It's Life, Max It Out

First Post In New Home

2011-11-04T16:54:00.001-07:00

My first post is in my new home at:

http://www.itslifemaxitout.com/

Just a reminder to save my new address to your favourites!

My Site Is Moving

2011-11-03T10:23:00.001-07:00

I have finally decided to give up on Blogspot. Sorry but it has too many issues and its driving me crazy.

I have a new home: http://www.itslifemaxitout.com/

It is currently empty and under construction but I hope to get it up by next week, so check back then but for now please change your saved link to my new home and I hope to see you all there soon!

Halloween Fun!

2011-11-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday all the ghosts and ghouls were out and also some bumble bees!

My daughter loves that I dress up in similar costume to hers. I have been doing it for the last 4 years and I hope we will be doing it for many, many more years.

Unfortunately it is always cold up here in Canada at the end of October but luckily it wasn't overly cold this year but we still had to winterize our costumes to deal with the temperature.

My daughter had a blast trick or treating and came home with a huge bag of chocolates, candies and chips. She is definately one happy little girl, mom not so much. I think its just way too much junk but I guess I need to let a kid be a kid but she will not be indulging in too many pieces in one day.

Now with my racing season over, Monday I started a new workout routine, check back as I will be telling you all about it!

Haunted Hill 5K - Last race of the year

2011-10-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

On Friday I went to pick up mine and my daughters race kit for the Haunted Hill 5K. This is a new race this year that is close to home which is a bonus. I really wasn't expecting too much from this race kit but wow was I surprised. I was truly surprised with the long sleeve tech shirt, so cute and comfortable!

I'll first say that this is my last race for the year and I was so happy to be running it with my daughter.

The race said that they encourage everyone to wear a costume so I was ready to bring out the tutus again. What better costume than our Minnie Mouse costume that we wore for the Disney Halloween 5K. Here we are as super cute Minnies, oh I should say super cute COLD Minnies.

Yes it was cold. We left the house while looking at the frost on the grass, it was a -3.5C up here in Caledon this morning, very cold!

Most of the race workers were also in costume which made for a very fun atmosphere:

I was very happy when teh race actually did start so we could get moving and warm up. Here we go as the race starts:

There we go.....got to love tutu pictures:

The race is called Haunted Hill because this course starts off with a big downhill and then at teh 2K mark we have to run up a HUGE hill and it then turns onto another BIG hill that has a cemetery on it, hence the "haunted hill" name. It then is pretty flat after the 3.5K mark. I had informed my daughter on the course and told her she could walk up most of the hill, which we did. I felt it was a really nice course, even with the hills and the volunteers were great!

Here we are crossing the finish line together:

My daughter did a fabulous job especially considering the hills, the cold and her runny nose. The race was chipped but they didn't post chip time, just official time and we were back a bit since I knew we were going to be a bit slower. So our official time was:

33:10

Pretty good considering I had Marina as my running partner. I will run slow anytime to get the opportunity to run with such a great kid. Here we are with our medals:

I will definately run this race again. It was well organized, great race kit, great volunteers, close to home and we get to wear costumes, yup it will be a race we will run again!

The Race That Didn't Happen

2011-10-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday I was suppose to run the Niagara Falls Half Marathon. Friday night I went to the expo and I was already feeling a bit under the weather. I thought it was just the gloomy rainy day that was making me feel off. Well Saturday was another rush rush busy day. My daughter and I had to go to a school's open house, hoping to get her into that school for next year. We went there in the morning and the we had to rush to get to dance. I felt so tired annd my throat was hurting so bad. After dance we stopped at the store for a few things including the Saturday newspaper since my daughter needed to find news articles for a homework assignment. When we finally got home I sat on the sofa and starting thinking about my race the following day. Was I well enough to run? I then remembered a promise I made to myself after the Princess Half Marathon at Disney where I run so incredibly sick and got Trigeminal Neuralgia because of the fact that I did run so sick. I then started thinking, "I'm not as sick as I was at the Princess race, I had a fever then and now its just a few body pains and a sore throat"! I then opened the newspaper and read this article:

I remember hearing about this runner on the news the previous weekend. I read the article and it then hit me. I can't run this race. I am not at 100%, I should not run. Don't risk it.

Luckily I did take my advice. I woke up in the middle of the night soaked. I was sweating out a fever all night long. I would not have run that race well at all and who knows how I would have ended up after the race.

This may sound strange but the hardest part was saying "I will not run this race" as opposed to not running the race.

I know there are other races but it was still hard since this would be my last half marathon this year and I really enjoyed the Niagara Falls Half Marathon last year and I was looking forward to running it again this year!

I will be lying if I say I was not disappointed but I guess we all have these moments!

Niagara Falls Marathon Expo

2011-10-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

I was a solo parent this weekend since hubby was off on one of his many scuba diving adventures so when I picked up my daughter from school we headed down to Niagara Falls to the Niagara Falls Marathon Expo.

Now the drive from her school to Niagara Falls should only take 2 hours at the most, well it took me 3 hours. The rush hour traffic heading that way was completely ridiculous. I honestly was exhausted from the drive. I am also feeling under the weather so I think that was a big factor in my tiredness, not to mention it started raining as I got closer to Niagara Falls and I hate driving in the rain when its dark.

Well we finally made it to the expo, I found last year this was a very poor expo, even the building that they hold it in is so old and dark and dingy. It was the same this year and there weren't many people there. Mind you the marathon runners can only pick up on Saturday because they need to go through customs since this race starts in the USA and finishes in Canada, again that is for the marathon race only.

My daughter saw the Brooks sign making sign and immediately wanted to make me a sign, she's so sweet!

We then walked around which was very short but at the Running Room booth look who we saw:

Yup John Stanton and he recognized me right away which was nice and introduced himself to Marina and started to talk to her about her platform diving. It was great to see him again.

After the expo we decided to leave Niagara Falls, it was dark, raining and we really needed dinner. My daughgter loves Boston Pizza so we headed towards St Catharines and stopped there for dinner. It was a great mommy and daughter dinner and we had some great conversations. I love seeing how beautifully my daughter is growing up. I can't believe she will be 9 in a few weeks.

Now as I mentioned before, I am feeling under the weather. I'm not sure how this race will pan out, stay tuned to find out!

Meeting John Stanton

2011-10-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

A new Running Room was having its grand opening yesterday and John Stanton was going to be there at 6:30pm to do a run. Unfortunately Marina had platform diving at the same time so I knew I couldn't attend but I wanted to check out the new store since it will be the one that is closest to me. So I went over just after lunch. The store was pretty empty and they had some shoes on sale so I got my size (they were outside by the front door) and I walked inside and sat down to try them on. As I sat down there was a man standing there looking at the shoe wall, he then turned around and said a quiet "hi" to me. Well I recognized him right away and I said a few energized, "Oh hi John, so nice to meet you". He then shock my hand and we started talking about everything and anything for over 30 minutes. He is the nicest person ever. I ofcourse had to get the sales clerk to take a picture of me and John!

We also talked about the race on Sunday, The Niagara Falls International Marathon, which I am running the half.

I was really not very excited for the race on Sunday, mainly because I haven't been training for the 2 weeks we were away and I just am not feeling very energetic and prepared. But after speaking with John I am so excited for Sunday's race. I am going to enjoy the fabulous scenery that the Niagara race gives us and I am going to cross that finsih line with a smile knowing that John will be calling out my name when I cross!

Last Batch Of Disney Pictures

2011-10-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

Here are the last batch of Disney pictures and then back to training and running.....LOL

So as most of you have probably noticed, I am obsessed with picture taking as well as with dressing my daughter in Disney themed clothing. I plan for months and months to what she will wear on what day of our trip and I decide that by who I think she will see. Yes a bit obsessive but the pictures are priceless. Just take a look at Marina with a custom made skirt with the Mad Hatter on, very hard to find and he loved it!

Then we met Alice and Rabbit and they gave her so much extra time and attention thanks to her skirt that also had them on it, yup I love it and so does she. I got so many compliments regarding this skirt while at the parks!

I love this picture of my daughter and I, thanks to a nice stranger who offered to take the picture!

Here we are at Disney's Hollywood Studios the following day and meeting Mickey again!

Epcot was our destination the next day and we met Daisy right at the entrance, she is so sweet!

A hard to get picture is with the Beast from Beauty and The Beast. Doesn't Marina look tiny next to him?

Our last day we spent at Animal Kingdom and we met the characters in safari wear!

Marina was all so excited to go on Kali Rapids and get soaking wet, must be great to be a kid!

Thank you all for putting up with all my Disney World pictures. We had a fabulous time and made many memories that will stay with us forever. Now back to reality and I am running a half marathon in a few days, argh, a bit unprepared for it seeing how I have been endulging while on vacation!

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

2011-10-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

Disney World does a special ticket party for the Halloween season, its called Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party or MNSSHP for all the Disney experts. We did this party 2 years ago and since we were there this year during this party I knew it was a must do this time around also.

The nights of this party Magic Kingdom closes for everyone who does not have this special ticket at 7:00pm and anyone with a ticket can get in as early as 4:00pm. We headed over at 6:00pm and here is Marina all happy on the monorail dressed as Princess Tiana and holding her Halloween Minnie!

Entering Magic Kingdom Marina was all excited for the evening ahead of her!

A must do for me is always a picture next to Cinderella's carriage which is only available for MNSSHP.

Another must is always to go see Mickey and Minnie in their costumes!

And this year a must do is seeing Princess Tiana since Marina was dressed like her and she had Prince Neevan with her tonight.

The Halloween fireworks are the best I have even seen. Truly magical!

They also do a Villains show and a very short meet and greet right after. Marina loved meeting some villains who are usually never around for pictures.

If anyone is at Disney World during this special ticket event, definately attend. It is by far the best evening you will have at Disney World!

Swim With The Manatees

2011-10-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

Thursday night after we left Disney's Hollywood Studios, Marina and I drove up to High Springs, FL where hubby was cave diving. We had planned a great adventure for Marina the following day in Crystal River, FL. Unfortunately we had to get up very early for this adventure but it was all worth it at the end of the day.

We went swimming with the manatees!

Take a look at the first picture of Marina on the boat all ready in her wetsuit, it is still dark. We were on the boat at 6:30am, way too early for me! Luckily right when we were going into the water the sun was starting to shine through. You can see Marina getting her mask ready to hit the water.

WOW is really all I have to saw about these gentle giants!

They love to be touched and they will come right up to you and rub against you. One came up and actually kissed Marina, she was on cloud 9.

We went to a few spots in the bay, but after the second spot Marina got cold so her and I stayed on the boat but we could still witness these amazing creatures since they would come right up to the boat, they love chewing on the rope of the anchor.

Here is hubby giving a manatee a big hug!

It was truly an amazing experience! Marina loved it and she has now swam with manatees, dolphins and stingrays. I asked what what next and she said Whale Sharks like daddy did last year......unfortunately she will need to have her scuba diving certificate to do that so it might be a few years!

More Disney Magic & What To Do When It Rains

2011-10-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

I am behind on posting about my Disney trip since we are now home. We got back last night but I wanted to post what else we did last week so here is all the fun we had.

Thursday we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios and we saw our favourite character again, yes we will never say no to taking pictures with him, STITCH:

The Incredibles were so much fun and they did a bunch of muscle flexing poses which are my daughters favourite pose:

We ofcourse spent most of the day on rides and we saw the American Idol Experience show which was very good and Marina loved it. But we also saw more characters, Marina always gets a kick out of meeting everyone:

I will post what a special day Friday was, that needs its own post all together. All I can say is it involves amazing animals and we did something many will never do. Look out for tomorrows post!

Saturday and Sunday were 2 full days of straight downpour of rain, yes it was terrible. Saturday I had scheduled to spend the day shopping and Sunday was suppose to be a beach day. We decided to hit the mall anyways on Saturday but so did everyone else that was in Florida. I hate crowds so we stayed for a bit but I was feeling claustrophobic and we left to return to the condo and just chill the rest of the day. Sunday we decided we needed to get out of the house so we headed to Downtown Disney to catch a movie. After an amazing day on Friday with an amazing animal ( I know I am teasing you all ) we decided we had to go watch a movie about another amazing animal. We went to watch Dolphin Tale.

Dolphin Tale is a true story about a dolphin named Winter that lost her tail and she got a prosthetic tail. We were lucky to actually meet Winter a few years ago when we were vacationing in Clearwater, FL. Little did we know she would be a movie star a few years later! It was an amazing movie about an amazing animal. I would definately recommend it to everyone!

When we entered the theatre it was pouring rain and it did not look like it was going to clear up but to our surprise it was sunny when we left the theatre, what a pleasant surprise. So we decided to walk around Downtown Disney and enjoy the sunshine. We also enjoyed all the Halloween decor that Disney sets up.

Marina even had a Halloween cookie to put her in teh Halloween mood. She said it was delicious and best yet it was peanut free, which is always hard to find!

Okay can you all guess what we did that Friday? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Disney's Food & Wine Festival

2011-10-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we had planned that we'd spent the day at Epcot and instead of having a sit down lunch somewhere we would take advantage of the Food and Wine Festival and eat our way around the world. If people aren't familiar with this, Disney World does this event every year and they have kiosk of different countries and they sell small samplings of their foods and drinks. Believe it or not I am a foodie but I enjoy fresh, healthy food and I do enjoy trying different foods from different cultures and countries so I thought I should try this festival. But first we had to made a pit stop at the Character Spot and see some characters. Here is my Minnie Mouse ready for the day!

Marina had not seen Pluto yet so this was priority #1 for today.

We started eating around the world at about noon and finished at about 4:30pm, I wanted to spread it out a bit since I really am not a big eater but I had my daughter with me to also be a food critic and taste all the food. It was actually really fun doing this with her, we rated all the foods with Mickey heads, a rate of 1 to 5. So here are the items we tried and our ratings.

ITALY - Ravioli di formaggio (baked cheese ravioli with creamy beef bolognese)

I decided to try this because my daughter is a huge cheese and pasta fan so I was thinking this would be her favourite and she did eat most of it, I only had a few bites.

Marina's Rating - 5 Mickey heads
My Rating - 3 Mickey heads

While I found this creamy and the cheese was perfectly melted, it did lack a bit of taste. It really could have done with some more seasoning My daughter on the other hand loved it!

NEW ZEALAND - Seared Sea Scallops with Kumara-Red Curry Puree and Apple Radish Salad

The sea scallop was cooked perfectly!

