2013: The Year in Review

Well it's been quite a year.  I've ran twelve races, four 5k's, one duathlon, two mud runs, two 10k's and three half marathon while logging 122.99 km.  Or so says Map My Run on my iPhone.  If the courses are accurate, it should have added up to 119 km.  Anyways, 122.99 km in races and 521.21 km of running on my own for a total of 644.2 km.  This doesn't seem like a lot considering in 2012 I ran 467 km and didn't start running seriously until July.  Last August I did go crazy though, running 160.79 km for the month, running 5-7k nearly every day and sometimes running twice if I missed a day.  The closest I've come to that total was 90.4 km in February.  I was advised by a more experienced runner to allocate rest days to avoid injury.

My Wall of Bibs

On my way to completing those 12 races, I earned myself 7 medals.  My first race was the Brita Resolution Run on New Year's morning.  No medal, but we received a nice blue jacket, except the zippers on my pockets both stopped zipping properly.  Shortly after that, I began training for the Fargo Half set in May, where I received my first medal.  A month later, I ran the Manitoba Half, beating Fargo's time and earning my second medal at which point developed the desire to earn medals.  July became a busy month, in which I ran 5 races.  First up was the 20 min challenge, a free 5k run in which we received a free hat.  Next up that weekend was the Morden Try-a-du (2k run, 10k bike, 3k run).  I had done a couple of brick training sessions to get used to the transitioning from running to biking and back to running.  Following the race, to my surprise, we each received a finisher's medal.  A week later was Color Me Rad, a 5k color run in which we wore white and got bombed by color powder and liquids.  No medal was awarded.  That next weekend was Mud Hero, a 6k mud run where I received my forth medal. 

Fargo Half, MB Half, Mud Hero, Morden Try-a-du, Winnipeg 10&10, WFPS Half, Santa Shuffle

Three weeks later, I participated in the Dirty Donkey, another mud run, but this time it was 5k.  Again, no medal was awarded, but each finisher received an orange Buff.  Towards the end of August was the Fort Whyte Twilight run, a 10k race after dusk.  Again, no medal was awarded, but we received a headlamp.  September would mark my second 10k race, the Winnipeg 10 & 10.  I finished with a new personal best and my fifth medal.

My third Half Marathon would be a difficult one, as I returned to work, but on nights.  I completed the race with an unfavorable time, but had just finished working 13 hour shift.  I also received my sixth medal.  From then until December, I had a 6 week period in which I had not ran due to work, an injury sandwiched between a couple of colds and quite a few social events in which some I was part of the planning.  I signed up for the Santa Shuffle knowing things would have settled down by then.  It was a cold one, but completed it for my 7th and final medal of the year.  Very few 5k's award medals, and this was my first.

There are a lot of races out there and many medals to be had.  I'd like to try new races if possible, but will likely run a few of the same races again in 2014.  I have just registered for the Fargo Half in May and will commence training tomorrow, on January 1st.  I also know that I'll be running the WFPS Half again for sure.  Reason being...

 ...I won a free entry through their Facebook page.  Score!  I'm considering the Fargo Half again, as it was by far my favorite race to date.  The Manitoba Half is high on my list as well, since I know so many people who participate.  I'd also like to go try the Rock 'n Roll Vegas half in November as I've heard that is an amazing event to experience.  A more recent one that I've added to my bucket list is the Bermuda Marathon Weekend which is held in January.  I have a friend who lives out there, but due to life, have not had the opportunity to go.  Unfortunately it's too late to register or plan to go in 2014, but I want to make it a strong possibility in 2015.  This one features 3 races, a 1k on Friday evening, a 10k Saturday morning and your choice of a half or full marathon on Sunday.  Each race awards a different medal and if you participate in all three events, you earn a forth medal.

Well 2013 proved to be a very eventful year for myself.  Many firsts, a few personal bests and a lot of fun times with old and new friends.  I look forward to what 2014 may bring while striving to reach my goals.  I hope to improve on my running by breaking personal bests and becoming an overall better runner.  Here's a 3 min montage video recapping my year in running.  Have a Safe and Happy New Year.

Teefury's 12 days of Shirtmas Part 2

Tee Fury held a picture contest.  For more details, view my previous entry here: Teefury's 12 days of Shirtmas Part 1

Day 7: Ugliest Sweaters
One fan had asked Tee Fury via Twitter if they would do a contest that didn't require a shirt, because they didn't own one. Many commented asking why she didn't own any, as they are so good.  Tee Fury responded that day 7, you wouldn't require a Tee Fury shirt.  I own an ugly Christmas sweater which I made myself.  Fortunately I have pics of myself wearing said sweater.  It features 2 snowmen, one of which stole the other's carrot nose, a googly eyed Santa, Bumbles on a mitt, 2 very friendly reindeer and working Christmas lights.  So I took one pic of me wearing the sweater and added close ups of the details on the right, seen below.

Ugliest Sweaters

Day 8: Hidden In A Tree

Previously in part 1, I mentioned that I had not put up a tree.  Well 2 days prior to Day 8, I decided to make an invisible tree.  I saw this posted on Facebook last year and new I wanted to make on this year.  My cousin Michelle does the whole Boxing Day shopping every year, so I asked her to pick me up some green ball ornaments.  I took a round plastic platter from a meat tray and drilled pairs of holes throughout and hung that from a hook in the ceiling.  I then took fishing line and tied one end to the ornaments themselves and the other to ornament hooks.  These I would attach to the platter through the holes.  These ornaments would be suspended in the form of a tree creating an illusion that they hang from an invisible tree.  So for this pic, I wore my Tessellation shirt which features a Transformers Starscream in bot mode morphing into his plane mode.  In one hand I held my Classics Starscream (bot) and the other held Universe Starscream (plane), somewhat making them part of my shirts design.  This being an invisible tree, it wasn't a very good hiding place for Starscream.

Hidden in a Tree

Day 9: Adventurous Christmas:

Again, I new pretty much how I wanted to implement this theme.  I went back to Jason, as he wore a Finn (Adventure Time) costume to Comic Con (C4) last year.  I asked if I could borrow it for said pic.  He agreed, but couldn't meet til later.  When I arrived, it was a bit late and asked if he could take my pic in costume.  His wife Stef said that their son Skyler has one too, but also a Jake costume that was too big for him at Halloween time.  She suggested dressing him up to try it on. Skyler didn't seem to like it too much, as he fidgeted a lot.  They snapped a few pics of him solo and then I put on a Santa had on myself and antlers on Skyler.  Finn wears a blue shirt, so I put on my Energon shirt which features Kup's hand from Transformers holding energon goodies with the tag line "ba-weep-gra-na-weep-ninny-bong" which is their universal greeting.  Below is the result.  This picture was also very popular, likely because of how cute Skyler was.

Adventurous Christmas

Day 10: Christmas Past

This pic, I decided to recreate the Ghost of Christmas Past.  My shirt of choice was my Megatron shirt which is recreated into a football helmet to mimic Detroit Lion wide receiver, Calvin Johnson, who shares his name as his nickname. I put on a white shirt, draped part of my toga and put on shackles from my Atlas costume a few years back.  I then placed the face on the shirt over my face to make up the ghostly figure.  I had lit candles in the background, but unfortunately I'm blocking them out of view.  

