Brrrrrrrrr

Blizzard Run is appropriately named because it was freezing out.  At least -21C with the wind chill factored in.  At the start line my toes hurt from cold and my legs were starting to numb.

This Ile Bizard course is always tough for several reasons:

1. It's the first race of the season
2. It's always ridiculously cold and can be icy
3. There are a lot of hills (the first kilometre is all up hill)

As I stood there at the start line I started to question my sanity to get up early to stand out in the cold, toes feeling as though they may turn black and fall off, and legs yelling at me for not being at home wrapped in my favourite sweat pants.  Then, the starting pistol fired and we were off.  I felt strong the entire time and although I never expected to break any records on this course, I was pleased with my results.  I felt strong, and I finished strong refusing to let someone pass me in the final 200 meters...

 

 
Over nine minutes off my first time racing this course all the way back in 2011 and almost a full five minutes off of my time from last year.  I crossed the finish line in 31:22:4 knowing that under better conditions, and a different course, maybe, just maybe, I could have broken into the twenties.

Blizzard Run

The first race in the 2013 Circuit Endurance is on Sunday, and despite the fact that I have run several 10k races and have been very good with my training I am still a little nervous. I hope I perform well.  This will be the first gauge at how far I am from breaking the damn 30 minute barrier.

Plus... It's called the Blizzard Run... I hope it's not too cold!

Triathlon

 

I have a feeling this will be me after the triathlon in July!

 

yawn & yay

This morning my alarm went off at 5:00 am, which gave me all of 15 minutes to get up, get ready and get out.  I could have given myself more time, but I refused to set my alarm in the 4 o'clock hour. Even 4:59 would have been totally unacceptable!

Why did I get up so early this morning? I am glad you asked! Since I registered for the Triathlon I have been feeling nervous about the swim portion.  Don't get me wrong, the idea of participating in Triathlon is daunting and the whole thing makes me nervous, but the swim portion in particular since you can technical drown swimming.  That being said, I wanted to feel more confident in the swimming leg, and the only way to do that is to practice.  But how do I practice if I have nobody to correct me when I'm doing something wrong?  After all, the last time I took swimming was in high school gym class!  So the only way to rectify the situation was to join the DDO Masters swim club. 

The swim club offers a few different practice times, but with two kids and a husband who does shift work the only feasible one was the 5:30 am to 7:00 am time slot.  I said it was "feasible" not "ideal".  It is a sacrifice, but if I am going to commit to this triathlon I want to make sure that I give it my full effort.  I want to go in knowing that I did everything I could to finish.  I want to go in feeling comfortable in the swim portion.  That way, even if I finish last, I'll know that I gave it all I could.

5:00 am the alarm went off, 5:30 am I was in the pool doing laps. Happy Monday!

Three, Third, Trois, Tres, Drei....

Third place! Third place! Third place!

Clearly I am pleased with myself.  Sunday January 27th 2013 Alana and I both participated in the Montreal JogX indoor 10k race.  This race consisted of 53 laps on a 190 meter indoor track.  It was sweltering, there were lots of turns and yet somehow I was actually the third female finished! And yes, there were more than 3 women participating.  I did not set a new PB, but I did finish pretty close to my best time.  Considering how hot and how many turns we had to do (turns slow you down) I am super pleased with myself:

9th place finish over all / third woman finished

Alana was the first female finished again.  This accomplishment allowed her to proudly walked from the JogX series having completed every 10k JogX race in first place.

 

Although I am very pleased with myself, I know that this is just the beginning.  I have a lot more training to do if I have any chance in reaching all the goals I have set for 2013.