Santa Shuffle and Symphony Saturday

This morning we woke up to this…

Which is crazy because yesterday looked like this…

While the Halibloggers were running this!…

The Halifax Santa Shuffle 5km Fun Run!!!

 

My first 5km fun run!…

 

38 minutes!!!  Angie, Lynn, Tasha and I ran together while Farm Girl and Lex were a couple minutes behind us pushing Little Josh in his stroller. 

I want to thank the girls from the bottom of my heart for running at my pace because I’m the slowest one.  I know they could have probably run the whole thing without breaks, but everyone walked together a couple of times so we could be together and finish together.  And because of them, I pushed myself a little harder than I would on my own.  We finished in just under 38 minutes and I’m soooo proud of that.  I had figured on trying to make it under 45 minutes if I was on my own, so this is awesome!!  And I didn’t even feel like I was going to die at all!!  :)

 

Make sure you check out Angie’s blog for a funny video of us actually running…

Yaaaieeeeee Halibloggers!!

Special thanks to Laura for the cute Santa hats for our team!

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Pre-run fuel in the car…

Whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter & banana.

Post-run brunchy fuel with the girls at Your Father’s Moustache…

Croissant with scrambled eggs, cheese & ham…

With pan-fries…

And the worst coffee ever!  You know it’s bad when you pour a creamer in and the coffee doesn’t change color.  Blech.

So I had to stop on the way home for a Starbucks treat…must.have.caffeine!!!  Grande reduced fat egg nog bold coffee misto…

After that I had to race home.  It was already 2pm and I had to wash the race off and get ready for a double-date night out for dinner and the symphony.  Our evening was to start by 4pm!  Eeeeek. 

I made it just in time…but in such a hurry, hardly any photos.  Gah.

Dinner was at Cut Steakhouse. 

FH was impressed with their scotch list…

I ordered a 6oz local petite filet and shared in the side dishes for the table.  Scoop of garlic mashed potatoes, scoop of pomme de terre, big scoop of mac & cheese, and more than my fair share of asparagus. 

FH poured me some red wine, and pre-dinner I enjoyed a couple of vodka-sodas.

Decadent but all quite responsible portions so I felt just right when I walked away from the table.  It helps to share the side dishes among four people instead of two.  You can try more and not feel obligated to clear the dishes!  :)

And then the whole reason for our night out…The Nutcracker!  Symphony Nova Scotia featuring Halifax Dance!  (We didn’t even know there was dance involved…LOL…so it was a pleasant surprise!)

Balcony seating…

The dance interpretation was a little odd…still Clara and her dreams of the toys, but a different take on the original.  I like dance though, so I enjoyed it regardless.  The set was lovely!

Not supposed to take photos, so I waited until they were taking their final bows before I snuck in a few shots.  :)

The music was superb!  FH has been to several symphonies (Winnipeg is quite famous for their orchestra) and wasn’t expecting this one to be as good as it was.  I was glad he enjoyed it.  A great festive date night!  :)

A long day for me.  I was exhausted by the time we finished our evening.  *yawn* 

Fun.Run.Food.Music.Friends.  Nice!

Saturday Morning Success

New running distance for me today!  Yaaieeeeeeee!

I thought I was meeting Lynn, Holly, and Angie for a workout this morning but I guess we had a miscommunication so I had a lone workout instead.  No biggie, got me out of bed on a Saturday morning!

I decided that I need to run a little longer now to practice for the actual 5km Santa Shuffle we are running in only 2 weeks!  Since I was up to 10:1 last time I did a treadmill run I opted to add on a third 10 minutes, but let myself extend the walking to 2 minutes.

• 2 minute warm-up, 10:2 x 3, 2 minute cooldown
• 40 minutes, 250 cals, 3 miles (4.82km) 
• I sprinted the last minute of each 10 minutes too!
• Finished up with some upper body and abs. 

Before I left I snacked on half of an Amazing Grass Berry Whole Food Energy Bar…

I ate the other half after my workout.

Picked up coffee on the way home.  I’ll give you three guesses what I ordered!  haha.  Grande Egg Nog Bold Misto. 

Decided it was OK to drink it out of the Christmas mug Farm Girl gave me for my birthday…since many of my neighbors were outside fully decorating their houses this morning.

I’m off to Angie’s for her Pampered Chef party so made sure to snarf down some lunch before I head out. 

Yogurt, oats, flax, banana, pomegranate, hulled hemp seeds.

That should hold me over.

Gotta run!