Christmas Past

Day 11:  Christmas Future

I wasn't quite sure what I would do this time around.  I was thinking a black hoodie and doing Ghost of Christmas Future, but wasn't sure.  I saw Stef online, who had been following my pics, and asked if she had any suggestions.  She said I should make myself look old.  I found an iphone app called Old Booth, which ages you different ages, 70, 85 and 99.  I chose 85.  Unfortunately it zooms into your face and you can't use the whole pic. I had to put it on my lap top and cut out the face, resize it and paste it back onto the original picture.  This was the first picture that I actually manipulated for the contest.  Here, I chose my You're In My Spot tee, inspired by Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory.  It being red, I also wore my Santa hat, and you can see my invisible tree in the mirror behind me.  I'm holding Bender from Futurama due to both shirts they sold that day were mash-ups of Futurama and Dr Who.

Christmas Future

Day 12: Something Sweet:

Now this one was really fun to shoot.  I was inspired by Elf, where he makes himself a spaghetti breakfast containing candy, marshmallows, pancake and ice cream syrops and pop tarts.  In the scene, Buddy grabs a handful of marshmallows and tops his spaghetti, before taking a fork and shoveling it into his mouth with strands hanging out.  He then takes a pop tart, breaks it apart and mixes it in with his hands, before scooping some into his mouth, again with the spaghetti hanging out.  As you can see, there is a lot of sugar on the table.  I didn't actually consume the spaghetti, but I did pick out the pop tarts and ate them.  One of my favorite lines in the movie is when Buddy says: "We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup".  As for the shirt, my green Confused Chameleon would have worked better, but I had already worn it for the contest.  So I went with this black one, which features several different space ships throughout Sci-Fi.  I don't know them all, but found this list in the comments, so I'm not sure how accurate it is:

Millennium Falcon
Eagle 5
Serenity
Discovery One
Planet Express Ship
Enterprise
Space Invader
Cylon Raider
Tardis
Andromeda ascendant
Starfox Arwing
Saiyan Space Pod
Heart of Gold
Moya
tie fighter
Asteroids ship
Gunstar (Last Starfighter)
Babylon 5

Something Sweet

Although I did not win, it was a fun contest to participate in.  I do hope TeeFury holds similar contests in the future.

Teefury's 12 days of Shirtmas Part 1

I've been known to wear a variety of pop culture tee shirts.  Many of them with a Transformers theme.  I get most of them from Target and a couple of websites: Tee Fury and Ript Apparel.  This Christmas Tee Fury held a contest called The 12 Days of Shirtmas.  In order to participate, they would provide a theme and you would have to be creative and take a picture of said theme, preferably with one of their t-shirts and then post it to Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr using the hash tag #shirtmas.  I signed up for Instagram about a year and a half ago and had only posted 1 pic.  I never really used it before, so this forced me to learn how to use it.  Now I'm hooked.  You can follow me on both Instagram and Twitter @llfalcon.  Tee Fury's daily shirt always foreshadowed the theme loosely.  I decided to participate, as I probably have more than 12 of their shirts.  I sorted through my shirts and found all my Tee Fury Tees.  There was a daily prize of 1 t-shirt from their gallery (listed at $18 each) awarded to a random participant.  A grand prize of 12 t-shirts would be awarded to a creative participant of all 12 days.

Day 1: Santa

I wasn't sure how I was going to do this at first.  My friend Lisa was visiting from out of town with her 15 month old daughter Asha and we decided to meet and go to the mall.  She had a few items to pick up, then we hung out at the play area so that we could catch up while Asha played.  We passed by the Santa at the mall and had Lisa take a pic of me with Santa in the background.  It was tough to get a shot because he was so far back and we tried not to get any children in the shot.  I thought, meh, good enough.  After our visit, I returned home and it grew darker.  There's a house across the street with an amazing Christmas display that flashes it's lights to music.  This display contains a Santa.  So in the cold, I went out, removed my jacket and sweater and took a few selfies with my phone while wearing my Drunken Clam shirt inspired by the local watering hole from Family Guy.  This is what I came up with.

Santa

Day 2: Use the Force

When I read the theme, I knew instantly how I wanted to play this one out.  My friend Jason is a huge Star Wars fan and I wanted to use his Darth Vader mask and light saber as props for my pic.  I texted him to see if I can stop by and use his props.  He agreed and I went there once he got home from work.  I work a black long sleeved shirt and my Plastic Heroes shirt.  This features silhouettes of heroic characters made into toys from the 80's.  This includes Optimus Prime, Snake Eyes, Leonardo, Lion-O, He-Man, Voltron, a Smurf, a lego man, Hulk Hogan, Batman and Chewbacca.  I put on the helmet with light saber in hand (unfortunately the batteries were dead) and did the force choke with some of his collection in the background.

Use The Force

Day 3: Christmas By the Sea

Now this was a bit more challenging as it's winter here and I live no where by the ocean.  Lisa was now back home in Bermuda and she suggested I send her a pic and she'd take a picture of me on her iPad with the ocean in the background.  Now I read the theme on my phone off of Twitter and misread the theme.  Christmas was at the end of one line and By the Sea was on the next.  I missed the Christmas part and thought it was only By the Sea.  My idea was to wear a white tee, Hear Evil, See Evil and Speak Evil.  This features monkeys, pirates have monkeys (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Pirates live at sea.  I also dressed up in a black vest, red skull bandana, an eye patch and a bone necklace.  I took several selfies in the mirror and sent Lisa the one I thought looked best.  Unfortunately it was an overcast day in Bermuda and this was the best she came up with.  It was difficult to see my shirt, so I added a picture of the print to the bottom of the pic. 

Christmas By The Sea

Day 4: I Met a Wild Tee

This one was easy.  I have a Max costume from Where the Wild Things Are and thought this would fit the theme perfectly.  The tough part was, how would I take a picture of myself on my phone?   I have a camera, but I had misplaced the charger.  So I searched all over and finally found that and my tripod.  I got dressed into costume and chose my Confused Chameleon shirt which features a rainbow colored lizard.  I set up the tripod on my deck and set the timer for 10 seconds.  I ran out into the high snow to get my shot.  It took about 3 tries before I got the shot that I wanted.  It was hella cold, so I returned quickly back into the house.  After returning indoors, I realized that I was still wearing my glasses that tinted in sunlight.  Doh, this will have to do, because there was no way I was going out in the cold again for a reshoot.  This proved to be one of my most popular ones, as it received many likes from friends, contest participants and even Teefury themselves.  I thought this one would win for sure, but unfortunately it did not as they said it was random.

I Met A Wild Tee

Day 5: Bubbly

This one wasn't my best picture.  I wanted to blow bubbles all around me and take a pic.  I made a mixture out of dish soap and water but had nothing to make the bubbles with.  I improvised and used some Macgyver skills to make a hoop out of a screw driver and a key ring.  The bubbles weren't really coming out as I had expected.  I had read that if you added cornstarch, the bubbles would hold much better.  It still wasn't really working all that well, but well enough.  I set up my camera with the timer and took many pics, but the bubbles kept popping.  After at least 10 pics, I was able to capture on good sized bubble.  I wore my E.T. the Extreme Terrestrial shirt for this one.