Marina's Rating - 3 Mickey heads
My Rating - 3 Mickey heads

Now we both rated it 3 but for different reasons. My daughter is not a scallop fan or a spicy fan so all she ate was the apple radish salad and she enjoyed it and alone it was tasty. Me, I ate it all together and while the scallop was delicious, the kumara-red curry puree had just enough spice, the apple radish salad did not taste good with the rest. It seemed completely out of place.
PORTUGAL - this was the first year Portugal was included at the Food & Wine Festival so I was very excited to have some authentic Portuguese food, go back to my roots!

PORTUGAL - Linguica Sausage with Onions, Peppers and Olives

Marina's Rating - 4 Mickey heads
My Rating - 3 Mickey heads

Being of Portuguese decent, I know Portuguese food and that sausage was not a "linguica". It was just a regular sausage, while my daughter ate all of except the one bite I tried. She loved the sausage and the bread. I ate the peppers, onions and olives and it was tasty but I was so disappointed that this was not an authentic Portuguese dish since the sausage was not the correct one.

PORTUGAL - Pastel de Nata

Marina's Rating - 4 Mickey heads
My Rathing - 3 Mickey heads

Okay the famous Portuguese dessert is the Pastel de Nata (custard tarts). When she was taking out my tart I could see it wasn't an authentic Pastel de Nata and then she sprinkled what looked like sugar on top, what????? This was a very sad looking immitation and its so sad that people will think that this is what a Pastel de Nata is suppose to be. Mind you it did taste good and my daughter ate it all up but this was not was I was expecting.
HAWAII - Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour Pineapple Chutney

Marina's Rating - 5 Mickey heads

My Rating - 4.5 Mickey heads

This was the most tender pork on a sweet bread (great touch) but the pineapple chutney was minimal.

BRAZIL - Frozen Caipirinha Cocktail

I definately needed a drink to wash down all this food and it definately needed to be alcohol! Obviously Marina did not try this, but I give this 4.5 Mickey heads. It was very delicious and I am a big Caipirinha fan and I had never tried a frozen one, but I think it should have had a slice or half of a lime to finish it off perfectly!
GREECE - Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki

Marina's Rating - 5 Mickey heads
My Rating - 5 Mickey heads

This was delicious, tender chicken in a warm pita with very tasty tzatziki, it could not be better, well it could have been a bigger serving!
BELGIUM - Belgium Waffle with Berry Compote

Marina's Rating - 5 Mickey heads

My Rating - 5 Mickey heads

This was very good, just look at it, it does look delicious but I did feel it was a very small waffle. This was Marina's pick and she wanted another one because it was so good!

There were a few more items that I wanted to try and if we were staying longer I probably would have tried. Just for your info, the other countries that were there were: Australia (which had a delicious looking shrimp skewer but it was not served with anything so I passed), Argentina, Caribbean (which had a Frozen Dragon Berry Colada that I was very tempted to try but one was my limit since it was just me with my daughter), Mexico, Scandinavia, China, South Korea, South Africa, Cheese Kiosk (which looked so tempting but I passed since my daughter only likes one type of cheese), Germany, Poland, Singapore, Japan (which had sushi that was very popular), Morocco, France, Ireland, Canada (yes I know its so bad I didn't try something here) and lastly they had a dessert and champagne kiosk and beer kiosk.

I think its a great festival however seeing how the Portuguese food was not 100% authentic I wonder about the other countries as well. But my daughter and I had a fun afternoon taste testing and I would definately do it again!

3 Magical Disney Days In One Post

2011-10-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

I'm behind in posting because we have been having too much fun! So here are 3 days in one post.

The day after the race we got up early for a before park opening breakfast, I love those because the park looks empty. Here is a picture of us in an empty park:

I had only gotten to bed at about 2am and was up at 7am to make it to Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom to meet my favourite, Piglet:

We spent most of the day at Magic Kingdom, it was a great recovery for my legs to be walking all day but boy were they sore. We left the park mid afternoon because we had to go get a second rental car since hubby and his friend are heading to cave country this evening for a week of scuba diving in the caves.

Monday my daughter and I headed back to Magic Kingdom for a full day of fun and yes more walking, my legs were still sore but good to keep them moving. Again we got in before the park opened since we had breakfast reservations at the castle, my daughter was thrilled to eat with the princesses again and she dressed up as Princess Jasmine!

Visiting Tinkerbells new home was priority #2 today.....

Can you all guess what priority # 1 was?

Definately could not pass up this great photo opportunity. Two Jasmines, how lovely! And we had to get pictures with the famous couple, Mickey & Minnie!

Tuesday we headed to Animal Kingdom for the day and we started with breakfast at our favourite restaurant for breakfast, Tusker House and we saw Mickey!

And you all know me by now, I had a priority #1 today too and here it was:

Lilo was amazed by Marina's dress, not many Lilo dresses around, this one was custom designed by me and custom made by my mom, awesome isn't it!

And lastly we had to see Mickey one last time at his camp.

So there are 3 magical days at Disney, many more to come. Check back!

Disney Halloween 5K and Wine & Dine Half Marathon Recap

2011-10-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

It has been an exciting few days here in Orlando, Florida! My race recaps are a bit late but there is so much Disney fun to have I had to wait to write my race reports. But here they are!

Disney Halloween 5K

This was a bright and early 7:00 am start at Animal Kingdom. We were out the door at 5:40am and arrived at Animal Kingdom at about 6:00am, there was a bit of traffic going into the parking lots.

I was running this race with my hubby and daughter. We were dressed as 2 Minnie Mouse' and 1 Mickey Mouse.

We got quite a few people asking to take pictures of us thanks to our costumes. We waited for awhile for the race to start but we were happy when it did and we were off!

I actually went out to fast and my family had to call me back. I forgot my watch and I had no idea I had gone out too fast for them. So I did slow it down but felt a bit lost without my watch attached to me.

One reason my daughter loves Disney races is for the characters. We were very disappointed during this race that the characters were minimal. Marina was excited to see this guy on the course cheering her along:

Here are 2 of the 3 character stops they did have.

We crossed the start line together and we crossed the finish line together about about 35 minutes. Not bad for my family's first 5K together!

Wine & Dine Half Marathon

The Wine & Dine Half Marathon was on the same day as the Halloween 5K but just at 10:00pm.

I always find night races hard in terms of when and how much to eat and drink. Also this race looked logistically a nightmare on paper and it turned out to be just that. Runners were not able to be dropped of at the start which was at ESPN, we had to be dropped off at Epcot and bussed to ESPN. Hubby dropped me off and I got in a HUGE line to get on the buses. When we finally got to ESPN we sat on the bus for almost 30 minutes looking out the window at all the other runners warming up and taking pictures with Mickey and Minnie. The amount of buses going in and out was crazy. When I finally got off the bus I found my way throught the thousands of runners to get close enough to my corral as possible. And what was my corral?????

Woohoo, yup Corral A, love it! They wanted everyone at Epcot before 8pm, which I was but the race did not start until 10:00pm, the waiting was terrible, especially the waiting in the corrals. The night was starting to get chilly )or atleast I felt getting cold, probably due to all the waiting around) so I made sure to stay in the middle of the crowd, no wind and more hot air than the sides. 10:00pm came and off we went!

As I was standing in the corral, about 10 minutes to start time I knew I needed a washroom but there was no possible way to use on at that point in time. So as we started running I knew there was going to have to be a porta potty stop soon. Definately not the way you want to start a race.

I also found that the character stops at this race were minimal and nothing too exciting but I stopped at 4 of the 5 or 6, again I stopped at the more interesting ones.

It was hot during the run, you can see my very wet sweaty self here with Goofy:

My race consisted of 4 character stops which luckily did not have long lines, 2 bathroom stops, my stomach was not cooperating with me, and one medic table stop, my left knee was acting up so I got some BioFreeze which worked marvelously.

I was on a good roll to finish under 2 but unfortnately with all my stops and a bit of a slow down while my knee acted up I finished just over 2. My stats were:
Chip Time - 2:02:58
Gender - 450th out of 15213
Category - 94th out of 1953

This was my second half marathon "Disney" race and I hope its not my last but honestly the Princess Half Marathon was 100% better than the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. I was shocked how different the two races are. I am not sure I would run the Wine & Dine again!

Wine & Dine Expo and Disney Hollywood Studios Day

2011-09-30T18:17:00.000-07:00

Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Expo

Today we headed to ESPN to the Wine & Dine Half Marathon Expo to pick up all our race packets.

Here is the expo floor. I thought it wasn't as good as the Princess Half Marathon expo and we made our way around really quickly. I did buy a new pair of racing sunglasses since I noticed a crack in my existing pair.

We picked up 4 race packets!

This is the race packet of the 5K Halloween race. Cute shirts but I find the bibs really big and long. Unfortunately hubby only decided to race a few months after I signed my daughter and I up so he has a higher number.

Here is the Wine & Dine Half Marathon race packet. I like the $10 gift card and I am sure my daughter will help me use it and it won't go very far. Personally I am not a fan of this shirt but I never wear the shirts so I guess it doesn't matter. Does anyone else wear the race skirts?

We spent the rest of the day at Disney Hollywood Studios and it was scorching hot, which I love but my family not so much. We rode all the rides we wanted to and our favourite ride was ridden 4 times, awesome. We had lunch at Sci-Fi Drive In, really cool restaurant. I had the grilled chicken sandwich with cucumber salad. The chicken was delicious but I felt teh cucumber salad was lacking something, but it was still good.

Here are a couple of character pictures from our day!

Tomorrow we are running the Halloween 5K at 7am and then I am running the Wine & Dine Half Marathon at 10pm. Wish us luck!

Greetings From Walt Disney World

2011-09-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Well we are here!

We are in the most magical place on earth, Walt Disney World!

We got off the plane and the heat was unbelievable and pure heaven for me. I am hoping the weather remains like this for our 15 days of vacation. Yes I am here for 15 days, but wishing it was more, a girl can dream can't she!

So what are we doing here? Here is our list:

* Firstly and most importantly, I am running the Wine & Dine Half Marathon at Disney....woohoo

* Secondly I am running the Halloween 5K with my daughter and hubby, truly a magical day!

* My daughter and I will have 10 days at WDW enjoying the parks, rides, characters, yes my daughter is so excited! Hubby will also be at the parks with us but not for the full 10 days.

* Attending MNSSHP (Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party), we did this special ticket event a few years ago and loved it so we are attending it again this time around.

* Hubby will spend some of his time scuba diving the caves with his diving buddy from Portugal that is coming in a few days and heading home with us for a few months. And we will give him an expert tour of Disney since this place feels like our second home!

* We are all swimming with the manatees, how incredible will that be.

* Spend a day at Ginnie Springs, enjoy the crystal clear water

* Spending a day at Cocoa Beach....oh yes, I had to hit the beach. I wished it was for more than one day but unfortuantely it was impossible to work into the schedule

* Shopping, shopping and defiantely more shopping!

So you see our 15 days are jammed packed.

We started our first day at Downtown Disney and we had dinner at T-Rex. Its one of my daughters favourite restaurant on Disney property. Why? She loves the ribs. Argh my daughter is a huge meat eater just like her dad. Me I enjoyed the Jurassic Shrimp Skewers. It was grilled shrimp, red pepper, red onion and zuchinni served over raptor rice with mago salsa. The flavours were tantalizing to my tongue, delicious!

We then did some shopping and walked around Downtown Disney, definately a perfect Day #1!

If anyone is a Disney fan, make sure to check back each day. I am going to try and post daily pics of our adventures.

My Daughters Article in iRun Magazine

2011-09-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

This post will be a big PROUD MOMMY moment post!

iRun Magazine had a call out for childrens race reports and I knew my daughter would be perfect to write a report of her many races. I asked Marina if she would like to write one and she was more than eager to do it. They asked that she write a report about her favourite race ever and I am sure you all know which one that was!

For anyone not familiar with the magazine, it is a Canadian runners magazine, here is the cover of the issue she is in:

Here is the full page. There were 3 kids race reports chosen.

Here is her article. I think she did a great job and they did not edit it at all which I think is great!

I think I have planted a tiny "runners" seed in my daughter. I am so proud of her running and her desire to run. I can not wait to have her as a running partner in years to come!

PS - if anyone has an extra mag, please feel free to mail it out to me....LOL

Run For The Grapes Half Marathon Recap

2011-09-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

Have you ever got up in the morning on race day and decide to NOT go?

Well I almost did that on Sunday BUT I am SOOOOO Happy I DIDN'T.

WHY??????

Because I got a PR in my Half Marathon...........WOOHOOO !

Sunday I ran the Run For Grapes Half Marathon in St Catharines. When I woke up my house was so cold and I was totally not feeling it but I got up and got ready and we headed out. We got to the race and I picked up my race kit and headed to the start line. Here I am waiting with my daughter for the start to happen:

The horn sounded and I was off:

I was so not expecting two major hills in the first mile but I was doing really good pace wise. I had set a goal for a 1:57 for this race, I even wrote my splits on my hand to try to keep on top of my progress. After a few miles I was 2 minutes ahead of my time, I was so happy and feeling pretty good, I started feeling like I could accomplish the 1:57. My previous half marathon PR was 1:58:13 so 1:57 was totally doable.

At about the half way mark I was about 3 minutes ahead and I was feeling a bit tired after the head on wind we got at the 7K mark but I was still pushing it and getting over the rolling hills pretty easily. I took a GU at about 13K and at the next water station stopped briefly to take a good drink to let the GU go down completely. I find GU a bit thick so I always make sure there is a water station just ahead. I noticed this one runner who I see at all the races I do. She is always a minute or so ahead of me and at many times she has been my focal point and what helps me go a bit faster just to try to keep up to her. She had stopped for water and I took this opportunity to tell her to "get going". I said it in a nice way though ofcourse. I told her she is always ahead of me and she needs to get running so I can follow her. She thought that was pretty funny and mentioned she was having a hip pain so I said okay let's get running then, we need to finish. We ran and chatted right up to 19.5K mark. The kilometers went by quickly as we chatted and we learned a bit about each other. She is a super nice lady and I enjoyed our time running together. At the 19.5K mark there was a big downhill and then 2 large up hills and I knew I did not want to push it. I knew I was way ahead of my goal and I did not want to hold her back. I told her to go ahead, I was going to slow down a bit and she was super nice, telling me I could not stop. I assured her I was just going to slow it down a bit and I would see her at the finish line and off she went. The two hills right before the finish were difficult but I knew the end was close. As soon as we turned the corner and I could see the finish line I bolted. Here I am bolting:

I didn't even see hubby and my daughter but look who followed me:

I had no idea she was there until I crossed the finish line and I was so happy to see my new friend also at the finish line waiting for me to finish. That was so nice of her. Here is a picture of myself and Roula at the finish line:

I thanked her and she thanked me for the great run we did together and hopefully we will see each other again!