Me + outdoor running = NOT BFFs

I finally updated and charged my iPod, the sun is shining, I was feeling more motivated, I had hydrated, I got up on time, and work wasn’t pummelling me with time sensitive projects…all things pointed to OUTDOOR RUN.

Except that I’m not experienced at outdoor running. AT ALL. 

Before I set out I had breakfast…

The Bee’s Knees and banana on toast.

Gasp!  Out of coffee this morning…oh no!  Rescued by Starbucks Via sample pack.  Phew.  Strong but tasty!

I updated my iPod.  It has literally been sitting here unused for about 6 months.  I finally wiped out my old music (bye bye songs I have had for 8 years!) and started from scratch.

And hooked up my new headphones.  My original iPod ones died last Winter, and the replacement pair I got wouldn’t stay in my ears.  These ones don’t seem to be much better…grrrr.

I was running a bit behind and breakfast had started to wear off so I munched on 1/2 a lemon Larabar on my way out the door.

The run = the sucks.

- Mistake #1:  putting my camera in my pocket.  it bounced around too much and distracted me.

- Mistake #2:  carried a water bottle.  again, distracting and I didn’t need it.

- Annoying thing #1:  new headphones didn’t stay in my ears.  so another thing distracting me.

- Annoying thing #2:  using iPod as timer.  I so need a digital watch (or a Polar!!).

- Rookie mistake el grande:  pacing!  I start out too fast.  I’m used to setting my pace on a treadmill and have no idea how to pace myself on my own.  I’m all over the place!

Needless to say it wasn’t the nice interval run I was hoping for.  More of just a mish-mosh of running when I could and a lot more walking than I should.  Any suggestions?  Obviously I need help! 

It was 3km in about 25 mins.  Lame.

Came home and went straight for lunch. 

The controversial “soup-snob” soup leftovers.  I hate waste so I just amped it up with some parmesan cheese and lots of fresh ground pepper.

Served up with a quick salad of spinach, grated zucchini, carrots and balsamic.

And hummus with FSTG chips.

Hit.the.spot.

As much as the run wasn’t what I thought it would be, I’m still glad I did it.  I kicked my own ass to get out there and do something, and now I know that I really need to focus to be ready for the Santa Shuffle 5km in just 5 weeks…eeeek.

And so it begins…

Again!! 

Why is it that I always seem to be jumping back on the horse?  I’m easily distracted that’s why.  Any excuse will do.  Well not today!

New menu/exercise plan.  This is the rough draft.  I already know my Saturday-Sunday will be swapped this week because I have plans on Sunday…but I wanted to lay out the “ideal” plan to start.

This may also change based on Haliblogger input.  Thus far, we have tentatively agreed that Fridays work for us to run together…but I can only imagine that seven Fridays in a row won’t work out. 

I’ve opted for a Mon-Tues-Fri running plan (based on the lovely Amy’s recommendation for a three day schedule).  I like this because even if we have to push Friday to Thursday or Saturday it won’t really mess up my training rhythm.

So far I’m only indicating an outdoor run once per week.  Mainly this is so I can do strength training at the gym at the same time as my runs, but if the weather cooperates or someone else feels like an outdoor run I can always modify as I go. 

Other goals for the next month (I say month because things may change when FH returns for Nov-13th)…

• at least 3 litres of water per day (watch Twitter for my daily water chugging challenges: #waterlogged, #nowigottapee)
• proper breakfast-lunch-snack-dinners
• more veggies – less meat – less carby treats
• extra yoga whenever I fit it in (my shoulder/neck issue is now creeping to the other effing shoulder!)
• and the ultimate October goal – no Halloween candy until Halloween! (Look out 31st…you will be mine!!)  bwahahaha :)

Do you have any October/Halloween/seasonal goals?

My First 5K!

The Halibloggers are feeling a little Christmas spirit already and have decided we are all going to do a 5km run together!  What better time of year to spread some cheer and charity?!  We’ve chosen the Santa Shuffle 5km Fun Run in support of our local Salvation Army.  Hopefully with a little work and tough love we can push each other to a new level of fitness for the holiday season!

As you all well know, I’m an indoor runner…and I hesitate to even call myself a runner because I generally stick to short distances and run intervals.  I’m super excited to follow a proper training plan with my girls and to hit the streets (although admittedly I’m not sure this is the best time of year for me to tackle outdoor running…me + ice = falling down a lot!).  Wish us luck!

We have approximately seven weeks to prepare and condition.  We can do it!  In preparation, I’m working on a new workout/running schedule today and using this as a new kick in the pants to get back on track with my healthy living. Embracing Balance!