Bubbly

Day 6:  Festive Family

I was working my last night shift and slept most of the day.  I had no tree, so I called my parents.  They had not put up a tree either.  Hmm...I called my aunt.  She said she doesn't put one up anymore and gave it to my cousin.  He was currently there, so I asked him.  He had put it up, but had not decorated it yet.  So I asked him if I could go to his house and take a pic for this contest.  He agreed.  I then called back my folks and asked if they would go there and be in my picture.  They were limited by time as they had a Christmas party to attend.  They did however agree and I met them there.  I got there first and started decorating the tree.  Upon their arrival I had them put on a matching shirt and Christmas headgear.  Today's shirt is a Grim Find, which is a fossilized version of the Transfomers Grimlock (T-Rex).  I've been collecting multiples of the Transformers shirts to sell at a later date, so my parents were able to wear the same shirt as me.  We finished decorating the tree and posed for several pics as my cousin snapped them.  This also saved my cousin a lot of time from decorating the next day.  Thanks to my parents for being good sports and my cousin for using his tree and taking the pics.

Festive Family

Continue on to Part 2

Santa Shuffle 5k (Race Recap)

The Santa Shuffle will likely be my final race of the year, as I don't think there is really any more.  I likely don't have the time for one anyhow.  I picked up my race kit late Thursday evening.  This included my bib, chocolate, hand warmers and not seen here, some tissues, an iRun magazine and a Salvation Army newsletter.

Race kit

Saturday morning was fairly cold.  High of -21C, low of -28C with a windchill of -36C.  If you dress appropriately, it's not that bad.  I've ran in worse and for longer, so it didn't phase me.  I picked up Steph that morning and went to the race site.  I wore my bright green shell, my Do Not Open Til Xmas pajama bottoms and my Santa hat, of course over several layers of running gear.  Waiting for the race to begin, we got our pic taken with Santa.

Picture with Santa

The race began shortly after 10am and was a course mapped out for two loops to make up the 5k.  Starting off at the Forks, near the Scotiabank Stage, we ran towards and over the Provencher bridge.  Immediately crossing the bridge, we hung a right down an unplowed path.  This is where it bottle necked as everyone was running single file.  I signaled to Steph to take the road as we followed a modified path that many followed.  From there, we ran down the back side of the hospital, before bottle necking again down a flight of stairs to another unplowed pather closer to the river.  This led us to a ramp that went to the Queensway Bridge and then another ramp entering the Forks again.  We reached the Start/Finish line, which marked the start of the 2nd loop.  Here, I started to get tired and slowed down.  Steph slowly pulled away at this point.  Crossing the bridge, I took the unplowed path, as traffic the 2nd go around wasn't bottlenecking.  Still, it was unplowed and wasn't great to run on.  When the opportunity arrived, I hopped down the snowbank onto the road.  I took several rest walks along the way, especially when I got to the stairs and traffic slowed down again.  I ended up following a few people the rest of the way through as they were running the ideal pace for my currently ability.  I reached the finish line and got my medal.  Steph was waiting patiently in the cold with a friend.  My face was frosted over and would have taken a pick, but my phone konked out due to the extreme cold.  Honestly, the race itself wasn't bad since I was bundled up.  The worst part was waiting before the race and then when we stopped after the race.

We got some hot chocolate which felt nice to hold and warmed up our hands.  Well now it was breakfast time.  To the Pancake House we go!  There was a little bit of a wait for a table, but not too long.  I ran into my Janelle and her 2 friends, so I introduced everyone.  We were called up for seating at the same time and got adjacent tables.  Once my phone warmed up and turned on, we got our photo ops with our medals. 

In front of the Christmas Tree at the Pancake House

I ordered bacon, eggs and pancakes while Steph had her glutten free chocolate chip pancakes  We ate our meals, then made our way home.  Inspired partially by Elf on a Shelf photos that have been floating around, as well as a girl I knew back in high school and her own Elf on a Shelf posts, I decided to start taking photos with Santa Bender.  This being the first.

Robot Santa and Santa Bender displaying my 7th finishers medal

I also set this one up on my friend's tree later that night at her Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.

I came in like a wrecking ball...

Back In Action

Well it's been a while since my last entry, which was following the WFPS half.  The main reason for not posting is that I dropped off from running.  So it was about 6.5 weeks between that race on Oct 19th and my first run last Wednesday, Dec 4th.  There are a multitude of reasons that I haven't been running, but they are excuses.  If I really wanted to run, I would have found the time and made the effort.  I had been rehired back at my previous employment after a 3.5 absence due to my term ending.  Working shift work and 13 hour shifts made it difficult to run half of the week.  I was also playing 3 sports.  Ball hockey I made every game, Soccer, maybe half the games and my newest activity, 3D Dodgeball, which I made most games.  It is basically dodgeball on trampolines at a new place that just opened, Skyzone.  I'll get back to that in a moment.  I also got sick and didn't want to run outside, as the temperature started to drop.  I then pulled my calf in ball hockey, but didn't realize it.  I thought I had gotten hit somehow and it was bruised, so I iced it.  It wasn't too bad, but I went to play soccer the next evening and pulled it again, a little more severely, enough for me to remove myself from the game.  2 days later, as stubborn as I am, I played 3D Dodgeball and it was sore afterwards.  I then rested it for 4 days before playing playing ball hockey again.  Yes, I'm stubborn, but I love my sports and don't want to let my team down.  I made sure to stretch it well, but it was still sore after.  Again, soccer came and I still played.  I was surely slowed down by it.  The next day, guess what?  I played dodgeball and again it was sore after.  I then rested it for the next 4 days, all while icing it during that period.  It did eventually heal, which I was happy about, but then I got sick again. 

One of my best friends Sandra is getting married later this month and asked me to be one of her Bride's maids (or Bride's men if you will), which I accepted.  This meant helping out a lot in various events, planning and attending.  This includes the Wedding Social, Bridal Shower and Stagette.  There have been a few other events recently that I attended, so this made for a fairly busy few months.  I had previously registered for the Santa Shuffle, which is only a 5k fun run, but I thought it would be best to get in a few runs prior to the event.  I could feel in my different sports that I had lost a lot of cardio with my lack of running.  So Wednesday December 4th was my return to running.  It being my day off and my department having a potluck lunch, I slept in a little too long and had to cut my run short to go into the office that morning.  It was a bad week to return to running as it snowed and the temperature had dropped to -12C, -15C with the windchill.  I only managed a 3.5k run, but it was a start.  It snowed all day and into the night, which made for worse conditions the next day.  This time it was a very slow 5.5k run through deep snow, with temps of -15C, -19C with the windchill.  I ran about 1.5k through the unplowed sidewalks, until I decided to run on the street.  It was icy, but was wearing my grips.  Neither run would I consider to be good, but I had to restart somewhere. 

I'll end this entry with a new 30 day challenge that I'm doing.  I was discussing challenges with some members of my dodgeball team, as one girl, Leah, was completing a 30 day yoga challenge.  Having enjoyed the 30 day squat challenge, I asked them if they'd be interested in doing that?  Due to vacations and some being out of the country at the end/beginning of the year, we decided not to start that until January 15th.  Another member of my team presented me a plank challenge, that I accepted.  The 2 of us are currently working on the following. 

The 30 Day Plank Challenge will send your core strength through the roof! Yes, all you have to do is HOLD this position, nothing else! It looks pretty easy, but it isn't!