So what was my final time:

Chip - 1:54:47 - WOOHOO......3.5 minutes PR.....I was soooooo excited I annoyed my family the whole way home about beating my time.

Gender Rank - 50 out of 179

Age Category - 9 out of 28

Honestly I was on cloud 9 all day. Here is my daughter and I acting a little silly!

Energizer 10K Night Race Recap

2011-09-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Have you ever signed up for a race without reading "ALL" the details?

Well I did that when I signed up for the Energizer 10K Night Race. I read the main details, like the date, start time and location but I didn't go into the course details. A few days before the race I took a look at the website to read the rest of the details and that is when I learned that the race was through a park, in the night. I have a fear of running alone in forested area, especially in the dark. Back in University there were a number of girls raped in the park/forest next to the University and it hit really close to home so ever since then I am very afraid of parks and night. So going into this race I was already freaking out. But I told myself to make sure I was always next to another runner. Let's just say my nerves were acting up at the start of this race.

When we got to the race location Marina noticed the Energizer Bunny and mommy saw "photo op"! Here is a cute picture:

I picked up my race kit when we got there and I make sure to set up my headlight and see how it worked.

How does it look?

Okay, standing in the corral with everyone else wearing their headlights I was having a feeling that this headlight was going to bug me. OMG did it ever. After the first mile, it kept falling down into my eyes. I had it on the tightest position possible but it still kept falling. But looking at this picture i now understand why the majority of people have either a hat on or a headwrap.............because it hold the headlight up. Why didn't anyone tell me that?

Here I am at the start of the race:

And here I am finishing the race in the dark:

Okay I just have to vent about this race. Here is the good and the bad.

THE BAD
* Damn headlight kept falling into my face
* We were told NO ipods on the course, which I totally understood after the race was over but it took me completely out of my comfort level.
* Running through a forest in the pitch black ALONE
* After the turn around mark, its dark, nobody running infront of me and all I could see is dozens of little lights running towads me, even going onto my side and I could not see where I was running.
* Very narrow bridges + 2 lane traffic = disaster
* In the dark, the little headlight beaming on the floor infront of me is throwing off my footing

THE GOOD
* Amazing volunteers and supporters along the route cheering us on and warning us of the narrow bridges up ahead
* Amazing entertainment on the course.......jugglers juggling lighted items, very cool
* After party, which we didn't stay for much, was rocking when we left
* Apparently the bbq food was excellent. My daughter was hungry so I got her the burger slider and she ate it all and said it was delicious
* There was a beer tent, I am not a beer fan but it looked like it was happening. Definately a very happy place.

So overall it was a great race. I did face my fears dead on, I didn't like it but I did it, I guess that is good for the solo. I would totally do this race again but I would wear a hat to not have any headlight issues. I think once you have run a course, the second time is so much easier because you know what to expect.

So here are my stats:

Chip Time - 53:37
Gender Rank - 65 out of 485
Category Rank - 26 out of 155

So not too bad, I'm actually surprised I did so well with all the obstacles!

Unfortunately we got home late because we got stuck in traffic on the 401 through Toronto, argh, I hate Toronto for all its traffic. But we got up pretty early the following day and it was a gorgeous day so we decided to head to the Georgetown Fall Fair. We had a bunch of fun, especially my daughter who mastered the rock wall:

And took me on a bunch of very jerking and spinning rides. Wow did I feel sick after those fair rides.

Being an avid Disney World visitor, I so enjoy all their nice smooth, interactive rides. Fair rides are always so bumpy, creeky and jerky, just not my fave. Things we do for our children!

Anyone off to their towns fall fairs this year?

Back To School = Back To The Gym

2011-09-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Can I say how happy I was to see Tuesday come. Tuesday was the first day of school and my daughter was bouncing off the walls. I have never seen a kid so excited to go back to school.

She was so excited to go back to school and I was excited to get back to the gym. Hubby and I changed gyms during the summer from Premier to LA Fitness, he was able to go during the summer but unfortunately I was not able to. But let me tell you I have been there everyday since Tuesday. I forgot how much I love going to the gym, the workouts are so much better than what I am able to do at home.

My next race is this Saturday evening, yes a night race.

Its the Energizer 10K where we are given a headlight and need to wear it for the duration of the run. It should be an interesting run. I am using this race to help me prepare for the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon that I will be running in less than a month.

I am so excited for that race. It is also an evening race but a much later start time. The Energizer 10K in Toronto has a 7:45pm start time and the Wine & Dine in Disney, Florida start tiem is 10:00pm, I think these two races will test me a bit, but that's what makes life fun!

Anyone have any advice for a night race preparation?

Professional Race Pictures

2011-09-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

I am behind on posting my professional race pictures, its amazing how some look awful and some look pretty good.

I have not ordered any professional race pictures but I think there is one in here that I will order. Which one is it?

These are from The Twenty Valley 5K

These are from the Twenty Valley Half Marathon:

These are from the Acura 10 Miler:

If you guessed the second picture from the Twenty Valley Half Marathon you are right. I was also thinking of getting the first picture of the Acura 10 Miler, put I don't like how that guy is right behind me there.

The Chocolate Race 10 Miler Race Report

2011-08-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

I had heard so much positive reviews of "The Chocolate Race" that I knew I had to try it this year.

Firstly when I signed up it did mention that the chocolate was not nut free which I was fine with, I knew I would not have any but a week before the race, the final information was emailed out and they mentioned that they will have peanut butter chocolate at the food area after the race. This gave me an ill feeling. For your info my daughter has a peanut allergy, so this freaked me out a bit. I made sure my daughter wore her purse that had her epi-pens in it and she was instructed not to touch anyone or anything. Her and hubby headed off to the car which was parked not to far away during most of the race and just came back when they knew I would be coming through the finish line. So needless to say I was a bit on edge already for this race.

Secondly Hurricane Irene which was currently hitting New York State was giving us here a nasty wind. This race was partly by the lake and when we hit those areas, wow, the force was pretty hard.

The course was actually a bit challenging, hills, trail, alot of turns, I felt like a snake at times, very narrow course areas at times. I actually had a really good first 6 miles, but at about mile 6 I got a horrible side stitch that I could not get rid of. I had to slow down a bit which I was so not happy about since I was about 2 minutes ahead of my estimated time. I also felt the last 3 miles were challenging with all the walkers of the 5K and 10K that decided to walk 2 or 3 in a row and chit chat. This course area was not very wide and you really had to weave in and out of the walkers.

I was very happy to be approaching the finish line and hubby got a great picture of me on that last half mile on the bridge:
My stats were:
Official Time - 1:29:48 - I had no chip time, not sure why, some people did others didn't but it won't be too far off from that
Gender Rank - 38th (out of 202)
Category Rank - 16th (out of 57)

We left as soon as I finished. The lineup for the food was crazy and I saw that it was chocolate croissants, chocolate milk and chocolate truffles. I was soooo craving a banana and bagel. I am not a chocolate lover at all so it was no lose for me and I would not eat that with my daughter around, so the race was a bit disappointing for me. I also felt the actual registration price is really high for a 10 Miler, especially when I won't be enjoying any of the post race goodies.
Will I do this race again? Probably not!

Look Who My New Running Partner Is

2011-08-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

This week I have had a new running partner and he has done an amazing job. Take a look!

Isn't he super cute? He also did an amazing job and I am so proud of him. He is our 10 year old Doberman who has always loved running around the yard but has never run with me on a leash.

Joanne from Apple Crumbles has posted how much she enjoys running with her fur baby that I asked her for advice and she did mention this type of leash as seen in these next 2 pictures.

The leash wraps around my waist and has a quick release and then hooks on the dogs collar. It worked perfectly. Kobe was so focused when he was running, he never missed a step and stayed right at my side the whole time.

Historical Weekend Trip

2011-08-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

It was an exciting weekend at this end, firstly I was disconnected pretty much from the "internet world" which is always nice. Hubby had a scuba diving trip with his scuba shop, basically it was 25 divers, then myself and our daughter in 3 cabins by the lake. Luckily we had the best cabin and it was only 5 of us in there, sweet! I decided to plan some educational historical sites to visit with Marina, kind of getting her ready for school which will start in two weeks.

We started with a boat tour of the 1000 Islands out of Rockport and we got dropped of at Boldt Castle which is actually on the USA side so we had to go through customs when we docked at Heart Island, very interesting.

Here is Boldt Castle as we approached it:

Here is the Yacht House where they kept all their yachts:

The castle unfortunately is not completely restored inside but it is gorgeous on the outside:

After we visited the castle we got back on our tour boat and took a tour of Millionaire's Row, basically all the very expensive and gorgeous homes, most of them on their own private island. Check out these homes:

Even the boats were gorgeous. I'lll take this one please!

Here is hubby and Matt getting ready to play in the water. Yes they mean business! Our cabin was right at the top of those stairs. Very nice!

The following day Marina and I headed into Kingston and we went to see Fort Henry.

Here is who greeted us as we entered the gate.

Marina loved seeing all the cannons.

They actually fire off this cannon everyday at noon, here they are prepping it to go off:

It was definately a great mommy/daughter weekend. We not only did the 1000 Islands and Boldt Castle tour and the Fort Henry tour, we also walked around old downtown Kingston, Marina enjoyed the park, we went to watch Spy Kids 4 when hubby did a noght dive, and ofcourse shopping.

Okay this weekend is the 10 Miler Chocolate Race, I better get running!

Tobermory Cottage Week Review

2011-08-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous week at the cottage in Tobermory last week. I thought I would share some pictures that will demonstrate what we did all week. I hope you all enjoy the pictures!

This is what we called home for a week, "The Lightkeepers Cottage":
Enjoying watching the Chi-Cheemaun ferry dock several times a day:

Gorgeous sunsets every night, minus one:

Watching hubby and friends enjoying their sport of Scuba Diving:

Marina playing in the water while hubby scuba dives in Georgian Bay:

We ate with Pirates:

We enjoyed the beach.....unfortuantely this day we also witnessed a man tragically passed away in the dangerous waves, very sad:

More gorgeous sunsets:

Enjoyed friends and their boats:

Spent the day at the Grotto enjoying the beauty of Georgian Bay:

Enjoyed the gorgeous views:

Hiked up the trails to get to this beautiful spot:

Went swimming in the Grotto cavern:

More gorgeous views:

Lots of family time:

Toured the marine unit of the police force:

It was a great week, we only had one bad rainy day so it didn't damper our time at all. You got to love summer!

Acura 10 Mile Race Report

2011-08-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

After a week up in Tobermory and with only 2 tame runs this past week I was feeling a bit nervous about this race. My summer training as been lacking thanks to having my daughter out of school and being with me 24/7, why oh why didn't I put her in a summer camp???? So I knew this was not going to be a PR race but I was actually fine with that. I ran the Acura 10 Mile last year and minus the heat, I really did enjoy it so I was excited to run this race again.

I got up and it was a nice cloudy morning, perfect, hopefully it won't be as hot as last years race or as hot as my last race, the Twenty Valley 5K and Half Marathon. We drove into downtown Toronto and found the same parking as last year and went to get my race kit and bib. We got there a bit early so I had to wait around for a bit, I really hate the waiting. I managed to hit the porta-potty, so glad I did and I then realized I left my drink in the truck and I was thristy. I went in search of water and the post-race food and drinks were out and I got a water which helped my thirst a bit. When it was time to get in the corrals I felt like I should hit the porta-potty again but they were soooo busy and it would be too late so I waiting in my corral thinking of my bladder, not a good sign!

The horn went off and off I went, yup still thinking of my bladder!

The race course was the exact same as last year which is nice because I knew what to expect. I was eager to get to the 5K turn around because mentally seeing all the 5Kers pass me and proceed to the finish and I still have many more miles to go, mentally hurts. Okay so I got pass that point and I was starting to get very hot, it wasn't cloudy in Toronto like it was in Caledon and the sun was beaming down on me and I was feeling it. I felt thirsty during the whole race, I must not have hydrated enough yesterday and now I was feeling it. I also got the same side stitch that I get during every race which slowed me down a bit. I really need to figure out why I get those. The first half was hot but luckily the second half had a bit of a breeze and the clouds were starting to roll in. At about the 7 mile mark I noticed the runner in front of me was keeping a bit of a quicker pace than me and I decided to stick with her so it would help get my pace up a bit and get me going. I found this really helped but I did loss her at the last 1 K mark but that was fine because it helped me get that far. I was very happy when I got to that underpass because I knew it was a quick run up the hill and a sharp left turn and the finish line would be there. Here I am coming to the finish line:

I knew this would not be a great race but it was a good race. At certain points during the race I knew there would be no PR so I tried to reflect, enjoy the scenery, concentrate on my posture and enjoy this journey!

Here are my stats:

Chip Time - 1:30:13

Gender Rank - 211 (out of 780)

Category Rank - 32 (out of 119)

Here I am with my daughter leaving the runner chute, yes she always comes over to the dark side.I have to give the organizers a pat on the back, I was so pleased with this race again this year and probably more. There were so many race officials and medics patrolling the course and all the volunteers were amazing. This will definately be one race that I will try to run each year!

On our way back to the truck I decided to be silly:

And more silly:

Two girls being silly!

See you again next year Acura 10 Miler!

Recipe #8 - The Last Recipe Review

2011-08-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

Still at the cottage but here is the last recipe that I reviewed from "Anita Stewart's Canada : The Food/The Recipes/The Stories" for Vanessa at Vanessa Runs.

The last recipe is Margaret's Peas and Eggs. This is another Portuguese recipe that brings back fond memories of lunches that my mom would make for me. This has always been a favourite of mine and to this day I have never made it myself, until now. This recipe is great for a quick lunch, which is what I did. This recipe consists of olive oil, onion, garlic, pimento sauce, chourico, frozen peas, eggs, salt & pepper.
Firstly you need to saute the onion, garlic and chourico and wow what a delicious smell that filled my home at that point.

Then the peas are added and it didn't say to add any water which I thought was a bit odd.

Lastly you add the eggs on top and let them cook to whatever degree you would like.

The final outcome is a tasty meal.

Like I mentioned above, I was shocked that they didn't say to add any water. Because of that my peas did stick a bit and they were starting to burn. Definately add a bit of water if you make this recipe, not alot but just a little so that it does not stick.

I ate this with freshly baked whole wheat bread, dipped in the egg, and it was delicious. It reminded me of my childhood days and what is better than that. Those innocent days can never be forgotten.

