner and fellow Paleoist!

After my long run, even though Julien was at his friend's birthday party, I did what I needed to.  I went to the laundry mat and washed all our comforters.  It's seasonal comforter changing time.  So I used the mega loader and gotter done!  Although my washing machine broke last weekend, we got it working again.  Can you believe it?  Twenty-five years old and still going!  So I'm doing my laundry at home this weekend, much to my chagrin   It was quicker to do, but more expensive at the laundry mat.

Do I look chagrined, or just pissed off?  Not how I wanted to
spend a childless Saturday afternoon if you get my drift!

Tonight's dinner?  Very yummy pork tenderloin (on sale this week at No Frills), sauteed spinach, cumin carrots and acorn squash.  So delicious   I love eating this way.  It's clean, it's filing, and I made enough for lunches tomorrow!  I rock!  Don't even begin to tell me that you're too tired to food plan for the coming week.  I ran 25K, and had to spend 1.5 hours in a laundry mat!  I still got my laundry, grocery shopping and meal prep done!  Relaxing on Mother's Day?  What is that? Nothing that this girl knows.

My pork.  Can't wait to dig in!

The eggs are for my breakfasts this week.