Day 1 - 20 seconds
Day 2 - 20 seconds
Day 3 - 30 seconds
Day 4 - 30 seconds
Day 5 - 40 seconds
Day 6 - REST
Day 7 - 45 seconds
Day 8 - 45 seconds
Day 9 - 60 seconds
Day 10 - 60 seconds
Day 11 - 60 seconds
Day 12 - 90 seconds
Day 13 - REST
Day 14 - 90 seconds
Day 15 - 90 seconds
Day 16 - 120 seconds
Day 17 - 120 seconds
Day 18 - 150 seconds
Day 19 - REST
Day 20 - 150 seconds
Day 21 - 150 seconds
Day 22 - 180 seconds
Day 23 - 180 seconds
Day 24 - 210 seconds
Day 25 - 210 seconds
Day 26 - REST
Day 27 - 240 seconds
Day 28 - 240 seconds
Day 29 - 270 seconds
Day 30 - PLANK FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!!

**SHARE to your Timeline to SAVE for later**

Benefits of Plank Exercise:

*It strengthens your lower back
*It develops your core muscles – which include the abs, back, hips and the butt.
*Helps you to avoid injuries and encourage good posture
*Can be done anywhere
*Develops your abdominals by targeting the rectus abdominis

SUPPORT each other in Fitness!!

This is a beginner routine.. everyone starts somewhere!

ENJOY this Challenge! Share with your friends to help motivate others!
For more tips, join our free group Getting the Skinny on with Alicia

 

WFPS Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Thursday morning, a few days prior to the race, I went straight after working a night shift to pick up my race kit.  I got to the Canadian Mennonite University.  I was the second person to arrive and got my kit which included my shirt, bib/chip, drop off bag, a flashlight key ring, a chip clip and some other paper work.

Friday, I woke up late afternoon and cooked my usual spaghetti dish which I brought to work to have several small meals throughout the night.  I was working a 13 hour shift from 6pm-7am.  I also brought several choices of clothing to choose from, but had forgotten my WFPS shirt.  It didn't matter, since it would have been covered up by my jacket.  On my lunch break, I attempted to nap, but managed maybe only 15 min of shut eye, if that.

Morning came and I changed into my running gear before leaving work.  I parked on a side street and made my way to the University.  It was still dark and pretty chilly out, so I followed the crowd to the gym where the bag drop off was stationed.  There, I ran into Janelle who was running a 10k.  I left and made my way down the long hall where runners waited to escape the cold.  Near the entrance at the end of the long hall, was where I met up with Bryan and Kyle.  I wasn't quite sleepy just yet, but knew I was going to have difficulties in this race.  10 min prior to the race arriving and we decided to make our way to the starting line.  The sky started to lighten up a bit, as the sun was rising behind the cloudy skies.  We met up with Ed, but was unable to find Steph amongst the crowd.  The guys lined up in the 2:00 and under block and just prior to the race, I dropped back somewhere in the 2:15-2:30 block.  That was being overly ambitious as I just hoped to get under 3:00.

The race started and I got into a decent pace.  I could feel myself tiring quickly and took my first rest walk at 15 min.  I then attempted to do 5 and 1's, which lasted only 2 cycles and exhaustion started to set in. It was time to throw that strategy out the window and walk as I needed to.  As I ran, I noticed Steph running on my left, slowly over taking me.  I called her name and I think I ran faster for a bit to run with her.  Maybe she slowed down, I don't recall, but we chatted for a short bit before feeling tired again and letting her run back at her own pace.  It was a cold day and even rained a bit.  I could have used a hoodie under my jacket as well as a second pair of gloves.  My finger tips were freezing and often made a fist within the gloves to warm them up a bit.  By mile 7, only one third of the way through, exhaustion started hitting me harder and found myself walking a lot more.

In a Facebook discussion with Ed earlier that week, he informed me that they would hand out gel packs at mile 7.  I was bringing two of my own.  I strategized that I would likely consume that one then and then my two at mile 12 and 17.  I know, I know, it's only a 13 mile race, but my mind was thinking in kilometers.  So some time in the 10th km, I was wondering where the gel station was and decided to consume one of my own.  Shortly after, I arrived at the 7th mile and the gel station was right there as Ed told me.  That's when I realized my mistake.  I decided to save it for the 10th mile.  Throughout the race, several pace bunnies past me, which included the 2:15 and 2:30 bunnies.  I was running, in sorts, with several women.  I'd pass them while they walked and in turn, they'd pass me while I walked.  I decided to consume my gel prior to the 10 mile marker and downed it with some water.  I finally reached the 10th mile, but could feel my calf muscles cramping, so I stopped at a tree and stretched them both out.  Further ahead, was a water station with port-a-potties.  I raced straight to one as I needed to go badly at that point.  This was the first time I've had to during a race.  Possibly because it was my first colder weather half and in warmer weather I sweat buckets. 

I continued to do my run for a bit, walk for a bit routine while catching up on some of the runners that left me behind while I using the facilities.  I finally reached the 12th mile marker and took a quick pic.  The end was finally nearing.  If I hurried, I could probably still make it under 3:00.  I picked up the pace a bit and then walked some more  In this final stretch, I was able to pass a few more people, including some guy, but found myself walking a lot still.  While in a jog, I reached the 13th mile marker and there was 100m left at the turn into the University.  I began to run at this point.  I looked up at the clock and it was beyond 3:00 by a few minutes.  I sprinted anyways (or what felt like a sprint at that point).  I think I tried to smile as volunteers cheered me on and camera's took pictures.  As I crossed, I received many congratulations and someone placed a medal over my head.  I had finally finished.

While trying to catch my breath, I made my way to the post race refreshments tent and bumped into Janelle again.  She was amazed that I completed a 13 mile race after having workd 13 hours.  At the tent, I got myself a Subway sandwich, chocolate milk, juice, granola and sat down to recover.  Probably a mistake, because when I rose, I felt my legs ache.  Upon exiting, I grabbed another chocolate milk and the volunteer offered me a 2nd sandwich.  I got my picture taken in front of the fire truck and finish line and slowly made my way back to my car.  I just wanted to get home and sleep, but there was no way I could move very fast at that point.

At home, I peeled off my layers and had a long, hot shower.  My knees were so sore, a soreness that I've never experienced before from running.  I could barely bend over to pick up my clothes.  It was definitely a struggle.  I went to bed, but only slept 2 and a half hours, from 12:30-3pm.  When I woke up, at my second sandwich and iced my knees while watching TV.  I also did some laundry, which is downstairs and very difficult in my condition, but needed to be done.  Some unofficial results were posted and my time was 3:02:37.  Confirmed that I didn't finish under 3:00.  A bit disappointing, but at least I finished.  I was feeling tired, so I iced my knees again in bed and slept from about 7-midnight.  Again I woke up feeling a bit better, but iced again.  I had 2 ball hockey games the next day and was unsure I'd be able to participate.  I slept a 3rd time from 4am-11am.  When I got up, I could feel soreness, but nothing really hurt.  I was good to go.  We won the first game in OT 5-4.  I iced between games and tied the 2nd game 2-2 against one of the better teams in the league.

I'm going to take a week off running to recover, but I'm going to try and get back to a regular routine of running going forward.  One run a week isn't enough to sustain my running shape.  With my shift work and schedule changes, I'm unable to sign up for races until it's closer to the event.  As of right now, I'm off for the Santa Shuffle (5k) in December, but will be working during the Hypo Half in Feb.  My goal is to prepare for the Hypo Half, in case something changes and I'm able to participate.  If not, there will be many options come spring for races.