Recipe #7 - Gingerbread

2011-08-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

At the cottage this week enjoying a relaxing week, here is the next recipe on the schedule from "Anita Stewart's Canada : The Food/The Recipes/The Stories" for Vanessa of Vanessa Runs.

This is the second recipe from the Maple Syrup, Honey and Molasses chapter. The recipe is The Red Shoe's Gingerbread. The recipe consisted of butter, brown sugar, eggs, molasses, ginger, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground cloves and water. My daughter is a ginger cookie lover so I thought this would be a good recipe to make for her. It was very quick to make and bake.

Pan ready to go into the oven.

The recipe did say it would bake for 45 to 50 minutes, but mine baked in 30 minutes and it came out golden brown and looking delicious.

My daughter was eagerly awaiting to try this cake. As soon as it cooled she got a piece.

This cake was so soft, so fluffy, it was almost like eating cotton candy, in terms of the texture. The flavour was similar to a gingerbread cookie that we have all enjoyed during the Christmas holidays but add in the soft texture and it is definately a gingerbread lovers dream. In the cookbook it suggests serving it with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or spoonfuls of applesauce but honestly this cake does not need anything else. It is perfect just the way it is!

Recipe #6 While At The Cottage

2011-08-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

I am at the cottage this week with limited wi fi access so I scheduled the rest of the recipes that I am doing of "Anita Stewart's Canada : The Food/The Recipes/The Stories" for Vanessa from Vanessa Runs.

My next recipe that I tried was in the Maple Syrup, Honey, Molasses chapter. I was excited to read this chapter because my parents actually make maple syrup and honey at their cottage. My dad has always had bee hives back in Portugal and when he came here they got a cottage and also got bee hives. Their honey is so sweet, it comes from all the wild flowers on their 50+acres of land. They also started making maple syrup years ago. They have some beautiful mature maple trees on their property and what better to do than make maple syrup. I will have two recipes from this chapter to review since I love the sweet stuff.

The first recipe is Min Biback's Honey Cake. This recipe consisted of flour, baking powder, salt, ground cloves, ground ginger, cinnamon, sugar, honey, eggs, oil, baking soda, coffee and cream of tartar. Looking at the ingredients I thought, "wow it is going to have a spicy flavour". I am not a big fan of cloves are ginger but thought the combination of all the ingredients will be a great combo. I did make one small change, they asked for 4 cups of white flour but I could not in my right mind make a cake with just white flour so I did half white and half whole wheat flour. The making of the cake was simple and took very little time.

Cake coming out of the oven:

Cake cooling on a wire rack.

A sliced piece ready to be eaten.

As soon as I cut a piece of the cake to try I was so excited for my taste buds to try this spicy treat. To my disappointment this cake had no spicy taste, it was completely BLAH! I was shocked! I think because I had to fold in the egg whites with the cream of tartar it may have numbed the taste of this cake. I could not taste the cloves or the ginger or the cinnamon at all. We did eat some of the cake but it needed something.....we put on some of my homemade strawberry jam and then it tasted yummy. But should a cake need jam to taste good? Definately NOT! This is a big flop and I would recommend nobody else to try this recipe.

Off To The Cottage For A Week

2011-08-06T05:44:00.000-07:00

I am off to the cottage for a week. Unfortunately there is limited wi fi in that area and the cottage is not connected at all. I have scheduled a few posts with the remaining of the recipe reviews from Anita Stewart's Canada : The Food/The Recipes/The Stories.

Here is what I will be reading during this week:
I haven't had much time to read but I know this week will be very relaxing and lots of down time so a perfect opportunity to get in some good reads.

Hoping to get up early enough before hubby needs to get on his charter boats for his scuba outings so that I can get in some nice runs, I need to make sure to take it easy since I have a race next Sunday.

Enjoy your week everyone!

Happy 14th Anniversary Sweetheart

2011-08-03T17:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was mine and hubby's 14th wedding anniversary.

How about some old pictures from August 2nd, 1997!

Not the best pictures, there were no digital pictures back then so these had to be really badly scanned. Wow do we look young. I unfortuantely don't remember much of my wedding day, I felt it was such a stressful day and it passed so qucikly. But I do remember how happy I was to find the love of my life!

Yesterday we decided to head to Niagara Falls for the day to enjoy the area and have a nice dinner overlooking the falls.

We took a stroll along the falls.

We then headed up for dinner and first thing was yummy daiquirs to have while enjoying the view.

The happy couple even 14 years later!

How about some food porn pictures. I didn't take pictures of everything unfortunately, I kept forgetting as I was enjoy the company and the view.

Firstly my appetizer was my favourite guilty pleasure, Caesar salad which was yummy.

Hubby had Mushroom Neptune which he said was very good.

Marina had a platter of oranges, celery and crackers.

My main entree was grilled chicken breast with shrimp, scallops and lobster meat, served with rice and asparagus. It was delicious!

Hubby had the sirloin steak with shrimp, scallops and lobster meat with mashed potatoes and asparagus. He was so pleased with his steak, he said it was cooked perfectly and very tender and moist.

Unfortunately I did not take pictures of Marina's main or our desserts but everything was delicious.

The view from our seats was also spectacular. The Canadian falls is always the nicest falls.

But the sun was shinning directly on the American falls and they also looked beautiful today.

Its been a fabulous and very eventful 14 years and I hope there will be alot more than 14 years ahead of us!

7 Links

2011-07-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

Aneta from "My Running Bucket" tagged me in "7 Links".

The Goal: To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.

The Rules: 1) Blogger is nominated to take part 2) Blogger publisheshis/her 7 links 3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part 4) These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 bloggers 5) And so it goes on!

And here are my link:

Most Beautiful - Disney's Royal Family 5K Race Recap - Nothing more beautiful than running with my daughter in her first 5K and it was done in the most magical place on earth, Disney World

Most Popular - Acura 10 Miler Race Recap - love all the support

Most Helpful - OMG Look Who I Met At The Runners Expo - Silvia was so inspirational, she helped me mentally so much for that race

Surprise Success - Angus Glen 10K Race Recap - it was cold, I hate the cold but had a great race and got 3rd in my category

Most Proud - Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon Recap - my first half marathon

Most Controversial - Disney's Princess Half Marathon - should I have really ran soo sick???

Not Enough Attention - I Kept A Promise To Myself - Don't Run Sick AGAIN - I hope everyone will listen to this

Thanks Aneta, it was really fun to look back at my old posted and relive the moments!

I now need to tag, I tag:

1 - Karen from Toronto Girl West

2 - Robin from Robin's Blog

3 - Joanne from Apple Crumbles

4 - Amber from This Is The Life

5 - Cynthia from Balls In The Air

Recipe Review #4 & #5 & 3rd Place Medal

2011-07-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

During the Twenty Valley Weekend Challenge I received 3rd place in my category in the 5K. Unfortunately I did not stick around for the award ceremony and I had no idea I had received a 3rd place since I did not see results posted anywhere and my daughter was hungry for dinner. When I did see the results after the weekend was over I was so disappointed I did not stick around for the award ceremony. I have gotten 3rd place twice and both times completely unaware. The first time was the Angus Glen 10K last year.

I did email Jerry at Instride, to see if it was possible to still get my 3rd place medal and he was more than happy to send it to me. I was so impressed. I have emailed him before for race related questions and he has always been helpful. If you are interested in running races in the Niagara Region, please check out a list of their races. They are by far the most organized races I have done.

So here are my 3 medals from that weekend.
Recipe Review

Vanessa from, "Vanessa Runs" has me reviewing "Anita Stewart's Canada : The Food/The Recipes/The Stories".

Today I will post two recipe reviews. We are heading to the cottage for a week next Saturday so I want to get most of these recipe reviews posted before then.

The first recipe is Peppery Portuguese Fish Stew (Caldeirada). I was super excited to try this recipe. As I mentioned before my background is Portuguese and I love almost all Portuguese food. I try not to eat potatoes, just empty starch, but I decided to make this recipe anyways because it just looked like it would be delicious.

I really liked that the recipe stated to layer the main ingredients and then season each layer. I have never cooked anythng in that manner before. So the main layers were: onions, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and garlic. Then each layer was seasoned with: parsley, mint, olive oil, pimento sauce, salt and pepper. Then topped with bay leaves.

Once the potatoes were soft you placed the fish on top, I used cod fillets since they are our favourite.

While it was cooking the house smelled unbelievable. My daughter even came running into the kitchen asking "what smells so good?"

I had decided to pair this with a fresh green salad made with all the yummy items from my vegetable garden.

This recipe was an absolute hit with the whole family. The flavours of this dish almost danced on your tongue. The combination of the garlic, fresh parsley and pimento sauce was definately what made this recipe a winner. This recipe will definately be made again, perhaps on special occasions.

The second recipe is Nova Scotian Rhubarb Cobbler. I have never been a big fan of rhubarb so I thought I would make a recipe that took me out of my comfort zone. My neighbours have alot of rhubarb growing and they are always bringing some over for me so I knew I had to try this recipe.

This is definately not a recipe I would try if I was not reviewing a book, the ingredients are far from healthy in my mind. The only item is the rhubarb that has some nutritional value. So I made this my one cheat/treat of the week and hoped I was not disappointed.

This recipe consisted of sugar, salt, cornstarch, rhubarb, water, flour, baking powder, butter and milk. Like I said, not my type of recipe.

It was a quick and easy recipe to make and this is the final outcome.

It looked really yummy but I have to say this was not a flavourful recipe. The cobbler on top which was just flour, butter and milk reminded me of very stale white starchy bread. The rhubarb underneath was a sticky substance thanks to the cornstarch that seemed to stick to the roof of your mouth. This is one of the worse recipes I have made. My daughter hated it, my husband said it was edible but most of it went to our dog, he loves absolutely everything. Woudl I make this recipe again.....never!

Recipe Review #3, New Gym & New Friends

2011-07-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

Recipe Review

Vanessa from, "Vanessa Runs" has me reviewing "Anita Stewart's Canada : The Food/The Recipes/The Stories".

Today I am posting my review of Joan Heath's Prairie Grain Cookies. I am going to try to review atleast one maybe two recipes from each section in this book. This recipe is from the Grain section. I have also tried to find recipes in each section that have ingredients that I like to use and not ones I don't. Meaning I am reviewing the healthier of the recipes and this one fit right into category. This recipe is filled with goodness; whole wheat flour, rolled oats, Red River cereal, raisins and sunflower seeds and a few other basic ingredients.

This recipe was quick and easy to make and the final outcome was devine. The texture of this cookie was chunky and chewy and the flavour of the sunflower seeds really adds a great kick. I did make two modifications, it asked for 3/4 cup of margarine and I decreased it to just less than 1/2 cup and it also asked for 1.5 cups of brown sugar and I only put in 1/2 cup. Honestly this recipe was fabulous with the less margarine and sugar, which means less fat and calories. Next time I think I would add in a few teaspoons of cinnamon. I am a cinnamon lover and everything I bake has cinnamon but I think it would be a great additional flavour to these cookies. My family also loved these, they disappeared fairly quickly. I can see these being a reoccuring healthy snack that I make my daughter.

New Gym

Last week hubby and I went to see a new gym that just opened up down the street.

Its an LA Fitness and ofcourse it is all new and very clean. I fell in love with the threadmills, ofcourse that is super important for me. We took the tour, heard their spiel, made our demands and signed. It is much more convenient for both of us to get to. It is actually just around the corner from our company's bank that we go to several times a week. Also I found out my gym actually physically closed. They had a busted water pipe in June and had been closed since then and I just found out that they decided to close the location instead of fixing it. Which I am actually okay with since I had many issues with that gym. The main issue was that it was an all womans gym, again I only went to this one because it was the closest one to home. The motivation at my gym was dismal. I was the most athletic and fit person at that gym, even the trainers were not your typical trainers. It was a very odd environment. But I was able to get there quickly and get my workout done without getting bugged. But I am excited to try out this new gym. Good bye Premier Fitness! Hello LA Fitness!

New Friends

I feel I am in need of some new friends. Starting at a new gym I am hoping I will acquire a few that have the same ideals as mine. Does anyone ever feel like they are the odd ball out? Like people think you are nuts to "want" to workout? That people just don't get your way of eating? Your way of living? I have been feeling that alot lately to the point where I feel a bit issolated. Friends ask me out for lunch and the restaurant choices are places I would never go because the nutritional value of the food is minimal or non existance. A dancemate of my daughters called the other day because she was heading to McDonalds for lunch (they live just up the street) and wanted to know if Marina wanted to go. I had to explain to her mom (which I converse with every Wednesday at dance) that we don't eat at fastfood restaurants and there was a long pause on the phone, she must have thought I was from Mars. Studies show that people who eat fast food run a higher risk of obesity and heart disease. WHY oh WHY would I subject my child to that???? I know so many people that feed their kids McD's, they say its for a treat, I just don't get it. Completely different ideals and beliefs. Last weekend hubby's friend invited us over for BBQ, all that was served were processed burgers and hot dogs, mass produced potatoe and macaroni salad and greasy potatoe chips, I just wanted to puke.

I read this one someone's blog and love it (sorry I now forget who's it was): "Difference between me and my friends is that I bleed red, they bleed green. All they talk about is extremely unhealthy eating habits and behaviours. It's like kryptonite to my ears!"I find it really hard to live a certain philosophy when nobody else around you does. Am I alone with this? Because I feel alone alot of the times!

Recipe Review #2, Family Time & Long Run

2011-07-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

Recipe Review

Vanessa, from "Vanessa Runs" has me reviewing "Anita Stewart's Canada : The Food/The Recipes/The Stories".

I posted my first recipe review here, and I am happy to provide my second recipe review already. This time I made Mark Mitchell's Grilled Salmon With Island Flavours Salsa. Luckily he grills his salmon the same way I grill mine, with just some sea salt and black ground pepper. Then once the salmon is grilled you serve it with this island flavoured salsa.
To make the salsa was super easy, just chopping up of some ingredients; mango, red onion, cucumber, jalapeno pepper and then seasoned with lime juice and coriander.

I placed it in the refrigerator until the salmon was grilled and once grilled I covered the salmon with this chilled and tasty salsa.

I served the salmon and salsa with a hearty tomatoe/cucumber/red onion/feta salad and fresh Ontario corn on the cob that I bought at the farmers market on Saturday.

The salsa was very tasty. I did think it was missing something. Perhaps adding in some chopped red pepper would just add a little bit more flavour and crunch to it. But overall it is a great salsa and it is very versitile, you can use this on any grilled fish, lean meats and perhaps using it on tortilla chips as a snack. I would definately make it again but with a few minor changes.