Unprepared For A Half Marathon

It's been a while since I posted an entry here, but I haven't had any huge events since the Winnipeg 10&10.  I do have a whole bunch of smaller happenings recently (or excuses for not running).  I'll start off with those, then recap the WFPS Half Marathon in a separate entry.

In July, my term at work unexpectedly ended.  It wasn't great news, but it also wasn't the worst thing in the world.  In that time off since then, I did take advantage in participating in several races and enjoyed my summer.  In a nine week span from July 13-Sept 7, I participated in one try-a-du, a 5k color run, two mud runs (5k, 6k) and two 10k races.  Because I worked shift work, had I been working, not all of those races would have been possible.  I had also signed up for the WFPS Half on Oct 19th, my third one, knowing I'd be off with my previous schedule.  I had not been training properly as I did for the Fargo or the Manitoba Halfs.  I ran 1-3 times a week, but leading up to the 10k's, nothing higher than that.  I found that because I had so many races, I would count them as my long runs and end up skipping runs during the week.  I was however playing soccer once a week over the summer and completed a 30 day squats and abs challenges, so I wasn't being completely lazy.  I did start the arms challenge, but only got halfway through.  In July, my dad and I worked on finishing my garage.  We had insulated and put up vapor barrier previously, but this summer's task was to put plywood up on my walls.  I was also doing some job searching to no avail. September, ball hockey started on Sundays.  Following my last 10k race in September, I did put in  few short runs before skipping some runs in favor of a wedding one weekend to attend a Bomber (CFL) game the next.  I also left the next morning to Minneapolis to attend a Jets at Wild NHL game and a Browns at Vikings NFL game for a stag.  This is where I fell behind on the 30 day arms challenge and it fell by the wayside.

Eating from my helmet of nachos, enjoying a preseason Jets game.

Outside the Metrodome for the Vikings game.

 For the next 3 weeks, I managed to do a 12k and two 14k runs.  Mid October, I started playing on a 3D Dodgeball team.  What is that you ask?  Well it's dodgeball on trampolines at Sky Zone Winnipeg.  It's tough, but a lot of fun.  So anyways, any days I had an activity, I would skip runs.

Playing 3D dodgeball

I kept in contact with my former manager and provided her with an updated version of my resume.  I heard back from her in October and she informed me about a possible position opening up again.  A few weeks later, I was contacted by HR with a job offer.  I was happy to accept and started last Wednesday.  Unfortunately, I would be working Wednesday, Thursday and Friday over night, 13 hour shifts and would have to run the half the next morning.  I was not pleased, but had requested several days off for some Wedding commitments, that I didn't want to ask for too much and just accepted it. 

Second 10k, New Personal Best! (Race Recap)

Following my poor race at the Twilight run, I managed to do a 5k and a 7k run.  Both were evening runs as the sun was setting and finished at night.  I felt good about both runs.  I also had a soccer game in which we were short handed, so I didn't want to over do it with the running.  I was registered for the Winnipeg 10&10 and decided to run the 10k.  One, I felt I wasn't quite ready to jump to 10mi (or 16k) quite yet as in my training had not exceeded much more than 9k in my regular runs.  Two, I wanted to improve on my 10k and get a more reputable time. My Twilight run was 1:20, but ideally wanted to get below 1:15.

Friday I picked up my race kit.  It included a bib with the race chip on the back, a shirt, a sample granola bar, a map of the course with a schedule of events and instructions and a pamphlet of Manyfest.  That is a collaboration of various festivals assembled along Broadway with the likes of Food Truck Wars, Farmers' and Artisans' Market, Performances, the race itself and many other attractions.

I was disappointed in the shirt for several reasons.  As you can see in the pic, there's a tear in the logo, which was the result logo being printed on a crease in the shirt.  Upon smoothing out, the print tore, revealing the fabric of the shirt underneath.  I was too lazy to return to the Running Room to ask for a replacement.  In the future, I'll inspect the shirt before leaving, as this is the second time I've had problems with my race shirt.  The last time being given a women's L rather than a men's at the MB Marathon.  The print itself seeped through the porous fabric causing it to become sticky on the inside, thus sticking to my chest.  Definitely cause for concern for possible nipple chaffing.  The shirt also has a funny odor.  I'll throw it in the wash to hopefully remedy the last two problems.  Ed and Bryan both wore compression shirts under their race shirts to prevent the sticking.  I figured it to be a warm day and only wanted to wear one layer, so I wore a different shirt.

I went back to my regular routine of pre-race carb loading and cooked spaghetti the day before.  For Twilight, I ate too heavy, too close to the race and wanted to remedy that.  I made the sauce with chicken breast, mushrooms, zucchini, spinach and mango. 

Morning came and I got up at 7am for the 8:30 start time.  The 10mi race started at 8:00 which Steph, Ed and Bryan were running, so I went alone. I then ran into Janelle at the starting line who was also running the 10k.  My shoes of choice were my 2 toned Air Pegasus, right foot volt, left foot teal.  The race commenced and I started out at a reasonably quick pace.  About 10 min in, I could feel my lower back start to feel sore.  I pushed through it.  Due to my quicker pace, I ran continuously for only 15 min and then fell into 4's and 1's.  Normally I prefer 10's and 1's, but today I could not do so.  Further in, my legs began to feel tired, but I had to ignore them and ran on.  The good news was, my back loosened up from running and the soreness faded.  The route was a there and back course with 5k, 10k and 10mi turnaround points.  The 10k course only had 2 water stations, well technically one, since they were the same one at the 2k mark and again at the 8k mark.  I think they could have used one more, probably at the 10k turn around.  But then again the Twilight Run only had one drink station at about the 6k mark.  To me, it felt like I was running mostly uphill to the halfway point.

I reached the turnaround point and started my return.  At about 5.5k into my race, Bryan ran up to me and nudge me on the arm.  I briefly picked up my pace to keep up and chatted with him before allowing him to continue on while falling back into my own pace.  About 200m later, Ed ran up beside me to greet me.  I again picked up my pace briefly to chat before returning to my pace and letting him run on.  Now on my return, it again felt like I was mostly running uphill.  Over the course of the race, several volunteers complimented me on my footwear as I ran by with the likes of "I love your shoes" or "I like your style".  These comments did give me bursts of energy to run just a little bit faster for a brief moment.  I reached Broadway, I was pretty much running alone, a volunteer had instructed me to cross the street as other volunteers had stopped traffic.  It was the the final stretch going downhill down Broadway past Osborne.  I passed by two other runners before crossing the finish line.  Glancing at the clock, it read 1:34, meaning I finished in about 1:04 (30 min difference in the 2 start times).  I accomplished my goals of beating my previous 10k by about 16 min and also getting below 1:15.  I'm very pleased to have replaced my previous 10k PB with whichever time my official time will be.  (*Edit - official results posted, finished with a time of 1:05:32*).

I received my finishers medal, which will mark my 5th piece of bling.  It is a very nice medal and one of my faves so far, just behind the Fargo medal.

I then got water, a piece of banana, a Subway sandwich, cookie, yogurt/granola and a vitamin water.  Bryan and Ed were waiting further up and partaking in some recovery treats of their own.  I ran into Janelle and Sana, whom I didn't even know was running.  I apparently spoiled the color of our race shirt by posting it on Facebook.  The previous year had been white and this year was blue.  Going forward, I'll restrain from posting my race kit until after the pick up time has elapsed.  We waited for Steph to finish and chatted a bit.  Soon after, we decided to head home and shower before returning to experience the Food Truck Wars. 

Next up, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Half Marathon on October 19, 2013.

Twilight Run (Race Recap)

The Fort Whyte Twilight Run on Thursday was my first 10k race.  No, this did not include sparkly vampires or werewolves.  It's a night time race where everyone wears headlamps and other accessories that light up the night.  I wasn't too confident for this race from the get go.  I had not really been focused on training recently and had not gone for a run since a 9k run out at the cabin last Saturday.  Tuesday I picked up my race kit and met Kyle there.  The kit included my bib, timing chip, head lamp, a map of the course and vouchers for a smokie and s'mores.

Wednesday morning, I woke up with a sore neck.  I attempted to stretch it out and used my inversion table, but I still felt discomfort in my neck and back.  I also strayed from my pre race ritual of carb loading 1 or 2 days prior, so I didn't even eat any pasta this week.  This was also an evening race.  I normally eat light prior to a morning race.  This being in the evening, I bbq'd a couple of chicken burgers and ate that about 3 hours before the start time.  Not the greatest of ideas.

It looked to be a hot one for the race.  The high that day was 26 C and it had rained earlier that morning, so it was very humid.  At 8PM it was 25 C, but felt like 30 C and at 10PM it was 22 C, felt like 27C.  I made sure to drink lots of water throughout the day because of this. 

I picked up Ed, Jay and Steph and we went to Fort Whyte Alive.  On the way, we passed Sky Zone.  It had just opened up a couple weekends ago and is basically a trampoline center with basketball hoops and dodge ball.  Looks like fun and hope to check it out soon.  We arrived and parked, then found Bryan immediately.  We got ready, attached our bibs, applied bug spray, put on my race belt to safe guard my keys and iphone and put on some glow sticks.  I had a green necklace and stuck 4 sticks through the laces of my shoes.  I chose to wear my volt colored Air Pegasus due to it's brightness.  While walking to the race area, I bumped into Cheryl and her daughter, who were running the 5k race.  Met up with Kyle near the starting line who just came from hockey.  I finished my water and decided to return to my car to put away my bottle.  On the way back, I ran into Sandra and Steve, who left their second baseball game early to attend the race.

Prior to the race.  Our group is standing at the top left, next to the group in yellow

For my costume, I took the Iron Man mask I used for Color Me Rad and painted it with glow in the dark green acrylic paint and the outer part, just regular red.  I searched everywhere for glow in the dark spray paint, but one lady at Walmart told me that they don't carry it until closer to Halloween.  I also got a red tee shirt, cut out a stencil out of duct tape, stuck it on the chest and painted an arc reactor, again in glow in the dark green.  To finish it off, I got some glow sticks.  Unfortunately we didn't snap any pics prior to the race and it was fairly dark afterwards, so no race real race pics.  Bryan sported a shirt with a light up arc reactor that shown through his chest.

My costume post race

The runners were then asked to line up at the starting line.  I activated my Soleus watch to find a satellite signal, got MapMyRun ready on my iPhone, put on my Iron Man mask and my head lamp, setting it to the second setting.  The first setting lit up half the LED lights, second lit them all up and the third strobed them.  Despite charging my mask and shirt on a very bright light, when it got dark, it failed to shine bright as I hoped.  Oh well.  The race started at 8:45.  I started both my Soleus and MMR as I crossed the starting line and tucked my iPhone away in my racing belt's pocket.

You can see my right foot at the bottom right with a glow stick tucked in my shoe laces

It was a congested, narrow path to start, so I could only run at a fairly easy pace as we headed north.  Further up, the path widened and the faster runners were able to break away from the pack.  The Iron Man mask was a bad idea and I had a feeling it would be.  I found it very hot and it was difficult to breath.  At this point, I was able to make adjustments on the left side of the path, while allowing others to pass on the right.  I removed my head lamp, mask and buff.  I adjusted my buff, placed my head lamp on and then my mask on backwards.  I vow not to dress up that elaborately in future races longer than 6k.

It got dark very quickly by the 1km mark.  I could feel my neck was impeding my running and I couldn't look over my right shoulder without feeling pain.  I know my posture wasn't great due to this and made my back sore.  Definitely wasn't a fun run for me.  I found myself constantly looking downwards to watch for possible hazards.  This too didn't help.  Seeing as the rules said no earphones, I didn't carry mine, but saw quite a few people who disregarded this and wore theirs anyways.  So I turned on my tunes and listened to music via the speaker.  My stomach wasn't feeling all that great either.  I probably shouldn't have eaten so heavy before the race.  Live and learn I suppose.  I'll know better for the next race.  If I recall correctly, it was about the 3.3km mark that we reached a hill.  We ran around to the back and climbed the gradual slope to the top.  From the top, I could see a stream of lights of people running the stretch I had just completed.  It was a cool sight to see.  I didn't stop to admire it, because I was busy running a race.

Marshalls instructed us to circle the pylons and descend to the left.  We ran back along most of the same trail, but veered left near a pond (marsh).  It didn't smell very pleasant here.  Now we entered a more wooded area, making it very dark.  This is where we relied heavily on our head lamps to navigate through the course.  Many paths were blocked by ribbons or pylons and some even had Marshalls directing traffic.

Somewhere around the 5km mark, Marshalls instructed that water was available about half a click away.  It was much closer to 1km, as I recall looking at my watch and noticed I had ran 0.5km, and again 0.8km without seeing the water station.  I finally reached it and grabbed a cup gatorade.  I felt that 1 water station wasn't nearly enough for this particular distance.  If I remember correctly, I believe both halfs I ran previously included at least 4, maybe 5 or 6 drink stations, and that's just a little over twice the distance.

We arrived back to the right of the Start/Finish line and was now running south maybe 7.5km into the race.  A little ways up, there was two way traffic and I noticed a photographer was set up and was taking photos. I then recognized Jay's COD running towards me, so I greeted him as he ran by.  Further down, a Marshall directed us off the gravel path into an even more wooded area.  I couldn't hear her clearly due to my music, but I heard her say something about keeping left.  I ran into the woods and had to stop due a trio standing at a fork, looking confused.  On girl questioned "she said to stay left, right?"  "I think so", I said.  They took the left path and I followed.  As did some behind me.  The trail got very narrow, had rocks and roots sticking out and low hanging branches.  We slowed down to a hike to prevent injuring ourselves on hazards.  It also ran very close to the water, close enough that one false step, you could fall in.  The girl ahead of me was calling out rocks and roots for me and I did the same for the girl behind me.  She did happen to trip and stumble, bracing herself on my back with her hands to keep from falling.  My shirt was drenched at this time, so it was probably pretty gross for her.  I asked her if she was alright and she said yes.  The lead guy said he could see lights up ahead, so we carried on this improvised route.  We finally got to a clearing and saw that the path was ribboned off to our right.  We ran past the ribbon and rejoined the race.  This was silly that through the race there were ribbons, pylons and marshalls directing the runners, but in the area most needed, there was nothing.  This little detour added about another 0.5km to our race at a hiking pace.