Family Time

Sunday we headed up to Blue Mountain in Collingwood, Ontario. There is an area called The Village, it is very similar to The Village in Whistler, BC. Blue Mountain is also a ski resort area but personally I am not a skier and enjoy the area in the summer. There are several hotels that surround The Village, and this one in the background is my favoruite, The Westin Trillium.

Marina even enjoyed a much needed break on this tiny chair!

The gondolas are working to bring you up the mountain and its just an incredible view from the top.

This is a picture of The Village on our way down the gondola.

We had a great day up there and to our surprise there was an Elvis Festival this weekend. Personally I am not an Elvis fan at all but it was fun to watch elderly women dressed in Elvis fan wear, dancing and singing away. Any and all family time is always a great time!

Workouts

Saturday was a full blown abs day, I did Jillians Abs workout and then continued to do my own set of abs exercises later in the day. Sunday was my rest day and today I did my long run. I completed a sweaty 8 miles in 1:09:00, actually it was 1:08:59 to be accurate. Yes that second matters, alot! Since I am behind in my training schedule, tomorrow will be a track running day and hopefully abs or weights.

Farmers Market, Recipe Review & Workouts

2011-07-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

Vanessa from "Vanessa Runs", called out for people to review an array of books that she had. Firstly let me just say, if you are not familiar with Vanessa and her blog, you need to head over there and check out what she has to say. I love her adventures and she is a wealth of knowledge, definately one of my favourite bloggers.

Vanessa sent over two books for me to read and review. The first one that I am reading is "Anita Stewart's Canada : The Food/The Recipes/The Stories".

I will leave the actual book review to come from Vanessa. When I submit her my review and when she posts it, I will link it over to my blog. But for now I will post brief reviews of the recipes that I will be testing.

When I started to read the book, there was one quote from Anita, "Head to the market, buy local, go home and cook with rhythms of the seasons". That quote really stuck with me. This morning I knew what I had to do, head to the farmers market.

I really enjoy St Jacobs farmers market but with an hour drive ahead of me I decided it was too nice of a day to be stuck in an air conditioned car for that long so I went to the local farmers market in Brampton, which is just the next town south of us. Yes it was much smaller but it was 15 minutes away and it left lots of pool time afterwards. Here are some fresh and colourful pictures from the farmers market this morning:

One vendor there was a local Cidery here in Caledon, Spirit Tree. I posted about them here once. We headed over there to see what delicious baked goods they had today.

Marina got an apple turnover (best part it was nut free):

Yes she really enjoyed it:

And I got a whole grain mixed berry scone.....it too was yummy:

Recipe Review

As I am reading Anita Stewart's Canada Cookbook, I am pleased to see so many recipes that originated from my heritage and background. Yes I am Canadian but I am first generation Canadian. My parents are originally from Portugal and I was raised on Portuguese recipes being made in the home. Reading this book I was presented with many recipes that were originated from Portuguese heritage. It was a pleasant surprise so it only makes sense that the first recipe I test and review is from my Portuguese background. The first recipe is: Karen's Brazilian Black Beans & Chickpea Salad. Just incase some people may not know, Brazil was first settled by the Portuguese, hence why the language spoken in Brazil is Portuguese. I do have many family members that still live in Brazil so Brazil holds a special place in my heart. How about a little bit more history. Black bean salad is known in Brazil as Feijao Preto which is part of the national dish, Feijoada. Feijoada is a mixture of black beans and pork, made into a type of stew. It use to be the meal of the slaves, made with the pieces of the pig that nobody wanted to eat. Now a days the nicer cuts of meats are used to make this famous stew. Okay enough history, back to my recipe review.

This recipe consists of very few items so it is fast and easy to make. Chickpeas, black beans, red pepper, onion, coriander, cider vinegar, olive oil, lime and salt & ground black pepper.

I decided to pair it with very lean pork loin chops grilled on the BBQ, thought it would be a perfect match since Feijoada is made with black beans and pork. I was correct, the pairing was perfect. This salad was not just a beautiful kaleidoscope of colour but also of taste. The mixture of the lime juice and the cider vinegar is an amazing pair that really adds a tangy kick to the salad. My husband even asked what is in the salad, he absolutely loved it. I was hoping to have some leftovers for my lunch the next day because I am sure this would taste just as delicious after a day in the fridge, I was out of luck because my husband and I ate it all. I will definately be making this recipe again.

Workouts

Does anyone else feel this way? Whenever I run a fair distance, such as a half marathon, I have no real desire to run for atleast a good week. That is how I have felt this week after running the Twenty Valley Challenge Weekend. Wednesday I did finally do a recovery run but it was only a 3 mile run and it was quite slow. Thursday and Friday was all about weights and abs and today was all about abs. I can never get tired of weights and abs workouts but running takes me a bit more to get into after long races. Tomorrow will probably be a rest day since we are hoping to head to the beach for the day but Monday I know I will need to get in a good run.

I will be posting more recipe reviews from Anita Stewart's Canada Cookbook so make sure you don't miss them. If they are all as good as the first recipe, we are all in for a treat!

Product Review, Race Pictures and Family Fun

2011-07-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

It's amazing that I am still thinking about my Twenty Valley Weekend. Still thinking of the heat I endured and the hatred for heat I had that day and a few days after. For everyone that knows me well, they know that I LOVE heat but that love was tested and failed last weekend. Monday my daughter wanted to swim in the pool and I did go in, the cool water was very nice on my tight leg muscles but when I got out instead of laying in the sun, I laid in the shade, totally unheard of for me. My love for the heat came back Tuesday, which I am happy it did. We have been in a heat wave and high humidity so I can now enjoy it.

Family Fun Day

Tuesday we had a Family Fun Day. We headed to Ontario Place in Toronto where Marina enjoyed rides, splash pad with water slides and just a relaxing day. Here we are towards the end of the day, taking a walk on the pier by the marina. It is really a beautiful place to spend the day.
Product Review

On one of my trips to The Running Room, I saw these headbands on sale.

Now I have tried several headbands that have been geared towards runners and they have all fallen off. I won't name them here because what doesn't work for one person may work for another and I don't want to say anything negative about a product that may work for someone else. But I will comment on what works for me. These I/M Active headwraps work wonderfully but only after I altered them. I did have to sew them a bit to tighten them but once I did they were great.

I wore them this past weekend:

My daughter and I also wore them on the Run For Vaughan race. They work great and I wished they had them in more colours to match all my running outfits.
To my surprise, I stopped at another Running Room and I found these:

They aren't headwraps but instead hair elastics but I knew they would work wonders and they do. Extra bonus was they rang up at $1.99 each, too bad these were the last two on the rack. I was told they will no longer be carrying these but hopefully they will have some new products from the same company. I will definately be buying those.

Race Pictures

Still catching up on posting some older professional race pictures. No I still have not bought any. I think I am just overly picky and I never seem to really like the pictures they catch of me. Here are a few from the Tim Hortons Peachbud.

Yup I am not a fan of these either!

Workouts

So my workouts since my Sunday race have been zero. I really should have worked out today because I feel completely BLAH. Its amazing what a good workout does to how you feel. I will definately be starting back tomorrow.

Twenty Valley Challenge Weekend Recap - Pic Heavy

2011-07-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the 1st Annual Twenty Valley Challenge Weekend in the Niagara region. Its a unique event that features 11 wineries, food vendors and the challenge medal. There were 3 challenges. The Gold Challenge involved running the 10K Saturday night and then the Half marathon Sunday morning. The Silver Challenge involved running the 5K Saturday and then the Half Sunday and the Bronze Challenge involved running the 5K Saturday and the 3K Sunday. I decided to run the Silver Challenge.

The first race was Saturday with a start time of 6pm and it was th 5K. Now it was almost 6pm and the weather was still at 35 degrees C (that is 95F for my American friends), it was very HOT. The sun was still shinning very heavy and the air was extremely heavy. I knew this going to be a very hot and sweaty run.
Here I am just before the race enjoying some shade so not to start heating up too soon:

We headed to the start line which was right on the road but I did find a tiny bit of shade and sat there for a bit with my daughter before we were all called to line up:

As my husband calls it, I am doing my modelling pose and I am awaiting the start:

And I am off:

And as I start, I see this IDIOT runner (who by the way did not stop to see if my daughter was okay......seriously you ass, perhaps if you were on time you wouldn't have to run over small children to get to the start line on time.....IDIOT), anyways he ran over Marina getting to the start line. Ofcourse I stopped dead in my track to tend to her and hubby yells at me to GO, GO, GO. She seemed okay so I did go but it was heartbreaking to keep going and not hold her in my arms and comfort her.

The run started with a hill which was not appreciated especially since I was so upset about my daughter but my anger made me get up that hill with minimal damage. I hit the 1K mark and I was sweating profusely and so was everyone else. There were a few more hills, some shade which was nice and when I hit 2K there was a water station which I decided to stop briefly to drink. I was really worried about overheating and I was also thinking of needing to run a half marathon the following day in the same heat. Yes I lost a bit of time doing that but I felt good when I started again. The rest of the course was still hot and sweaty but knowing it was a short 5K really helped. Here I came down the hill that lead to the finish line:

Making my way down this steep hill:

I couldn't wait to see the finish line:

WOOHOO 5K DONE!

Here are my race stats:

Chip Time - 26:53 - definately not my best but with the heat I will take it

Category Rank - 2nd....woohoo and I didn't stay for my prize....unfortunately they did not have the times posted (atleast I didn't see it) and my family was hungry for dinner so we left to go eat

Gender Rank (out of 73) - 14th

As I mentioned, after I finished we left and headed back to our hotel for me to clean up and we headed out for dinner. I wanted to get to bed at a reasonable time since I needed to be up early for the Half Marathon the following morning.

The Sunday race started at 8am and you would think it would be a cool morning, NOPE, it was already hot at 7:30am which is when we got to the park. As you can see here, the sun was shinning heavily and all I could think of was that first hill that you get as you start...argh:

The race started and here I am crossing the start mat, let this HOT bad boy begin:

Okay this race was HARD. The first 2.5 K were the same as the 5K, we then did a bunch of turns, we passed beautiful rose farms, I really wished I could have stopped to smell those roses but I knew my 2 roses were waiting at the finish line for me so I had to keep going. We then turned right into very dust/dry grape, peach, pear orchards, also through some other flower farms. Yes it was beautiful but it was hot, dirty, dry, very uneven ground with lots of twigs and holes, not my favourite running conditions. We also had ALOT of hills which at times I did walk up the last half of the hill, so were so many others and I thought if that is what I need to do to not overheat even more and finish this bad boy that is exactly what I will do. I also made sure to stop at all water stations and drink a good cup of water to help me keep going. I also made sure to keep the sponge that they gave us at about 8K (I think), many people commented on me keeping it and what a great idea....yes it was. I got two cups of water at all the following water stations, one to drink and one to soak my sponge in. And if this is too much info I am sorry BUT I would put my sponge on the strap of my top and the water would drip down my body and it was heavenly, yes I was soaked but it felt great :)

At about 15K I thought I was overheating big time and will not make it but I kept saying different mantras in my head and that kept me going. Its amazing what your head tells you when you are running alone for 2 hours. As I was running this hot race I told myself I was going to be happy with a 2:10-2:20 race time, even though that time would really bum me out if it wasn't a hot race.

So I finished....here I am soooo happy to see the finish line:

Here is myself as a sweaty mess:

Here are my two medals....one is for the half marathon and the other is the challenge medal, there was no 5K medal unfortuantely and you can see my sponge that I kept:

And in Niagara fashion, we were given yummy Niagara cherries when we finished. They were delicious and yes in a Tim Hortons cups....totally Canadian:

I went back for more cherries because they were so good:

Also had to have a banana, finishing a race and not having a banana is not normal for me:

One more pic, I think I deserve lots of pics after this race:

Here are my half marathon race stats:

Chip Time - 2:12:19 (blah I know crappy but I am proud of it for THIS race)

Category Rank (out of 14) - 6th

Gender Rank (out of 76) - 36th

Overall my stats aren't the greatest, I always like to be in the first quarter or third but I guess first half is okay for this race.

One good thing is that it was great training for my next very hot race, atleast it was very hot last year. In August I am running the Acura 10 Miler again in Toronto and it was my hottest race last year so hopefully these races this weekend will help me with that race.

How does everyoen else feel about running in extreme heat?

You Know Its Summer When.....

2011-07-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

You know its summer when......

When You Take Lots Of Day Trips With The Family

We headed to the Toronto Zoo this week to see lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Marina had a blast.
Our Dinner Consists Of Fresh Veggies From My Garden

This week we have been enjoying alot of fresh items from my vegetable garden. There is nothing better than fresh veggies that you have grown yourself. Yesterday we had the first of my green beans.
They were washed, trimmed and steamed.....delicious!

Tonight I made a salad made with several items from my garden. I picked fresh tomatoes, lettuce, parsley and chives.

Here is the final product for dinner today with some delicious grilled chicken breast, yum!

Gettng To Watch Summer Movies

Last week we took Marina out to watch Cars 2 and today hubby and I, who were childless today went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

Both were very good movies.

Pool Time

Not only regular pool time but pool time wth a Doberman trying to snorkel.

Kobe was not amused by this but we thought it was funny.

Okay now to more serious business, my workouts. So in the past 4 days I was able to get 3 workouts in. First was my track run, 6 x 800 at a 7:40 pace, a tempo run that was suppose to be 7 miles but got cut to 5 miles since I was really tired. Did 5 miles at a 8:53 pace and the last day was Jillians Abs DVD and my weights routines and all the days I did my standard set of abs workouts. Trying to really place catch up since I missed so much due to being away this past weekend.

I am enjoying my summer immensely, how has everyone elses summer been going and what summer activities do you do that remember you that its summer?

Extra Long Weekend Edition

2011-07-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

Yes life is good for us during the summer. We created our own extra long weekend these last few days. It all started Thursday when hubby had to go up to Barrie to pick something up so we decided to make a day of it. We headed up early in the day and spent the day soaking in the sun and playing in the sand. Marina had a ball!
Friday we headed out bright and early and headed back up to Tobermory for a Scuba Diving Extravaganza that hubby was taking part in. This weekend consisted of around 25 divers diving night and day and all staying at this one cottage that was right on the water with fabulous views. Marina and I tagged along to enjoy the beautiful area and spend time with hubby while he was out of the water. Here is Marina posing with the boss man, Matt, and just showing off not even 1/4 of the diving gear that was up there this weekend.
Marina and I spent alot of quality time together which was fabulous!

Saturday the divers were out all day so Marina and I headed to Singing Sands Beach and she spent the day there playing in the warm water and playing in the wet sand.

This is the deck of our weekend rental cottage, absolutely beautiful!

Here is hubby coming in from a full day of dives out on the lake. Yes he is the one sitting on the front of the boat....that is my hubby!

Sunday hubby was on Teak Isle instead. Marina went onboard to get a few quick pics before the boat went out.

That is the Chi-cheemaun ferry in the background.

Tobermory is a gorgeous part of Ontario and I recommend everyone to head up there atleast once in their lifestime, even if you are not a diver (it is the scuba diving capital of Canada) there is lots to see and do.

It was a great weekend but I did wake up today with a big headache. I unfortunately missed my tempo run on Thursday, my long run on Sunday and my track run today. ARGH......I know bad. Tomorrow is scheduled to be a full day at the zoo but I will try my hardest to get in some type of workout after walking all day up and down the Toronto Zoo!

Workouts & Recipes

2011-07-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

Now that I have caught you all up on our long weekend, I now need to catch you up on the last 3 days. Will I ever be caught up completely?

Workouts

So I have been pretty good in following my schedule. I had to move my long run that was scheduled for Sunday to Monday since we were away in Tobermory on Sunday and I did not pack any running clothes.
My long run was suppose to be 10 miles and since school is out and my daughter is with me 24/7, all workouts are now done at home and my runs are done downstairs on the threadmill. Before going down I specifically asked my daughter to not come downstairs unless she really needed me for something important and she said she understood. Apparently what an 8 year old versus what a 37 year old think is important are VERY different. I was interrupted a few times. The first was that she thought showing me our Doberman in a pink tutu was VERY IMPORTANT. Yes it was cute but definately not important. The second important matter was how to spell the word furious. Yup again NOT important. Anyways lets just say all the interruptions really threw me off. My 10 miles unfortunately turned into 8.5 miles at a 9:34 pace, yup really bad. I then did a weights workout later in the day to make up the bad run and I also do my abs workout. So overall the day was pretty good workout wise.

Tuesday was a Track run, I ran 2 x 1200 and 4 x 800 with a 8:20 pace. Again slower than my previous track times and I was interrupted once, since she needed to have a snack, her tummy was growling. Being a running mom is hard :( I also got in an abs workout to finish off the day.

Wednesday (today) I did Jillians DVD, Six Week 6 Pack and then later tonight I did my abs routine. Yes I am concentrating on my abs alot lately, well it is bikini season and I need to look good!

Yummy Strawberry Recipes

Marina and I really enjoyed going strawberry picking and there is no way we can eat all those strawberries so I needed to get some recipes to help me use all these strawberries. Here are two yummy recipes I made this week.

Strawberry Jam

I love strawberry jam but I don't have it much because of all the sugar. So I wanted to make a jam with minimal sugar but still taste yummy. I also am not a fan of pectin, most jam recipes ask for pectin and honestly I would rather not add anything else to my food. So here is my recipe for strawberry jam that I feel is the healthiest you can get strawberry jam without accepting the taste.

4 cups of starwberries, chopped
3/4 cup white sugar (I actually put a bit less than 3/4 cup)
2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Place the chopped strawberries in a pot.

Add sugar and lemon juice and boil.
Once boiled for 15 minutes, place in sterilized jams and enjoy!

Strawberry Oatmeal Cookies

My favourite cookies are homemade oatmeal cookies so why not add some strawberries to it. My daughter helped me out making these. She cut up all the strawberries and did a great job.

1 cup strawberries, chopped

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 cup oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Beat the egg, milk, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla. Add in the flour, cinnamon and baking soda. Add in the oats. Fold in the strawberries.

Drop them on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy! These truly are delicious!

We made a few more starwberry recipes. I will post them later this week!

The Rest Of Our Long Weekend

2011-07-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

Our Canada Day long weekend did not just consist of the Canada Day races. After the races we headed home and spent the afternoon in the cool water of the pool. My daughter surely loves these type of afternoons, even when daddy splashes her.
We also spent time suntanning and just relaxing about ofcourse having Canada Day tortilla chips, they are yummy!

Saturday we woke up super early to make the 3 hour drive up to Tobermory, the Scuba Diving Capital of Canada. Hubby had to be up there by 8:00 am to get on his charter. Here he is on the boat getting his gear ready.

Marina and I relaxed around town and headed to the beach for the day. The picture below you can see the big ferry boat open in the front unloading vehicles. This is a beautifully picturesque town.

We were able to get some great sunset pictures as we watched hubby go in for a night dive with one of his friend.

Sunday hubby was not diving so he headed to the beach again with us and him and Marina made his sand sculpture.

And while my daughter did her favourite thing at the beach, playing in the sand, I did my fave.....suntanning!

So that was the rest of our long weekend, it was pretty much perfect.

Look for my next post which will have some great strawberry recipes!

Barrie Canada Day 5K & Kids 1K Race Recap

2011-07-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

Firstly I need to wish everyone a belated Happy Canada Day and to all my American friends and family, Happy 4th of July. Hoping everyone had a fabulous long weekend!

The start of my long weekend was Friday morning when I headed up to Barrie to run the Barrie Canada Day 5K race and my daughter ran the Kids 1K. This is my second year running this race, last years was completely disorganzied and there was no race kits left over the day of the race. This year they were a bit more organized and here is what was in my race kit (minus the medal).
I do love the location of this race. Its right on the lake and it was a gorgeously hot day. Here is my daughter and I right before the races.

The Kids 1K race was first. Marina was all excited to run again and here she is ready to go.

She was concentrating hard or perhaps visualizing the route, or just bored and waiting.

Here is the start line of the Kids 1K race.

And off she goes.

Here she comes.

She was in the zone.

Crossing the finish line.

Marina did pretty good. The Kids 1K was not timed but she was in the top 30 kids, she did awesome!

After the kids race was the start of the 5K and the 10K, together. One thing I don't like about this race is that there is no start timing mat so if you aren't right at the front of the line your time starts when the gun goes off. Also the course lane is so small so you really need to work it at the beginning. I was not at the front and I had to pass so many people, so many little kids, strollers, not to mention the course is not closed to the public so you need to deal with people walking, biking, rollerblading, strollers, etc. The course also has alot of gravel areas and we actally had to run on the grass uphill for a portion of the race which was not fun.

Am I complaining, not really but I think all this factors in to people's time, including mine and not to mention is was really HOT!

Here I am coming towards the finish line and you can see my daughter to the far left, just ready to run out and run with me to the end.

There we go.

Here are the two runners, glad the races are over and the long weekend can now really begin.

I was really happy that Robin noticed me, so we had a mini Blogger meetup which it was really nice to meet her and chat a bit. Check out her blog here. Here we are chatting.

So here are my stats:

Time - 26:23

Category Rank (out of 125) - 14th

Age Rank (out of 184) - 21st

On our way to the car, Marina had a bit of fun in the water fountains.

This was the start of our long weekend. I will post the rest of the long weekend tomorrow, it was a fabulous weekend! What did everyone else do?

Tim Hortons Peachbud 10K Recap

2011-06-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

My FIRST training has been going really well so I was anticipating an excellent race yesterday. I was running the Tim Hortons Peachbud 10K in Grimsby, Ontario for the second year in a row. I truly enjoyed it last year and its the race where I have my 10K PR. So I was hoping to get a new PR this year or atleast come very close to my time.

This is a 7:30pm race which I find I am thinking about the race all day and trying to not stress myself out during the day prior to the race. we got to the race site early beacuse I had to pick up my race kit. Last years race kit was dismal but they did add a few more items in this years kit, a good improvement:

THIS YEARS RACE KIT
LAST YEARS RACE KIT

The weather at home had turned greatly in the afternoon. The wind had really picked up and on the drive to Grimsby, which is 1.5 hours away, I was hoping they did not have the same wind. Well they did! I was really afraid that the wind would hold me back if it was frontal hitting wind.

They had a 1K and then a 5K start first and then the 10K started. Here I am waiting for the race to start with my cute cheerleader:

I am focusing and waiting patiently for the horn to sound:

Here is the starting line:

And there I am taking off:

And there I go:

And here I come towards the finish line. They had the finish line again on the grass which I really am not a fan of:

Look who was waiting for me:

DONE! It was not my best race by far. I did hit the front wind at the half way mark and a big highway overpass hill that slowed me down a bit but I was confident I could make up that time but with that frontal wind, forget it. I am really disappointed with my time but I did a bit of searching online and it looks like it was a slower race to most of the top runners so I guess it was meant to be.

So here are my stats:

Chip Time - 54:05 BLAH

Official Rank (out of 597 runners) - 285th

Gender Rank (out of 311) - 89th

Category rank (out of 65) - 20th

My splits:

1K - 7:44 (yup I was a bit quicker than I wanted....wanted to go out at 8:00 and keep it steady)

2K - 8:08 (looking good)

3K - 8:07 (feeling great)

4K - 8:30 (hill)

5K - 9:01 (the wind hit)

6K - 9:19 (more wind)

7K - 9:26 (even more wind)

8K - 9:16

9K - 8:46 (turned and wind was not head on)

10K - 8:13 (wasn't enough)

Overall Pace : 8:38 (via Garmin)

Still disappointed with this race but its done, lets move on. Next race is on Friday, Canada's Day!

My Weekly Update

2011-06-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

I have had to do weekly updates too often lately, sorry I have been gone for so long.

This past week is always one of the busiest weeks of the year. Marina finished school, her school had their year end family picnic, the last dance rehearsal, 4 dance recitals (crazy isn't it) and we had company over on the weekend and a pool party. But it is all over and we are on summer holidays now! ((happy dance))

Workouts

So I ended last time with a great long run of 11 miles on Wednesday. Thursday was a full body weights day and Friday I did a fabulous track run of 3 x1600, accomplished in 23:23 mins which is a 7:47 pace. It felt AMAZING :) I had no time to workout Saturday since it was a day with 2 dance recitals, we were at the theatre all day and did not get home until after 11:00pm, I was exhausted and I wasn't even the one dancing! Sunday and today I decided with be my rest days because tomorrow I am running the Tim Hortons Grimsby 10K.

The forecast is calling for rain and wind, argh, I really hope they are wrong. This is the 10K that I have my PR in so I am hoping I will beat that or atleast be very close to it. Wish me luck :)

Strawberry Picking

My daughter and I headed out to the strawberry patch since it was an absolutely gorgeous day. It is an annual tradition for us and we always head out as soon as her school is over but before the public school system gets out so that it won't be so busy, gotta love the private school system! The strawberries were unbelievably juicy and they had soooo many. Last years crop was not very good but this year definately make up for last years.

Here is my strawberry girl all excited for juicy, delicious strawberries.

So look out for some strawberry recipes coming up on my blog! What are your favourite strawberry recipes?

Long Run, Two Races Next Week & Link To Giveaway

2011-06-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

Long Run

Today was my long run day. I ran a nice steady 11 miles in 1:37:13 which is a 8:50 pace. I honestly think it was the most comfortable 11 miles I have ever ran. I am truly enjoying the FIRST training schedule I am following. Is it really working to help me with my time, who knows but its making truly enjoy and feel comfortable with my runs which is amazing.

Two Races Next Week

Next Tuesday I am running the Tim Hortons Peachbud 10K.

I ran it last year and it is where I got my 10K PR. It was a great course but this year I did see that they had to change it a bit due to come road construction. I am hoping to beat my time this year but if I don't I am happy to get to run this race again!

Then on Friday it is Canada Day here, we get to celebrate our fabulous country! And what is the best way for a runner to celebrate.....yup run a Canada Day race! I am running the 5K Barrie Canada Day race and Marina will be running the Kids 1K.

I did run this same race last year and I blogged about how unorganized it was so I am giving them a second chance because the Barrie area by the lake is absolutely beautiful!

So two races next week, wish me luck!

Giveaway Link

Miss Zippy is having a fabulous giveaway. She is giving away a gorgeous tank from Run Pretty Far. Check out her giveaway!

Catching Up After a Crazy Week

2011-06-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

Crazy Week And More To Come

Sorry for being MIA but June is always such a crazy and busy time around here. Father's Day was a big celebration, today was my daughters graduation (well Moving Up Celebration) and the rest of this week is dance recitals every night and two recitals on Saturday. Yup Crazy!

Fathers Day Weekend

In preparation for Fathers Day, I had to work on hubby's Fathers Day cake (he was upset he didn't get a cake on his birthday from me) Thursday and Friday. As you all know hubby is a Technical Cave Diving so I made sure to incorporate alot of accents that relate to him. Unfortantely in Canada there are little caves that are divable so he enjoys diving shipwrecks. So I incorporated a famous shipwreck that he dives alot, called the Tiller on the cake. Here are some pictures of the cake:

So hubby wanted to enjoy his fathers day diving but wanted us to tag along. He was diving out of the Welland Scuba Park so we all went. It was a gorgeous day so Marina and I hanged out while he did his dive with his diving buddies. Here is hubby going in and Marina watching over him.

Marina's Graduation (Moving Up Celebration)

Today was Marina's moving up celebration. She has officially finished Lower Elementary and will be starting Upper Elementary in September. It was a very special day for her and we are so proud of her.

Workouts

Okay now to my workouts this past week. Today was the first day I did not following my FIRST training schedule. Unfortunately I had alot of phone calls and paperwork to do so I spent all morning in the office and I had to leave early to head to my daughters graduation this afternoon so there was no time for my "cross training" workout. Here is how my last week looked like in terms of workouts:

Wedensday - Jillians Abs DVD

Thursday - Long Run - 9 miles - 1:19:05 - 8:47 pace

Friday - Full Body Weights

Saturday - Track Run - 5 x 1K - 8:11 pace

Sunday - rest day

Monday - Tempo Run - 6 miles and got a PR - 48:47 - 8:07 pace - very excited

Tuesday - today - was suppose to be a cross training day but that didn't happen

Now tomorrow is my Long Run and I am suppose to do 11 miles. Hoping to get up early and get my daughter ready for her last day of school earlier than normal so that I can get back and go for my run.

Thanks for catching up on my hectic life.....tomorrow I will post info on the 2 races I am running next week. Yup 2 races and they are both on weekdays....WEIRD.....but I did the same last year and they were great races. Check back tomorrow for those!

What are you taking to keep you energized?

2011-06-15T06:52:00.000-07:00

FIRST Training Program

I have been able to follow this the Runners World FIRST training program for a week now, yes it doesn't seem like a long time but I am proud that I haven't deviated off the schedule.

Last Friday was my Track Run and I ran 6x800m with 90 sec RI at a 8:36 pace. Monday was my Tempo Run and I ran 5 miles in 41:58 mins (pace of 8:23). All these runs felt great and I really am enjoying having a very set schedule. Yesterday was my full body weights workout and no that is not in the FIRST Training Program, that is my add on since I love weights and can not give them up.