I carried on and a lady joined me by my side because I had music.  We chatted a bit, about what, I don't remember.  What I do know is she didn't run off course.  After a short bit, she ran ahead to catch up to her friends.  Now closer to the end, the trees got thick and it was pitch black.  I was now running with another girl.  I told her we should be nearly done, maybe 200m.  But given that I ran that extra 500m, the finish line didn't come soon enough.  The path was now winding a lot and I wondered if we were running in circles.  We then questioned if we went the right way, as we past what looked like a path.  We kind of stopped and went back to look, but it led to water.  So we continued on.  I recognized the area where the photographer was set up earlier, so I knew the end was near.  I picked up the pace and crossed the finished line to cheers from some of my friends.  According to MMR, I finished in 1:20:20.  Not great, but not bad considering.  I was hoping to finish under 1:15.

We discussed the race a bit, especially the fact that most of us strayed off course and got lost.  Steph fell in line for the freebies, as she had her vouchers with her.  I got several cups of water, which was warm.  Jay, Ed and I decided to return to the car to change our shirts.  I brought the car closer and we returned to the bbq.  I got my s'mores package and smokie, but they didn't provide a bun.  I wasn't feeling so hot, so I decided to take them home.  They were now deflating the finish line.  Ed told me to run through again and he'd take pics.  I removed my chip to prevent the possible miscalculation of my time and gave my food to Ed to hold.  He also lent me his head lamp as I left mine at the car.  He took a few pics as some people laughed at my reenactment.

Reenactment of me crossing the finish line 40 min later.

We decided to call it a night and I drove those who came with me, home.  At home, I realized that I didn't find out whether or not the smokie was pork or beef.  I cannot eat beef due to medical reasons, so unfortunately I had to toss it.  Some of my friends are already talking about doing this race again next year.  It's too early for me to say, but I've done it once, and I didn't find it too enjoyable.  That and the fact that no medal was provided.  I have nearly a year to decide.  Next race I'm thinking of doing is the Winnipeg 10&10 on September 8th.   Most of my friends are planning on doing the 10 miler, but I don't think I'm ready for that this soon.  I have now registered for the 10k race and will prepare for the WFPS half in October. 

30 Day Challenges Abs to Arms

30 days, 1610 sit-ups, 2115 crunches, 904 leg raises and 23 min 17 sec of planks, I have completed the 30 Day Ab Challenge. 

And yes it was a challenge.  Much hard than the 30 Day Squat Challenge that I did from June-July.  My abs do feel stronger, but they are unfortunately still hidden underneath my gut.  I challenged some friends and a stranger (a friend's friend from Facebook) to do this with me, but have not checked in with them to see if they completed it yet.  I know a couple of them had kept up, while another is extending it to do at her own pace, which is fine.  I myself was not without my own struggles.  I have some tight muscles which causes some discomfort on my spine.  I am seeing a Chiropractor for that.  While doing this ab challenge, especially during the second week, I've noticed that my back has been much tighter.  I am hoping that since I'm now done, my back won't cause me as much problems.

2 weekends ago, I was headed to the cabin for 2 nights, which turned into 3.  I decided to skip a rest day and get ahead in my challenge.  It was a good thing, because I missed a workout and drew even.  That next week, I ended up falling behind a day as well.  Day 28, I did catch up and was able to completed the Challenge within the intended 30 days.

This weekend is another cabin weekend, so Steph and I decided we'd start the 30 Day Arm Challenge on Monday.

 I'm hoping those who did or at least tried the ab challenge, will join us again for the arms challenge.  I've also recruited a couple others and hope to convince a few more.  I'm thinking that I'll use 10 lbs weights.  I'm sure that 10 bicep curls will be pretty simple, but by day 30, 150 will be tough. I've created a spreadsheet with the workouts specified for Aug 26-Sept 22. 

Let me know if you intend to join us for the arm challenge, and if you do, good luck!

The World's End

Following Dirty Donkey on Saturday, I came home, showered, ate and relaxed.  As I was cruising Facebook, I saw that Virgin Radio posted a picture for a caption contest with the following photo.

I then submitted the following caption.

And I actually won.  I scored a Capital Cities - In A Tidal Wave of Mystery CD and 4 passes to the advanced screening of The World's End with Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead and Star Trek movies. 

I've sorta of been listening to the CD in the car.  I recognize Safe and Sound which gets radio play.  So far it's pretty mellow with some funky beats.

I invited 3 friends to join me on Wednesday to see The World's End, Sandra, James and Sam.  Sandra came with me and we met up with James at the theater an hour before the show.  It wasn't busy and managed to get good seats.  I went out to meet Sam to give him his ticket and to get a drink.

There were two trailers, both DeNiro films.  The first was Last Vegas with Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline and Michael Douglas.  Basically looks like an old man buddy movie where they take a trip to to Las Vegas.  It looked pretty hilarious.  One that I'd go see.  The second co-starred Michelle Pfieffer and Tommy Lee Jones in The Family.  DeNiro's character has worn out his welcome with the mob and is relocated to France as part of a witness relocation program.  The mob finds him and hi-jinx ensures.  Looked alright.  Not one I'd see in the theater though.

The feature presentation started.  On top of Simon Pegg, it starred Nick Frost, also from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, as well as Martin Freeman, who was most recently in the Hobbit.  Without giving away too much, it's about 5 former high school buddies who return to their home town to walk the Golden mile, to have a drink at all 12 bars, which they were unable to complete 23 years ago.  The movie was hilarious.  Lots of good one liners, but took a strange left turn halfway through.  Despite the weird plot, it continued to provide laughter.  I thought it was a good movie, very funny, had a good premise, but the second have could have been written better.  It was worth the watch, but I don't think I would have paid to see it in the theater.  Free is free, so I can't really complain.  I'd say wait for it on video.

Gru's Crew (Race Recap)

Saturday morning arrived and it was time for Dirty Donkey, a 5k obstacle mud run.  Jay picked me up with Jenn in the van.  We then picked up Ed and Kerri before heading out to Spring Hill for the event.  At the turn off, we could see a few obstacles and the finish line.  Further down, we reached the parking area and met up with Bryan.  We then started work on our costumes.  $3.50 yellow tee's from Michael's, blue duck tape as suspenders and 3D glasses with the front frames spray painted silver and the lenses popped out made up our minion costumes.  The night before I also made myself a cyclops eye for a bit of variety.  We geared up headed down the road away from the entrance towards the starting area.

Bryan, Ed, Jenn, Kerri, Jay, Me

Along the way, we saw racers running along a path in our direction.  Many people pass by recognizing us as minions and told us how awesome our costumes were or just shouted out MINIONS!.  We even passed by Ace Burpee (a local radio host) who finished his race and wished us good luck and to have fun.

It was about a 10 min walk to the starting area and we used the Porta-a-potties.  Problem, my drawstring to my shorts broke with one end stitched inside securely.  I had to wrap it around my waist and secure it the best i could.  It worked ok, but I had to keep tugging up my shorts.  Wasn't too big of a deal as I was wearing compression shorts underneath.  Everyone, but me, had been wearing the glasses, as I was wearing the cyclops goggle.  Some had removed them and had them resting on their heads when I noticed silver on the bridges of their noses.  Haha, some of the paid had rubbed off the glasses.  Seeing as I was the only one not wearing them, Jay jokingly accused me of pranking them.  Would have been a good prank if it was intended.  Anyways, we waited for our heat to start and observed the other team's costumes.  Very few stood out, except a couple dressed fully in a unicorn and zebra costume.  Lots of matching t-shirts with their team names written on them and matching accessories like tutus, bandanas, knee high socks, etc.  Many more people acknowledged our costumes.  Felt good.  Jay then nominated me to be our costume designer for future races. 