My weights workout yesterday consisted of:

Squats w/t Weight 3 x 15
Walking Lunges w/t Weights 3 x 10
Bent Over Straight Arm Dumbbell Rollbacks 3 x15
Plie Squat w/t Lateral Raise 3 x 10
Overhead Dumbbell Press 3 x 15
Two Arm Bent Over Dumbbell Row 3 x 15
Static Lunge w/t Torso Twist 3 x 15
Dumbbell Cross Chest Curl 3 x 15
Side Squat w/t Flye 3 x 10
Plie Squat w/t Dumbbells 3 x 10
Upright Row 3 x 15
Dumbbell Curl 6 x 15
Then 20 minutes of crunches and abs.

Today is suppose to be a cross training day but I am unable to get to the gym so I will do Jillians 6 Week Six Pack Abs Workout, I think that will do for the day.

What Do You Take For Energy?

Last year I pretty much just took GU Gels for energy during races and long runs but this year I have been experimenting. I do find that GU tends to sit in my stomach, its a bit on the heavy side and there is really only 2 flavours I can really tolerate.

I received a free pack of the PowerBar Gel Blasts in one of my racing kits so I gave these a try the other day. While I think they taste yummy (bonus there) I also felt they were hard to chewy. They were VERY chewy, almost like chewing rubber. That would be hard to take during a race I think.
The last few races I have brought along GU Chomps. I always try to take them right before a water station so that the water will help chew it down. I find these are not as chewy as the PowerBar ones but running and chewying is a difficult task for me and as times I spit out the remaining of the chomp because I felt it was too much. The flavour was also yummy but again a bit difficult to chew and they are big.

I received a few packs of the Jelly Belly Sport Beans in a race kit this year also and I tried them during my long run last week and while there was one flavour that was really sour and made me made a very ugly face, I found that they were easy to chew and they are small in size which I find I like better. Definately easier to chew a smaller item than a bigger one and then you can just take 2 or 3 of them.

I think I will be buying some more Jelly Belly Sport Beans to try at my next few races.

So what is your favourite energy source while running? Is there a product I haven't tried and should? Let me know!

New Training Program & To Enjoy List

2011-06-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

My ultimate goal is to run a full marathon, who's isn't! I have been doing some thinking and feel I really need to follow a training program to get me there. I don't "just" want to run a full, I want to run a full and be proud of my time. How do I get myself there?

I have decided to try the Runner's World FIRST Training Program to help me achieve that goal.

I have read reviews and runners have had amazing results with improved times. Basically the program entails just 3 runs a week; track, tempo and long runs and 2 days of cross training. I have made a 15 week schedule from their 18 week half marathon schedule and I will try to follow it religiously and at the end of the 15 week schedule I have a half marathon that I plan to run and I will see if my time improves. The half is the Run For Grapes Half on September 18.

So I will see how this works out and if it does what I hope it does I will incorporate a full marathon schedule and hopefully run a full in the spring.

Today I ran my long run of the schedule. I was suppose to run 9 miles at a 9:14 pace and finish at 1:23:06, it ended up being a pace of 9:25 and 1:24:46.....a bit of track but not too bad.

Has anyone used the FIRST training program?

Heather from "Where's The Beach?", did a "To Enjoy List" the other day and I thought it was a great idea. Most of us go through our day looking at the negatives but what we should do is look at the positives. Do you see the cup half empty of half full?

So I thought I will post my "To Enjoy List" for tomorrow:

* Enjoy my morning conversation with my daughter in the car on the way to school about her friends, her game and what she wants to accomplish today. All one on one time with my daughter is to be enjoyed.

* Enjoy being able to grocery shop ALONE in the early morning when the store is not busy.

* Enjoy that I am in a one person office where there is no office politics to deal with.

* Since hubby is away, enjoy a nice dinner with just myself and my daughter and enjoy the interesting stories she will have about her day at school.

* Turn the TV off and enjoy playing games with my daughter. She will me all grown up soon and won't want to spend so much time with mommy.

Yup my friday will not be too exciting but I wouldn't give up any of those event to enjoy for anything!

What will you enjoy tomorrow?

I Kept A Promise To Myself - Don't Run Sick AGAIN!

2011-06-07T17:32:00.001-07:00

My Sunday did not start the way I had planned. I was suppose to run the Bread & Honey 15K Sunday morning but I got up at about 3am with a terrible sore throat. After running the Disney Princess Half Marathon as sick as a dog and after affects of doing that, I got Trigeminal Neuralgia because of running so sick, I made a promise to myself, I will never run sick again!

So I had to keep that promise to myself Sunday morning. Honestly it was very hard for me to back down from a commitment. I felt terrible all morning but since we had so many plans for after the race, we went on with our plans and it took my mind off of my disappointment.

As you all know Sunday was my husbands actual birthday. He had no issues with me running a race on his special day but once that was cancelled, we decided to have a nice breakfast at our local diner. After breakfast we headed out to go over the border into New York for some shopping.

Shopping was fabulous as usual. Honestly the price different between an item bought here in Canada versus bought in the USA is ridulous, especially when the dollars are at par with each other. Hubby wanted a new pair of Oakley sunglasses for his birthday, the same pair here was about $260, in the USA $160. He got replacement lenses for his old Oakleys, here I had to order them online for $160, in the USA we bought them in store for $65, now tell me how fair that is. I also picked up some snacks that are unavailable here. I think I really need to go shopping over the border more often.

After our short trip to the USA, we came back and I had planned to have a late lunch, it turned into an early dinner at a restaurant that is situated right beside an old shipwreck. Get it.....hubby is a technical cave/shipwreck scuba diver so I thought it would be perfect to have a meal next to the shipwreck. Corny I know but honestly whenever we head to Niagara Falls or New York State we always pass this shipwreck that is off the highway and I always wondered what his story was. So we stopped at the shipwreck to take a closer look.

Honestly she really is a beauty, an aged beauty but a beauty non the less. Many people think its an eye sore but I think their eyes are closed.
Her name is La Grande Hermine II and they wanted to turn her into a restaurant but vandals set her up in flames and there she still sits. We had to hike a bit to get some good pictures of her, but it was such a gorgeous day on Sunday, I really enjoyed the hike.

We then headed to the restaurant next door, The Lake House. We started with some cocktails, remember we are still celebrating hubbys birthday.

Marina enjoying her cocktail and look at the fabulous view we had from our table.

I have to say that the food was delicious. Here are our meals. I started with a Caesar Salad again, just like friday. I have to say fridays was better but this was a good second.

Hubby has the escargot again today, sounds like our friday dinner doesn't it. But it was served very differently. Hubby liked fridays a bit better, he thought this one was too rich.

Marina's entree was a kids pepperoni pizza, wow it was big in size. She did enjoy it!

Surprise, surprise I had the chicken again. But this one tasted much nicer. It had a cheese and red pepper melted in the middle and came with asparagus, I love asparagus. It was delicious.

Hubby had the salmon on a bed of rice and vegetable mixture, he said it was delicious.

For dessert they had these mini cheesecakes. They were just the right size for a little treat. I had the strawberry cheesecake, hubby had the blueberry and Marina had the chocolate chip. The first two were yummy, the chocolate chip had too many chocolate chips in them and was too rich.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day and our meal. Here is a family picture for you all to see.

Well I still feel like I didn't completely something I should have, I loved spending so much time with my family. My throat was sore all day and my nose was starting to run, yup the start of a cold coming, I guess I will need to babysit this cold for a bit!

Hubby's Birthday Dinner At The CN Tower - Picture Heavy

2011-06-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

My Friday was quite busy. First I had to make sure I picked up my race kit for the Bread & Honey 15K race that is tomorrow. Isn't the bib cute with the honeycomb background! I am very surprised that its such a nice tech shirt and kit, very good useful items in it.

Sunday is my husbands birthday and yes I asked if it was okay that I ran a race on his birthday. Unfortunately June is so busy that this was the only weekend I could run a race. I do have a race the last tuesday of the month, yes tuesday, it was the same last year, but I really like that race.

So I decided to take hubby out for dinner yesterday and we will head out after the race for lunch.

One of our favourite restaurants is 360 which is located at the top of the CN Tower in Toronto. Here I am with Marina as we were heading out:

Here are some views of downtown Toronto. We got lucky with a gorgeous night which lead to gorgeous views. This is the financial district of Toronto:

Marina busy with her puzzle book, enjoying the views and waiting for her meal:

The view heading towards Lake Ontario:

The Toronto Island and the Island Airport:

Toronto Island Airport (no this is not our International airport):

This is urban Toronto living space.....I am glad I live out in very green country:

Looking west:

My pretty and I at dinner:

The birthday boy and Marina:

This is a photo they take before you head up, we are superimposed on the background:

Now how about some pictures of my $300 meal, yup this restaurant is expensive but the views are priceless and the food was very good too. We had some cocktails, I didn't take a picture of hubby's two but here is mine, its a Bay Seabreeze, it wasn't very good but hubby's two were very good. It started off with multigrain bread that was yummy:

I started off with the caesar salad. I love a good caesar salad and their caesar salad is always good. The romaine lettuce was fresh and crisp, the sliced parmesan cheese was delicious, the vinaigrette dressing was a slight tangy but devine, the pancetta was the only disappointment, too salty for my taste.

Hubby ordered the Escargot Bourguignon, yes he loved escargot, yuck. He said it was extremely delicious, the most favourful and moist escargot he has every had.

My main meal was Oven Roasted Half Chicken Piri Piri, I guess they didn't realize I am Portuguese and my middle name is Piri Piri, hello we invented Piri Piri, there was no piri piri on this chicken. Not to say it wasn't good, it was but I was hoping for a little kick to my chicken. The chicken was very moist and tasty but it was accompanied with saffron mashed potatoes with yellow beans and kale and let me tell you, those flavours taste terrible together. I didn't want to eat much of the mashed potatoes anyways so it was okay it tasted bad....LOL

Hubby ordered the 16 oz Peppered Strip Loin Steak that came with Yukon gold mashed potatoes (his were good), french beans, cognac and green peppercorn sauce. He said it was heavenly.

I didn't get a picture of Marina's plate, it was just a pasta dish, very unevently. Her dessert was definately more interesting. She had the Sundae and it looked and tasted delicious:I had the Butterscotch Budino With Stewed Rhubarb and it came with almond macaroons. It was very good and probably not what I should be eating 2 days before a 15K.

Hubby ordered the Maple Walmut Roulade With Walnut Meringue. All he said was it was VERY walnutty.....LOL

After dinner we headed down a level to the observation level and then another level to the glass floor level. Marina had lots of fun on the glass floor.

Absolutely no fear there.

We had a fabulous night out. The weather was absolutely perfect and hubby had a terrible time. I am so glad he enjoyed it. Celebrations will continue tomorrow after my race so look forward to a race report and some more birthday celebration news. Oh by the way, I have no expectations for tomorrow's 15K, I am just going to run it and enjoy the journey :)

Run For Vaughan 10K & 3K Race Report

2011-05-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I vented my fustration with this race, if you didn't read about it, check it out here. But here is a proper race recap.

Originally this past Sunday I was going to head to Buffalo to run the Buffalo Half Marathon and ofcourse do some over the border shopping but unfortunately that wasn't looking promising. I had looked at running the Ottawa Half and that had been sold out for along time and so was the Toronto Women Half, seriously I really need to register for races earlier. I started to search for a close to home race to run and I came up with Run For Vaughan. It was only a 45 minutes away from home, it was for a good cause, to raise money to make a hospital for the City of Vaughan and they had a 10K and a 3K. I thought PERFECT, I can run the 10K and then run the 3K with my daughter. So I signed up.

The 10K was first, at 8:30am, here is my daughter just hanging out wth me prior to the race.

The course was similar to the Southlake Half I ran earlier this year. It was a rolling hill course in the country which means....BORING. But I was enjoying the fabulous weather. It was getting warm and it was overcast so the sun wasn't beaming down to heat us all up. It was the perfect running morning. Unfortunately I did not have a perfect day. My legs felt really heavy. I had been doing incline training that week and prior and I think I over did it too close to a race. The hills were tough.

Here is a pic of my coming to the finish line. My daughter ran out to meet me and help me finish.

I was not pleased with my time:

So my stats on the 10K was:
(sorry no splits, I reset my Garmin to use for the 3K)

Chip Time - 53:56

Gender Rank - 11th out of 62

Category Rank - 5th out of 16

I finished the race right before 9:30am and the 3K was to start at 10:00am so I headed to my truck and got my other chip on and changed my bib and got ready to run again. Here is my daughter and I ready to race:

If you read my post from yesterday you know what a disasterous run the 3K was. But we did it and I loved running with my daughter again. She is too funny. We started running and right away she tells me to tell her when we hit the 1K mark so she can pace herself. I thought that was hilarious. She talked the whole 3K, that is my daughter, she is never quiet! She wanted us to hold hands when we crossed the finish line so here we are coming in, hand in hand:

WE DID IT!

We did pretty good, here are our 3K stats:

Chip Time - 16:19

Gender Rank - 12 & 13 out of 73

Marina's Category Rank - 3rd out of 6

My Category Rank - 7th out of 26

Let's just say I just wanted to leave when we were done but Marina had to get in come hugs:

What Determines A Good Race??

2011-05-30T18:18:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I ran two races at the "Run For Vaughan" event. Tomorrow I will post a race review but here is a sneak peek of my daughter and I after we finished the 3K together:

It was a great experience to run with her again, she is awesome. But more about that tomorrow. Today I want to ask everyone, "What determines a good race for you?"
I ask this because I was very unhappy with the "Run For Vaughan" event and I was not the biggest fan of a few other races I have ran. But the "Run For Vaughan" was by far the WORST race ever!

The racing scene is mainly made up of the BIG MEGA races, and then there are the smaller races which I have found alot more seemed to have popped up in the last few years. Can anyone just plan a running event?

The "Run For Vaughan" event was an event to help fund a new to-be-built hospital in the city of Vaughan. I thought it was a great cause for a great city where I have many friends who reside there. I saw the sponsors listed and I saw where the parking was being held, a Muslim Mosque, but nowhere did it say it was completely organized my the Muslim Mosque.

Now I have nothing against religions, I have my own and people can believe whatever they want to believe, even though I believe if there weren't so many religions in our society, it would be a much happier and safer society, but that is another issue.

When people try to push their religion on me, I have an issue. The washrooms for this event were located in the mosque. Women in the basement and men upstairs. YUP, I have an issue with that! I have an issue with anyone or any institution that belittle women. When I went to the dungeon to use the washroom my husband came with me and was told he had to go upstairs. SERIOUSLY! Do not hold a public event with non-muslim individuals and expect them to follow asinine rules. For your info he did not leave until I was done and leaving.

So that was issue number 1. Secondly this event was TOTALLY UNORGANIZED. The start was a guy on a speaker saying, "One more Minute"...."Okay GO".....no siren, no noise maker what so ever.

There were people running the 10K that had never ran before. How do I know? They started ahead of me and I passed them as they were dying in pain because they have no idea what it is to run and train for a run. When you have people running in jeans, dress shoes, you know they are completely unprepared for this. Also there were many nofinishers on the 10K and the 3K.

The water stations had no rhyme or reason. There was a water station at the first 0.3 of a mile and then they had one at the middle of a down hill on the way out and it was at the middle of the uphill on the way back. What runner will stop half way up or down a hill to get water? I like to know where my water stations are so I can plan accordingly, but on this race I had no idea.

There was NO spectator support. The race volunteers on the course and the volunteers at the water stations were like mannequins. Not a smile, no words of encouragement, nothing.

The 3K consisted of runners and walkers and they allowed the walkers to be at the front of the line. I had to tell my daughter that we would hold hands for the first bit just so I would not lose her and we could get through the crowds of people that should be well behind us.

No etiquette on the course. The individuals that you could tell were seasoned runners were fine but the others had no etiquette what so ever. I smashed into so many people, especially on the 3K because they would stop dead in their track. WTF!!!!!! Seriously! There were so many kids running the 3K and it looked like someone let them out of a cage....they were running like crazy people. Run, stop, run, go to one side, go to another, no respect for anyone else running. People throwing water cups right beside them, not off to the side, it was terrible. Honestly it was a very dangerous ran in my opinion. I had to talk my daughter around all these inconsiderate people so that she didn't get hurt.

I believe this race was mainly for the Muslim community and the members of the Mosque BUT nowhere was that stated because there is no way in HELL I would run this event. I was soooo disappointed because this was NOT A RACE, this was a CIRCUS! I left there feeling like I had wasted my time. Luckily I had also ran the 3K with my daughter and that made up for alot of the disappointment I felt but I now realize why they had a 3K. You don't see 3Ks very often but it was a way to get most of their mosque members involved.

Can I also mention there was NO medal again. What is it with these races and no medals, that's two this year.

Needless to say I will NEVER run this race again!

Sorry to post such a downer post but I promise tomorrows post will be just alittle bit uplifting!

iPad Love, Run For Vaughan & Taco Dinner

2011-05-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

My Mothers Day Gift

I have been very busy since Mothers Day with a new toy. My husband and daughter got me an iPad for Mothers Day and I have been thoroughly enjoying it.

It comes to bed with me, it comes to my daughters dance classes with me, it comes along on long weekends, its awesome. One thing I have not done yet is bookmark all my favourite blogs onto it so that I can visit them on the iPad vs my laptop. I should do that soon! So needless to say I have been busy enjoying my new toy and all I can saw is this thing is SWEET!

Run For Vaughan

Tomorrow I will be running two Run For Vaughan races. They have a 10K and a 3K and Marina wanted to run the 3K but I wasn't comforatble with her running on the road with other adults so I will be running the 10K at 8:30am and then the 3K with her at 10:00am. I am sure my 3K time will not be fabulous, actually my 10K won't be either seeing how I am getting a sore throat, blah! I am just excited to run 2 races back to back, sounds like FUN!
I went to pick up my race packets today and all I was given was the shirt and bibs. Yes I was disappointed, I love the surprise of what will be inside the race kit. They also had no shirts in kid sizes so Marina has the exact same shirt and size as mine, yup she is swimming in it.

Chicken Taco Dinner

My pre-race meal is always a pasta meal but today I decided to try something different. I knew I needed a protein / carb loaded meal so I decided to make Chicken Tacos.

The meal was super easy to make. The lean ground chicken was cooked with spices, tomato sauce and chopped tomatoes. A package of flour tortillas and then all the side are: low fat sour cream, part skim mozzerella cheese, tomatoes, green olives, black olives and shredded lettuce. Then I made a mixed bean salad and voila, my pre-race meal. But I ate too much and I am full....argh....

So we will see how my two races go tomorrow :)

Long Weekend in Kingston & A Closed Gym

2011-05-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

Long Weekend
This past weekend was a long weekend here in Canada, it was our May 2-4 Victoria Day weekend and hubby had some helitrox scuba dive training in Kingston (actually Rockport) so we all headed out for the long drive at 4am. While hubby scuba dived, Marina and I checked out the waterfront trail, the park and ofcourse shopping. Here are a few pics of our waterfront trail walk:

We lucked out with beautiful weather. So as you would have guessed, no working out last weekend, I no longer consider long walks exercise, even though some people do. But I enjoyed quality time with my precious daughter, nothing is better than that.

Gym CLOSED

Yesterday I knew I had to kick it hard at the gym. I wanted to do a long run and lower body workout. I headed to the gym and as I walked in I was told that the gym had a huge flood and will be closed for a few weeks. WHAT????? As much as I complain about my gym, it is the closest and most convenient gym so to have it closed I am now freaking out. I didn't have time to head to the next closest gym because it isn't close, so I headed back home and did Jillian's Abs workout and some free weights and sit ups. I felt bummed out the whole time, I really hate when my plans get changed all of a sudden.

Today I also decided to workout at home because of time restraints. I had a great incline run and hoping to get in a long run tomorrow but looking at the weather it will also consist of being done here at home. Whatever works to get the workout done!

More Professional Pictures, Workouts & New Bikini....WOOHOO

2011-05-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

More Professional Pictures
I hope I am not boring you all with my professional pictures. I realize I am behind in checking them out and posting but I like to keep them on here just incase I need to go back and see how hot I looked or how crappy I looked at a specific race. Here are some pictures from the Burlington Good Friday 10 Miler.

Right at the start:
Checking for traffic....habit:

Just running along:

Almost at the finish line:

Posing for the cameraman.....hey you got to have some fun:
Here comes my daughter to help me finish the race:

Let's go hand in hand:

My daughter got some great air on her 1K race:

So much air even Michael Jordan would be jealous:

Workouts

I have been in the gym all week, its been great. Today was a full lower body day. I started with some great cycling and then lunges & squats with weights, Leg Press, Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, Calf Raises, etc. Tomorrow will be a running day for sure and an upper body day, those are my favourite days.

Bikini Shopping

What do I do when I am sick of this weather, chilly and its been raining for the last 11 days, I go shopping! Actually I headed to the mall yesterday to return something and saw that swimwear was on sale at Old Navy so I decided to try a bunch on. Usually Old Navy swimwear do not fit me well but when I tried this one on, I thought it looked fabulous:

I have always wanted a leopard print bikini but I have always found them to be too wild or hoochie mama. This leopard print I thought was perfect so I had to buy it, now bring on summer!

My Daughters First Communion & Cakes

2011-05-17T05:11:00.000-07:00

Firstly I want to congrats a bunch of local runners excellent times at the Goodlife Marathon & the Missisauga Marthon. Check out their blogs to read their awesome race reports:

Cynthia @ Balls in the Air - Goodlife Marathon - this woman is truly inspirational, BQ and Boston qualifier in the first wave.....awesome

Aneta @ My Running Bucket - Mississauga Marathon - she had a great time for the half and lots of fun, what could be better

Marlene @ Mission to A(nother) Marathon - Mississauga Marathon - both her and hubby ran and both BQ'd, can you say power couple

Lish @ The Road Back to Chicago - Mississauga Marathon - ran a strong race and has an amazing hubby to support her through it

Sunday was a big marathon day for many, it was also a very big day for my family. My daughter had her first communion and she looked like a little angel. How about some pics to prove that:

She was so happy to accomplish this and ofcourse so excited to be in a beautiful dress and a day dedicated to her!

As I mentioned in a previous post my workouts last week were lacking, just so much going on. One of the things occupying my time is CAKES. Yes you heard me right, CAKES. I am not a big sweet/dessert fan but some occasions came up and I had to make my super cute cakes. Firstly I made a very simple and elegant cake for my daughters first communion:

And the week prior it was Mothers Day and I had my mom over for dinner and she is a big flower fan so I made her this cute cake.

Yes these cakes are alot of work but they are fun to make and the excitement from the person receiving the cake is always worth it.

I am back on track this week, Monday I had a great 2 hours at the gym, some interval running and ofcourse my fave, an awesome overall weights workout. Off to the gym again today for 2 hours for some bike and upper body weights.

Does Anyone Buy The Professional Race Photos???

2011-05-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

So I have been struggling with time management this week. Just too much things to do in not enough time. My workouts this week have been quick and too few hence why I have been feeling off. Monday will be a fresh start and I can not wait.

Tomorrow is a big day for many of my runner friends. The Toronto Goodlife Marathon is happening, as well as the Mississauga Marathon. There are 3 big Marathons in the Greater Toronto Area and 2 of them are tomorrow. I think its a total mistake to have them on the same day and hopefully next year that will change. Now if I was able to run I would definately be running the Mississauga Marathon, well the half anyways. But tomorrow I will be at my daughters First Communion, hopefully I will have some great pictures to share tomorrow of my beautiful daughter in her white dress. But I wanted to wish all my friends running tomorrow a fabulous day!

Does Anyone Buy The Professional Race Photos?

I have never bought any race photos yet. I do look at them, save them, load them to my blog, load them to my Facebook account but I have not ordered any. I don't know why. I know the price always seems to high for just one picture and then to order the digital download, which is what I would like to order is always so much more. Alot of the pictures too I find are not the greatest shot of me. Many time my facial expressions leave alot to be desired. But I do like looking at them and sharing them with all of you. So here are the professional race pictures from he races at Disney. My worst half marathon ever thanks to being sick as a dog, my daughters and my first actual race together where I was already sick and my daughters kid race. Enjoy!

Disney World Royal Family 5K

My future runner looks awesome!

Very unattractive picture of me trying to catch flies.

Crossing the finish line.

Official Finishers Picture.

Disney Worlds Kids Race

Disney World Princess Half Marathon

Definately a "I'm dying" picture. I couldn't wait for it to be over and I could lay down and sleep off the fever.

This would have been truly magical if I wasn't so sick.

This is kind of a neat picture but the pain is still there in my eyes.

Loved how my daughter ran out when she saw me near the finish and ran with me, I needed that last bit of help.

Crossing the finish line of the second hardest thing I have ever done, giving birth was definately the hardest, why do you think I only have one child!

I found these pictures taken by Disney the worst quality wise when you steal them, LOL!

Mercedes 10K Report

2011-05-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

Last year when I ran this race it was pouring rain and freezing. This year I awoke on Sunday to the sun starting to shine and I knew it would be a better race than it was the previous year.

We got to the race a bit early so we could pick up Marina's bib and at about 20 minutes to start they were starting to get everyone into their corral just inside the college so we could then proceed to the main street for the start. As I was waiting in my corral hubby decided to take some interesting pictures. He loves taking pictures of the medals awaiting to be given out:

And for some reason hubby always thinks its funny how many people are standing in line to use the potty, the line was this long a few minutes before the race. I certainly hope the people at the back of the line weren't running the 10K:

Waiting in my corral and thinking I should have worn the race shirt. This race had so many people wearing the offical race shirt, I had never seen that before. As you can see I am surrounded by blue:The 10K start:

Here I come and my daughter is there waiting to give me a high five: HIGH FIVE!

I felt I went out way too fast on this race. I also thought I knew the course, well they apparently changed the course from last years race. Last year we actually went along the lake which would have been so nice this year with the sun shinning but we didn't go that way. I found the course had ALOT of turns, it was mainly all on residentail side streets so we kept turning and turning, I felt dizzy at one point with so much turning. But I finished the race with a pretty good time.Here are my splits:

7:17

8:07

8:26

8:41

8:15

8:11

8:23

8:43

8:37

8:01

I realize my higher pace were at the water stations. I find I have to stop to drink or else I start choking. Does anyone else that that issue? I find I loss valuable time stopping but I need to drink so I am not sure what to do about that.

Here are my stats:

Official Time - 51:01

Chip Time - 50:57

Gender Rank - 65 out of 621

Category Rank - 13 out of 116

I have to say I love this race. It is very well organized, great volunteers, alot of great prizes (no I didn't win the Mercedes), the course could improve but I will definately be back next year. This was a great way to spend my Mother's Day.

Look out for my next post....my hubby and daughter bought me an amazing Mother's Day gift even though all I asked for was to run a race on Mother's Day, see I am easy to please!

Mercedes Junior Jog 1K Report

2011-05-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

The Mercedes 10K race also has 5K, Toddler Trot and the Junior Jog. I registered my daughter for the Junior Jog this year, just as last, I felt it was very well organized last year and was excited for Marina to run it again this year.

When we got to the race site we went to pick up my daughters bib and I am so happy to say it was not #1. Just like last year they give kids their own bib number. This is how kids races should be done. I commend this race for that.

Marina saw the face painting station right away so she got her face painted as I was getting myself ready to go to the start line. Here she is getting a pretty butterfly on her pretty face:

And here is the finished product!

My 10K started at 8:00am and Marina's 1K was to start at 9:30am so she had some fun while waiting for mommy to finish her race and while waiting for her race to start. She met some friends while waiting:Marina was super excited to see a husky. We had a husky that passed away 2 years ago and huskies will always have a special place in our hearts.

I give the race organizers a lot of credit to have all these mascots to keep the children entertained:

I think my daughters has been to Disney World too many times, she LOVES seeing all these characters and must go up to all of them for hugs:

Marina was at the start line all ready to run:

She is in her starting position:

There was a great turnout for the Junior Jog:

And they are off:

This race has a really nice course for the Junior Jog. They run through the forest, along the lake and then they finish at the actual finish line of the 5K and the 10K. Here she comes:

I love this picture of her and her shadow:

Concentrating hard:

Marina did great. After the race Marina said to me, "Mommy I really like this race. I got to run through the forest and right next to the ocean and I saw a Dashound as I was running." She is too cute!

I love this kids race. This is how a kids race should be done and I wished all other races would learn from this one.

What I loved is that kids actually have a bib number that isn't #1, the course if beautiful, they finish at the same finish line as the main races (the kids love that because they finish their race where their mom or dad finish theirs), the mascots are fun, the face painting is great, the kids can get the same food the other racers get and they gave out some random prizes for the kids which is a nice touch. There is no medal but it is a nice ribbon that isn't generic, it says for teh 1K Junior Jog.

Marina will definately run this race again next year!