11:30 arrived and it was time to get marshaled in.  We waited at the starting line for the horn and we were off.  The first obstacle was the hay bails, which were easily scaled. Further down, we had to crawl through a mud pit on our hands and knees.  We got to a set of hurdles.  I jumped over the first and saw people crawling under every second one.  There were no instructions, but I heard someone say that this was the over under, so I followed suit.  Speaking with a friend afterwards, she thought they were just hurdles and jumped over them all.  Who's to say what they actually were.  After this, my memory kind of lapses.  Not sure the order of the rest or if I'm missing any, but I'll try and recollect as many as I can.  There was definitely a wall with a horizontal rope that you had to hold onto and shimmy your way across.  I was unable to do it, so in order to bypass it, I had to do 10 burpees.  Moving on, there were balance beams, which were easy enough to do.  If you fell off, you had to restart.

We arrived at the main road and had a long run towards the hills.  Here we passed by more people walking from the parking lot to the starting area.  We got even more acknowledgements of our minion costumes.  We cleared a cut out area in the chain link fence and ran up a hill.  This was where I started to slow down.  It was a long winding path to a series of tires that we had to step through.  We neared the top which featured a cargo climb.  One side was closed off because of an injured girl that was being attended to.  It appeared to be a leg injury, knee or ankle maybe.  We ran down the other side of the hill.  The terrain was rocky and steep.  Was definitely more difficult than it sounds, but the rocks were pretty hard on my feet as I was wearing my vibrams.  We ran right and then up the hill again.  Not fun.  At the top was a high wall which we had to scale.  These strong guys were sitting on top assisting people up.  One guy crossed his arms and grabbed a girl's hands.  He lifted her up while twisting her and sitting her on the edge at the top.  My turned came and I tried stepping on the foot hold, but slipped off, unable to grab the top.  They guy on top coached me and said to try again and grab the ledge.  I jumped up off the foot hold and realized there was 2x4 secured at the top to hold onto.  I was impressed that I managed to pull myself up without any assistance.  The other side had foot holds and ropes to climb down.

Continuing on, there was a slip and slide going down the side of the hill.  Even with the fire hose, I couldn't get enough momentum to go down and had to use my hands and feet to push myself down.  At the bottom, we had to drag a pallet on a rope down a stretch, around a tire and back.  They said one per team, but split our team into 2, so we were 3 per pallet.  Was kind of silly, but we got through it.  Great, one more climb to the top of the hill.  Here was a large crate filled with muddy water.  7 golf balls were hidden at the bottom and if you found one, you won a $25 gift card to the Running Room.  I made a half assed attempt to find one as I crossed the crate.  I jumped out and followed my team to a pair of long tents that went up hill.  The clay we crawled through had formed tracks to follow.  It was actually really hard on my knees and I attempted a few times to raise up off my knees to my feet without my back hitting the inside top of the tent.  As I exited the tent, there was inexplicably a crowd of spectators.  This confused my team mates and they ran right instead of left and around the ropes.  I followed them and we hopped the rope to the final obstacle.  We arrived to another mud pit which had a chain link fence covering it.  So we entered the pit on our backs and pulled ourselves through by grabbing the chain links. It was a muddy run to the finish line, but not before we took one group pic by one of the official photographers.  At the finish line we were congratulated by volunteers handing out orange ho rags (buffs).

My bib and finishers Dirty Donkey Ho Rag (or buff)

We grabbed a free vitamin water and walked over to the area where firemen were hosing people down.  We got hosed down by freezing cold water the best we could, but we were still very muddy.  Everyone's duck tape was all flapping off by now, so they ditched it, while mine was still intact.  We walked towards the parking lot and I got my phone to take some after pics.  Unfortunately we were no longer at our muddiest.

Back - Bryan, Ed, Jay - Front - Kerri, Me, Jenn

Just me, post race.

We cleaned up the best we could with Jay's baby wipes and changed. Jay and Ed had fabricated some make shift shorts out of garbage bags to protect the van which looked more like giant diapers.  Seeing as the beer gardens, etc was quite the trek, the majority voted we just pick up fast food on the way home instead.  I would have liked to check out the festivities, maybe run into other racers I knew, but was no big deal.  Bryan departed to his vehicle and we lined the car with blankets and towels and left.  Kerri's mom was going to pick her up to go to the lake and we waited for her closer to the entrance.  Kerri left with her mom and we headed back to Winnipeg.  We ended up at St Vital Centre and picked up food from the food court.  Jay got Subway while the rest of us got pad thai.  Jay then dropped us off as I retired to my home to properly shower and eat my lunch. 

Maple Sunrise

This is just a quick entry leading up to an incident I found humorous.  It was the night before Dirty Donkey and I had planned to check out the Kyiv Ukrainian pavilion for Folklorama.  Tyla was hosting and she invited her friends to attend.  Roni had made reservations for us, Rui, Marlene and George.  I did not cook my usual pre race spaghetti like in the past and decided to get my carb load in the form of perogies.  I got the adult meal which included 3 perogies, 3 cabbage rolls, kubasa, a pickle and an imported beer.  I also ordered a side of 6 perogies and was given 3 more from Roni and Rui who ordered extra.  As we ate, the show began.  It was an entertaining show with the crazy dancers and some singers and more crazy dancers.

Afterwards we cleared out, we decided to check out a second show, the Canadien-Francais pavilion.  By then, I was craving something sweet.  I ended up getting a farlouche, which is a white cake topped with whipped cream and caramel.  I picked it up from the serving area, paid the cashier and dropped it off at our table.  I then needed a bevie.  The sign had something called a Maple Sunset.  So I walked up to the bar and asked the server what a Maple Sunset was.  She then said she prefers the Maple Sunrise and explained that the Sunset was a shot of whiskey, maple syrup with Pepsi and the Sunrise was the same, except ginger ale rather than Pepsi.  She served it to me and advised that I stir it properly before drinking.

Following suit as I did with the desert, I walked to the 2 cashiers with my $5 in hand and placed my drink on the counter.  "This is a Maple Sunrise", I stated
The girl then asked "how was it?"
I said "not sure, I haven't tried it yet"
Girl: "well try it then and let me know how you like it"
Me: "I have to stir it first", stirred it and sipped it.  "Mmm, it's delicious"
Girl: "It's tasty, it's one of my favorites"
I waited a bit expecting to pay, but there was a short awkward silence.
Guy cashier "Do you need anything else?"
Me: "I'm here to pay for the drink"
Girl: "Oh, how did you get it?"
Me: "The girl gave it to me" as I pointed at the bartender.
Guy: "Really?"
Then it dawned on me and I said: "Oh, was I supposed to pay for it first and give her a ticket?"
Guy "Yes, but at least you're honest", and we had a laugh.

I then paid for the drink, thanked them and went back to my seat to enjoy the tasty beverage and desert.  The rest of the show was good.  A variety of dancing and singing.  Some reminded me of Stomp the Yard, while others were mid evil like dancing or river dance tap dancing. 

NB - I sure hope I'm not mixing up the names of the two drinks.  Pardon me if I'm wrong, I don't remember.